So you have an email list, but now what? In this post, I’m breaking down all of the ways that I DOUBLED my food blog’s email list in just 3 months! So, if you’re wondering how to grow your food blog email list, this is where you should start.
It may seem like a huge hurdle to tackle, but with these tips and tricks, you’ll be well on your way to email list success.
If you’ve been wondering how to grow your food blog email list (or, really an email list for ANY type of blog), be sure to take notes and download the free cheat sheet associated with this post.
You can also check out some resources at the bottom of this post on how to CREATE an email list – perfect for both new and veteran bloggers without email lists!
My food blog email list size growth over time
Within 3 months in 2018, I grew my list from 2,750 subscribers to 5,550.
Then, 9 months after that, I doubled my subscribers again to over 11,000.
Since then, my list has steadily grown.
So, you may be reading all of these numbers and thinking…
“So what…?”
You may not know or realize the power of email lists for food bloggers. Let’s dig into that briefly.
What is an email list?
Email list building is essential! To provide a bit of a background, I want to quickly discuss why email lists are so important.
First and foremost, email lists are a communication tool that are within your total control. The same cannot be said for your social media accounts or even your website! Instagram outage, anyone?!
Email lists provide you with a surefire way to get into contact with your readers.
Second, you can use email lists to generate revenue. It’s true! Much like retailers and other online product-based businesses, you can promote offers, downloadable items, and other products through your email list. Email lists outperform all social channels when it comes to conversion, which makes them a great way to increase your passive income.
This is just scratching the surface of the importance of email lists, but let’s get into what you came here for. If you’ve been wondering how to get subscribers fast, the steps I took to DOUBLE my email list will be helpful to you!
Let’s get started!
1. I began using an email service provider
Using an email service provider has been vital for not only growing my email list, but growing my business as a whole. I use ConvertKit and I fully recommend it to anyone who’s serious about growing their blog.
ConvertKit is incredibly robust and I owe a lot of my email list success to their platform. It’s great for tracking lists, segmenting, filtering, creating campaigns, and a LOT more. Honestly, I’d venture to say that it’s the best email marketing tool for food blogs.
If you aren’t ready for ConvertKit, though, a great option for total beginners is MailChimp. MailChimp is a free email list tool that allows you to create campaigns, send newsletters, and more. It works quite well in the beginning stages of growing your list while it’s small, but I definitely recommend moving to ConvertKit once you’ve grown because provides much more capability for segmenting.
2. I created a welcome sequence
I created an email welcome sequence to send out to people when they first sign up for my list. This is an automated series of emails that get sent out at certain time intervals depending on the subscriber’s subscription date.
When I created these emails, I was sure to pack them with tons of VALUE. From the start, I show readers that my emails are worth reading. Aiming to serve and providing value consistently is essential to me and my business. Following this method has helped me grow my email list tremendously!
In thoughtfully crafting my welcome sequence, people STAY subscribed because I consistently serve them. They appreciate my emails and take the time to read them rather than automatically deleting them from their inbox or altogether unsubscribing.
3. I began segmenting
Not everything I send out is suitable for my entire email list. For this reason, I segment my audience and send emails to those segments accordingly!
I HIGHLY recommend trying this. It’s one of the best email marketing tools for food blogs!
Segmenting involves grouping your subscribers based on different criteria. Some ways that you can segment include:
- How they signed up (which opt-in/freebie pulled them in)
- Previous email interactions
- Purchase history
- Country of residence
- Subscription date
The options are pretty much endless and can be tailored to any specific situation. For example, if you’re promoting a sale for a company that only ships within the U.S., don’t email everyone on your list! Instead, create a U.S. subscribers-only segment.
I can’t emphasize this enough: Only send content that’s relevant to the specific recipient. Why? If you send content that does not matter to people, it’s just another email in their inbox. They WILL unsubscribe!
4. I started running KingSumo giveaways
If you’re wanting to dig deeper and further learn how to grow your food blog email list, giveaways are a fantastic way to increase subscriber numbers. I began taking advantage of this with KingSumo, and it’s been FANTASTIC.
KingSumo is a giveaway host that allows you to set up contests, contact your lists, choose winners, and more. It makes the giveaway process incredibly easy and has been instrumental in growing my email list.
Each month I run a giveaway that collects email addresses and allows people to share the giveaway for additional entries.
Note: The giveaways that I’ve run in conjunction with other bloggers and companies are the ones that have grown my list extremely rapidly! You may consider doing something similar.
Check out my in-depth post on how to grow your email list with giveaways here.
5. I created multiple free eBooks
Two words: Lead. Magnets.
Lead magnets are an AWESOME and incredibly effective way to grow your email list!
Create items of interest to your readers that you can sprinkle throughout your site as “downloadables” or “freebies.” To access the item, readers must enter their email address. Once they do so, they’ll receive an email with the freebie inside!
Ideas for these items include eBooks, cheat sheets or other digital products that can be easily downloaded. Remember to always provide value! If they find these items valuable, they’ll be more inclined to purchase paid items in the future!
For me, I find the most success with lead magnets when I offer recipe eBooks, like my Fat Bomb Recipes eBook, and cheat sheets/guidebooks, like this downloadable I created about building an email list.
6. I implemented opt-in forms
If you don’t ask, you’ll never get what you want! In this case, I’m referring to simply asking readers if they’d like to join your email list. A great way to do this is through using opt-in forms!
I use a variety of opt-in forms all over my site and find that the pop-up opt-in typically works the best. I create my opt-ins with Opt In Monster.
Tip: combine this step with step #5, and offer a freebie in return for an email sign up!
Email list building doesn’t have to be a nightmare! Through implementing these steps, it’ll be no time before you’re well on your way to building a food blog empire. Good luck!
Check out these business resources to learn more about how to grow your food blog email list and more blogging tips
For more tips and tricks on how to grow your email subscriber list, check out these resources!
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