Written by Tori McElwain
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Firstly, congratulations!
Now, let's start nurturing your email list! Let's talk about a valuable tool that can enhance your connection with your community and take our teaching and crafting endeavors to new heights: the humble yet mighty newsletter.
Why an Email Newsletter?
You might be wondering, "Why invest time in creating a newsletter when there are so many other platforms for reaching out to our audience?" A newsletter offers a unique set of advantages that can truly elevate our interactions and impact:
1. A Newsletter Keeps You Top of Mind: Sending a regular newsletter keeps us at the forefront of our community's minds. It's a gentle reminder that we're here, ready to share our expertise and creativity with them.
2. Allows You to Give Your Subscribers More: While social media provides glimpses of our work, a newsletter allows us to delve deeper into our crafting journeys, techniques, and experiences. It's a way to give our audience more value and knowledge.
3. A Newsletter is a Great way to Give Subscribers First Dibs: Newsletters provide a special privilege to our subscribers by granting them early access to deals, new workshops, and exclusive patterns. It's also a valuable avenue for you to get feedback and create offers that speak to your subscribers. This creates a sense of excitement and loyalty among our followers.
4. Interact One-on-One: Unlike social media, a newsletter is a more personal space where we can communicate directly with our audience. It's a letter sent straight to their curated inbox. It opens up opportunities for genuine, one-on-one interactions and feedback.
5. Its Key to Driving Traffic and Boosts your SEO: A newsletter is not only a fantastic way to connect with our crafting community on a personal level, but also a key driver for website traffic and an SEO booster. When you regularly send out newsletters featuring valuable and engaging content, you invite subscribers to visit your website, blog, or podcast to learn more. This increased traffic signals search engines that your site is relevant and valuable, which can positively impact your SEO rankings. This means more people can find you organically just by searching in a browser like Google or Bing (yay!).
Additionally, newsletters often include links to your long-form content, tutorials, and workshops, which can lead to more backlinks from other websites and further enhance your website's authority in the eyes of search engines. So, while we cherish the personal connection a newsletter brings, let's also embrace its power to amplify our online presence and boost our visibility in the vast digital crafting landscape.
Writing a Newsletter: Rules That Are Meant to Be Played With
When crafting your newsletter, don't be afraid to break some rules. Remember, we want to create a space that feels warm, inviting, and engaging:
Write it like a Personal Email: Let your personality shine through! Write as if you were chatting with a dear friend, not composing a formal business message. Use the second-person point of view where you are talking to one person, not a group. This creates a genuine interaction and helps your subscriber feel like you want to talk to just them - which of course is what we want to do as creative instructors! We help individuals.
Make it Fun and Informal: Inject humor, anecdotes, and playful language into your newsletter. It shouldn't read like a sales page but rather a joyful conversation with fellow crafting enthusiasts. The best way to start? Use contractions. "It's" instead of "it is," or "that's" instead of "that is."
Introduce Long Form Content: Use your newsletter to introduce in-depth articles, tutorials, or behind-the-scenes glimpses into your crafting process. It's a platform for meaningful content, not just quick sound bites. Then link it to the hosting platform on your website, tutorial page, blog, or podcast - where ever that content lives. This will allow your newsletters to give value, help your SEO (here more about that here), and keep your newsletters shorter.
Sign with Your Real Name: Personalize your newsletter further by signing off with your real name. If you're not comfortable with your full name, your first name is just wonderful, or even a nickname or a pen name that speaks for your brand. This adds a human touch to your messages.
Leave Your Lead Magnet and Offers: While we want our newsletter to be more about fostering a community than sales, it's okay to include a postscript (PS) with your lead magnet and maybe 1 or 2 special offers. I always smile when I see this!
One Call to Action: Keep your newsletter focused. If you're not launching a new workshop or pattern, you could ask for referrals or repurpose your existing content to create fresh experiences.
What You're Working on Now: Share your ongoing projects and creative journey with your audience. Let them be a part of your process and draw inspiration from your enthusiasm. This will strengthen the bond between you and your community.
Newsletter Frequency
Now, you might be wondering how often to send your newsletter. Aim to send it every week or at least twice a month to maintain consistent engagement. However, find a frequency that suits your schedule and workload without compromising the quality of your content.
A newsletter can be a direct gateway to deeper connections with our crafting community while helping give your content and website the boost in SEO it deserves. Embrace the informal and intimate nature of this platform, and remember to infuse it with your unique personality and creative spirit.
Here's to creating delightful quilting and crafting moments!
I hope this gave you some great first steps and ideas on starting your newsletter! If you have any trouble, I offer Strategy Sessions where we can work together to set this up for you. See more information about them here!
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See all my blogs about Marketing Workshops for more.
For time management, check out my blog post: Making Time For What You Want to Do.
Grab Your Free eBook, Design Your Workshop, here.