Recently I realized email is the most reliable way to keep readers up to date with A Duck’s Oven. Social platforms are increasingly pay-to-play — Facebook limits organic reach unless you boost posts, Twitter limits your message length, and Instagram makes it harder for people to click through to your blog. Email gives you control over what you send, how often you send it, and how it looks.
I already had some email subscribers, but not nearly as many as I had on social channels. I wanted a steady, easy way to grow that list. After researching my options, I settled on a few steps that worked well for me.
Disclaimer: MailChimp is simply the service I use and recommend based on my experience; this post is not sponsored.
1. Use a dedicated email service
If you don’t have an email signup option, or you’re still relying on Feedburner, switch to a dedicated email service such as MailChimp. For smaller lists (under 2,000 subscribers and fewer than 12,000 emails per month) many services, including MailChimp, offer free plans. They give you far more control and better analytics than Feedburner.
I switched to a weekly newsletter instead of sending an email for every new post, which suits my posting frequency better. To migrate from Feedburner, export your subscribers via Publicize > Email Subscriptions > Subscription Management > Export: CSV, then upload that CSV to your new service.
Once imported, deactivate your Feedburner subscriptions so you don’t double-mail people. The process was straightforward and saved me a lot of hassle. A dedicated email service also gives you campaign analytics: who opened your emails and who clicked links, so you can refine your approach.
2. Make the signup form easy to find and use
Make subscribing effortless. I added a signup button to my blog’s Facebook page and placed a simple, visible form in my blog sidebar. The fewer fields and steps required, the more people will sign up.
3. Offer something valuable in exchange for subscribing
Give readers a clear, worthwhile reason to join your list. If you sell products or services, a coupon is effective. For content creators, consider an exclusive digital item. I took inspiration from other food bloggers who offered recipe eBooks in exchange for signups.
An eBook doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive to create. I used Apple Pages to assemble a simple eCookbook of my most popular recipes and exported it as a PDF/ePub. I designed a cover in PicMonkey and Photoshop, then uploaded the PDF to MailChimp and included a “Download” button in the campaign email to deliver the file.
Because I focused on delivering value via email, I made a blog post explaining the eCookbook and embedded a signup form directly in that post. I announced it on social media as well, and then tracked the results in MailChimp.
After the launch, signups increased noticeably. Before this I might have gotten one or two new subscribers a week; after offering the eCookbook I consistently gained three to five new subscribers weekly. Within three weeks my email list grew by 25% — a significant improvement.
To keep the offer visible, I added a “Free eCookbook” tab on the blog and linked the cover image in the sidebar to the signup post. This reminded visitors the free resource was available and continued to drive signups.
Why this worked:
- It cost me only time — plenty of it, but no money.
- The eCookbook offered genuine value, so people felt it was worth subscribing.
- Signing up was simple; I didn’t require multiple actions like following on social platforms in addition to subscribing.
I hope these tips help you grow your blog’s email list. What strategies have you used to increase your subscribers?