Email Marketing … is it dead? This is the question small business owners have been asking over and over again. I’m going to let you in on a (BIG) little secret … NO … email marketing is not dead and it’s the single most effective way to engage with your audience!
Let’s Get Started
If you’re just getting started or already have a list but you want to build that list to generate more sales, views or just keep your audience coming back, email marketing is just for you. 
1. CHOOSE YOUR EMAIL PROVIDER
The very first thing you need to do if you’re getting started with email marketing is to choose an email provider. There are plenty of free options out there (especially while you’re building your list). Here are the top 3 free email providers:
I use ConvertKit and love the simplicity of its features and offerings. Depending on what your small business does (i.e., sell, blog, instruct) you’ll want to take a look at what these email providers offer as your business continues to grow. For instance, if your business mostly sells products, make sure the provider you choose has options for automation. Automations help you stay connected to your customers by “automatically” sending out emails at some time in the future. Let’s say you have a customer who recently made a purchase from your site. You can set up an automation for a recent purchase asking your customer if they were happy with the product they received, inquire about the check out process and basically gain some really valuable information for your business.
2. SET UP YOUR WELCOME EMAIL
The very first thing you’ll need to do is set up your welcome email. This email is your first chance to connect with your audience/customer. You’ll want to thank them for trusting you with their email, let them know how often they’ll hear from you and what to expect from you in the future. It’s important to nurture your audience and make them feel welcome while adding value to their lives. 
3. CREATE A FORM FOR YOU WEB SITE
Once you have your welcome email all set up, you’ll need a place to gather those emails. Forms are what you’ll place on your website to capture those emails. Most email providers have templates you can use to make this task easy. Once you’ve selected a form and have it connected to your welcome email, you’ll need to place it on your site.
Now that you have your form ready to go, you’ll want to grab the code and EMBED that code on any pages where you’d like to gather email addresses.
You can see a copy of my email form here. I wanted to keep mine simple (and I’d love for you to sign up for my email list as well)!
4. MAKE A THANK YOU PAGE
After your reader has signed up for your email list, it’s nice to send them to a Thank You page. This can be one page where you thank your audience for trusting you with their email as well as a place to share valuable information with them. Here are a few things to include on your thank you page:
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- Make sure you have a line on there for your reader to check their spam folder for your email.
- Alert your reader to the email address that your emails will be coming from.
- This is a good place to let your reader know what else you offer on your site! Highlight your value to them here!
- Make sure you have a link to contact you if they didn’t get your email.
Email marketing is the single most effective way to connect with your audience/customers! Make sure your site is all set up from the beginning to grab those emails and start nurturing your audience today!
