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How do you decide what topics to cover in your email series?

by ncloud
17 replies
I want to put together my own email series with some of my emails being quality content that educates on my niche topic. I don't want all of my emails to be promotional. But, I'm not sure what to cover in these informative/educational emails. How do you go about coming up with ideas for that?

I know some people come up with something like a "6 step guide to bla bla bla", to give people an incentive to opt in - "sign up and get my 6 step guide to ....". And I might be able to come up with something like that, but that is still only 6 emails. I want to have a whole lot more educational emails than that.

When you consider all of the topics you are covering in the articles or posts on your website, what does that leave room for? And with all of this talk on here about article syndication which requires you to have to keep writing new articles all of the time, it leaves me wondering what I should be covering in my email series. Don't you have to leave some topics for your email series?

Unless you cover all of your topics on your website in your articles/posts, but then go farther into each topic with more details in your email series. But to do that, you'd have to intentional leave some things out when writing your articles/posts for your site. Is that what you'd do?

Any tips on this?
#cover #decide #email #series #topics
  • Profile picture of the author Jack Sarlo
    I first creating the products that are going to make me the money - put the best advice/information there - then leftovers on site/blog/emails.
    Put the best leftovers together (for your email marketing), the second best leftovers for your site, and rest on blog...

    For additional content & ideas I use forums, q & a sites to learn their problems and get ideas. As simple as that.

    And with all of this talk on here about article syndication which requires you to have to keep writing new articles all of the time
    That's bs.. content is king on the Internet but doesn't mean you have to chunk out 5 articles a day. You just want to put high quality articles, just enough to make them interesting in you - to make them realize you can really help them.

    Put just enough at first, then add slowly new content from time to time (just to keep site looking fresh) - like I said I research articles, forums, etc for ideas.

    Ultimately you're not a provider of free content, so once they read articles on your site, and get on your list then they should buy your products. Lead them to do that...

    Don't make your site a free article/content directory...
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    • Profile picture of the author jbonline
      The easiest way ... b/c you have everything you already need would be:
      Since were talking email marketing you want to train your list to click on the link and so you want to have your content behind the 'click'.
      In your email giving them only enough to click the link and get more info. I am speaking only on content creation here.
      You could then have that link go to your website and on the particular page you are hinting at on the one you want to educate your buyer on.
      If you have 10 pages on your website you now have 10 "content" email follow ups so to add sales or promos you would have more.
      I then would agree with Jack Sarlo hit up the forums on your niche find the pain and send a broadcast out once a week of content. toward that pain. Understanding, sensing, relating to, etc.
      Hope it helps let me know!
      Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author markeeter
    hmm how about sending some interesting stuff through email. As in if you write a fitness blog, your webpage and blog will have different tutorials right.

    Select the most interesting ones, and give their intro in the email If the consumers want to read more then they'll click and get to the main article. Sort of like the newsletter of Lifehack, and Khan Academy.

    The Newsletter of Focus Property Investment is another good example. They send it monthly with property news. A news article is mailed to customers with small tid bits of important info. Each topic can be found in greater detail on the main website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Work1099
    It's worth keeping in mind that even promotional e-mails often work best when filled with valuable information as well.

    That being said, the best way to find out what to say is to do extensive research into your market. With that in place, the mystery will have been largely resolved.
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  • Profile picture of the author Umee Social Network
    People that subscribe to your newsletter already see value in what you are talking about. Each newsletter header should explain what the article will be about. Give the opening paragraph that is most appealing and link it to your article. People will go if they are interested in the article. Just stay within your niche. Don't try to be a gunslinger.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Trujillo
    What you most importantly should know is your niche, who you are targeting? If you don't know your niche or who you are targeting you will be sending unrelated mails to people not interested in what you have to offer. What you offer as a gift should be what you cover in your email series otherwise you'll be sending untargeted emails.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vincent Joseph
    You should do a search for hot topics that involve your niche. Also try taking a look at FAQ's for your niche and educate people on the questions they have!
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  • Profile picture of the author ncloud
    Ok, I think 2 or 3 people mentioned the importance of researching your niche and knowing what interests them. That's not really my problem though. I can find topics they'd be interested in, I just don't know which topics to cover in my email series. Should it be the same topics that I covered on my website, or different topics? If it is the same topics, how do you do that because you surely don't say the exact same things again, but in different words? Or do you just go into more detail about some of the things you cover on your site? Or do you just talk about different topics all together? What is your strategy?


    A couple of you have also mentioned that when you write a new article you can email them to your list, or email them a link. But, that's not really part of your automated email sequence, it's a blast email no? I'm trying to figure out what to cover in my automated sequence.
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    • Profile picture of the author IM Phoenix
      Originally Posted by ncloud View Post

      Ok, I think 2 or 3 people mentioned the importance of researching your niche and knowing what interests them. That's not really my problem though. I can find topics they'd be interested in, I just don't know which topics to cover in my email series. Should it be the same topics that I covered on my website, or different topics? ...
      Researching your niche and knowing what interests them will tell you which topics to cover in your email series.

      If you know how to find those topics, then maybe you simply need to narrow it down based on what they want most and what fits in with your site and your personal goals for the direction of your site and future offers.

      No need to complicate it. Find something your audience really wants to know more about and give it to them. If you feel unsure you could always test a couple offers until you find the right one.

      Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Edwin Torres
    Look in forums related to your niche and see what they're asking. Send your subscribers emails about those questions that you've stumbled upon.
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  • Profile picture of the author alexchen23
    There are a lot of topics and you can pick ANY of them.

    You just need to provide AN answer not THE answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author itos
    I like the idea of NOT selling directly on your Email Autoresponders. I know this is against what most people tend to think. But I think of Email Marketing similar to Social Marketing.

    I share good unique tips on the autoresponder series and sometimes link to my site like every 2 or 3 emails, and on this article on the site there could be affiliate links. Doing this is more likely that people don't unsubscribe since it's not seen as an only sales newsletter that I am doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zero
      Originally Posted by itos View Post

      I like the idea of NOT selling directly on your Email Autoresponders. I know this is against what most people tend to think. But I think of Email Marketing similar to Social Marketing.

      I share good unique tips on the autoresponder series and sometimes link to my site like every 2 or 3 emails, and on this article on the site there could be affiliate links. Doing this is more likely that people don't unsubscribe since it's not seen as an only sales newsletter that I am doing.
      If you do it properly, then there is no reason why you should not be selling in every email that you send out, be it full on sales pitch or talking about something and tying that into your product at the end of the email, sending them on over to your product.
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Originally Posted by ncloud View Post

    I want to put together my own email series with some of my emails being quality content that educates on my niche topic. I don't want all of my emails to be promotional. But, I'm not sure what to cover in these informative/educational emails. How do you go about coming up with ideas for that?

    I know some people come up with something like a "6 step guide to bla bla bla", to give people an incentive to opt in - "sign up and get my 6 step guide to ....". And I might be able to come up with something like that, but that is still only 6 emails. I want to have a whole lot more educational emails than that.

    When you consider all of the topics you are covering in the articles or posts on your website, what does that leave room for? And with all of this talk on here about article syndication which requires you to have to keep writing new articles all of the time, it leaves me wondering what I should be covering in my email series. Don't you have to leave some topics for your email series?

    Unless you cover all of your topics on your website in your articles/posts, but then go farther into each topic with more details in your email series. But to do that, you'd have to intentional leave some things out when writing your articles/posts for your site. Is that what you'd do?

    Any tips on this?
    Hey ncloud,
    There is no law that says you cannot spread out some of the same content on your Blog and Articles and use them in your email series too.

    I do this all the time.

    The fact is when you build a List you will be having some people miss your content on your Blogs and Articles and then you get to introduce the content again in your email series.

    And sure some will see it both areas. But that should not matter because in Life the important issues are introduced to us many times over and over again because ........well.they're important


    Robert Andrew



    - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author huzzah
    Originally Posted by ncloud View Post

    I want to put together my own email series with some of my emails being quality content that educates on my niche topic. I don't want all of my emails to be promotional. But, I'm not sure what to cover in these informative/educational emails. How do you go about coming up with ideas for that?

    I know some people come up with something like a "6 step guide to bla bla bla", to give people an incentive to opt in - "sign up and get my 6 step guide to ....". And I might be able to come up with something like that, but that is still only 6 emails. I want to have a whole lot more educational emails than that.

    When you consider all of the topics you are covering in the articles or posts on your website, what does that leave room for? And with all of this talk on here about article syndication which requires you to have to keep writing new articles all of the time, it leaves me wondering what I should be covering in my email series. Don't you have to leave some topics for your email series?

    Unless you cover all of your topics on your website in your articles/posts, but then go farther into each topic with more details in your email series. But to do that, you'd have to intentional leave some things out when writing your articles/posts for your site. Is that what you'd do?

    Any tips on this?
    I like to start with two things:

    1. Surveying (asking) my subscribers what they want, and what they're interested in. You can even work this into your auto-responder series early on. I do this simply because when I try to guess or assume ideas they might like, I tend to get it WRONG, ha!

    2. Use analytics to find out what the most visited pages on my site are. That can be a decent indication of what people are interested in, and topics I can expand on, both in my email series, as well as in future blog posts.

    I go from there. Sometimes their top expressed interests can be made into an easy mini-course, which can funnel into a paying product down the line.

    And sometimes I don't mind re-hashing, summarizing, and pointing them to a particularly popular and valuable past post on my site, especially because there's a chance they haven't seen it before.

    Also, when I get repeats of a particular question, I consider expanding that out into content for the email series, blog posts, or even for my podcast. Questions from people are AWESOME!
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  • Profile picture of the author markeeter
    you can send the same content that you post on your blogs or website. Since not all your customers will be reading all your posts this can sort of act as an reinforcement.

    you know just add the few important things and then add the read more button that leads them to your page. Something like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kingshouse
    Originally Posted by ncloud View Post

    ......
    I know some people come up with something like a "6 step guide to bla bla bla", to give people an incentive to opt in - "sign up and get my 6 step guide to ....". And I might be able to come up with something like that, but that is still only 6 emails. I want to have a whole lot more educational emails than that.

    Any tips on this?

    I just thought to address this 'but that is still only 6 emails. You can write more than 12 informational or educational emails from a so called 6 step guide if you want to.

    Pull out a sheet of paper and think about what to write about but don't limit yourself to 6 emails simply because it's a 6 step guide.

    I hope this makes sense.

    Will D
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