Blog Less. Email More.

bybrandonacox

2.9K followers

6 years ago

One of the biggest lessons I've learned in this last year of growth in my online business is my need to focus (a little) less on blogging and a little more on email.

This advice doesn't necessarily apply to niche / review sites as much as it does to you who see blogging as a platform for influence.

Most of the people I've coached about blogging say the same thing - "I really need to write more blog posts."

Maybe. Maybe not.

I obviously don't advocate abandoning your blogging - writing great content is the lifeblood of any online business.

I've simply learned that it's just as important to build a relationship with your readership through email and social media.

I took the advice of a friend and marketing genius and started sending more email this year - like, way more.

Two things happened.

1. People unsubscribed.

There was a big of an exodus of people leaving my list, partly because I made it easy for them to do so. I put a note in the footer of every email that said something like, "Maybe you need to de-clutter your inbox, and I do send a LOT of email, so it's okay to unsubscribe. We'll still be friends."

And a lot of friends took me up on that. The positive side is, I felt more free to increase my email frequency knowing that I was giving an easy out to people who needed a cleaner inbox.

2. People engaged.

I started getting replies with thank you notes for passing along good resources.

I started getting questions and requests for help from people struggling in the niches I write about.

I started seeing sales of products as more people clicked my affiliate links and made purchases.

I even started seeing waves of new subscribers as the after effect of adding more value to people's lives.

I think one of the reasons this works is because email is far more personal than a blog post. Email is a relationship built on trust that opens you up wide for direct and immediate feedback - good, bad, or ugly.

It's risky. It can be off-putting. But at the end of the day, I've come to lean on the side of the debate that says to email more, not less.

And it seems to be working quite well.

By the way, what does that squirrel have to do with this post?

Nothing. No idea. But he looks pretty awesome!