Best Email Marketing Services for Bloggers

Find out the best email marketing services for bloggers and why it’s so important if you want to grow your blog and make money.

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Why Bloggers Need an Email Marketing Service

First things first, you need an email marketing service as a blogger. This is not the same as an email provider, like gmail. And it’s different as well from getting a professional email address through your webhost like yourname@blogdomainname.com. You should do that too though.

To grow your blog and make money, you will need to build a list. The top reasons for building your own subscriber list are:

• capture leads before a reader leaves your website to never return
• not dependent on social media to reach your readers
• more control over what you can share and when
• drive repeat traffic to your site
• best connection to create relationships with your ideal readers
• can sell your own products and services in your emails
• share many affiliate products and services directly to your readers

If you’re not sure what email marketing is or why you need it as a blogger read Why Email Marketing for Bloggers Matters (and How to Start for Free) first.

If you’re ready to get started with email marketing, and want to compare some of the most popular services, keep reading!

Choose from the Best Email Marketing Services for Bloggers

Your email marketing system is the provider that will manage your subscriber list and allow you to easily create signup forms, landing pages, and email broadcasts. A broadcast is another way of saying “email newsletter” which is both an outdated, and overwhelming, term. You don’t need to create a newsletter every week, just an email.

I have personally used all but one of the following email marketing services, listed in order of most recommended to least.

ConvertKit Email Marketing

ConvertKit is my personal favorite which I currently use and strongly recommend to all bloggers. I love that ConvertKit was designed for creators by creators, and is a perfect fit for a content creator like you.

The free plan includes every feature you need to start. With ConvertKit‘s free plan you can build a list, send unlimited broadcasts, tag and segment subscribers as needed. You can also create beautiful signup forms and landing pages, offer a downloadable free gift, and sell digital products.

ConvertKit offers a free WordPress plugin that makes is easy to integrate your forms and landing pages with your site.

When you’re ready, upgrade to a ConvertKit Complete Plan and unlock the power of automations and integrations. This allows you create a welcome sequence for new subscribers, and offer an email course or series. You can seamlessly integrate with ecommerce, course creation and webinar platforms.

Email marketing is a must have investment for your blogging business if you’re serious about making money.

Great Features of ConvertKit’s Free Plan:

• Clean, easy to use dashboard and interface
• Unlimited signup forms and landing pages
• Create and schedule unlimited email broadcasts
• Seamless integration with WordPress
• Powerful FREE plan includes up to 1000 subscribers
• Never double-charged for the same subscriber
• Organize your subscribers easily with tags and segments
• Sell digital products easily, even with the FREE plan
• Automatically drops unsubscribers
• Highlights cold subscribers for re-engagement or removal
• Easy to resend a broadcast to subscribers who didn’t open
• Email subject line A/B split testing
• Great free courses, blog articles and customer support

There’s one thing to know about ConvertKit as you do your email marketing service research. Until recently, ConvertKit only offered a Free Trial, not a Free Plan up to 1000 subscribers.

You now have the option to start with a ConvertKit Free Plan or the 14-Day Free Trial which includes all the features of the paid plan for two weeks. After the Trial, you can downgrade to the Free Plan for as long as you like (up to 1000 subscribers).

Pro Tip: Start with the Free Trial so you have access to everything from day one. This will give you a greater sense of what you’re able to do with ConvertKit so you can begin planning ahead.

If you choose not to upgrade to a paid Creator Complete Plan for $29/month (or $25/month if paid annually) you can just downgrade to the Free Plan.

MailerLite Email Marketing Service

MailerLite is another email marketing system often recommended in blogger groups. I’ve included it so you can do your own research, as it’s the only one on this list I’ve never personally used. I have researched it extensively though, and still chose ConvertKit.

MailerLite has a free plan that offer automations, drag and drop email builders and more up to 1000 subscribers. It’s easy to start strong with their library of helpful tutorials.

There are a few more features in MailerLite’s free plan than there are in ConvertKit’s. However, not enough to hold me back from building my list, connecting with readers and even selling services online. All with the free plan.

AWeber Email Marketing System

I used and recommended AWeber email marketing for nearly 10 years.

It’s a solid system that allows you to grow with ease. Their free plan includes up to 500 subscribers.

When I started over with a new brand and a new blog, my first thought was to start using AWeber again, but I kept seeing bloggers recommend ConvertKit, so I did my research. Among other things, the vibe between the two services is quite different.

To me, AWeber is more aligned with the business owner, which I am and have been for many years. But ConvertKit appealed more to the content creator in me, which is also who I am and have been for many years.

Indeed, ConvertKit specializes in email marketing for content creators, like us.

Email Marketing Services Not Recommended

I’ve used Constant Contact and MailChimp, and had nothing but problems. MailChimp is wildly popular because they’re free plan has been around longer than the rest. But the minute you want an extra feature from MailChimp, things gets complicated (more on this below).

Vibe-wise, MailChimp’s monkey mascot feels childish to me and not at all on brand for my blog. It always strikes me as unprofessional when I see that logo at the bottom of an email I receive.

How Email Marketing Services Charge You

Another important point to consider as you research email marketing services is what you’ll pay for later when you need to upgrade from the free plans.

MailChimp and AWeber are both list-based systems. That means they count each subscriber to each list individually, even if they are the same person subscribed with the same email address. You will pay for duplicates as well as those who unsubscribe.

ConvertKit and MailerLite are both subscriber-based. You can tag and segment subscribers into different interest groups, but they are only counted once. You won’t be charged for duplicates or people who unsubscribe. No brainer, am I right?

Why I No Longer Use Fancy Email Templates

If you’ve looked at ConvertKit you may be wondering, where are the fancy email templates the other email marketing services offer? ConvertKit doesn’t have them and surprise – it’s my absolute favorite feature of ConvertKit.

For years, I fussed over the look of my email broadcasts, more often called newsletters or ezines then. I also fussed over the design of email newsletter templates for my clients. In retrospect, it was not the best use of time.

Look at the emails you get. Not the ones from the big corporations, but the regular ones you actually open and read. In all likelihood, they are simple, plain text emails, maybe with a logo and a photo or two, at most. They feel more intimate and are easy to read. They don’t look overstimulating or like advertisements.

The fancy emails built on fancy templates rarely ever look the way you imagine once they hit your reader’s inbox. These emails are less likely to be opened, and more likely to end up in spam folders.

I have never been so consistent about sending emails to my list as I am with ConvertKit. And that’s what it’s all about! Growing your list, providing value and creating loyal fans is the point of email marketing and ConvertKit does the best job of helping you stay focused on that.

I recommend ConvertKit as my pick of email marketing services for bloggers. And if you must have fancy email templates, take a look at MailerLite instead.

Best Email Marketing Service for Bloggers

The most important thing is to pick one and start building your list. Which system you choose will ultimately come down to personal choice.

I’ve used many email marketing systems since 2005 and when I did my research to start over in 2020, I chose ConvertKit and I’ve been very happy with it. It is the best email marketing service for bloggers.

Two Great Ways to Get Started with ConvertKit

ConvertKit offers two ways to get started and start playing around with all the great features in ConvertKit. You can start building optin forms and landing pages to entice readers to join your list. And you can send email broadcasts as soon as you have your first subscribers.

Option 1: ConvertKit Free Plan

You can choose the ConvertKit Free Plan which includes great features you can use right away and stay with it for as long as you like up to 1000 subscribers. You will eventually want to upgrade to a paid plan for more advanced features, but that can wait until you’re making money.

Option 2: 14-Day Free Trial (Recommended)

Your second option is to start off with a 14-Day Free Trial of ConvertKit. This option gives you all the features of the free plan plus the advanced features of the paid Complete Plan to try out for two full weeks. Some of the advanced features include sequences, visual automations, and integrations which the free plan does not include.

Pro Tip: Start with the Free Trial so you have the best idea of how powerful ConvertKit email marketing really is. You can always downgrade to the Free Plan after your Trial if you choose.

How Do You Like ConvertKit?

If you’re using ConvertKit, what’s your favorite feature? Or if you have any questions to help you get started, share in a comment below!

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