Monetize Your Email List With 4 Smart Strategies [Podcast Ep. 19]
Wondering how to monetize your email list, ethically?
Then you’re in the right place because that is exactly what I’ll be covering in this episode of The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast!
Now let me be clear that I’m not talking about selling anyone’s data. Instead, I’m talking about learning how to make money with email marketing in a way that actually nurtures your subscribers.
More specifically, you’ll learn:
- The important steps to take before monetizing your email list
- How to make money with emails, even if you don’t have your own product
- Four specific email monetization strategies, including one that will help you profitably work with brands
- How to ensure your emails actually resonate with your specific audience
- And more!
Bonus: I also invite you to join my free list-building challenge to help really put what you learn in this episode into practice!
How To Monetize Your Email List – Podcast Episode Audio
Listen to the full episode using this embedded player…
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Profitable Emails To Send To Your List
After listening to the podcast, make sure to also check out this video sharing eight profitable types of emails to send to your list:
These are the types of emails that can help you increase product sales, affiliate clicks, and brand sponsorships — ethically and sustainably.
Free Resources For Travel Bloggers
To help you really jumpstart your blogging success, I’ve added 55+ blogging resources like printables, video tutorials, and workbooks into a FREE resource library for travel bloggers.
These resources are meant to help you grow your traffic, community, and income faster and with less overwhelm.
A number of these resources are also focused on how to make money with an email list, too!
I’m all about implementation and I really want to make sure you don’t just listen to the episode and forget about it, but that you actually use what I share to make your blogging life easier.
Monetizing Your Email List: Tools & Resources Mentioned
Here are quick links to the tools and resources mentioned in this episode on how to monetize your email list:
Email Marketing Membership from Liz Wilcox. For just $9 per month, you’ll snag access to weekly newsletter templates and swipe examples (with video trainings on how to use them), email marketing workshops, monthly guest expert Q&As, and more. Best of all, while her emails can help you increase sales, you *don’t* need to sell a product to utilize her workshops and templates!
Custom Brand Proposal Template. This will show you how to pitch an email campaign — or another type of campaign — to a brand. You’ll first need to opt-in to my email list to snag access to my free Travel Blogger Resource Library here. Then you’ll find the proposal template inside.
Beaver Builder Plugin. I use this to create beautiful landing pages using a drag-and-drop page builder. If you also use the Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder extension you’ll have bonus modules and features for your pages, like the ability to add an evergreen timer and make an offer disappear after a limited-time. Note that these are affiliate links. I genuinely use and love both products and I think you will, too!
Creating A Profitable Automated Email Sequence (With Template!) (podcast episode). Learn how to nurture new subscribers with an automated email series that also helps increase profits.
A Proven Step-By-Step Strategy For Growing Your Email List For Free (podcast episode). If you’re new to email marketing and growing a subscriber list, this episode is a great place to start learning.
Monetize Your Email List With These Helpful Past Episodes:
How To Grow Your Travel Blogging Income With A Tripwire Funnel
Create A Challenge That Grows Your Email List & Business Income
How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing As A Travel Blogger
Create A Profitable Automated Email Sequence (With Template!)
Press Trips 101: How To Get Paid To Travel As A Blogger
How To Create & Monetize A Blog Series
What To Send To Your Email List To Engage Your Community
How To Successfully Host & Promote Your Blog Giveaway
How To Write Better Emails With Email Storytelling
How To Make A Free Resource Page That Increases Your Affiliate Income
Monetize Your Email List – Episode 19 Transcript
As this episode is like an email list-building class, I want to make it clear right off the bat that when I say monetize your email list I don’t mean selling anyone’s information or email address.
In this episode, I’m talking about understanding email marketing for bloggers and learning ways you can grow and nurture an email list so that it helps to also increase your blogging income and grow your blog fast.
I never, ever, ever, ever recommend selling your subscriber email addresses as this is a sure way to ruin your reputation and it’s really just not a nice thing to do.
What I’m going to be sharing are strategies that show you how to make money blogging, while also empowering your community. After this episode, you’ll truly understand the major email list benefits — particularly as they relate to empowering others and growing your income.
Notes On Ethically Monetizing Your Email List
a) This list is not exhaustive. Truly, you should feel free to get as creative as possible. For instance, I also monetize my email list by following a proven product launch plan template! Another idea: presell an online course.
b) The best way to get the biggest return on investment — both in terms of making money blogging faster as well as having a positive impact — is sending every email from a place of service. Even when you’re trying to get your community to make a purchase you should have their best interests at heart.
c) Before you implement any of these strategies you’ll want to have a well-nurtured list; as in, you should be regularly sending value-packed emails so that you stay front of mind for your audience. If you’d like more help with this, please refer to the episode on Proven Strategies To Grow Your Email List, which I’ll link in the show notes.
Okay, let’s discuss four ways you can ethically make money sending emails.
Monetize Your Email List Strategy #1: Teach lessons and incorporate relevant affiliate partners
In terms of how to monetize a blog and become a paid travel blogger, it’s interesting that bloggers often share affiliate links on their websites; but, have you shared relevant affiliate partners with your email list, too?
Writing affiliate emails can be wildly powerful — as long as you’re choosing affiliate partners that would truly benefit your list.
One easy way to ensure you’re doing this is to think about how you’re getting people onto your email list. If you, say, create a challenge (like my free email list-building challenge) or host a free webinar on how to plan a round-the-world honeymoon, then it would be smart to choose affiliates that can be incorporated into emails that help people plan a round-the-world honeymoon.
Consider what problems these honeymoon-planners face, and how you can offer solutions to these problems.
For instance, if one issue is the cost of flights making the trip too expensive, you can share your favorite tool for finding deals and use an affiliate link.
Of course, just make sure to always disclose when you’re using these referral links and earning commissions.
Important note:
Not all affiliate programs allow links to be shared in emails; for instance, Amazon. Be sure to check the terms of a program before doing this.
Note that the teaching email is one of the most common email types to send in general, and it’s also one of the most powerful.
Now let’s move on to the second way you can make money with an email list:
Monetize Your Email List Strategy #2: Have a special offer on the email opt-in thank you page
If you’re wondering how to make money with email marketing, this is one of the most effective tactics.
Usually, this is known as a Tripwire, particularly if you include a really low-priced offer that’s available for a limited time and only on the thank you page. Typically this isn’t an offer they can get elsewhere.
What is important here is to make it targeted, so the offer should be relevant to how the person opted in.
If they opted in through a Monetize Your Travel Photography Cheat Sheet, you might offer your Profitable Travel Photography Template bundle that features sample contracts, project pitch templates, and sample workflows, or maybe your How To Launch Your Travel Photography Career course.
Or, maybe you learn how to create a free resource library, which can be an incredibly powerful opt-in freebie for growing your email list.
This guide can help you understand how to create freebies if this concept is new to you.
I’ve used this strategy before, and what I do is I use a plugin called Beaver Builder combined with a product called the Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder extension to create an evergreen timer.
This allows the tripwire to truly be limited-time, as if the person comes back to the page once the timer has expired it will be longer be available. You can set it up how you’d like, too, for instance, to say something like “Sorry this offer has expired. Click here to go back to the blog.”
By the way, if you need ideas on what to offer, here are some profitable digital products to sell online.
Now onto our third email monetization option:
Monetize Your Email List Strategy #3: Place a special offer at the end of your new subscriber automated email sequence
An automated email sequence refers to a series of emails your subscriber is automatically placed into. The goal is to nurture them right away, while you’re still fresh in their minds.
Think of it this way:
Going back to the Travel Photography Cheat Sheet example, if the new subscriber loved your cheat sheet, they’ll be excited to learn more from you; however, if you wait a few months to email them, they may have forgotten who you are.
It’s best to email while the new subscriber is warmed up and eager to learn about your topic.
Now there is a whole psychology around nurture sequences — which I go over in-depth in the podcast episode on Creating A Profitable Automated Email Sequence — but the relevance to what we’re talking about now is that at the end of this sequence, once the subscribe feels inspired, empowered, and ready to take action, you can pitch a relevant product that would further help them.
To make the offer more enticing, consider offering a special limited-time bonus to go along with the product.
This product, as always, should be something related to your opt-in freebie, which should be related to your blog’s mission, so it’s all nice and cohesive.
Important note on this:
To ensure this is all ethical and that you’re taking steps that will help you make money travel blogging and turn your website into a sustainable business, this product should be high-quality and should truly help your audience.
Don’t create something quick and cheap just to have an offer. Instead, take your time to create something that will positively impact those who purchase — which will lead to more sales, more positive buzz, and an easier time growing your community as you become known as an expert on your topic.
Moving on to our next idea for making money with email:
Monetize Your Email List Strategy #4: Offer sponsored placements in your newsletter
Interesting in learning how to make money sending emails by working with brands?
Many bloggers and influencers offer sponsored content on their blogs and social media channels, but did you know you can charge brands for placing them in front of your email subscribers if you have a well-nurtured list?
Often there is a price for a mention, and then a higher price for a feature email totally about the brand. You might also offer a discount if the brand purchases a series of mentions or features.
This is a great option as it’s a lot less work than writing a blog post, but can still lead to an excellent return-on-investment for the brand, as a well-nurtured email list tends to convert well.
Pro tip:
In order to ensure the best outcome for your audience and the brand, choose brands that your audience would actually be interested in, and position them in a way that would be interesting to your audience.
For instance, if you have a solo female travel audience and you’re working with a pickpocket-proof garments brand, don’t just copy and paste the brand’s About Page and say “purchase now!”
Instead, share a story email about how pickpocket-proof garments saved you from being pickpocketed while traveling solo, or share a strategy for best utilizing the products to make the benefits easier to visualize.
If you’re curious how to package this, you can opt in to my free Travel Blogger Resource Library to see a sample proposal with packages.
I want to end this episode on how to monetize an email newsletter with an important tip, and that is to monitor your analytics to see what your subscribers are responding to and what they aren’t.
This will give you some really great information on what people actually want to hear about from you, or what products they actually want you to create or promote. This will lead to a happier list of subscribers, and a more sustainable blogging business for you.
Now I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you feel inspired and empowered to go start building and nurturing your subscribers and implementing the above ideas on how to monetize your email list.
Before you go, make sure to subscribe to The Profitable Travel Blogger Podcast on iTunes so you don’t miss future episodes.
Happy blogging!
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