I'm glad you asked this question because this article is all about answering "why should I start an email list."

You heard about starting an email list and repetitions in collecting emails from your blog. You even heard that you should start collecting emails from day one of blogging. But why?

Why should I start an email list?

There are many benefits collecting emails from your blog (even if you are not actively sending out email newsletters).

Here are some reasons why you need to start collecting emails and start an email list.

Most website visitors who visit your site will not leave their contact details in anyway. This is not a social visit and they will probably visit your site once or twice at most.

Collecting emails is a great way to expand your connection book and sending a personalized introduction to them!

You will be surprised on what they can do for you, including giving you tips and tricks on your site that you can improve further. And in most cases, they are often not willing to leave these in the comments section.

Again, how often does these website visitors come back to your blog. Chances are very slim — and unless you have something great to share with them (that attracts their interest), most of the time, these website visitors will not come back for more.

Starting an email list early is going to help you to reach out to them and informing them about new posts that may interest them.

When they start taking note on these updates, you stand a better chance of getting repeated visitors and that's an awesome way to build trust.

If you have a blog, there's a high chance you are selling s-o-m-e-t-h-i-ng.

When you have an email list, your sales tactic had become way much easier because you already have a ready audience to promote your products.

When you start an email list, segmentation and tagging your audience is critical Therefore, email marketing tools such as ConvertKit and Drip focus on helping you to segment your email subscribers from day one. 

With an email list with proper segmentation, you can deliver highly targeted emails to your email subscribers based on their interest (and indirectly increases the chance of closing more sales).

Yes, you read this right. An email list is going to help you be generate more traffic and counting lesser on Google. Therefore, you don't have to worry about Google algorithm changes which could affect your traffic either temporary or permanently.

If you ever need a solid reason to start an email list, this should be it — being less dependant on Google and at the same time, diversifying your traffic source.

Okay, so you are convinced and want to start an email list, at least to try it out. Good move!

Here's how you can start right now (a 2-step process).

MailChimp is the best option for beginners. It is free to use and you can send 12,000 emails a month.

More on how to get started on MailChimp (guide).

The only downside using MailChimp is it is not friendly to affiliate marketers. You can promote your products using MailChimp email delivery services but it is a definitely no for affiliate marketers. In another word, you cannot promote products of others using MailChimp. If you are an affiliate marketers like me, ConvertKit and Drip are two of the best MailChimp alternatives that doesn't cost you a bomb (and free accounts too).

If you are using StudioPress themes or Thrive Themes, they come with multiple newsletter widget for you and no coding skills required.

While newsletter widgets are great ways to help you collect emails, it may not be that effective when compared to lead in forms.

What are lead in forms?

Lead in forms are high converting forms that encourage website visitors to leave their details in return of a 'gift' or bonus. Take a look at the sample below.

This lead generation form is created using Thrive Leads under 2 minutes. There are many plugins to help you collect emails but you don't have to look further. Thrive Leads is the best in the market — period.

Lead generation plugin such as this one allows you to create multiple (like dozens or hundreds of them) in just a few minutes and they are highly customizable. You can change anything from the font to colours without using a single line of code.

And if you are a blogger, you know what I mean!

Learn more about Thrive Leads here.

Are you still deciding if you should start an email list? No, stop thinking!

Start an email list right now and reap the benefits after a few months (trust me).