If you're like me, you put a TON of work into your blog. And you wonder -- with all the social media noise in the world, how will anyone see it? How can I maximize the impact of my effort and get my blog in front of more people?
I've been blogging for my business since 2006. And over that time, I've seen a lot of changes in the world of blogging. It used to be that people hung out on blogs all the time. But with the rise of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, people are increasingly hanging out in these social worlds and only rarely clicking through to blogs when something catches their interest enough to warrant the extra effort.
There are a number of ways to answer this question of how to drive more traffic to your blog. Two of the more obvious and highly-used methods are through social media and search engine optimization. But today I'm going to focus on a lesser-known method that is overlooked by many photographers -- the email newsletter.
I've been sending out a monthly newsletter for nearly as long as I've been blogging. It's my way of delivering the goodness of my blog in a pretty little package straight into the inbox of those who may not frequent my blog regularly. This simple tool is SO valuable for keeping you and your business at the forefront of people's minds.
This is the top of one of my recent newsletters:
I've been blogging for my business since 2006. And over that time, I've seen a lot of changes in the world of blogging. It used to be that people hung out on blogs all the time. But with the rise of Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, people are increasingly hanging out in these social worlds and only rarely clicking through to blogs when something catches their interest enough to warrant the extra effort.
There are a number of ways to answer this question of how to drive more traffic to your blog. Two of the more obvious and highly-used methods are through social media and search engine optimization. But today I'm going to focus on a lesser-known method that is overlooked by many photographers -- the email newsletter.
I've been sending out a monthly newsletter for nearly as long as I've been blogging. It's my way of delivering the goodness of my blog in a pretty little package straight into the inbox of those who may not frequent my blog regularly. This simple tool is SO valuable for keeping you and your business at the forefront of people's minds.
This is the top of one of my recent newsletters:
If you're a photographer or business owner, it may seem like just one more thing to add to your list of things to do. But here's the secret: There is no unique content in my newsletters. It's all basically copied and pasted from my blog posts that month. So people who read my blog on a regular basis will be bored. But, it's not intended for them. It's intended for the people who DON'T read my blog.
Throughout the newsletter, I give small teasers along with beautiful images, all intended to entice the reader to click on the links that direct them to the full posts on my blog. My hope is that they catch up on my blog once a month and then find themselves checking in on the blog on their own -- without the nudge of the newsletter. It's all about creating blog readers and customer evangelists out of those who have shown interest in me and my brand.
So, who do we send your newsletter to? Initially, I added my family and friends to the list. We add any clients, vendors and wedding planners we work with. I also give people the ability to sign up to receive my newsletter on my website. So we get a good number of photographers signing up there as well. Over the years, our newsletter database has grown to 8000+.
There are a number of great e-newsletter services out there. We have used Constant Contact and Emma in the past, but currently use Infusionsoft -- and really love it. The great thing about Infusionsoft is that it does SO MUCH more than just email newsletters -- it's a super powerful tool that I'll try to share more about in the future. Infusionsoft allows you to easily format your email newsletters to fit your branding. All of these services help you organize your database and also make it easy for people to opt-out of receiving your emails if they'd like.
If you don't already do so, I'd highly recommend sending out a monthly newsletter. It's a great thing to do to maximize the reach of your blog, build your brand and increase and solidify your network. If you'd like to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, you can do so here!
Throughout the newsletter, I give small teasers along with beautiful images, all intended to entice the reader to click on the links that direct them to the full posts on my blog. My hope is that they catch up on my blog once a month and then find themselves checking in on the blog on their own -- without the nudge of the newsletter. It's all about creating blog readers and customer evangelists out of those who have shown interest in me and my brand.
So, who do we send your newsletter to? Initially, I added my family and friends to the list. We add any clients, vendors and wedding planners we work with. I also give people the ability to sign up to receive my newsletter on my website. So we get a good number of photographers signing up there as well. Over the years, our newsletter database has grown to 8000+.
There are a number of great e-newsletter services out there. We have used Constant Contact and Emma in the past, but currently use Infusionsoft -- and really love it. The great thing about Infusionsoft is that it does SO MUCH more than just email newsletters -- it's a super powerful tool that I'll try to share more about in the future. Infusionsoft allows you to easily format your email newsletters to fit your branding. All of these services help you organize your database and also make it easy for people to opt-out of receiving your emails if they'd like.
If you don't already do so, I'd highly recommend sending out a monthly newsletter. It's a great thing to do to maximize the reach of your blog, build your brand and increase and solidify your network. If you'd like to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, you can do so here!
+ Comment +
