In case you missed it…I’m constantly talking about how my husband is giving me blog advice. Like all the time.
Often times when he rattles off: “Hey babe, you should do {fill in the blank} with your blog”….I give him the side eye.
The really evil side eye.
Not because I don’t think he’s right {because a lot of times he is – gawd, did I just admit that?}. Mostly because it’s just one more thing to add to my “blogging list of to-do’s”. And if you have a blog…you know the list I’m talking about, right?
Oh my word, it’s never ending. If only I had 23 more hours in a day. Then I could be the blogger I want to be. Bahaha!
When he approached me a few years ago about “starting my email list“…I instantly put my hands over my ears and started singing “row row row your boat….”!
He continued to hassle me about it for 2 years. Oh yes, he is persistent that husband of mine.
So I finally removed my ear muffs and let him fancy me with his “blog advice”. And wouldn’t-cha-know-it he was right again. Darn him.
Email lists are not only important, but they are a vital part of connecting with your audience. I wasted a good few years being too stubborn to start mine, but I am happy to report that I have gone from 0 to almost 3,000 subscribers in just one short year.
One thing I wasn’t super crazy about was the lack of design options when it came to my subscribe box. I adore AWeber, but they just don’t offer a ton of fancy options {and a girl likes fancy I tell ya}.
I’m not exactly a web designer so creating my own custom subscribe box wasn’t an option for me. Kudos to those of you who can pull that off…can you teach me?
I wanted an easier solution.
In steps….OptinSkin. A WordPress plug in that lets you create custom {AND PRETTY} subscribe boxes! It is a premium plug in so there is a cost to it, but it has saved me hours of frustration.
Just to show you how easy it is to use I filmed this quick tutorial on how I use the OptinSkin WordPress plug in on my site, House of Rose.
Do you have an email newsletter? If so, what do you use to customize your subscribe boxes?
If you are interested in setting up an email newsletter then check out Starting An Email Newsletter 101.
I have an optin box but not a lot of subscribers. Do you guys offer blogging coaching? HOw long did it take you to actually make money from your blog? Thanks
@ Alyssa Currently we do not offer blogging coaching. 🙁 Not enough time in our day.
On our income reports, we’re always clear to inform people that it takes time before you start making any real money from blogging. For me, it took almost 2 years before I was making over $1,000/mo from blogging. My wife was much longer.
My website is pretty new, so starting an e-mail newsletter has been top on my list for . . . about 3 months. (You’re right, that blogging list is really long!) I’m finally taking tangible steps toward getting it done, but I had no clue how to design something that would match my current brand. Thanks so much for this!
I do have one other question about newsletters I’d like your input on if you’re willing to share. To comply with anti-spam laws, newsletter services require a mailing address to be sent out at the bottom of each newsletter. I work from home, and I’m not comfortable having my home address e-mailed out to each of my subscribers, especially since my husband travels fairly often. Would you recommend getting a P.O. box to get around this, or am I just being ridiculous and too uptight about privacy?
I love this blog! Thanks again for being willing to share all the tips and tricks that have made your blogs so successful.
@ Ashley Great question! And yes, I totally understand about not wanting to share your home address to your newsletter subscribers.
Here’s what we did…..
Opening a PO Box is definitely a viable option. We started a separate LLC for our business and with that I wanted to have a “real looking” address; not a PO Box. Getting a tip from another blogger, I got a mailbox from our local Mailboxes, Etc. I think you can do this at a UPS Store, too.
Instead of having a PO Box address, you have a real street number with a Suite #. To the unsuspecting person, you now seem like a more legitimate business because of it. 🙂
I think our mailbox runs us about $120 year so it’s not super expensive. Hope that helps!
Ashley.. they are not my fav but Feedblitz does not need an extra address.. they are like feedburner (but more customizable) in that THEY are the address..
Or if you don’t need much customizing and don’t want to pay try feedburner..