Koh Samui Thailand
Do you have a small email list?
Welcome to the club.
My list is tiny. I email a few loyal folks. Almost all of my traffic flows through a wide range of channels, from a decent chunk of backlinks to social media, and a bunch in between.
Most bloggers possess small email lists. I can only estimate numbers but feel confident that the majority of bloggers fall into this lot.
Some bloggers own a huge list of largely unresponsive subscribers; vanity metrics. What can a number do? Did a number ever buy one of your eBooks? Did a number ever hire you? Did a number ever drive your referral business? Numbers cannot do anything. Big numbers are just as inanimate as lifeless, small numbers.
A tiny percentage of bloggers run large, responsive lists. Rare indeed is this list of bloggers. Blogging superstars typically top these collectives.
Email is just one of many ways to communicate with readers. Bloggers screw up for believing that the money is in the list. The money is a concept in your mind made manifest through the detailed, targeted content one publishes consistently. The money is not in the email list; not by a long shot. Email is one of multiple ways through which people can find your blog.
Establish Multiple Traffic Streams
Never base the bulk of your blogging strategy on any one offsite tactic. Doing so creates an anchor-like attachment to the channel and results spit out by each stream. Work multiple channels. Embody an abundance mindset. Do the inner work to toss a bunch of fishing rods into the blogging pond. Think wide in terms of traffic sources. Target everything to drive quality blog traffic. Appeal to one ideal reader across a wide swath of marketing channels.
Busy yourself with creating and connecting generously through:
- blogging
- guest blogging
- genuine blog commenting
- promoting other bloggers
- building your campaign from the heart
The Classic Excuse
Bloggers usually blame their struggles on this excuse:
“I have a small list.”
Who built the email list? The blogger who blames the list built the list. Who relies heavily on a list for any shred of blogging success? The blogger who attaches heavily to an email list and blames the list for failure both attached to and built the list from a heavy energy of fear.
Do you blame your blogging list for struggles? Stop blaming numbers. Own how you built a small email list. Vow to succeed by taking complete ownership for your thoughts, feelings and actions. Bloggers who take responsibility succeed online no matter what. Success flows to bloggers through differing channels. Some build big lists to succeed. Some succeed through small, highly-targeted lists. Some abandon list-building but guest post from a prolific energy. Others dive into a prolific video marketing campaign.
All roads lead to the successful minded blogger. Successes take responsibility. Even better; successes never blame a thing or body for failure because blame shifts personal power to things or bodies. Does shifting power to a thing or body sound sane? Do you give power to a thing known as a small email list?
Do you blame a collection of screen numbers for failure? Does that sound wise? Does that sound intelligent? How about you take ownership of your blogging campaign? Stop blaming people or things or small lists or Google algorithms or Facebook narratives. Take your power back. Own your power.
Admit it; you built a small email list. But success flows through the minds of success conscious bloggers, not depending on any single channel. Let go the idea that one needs a big list to succeed online. Bloggers need only think, feel and act abundantly as they create and connect and monetize freely for a sustained period of time.
Carrier Pigeon?
Readers may find you via carrier pigeon for all you care; success finds you. Google, Facebook, guest blogging and genuine blog commenting send traffic and profits your way. But the channels matter not. Taking complete ownership of your mind and blogging campaign puts the wheels of successful blogging into motion.
Busy Yourself with Creating and Connecting
Get busy creating and connecting to detach from email list numbers. My tiny email list is hyper-targeted but I rely little on numbers and much on enjoying the process of creating and connecting. The blogging success process cares for itself, organically, if I care for human beings. I care less how success manifests organically for me. Readers find my blog through 80,000 plus backlinks.
Readers find my blog through:
- TwitterÂ
- YouTube
- Threads
- Bluesky
- Quora
among other online channels.
Some find my blog at the airport. Seriously; I strike up conversations while circling the globe. People look up my blog after I mention my link at the airport, rail stations, anywhere.
Conclusion
Stop blaming a small list for blogging struggles. Busy your mind with being truly helpful for other human beings. Being helpful changes the course of your blogging career. Trying to blame a collection of numbers related to email marketing pulls you into deeper blogging struggles.
Blogging changes the moment you change your mind about blogging. Dissolve any idea that traffic and profits need to travel through the single channel of a large email list. Feel free to build a list for your blogging campaign but do not attach to a list as the source of blogging success. See list-building as one of limitless ways to succeed online. Use lists but do not let lists use you.
Success finds you through channels deemed most fit as you get lost in being truly helpful for other human beings. If success flows through an email list or one of a million other channels……who cares?!
