When I started out Blogging I had no Idea where my subscribers were going and coming from! I certainly didn’t know what the Best Email List Building Service for Blogger was out there! This has changed a lot over the years and it feels like I had a good go with every single Email Marketing Service on the planet 😉

In this huge Guide, I want to go into a lot of detail why I have settled with ConvertKit now, and why I believe it’s the Best Email List Building Service for Blogger out there! I also talk a lot about other services and give you a ton of other option you could go with, which could make sense if you are a beginner Blogger.

(Ps. You can only start building a list of subscribers when you have a Self-Hosted Blog. Only WordPress.ORG, not WordPress.COM will have this option. Head over here for an in-debt Tutorial on how to set this up: How to start a Blog on WordPress with Bluehost. If you already have a wordpress.com Blog don’t worry you can move your Blog to a Self Hosted Service without losing any data.)

But “First things First” here is what we are talking about: The Best Email List Building Service for Blogger BOOM:

1. What the Heck is Email Marketing? (Email List vs. Blog Subscribers)
2. Why do Bloggers need an Email List?
3. How to Start an Email List?
4. How to set up ConvertKit for your Blog – The Best Email List Building Service for Blogger!
5. ConvertKit vs. Free Email List Services!

1. What the Heck is Email Marketing?

Email Marketing means creating a list of email addresses from people who are interested in your Product, Business, Website or Blog. You then use email to communicate with your followers, sending them updates, promotions or other useful information.

On my first Blog, I had a newsletter form in my Sidebar. It was a wordpress.com Blog and the newsletter was a Widget I could install there for free.

Eventually, I would get a notification from WordPress once someone had subscribed to my Blog.

So a new Subscriber means a new Email List Member?

Yes and No!

No, and this is really important if you have a wordpress.com Blog or any other widget which is not connected to an email service your subscribers are STUCK IN LIMBO!

How are you going to communicate with the people who have subscribed? Where is this person email address saved? Are you going to send them an email one by one from your personal email account?

NO!

Yes, in the sense that once you have connected your Blog to an Email Marketing Service, you often refer to the people on your Email List as Subscribers!

2. Why do Bloggers need an Email List?

Ok so we as Bloggers, Small Business owners and just Entrepreneurs we need Email to communicate with our followers!

Plus, Email Marketing is still the No. 1 way of selling a product or service to our subscribers if this is your goal!

Here are more reasons why you need to start an Email List NOW!

• Inform subscribers about new Blog Posts
• Send updates, promotions or coupon codes
• Create an email course subscribers can take to learn more about your Blog or Business topic
• Let subscribers know where else on Social Media they can find you
• Create a sales funnel for the products you are selling
• Send weekly Freebies
• …

You see there are tons of opportunities in email marketing to help take your business to the next level!

3. How to Start an Email List?

There are a lot of different strategies on how to grow your subscribers. A lot of them I teach within my Bloggy Badass Online Course. You can enroll in the course HERE! But for now I want to go into the general process of growing your blog subscribers:

First of all you want to create Opt-In Forms. This is an example of a ConvertKit Opt-In Form you could include on your Blog or blog post:

The great thing with ConvertKit is that you can create those forms (You can’t with e.g. MailChimp) and choose the size of the form and adapt the design to your blog branding!

When someone adds their Name + Email Address in the Form on your Blog they are automatically added, stored and summarized in ConvertKit.

Incredible!

In ConvertKit you can see all the addresses and email in one place!

It’s also within ConvertKit that you write and send your Emails to your Subscribers!

There are a ton of functionalities within ConvertKit and that’s why I believe it’s the best Email List Building Service for Blogger:

• You can design the look of your email and send it from a dedicated email address (such as whaskatieupto@outlook.com).
• I love their analytics because it shows you exactly how fast you are growing your list and who is unsubscribing and why!
• Their No.1 Tool for me is their Automation Tool. You can create visual automation where certain events trigger automatic emails, which are sent to your subscribers! Without you lifting a finger (e.g. Welcome Email)!
• It allows you to create your unique Email Header which suits your Blog Branding.
• You can integrate ConvertKit with all kinds of other businesses and services including E-Commerce (such as WooCommerce) meaning it tracks your sales and sends automatic thank you emails or whatever!
• You can Tag people who may have clicked a link, indicating their interest in one of your products or posts. Once you know who is interested in what, you can start targeting your audience to specific products and services! BOOOM!
• AND THERE IS MORE!!!

4. How to set up ConvertKit for your Blog – Best Email List Building Service for Blogger

Step 1: Get your 14 Day Free Trial Here

Head over to ConvertKit HERE and click GET A FREE TRIAL Button

Step 2: Choose whether you are a) migrating from another provider (Mailchimp, Mailerlite etc.) to save your subscribers or b) if you want to create a brand new account!

• If you are moving from another maybe free provider, find the service in the list ConvertKit provides you and go through the process as explained. It will slightly differ from service to service. Basically, you will need to create a csv. File export of your old subscribers and import them to Convertkit.
• If you are new to the whole List Building thing select whether you have your own website already or if you are just starting out!

• As a last step secure your ConvertKit login, enter the email address you would like to use + define a password see the example below:

Step 3: Learn more about ConvertKit and watch the Intro Videos to get to know the program:

Step 4: Approve your Account

• Email sending is disabled until your account has been approved by ConvertKit. To do this just click the yellow bar on top of the window:

• The image below shows the pop up which will appear after that. Enter your Website or Blog URL so the ConvertKit Team can have a look and determine whether you are a real person.

• Press Request Approval.
• You can already start to get to know the program and create your first forms to include on your website. Once ConvertKit has approved your request you will be able to send out your first email to your subscribers!

Step 5: Create your first Opt-In Form once familiarized with the Program

• First of all, ConvertKit provides two options to gather subscribers by a) Form and b) Landing Page. This is absolutely incredible! However for the purpose of this Tutorial I will focus on part a) Form only. You can embed a From anywhere on your website, sales page or landing page that you host yourself. (Check out this tutorial if your Blog is not already self-hosted: HERE).

• Next, you choose the display format of your form. Option 1 is to display a form within your blog post between the paragraphs of your Blog (we will focus on this). Or otherwise, you can install form, which pops up after a certain time, which for a short time overlay your text and float over your text.

• After that you choose from three template options, which decide on the design of your form. This is either very crisp/minimalistic, or you can choose to have a form including for example images and text.

• Once you choose your template (I love the full one) you can start designing the form so it suits your Blog Branding. You can decide on color, font, input factors and a lot more.

5. ConvertKit vs. Free Email List Services!

There are amazing Free Email services out there and there are scenarios out there which they make total sense. However, at one point I believe you will have to switch to a paid service and I believe ConvertKit is the Best Email List Building Service for Blogger out there.

So I have recently poled this question within my Bloggy Badass Facebook Group (we are still accepting new members you can request to join me and over 700 others HERE) and here are the results:

Now the poll is still going but as it looks like now the three most popular Email Services are:

• MailChimp
• MailerLite
• ConvertKit

Personally, that makes total sense to me. MailChimp and MailerLite are both free services while ConvertKit after 14 Days will cost you a monthly fee.

Especially as a new Blogger, it can totally make sense to start off with an unpaid service as you are probably not earning any money from your Blog yet.

I want to go into each 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage of each of those Services now so you can make your own decision of what makes sense for you and your business!

MailChimp:

• Pro+ Offers a free Version for up to 2000 subscribers. It’s incredibly easy to use the tool and the emails you sent out are looking gorgeous. MailChimp can be integrated with most other programs. It’s what I used until I reached 2000 subs!
• Con- It does not have its own FormBuilder and this is HUUUGE! Basically, all we did before in creating a Form in ConvertKit you will have to find a separate program who does that and integrate it with MailChimp. There are free Form Builders out there but it is yet another program you will have to get to know and connect. Most of the time you will have to pay for the Form Builders such as Leadpages (which I used) which is even more expensive than a paid email service. This is an example of your cost if you have 5000 subscribers in MailChimp:

MailerLite:

• Pro+ Comes with a free version and also allows you to build Form, create Automation, Pop-Ups and Landing Pages which is Nuts! In addition, you will only have to use one single service to create forms and send emails!
• Con- Free until 1000 subscribers. If you are just starting out this might seem like a lot of people but once you create a sales funnel, Freebies and Courses this number will increase rapidly. So pretty soon you will have to pay for their services. Out of all the paying versions ConvertKit is killing it (most functionalities overall). This is an example of the cost of MailerLite once you reach 1’000 subs:

ConvertKit:

• Pros+ Best Email List Building Service for Blogger: =) See my post above!
  • Most functionalities
  • Customizable Form Builders
  • Build Forms and Landing Pages
  • Create Sequences such as Welcome Sequences and Free X Day Email Courses
  • Create visual Automation of your email workflows
  • Use Tags to segment your subscribers
  • Integrate with WooCommerce
• Con- It is more expensive than the other programs as it has more functionalities and services. However, as a beginner Blogger, this might just be too much investment.

Wow, you stuck with me till the end!

Amazing!

Leave a comment down below and let me know you thought on this matter NOW and what you think is the Best Email List Building Service for Blogger! I would love to hear from you!

xoxo Katie

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