What Should You Include In Your Blog’s Newsletter?

*Everyone* tells bloggers that they need to have a newsletter or some kind of email marketing* going on if they want to go pro with their blogs.

It makes sense—after all, once you have someone’s email address, you’ve been given access to connecting with them on a one-on-one basis (and if you pay attention to the analytics of your email marketing platform, you can also get a lot of insight into what they are most interested in, based on what they open and click on etc.).

Grab your cheat sheet for tips on putting together an email list >>

But… once you have those emails… what the heck should you actually send people?

After all, there’s no point in collecting a bunch of emails if you aren’t going to do anything with them. Today I’m sharing some blog newsletter ideas to help you get started!

Here are 3 different blog newsletter ideas for writing emails your readers will find useful and enjoy:

1) Blog post snippets and a link to the rest of the article on your website.

Your readers signed up for your newsletter because they enjoy your work. Share more of your work with them! Email them a link to your most recent article(s) plus a brief summary or the first paragraph of the article so they know what it’s about and whether or not it’s something they want to read on your blog.

2) A private blog post or behind-the-scenes story.

This is an awesome way to connect more deeply and in a more meaningful way with your readers. Sharing the behind-the-scenes aspects of your business/blog, telling a personal story, or expanding on your public blog posts from that week are all ways to do this.

3) Upcoming events.

Are you hosting a webinar or a podcast? Do you have a book launch coming up? Let your newsletter readers know about this! Share the information with them so they are kept up to date.

Grab your cheat sheet for tips on putting together an email list >>

I do a combination of all three for my weekly newsletter.

My weekly email starts with links to that week’s blog posts (and a one-sentence description for each). Then I lead into a sort of private mini blog post that only my newsletter subscribers get access to—I like to share the behind-the-scenes scoop of what’s going on with my business, and any lessons I’ve learned from that week or inspirational/actionable ideas for my readers to take away. And if I have something like a webinar coming up, I’ll also include a note about it in the newsletter.

A few more things to consider when creating your blog newsletter…

• Keep in mind WHY you are doing a newsletter. It should be interesting and valuable. Don’t just send a newsletter because you’re told that you should! People don’t need you to clutter up their inboxes for no particular reason. Have a concrete idea in mind for why you want to do this and why it matters to you, and put together your strategy based on that.

• Set up a consistent schedule. This isn’t necessarily important for the upcoming events version of sending out newsletters, but as a general rule, your readers will want to know when they can expect to receive your newsletter. If they are a new reader, consistency also helps them to remember who you are and why they signed up for your newsletter in the first place.

• Don’t forget to back up your list. This is something that so few bloggers do, but you never know what could happen to your list. Save those email addresses! Back up your list once a week or so. You never know what could happen with the email platform you’re using.

See these tips in action! Get my newsletter >>

• The frequency with which you send a newsletter might depend on what your blog is all about and how frequently it is updated. I really like sending out a weekly newsletter every Saturday because I can share the four blog posts I wrote that week and connect with my newsletter followers on a very regular basis. But if you only blog once or twice a month, you might only need to send a newsletter once each month.
  If you do choose to send newsletter less than once a week, keep in mind that our email inboxes are busy places! It’s not necessarily a bad thing to send newsletters less frequently, but be aware that your readers might not remember who you are or why they signed up for your newsletter in that case.

• It doesn’t need to be fancy. Since I switched from MailChimp to ConvertKit*, I’ve done away with the pretty format of my newsletter. Even though I was rather fond of my MailChimp newsletter design, I actually really like now having a text-based newsletter through ConvertKit. It keeps it nice and simple, and it also saves me a lot of time from adding images and formatting things etc.

• Have fun with it. This goes without saying for ANY social media platform you use to promote your blog and connect with your readers. After all, what’s the point if you don’t enjoy it? Figure out a system and strategy that works for YOU! To me, sending a newsletter each week is a great way to connect with my readers, but I also like it because it enables me to pause and reflect on the past week and to consider what one thing I want to share with my newsletter followers. And that’s pretty awesome.

Got other blog newsletter ideas or more questions about what to send in emails to your readers? Share in the comments section below!

*I am an affiliate of ConvertKit—my most favorite ever email marketing platform!