Not to mention, my newsletter is one of my favorite elements of my writing career. I love showing up in people’s inboxes to inspire, motivate, and remind them of their capabilities.

But the question is: how? How do you create a newsletter? 

Today, I am taking you from zero to 100 and laying out all the elements of building a power-packed newsletter that consistently arrives in your readers’ inboxes.

Grab the notebook. It’s about to get nitty-gritty. 

Start with a concept.

All good products and services exist because they offer a solution to something. They provide value. The same should go for newsletters. It’s one thing to send out a random newsletter with random writing in it, but it’s another thing to have a theme and mission for what you’re doing.

What is a problem you want to help solve?

Girls Night In is an email newsletter with over 150,000 subscribers. Their mission: to provide weekly inspiration for the ones who’d rather stay in than go out. The mission is clear, and as a result, the target audience becomes clearer. If you dread facials, bubble baths, and movie nights, then this newsletter is probably not for you.

Having a mission will help you stay on track and give others a reason to sign up for your offering.

So dig deep: what’s on your heart? What do you wish existed that doesn’t exist right now?

Perhaps it doesn’t exist for a reason– maybe you’re meant to create it.

 

Eight years ago, I wanted a pep talk on Monday mornings to remind others how strong and capable they are. I wanted reminders that God was with me and a reminder that this week would serve a purpose if I walked into it boldly.

That didn’t exist at the time, so I decided to create it.

I came up with a simple idea for a weekly newsletter. I called it the “Monday Club.”

My mission was to create a newsletter that would prepare people for the week ahead with a power-packed pep talk.

Little did I know the Monday Morning Email would become a cornerstone of my brand. This simple initiative tripled my readership and served as a springboard for my published works. Its impact and growth surpassed my wildest expectations– and it still does.

Ask yourself: If I could solve one problem for people through my writing, what would it be?

Would you help people become healthier versions of themselves?

Do you want to show people how to read their bibles more consistently?

Can you show others how to declutter their homes and live more peacefully?

What’s the problem you crave solving… something personal that holds meaning to you. Can your writing help solve that problem?

 

Make it your own.

Sadly, copycats are a massive problem on the Internet. Too many people see someone doing something well and decide to hijack the entire process. They mimic rather than take the time to be original.

Copying someone else’s ideas is never going to serve you. It might inspire you at the moment (and inspiration is amazing), but you want to be known for creating unique things.

Originality is birthed from getting alone in your creative space and daring to dream outside the box.

How do you want your newsletter to be different?

What fun things can you incorporate into the language or look and feel?

As you plan your newsletter, take some time to dream up its culture, camaraderie, and brand because, yes, it will take on its own life and personality.

Have fun with this part, and please try to do this creative brainstorming in an unplugged setting. It is okay to admire the work of other people, but there is also a time and place to get alone and do the work to make your creations your own.

Pick an email marketing service.

I am always asked what newsletter provider to use.

There are plenty of good ones out there, and I’ve done my fair share of research on most of them. I used Mailchimp for 8+ years, but honestly, I have spent many years unhappy with the look and feel of my emails. I value design, and I never felt like the look and feel of the emails I was sending matched the heartbeat of my writing.

Enter FloDesk.

I cannot even begin to tell you how FloDesk has transformed my email and business and saved me so much money. Sending out weekly emails used to be something I dreaded because I wouldn’t say I liked the way they looked. I spent hours trying to improve them and never felt much progress. But FloDesk not only has a beautiful interface that makes me feel organized when I’m working inside of it, but it also has gorgeous templates that don’t require any coding experience. From day one, I created the kinds of emails I’d always wanted to make.

Some email list servers will keep their services free until you hit a certain number of subscribers. I recommend paying for FloDesk from the very start because the price is manageable, and they never make you pay for the growth of your audience.

Want a trial period? Use my link to get 50% off your FloDesk subscription. It knocks the price from $38 a month to $19 (it’s honestly an unheard-of rate when it comes to email marketing)!

Draft a plan.

So you have a concept. A mission. A micro-brand. An email subscriber service.

Now what?

Plans. Are. Everything. We need a plan!

Too often, we fly by the seat of our pants, which works until… well… until it doesn’t anymore.

It’s perfectly normal to be excited and inspired at the start, but I can promise you that the work will eventually become monotonous and stale. For those days and weeks, you need a plan.

Here are some starter questions to consider:

Who are you targeting?

How often do you want to send out your newsletter?

What day and time will you send it out?

Pull out the calendar and start making some plans! 

It might seem a little strange to schedule things on your calendar, but it has been a game-changer in my business. Whenever I use my calendar to plan out newsletter content, I feel accomplished and organized. Those two feelings are huge dictators of how I go about my day.

Simple tasks like scheduling emails in advance make all the difference in how smoothly my newsletter shows up worldwide.

Batch some content.

You don’t have to know everything you’ll write about for the year, BUT I always recommend that people a) create a plan and b) create some content in advance because it will make launching your newsletter that much easier and more enjoyable for you.

When you launch something into the world and then suddenly have to cultivate a discipline of writing consistently week after week, pressure will start to build. It’s a lot of maintenance. It’s hard to keep up with a standard of discipline you hadn’t previously held yourself to.

I recommend launching with 4 to 5 pieces of content ready for the weeks ahead. I want you to enjoy the momentum of your launch without the extra pressure of creating the night before your email goes out to your readers.

I’ve learned over the years of writing every Monday (or at least getting pretty close) that people value consistency.

Consistency compounds. It establishes trust between you and your readers. And here’s something huge: in an age where it’s tough to gauge success by metrics (as the algorithm constantly shifts), you can learn to measure success through consistency. Consistency is a solid measurement. 

I look at my commitment to the Monday Morning Email in the same way I look at all my other commitments to my people in life: If I say I am going to be there, then I’ll be there, rain or shine. Some days I dread sitting down to write the Monday Club email but I know I committed to consistency. Sometimes I write something that I’m not totally in love with but, again, I committed to showing up.

Consistency will always make you better in the long haul- as a writer and as a human being.

 

Build a clean sign-up form.

After you’ve signed up for an email service provider, you will want to create a sign-up form for your newsletter. This will allow you to collect people’s email addresses and allow them to opt-in.

Your sign-up form should be clear, concise, and ultimately for the reader’s benefit. When writing the copy, you should show up to solve problems and offer solutions. It’s easy to want to make the sign-up form all about you, but the real impact comes from serving your readers and making them feel valued.

You want to keep this sign-up form prominent on your website or as a clear link in your profile so people can access it. You’ll want to point people to it repeatedly.

I know “promotion” can feel cringe but here’s what I remind myself every time I share about the Monday Club:

There are some new readers around here. And some old ones. Some of these people don’t even know that the Monday Club exists. This might be the wisdom and the content they’re searching for. Be proud of the hard work you’ve done. Trust that other people want to experience it. Put yourself out there, girl. People can’t access what you offer if they don’t even know you offer it.

 

Blast off (!!!)

Ready… set… launch! 

You’ve signed up for a subscriber service, you’ve created the template for your newsletter, you’ve pressed “SEND” on the very first letter. 

Now, it’s time to build, grow, and develop.

It’s okay if you only have a small number of people signed up for your newsletter. That number is going to grow and evolve over time. Remember: people are not numbers; they’re living, breathing humans. Whether it is one person signed up or 100, those are individuals who are investing in your work, and that is huge!

Please repeat after me: slow growth matters.

We all want to launch something new into the world and experience explosive growth, but there’s so much value in cultivating your readership daily, person by person.

Enjoy the process. Savor the growth. Connect with the people who hop into your inbox each week. One day, you’re going to look back and be glad you did all these things when the newsletter was so small.

The start of something new is exciting and such a learning experience. Remember this place: where you are right now as you’re reading this. I hope you look back on this moment one day and say to yourself: that was the moment I decided to start… I finally scrapped the excuses and just decided to go for it. That is when my life truly changed.

Want beautiful emails?

Sign up to try FloDesk today and take 50% off your subscription. I promise you’ll fall in love.