I have heard the same line from several bloggers recently that disturbs me. There are several variations of the idea but they all follow the same premise.
“I’ll wait to start emailing my list until I hit (insert number here that normally is HUGE) subscribers.”
My answer to this statement is always the same and will never change as this is a fundamental truth in blogging and business. The first thing I ask these bloggers is…
“Why?!”
Bloggers that are making blanket statements such as these are missing the boat completely. The most important thing you need to remember about blogging is simple.
You are always writing for an audience of one.
The interaction between blogger and reader is a personal one. It is a one on one connection regardless of how many rss or newsletter subscribers you have. Are all of your subscribers getting together in one room to read your email or article at the same time? Of course not. So why do you keep treating your readers as a group when you are actually making a personal, one on one connection?
The start of the failing thought process is typically a fear or money driven line of thinking. These bloggers either want to make a load of cash at once (they can’t see the value in making a little bit of money at a time in the beginning) or are fearful of rejection from their handful of subscribers (the fear keeps them trapped).
Let’s say you have two bloggers that you are subscribed to. One of the bloggers has a published list of around 80,000 and the other one is just getting started with around 100 but you like what he or she has to say. Does it make any difference to you when the email hits your inbox with the latest blast from a newsletter subscription or the latest article through a RSS feed? No…why? Because you are looking for that one on one connection.
I challenge you to not forget the most important part of blogging when you are making important business decisions. You need to treat your list and your readers the same whether you have 1 or 100,000 subscribers because you are still reaching each subscriber one at a time.
It is never to early to start emailing your list with quality information or products that solve their needs. Your online reputation starts with day 1 of their subscribing. Nail it down with quality, back it up with consistency and make that personal connection. The rest will be history…
Image by Hammer Museum
9 comments
For someone just getting started in the blogging world, this is fantastic advice. Thanks much!
Ding. Ding. Ding.
This one was me. My list is starting to grow, but the realization that the best way to do anything well is practice. Those who have already signed up want to hear what information I have to put out there. And the more I put it out there the better I will get at it.
Thanks for barking up the right tree!
Sure thing!! Keep it up!
Great point, Robb! The keyword that I picked up on in this post were “quality information”. To be honest, I have been hesitant to start an email newsletter because I feel like I just don’t have the time to do it right. While I realize that it is a great way to connect, I don’t want to send something out that doesn’t contain that great information that readers are looking for. Maybe I am over-thinking it though. I usually don’t post more than twice a week, so my RSS feeds are probably lost in the shuffle for many subscribers. Any thoughts on an easy to implement (read not time consuming) email strategy that you would consider effective?
You can cut down on a lot of that stress by using timeless information that goes out automatically through a sequence when you use a service like Aweber. That is probably the best value vs. time investment option. Hands off completely after you set it up.
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that’s awesome man, I agree
Personal connection is the alpha and the omega – and writing for one person makes sure your style stays original and edgy !
Agree on this one. Right now I am struggling to setup a working PHP-List for my blog. Hope it will work
I couldn’t agree more! I love the people on my mailing list and I really do try to build that one on one personal connection with them. This is a great tip because on days where I get personal emails from the readers in response to one I’ve just sent out, it gives me the motivation to carry on writing, even if it were just for one person. Of course it’s not just for one person but I can understand why this would be your #1 tip.