Have you heard of many ways to increase your page views? Are you skeptical of some of them? Do they sound like gimmicks, perhaps? Maybe they are just too time-consuming to even consider considering you are trying to navigate life both in and out of the blogosphere.
I heard of many of those ways myself. When one person suggested it, I was so overwhelmed with learning all that blogging entailed, I was skeptical. When several people suggested it, I was intrigued. When someone told me they solely credited their blogging success to it, I was hooked. The suggestion was to have an Email list.
In a recent blog post, I explained the importance of networking. I believe it is the one key to blogging to success. I called it Secrets of Successful Bloggers, but as one of my readers noted, there is only one secret. I believe networking is the definitive answer to increasing traffic and ultimately followers. One way to network is to have an Email list.
I resisted using MailChimp fearing it was overwhelming to learn and therefore time-consuming to learn and to use. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Welcome to the MailChimp Tutorial!
Step 1: Go to mailchimp.com and sign up for free!
Step 2: You could start in any order, but I started by clicking Lists. This is your Email list.
Click Create New List. Name your list and fill in the other information MailChimp asks for. Click Save.
Step 3: Click Add Subscriber.
Copy paste the Emails you receive in your blog comments into MailChimp. To ensure you are not stealing Emails, you need to check This person gave me permission to be added to my list. Click Subscribe.
The best part is that if they are unhappy you are contacting them through their Email, they can click Unsubscribe at the bottom. It isn’t awkward that they don’t want to be on your Email list since they are not asking you to take them off directly.
If you get repeat commenters (wouldn’t that be great?), the MailChimp memory will tell you that the reader is already on your Email list, so you don’t have to worry about keeping track.
I was afraid readers would be angry I was contacting them through their Email when they had not signed up for my blog via Email. On the first Wednesday I tried this I notified people that my Linky party was going to end in a few days. Initially I sent it as a reminder. Then, I gave a recap of the week on my blog sending out links to the posts I’d written. Instead of being angry, people wrote to thank me.
Step 4: Click Campaign and Select Create A Campaign. For the sake of ease and simplicity (is that the same thing?), choose Regular Ol’ Campaign.
A “Campaign” is simply your newsletter or whatever you want to send the people on your Email list.
Step 5: Choose the list you want to send your campaign to.
You will now see your Navigation Menu at the bottom of the screen.
Step 6: Choose Setup and fill in the information asked for. You want to write a good Subject Line so people are interested enough to read your Email. MailChimp can help with this if you need.
Step 7: Click Template. For the sake of ease and time constraints, I recommend choosing the simplest template, 1 Column. Click on it if you want to preview it first. Otherwise, click Select. If you find yourself in preview mode, just “X” out, and you’ll be in the designer mode.
Edit the copy boxes and image box the way you like. If you’d prefer, you can edit predesigned templates by clicking Themes.
By using MailChimp, people who don’t subscribe can read your information. This is a view of the Design area.
How to Edit the Template: Hover your mouse over the area you want to edit; it will turn black, and an icon of a pencil will appear at the top. Click it. On the right side of the screen, you will be able to edit the text box.
Don’t forget to edit the entire template including the very bottom where it gives readers the chance to Unsubscribe.
Click Save and close.
After you send your first “Campaign,” it will be saved for you under Campaigns, and you won’t have to reinvent the wheel so to speak.
Click Confirm and then Next.
Step 8: When you are happy with the List the Email is going to, the Subject Line, and the destination Email of the replies, click Send. Be prepared for Oh, So, Cute. The MailChimp’s paw will come out to give you a high five!
I kept hearing and reading about the value of an Email list but didn’t comprehend just how valuable until I started using one myself. Wednesday is a typically low page view day for me, so I don’t publish. Instead, I send out my Email list. I was told that you get a “bump” in stats on days you publish. My page views are just as high on Wednesdays as if I’d published. Do I know it’s a direct result of using my Email list? Absolutely. The page views are primarily distributed among the posts I’d notified my readers of in the Email.
If you think someone can benefit from using MailChimp, please share. If you have tried Aweber and would like to share your experiences, I’m sure my readers and I would love to know the difference between MailChimp and Aweber and which you prefer. I look forward to your views.
