There is plenty to like about blogging. It’s cost effective, straightforward enough to grasp at just about any experience level, and plays extremely well with others. These days, you mostly hear about blogging being combined with social media. There’s a lot of potential there, but since that pairing has been covered to death, let’s focus on the benefits of integrating your efforts in the blogosphere with email marketing.
Blogging and email marketing are really the perfect match when you think about it. Why? Because the same people who read your posts are the same people you can be interacting with via email, where those existing relationships can be enhanced.
I’m going to share with you a simple formula for making this team a successful one. These tips are sure to work if you follow them to the letter. Here goes:
Convert Blog Readers to Email Subscribers 
If you are already pretty good at blogging, then this part should be a synch. You’ve built up a following of people who actively seek out your content, so all you have to do now is get them on your email list. There are actually a few ways to do this, including:
Offering email subscribers exclusive content. Your blog readers are prime candidates for your email list. However, most of them, though loyal to a certain degree, will want something in return. This is where you proposition them with the offering of a free ebook, free white paper, or free invitation to your next webinar. If it’s something they value, your email subscriptions will soar.
Interacting with other bloggers. Networking with fellow bloggers is the key to blogging success. It can go a long way in helping you build your email list as well. This is a powerful way to create exposure, showcase your expertise, and reel in traffic. Keep your efforts focused to the right audience, and this proven method can work extremely well.
Posting regularly. Blogging is one of those deals where you can initially start off with tons of steam, but quickly wear yourself out to the point where you stop posting. If growing your email list is the goal, this is something you cannot afford to do. While posting regularly can sometimes make for a grueling ordeal, it will create the visibility and opportunities needed to grow your list.
Use Email to Maintain Blog Traffic
Combining blogging and email marketing isn’t just about building a bigger mailing list. It’s also about maintaining what you got. Luckily for you, email is one of the best tools you can pick up to drive traffic. By simply highlighting your premier blog content in your emails — complete with strong calls-to-action, (e.g. click to read full article) you can make sure readers keep coming back to your posts after they have subscribed to the list.
This tactic is effective for two reasons:
1. Email is a preferred information channel. Numerous studies indicate that email is the channel people prefer to receive marketing content and other information through.
2. Time is scare and attention spans are short. As silly as it may seem, some people feel like they just don’t have the time to swing by to see if you updated your blog. Bring the updates to them in an attractive email, and swinging by becomes as simple as clicking a link.
Post and Send On a Regular Basis
Your efforts to successfully integrate blogging with email marketing will fail if you are not posting and sending with consistency. Fail to keep your blog content updated, and readers will no longer have a reason to come around. Fail to send emails on a regular basis, then there is no reason to be on your list. I strongly suggest creating a posting and sending schedule for your blog and email campaigns respectively, and committing yourself to them.
As long as you have the audience and content, blogging frequency is fairly easy to manage. Email frequency, on the other hand is another story. You may want to consider allowing email subscribers to sign-up for a weekly digest that summarizes all your posts from the week in a single message. This way, they are less likely to get overwhelmed and burnt out.
Two Channels are Better Than One
You don’t have to be restricted to blogging or email marketing. You can combine them both in one highly effective package. When you engage your audience across multiple channels, your message has a better chance of making the impact you need it to make.
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Email marketing is the best way to communicate with our blog readers.
thanks for the post.
BTW
“There is plenty to like about blogging” here is it like or Write?
@khajamoin1
Thank you for the reply, Khaja. On the first line, I meant to write like. 🙂
By giving your customers the choice of opting into receive emails on specific elements of your business and products that interest them you can be sure that your marketing is reaching the right people.
Email enables you to send these contacts highly targeted content, even dynamically, based on their registered interests and preferences and based on their contact history, buying patterns and online behavior. Automatically triggered campaigns can also ensure you send the right message to the right person at the right time.
Thank you Shamelle for your input. Email marketing can be very flexible with all that you mentioned with right tools such from an email service provider.
This is a very good tips for increasing targeted traffic to your site. I have tried this method myself – every time i publish a blog post i also send it to my list with a “read more-link”. This way you fill your newletter with good, informative content and it doesnt look like a salesletter. The bounce back rate for “newsletters” seems to be lower compared to “sales letters”.
That is a great tip, Rick! And I agree, I would give more attention to a newsletter than a sales letter.
Publish frequently to boost your list numbers. Create value receive value. I prefer to post daily to both of my blogs because my RSS count and gifting list have grown significantly since adopting this strategy.
Thanks Francis!
RB
You are welcome Ryan! I am happy to hear that this strategy is working for you.
Hi, Francis! I’m skeptical when it comes to email marketing. Your emails risk to be marked as Spam. I can’t remember where I’ve read that emails have some sort of rank, just like websites, and the more they get reported as spam, the more their rank shrinks, so emails won’t arrive in inbox or will be extremely delayed.
Thank you for your concerns Cristian. The risk for emails being marked as spam depends on many factors such as your content, your subscriber list, and your email service provider. Good content that doesn’t look too “sales-y” will have less bounce rates, higher click rates, and less likely someone thinking it is spam. To be more reputable, using a double opt-in method is recommended to grow your subscriber list. Also using a reputable ESP will guarantee that your email deliverability rates are high.
Hi, Francis. Thanks for taking time to reply. I didn’t know some of the details you gave us. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Francis, I like the idea of offering subscribers the option of receiving blog updates via email rather than just sending them. AWeber allows us to send blog broadcasts and I think it’s an abuse of our list unless that’s what the subscriber was requesting. Readers can already subscribe to our feeds via email but there’s nothing wrong with setting up a second option for the blog broadcasts alone.
Thanks Brian, that is a very good email marketing practice. I very much like that idea myself of having my subscribers to opt in the type of emails that they would like to receive. It gives them a heads up on the content you will be sending them which likely doesn’t get marked as spam.
Hi Francis!
These are great tips and I certainly like the one of integrating email list through subscribers of your website and for its the crucial point where one can increase their traffic and ultimately that traffic could be your prospect.
Thanks for sharing wealthy information. 🙂
Thank you Ayaz, I hope these tips will serve you well.
Email marketing is like a bridge between customers & companies.
Thanks for that analogy, make sure to check for any trolls under those bridges. 🙂
I’m gonna start email marketing soon. This is what all my blogger buddies suggested me to. I made a big mistake by not starting it from day 1. My first E-book is on It’s way 😉
It’s not too late to start now! Good luck on your first E-book! 🙂
Blogging and email marketing are like the two sides of the same coin. Emails are extremely powerful, as around 90% of all internet users go online just for the sake their emails. Good tips, thanks.
Very true! If my online time was limited for whatever reason, I would make sure to check my email before I checked any of my social media outlets.
Hi, I recently started doing this with my RSS subscribers and it works much better! Thanks for the post and keep up the good work!
I am happy to hear! Thank you.
I am glad to hear it work out for you. You keep up the good work as well!
Very Nice Post Francis.I will definitely try to implement your point “Post and Send On a Regular Basis”. You made me understand how important Email Marketing is.Thanks
Thank you Sheya. I am happy to hear that.
I have never really done email marketting, but would try to get oncourse as soon as possible.
Hi Derek, if you want to learn more about email marketing, feel free to join our webinar here http://www.benchmarkemail.com/resources/webinars we have one every Tuesday to Friday at 11:00 AM PST and it’s free.
Great point about combining blogging and email. I think I’ll give this a try and see what happens! Thanks for posting!
Thank you. That’s great, let me know how it works out for you
Hi Francis,
There is a perfect match between blogging and email marketing. I’ll start email marketing in a very short while from now.
They go hand and hand very well. Thanks for the reply.
Great tips for Effectively Integrate Your Blogging and Email Marketing Efforts. Thanks author for such a great tips
Thank you.
Email marketing is the best way to keep current clients. If you aren’t getting repeat business, why are you in business?
Exactly! And good points to mention.
For the success of online business it is very necessary to go for emails and blog posting with same frequency and consistency.
It certainly can! Thank you.
If you really know what you are doing and you are doing the right thing, then email marketing can be your greatest asset because it can be making you money even when you no longer blogging again. i think every bloggers should put more effort on this area to achieve success blogging.
Email marketing is a good source to generate those leads, which in follow can turn into sales. Thanks for the comment!
All blog readers might not wish to convert to email subscribers for certain reasons. Some would do so for safety reasons and some may not be interested in the numerous emails they would be getting after the subscription. However they need to be convinced that it would be for their benefit and will make it easier for them to be in contact of the latest news.
Right, If your readers are genuinely interested in your content, then convincing them with extra content that can be read through the email is a good way for them to sign up.
Creating a line between readers and subscribers is the best way to promote your site. Offering more privilege to subscribers will also attract more people to subscribe 🙂
Thank of your insight, Penny. It’s great to give some type of privilege or incentive to encourage your readers to subscribe to your email list. Some ideas are having special content for email subscribers only.
Email and blogging marketing ar like the two sides of the same coin.Email is extremelly power is 90% and blogging also help with Email marketing
Hello Francis Santos
Nice post, An e-mail campaign is an effective way to directly connect with customers. When your promotion lands in customers’ inboxes, you have their attention since they most likely signed up for your list expecting something valuable.
I still have a hard time, collecting people’s e-mail adress though. Should probably improve at offering exclusive content.
Great post, Francis! Besides direct marketing, email can also help keep one’s “blog brand” in the mind of their audience. For a lot of people, out of sight equals out of mind. And if they aren’t thinking of a blog they won’t visit it either.
Regular email announcements of blog posts can serve that purpose. If they don’t click they are at least reminded of the blog when they skim through their email inbox. I’ve definitely caught some posts I would have otherwise missed because an email announced it and it caught my interest!
For anyone not planning on marketing to their subscriber list for some reason, a fast and easy solution might be to offer an RSS-to-email option. This can be set up through a number of service providers.
An RSS-to-email feed takes the content of the blog’s RSS feed and puts it in an email that is formatted like a newsletter in advance. When a reader subscribes to the blog’s list they get an email on those days when posts appear on the blog. No post, no email. I’ve used that option in the past and was very happy with the results.
The RSS-to-email option was easy to set up and then it ran on autopilot. My audience was notified when new posts appeared and I was able to track stats on opens and clicks. The downside was that it wasn’t a list I could use for newsletter and marketing broadcasts (unless I posted those things to my blog… not always desirable and very limited).
An RSS-to-email feed serves its purpose very well. But those purposes may not serve you well in the long run. So keep in mind that a regular autoresponder/broadcasting email service can be used initially to announce blog posts if one is not quite ready for sending marketing messages. It can then grow into a marketing tool as the blogger grows into marketing.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Francis, blogging and email marketing is a perfect match. Very well said.
Thank you Jim for your valuable input. You nailed the RSS-to-email feed topic square on. I like how you used the metrics to track stats on opens and clicks, which is great marketing information.
Wonderful tips and I certainly like the one of integrating email list through subscribers of your website and for its the crucial point where one can increase their traffic and ultimately that traffic could be your prospect. The cumulative efforts always works and you’ve shown the right kind of tips, thanks for sharing.
And thank you for the comment, Jannet. Yes, traffic is what brings you customers. Links in the email can help building some traffic, but if you want greater success with high traffic then search engine optimization (SEO) is where it’s at.
Long posts generally don’t do well.
I try to keep the post as short as possible.
Email marketing can in fact bring in some traffic.
I suppose it depends on the content. But perhaps I should have added a tl;dr at the end of the post.
The webinar exclusively for subscribers idea is spot on as it will make them even more loyal fans 💡
I agree. My companies’ webinar sessions do convert many viewers into customers.
Good advice. All visitors to my blog get the option of signing up to get posts sent to them by email, but I’m considering adding a separate option to receive additional content by subscribing to a separate mailing list. Once you have committed readers, it seems to me, there are some messages you might want to send that wouldn’t really work as blog posts. Thses might include some marketing messages, but also alerts about interesting resources, blog posts, freebies, and so on.
Those are great ideas, Nick. It’s good to experiment and see what works the best. Thanks for the comment.
Yes, I think it is important to offer an email subscription because many readers may not be used to RSS feeds but they still want to stay informed. It is a good idea to use an email service tor plugin that sends emails automatically as soon as a new post is out – or that sends weekly lists of all recent posts.
Thank you for this interesting article.
Very true, for people who are not that Internet savvy to set up their own RSS feeds. These plugins can definitely help them out. Here is a great example of one here http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/benchmark-email-lite/
Thank you for the comment, Saskia!
Thanks for the helpful post, Email marketing is root of any online business. It increase your sales, Generate repeat business, Increase your average order value, Increase your offline sales, Gain honest and valuable feedback & offcourse it is the best way to communicate with our blog readers.
Good points you have there about email marketing, Ravi. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you, Aakash for the comment. Email is a powerful marketing tool, and it’s been around since the beginning of the Internet. I am glad my article helped you.
ndeed there should be a definite coordination between the blogging and email marketing done to promote a particular product. The tips shared for accomplishing this task seem to be a sure fire way. Using emails as the strategy for maintaining traffic on the blog is surely a great thing. Thanks for the share.
Great tips! I just started a new blog recently and decided to start a mailing list right from the beginning – with my first blog, I waited way too long before I started one… something I am definitely regretting now!
Getting your subscribers through your blog posts is really not as hard as some people imagine. As long as you can give them great free reports that they can use to better their site, you will always have subscribers!
If you can’t earn visitor to your site then i say that you are the bad luck blogger. Email is the most valuable tools which you help to increase traffic. You can highlight or ask to read your full article by sending email. I seem this is better tip to more more your target traffic to your blog.
great post! definitely 2 channel is better than one. Another good way is to download some plugin if you are using wordpress that will allow us to send an weekly digest of the show for the week, it will help to get more reader to the blog too.
Hello Francis
Nice point of view .Ya email marketing and blogging are work on same platform. I never think about email marketing while I am doing blogging,But this is a new idea for me.I will try email marketing too with blogging.