Creating Your Online Newsletter Using MailPoet and WordPress

Would publishing a monthly newsletter help you grow your business in 2023? Absolutely! Especially if you’re a “solo brand.” There are more reasons, at least in my own mind, to publish a newsletter than not. Entrepreneurs and marketers have been using newsletters since the days of Benjamin Franklin to establish themselves as a trusted authority.

Consider the big picture – publishing a monthly newsletter creates direct communication with your audience. Whether it’s monthly, biweekly, or weekly, it’s a great way to share insight, ideas, and expertise around a topic.

To build your brand as an expert, nurturing relationships (business and otherwise) couldn’t be more important. A simple newsletter enables you to do this by delivering valuable content directly to subscribers\’ inboxes. It can help position you as a go-to resource much better than direct, sales-focused emails can.

You know the kind I’m talking about. Always pitching the latest product but delivering minimal value at best.

Think about your own experiences online. Why do you follow certain people online? It’s usually because of their content, isn’t it? Isn’t it true that trust and credibility grow through the consistent delivery of content you find interesting? It doesn’t matter whether you’re reading, listening, or viewing it.

A newsletter will also reflect your voice and personality. Hopefully, that’s a good thing! You can season it with your unique style, humor, personal stories, and more.

About half of my existing clients publish some kind of online newsletter. A few of my local clients do this to great effect when promoting their in-store events. In fact, these events generate a lot of revenue for them.

Over the past 25 years, I’ve published several newsletters for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above, and for a few reasons that I haven’t. Like – it’s cool to have a newsletter!

That said, there are a few reasons why people fail when it comes to newsletters.

The first is, there are too many moving parts and too many options to choose from. If a project takes to long to get off the ground, it may never see the light of day. I’ve abandoned my share of projects over the years.

Sometimes, you just run out of runway. Do you hear what I’m saying? You only have to much time, energy, willpower, and money to get things done.

That’s why, near the close of 2021, I approached my own newsletter project with a different mindset. I knew that the faster I could launch my idea, from concept to completion, the better chance it would have of getting off the ground.

I wanted to create a simple newsletter around the topic of marketing strategy for solo entrepreneurs. I’m talking about business owners who are building their personal brands in the online space.

Among the various platforms available, MailPoet and WordPress stood out as a winning combination for creating and managing that kind of newsletter – with zero hassles. That’s what I’d like to talk about today. I’d like to talk about the seamless integration of MailPoet with WordPress. With these two well-established, well-supported tools – you can launch and maintain a newsletter quickly and easily.

Harnessing the Power of MailPoet

MailPoet is a robust newsletter plugin for WordPress that was established way back in 2011. They’ve been around for years and the product has continuously improved over time. The plugin offers a user-friendly interface, powerful features, and plenty of customization options. Its integration with WordPress allows for effortless content creation, seamless subscriber management, and effective email campaigns.

Content Creation Made Much Easier

With MailPoet, crafting engaging newsletter content is easier than ever. Leveraging the familiar WordPress editor, you can create professional looking newsletters by easily integrating text, images, videos, and more. The intuitive drag-and-drop editor eliminates the need for any kind of technical expertise to design professional-looking newsletters.

Smart Subscriber Management

Maintaining a well-organized subscriber list is essential for effective newsletter campaigns. MailPoet streamlines subscriber management by automatically syncing with your WordPress user database. This integration enables easy segmentation of subscribers based on various criteria, such as interests, demographics, or engagement levels. By tailoring your newsletters to specific segments, you can deliver personalized content that resonates with your audience and increases open and click-through rates.

Seamless Integration with WordPress

The seamless integration of MailPoet with WordPress enhances the overall user experience and simplifies newsletter management. Even though I’m comfortable with coding basics and have plenty of tools to get the job done (whatever it happens to be), it’s truly a breath of fresh air when something works “as is,” right out of the box.

That’s been my experience with MailPoet.

From within your WordPress dashboard, you have complete control over your newsletter campaigns. You can schedule newsletters for optimal delivery times, track performance metrics, and conduct A/B testing to refine your email marketing strategy. This cohesive environment allows you to efficiently manage both your website and newsletter, ensuring consistency and a smooth user journey.

Automate and Personalize

MailPoet offers excellent automation capabilities, enabling you to set up personalized email sequences, welcome emails, or drip campaigns. Automation makes marketing so much easier. You can nurture leads, onboard new subscribers, or re-engage dormant users, all while providing tailored content based on their preferences and behaviors. The personalized approach can help you build a much stronger connection with your audience. Or, you can keep it extra-simple and just send emails. The point is, you have options. More often than not, I just send newsletters. I like keeping things simple.

Advanced Analytics and Insights

Tracking the performance of your newsletter campaigns will help you adjust and improve your email marketing strategy. MailPoet provides comprehensive analytics and insights, giving you valuable data on open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and more. These insights help you identify the most engaging content, refine your messaging, and make decisions based on the data that’s available to you through the plugin.

You Don\’t Need a Powerful Server or Special Cron Jobs for Smooth MailPoet Integration

One of the remarkable aspects of MailPoet is its efficiency in integrating with your WordPress website without requiring a powerful server or complex cron jobs. This simplicity and flexibility make MailPoet an ideal choice for solopreneurs and small businesses looking to optimize their newsletter campaigns without the need for extensive technical resources.

Lightweight and Resource-Friendly

Unlike some email marketing solutions that demand substantial server resources, MailPoet is designed to be lightweight and resource-friendly. It leverages the existing infrastructure of your WordPress website, utilizing its hosting capabilities without putting excessive strain on the server. This means you don\’t have to worry about investing in expensive hosting plans or upgrading your server to accommodate MailPoet.

Efficient Use of Cron Jobs

Cron jobs, often associated with task scheduling and automation, are an integral part of managing email campaigns. However, with MailPoet, you don\’t need to set up any special or complex cron jobs. The plugin cleverly utilizes WordPress\’ built-in cron system, which simplifies the process and ensures efficient delivery of your newsletters.

WordPress Cron System

The WordPress cron system handles various tasks, including scheduling events, executing actions, and performing routine maintenance. MailPoet effectively taps into this system, utilizing the existing infrastructure of your WordPress installation. This means you can seamlessly manage your newsletter scheduling, autoresponders, and other time-sensitive operations without the need for additional cron job configuration.

Easy Integration with Existing WordPress Setup

MailPoet\’s integration with WordPress allows it to work smoothly within the framework of your existing website. Whether you are using shared hosting or have limited server resources, MailPoet ensures that your website\’s performance remains unaffected. This integration eliminates the need for complex server configurations or special setups, making MailPoet accessible to website owners of all technical levels.

A Future-Proof Solution Supported by Automattic and Seamless Integration with WooCommerce

When choosing an email marketing solution for your online business, it\’s essential to consider factors like long-term support and compatibility with other tools. MailPoet, as a product of Automattic, offers the assurance of continuous development and reliable support, making it a future-proof choice for your newsletter needs. Additionally, MailPoet seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, providing advanced features that enhance your e-commerce strategy, including the ability to address cart abandonment effectively.

Backed by Automattic\’s Support

MailPoet is now owned by Automattic, the same company behind WordPress.com and many other WordPress products. This ownership ensures that MailPoet benefits from the backing and resources of a large company while providing you with a reliable, well-supported email marketing solution. Automattic\’s commitment to the future of MailPoet ensures ongoing support and relevant feature enhancements as the plugin continues to mature and improve.

Seamless Integration with WooCommerce

For online businesses running on WooCommerce, MailPoet offers seamless integration that can help you improve your e-commerce strategy. By combining the power of MailPoet\’s email marketing capabilities with WooCommerce\’s robust e-commerce features, you can create highly targeted and effective email campaigns that drive sales and enhance customer engagement.

Addressing Cart Abandonment

One notable feature of the MailPoet and WooCommerce integration is the ability to address cart abandonment effectively. Cart abandonment is a common challenge faced by online retailers, and recovering those abandoned carts can significantly impact your revenue. With MailPoet, you can automatically send personalized follow-up emails to customers who have left items in their carts, encouraging them to complete their purchase. By leveraging this feature, you can recover potential sales and increase your conversion rates, all within the MailPoet and WooCommerce ecosystem.

Advanced Segmentation and Personalization

In addition to addressing cart abandonment, the integration of MailPoet and WooCommerce provides advanced segmentation and personalization capabilities. You can segment your subscriber list based on customer purchase history, browsing behavior, or other criteria specific to your business. This segmentation allows you to tailor your email content, recommendations, and promotional offers to each customer segment, increasing relevance and engagement. By delivering personalized and targeted emails, you can build stronger connections with your customers, build brand loyalty, and drive repeat sales.

Conclusion

In the world of digital marketing, newsletters have once again become a great tool for businesses and individuals seeking to establish meaningful connections with their audience. I’ve personally published them on and off throughout the years so I’m speaking from firsthand experience when I tell you – it’s never been easier than it is today.

Another thing to consider is the length of today’s newsletters (on average) as compared with the past. Today, the average newsletter is much shorter in length. For example, if you had four blog articles you wanted to share, today, you’d simply have some intro text along with a link to whatever blog the content was published on. Or, you might publish one long-form article per month.

In the past, a newsletter might contain a few full-length articles. So again, it’s much easier today than in the past.

And now, with the powerful combination of MailPoet and WordPress, the process of creating, managing, and delivering newsletters has never been easier. By taking advantage of the Aeation capabilities, seamless integration, automation features, and advanced analytics offered by MailPoet and WordPress, you can unlock the full potential of online newsletters for your business.

I’m a year and a half into my MailPoet/WordPress journey with my latest newsletter – “The Digital Strategist Newsletter,” and I have to say – I’m enjoying the journey!

It’s available at https://www.jimsnewsletter.com

You can also check out the simple archive page that’s located here – https://www.jimsnewsletter.com/archive-of-past-newsletters

The entire list of past episodes is created by inserting this a simple shortcode.

That’s all there is to it.

Do you see yourself starting your own newsletter in the not-too-distant future?  If so,  maybe the combination of MailPoet and WordPress will work as well for you as it did for me. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me!