How to Create an Email Newsletter for Beginners

In this article we talk about email marketing and why you would want to set up an email newsletter for your business.

This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link of mine, I may receive a commission or incentive. There is no additional charge for you.

An email list is one of the tools I recommend to small business owners as one of the first things to set up. Having an email list is a great way to be able to reach (potential) clients and since they trust you enough to give your email address the changes are high they also trust you enough to buy from you (in the future).

But exactly what is email marketing and how do you set it up? In this article we talk about all aspects of email marketing and how to create an email newsletter!

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is sending emails to people who signed up for them and telling them about what is going on in your business. You can send an email whenever you want to, mostly done so on a regular basis. These are commonly referred to as ‘newsletters’. You can also have emails that are automatically send when the subscriber does something, like a download that is sent when someone signs up for it, or emails that get send after someone buys from you. No matter what kind, emails are a great way to connect with your audience, communicate about what makes you special and it gives you the opportunity to sell to them. Email marketing is sending emails to your subscribers; potential customers who have signed up to receive these emails. Usually these emails provide informational tips for your audience as well as updates on the latest happenings in your business, including new product releases and special offers. Though the frequency of these emails can vary based on your business strategy, most small businesses opt to send them on a regular basis, like weekly. These regular updates are commonly referred to as ‘newsletters’. In addition to these newsletters, you can also set up automated emails which are triggered by certain actions. For instance, you can have a system in place that sends out a download link when a subscriber signs up for a particular free resource, or follow-up emails that are automatically sent after a purchase is made. Regardless of the type or frequency, emails serve as an invaluable tool to establish a deeper connection with their audience. Through email marketing you can show more of who you are, keeping your subscribers engaged and giving you the opportunity to sell, upsell or cross-sell your products or services. This makes email marketing a crucial component of any successful digital marketing strategy.

Why is it important to add email to your marketing?

When you are marketing your business there are several ways to go about it. There are the platforms where you sell your products or services (like Etsy or Creative Market), there are social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and you can send emails to your list.

On the selling platforms, like Etsy, Creative Market, people can buy your products and your products can even reach new people, but you can not communicate with people that like your stuff.

On social media platforms, interested people can find you and your content could reach a lot of new people if it gets enough engagement and shares. And you can of course communicate with your audience on social media. However, you don’t get to decide how many people actually see your message, so a lot of the interested people might actually miss things you are posting. And let’s not even get into the fact that you would lose all of your followers if a social media channel decides to ban you, or just stops being used and everyone moves over to a new platform.

With email, you get to decide who gets a specific email. The email marketing platform doesn’t decide whether or not something reaches a potential reader. If you are following best practices and have a verified sending domain, your newsletters should make it into their inboxes and then it’s up to them to read it. If it sounds interesting enough or they like your content and business in general, they will open the email and read it.

There still is a downside to email: it won’t reach new people, only those that signed up for your emails. Maybe with a little luck someone shares an email of you with someone else sometimes but mostly you will reach those that already know you.

How to set up your email newsletter

So how do you set up your email marketing platform?

Pick your tool

Well first, you have to decide which tool is right for you. Your goals, processes and other software will have an impact on what will be the best choice for you. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Does the tool meet GDPR regulations?
Do you pay per subscriber or in a tier?
Does it offer good design options?
How is the deliverability of the platform?
Does it integrate with other software tools

A great way to test a potential email marketing platform is to take a trial where you get all the features and you can see how it works and if it does what you need it to do.

There are many email marketing platforms out there but I personally really recommend Kit. This email marketing system follows GDPR regulations and offers several options for you to follow it too. It is easy to use, has great customer service and offers several templates out of the box for both your forms and email designs. It integrates with a lot of tools and most importantly, it has a free trial and even a free forever option, depending on what you need.

Want to try out Kit? Check out my special affiliate link below with a 30 day free trial.

The setup of your email platform

No matter which platform to use the next few steps are to design your newsletter and create a form where people can sign up. If you want to (and if you have the option) you can also set up automations (sometimes called workflows) to send out automatic emails.

First up is to design your newsletter. Most platforms offer some sort of templates or designs. This can give you a great place to get started. Also, most platforms these days either offer drag-and-drop or a block system where you can add blocks with a + (ala Gutenberg) making it really easy to add what you want and need. I recommend picking a template and while I would add your own colors to it, I wouldn’t go overboard with designing your email. The less design it has the bigger the chance your emails will make it into the (priority) inbox versus the promotions tab.

After that you want to create a form where people can sign up. Again, most platforms offer designs to start with and make your own, but before you can do that you need to decided what kind of form you want:

an embed form (also called inline) that you add into your website
a popup form (also called modal) that shows up over your website
a banner form, mostly used on the top of your website
a landing page, which is a completely separate page

For your first form I recommend keeping it simple and picking out a simple embed form.

Once you have this you can add your form to your website and when people sign up you can send them your newsletter.

Sending your first newsletter

Now you are ready to write your first email newsletter. So exciting! But how do you start? Well, let’s first think about what you want to write about. What is the topic of your newsletter? If you’re struggling to come up with newsletter topics, my 6 Content Types framework can help you plan content. And then let’s come up with the subject line that goes with it. The subject line of an email, especially an email newsletter is really important, because it is the thing that will inspire the receiver to open and read it. Then it’s time to write that email. If you need some great examples and tips when it comes to writing newsletters then I highly recommend Liz Wilcox’s Email Marketing Membership. This $9 a month email template membership gives you a new template each week on what to write for something that works for your business.

Don’t forget to add a call to action in your email. It can be to click somewhere, but it can also be very good to add for people to reply to you. This helps with getting more engaged readers.

Don’t forget to test your email to see if it looks good before you send it off.

Getting more advanced with your email marketing

Email automation

In my personal opinion, one of the most potent and impactful ways you can use email marketing are automations. Email automations send emails based on when something happens, ensuring that it reaches their inbox at the most opportune moment for them.

One of my favorite automations gets triggered by people signing up to my newsletter. Regardless of whether they’ve signed up for a free resource or submitted an open form on my site, they are immediately welcomed with a series of emails. These messages are designed to give them a deeper insight into who I am, what I do and how I can help them, allowing them to familiarize themselves with me and my work.

Another automation sequence that I find particularly effective is triggered by someone clicking a specific link within an email. Once they click on this link, it initiates a series of follow-up emails that reinforce the topic or offer related to the initial link. This automation is a powerful tool for maintaining engagement and interest from the recipient.

Lastly, I have set up email sequences that are triggered by a purchase made by a client. These automatic emails are tailored to the specific product or service that the client has purchased. For instance, if they buy a ‘Website in a Week’ package, they receive an email suggesting they book a call to start the process. While if they purchase the ‘Content Calendar’, they are sent an email that includes their newly acquired product and then a set of extra emails giving them tips and tricks.

These automations help enhance the overall experience with my services.

Sending specific emails with segmentation

Email marketing platforms allow you to get really fancy with sending specific emails to specific people at specific times. This is what can make email marketing daunting but it also offers a lot of amazing opportunities.

Some examples of what you can do with segmentation:

Send an email to people who downloaded a specific free resource with an special offer for a product that fits with that free resource
Let people pick the topics they are interested in and only sent them emails about those topics
Segment people that have bought something from you ever and send specific emails to your customers only
Learn more about your audience that is relevant to your business, for instance how much they already know about marketing
Exclude buyers of a certain offer from sales emails about that offer, since they already have it

Hopefully this article has helped you realise the potential email newsletters offer you and now you want to set up your email marketing platform too.

Feeling overwhelmed by all these steps? You don’t have to figure it out alone. Book a connection call and let’s talk about how I can help you set up your email marketing the right way.

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