How to Build Your Free Email List with WordPress
As a blogger, you’ve likely heard of email marketing. Many top bloggers maintain their own email lists to engage exclusively with their followers. Building an email list allows you to directly connect with your audience and promote your products when you have them. It’s one of the fastest ways to gain a loyal following and increase exposure for new ventures. However, the cost of building an email list can be a major obstacle for many bloggers. In this article, we’ll show you how to build a substantial email list for free using WordPress.
Challenges Bloggers Face
Collecting emails can be expensive. Services like Aweber charge $19/month for a newsletter, and Mailchimp allows only 500 free subscribers before you have to start paying. These costs prevent many bloggers from starting their own email lists. A common mistake is waiting until you have a product to start building your list. When is the best time to start? The answer is RIGHT NOW. Start building an email list even if you don’t have a product yet. When you eventually create an e-book or another product, you’ll already have an audience to promote it to.
Solution
Use the WP Email Capture plugin by @rhyswynne. This plugin creates a simple two-field form for capturing emails (Name & Email). It employs double opt-in and allows you to forward opt-ins to services like ebooks or software. When you’re ready to start your email marketing campaign, you can easily export the list to your chosen email marketing service. We recommend using either Aweber or Mailchimp, as they are among the best. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!
Features
- Widget Ready
- Utilizes WordPress’ internal wp_mail function for sending mail
- Easily integrates with posts & pages
- Dashboard Widget
- Exports data into CSV files, compatible with most major email marketing programs (including Aweber, Mailchimp, Groupmail, Constant Contact)
- Double opt-in, ensuring compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act
- Completely free!