How to create an email list quickly for small business in 2022 (and beyond)

1 Choose an emailing service

I recommend you start with MailChimp or MadMimi, because they are free , so you can start building your email list, and when that list becomes huge they have very interesting pricing plans.
free services

MailChimp is free for  up to  12,000 emails/month sent to a maximum of 2,000 subscribers (that's 6 emails per month per subscriber having 2,000 subscribers, or 15 emails per month sent to 800 subscribers, or 31 emails per month sent to 387 subscribers) .
Mad Mimi is free  up to  12,500 emails/month sent to a maximum of 2,500 contacts (that's 5 emails per month per subscriber having 2,500 subscribers or 15 emails per month sent to 833 subscribers or 31 emails per month sent to 403 subscribers)

unlimited services

If you are looking for a paid option with unlimited emails per month, there are many options on the market. Here is my recommendation with unlimited emails and having between 1,000 and 5,000 subscribers:

Aweber ($29/mo and $49/mo)
Constant Contact  ($30/month and $50/month)
Emma ($30/month and $85/month)
FeedBlitz ($29/month and $50/month)
GetResponse ($15/mo and $45/mo, 50% discount available for nonprofits)
Mad Mimi  ($12/mo and $27/mo)
MailChimp ($15/month and $50/month)

Who wins? It always depends on the needs of each one but, between MailChimp and Mad Mimi, MailChimp wins in features and Mad Mimi wins in price . Which do you prefer? Those who need to analyze emailing campaigns in detail will greatly appreciate MailChimp’s statistics , which are very direct, but require a large number of clicks to take advantage of them. Mad Mimi’s stats, while more hidden and basic, are easy to see and understand.

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Mad Mimi offers fewer options overall, making it simple and easy for beginners. On the other hand, MailChimp offers customization that seems endless, along with the best options to offer exclusive free downloads to your subscribers. MailChimp allows multiple RSS to email campaignsper feed, while Mad Mimi requires a bit more work (add _1 to the end of the feed URL to be able to use it again). Mad Mimi’s design is more casual, while MailChimp gives an impression of professionalism (despite the chimpanzee). Everyone talks about great customer service from Mad Mimi, however I have never had a chance to contact MailChimp customer service because everything is so well organized and their knowledge base is so comprehensive. Ultimately, I chose MailChimp for my personal blog (control and flexibility are invaluable), and Mad Mimi for institutional use (price is right when it comes to large lists).

Note to affiliates : If you use affiliate links, you’ll want to pay close attention to MailChimp’s affiliate policy, especially if you want to make money from this theme. Mad Mimi, on the other hand, does not have a policy dealing with the use of other affiliate links, but does prohibit the use of affiliate links in its email campaigns (MailChimp affiliate links are included in the footer of each email). MailChimp email).

#2 Configure and import your lists/groups

Now is the time to think about the options you want to offer your subscribers . Sometimes the ability to choose what works best for your subscriber  will be the difference between clicking the subscribe button or not .

  • Monthly bulletin (Newsletter)
  • Blog posts as they are posted
  • A weekly summary of blog posts
  • Submitting entries from a specific blog category

lists vs. Groups : In Mad Mimi you are going to create multiple lists , one for each sending option, whereas in MailChimp you only need one list because each list can have multiple groups  and you have the option to send emails to different groups or segments (As I mentioned above, you need to trick Mad Mimi with a secondary feed like FeedBurner or FeedBlitz to create more than one RSS feed for each email campaign from the same site).

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to import

You may think that you are starting from scratch, but the reality is that you already have subscribers . The contacts you have in your Outlook address book are a good start, but what about the list of email addresses from your last book signing? What about the people who have told you, “Please let me know when you write a new blog post”? They are the ones who really want to be on your  email list . But whoever made the law cheated:  you can’t just add an email to an email list , you have to have permission to do so . You can do this in two ways:

  1. If you already have an email list in your address book that you use frequently, you can send an email saying, “I’m making the switch to a newsletter service. If you want to continue receiving my updates, you don’t have to do anything. But if you’d rather not be on my email list, please reply and let me know.”
  2. If you prefer not to assume anything , send an email to the email list  you have, informing them that it is a list where the newsletter will be sent and the benefits of the subscription. Be sure to include the link to the registration form and make it very clear that you will be very happy to add their email.

Import the email addresses you want to add active or passive permission to, remove that list from the address book, and promise to never spam your personal address book ever again. Make sure the first newsletter you send after you’ve imported that list includes a link to “update subscription preferences” and clearly explains that you need to update them.

Legal tip: Legally, you have to use a physical email address in the footer of the emails you send . Go with yourMastermind Group friends to get a PO Box (or forwarding service) if you don’t want your home address there (and you probably DON’T—see Christie’s “Blogger Beware” post in Allume).

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#3 Grow your list

The key to getting subscribers is having a registration form that is easy to find and fill out . Of course, make sure you ask for all the information you need, including choosing between groups or lists if necessary.
makes work easier

Put the registration form everywhere on the web page:

Put the registration form in the sidebar , at the top. MailChimp and Mad Mimi offer plugins to automate the verification process. For WordPress templates with Genesis, use the Genesis eNews Extended plugin . Look at my sidebar.
Create an eye-catching “Subscribe Now” image to place above or behind the subscription form
Create a subscription page on your website with an embedded version of the registration form. Also include your social networks on the confirmation page

Mention your email list in your blog posts and social media posts:


"My subscribers got to take a look at this..."
"I'm about to send out a new monthly newsletter. Are you already signed up?"

Freebie or freebie for subscribers

Create a free PDF that your subscribers can download. Make sure you have your website and contact information very clear in the PDF and specify that it is a free download for email subscribers only. It also includes that it will not be shared with anyone else, but that they can send it to their friends without problem.

If you want to have a really exclusive free download for your subscribers, don’t even link it directly in your email, as they are often forwarded or shared. The best method is to place the download link on the final confirmation page or in a welcome email. Do not offer the download unless they have activated the subscription ! Most importantly, you want to make sure that the free download link is not something that can be found by searching Google or on your website. I’ll show you how to make your free download available to new subscribers automatically:

MailChimp : Go to Lists > Signup Forms > General forms and choose the option “Confirmation thank you page” and/or “Final welcome email” (as long as the default setting specifies sending a welcome email). Mouse over the confirmation text and click “Edit”. Try something like “Click here to download your free gift”, highlight the text, choose the “Link” button, then select “File” from the dropdown options. Upload and select the PDF, then insert the link.
MadMimi : Go to Webform > Advanced, then “Edit activation message” and include the PDF download link in the custom activation message. It also allows you to include an "Activation Landing Page" link to a page on your site that includes the link to the free download (make sure it is hidden from search engines and your website's own search function).

#4 No spam or anything like it

Nobody likes spam. Don’t spam your subscribers . Be very clear in the way of sending the newsletter, the frequency and the type of information that you are going to share.

. Keep it long enough to be worth sending, but short enough to be easily read. Including exclusive content that cannot be found anywhere else, especially on your blog, will increase your open CTR.

  • Make sure you send emails that your followers want to receive . You are the one who has to adapt to the tastes and needs of your subscribers. If you see that you have users unsubscribing, this is one of the reasons to start doing things differently.
  • Don’t use exclamation marks or spammy words in email subject lines – it’s a sure way to miss inboxes and go straight to the spam folder. (How do I know? My own newsletter landed in my own spam folder when I used the word “free” in the subject line.) Use the  Email Spam Test  and  Email Subject Line Tester  to check the subject lines and content before sending the email campaign .

Plain text

More and more emails are being opened from mobile devices, many of which don’t display specific formatting, colors, or graphics. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the HTML version of your newsletter: always choose MailChimp’s drag and drop editor so you can create your own template that you can use again and again. Keep it clean, simple, and easy to read (remember, columns and colors display differently on every screen).

Pay close attention to the plain text version of your email, as this is what many of your readers will see. Use the previews to see if your email address still works without the images and make sure it doesn’t duplicate image links.

#5 Be consistent and creative

If you put “Email Newsletter” on your to-do list each month, that task is much more likely to get done. And you are going to use it for more than just advertising whatever affiliate sales you want to make. You can commit to sending a newsletter once a week for a month , just to get into the habit. If you just started, even better, so you don’t make mistakes like me.

Consistency breeds creativity . There is nothing worse than a boring newsletter. Jot down ideas from competitor newsletters or from bloggers you like. Your newsletter doesn’t have to be completely exclusive, but it also doesn’t have to be a copy of what was said on the blog the previous week.

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