Send to KindleOnce you get your business blog up and running, you do a few things. First you will become obsessed by Google and secondly you will worry about what to do if Google no longer loves your business blog and sends you heaps of traffic. Every Google algorithm update will lead to hours watching your stats, whilst sweating and thinking “What if… what if…”
The email alternative to “what if moments”
If you get great business blogging advice you’ll want to begin building your email list. By capturing emails and building a relationship with your readers you are offsetting the potential damage that falling out with a search engine will do.
Building your email list is not too complicated and it requires using a mailing list management system.
To begin, you will need to have a form on your site where people can register to begin receiving email from you. This will give you permission to begin sending email to them on as regular basis.
Using a mailing list management system, you can send to everyone on your list. Using a mailing list makes your relationship with your readers stronger and deeper than just a casual stop to your blog via an RSS feed or email feed.
It is very important to use your email list wisely. You never want to send information that your specific readers will not want.
- Do not send an email simply for the sake of sending something out.
- If you don’t have pertinent information to send, don’t send anything.
- It’s better than spamming your customers to death; if you start sending stuff just to send it, you will lose readers a lot quicker than not sending anything at all.
So, what do you email your subscribers then?
Information that will benefit your readers is useful to them and pertinent to their business. If you don’t have enough information to send on a weekly basis, then start with once a month. You can build from there as your list grows and as your business grows.
You may find you need to divide your lists up, this is known as segmenting you list. Perhaps you have regular readers, who are not committed customers yet. Or maybe you have customers to your business, but aren’t regular readers of your business blog yet. Maybe you have a list of affiliate marketers that requires separate information from your regular readers. You may even have a list of readers who are connected to your blog on a more personal level, so you may want to send a more personal message to them.
Whatever the demographic is, sending information to them on a regular basis and that is pertinent to your readers is important. It keeps your readers coming back for more, which in turn helps grow your business.
If you’re wondering where to look for an email management system that’s right for your business blog, here are a few suggestions:
Mad Mimi has a start up plan that allows you to send up to 100 list members for free. It’s a great if you’re just beginning to build your list. You can also upgrade to add more members for a monthly fee at a later date when needed.
Mail Chimp allows a certain amount of free subscribers and allows you to manually add email addresses to your list. I prefer to use the double-opt in method – I have been added to so many Mail Chimp lists that I have no desire to be on that I now automatically unsubscribe when I see their logo.
Aweber is an email management system that you can also use to create sign up forms for your blog or site. It does not offer a free plan, but the monthly fees are reasonable if you have a larger list. This is what I use and recommend to my clients.
Building your email list begins with your first subscriber. Make sure your business have a registration form that is easy to use and an email management program that fits your needs. Then begin building your list one by one, email by email and soon you will begin to see your email marketing efforts pay off and your Google dependency disappear.
PS you may also like my book on Amazon (available to read instantly) Zero to Email Marketing Success
Sarah Arrow
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Ah email lists… I so wish that I had used Aweber upfront on my business blog instead of feedburner.
The utility of creating a dialogue and relationship with people is far greater than the time and expense of setting it up properly!
Twitter: maverickny
Ditto Sally, I am thinking of setting up a different Aweber just for blog posts here. I wish that I had known to do that 5 years ago.
Twitter: saraharrow
Yes while doing business blogging you have to maintain a email list.You should track your regular readers and then you can send them a subscription request.By this what happen readers can have a update of your blog post and we should try to help them inspite of just irritates them.
Well I am not sure I’d want to send a subscription request that wasn’t asked for. I do have check boxes that can be unchecked here and I use double opt-in but I’ve never chased subscribers. Well, not yet
Twitter: saraharrow