How to Create a Newsletter

Once you create your Newsletter and Site, maintaining it is simple, but there are a few key things you have to do right if you want the Newsletter to grow and work in a way that both serves your clients and grows your business:

• You need to have a simple yet effective website that clearly expresses what you offer readers for the right set-up.
• You also need an email Newsletter template that you can consistently use each week to efficiently attract and engage new and existing clients.
• You need to integrate your website with email marketing software (I recommend using ConvertKit) to grow your list and track success for measurable results and a system for curating content.
• Lastly, you’ll need a system in place for tagging and cataloging all of the articles, photos, and videos you want to share and write about.

To get started, begin with:

1. Selecting a platform to build your site

WordPress and Squarespace are two good options.

Squarespace is an all-in-one solution that allows you to both build and host your site on the same platform. The site offers pre-built templates that are intuitive to customize with your logo, colors, fonts, photos, and videos.

WordPress is a free content management system. You’ll also need a service to host the site and a theme to provide the architecture and framework for your site. I suggest you use WP Engine All-in-one to host your site. The service also provides you with 30+ pre-built StudioPress WordPress templates that are fully integrated with SEO and performance features such as site speed and security to help you have the best site possible. You can also purchase additional themes directly through StudioPress that will work with your WP Engine Genesis Theme framework.

If you want to create your own WordPress website or make revisions to a pre-built WordPress Theme, you’ll need to work with a WordPress Theme Builder, such as Thrive Themes and Elementor to your site.

Thrive Theme Builder is a standalone WordPress theme that allows you to choose custom fonts, colors, headers, footers, and more. It also has premade layouts that you can choose from to intuitively and quickly build your site.

Elementor is a leading page builder plugin for WordPress that allows you to customize your site’s colors, font, and page layout. There is a free version; however, to integrate with ConverKit you’ll need to have Elementor Pro.

2. Email Software

Next, you’ll need to connect your site to an email marketing software to attract, nurture, and track your list when they opt-in.

Your mailing list is one of the most important assets your business owns. Therefore, you want a way to easily measure and track the success (click rate and click popularity) of each of your email Newsletters.

I recommend you use ConvertKit since it’s intuitive to use and quick to integrate with WordPress and Squarespace. The simple design, excellent resources, and community make it easy to work with. Plus it was specifically made for creators.

3. Curating and Creating Content

When curating and creating content for your email Newsletter you’ll want a system that makes it easy for you to research and save articles. Two tools that will help curate content are:

Pocket is an app and web service that provides you with a list of articles and videos from the internet. It’s a place where you can save and organize articles that you find on Pocket and other sites that you want to read and use for your curated email Newsletter.

Feedly is a news aggregator app that compiles news feeds from online sites. You can then customize the feeds according to your interests. The app easily works with Pocket where you can save articles to read later or tag them to use in your Newsletter.

You’ll also want to subscribe to newsletters that are related to your topic. Focus on the best articles that offer advice on ways your audience can solve a problem. Articles that inspire your audience to take action.

Sounds like a lot, right? It is. But you don’t have to worry. It’s easy and profitable once you get the hang of it.

Sign up for my email Newsletter on curated email Newsletters delivered to your inbox each week.