Email Lists Simplified: The Best Blog Investment I Made All Year

(Last Updated On: March 6, 2017)

When I started my blog, I read a lot of advice preaching that I needed to build my email list.

So I signed up for various list building challenges and tried to implement the advice I was reading.

I guest posted.

I created lead magnets to entice readers to join my list.

I made landing pages for those lead magnets.

I created pins for the landing pages for my lead magnets.

And my list has grown, slow and steady.

Of course, once I started to grow my email list, I didn’t know what to do with that list. I mean, hypothetically, I knew what to do. I was supposed to email my subscribers, turn them into brand loyalists, and then sell them things.

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Well, let me tell you, the process of growing your list, turning them into raving fans, and selling to them is not as simple as it sounds.

First, I didn’t know what to send my email list. In the early days, I just sent them a link to my latest blog post.

Now I realize that if someone wants to read a blog post, they can type in my URL or follow me on social media for updates. They don’t need to give me their email address. But I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that I needed to create more content. If I was already posting on my blog regularly, how was I supposed to come up with something new and different to email my subscribers?

Second, I didn’t know how to start a real conversation with my subscribers. Like every other blogger out there, I would ask my readers to share their pain points with me. But no one ever responded, and I had no idea why.

As for selling things via email, I didn’t even attempt to do this until six months into my list building efforts. Then one day I spent hours crafting an email about a freelance course I had taken and which I’m an affiliate for. No one bought it, but several people unsubscribed from my list. It turns out, there’s an art to selling via email. Needless to say, it is an art I haven’t yet mastered. 🙂

Through all these struggles, I found great advice on Meera Kothand’s blog. So when Meera came out with her Email Lists Simplified course, I bought it immediately. I knew her free advice was so valuable, and I couldn’t wait to check out her course.

The course didn’t disappoint. Since implementing Meera’s advice, I’ve grown my email list faster, my subscribers email me more frequently, and my emails get opened more often.

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Here’s how Email Lists Simplified has helped me grow my business:

1) I got clarity on what to send my email list.

I’d like to apologize to my earliest email subscribers, whom I emailed with a link to each blog post. And that’s all I emailed. Thanks to those of you who stuck with me. 😉

I’m so honored when new people join my email list, and even more excited when my email subscribers reply to my emails! Turns out, sending a link to each blog post is NOT the best way to delight my subscribers, show them I value them, or start a conversation with them.

In Email Lists Simplified, I learned WHY I should create content specifically for my email list, WHAT kind of content to create, and HOW to start engaging conversations with people on my list. Meera even includes a swipe file with 105 ideas of what to send your list, which I refer back to every month when I plan out my content.

Meera’s lesson on how to create a welcome series has been especially helpful. I now feel confident that when a new subscriber joins my email list I will help them be more productive, and I’ll start building a relationship with them so I can serve them even better in the future.

2) By following Meera’s advice, my email open rates and click through rates are much higher than industry standards.

Take a look at my recent email open rates and click through rates since I took the course.

Now take a look at the industry averages from Mail Chimp.

According to Mail Chimp’s data, the average open rate for Business and Finance is less than 21%. Meanwhile, my email open rate is 35- 47% (And much higher when I email a segment of the list. Don’t worry, Meera’s course teaches you how to segment your list.). My click rate is also consistently higher than the industry standard of 2-3%. In the last email I sent out in 2016, I had a click rate of 22.6%!

Thanks to Meera’s advice, people are opening my emails, and they are clicking on the links in my emails. As I start to integrate more affiliate links in my emails and launch my first product, these numbers will translate to higher conversions and more income for me.

3) The free Opt-In Blueprint bonus course helped me finally create an awesome opt-in.

Every blogger I know has a graveyard of opt-ins that did not convert. My worst opt-in: a decision matrix that converted at less than 1 percent! Meera’s advice in Opt-In Blueprint gave me confidence to try again with my opt-ins, and helped me figure out the delicate balance between giving people what they want (YES!) vs. what they need (FAIL!). Now I have multiple opt-ins that are converting at 20 percent or higher, so my email list is growing on autopilot.

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Take a look:

In August, I created two new opt-ins using Meera’s advice from the course. My email list nearly doubled in size that month.

In September, I moved from Mozambique to the U.S. with my 3-year-old while I was 8 months pregnant. In October, I had a baby. In November, I still had that newborn baby and a 3-year-old. 😉 Needless to say, I only worked about 5 hours a week on my blog during those months, but my list kept growing steadily on autopilot.

Without Meera’s advice and the automated systems I had set up, my email list would have totally stopped growing during my maternity leave.

4) I’m learning how to set up a passive income stream via email.

Since I took the course, Meera has added a module on email sequences and selling through email. But now that I’ve bought the course, I get access to all these updates for free (hurray!).

In this module, Meera explains two different ways to set up a sales funnel, but more importantly, shows you the exact emails she uses to sell her course. The fact that she shares her email sequence AND explains the psychology behind each step is gold.

Of course, Meera also goes beyond the psychology and swipe files and creates a blueprint for you to follow when creating your own sales funnel. She literally tells you what to include in email 1, email 2, email 3, etc.  There’s so much information in the blogosphere about sales funnels and email sequences and up sells and down sells that I’m grateful to have a clear, simple formula I can follow.

I don’t have anything to sell yet, but I’ll be sure to update this review once I test out Meera’s formula.

If you’re struggling to grow your email list, engage with the people on your list, or sell to your list, then I can’t recommend Meera’s course highly enough. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve made for my blog, and at less than $100, a pretty cheap investment as well. Meera consistently over delivers and her course is no exception!

You can learn more or sign up for the course by clicking here.

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