Email marketing can be an effective way to build your blog readership. But you have to do it well. Get it wrong and you risk alienating readers. It’s all about being appropriate. Sending too many emails can result in email overload and readers will unsubscribe from your emails and may quit visiting your blog.
Ensuring that your email marketing is really effective means that you need to send high quality emails no more than once or twice a week.

What Constitutes Quality?

The emails you’re sending need to be highly relevant and offer value to your readers. When I sign up for emails from the Gap, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. They send me occasional emails informing me of significant sales events. I respond by purchasing clothing. They don’t abuse me with spam or email overloads and they reap rewards from me for their restraint.
Bloggers need to think about their emails in the same way—give readers value. Don’t send them daily emails about upcoming blog posts. That can begin to resemble spam. Send an email before an especially gripping series of articles—maybe on a Monday before a weekly series begins. That can help ensure that readers will enjoy and even anticipate your emails.

Harness the Power of Timeliness

Emails that use season specific themes work well. But beyond integrating holiday themes, start thinking about timeliness in terms of current events. When you can offer unique and articulate blog posts about timely events in which readers have high interest, you can leverage timeliness into an email that’s sure to get read. That goes a long way to driving readers to your blog and sharing your blog with friends. Well-written material with timely content can produce good buzz. And there’s no better way to build your blog than the ability to consistently produce buzz. If something monumental occurs over a weekend, strike while the iron is hot. Begin writing content and email your readers on Monday morning. Let them know you have a series of timely posts going up over the course of the next week.

Be Personable

When people sign up for email newsletters, make sure you have an area where they can put their birthdays and any personal details they want to share. Any information you can garner will allow you to increase your ability to be more personable. Sending birthday greetings and holiday wishes goes a long way to solidifying readership loyalty. Letting readers know you appreciate them and don’t take them for granted will make them feel more connected. And the whole purpose of your emails is effectively connecting with readers.

Social Media Integration

When you have an effective email marketing campaign, you can leverage your readership into your social media efforts. Your Twitter and Facebook blog promotion can benefit greatly. Encourage individuals via email to subscribe to your Twitter feed and “like” you on Facebook. This can turn dedicated readers into fervent retweeters of your blog posts and garner new readers from their followers. And when readers “like” your Facebook status updates two things can happen. Those “likes” show up in their friends’ newsfeeds and can drive them to your blog. But the best result is when a “like” turns into a comment. That’s the start of your readership beginning to interact with you and reader interaction is a sign of engagement and increased connection. That means you’re making great progress in continuing to build your blog.