Why You Should Have an Email List as a Blogger or Solopreneur

There was recently an Instagram and Facebook outage that lasted almost 7 hours. It was one of those moments that felt like a turning point and here’s why. First off, it put things into perspective. SO MANY people have built their businesses to completely and totally rely on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. They’ve poured hours upon hours into a platform that they don’t own. Some have dusty blogs that could use a major glow up. While others don’t even have a website of their own. Truthfully, it’s a little scary. Which is exactly why the panic set in for so many during those seven short hours.

Something else also happened within that same timeframe. Our business received messages from almost all of our influencers that they wanted to reach out to their audience, via email! Yep, good old fashioned email. It was in that moment, I was confident our clients saw the value of having a well-nurtured email list! If I haven’t convinced you why you should have an email list as a blogger or soloprenuer yet, read on. I’m sharing the email marketing platform we love for our influencers and how we use it strategically!

Why You Should Be Using Email Marketing as an Influencer or Solopreneur

We use Flodesk for just about all of our clients, including our own business, The Virtual Assistant Studio. It’s a great way for us to connect with students and aspiring virtual assistants on a deeper level. Here’s the thing, only 3-4% of your social media following even sees your post. And even less take action on that post. Whereas the average open rate of an email is 20%. That is a huge return on investment!

Don’t even get us started on building a business on a platform that you don’t own. While we whole heartedly love social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, at the end of the day, these are free platforms that you have little to no control over. You could wake up tomorrow and it could all go away. Then what? That’s exactly why having an email list is so important. It’s something that you own. You have full control over what content you send out and when.

Not to mention, if someone is willing to opt in to your list and give you their coveted email address, chances are that is the person you want to reach. That email subscriber is telling you that they value you and your product and services. So much so, that they want even more, and they want to receive it directly to their inbox. It’s kind of like having an open invite to your bestie’s house.

Our Favorite Email Marketing Platform

We’ve been using Flodesk since they first launched and have loved watching them grow an evolve. They are a female founded and ran company that is on a mission to allow content creators the ability to create beautiful emails at an affordable price. Part of the reason that email marketing can be intimidating for most is the intense tech that can go into creating a single email. Flodesk has intuitive email templates that allow you to create beautifully branded and customizable emails, in just seconds, with no serious tech skills required. Aside from the beautifully branded templates, they also offer flat pricing. Meaning you’ll pay a flat amount whether you have 10 or 10k on your email list. Pretty cool, right? We think so! Most email marketing platforms will continue to increase your monthly rate as your list grows, but not Flodesk.

They also make it super easy to create automations and segment your list. They recently launched a new user feature that allows people to opt into different segments of your list. It’s based on their interests and how often they want to receive content as well. This is huge in the overall success, and open rate, for your list. It allows people to choose how much, and what type of content they are receiving from you. This way, if someone only wants your weekly newsletter, and nothing else, they don’t feel the need to unsubscribe all together. Instead, they have the ability to opt in to just your email list segment. You as the sender has the opt to make sure all your other emails don’t go to the people that choose email list only. It brings a whole new level to consumer privacy and options.

Flodesk also has customizable landing pages that allows email subscribers to opt in, meaning you’re able to collect email addresses from those that want to hear from you. This is something that you can embed on your blog, within your blog posts and paste the url in your social media channels! You can create beautiful opt in pages that allows you to grow your list and still stay on brand.

If you’re wanting to give Flodesk a try, CLICK HERE for 50% off your subscription and a free trail for 30 Days!

Wondering what to send your list?

So many new influencers and solopreneurs when they are just kick starting their blog think that it’s better to focus on their social media platforms. You’re probably thinking, but what would I even share in en email? Sending emails may seem old-school at first, but you can use this as a way to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to share all of your content in one place in case your audience may have missed it elsewhere. After all, I can guarantee you don’t see every single piece of content that even your favorite bloggers and influencers post! This also gives you the opportunity to share your affiliate links. Sending emails may seem daunting, but once you get into the grove of sending them, you’ll realize it’s so much easier than you think. And they are totally worth the time and effort that goes into list building, creating an email account and setting everything up!

Tips for Growing Your Email List

If you’ve gotten this far and are thinking to yourself, okay Amanda, you’ve convinced me, I’m ready to build an email list, but the thought of taking on another thing is not feasible. You have two options. You are welcome to reach out to us here at The Virtual Assistant Studio and we can help you get your mailing list up and running or you can DIY it! Either way, as long as you’re taking action, we will be right behind you, cheering you on! To help you get started, here are five easy tips that you can do to jump start your email list today!

1.   Create a pop-up and place on your website.
2.   Create an opt in form. (Put that link all over your site, and in every blog post).
3.   Create a few pins that lead to the opt in form above.
4.   Share a link to your opt-in form on social media and within relevant Facebook groups.
5. Create a fun email with exclusive content to entice people to sign up for your list!

If you’re wanting to give Flodesk a try, CLICK HERE for 50% off your subscription and your first month completely free!

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