Blogging | Forum « Is not having an email list really that bad?

Is not having an email list really that bad? (13 posts)

Emma White said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Good evening to all - everywhere I read I am advise how to gain more subscribers to my email list – is it really bad I do not have an email list?
To be honest I had no clue to what direction I wanted to the blog to take and only now am I thinking do I need to look at this now? If so how and where do I even start?
@therealsupermum | # | Top
Carol Lynn Rivera said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I think you partially answered your own question Start with the purpose of your blog and grow your list from there. An email list isn’t “good or bad”, it’s an opportunity. If you have a list, you have a group of people who you can build a community around, reach out to for suggestions and ideas, market to (if that’s part of your goal).
What’s your blog? Have you decided on it’s purpose?
@carollynnrivera | # | Top
Debbie Hemley said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum I hadn’t given too much thought to email lists either but was asked to write a post on the topic for a blog I write for. Here’s the post which might be helpful to you:
http://blog.gigcoin.com/how-to-build-your-email-marketing-list/
–Debbie
@debbie-hemley | # | Top
Emma White said
1 year, 3 months ago:
To be brutally honest I have no idea what the purpose of my blog is .. I started a blog 11 months ago – just a place to share thoughts and parenting experience and it grew – its taken off very quickly and I am the one left behind … I really don’t know what I am doing much of the time. But its working …. I just need to learn more to take it to the next level and actually make some money from it so I can work from home.
@therealsupermum | # | Top
Carol Lynn Rivera said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Sounds like you have a built-in audience – probably moms everywhere who can relate. Since it’s growing you must be doing something right! Do you have an email signup box on your site? At the very least, you can have people subscribe to get email updates when you post a new article. Then you have their email addresses for when you’re ready to do some additional marketing.
There are really two things you’re talking about: (1) growing a list and (2) making money. If you’ve got good content there are all kinds of tips for building a list. I’ve written on the topic for my own blog. Not sure if we’re supposed to share that stuff here but there is definitely information to help you.
As for making money, mommy bloggers are pretty hot. Companies fall all over themselves to get moms to review products and run ads for them. Could be a good source of content and revenue for you. You could also start simple with something like Google Adsense. Try it out and see how it goes.
@carollynnrivera | # | Top
Erik Deckers said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum I think @carollynnrivera said it best: it’s an opportunity. You’re not losing out by not having one, but you could do some pretty awesome stuff if you did. Best place to start is just collect email addresses and contact info in a spreadsheet. When it gets big, you can start using an email service like Constant Contact or MyEmma.com.
@erikdeckers | # | Top
Carol Lynn Rivera said
1 year, 3 months ago:
If you use Wordpress (what I’m familiar with) you can grab a simple plugin to manage subscriptions.
If you want to go with another service, I like Mailchimp for managing lists and sending campaigns and they have a free version which is great, plus a plugin you can pop into your site so when someone subscribes it goes automatically into your Mailchimp list and you never have to think about it again until you want to.
@carollynnrivera | # | Top
Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum Holy Moly, Emma! I finally got around to reading your blog. You ARE onto something, girl! You have uniqueness which is just not buyable. And you are so not the typical mommy /mummy blog. BTRT – been there, read that – very very same-y. My first advice to you is to get a FB page for your blog. So you can build a following around that page, and link every single blog post to it as it comes out. Keep your personal page for you the person and allow your blog to have its own personality and following on FB. I am also going to give you 2 blogs to follow. You may know them already, but just in case… neither of them are your voice or your genre but they are both successful and monetized and that is what I want you to seek out and emulate. http://www.penelopetrunk.com   http://www.rantsfrommommyland.com/ Congrats!
@abigailgorton | # | Top
Emma White said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I don’t have a Facebook page due to running a very large mums group on a Facebook profile – so I talk daily to thousands of mums ( who all share their own experiences on the blog too) @abigailgorton Thank you so much for saying at least some positive words as lately all I have received is negative from the other mummy bloggers – guess I find it hard to fit in with some
@therealsupermum | # | Top
Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum Emma, it can be the same in the tech blogosphere… as your latest post and comments point out, there are a limited number of truly new topics. Just because we write about the same thing that someone else wrote about 2 weeks ago does not mean we are copying them - maybe we never even saw that other blog. But sometimes people do copy. I have seen similar accusations fly in the journalism bogging world and in the tech blogging world. It is not just the mummy blogging world. And it bites when someone comes after you. It IS personal, it is a cyber slap (warranted or not) and it can trash your whole day. BTDT. But at some point you have to decide whether to suck it up (take it on the chin) and keep going or let it get to you and sit back for a while or give up entirely.
Oh yeah… and about FB. I clicked on the FB link top right in your sidebar and it took me to your personal profile. Maybe it would be better if it went to your group?
@abigailgorton | # | Top
Paul Wylie said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum Emma the only reason for building a list is to harvest emails from your visitors.
If you do not want the burden of distributing an email newsletter, or a informational download of some sort and your not interested in monetizing your site then don’t bother just do what your doing “networking with Moms” nothing wrong with that
@ptwylie | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@therealsupermum
If you are wanting to build your blog up to the point that it allows you to become a SAHM, then I believe a list would be helpful.
Let’s say you are posting in your “Product Reviews” section about a new product.
If you happen to be an affiliate for that new product, say “Boomerein – the retractable safety rein“, then having the ability to send an email to your readership about your new product review with a link to the review will generate exposure.
Of course, you don’t want every email to include a link to a product. you also want to be able to inform your readership about a new recipe you posted, or a Mums story about her dating experiences, or maybe a Mums inspirational story about surviving an abusive relationship.
Your blog has so many worthwhile topics, and being able to let your readership be aware of the variety of subjects about which you write would have to be an asset for you.
Of course, I’m just a guy, and probably not your target audience, but I believe your blog is going to be one of the ones that people refer to when they say, “This is how you do it”.

P.S. If you want to check out Emma’s blog, here’s a link: http://www.therealsupermumblog.com/
@warrenveach | # | Top
Emma White said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I am also a mentor to many new bloggers so thought about also reviewing some of the social media/blogging tools out there and maybe affiliate to some great ones @warrenveach thanks so much for taking them time to help me.
@therealsupermum | # | Top