Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of building an email list from the outset for new content creators to establish a loyal audience and maintain control over their follower base.

Abstract

The article addresses a common pitfall among new creators: the failure to build an email list from day one. It underscores the long-term costs of this oversight, including the loss of a dedicated following that could have been nurtured from the start. The author, who learned from their own experience, argues that early subscribers are particularly valuable as they witness a creator's growth from the beginning. The piece also critiques reliance on social media platforms, which can change algorithms or cease to exist, leaving creators without a direct line to their audience. The solution proposed is to leverage email marketing services like MailerLite, which offers free features until a creator reaches 1,000 subscribers, allowing them to benefit from automation, pop-ups, and landing pages without upfront costs. The author advocates for MailerLite due to its generous free tier, comprehensive features, and affordable paid plans, making it suitable for new creators looking to establish a direct and independent connection with their audience.

Opinions

The author believes that not building an email list from the beginning is a significant mistake for new creators, leading to regret and missed opportunities to connect with a loyal audience.
It is suggested that creators undervalue the importance of an email list, mistakenly thinking that social media followers provide a sufficient connection with their audience.

This #1 Mistake Every New Creator Makes (Including You)

Whether you are a writer, blogger, influencer, YouTuber, artist, or content creator, you must be making this mistake as a new creator. Read this and save yourself

Photo by Victoria Aleksandrova on Unsplash

Whether you are a writer, blogger, influencer, YouTuber, artist, or content creator, this is one mistake you must have made.

And it can cost you a lot in the long run. And later you can only regret making it.

Yes, I am no exception to it. But I realized it early on in my journey and fixed my mistake.

But I see many new creators making this mistake and they don’t even realize it.

The mistake is, ‘Not building an email list from day one.’

Not your fault, because when you start your journey as a new creator, you might not be aware of the nuances of this game (I was no different, I learned along the way just like you).

After many months (or in some cases years) pass by you realize that, if you have started building your email list from the very beginning, you might have gathered hundreds of subscribers on the way.

At this point, you can only regret losing them. Since these subscribers that you collect at the very start of your journey are your loyal following.

Because they trusted you when you were just starting out and at a zeroth position.
They have seen you growing from zero to some decent place.
They know your strengths and weaknesses.
They are familiar with your journey.

When you don’t build your email list from the start, you lose this loyal following.

Later, you can only regret and console yourself by saying, “It is ok, over the period I have gathered many followers on social media, they are there to support me. And it doesn’t cost me anything to maintain my subscribers on these free social media platforms.”

If you think that way, then let me tell you that, you are at the mercy of these platforms.

The problem when you depend on these platforms:

Platforms come and go (a real example is Orkut).
It doesn’t take these platforms a single minute to change their algorithm. They change it and you lose all your followers in a second.
If some problem happens with these platforms in your country (TikTok ban in India overnight), then you are again in a zero position by losing your followers to such platforms.

You will say, “But I am not an expert on any topic. How can I advise others?”

I would reply, “Everyone on the planet is a master in one or the other thing, you are no exception.”

“Think about your passion, the topic you are more enthusiastic to talk about, and think about the topic on which your friends keep asking you questions. If you can help them, you can help other people on the same topic too. Build your list around that topic.”

“And in reality, people are not looking for an expert, they are looking for a solution to their problems. And experts are busy and they don’t have that much time to share their learning and small lessons they learned along the way.”

“You can help/teach people who are 10 or 50 steps behind you in their journey. They might be facing a problem that you used to face 6 months back. If you can help them in overcoming those problems you are a savior for them and they will be happy to be on your email list. And the cherry on the top is the more you teach, the stronger your learning will be. So it’s a win-win for you and your audience.”

You would argue, “But when I am new and I don’t have more followers. Then what is the point in paying for an email marketing service?”

I say, “Then go for email marketing software or email marketing service that can give you that much breathing space and let you use their software for free till at least 1000 subscribers with other maximum benefits: like automation flow, pop-ups, embedded forms, landing pages, tagging of subscribers, different email list. And let me tell you, you are going to need these benefits too on your way. I am telling you from my experience.”

You wonder, “Is there any such email marketing service available, which lets me collect the subscribers till 1000 and then start charging? That too with other benefits provided in the free version?”

I say, “Yes, it is Mailer Lite, and I have been using it for the last 2 years. I had done enough research before I started using Mailer Lite. But I could not find any cost-effective email marketing service like Mailer Lite.”

If you ask, “How did I come to this conclusion of using MailerLite?”

I say, “Almost all these other costly email marketing services start charging from the first month. And if they have breathing space for 500 subscribers they do not provide other features like landing pages, automated email, grouping of email lists, and many more. And I find their paid plans very costly too.”

“As a new creator, I could not afford their pricing, and I needed some time to grow as a new writer and content creator. And of course, I needed an automatic email sequence and landing page to provide my FREE copywriting email crash course.”

I chose the MailerLite as my email marketing service because,

It is the only email marketing service that has a limit of 1000 free subscribers.
Has many other benefits with its free version like automation flow, pop-ups, embedded forms, landing pages, tagging of subscribers, and grouping of the email lists.
Even their paid plans are easy on my pockets.

Image By Author From Her Own Mailer Lite Account

If you are a new creator and most importantly if you don’t have any email marketing service yet then go for MailerLite and enjoy its FREE benefits till you grow to 1000 subscribers. Even after 1000 subscribers, you can continue using it as it is reasonable for its paid service too.

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