Marketers emailing their list with links back to their blogs every day, have they got it wrong?

15 replies
Hi,

I have become interested in list building and building relationships with your list and creating value for them to subsequently sell them products later.

However one thing I don't understand is why a number of really prolific bloggers in the IM niche and beyond insist on sending you an email every time they post something new on thier blog.
I understand the logic behind this, to keep people coming back to thier blog. However I thought the idea of the list would be to provide those select people with extra value that not everyone can just see on the marketers main blog. Make them feel special, so to speak.

Obviously these bloggers have a lot more experience in IM than me, but have they got it wrong. Or are they just using their list for a different purpose. Ie. sending emails to their subscribers to get them back to their main blogs where they can sell them stuff through the subtly placed affiliate links on their blogs, and not promote affiliate links directly on the email, as other IMers without big blogs would do.

I found it interesting. And I myself have stopped opening emails from certain blogs. When I haven't visited a blog for a while, ill just go back on my own. I don't need to be constantly reminded that it exists and it is being constantly updated on a daily basis, is that just me, or am I missing something?

Really looking forward to peoples replies and opinions on this.
#back #blogs #day #emailing #links #list #marketers #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Are these coming from a list you have signed up to or from actually subscribing to the blog?
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    • Profile picture of the author Sonny Am
      Originally Posted by Troy_Phillips View Post

      Are these coming from a list you have signed up to or from actually subscribing to the blog?
      Well when I first visited the blog, I was asked for my email address in exchange for an ebook. Im not disputing them emailing me, I just dont see the reasoning for doing it every time they update their blog, surely thats not building value, its just redirecting me to their blog. I mean, it is indirectly building value, because the value is on thier blog, but it just seems like a lazy way out. Or am I wrong?
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      • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
        Originally Posted by Sonny Am View Post

        Well when I first visited the blog, I was asked for my email address in exchange for an ebook. Im not disputing them emailing me, I just dont see the reasoning for doing it every time they update their blog, surely thats not building value, its just redirecting me to their blog. I mean, it is indirectly building value, because the value is on thier blog, but it just seems like a lazy way out. Or am I wrong?
        Sounds like you signed up for their list and not just notifications. I really don't have any test related to sending them to a blog almost daily. Maybe someone who does can shed some light and numbers on this.


        Troy
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  • Profile picture of the author RemingtonSteele
    I can think of a few reasons that people are doing this. One is that spam filters have gotten ridiculous over the past few years, and it's challenging to craft an email message on the topic of marketing or making money that is able to get inboxed.

    Another reason that people might want to send their subscribers back to their blogs is that, depending on the nature of the material discussed, showing the content on a web page instead of in a text email can be a better experience, particularly if the blogger wants to use images and/or videos to illustrate his or her points. While it's possible to send HTML email, providers often block images automatically, so the email message ends up looking like a "broken" web page.

    Yet another reason is that by including a link to a blog post, the marketer can track clicks, which will help him or her assess their subscribers' interests in various topics. If posts on a particular topic are getting a lot more clicks than posts on other topics, then this might be an area in which to develop a marketable product or service.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sonny Am
      Originally Posted by RemingtonSteele View Post

      I can think of a few reasons that people are doing this. One is that spam filters have gotten ridiculous over the past few years, and it's challenging to craft an email message on the topic of marketing or making money that is able to get inboxed.

      Another reason that people might want to send their subscribers back to their blogs is that, depending on the nature of the material discussed, showing the content on a web page instead of in a text email can be a better experience, particularly if the blogger wants to use images and/or videos to illustrate his or her points. While it's possible to send HTML email, providers often block images automatically, so the email message ends up looking like a "broken" web page.

      Yet another reason is that by including a link to a blog post, the marketer can track clicks, which will help him or her assess their subscribers' interests in various topics. If posts on a particular topic are getting a lot more clicks than posts on other topics, then this might be an area in which to develop a marketable product or service.
      I completely get this, but I dont understand why they are not spending time to provide a higher level of value to their subsribers "followers" and instead just redirecting them to the same blog everyone else can see.

      Your points make a lot of sense though,
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Sonny Am View Post

    I understand the logic behind this, to keep people coming back to thier blog.
    That's often only part of the idea.

    It's also an attempt (often not a well-executed one, at all) to get their subscribers used to clicking on their links in an email. Which is a good thing to do if you go about it differently from the way you've described.

    (Unless you've actually subscribed to the blog, of course, in which case you're talking about automated notifications - but I don't think this is what you mean?).

    Originally Posted by Sonny Am View Post

    Obviously these bloggers have a lot more experience in IM than me
    Some people have 9 years' experience, which is the same 3-months'-worth of experience repeated 36 times over. Others have 9 months' experience from which they've learned 3 times as much, you know?
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    • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post



      Some people have 9 years' experience, which is the same 3-months'-worth of experience repeated 36 times over. Others have 9 months' experience from which they've learned 3 times as much, you know?
      I like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Darren Hodgson
    I redirect people back to my blog but that's not it's only purpose, if I've written a perticularly good blog post I'll do it, if I have a bit of writers block I may redirect them to an old post just to keep me subscribers from forgetting me.

    It also serves the purpose of training your subscribers to click your links, it isn't the only thing I do with my list, I do provide plenty of content as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sonny Am
      This was really insightful, thank you.

      So sending links to your blog posts via email is just one of a number of things you send people on your list.

      Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson View Post

      I redirect people back to my blog but that's not it's only purpose, if I've written a perticularly good blog post I'll do it, if I have a bit of writers block I may redirect them to an old post just to keep me subscribers from forgetting me.

      It also serves the purpose of training your subscribers to click your links, it isn't the only thing I do with my list, I do provide plenty of content as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
      Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson View Post

      It also serves the purpose of training your subscribers to click your links, it isn't the only thing I do with my list, I do provide plenty of content as well.
      The danger is it might train your subscribers not to open your emails at all if the only thing they ever see when they do is a link to your blog. (I'm not saying that's what you do - just responding to the OP's point).

      Also, with many email broadcasts doing well to get an open rate of 20-30%, it seems like a bit of a waste to immediately send those readers away - unless there's a compelling reason to get as many visitors as possible to a particular web page.


      Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author TeamBringIt
    Originally Posted by Sonny Am View Post

    Hi,

    I have become interested in list building and building relationships with your list and creating value for them to subsequently sell them products later.

    However one thing I don't understand is why a number of really prolific bloggers in the IM niche and beyond insist on sending you an email every time they post something new on thier blog.
    I understand the logic behind this, to keep people coming back to thier blog. However I thought the idea of the list would be to provide those select people with extra value that not everyone can just see on the marketers main blog. Make them feel special, so to speak.

    Obviously these bloggers have a lot more experience in IM than me, but have they got it wrong. Or are they just using their list for a different purpose. Ie. sending emails to their subscribers to get them back to their main blogs where they can sell them stuff through the subtly placed affiliate links on their blogs, and not promote affiliate links directly on the email, as other IMers without big blogs would do.

    I found it interesting. And I myself have stopped opening emails from certain blogs. When I haven't visited a blog for a while, ill just go back on my own. I don't need to be constantly reminded that it exists and it is being constantly updated on a daily basis, is that just me, or am I missing something?

    Really looking forward to peoples replies and opinions on this.
    Its quite possible, that the content is too long and is not appropriate for email and is best suited to be read on a blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author Carol_A
    There are many good reasons to direct email subscribers back to a blog, as listed above.

    Setting this frequency to be daily, in my opinion, is excessive. I direct my subscribers to a pillar post once a week and also provide video tutorials and other things that my 'readers' do not get access to...

    Makin' them feel special is a must!

    Good thread and good food for thought.

    :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    I think the main reason is to overcome the limitation of
    the email format. People generally don't want to read long
    emails so directing them to a blog post will help you to get
    them read the longer messages.

    But you do have point that you will expect the subscribers to
    get more than the casual blog reader. And if this is all the
    subscribers get over and over they would get bored and
    just go to your blog instead of reading emails.

    -Ray Edwards
    Signature
    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    I have been quietly using this in my business for over a year and it is very powerful and very effective but you have to do certain things right otherwise you will annoy people

    I often create very long and in depth blog posts and i not only do these for my blog readers that are passing by but for my own list

    i do have a lot of follow up emails in place within my funnels but i still send separate broadcasts out now and again to my lists if i create a new blog post which i think my lists will really like and benefit from

    No, i don`t just include a kazillion affiliate links within my content because this is a sure way to really annoy people

    most of the time i don`t include any

    using an IM blog is a great way to brand yourself within your niche and to build your lists and also to nurture your lists

    one of the main reasons why i use this whole strategy is because once i create content for my blog, it is then there for years to come so not only am i adding value to my list and to educate them but im also adding content to my blog which helps to brand my blog even more and drive me more traffic

    blogging is not for everyone and especially if you don`t have much experience, but if you do have the right skills and experience to do it, it`s a very very powerful strategy to help build your business

    paul
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    Got to agree with Paul here, if one is going to email their list everyday - then they better have something truly worthwhile to offer them or people are going to hit unsubscriber faster than we can say.....

    'are you sure you want to do that?'...

    ... I've learnt this the hard way - destroying tonnes of lists before I found my formula to keeping my lists happy and it's paid off well. But, there was lots of hair pulling and stressful nights before I ever found this.

    I think what I am getting at is - plan, test, plan and test; find what works for you and never, ever just assume something will work for you just because it works for everyone else.
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