The Ultimate Blog Podcast - What to Send Your Email List When You’re Just Starting Your Blog

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

alone. It's one of the most common questions from bloggers inside the Ultimate Blog Roadmap. So in this episode of the Ultimate Blog Podcast, Amy and Jennifer are kicking off a three-part email series to help you grow your list with purpose – starting with what to send when you’re just getting started. Tune in to take the pressure off and make email feel a little more doable!🔗Check out the show notes for this episode!🎉 Grab our free guide, Your First 500 Subscribers: A Simple Guide to Growing Your List with Purpose✉️ Try Kit for email marketing💻 Enroll in the Brand Blueprint course for ChatGPTDo you love this podcast? Say thanks by leaving a positive review and/or rating!  

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinicki. I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice.

Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. Hey, this is episode 188, and we are starting today a three-part series talking all about email. So make sure to mark your calendar for every Tuesday starting today and the next two weeks, just to learn more about how you can really grow your email subscribers. For today's episode, what we're gonna talk about

is what to send your list when you are just starting your blog and this is something that we hear a lot in our roadmap with members is what do I send? So you have your email list set up or if you're using kit and all that, but like, I don't really know what to do. Or maybe you've sat down and you are starting to write those emails and you're looking at a blank screen and asking yourself like, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be sending these people.

Even if it is only five people, it is still important to be emailing them. So we're really going to dive into that today. And we have created a freebie for you that I'm really excited about. We want you to grow your list with purpose. I think that that's something that we really want to focus on here. It's not just growing those vanity numbers for no reason. It's growing that list for a purpose.

We know how important your email list is because it is automatically attached to your brand to your website. And those are those are platforms that you own. So like your website, your blog, and your email list. I mean, if you've listened to anything, or if you've been part of our community at all, you know that those two things are the most important things that we talk about is having your blog as your home base, and then also starting your email list from the start. So we want you to know this isn't just about growing numbers just to grow numbers. It's truly to grow your list with a purpose. And we want you to feel confident sending those emails once you get started. So if you would like to download that freebie and get a kickstart on these next three weeks, you can do so at the ultimate blog podcast.com slash first 500.

Yeah, so Amy hit the nail on the head, like you set up this email subscription and connected to your blog. And maybe a couple people start to sign up and you're like, Okay, now I got to send something. But it feels hard and don't worry, that's perfectly normal. I think we all get kind of like, it's almost like stage fright. You're like, what do I say? Okay, they're here, what do I say? So people just get stuck, we hear this a lot. People just feel stuck, like, okay, what do I do? I need to have this professional sounding email,

it needs to be polished, It needs to have a purpose. It needs to flow to the next thing. I think we all get stuck there at different points in time. And the thing to remember is these people signed up just because they want to connect with you. They're not expecting the next life-changing thing. They signed up because they want to stay in touch with you and they want to just get information from you. So it's okay. Like I want you to know it's normal to feel weird or awkward when you're first starting to write

emails and it's you just have to write them. You just have to you know put the words into the email and hit send and And even if it feels weird, just do it because the more that you send emails, the more comfortable you're going to get. And you just have to start somewhere. So I think one of the pieces of advice I'd have right here where it feels hard, okay, well, what can we do to make it not feel hard? Let's not worry about creating like a template. You know, you don't need some fancy way with letterhead and logos and photos. Just write some words in the email, sign your name, be honest, sincere, be yourself, and just connect with people.

So it doesn't matter if you're creating a welcome series or you haven't sent an email yet and you're just going to send out just a broadcast to everybody on your list. I mean, just know it feels weird and just do it anyway. Yeah, I think that's really good advice. And I think that if you're a content creator or blogger already, you know that it already feels weird when you start creating content anyway and you just kind of have to push through that uncomfortable like season because it is just a season. You're going to get to a point that it's not going

to feel hard. It's not going to feel weird. You're not going to feel like you're a bother. That's what we hear a lot too is like, I don't want to like annoy my list. But this is something not on our outline to talk about. But I want to say this real quick. They opted in to get your emails. So don't feel bad about emailing them. One, just like that needs to be the mantra going forward. They asked to be here. So if I annoy them with too many emails or they don't like what I'm sending anymore, then they can unsubscribe.

And unsubscribes are totally okay. So don't get all upset about an unsubscribe, but know that they did opt in, like Jennifer said. And so they have said, "'Okay, I wanna learn more from you or I want to stay connected to you. And so from there, you let them make the decision what happens after that. You have to focus on you and let them, you know, focus on themselves, but you have to focus on, okay, they said they want to be here and this is what I talk about. This is what I share. And so how can I do that? So some ideas of what you can start with there.

Number one, it's just a very simple welcome. So we really do believe in having a welcome series. This might be a compilation of one to three emails and like a welcome series. So just to simplify it even more than that, just setting up one email, one email. If you haven't done that yet, or if you're just starting out,

just set up one simple welcome, and that's going to give them kind of an introduction into who you are, what you're going to be talking about, and make sure you tell them what they can expect from you. I think that that's really important. Like if you have an idea that, you know, I'm always going to send out my emails on Wednesday, and that's your plan, tell them that. Look for my emails coming on Wednesdays. That's helpful.

Then they know, hey, I'm going to get this email on Wednesdays and not to be like surprised or whatever when it comes in their inbox. Also keep it super short and friendly. You don't need to write a novel. I don't know about you, but when I get an email that is just like I'm having to scroll for a very long time within the email I am likely not even I don't even know if I'm really ingesting like 30% of that content And so if that's how you feel also Think about that when you're crafting the email and when you're asking yourself like what can I send? You might be able to break down an idea that you have into like three emails. So for three different weeks.

So don't overcomplicate that process. Another idea that you can do is ask for feedback. Why did they sign up? Why do they need to connect with you? What do they want to learn from you? And you can put that like at the bottom of an email and just as a call to action, call the CTA as something that they can just connect with you quickly and let you know, hey, reply to this email, tell me why you're here, I'd love to learn more about you.

Inviting them into that relationship right away, I think is really, really important. People like that too. Oh yeah. They love to give their opinions. And so there's many reasons that we don't have to go into now, but getting people to reply to your emails is super helpful.

And so anytime, especially in that first set of emails, getting them to hit reply like that, A, they're more likely to do it right away, and B, it's just going to help your whole email list in the long run. Absolutely. Yeah, there's a lot of other reasons why you want them to reply. So stay tuned. We'll dive more into that too. The second idea that we have is a behind the scenes or like a story email. So share about why you started blogging, why you're sharing the content or like what you're working on right now. You want to invite them into your journey. Now the beauty of email is that you can utilize more storytelling than you can like in a blog post. I'm not saying storytelling isn't important in blog posts. I think it is.

But I think you can, for those of you who have started blogging because you love to write, I know that it's common to think like, oh, I'm just going to be able to do that in all of my blog posts. And you might be able to do that in some form or fashion. You should be able to. But I think you can get very like almost free in an email and kind of expand more than you can like on a blog post that you know, there needs to be a format and things like that. So you can utilize more of that storytelling into your emails. And if that's something that you want to do, we actually have two previous podcast episodes that are really great. They are episode episodes 178 and 179. And it talks about like why storytelling is really important. And it also talks about how to incorporate storytelling into your content too. So go check those out. We'll link those in the show notes as well.

But I do think that that's a really helpful way to once again, invite people into a relationship with you via email. I think that that tells them right away, like, Oh, she's like sharing with me and she's teaching me something and this really is a real person, especially in the land of AI and how prevalent that is right now. Letting them know that you are a real person behind the computer, creating this content, having your own, you know, successes and failures and solutions and things like that. I think that's really

helpful, which takes us to the third idea of sharing like a helpful tip. So depending on what your niche is, you can send them lots of different things. And I want you to simplify this. It can be literally one thing, it doesn't need to be a complicated thing. But think of something that has helped you in regards to your niche that it might be something that you do every day and it's no big deal anymore. But that person who's still in the trenches of trying to figure it out, that might be like the light bulb moment for them. Send it to them in an email.

If they already know about it, that's fine. No big deal. My guess is, is that not everybody did. So what are some ideas there? So if you are a food blogger, it might be like a meal prep hack, something like that. If you are a finance blogger, you could send a budget tool or maybe you could create a very quick spreadsheet or something that they could utilize. If you have a mom blog or something like that, you could send a quick parenting tip.

This is how you can connect with your kids in five minutes every day. And what you're gonna wanna do is have a link to like a blog post or freebie that you've created. So if you have something like that, if it's tied to a freebie that you already have, that can be another way just to strengthen that. And by offering more content, but also more opportunity for connection

and directing them to your blog also. Because one of the big things is When you have an email list you do also want to kind of train them from the start to be clicking over to your blog You want them to remember that you have a blog and to go there often because that's Important for a lot of other reasons that you likely already know about and so that is important just to kind of keep training them You do not have to over explain everything It doesn't need to be some email that like takes you all day to write. I literally was in a meeting last night and I got the email that the person was talking about and they told me it took them all day to write. And I just was like shaking my head like, oh my

gosh. One, I feel so sorry for you that it took you eight hours to write this email. And two, we should not be overthinking it that much. It should not be that complicated. Jillian Leslie once shared with us like B minus work. And so that is something I love to just like pass that encouragement forward. It doesn't need to be perfect. You are going to make mistakes in your email. You are going to send it.

It's going to happen. I'm just going to send it. It's going to happen. I'm just going to tell you. Just last week, I am in charge of the emails for the foundation I'm a part of. And just last week, I sent a double email like that I had sent in the month prior. And then I didn't realize it and sent the exact same email again. And the founder messaged me and said, hey, you already sent that. And there is a moment of like, oh, I can't believe I did that. But you know what? People get a lot of emails if you happen to send a duplicate, not likely that people are going to notice. So just know there's going to be mistakes in your emails from time to time. Perfection is

not the goal. It's okay to get it out there. Just send B minus work. But if you're worried about sending out the perfect email every single time, my fear is that you're never going to send it out and then you're never going to allow that connection to start like really solidifying with your email subscribers. And that's the ultimate goal of email is just to really create that strong connection. So they trust you and you build that like, know and trust factor. If you're a blogger or thinking about starting a blog, let's talk about something crucial. Email marketing. It's the backbone of building a loyal audience and growing your business. And that's where Kit comes in. Kit has been the top choice for bloggers for many years who want to connect with their

readers and turn casual visitors into dedicated followers. It has a user-friendly design, powerful automation tools, and seamless integrations, making it perfect for bloggers at any stage. Why do we here at the Ultimate Blog Podcast recommend Kit? Because it makes email marketing easy. It helps you craft beautiful, effective emails, manage your subscribers effortlessly, and track your success with ease. If you are ready to take email marketing to the next level, check out Kit and see how they can help you build a thriving blog. We believe that every great blog starts with a great email list and Kit is our number one

recommendation. Click the link in the show notes to learn more about Kit today. Yeah, I think we've all gotten those emails from like even big brands where they're like, oops, correction. I mean, it's just inevitable that you're going to have some kind of mistake like that. And while it will make you cringe a little bit, as long as it's not, you know, something harmful to somebody like- Or like your diary or like the journal entry.

Something you shouldn't have sent. Yeah. You got to just let those things roll off your back because while we want people to be invested in our email list, we also don't want them to expect perfection either. And so just show them that you're human, send an updated email and say, oh, sorry, I sent you the wrong link or something like that. I know I've done it many a times.

There's just mistakes that happen. And so that leads us to what we wanted to talk about next, which is common mistakes to avoid. But I don't really think that we're trying to say like, here's your do and don't list. These are actually just some more tips, I think, to help you get over some of those roadblocks that you can have that will stop you from sending the emails.

Because that's the only true mistake you're gonna make is never sending the emails, because that's the only true mistake you're going to make is never sending the emails. One thing that people commonly think is like, okay, I started my email list, but I only have 10 people or whatever on this list, so I better wait until I have more before I start sending them emails. But why would you do that? Because those 10 people don't know how many people are on your list. You're the only person. It's a spell tactic.

Yeah. It's a spell tactic. That's why. It is. Yeah, it is. It's easy for us to be like, well, it doesn't matter. It's only 10 people. But nobody else knows how many people are on your email list. And those 10 people are important to you. Let's start talking to them. I don't care if it's your mom or your friend or somebody you don't know, let's start having those conversations with these people. What that's going to do is it's going to help you form ideas of who these people are on your list. If you can start getting a little bit of feedback from them, why did they sign up? What do they need from you? We talked

about and asked those questions. It's gonna help you start to develop kind of your strategy and your voice for what emails you're gonna send them. So it's like practice. So the stakes are a little lower. If you lose 10 people, you can get 10 people back. We're gonna talk about that in another episode, like how to get some more people on your list.

So just use this as an opportunity to figure out what you're gonna talk about, how you're gonna sound, you know, are you gonna be casual, are you gonna be educational, are you gonna be more formal? Just start working out some of those things and testing out some ideas, seeing what people respond to, and that will help you like craft your emails down the road.

Just remember, if you have a welcome series, you can always go back and adjust the emails later on to fix them so that any new people joining will get the updated email. It's never forever when you create that kind of stuff either. Speaking of trying to figure out your voice, one thing that we did recently was we used the brand blueprint and that was created by Kinsey Soderbergh and it helps you with going through prompts in ChatGPT and it helps you create a whole picture. Yeah, it's a whole picture of your business. I mean, it's designed to help you figure out like your voice and to help you write things

for your business, but it gives you so much more. But what it does is it helps you figure out who you're talking to. It helps you figure out what your voice really is because I think we can struggle with that a little bit. And so having these prompts, having this course that you can go through, it's just been incredibly helpful. So Amy and I did this for Spark. We've each done this individually for our own blogs and other projects that we've worked

on and many of our members in the Ultimate Blog Roadmap have done it. Every single bit of feedback that we've gotten from people is, this is incredible. It is really helping me because figuring out your branding and your voice and some of that stuff can be some of the hardest pieces. So if you do this early on, then it's not just to have ChatGPT help you write stuff, but it helps you figure out your own voice

and to help you customize and write emails as well. So it's definitely worthwhile and we'll include a link in the show notes if this sounds like something that could help you as well. And finally, I think Amy already mentioned this, but each email does not have to be like the perfectly crafted educational teaching thing that that person's going to find out everything they need to know about your topic. Remember people are busy, they might be excited to get an email, make it something they can read, grab maybe one nugget of information or one actionable thing that they can do and

keep them excited for that next email that's coming, keep it focused, kind of let them know what to expect. We know the email can feel overwhelming. Like you've gotten your blog set up and now you have email and we know that that can feel like a lot to tackle. I just wanna encourage you that if you feel like you're behind or you're not sure,

well, how do I start an email list now? One, it's never too late and you're never behind. You can always start, whether you've been blogging for 10 years and you don't have one or you've been blogging for 10 days, it is never too late or too early to start. Like now is the perfect time to build that. We use Kit for our email. That is the one that we recommend. That's the one that we help coach our members on in the Ultimate Blog Roadmap. And we really do find it to be a very great interface and tool to use to grow. And so that is what we recommend. I can put a link to that in the show notes too. Also just encouraging you that building your list and building these relationships via email, it does take time. It helps by building that trust with your subscribers and it just takes time.

If you don't get responses right away, that doesn't mean that you're necessarily doing something wrong. It just might take some time for them to like trust you a little bit and that's okay. The more consistent you are, I think that you're going to notice that, okay, they are opening. You're going to see your open rates and your click rates, like all those change. And so that can be really helpful. Speaking of consistency, I think one of the things that you can do is just commit to sending like one email a week. That's just going to get you in a really good rhythm of sending out your content or a tip or just a connection piece with them.

And don't overthink it too much. Don't overthink that. Like you could sit there and be like, well, I could send this or I could send this. And just, I wouldn't overthink that too much. I would sit down and say okay What could I send this month or what's the focus of the month and get those ideas kind of crafted and then say okay? Like now these are the dates that I'm gonna write them. These are the dates I'm gonna send them So we know that it can feel kind of like this big hurl

But I promise once you get in the groove of it, it will feel great I've gotten to a point that like I write so many emails now. It's something I've honestly really started to enjoy doing and you might do that too. What we think feels overwhelming in the beginning, you never know it could be something that you actually really, really enjoy doing. So we have created that freebie for you. So I just want to mention that one more time for you to grab. You can find it at theultimateb ultimate blog podcast.com slash first 500. And that's just a guide that

we've created for you to learn more tactile tips about, okay, this is what I can do to actually grow my email list. You can get that totally free. We'll have that link in the show notes as well. So be sure to do that. And then we'd love to invite you back next week. So next Tuesday, we're going to talk about three easy ways to get more email signups this month. And we can't wait to encourage you there. So thanks for tuning in this week. And don't forget to download that freebie. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening to the ultimate blog podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit the ultimate blog podcast.com back'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com

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