FIBRO FRIDAY week 335 - fibromyalgia link up

 We are glad you are here to share your posts about fibromyalgia and find out what others have to say. Just click on the links below to find out more. 

What should I send in my emails?

In this post I will be addressing the question of what to send to your email list.

Many bloggers ask "What should I write in my emails?"

They have been told the importance of having an email list and why they should build one, over and over, by many experts but they do not know what to write in their own emails, to their own list of people.

As bloggers we have a lot on our plate - with regular blogging, promoting, reading and connecting.  It's important to decide if you have the time to also manage an email list but more importantly your reason for having one in the first place. This in turn will direct you to what you should write in the actual emails. 

"If you write something, speak up or otherwise interact with someone, you probably have a reason. There’s a point to your statement, a goal to your instruction. The change you seek to make." ~ Seth Godin.

Yes, we need to work out our reason for having a list in the first place. What is our Agenda? What Is The Purpose of Our Email List? We need that compass. Once we know this we will know what to write.

Here are some of your options:

NOTIFY YOUR LIST

Many great bloggers use their email list to just let their list people know they have written a new post. This is the simplest type of email to write (in my opinion). They include a small part of their post and a link to the main post. So the agenda is bringing people, who have grown numb to facebook and twitter, back to their blog. The email optin is to capture those people who may come to your blog once, read an article but never come back again. Your emails would be to attract them back to your interesting articles. Your opt in box could say something like " Let me keep you updated on my latest adventures with ..." or "Get my best stuff sent to your in box."

Things To Consider: Do you want traffic to your blog or do you want people to read your content. The first option is a "teaser' email; the second is sending them the whole post. Another option is sending teasers about your new posts and alternating with full posts from the past. You do these individually each time you write a post. Aweber call these Broadcasts. If you write blog posts more than once a week you can email your list just once a week with a list of that week's topics.

PROMOTE WHAT YOU DO

If we are promoting something like a book or a service then what we write in our emails is obvious. we are trying to make a sale. We give value and interest around the same topic as our book/service. Let our email openers get to know us a little more, what we have to offer and why we are offering it. This is called a campaign in Aweber, my favourite email service. You can set up an automated campaign that goes into motion once someone signs up to your email list. I suggest sending one a week. Once you set it up it goes automatically each week to whoever signs up. After three emails providing value the fourth is recommending your book/service. If you allow responses to your emails you will get questions that need answering or ideas for your next emails. Your opt in box could be "Get a free paragraph of my upcoming book."

Things To Consider: One email could be about the pain point that your product solves. Try to think what objections people may have to purchasing and answer each one in another email. You could send a testimonial email with what people who love your product have said.

TRY A SERIES

If this is all too much we could just pick one small agenda and see if it sticks. We could start with a short series of emails about one specific topic and see if that gets interest. Don't think of it as a never ending list, maybe consider it as a group of friends who want to find out more about you and a specific topic. Drill down in your niche and find a topic that interests you, that you can explore more and that others may find helpful. Send just 6 emails over 6 weeks. After these 6 emails it might grow or morph into something else. The opt in box could say "Let me tell you about my experiences and suggestions about living with migraines" or it could be a freebie around your topic "Enter your email to receive "8 Ways I cope with migraines" and other useful info.

Things To Consider: after the inital 6 weeks decide if you want to keep sending your emails and don't skip a beat. You could change topics or ask your readers to choose from a selection of topics.

MIX IT UP

Send a variety of different email types from the ones suggested above: A welcome email, a get to know me better email, a snippet from my new book email, a these are my favorite blog posts of all time, a what do you what me to write about next email, a check list or spread sheet freebie etc etc etc.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Your big decision is still do you have the time and energy to start an email list but as with most things in life you may never really understand the benefits unless you jump right in and try. 

P.S you might also be interested in another of my posts about HOW To Start an Email List Today.

Fibromyalgia link up - Fibro Friday week 334

Here you will find helpful information from people living with Fibromyalgia (FMS) which is a chronic pain condition with many symptoms. (but you probably know that if you are here!) Just click on the links below to be taken to the articles that interest you.

Fibro Friday week 333

Hi everyone, love you to share your fibromyalgia articles here today and read some of the others too. Fibro Friday link up is open all week so drop back in again to read and share.

We hope you are able to share some of the links in the list, on YOUR social media, so that many more people start to understand about the multitude of ways that fibromyalgia impacts people living with it. All the articles shared here are written by people living with fibro. 

This September for Pain Awareness Month we want you to know that living in constant pain does not mean we look like we are in pain; fibromyalgia is an invisible illness and we march on regardless in the hope that there will be a cure.