What if showing up in your audience’s inbox every week didn’t require staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what to say?
If you are already writing a weekly blog post, you probably have more content than you realize, and your email newsletter can be the thing that makes sure people actually read it.
*Basic* email marketing tips are everywhere, but most of them assume you are starting from zero or have hours to dedicate to crafting a full email from scratch every week. What I want to talk about here is how to build something sustainable, something that works even on the weeks where you are already stretched thin, and how to make it genuinely worth opening for the people on your list.
Whether you are just getting started or you have been sending inconsistent emails for years and want to finally feel like you have a system, this is for you.
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The Lazy Girl Setup That Actually Works (and I mean that as a compliment)
The fastest way to get your email newsletter up and running is to connect it directly to your blog using an automated RSS campaign. I know platforms like Mailerlite*, Mailchimp and likely many others support this. You set it up once, lock in your design, and then every time you publish a new blog post, an email goes out to your list automatically.
Girl…. That is it! You seriously do not have to touch it again (unless you want to).
This is not a workaround or a shortcut in a negative sense. It is a smart use of work you are literally already doing, silly! If you are publishing content consistently on your website, your email list deserves to see it. The RSS campaign is the bridge.
The one catch here is consistency on your end. You do not have to send an email every darn day or even every week, but you do need to show up regularly enough that your audience gets used to hearing from you.
If someone signs up and then goes six months without a single email, they have basically forgotten who you are by the time you do send something. Staying top of mind is kinda the whole point.
What Goes in a Blog vs. What Goes in an Email Newsletter?
This is a question I get a lot from clients, and the honest answer is that they serve different purposes and different audiences in different moments.
Your blog is written for people who have not found you yet. It is evergreen, searchable, and designed to bring in new readers through Google. A good blog post can drive traffic for years. The goal is discoverability, and the tone tends to be more informational, a little like a helpful introduction to who you are and what you know.
Your email newsletter, on the other hand, is written for people who already like you enough to hand over their inbox. That is a different kind of trust, and your emails can reflect that. They can be more personal, more conversational, a little more inside-baseball. It is the difference between a public talk and a conversation with someone who already follows your work.
Here is how I think about it practically: if I am writing something that will help a stranger find me through search, it goes on the blog. If I am writing something that is more of a check-in, a behind-the-scenes look, or content I want my existing audience to have first, it goes in an email.
Related: How to Grow Your Email List with a Lead Magnet
How to Go From a Basic Email to Something People Actually Read
Once you have the RSS setup doing it’s thing, the next step is making your emails worth more than just “here’s my latest post.” This is where you can take something useful and make it genuinely valuable.
A few things that have made a real difference for my own emails:
- Add a short personal note at the top. Even two or three sentences that give context or a personal take on the topic you are linking to. This signals to your reader that there is a real person behind the email, not just an automated feed.
- Include a relevant offer or resource tied to the content. If you are sending a post about web design, mention your design services. If the post is about building an email list, that is a natural place to mention your quiz or your lead magnet. The email becomes a point of conversion, not just a content delivery system.
- Do not bury the lede in your subject line. Shorter subject lines, written in lowercase or sentence case, tend to perform better than formal-sounding ones. Ask yourself honestly: would I open this if it landed in my inbox? If it reads like a marketing email, it will get treated like one.
The Little Subject Line Trick That Boosted My Open Rates
I have tested this enough to feel confident saying it: short subject lines win almost every time.
Not just short, but specific and a little curious. You want to say just enough to make someone want to know more, without telling them everything up front. Think of it like a text from a friend rather than a newsletter blast.
Subject lines like “you need to read this” are vague. Subject lines like “the website platform I actually use” are specific and intriguing. Written in lowercase, they look like something a real person sent.
The goal is to get the click, and the click comes from curiosity, not information overload.
(One quick note: if you’re sending your email through an automatic RSS feed > email, it will typically pull the subject line as the title of your blog, but if you want more control over what it is, you can manually update it before it goes out.)
The Sneaky Engagement Section Nobody Talks About Enough
One of the simplest additions I have made to my emails recently has also been one of the most effective. At the end of each email, I ask my readers what they want to hear about next, and I make it stupid easy to respond by giving them numbered options.
Something like: “What would be most helpful right now? Reply with a number:
- Setting up my email list
- Improving my website
- Creating content consistently
(You may very well be one of the dozens people on my list that have responded to me in the past. If you are, then you know this works!!)
When people reply to your emails, it signals to inbox providers that your emails are worth delivering. It improves your deliverability, your open rates, and your click rates over time. But more than the technical benefit, it tells you what your audience actually wants, which makes every future email you write that much easier.
Related: What is an Email Nurture Sequence and Why You Need One
Can I Send More Than One Type of Email?
You can if you have the capacity… I think having two different email formats can serve your audience really well.
I personally send one weekly marketing-focused email with tips and tools, and a less frequent personal email that is more reflective and lifestyle-adjacent. Some subscribers are in different seasons of their business and what resonates with them shifts. Having both gives me a way to stay connected to more of my audience without trying to make every single email do all the things.
… BUT, if the idea of two emails feels like too much, start with one. Get consistent, see what your audience responds to, and grow from there.
FAQs About Email Newsletters
Consistency matters more than frequency. Once a week is great if you can sustain it. Once or twice a month is totally workable. The goal is to be predictable enough that people start to expect your emails and look forward to them.
Not at all. Some of the most effective emails I have sent have been three paragraphs. If you have something valuable to say, say it clearly and get out of the way.
Mailerlite is my go-to for ease of use and the RSS automation feature. Flodesk, Kit and Mailchimp are other popular options you are probably familiar with it, but the best platform is the one you will actually use.
Start with your subject lines. Then look at how often you are sending and whether your content is genuinely valuable to the people on your list. Adding that reply prompt at the end of your emails can also help improve deliverability over time.
Yes, and you should. Evergreen content can be reintroduced to your list, especially as your audience grows and new subscribers join who have never seen it.
Email Newsletter Do’s and Don’ts (My honest take)
There is a lot of advice out there about email marketing, and some of it is genuinely contradictory depending on who you ask. So here is my take, based on what has actually worked and what I have seen trip people up.
- Do send consistently, even if that means scaling back your frequency to something you can actually maintain. One email a month that goes out reliably is worth more than a weekly newsletter that disappears for three months every time life gets busy.
- Do clean your list periodically. If someone has not opened a single email from you in six months or more, it is worth sending a re-engagement email before removing them. Keeping a list full of cold subscribers hurts your deliverability and skews your metrics in ways that make it harder to know what is actually working.
- Do mix up your content. Not every email needs to be a tips roundup or a promotional push. Letting some emails be more personal, more reflective, or just a quick check-in keeps your list from feeling like a broadcast channel and more like an actual relationship.
- Do keep your design clean and simple. Heavy graphics and elaborate templates can actually hurt deliverability and feel less personal than a plain text or lightly designed email. If your reader has to scroll past three banner images to get to the point, you have already lost them.
OK. Now for the don’ts…
- Don’t buy email lists. Ever. Beyond the obvious deliverability and spam issues, you are emailing people who never asked to hear from you, which is not a great foundation for trust.
- Don’t obsess over growing your list at the expense of serving the people already on it. A smaller, engaged list will always outperform a large, uninterested one. The goal is quality connection, not a vanity number.
- Don’t send emails just to stay visible if you have nothing worth saying. Your subscribers gave you access to their inbox, which is increasingly precious real estate. Use it intentionally.
- Don’t ignore your unsubscribes or treat them as failures. Someone leaving your list who was never going to buy from you is actually good for your metrics and your deliverability. Let them go without resentment.
Related: How to Use a Quiz to Grow and Segment Your Email List
The Takeaways
Your email newsletter does not have to be a totally separate thing that lives apart from everything else you are doing. It can (and should be) a natural extension of your blog, your voice, and the work you are already putting out into the world.
Start simple. Set up the automation. Show up consistently. And then, when you are ready, make it more personal, more strategic, and more connected to the things you actually sell.
The emails that feel worth reading are the ones where someone can tell a real person wrote them. That is your advantage, and it does not require a complicated system to pull off.
Key insights to keep in mind: consistency beats perfection every time, short subject lines outperform clever ones more often than not, and replies from your subscribers are not just engagement, they are infrastructure for your future deliverability.
Ready to set up your email strategy or connect your newsletter to a site that actually converts? I offer VIP days where I can help you set it all up! Reach out here to work together.
