Email Marketing Tips for Online Businesses & Bloggers When You’re Just Starting Out

• You worry no one will like you.

• Making conversation is haaaard.

• Did you just say “hey” to six different people and no one responded?

It’s a timid place to start, a humble one. You WANT to connect with people — you have big goals and you know email marketing will help you get there — but you also don’t love the idea of feeling like a hot fool talking to a brick wall.

Related: 5 Reasons You Can’t Ignore Email Marketing

You have to start somewhere. Even Amy Porterfield started here once.

Related: When is it time to start emailing my list?

As early as possible.

That’s right… you don’t have to wait until you’ve hit mastery.

You have value to share, right where you are.

And you don’t have to wait until you get a “big” audience.

Big things can happen with small lists, so use this time to learn and connect with who’s with you right now.

You don’t have to wait until you have a product or service to sell.

Whether you have products or services for sale just yet, every email allows you to “sell” something — a mindset change, ideas to inspire, the offer of community, the ability to learn and grow — to transform the lives of your readers.

Make it happen.

Keep your expectations — for yourself, your schedule and your goals — manageable.

01 | Set a reasonable goal for yourself.

When I was a straight-up hobby blogger — writing from coffee shops at 9pm on a Wednesday night — I knew the value of consistency, both for myself as a creator and for my audience to hear from me regularly. I set a goal of creating two blog posts and sending out two emails to my list every month.

Start small, so you can be consistent. Consistency is more valuable to both you and your audience — you’re less likely to burn out, and your audience will appreciate that 🙂

02 | Know what you’ll share — and what you won’t.

This may sound restraining, but in fact, having clear parameters to work within will allow you to narrow in and provide detailed advice, inspiration for a particular type of person or life stage, or teach on your unique approach on a topic.

Sometimes having too big of a picture makes it HARDER to know what to write because you don’t know who you’re writing to and exactly how you want to help them make positive change.

03 | Make it a habit.

Add it to your calendar. Every Thursday morning, I have a block of time set aside to write my weekly email.

You could also tackle many weeks’ worth of emails in bulk by batch writing, if you prefer. Whatever floats your boat.

Add “write my weekly email” to your calendar as an event that you can’t pass up. Invest this time in to practice your writing skills and how you’ll share your message with readers.

Start with a welcome sequence.

At the very least, set up a welcome sequence for all new subscribers. This can be a few automated emails you write in a couple of hours to start (remember, emails are easy to edit later!).

Check out these related blog posts for more details on how to create YOUR first welcome sequence:

• What to Include in a One-Email Welcome Sequence

• A Simple 5-Step Framework to Write Your First Email Welcome Sequence

This will give you peace of mind that your new subscribers are welcomed from the get-go, even if your regular broadcast emails are only sent twice a month.

Though it seems like there’s little to gain from writing to such a small audience at first, you’re building a foundation for your brand.

As you get started, writing to your list requires you to get your feet wet and step outside of your echo chamber to share your creativity with the world! Be brave. Trust that you’ll get the hang of it soon — and people will love it.