Let me guess:
You’ve been blogging for a while, and now you want to start an email list.
No, wait…
Maybe you aren’t even thinking about an email list, let alone growing it because your main focus at this moment is to generate income from your blog. Well, I’ve got a secret for you – money is in the list.
If you’re a mom blogger, one of the best things you can have is an email list.
You don’t need a product to sell, and you don’t need a lot of popular services or tools to make cool landing pages or opt-in forms (those are the forms where visitors enter their name and email address and in return, usually get a free resource – that you created).
I know what you’re thinking – having an email list isn’t for you, you’re just a mom blogger! Hold up! Mom bloggers can and should have an email list. Here’s why.
Email Lets You Know Your Audience On a Deeper Level
As a mom blogger, we blog about a variety of things – from home decor to homeschooling to marketing to breastfeeding and more.
We create info-packed posts with beautiful Pin graphics in hopes of someone reading it, commenting and wanting to learn more about us and our blog.
Amiright?
You crave that connection with your readers. You LOVE when you receive a comment, are over the moon when someone shares your content and are surprised when readers email you for advice!
Well, an email list is so much more than all of that. It’s a personal message you give to loyal followers.
When someone gives up his or her email address in exchange to learn more about you, it’s like gold! They are the ones that will tell their followers about you and connect with you.
Don’t you want to communicate with your audience on a more personal level? Having an email list does that for you.
Email Trumps Social Media
You own your email list; you don’t own your social media followers. If Pinterest decides to close its doors (heaven no!), then you have no more Pinterest followers. Or worse, if they ban you!!
I almost had an anxiety attack when I COULDN’T LOG INTO PINTEREST last year!!!
Pinterest is currently down on mobile and on web. Don't fret! We're working on getting it fixed ASAP.
— Pinterest (@Pinterest) February 7, 2017
Growing your social media followers is nice and everything – and it can help you grow your brand and credibility – but there is no real connection with your followers. They may not see every time you post, and you can only hope they will see your next posting.
At least with email, you’re in a subscriber’s inbox, and for a lot of bloggers, this is a sacred place.
Only the best of the best are in many blogger’s inboxes. So, when they open and read your email, that’s a small win for you!
Email Converts Better Than Any Other Medium
Are you interested in making some money on your blog?
Maybe it’s with affiliate marketing, or maybe you want to write an eBook or create a course. Whether it’s a digital product or not, stats have proven time and time again that email yields higher conversion rates than social media and other mediums.
Why?
Because email is personal and people sign up to lists for a purpose. And when you are transparent, authentic and personal with your subscribers, they will stay with you and buy from you time and time again.
Do you want to start an email list? You should do it sooner rather than later.
The earlier you can start your list, the better chance you have at monetizing your site successfully and connecting with your subscribers.
The question then becomes, how do I start and grow an email list?
I Grew Out of MailChimp
MailChimp is a great email service provider for new bloggers. Don’t get me wrong. I used MailChimp for years (and I still do for one of my lists). But, at that time, I had a lot of help from my husband and I wanted to find a way to do email marketing on my own.
I found MailChimp limiting at that time.
I wasn’t generating more subscribers because I wasn’t creating a lot of freebies for my visitors.
At times, I also needed tech support from my husband to switch things or move things over.
But, once I switched to ConvertKit and was able to use their features, my subscriber rate soared!
My highest day was almost 60 subscribers! Wh-what?
My average also bumped up from 10 to around 25 or so. My big hairy audacious goal for Twins Mommy is to get 10k subscribers. This means I need to scoop up 30 subscribers a day and it looks like I’m hitting this goal! I think that’s incredible – and in only one month of switching!
So, you can see that as soon as I switched to using ConvertKit, I more than doubled my daily subscriber rate.
My ConvertKit Review in 2018
Let’s go through the three big reasons why you should use ConvertKit.
1. You Can Use ConvertKit For Free (Up to 1 Month)
If you use my special ConvertKit link, you are eligible for one month free! Yes (so that’s not bad if you switch email providers. You’re only paying for two accounts for one month instead of two!).
You can start using ConvertKit for an entire month and grow your email list for free! I started using ConvertKit on December 20th. For the next 30 days or so I gained 889 new subscribers!
Imagine how much you can grow your email list using ConvertKit during that one-month free trial? It’s awesome because you can test it out and see for yourself.
Don’t think you can grow your list that fast?
When you sign up to ConvertKit, they will walk you through how to use their platform and give you help on creating your forms.
Keep reading, because I’ll show you exactly how I grew my list this fast in barely a month.
2. No Tech Involved to Make Your Forms and Landing Pages
Put your nerd girl glasses away – and no more emails or text messages to your web developer – because ConvertKit is a rockstar when it comes to making you a Mom #Boss.
ConvertKit helps turn your mom blog into a mompreneur blog! Aw, snap! Such a profesh feel, right?
There are more awesome features that you get when you sign up to ConvertKit it’s insane:
- Automations are a breeze to do. You set it and forget it.
- You can tag your subscribers (and don’t have to pay for subscribers twice if they sign up for more than one freebie you offer) based on which freebie they signed up to, which landing page they used or any other criteria that can help you categorize your subscribers. This helps nurture your list and provide the BEST value to the right subscriber.
- Super easy to create an email series – they are called sequences in ConvertKit – which is perfect for free email courses or a welcome series to introduce new subscribers to your list.
- Makes segmenting your list easy. You can send newsletters to only a portion of your list just by using tags. For example, I don’t send my weekly newsletters to my subscribers that are in my welcome series.
- You can make an opt-in form, place it in your blog post in minutes. I’ll show you how to do this in a bit.
3. Bonus Feature: Trigger Links
If you’re ready to sell your own product or use affiliate links, ConvertKit makes it easy to set up a trigger links for people that want to still be on your email list, but don’t want to get any of your pitches or launch emails.
Maybe they aren’t interested in the affiliate product you are promoting in your emails. This is a great feature because it reduces your unsubscribe rate and retains your valuable subscribers on your list. And because they opt-out of one launch, that doesn’t mean they will opt-out on another one, so trigger links are a definite win-win.
To see it action, here’s what Krista of Blog Beautifully does in her emails:
Personally, the features I mentioned are the ones that really convinced me that ConvertKit was for me. And what was best was that using these features were easy for a non-techie like me. Plus a great added feature for you is you can use ConvertKit completely free for a month!
So, how do I use ConvertKit? Here are the four ways I use ConvertKit to help me grow and nurture my email list.
1. Creating a Form
A form is a sign-up form on your blog so that visitors can sign up and become a subscriber to your list. Usually, these forms can be placed on a sidebar, within a post, at the bottom of your post or as a pop-up.
There are three ConvertKit forms to choose from:
The one I use the most is the middle one. Here is what it looks like on my blog:
It’s fully customizable, which is great since you can make it fit your brand on your blog. Here’s a video tutorial I did showing you how to create a ConvertKit form for your blog post:
2. Creating a Broadcast
ConvertKit calls email newsletters that you send your subscribers broadcasts. It’s up to you how often you want to send broadcasts to your list. I send my list an email once a week.
If you’re not sure what to send your subscribers, check out this post where I give you eight email ideas.
Some features of the ConvertKit broadcast are:
- You can easily send a re-send of your broadcast. By “double dipping” you can increase your open rate.
- When setting up your broadcast for the week (or whatever interval you have for your subscribers) ConvertKit makes it a cinch to segment your subscribers. Don’t want your subscribers going through your free course to get your weekly emails? No problem.
- ConvertKit makes it easy to set up your merge tags. This means you can personalize your broadcast with your subscriber’s name. What’s a bit unique is that it has the option for a fallback message. So, if a subscriber didn’t use their name when they signed up, there’s a fallback message that you can set up (or use ConvertKit’s default fallback message) for those subscribers.
These three features – sending a resend, segmenting my list and using a personal intro – helps me nurture my email list. This makes your subscribers comfortable and enjoy what you are sending.
Your emails no longer are marketing emails to get people to buy; they are personal emails that are given to the right subscriber.
3. Creating a Sequence
A sequence is a series of emails that are automated. This means you don’t have to send out an email each and every time. You create a series of emails to be sent out.
I use ConvertKit’s sequences as a welcome series for new subscribers. It’s a great way to introduce new people to your list about your blog and yourself. You can also set up sequences for a free email course or your sales funnel.
And what’s awesome about ConvertKit is how easy it is to set up a sequence. When setting up your sequence, ConvertKit gives you prompts for each day.
For example, if you have a product and you want to welcome new subscribers and tell them about your product, ConvertKit says that on day 4 of your sequence you should deliver a soft sell and on day 6 to deliver your hard sell.
If you’re new to email marketing, this is a great template for new bloggers with a product or service.
4. Automations and Tags
The heart of using ConvertKit is their easy automations and tagging system.
These two features alone is what can turn your blog into a business. It’s the beginning of email marketing and what can help you monetize your blog, earn more sales and grow a targeted email list.
And what I love about ConvertKit is how logical their automation system is.
You set a trigger – if a subscriber completes a sequence – and then set the action – the subscriber is tagged. For example, I tag all my subscribers based on how they came into my list.
This helps me segment my list so that I can focus on giving them value each time I email them. Here is one automation rule I set up for my list:
This automation rule says that when someone subscribes to my Mom Boss Vault, they are immediately tagged and put in the welcome series. This rule even goes further; when they are finished with the welcome series, they are tagged that they completed the series.
Tagging just helps categorize your subscribers. This helps you keep your list clean and nurtured, something that I LOVE about ConvertKit.
Are You Ready to Kick Butt and Grow Your Email List like a Boss?
ConvertKit can make it happen for you mamas! Their platform is totally easy to use (even for this tech illiterate person), and it’s fast. And for time-starved mamas like myself, this is perfect to help me automate my business growth. And, you can get a month free to try ConvertKit out! Love it!
Tell me in the comments if you’re excited to use ConvertKit!
Hey Elna,
Your insights are very helpful, particularly for someone just starting with the email list like me. Mailchimp simply crushed my nerves and eyes 🙂 with their design from the first moment. And ConvertKit seems to be half of the world’s choice these days.
Hey Lorraine!
I use MC, CK and Drip and I like all of them. All have limitations but MC has the most features and customization for you!
Thank you so much for this post! I’ve struggled with this for awhile and ready to step it up. Thanks for your help!
Hey Dee Dee,
Thanks so much! So happy to here you are figuring out email marketing for mom bloggers! Yay! Enjoy ConvertKit!
Hi Elna
How do you get the pictures with your blog posts on the list of blog posts page? Does it depend on what theme you choose?
Hi Pauline,
I’m not really sure what you mean about my blog posts. I have horizontal posts on my blog and then when you click on it, it’s a Pin image as my feature image.
Hi Elna
I tried signing up for freebies from your first email form but it went to Convert Kit??
I am loving your posts and videos. I am learning so much from you. I have recently started a personal finance blog, The Penny Genie but have a long way to go drawing traffic etc.
I will be working on freebies and infographics this week.
Thanks for all the great information. Have a great day.
Hey Pauline,
Yes, right now I’m in ConvertKit, MailChimp and Drip for my email lists 🙂 As you can see I LOVE me some email 🙂 Good luck creating your freebie!!!
HI! Does growing your email list matter if you are a new blogger and do not have a product or service you are selling yet?
Hi Mariella!
That’s a great question! You have to look at your end goal. What’s your goal for starting an email list and wanting to grow it? Do you eventually want to monetize your list? If that’s the case great. You should start to grow it.
But if you want to start a list to grow your brand only, then it’s up to you if you want to actively grow it or just grow your brand online.
When I started my Twins Mommy list, I didn’t have a product to sell. It was almost a year later that I started marketing my affiliate types of post. So it’s okay to start a list and build it now and wait until you have a product or affiliates.
Thanks for your tips. I keep coming back because of all of the great information you share! I would not have thought about the opt out when making a switch from a free provider to convert kit. Thanks for letting us know!
Thanks Chanele!
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Thank you! Great post! I just launched a blog and have been trying to decide what program to go with and you have definitely helped me decided! I am going to give it a try.
Hey Jacque,
You’re welcome! Glad you found an email service provider!
What a fantastic post! Thank you so much for sharing your insights! After months of hearing about ConvertKit, your article has finally convinced me to make the change. 🙂
Hey Dana!
<3 Thank you so much! I <3 ConvertKit so much. I just hope it's robust enough as my list is growing as well as my sales funnels!
Thank you so much for your very helpful information!!
Thanks so much! Glad you found this helpful for starting an email list with ConvertKit!
Hi Elna!
Once again you’ve answered almost all my questions abour using CK!
I’ve had doubts and was looking for some other solution but in the end cheaper or not, this is the email paltform to subscribe to!
Many thanks!
Hi Céline!
Thanks so much. Glad you found the right email service provider for your needs! I love ConvertKit and it’s made my life easier for sure!
Great post! I feel like I am on the right track I just need to keep creating my content. What program did you use to create your video above? I love ConvertKit since I switched a couple months ago. I am still setting up all the great features.
Hi Brenda!
Thanks so much. I actually just use Quicktime for my videos (I’m so old school!). I know you’ll get going soon!
Ok. SOLD! I don’t know if this post was before or after my email to you about this topic (sort of) but THIS is what needed!! Trying to set up MailChimp has been a thorn in my flesh. My only question is…can I/should also get rid of Sumo Me? I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of email marketing and I haven’t even STARTED, so I just want to come back to earth. Thank you!
I will share this!
Hey thanks so much!
As for SumoMe, you can use that since it’s not related to your email service provider (although you can do some form of emailing with SumoMe but it’s limited). Go with CK! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post. Currently I’m with Mail Chimp and I’ve been thinking of changing due to the fact I’d like to offer a variety of freebies and I’m considering offering a few e-classes. I’ve read how easy it is to use convert kit, but you’re the first one to really show HOW to use it. Thank you so much!!
Hey Stacey,
Thanks so much! Yes, ConvertKit is so easy…Makes everything so simple to use 🙂 Thanks for letting me know that you found some great value on this post. I’m working hard to help bloggers understand all these services and tools! It can be crazy for newbies 🙂
Thank you so much, I love reading you!
Convert Kit is the bomb!! Mom of 1 amazing daughter, I am starting my online business about health and Wellness with my twin sister and we are just starting with Convert Kit, but so far it is an amazing tool!! Great post, thank you, it comforted me on my choice.
Hi Sandrine,
That’s great! I love CK too! It’s so easy to use, right? 🙂
Right! We’re only scratching the surface and we are amazed already!! Can’t wait to see my list grow and use CK even more 😉
This is a great post outlining all of the features of ConvertKit! I’ve been using it for almost a year and I love it (I’ve used lots of others and to me, CK is the easiest to use and understand).
thank you! I just pinned! I am a food blogger so I’m not sure which avenue to talk, currently my new recipes are automatically sent out to my subscribers but I also am very stagnant and would like to see more people subscribe for recipe updates!
Hi Elna,
I am the most fickle email service provider person, I think have tried them all! ConvertKit is really great and I am thinking of rejoining them – especially after you pointed out all of the wonderful features – I was never able to get my sign up forms to look as fabulous as yours though. Future tutorial?
Hi Neena!
I know what you mean. For my Elna Cain list, I’m still with MailChimp until I decide what to do with it. I’m not sure if I want to use CK for my EC list still as I do want to try other service providers and I need a very robust analtyical and marketing platform. I’m learning towards Drip, but it’s expensive!
I LOVE ConvertKit! Can’t wait until I can up the ante and afford the next package above what I have. Thanks Elna!
Hi Sarah!
That’s awesome! I’m loving ConvertKit too 🙂
I also started out with Mailchimp but thought it was confusing and I just wasn’t a fan so I switched to Convertkit and I love it. It’s so easy to understand and easy to get everything up and running with no confusion. I completely recommend it if you are serious about blogging!! Great post, very informative!!
Hi Erin!
Yes! I know, right? I am loving ConvertKit. It’s just easy and simple to use. Period 🙂
Great, great post! I switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit a few months ago and love it. But there’s a learning curve with all of these programs! So your thorough instructions are extremely helpful, especially for newbies.
Hi Brandi,
That’s great. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but for this non-tech blogger, it didn’t take me long to figure out. Glad this post helped with your CK issues 🙂
Wow, this is just what I needed to read today. I haven’t gone live with my blog yet and just signed up with Mailchimp (I don’t think I even have anyone on an email list yet). Since I don’t have any subscribers will I need to pay for 2 months? I haven’t paid anything yet. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Michele!
Thanks so much! 🙂 As for your question: No. 🙂 If yo haven’t paid anything, you’re on the free plan so you wouldn’t have to pay anyways. Just hang on to your free account for a few months (or forever…I plan to) and manually remove anyone who unsubscribes from MC in CK. And if you have never sent anyone anything, then they can’t unsubscribe to begin with!
The paying for 2 months was mostly for people who have been using a paid Mailchimp account…like me I have to keep paying $100 for 2-3 months to maintain my lists and manually remove any unsubscribes.
Hi Elna,
Thank you so much for such a prompt response! I am going to go with CK for sure. I will use the link in this post and get signed up in the next day or two. I’m so glad I found your blog, I do believe I will learn a lot from you. Have a wonderful rest of your week!
Kind regards,
Michele
Thanks a bunch Michele! So happy that you enjoyed my post and CK is for you!!! I am totally loving it..
Hi Elna,
A great review of CK here.
I use Mailchimp but have heard (and read) tons of good stuffs about ConvertKit. It seems its time to give it a shot!
Great post, once again.
I love reading your emails. (Especially when it starts with “Hi Favour”) 🙂
Keep Shining!
Favour A.
P.S. How do you manage to make your images (the images in your posts) mobile friendly? When on mobile, mine keeps getting sliced like sandwich :-p
Hi Favour!
Thanks so much. As for my images being mobile friendly, it’s a couple of lines in your themes CSS file. If you understand what that means, I can give you the code.
Hi Elna,
The response was Q-U-I-C-K. Wow! It’s 10:36pm here. Wasn’t expecting a reply until tomorrow. I totally forgot timezones differ. 🙂
I’d love to get the code. Been trying to figure it all out for a while.
I use a child theme on the Genesis Framework.
Thank you.
P.S. How are your kids? Saw a picture of them on Instagram a few weeks ago. I hope they are doing great.
Hi Favour,
Most Genesis themes have responsive images by default so not sure what you mean by “sliced.” I make all images on my site responsive from day one.
This code goes in your child theme style.css file (make a backup first)
All images on site:
Or just post images:
And/or sidebar too:
Hi Elna,
Thanks for the code.
See what I mean when I say “sliced” – https://s24.postimg.org/iqbgio9et/Screenshot_2017_02_08_08_10_59.png
Only half of the image shows up.
The Sidebar, Header, and Footer regions are responsive. But the post body region isn’t.
Will try out this code and tell you how it goes. By the way, I use foodie pro. child theme.
Thank you,
Favour A.
Thanks for this. I’m about to get hosting. Ha! (I’m a gran-preneur, I think! Fourteen grands and counting. She shudders!)
Once I get there (hosted) and catch my breath, my next questions are already answered, right here! 🙂
Tnanks, again!
Hey Katherine!
Love that you’re a gran-preneur!!! That’s great you have a plan to be hosted. I’m sure you know that I love SiteGround 😉 And so happy to hear that your next questions are already answered…that made my day!
That’s what’s holding me up–Siteground– 🙂
You see, I have a chance to win a free spot at Siteground, so have to wait a few more days to see if I won. It’s kind of fun. 🙂
Hey Katharine!
Good luck mama!
Awwww….what a great detailed post!
You really convinced me to go with CK 😃
You are doing AMAZING with building your list!
I am happy to be one of your subscribers ! 😘
Hey Eva!
Thanks so much. ConvertKit is my BFF now 🙂
I think my mom-runners community would like this post too! Great article for blog building.
Hey Rich!
Nice! I wish I was a mom runner.. 🙂
Hi Elna,
Girl, this post is perfect timing for me. I just watched their demo this morning! I’m currently using MailChimp and all was going well until lately – I’ve been having trouble with my automation emails and it’s been a drag getting it resolved.
I’ve been thinking about switching and wasn’t sure who to go with. A lot of bloggers lately have been saying great things about ConvertKit and after reading your post I’m convinced and making the switch. 🙂
Thanks for this detailed post mama! Have a great day!
Cori
Hey Cori,
That’s unfortunate with MailChimp. For me, it just got out of hand with all the lists and coding and all that as well as my emails always weren’t in the inbox of my subscribers.
I’m finding my CK emails are hitting the inbox so I’m happy with that. Glad you’re going with CK! You’ll love it!