It’s funny, the guy who sent me this email is a successful blogger with a big email list. So he should know better. 

He sends emails to his list announcing each new blog post. That’s good. But the subject line in those emails all say, “New Update on [his blog]”.

That’s bad. 

Nobody is interested in knowing there’s an update. So what? Why should I care? 

You have to tell them why they should care. 

The purpose of an email subject line is to “sell” the recipient of that email on opening it. 

Make them curious. Entice them with benefits. Or both. 

Don’t just send them an email. Tell them why they should open it. 

If the recipient knows the sender, they may give them the benefit of the doubt and open the email. Will they do that week after week?

Who knows?

If they’re busy, if they’re a new subscriber and don’t yet know that you consistently deliver value, they may skip your email, assuming that (like so many other emails they receive) it’s nothing but a sales pitch. 

Or they might save it to read later, but we know that “later” often never arrives. 

The subject line of your email is the key to getting your email read. It is a headline. It must capture the attention of the recipient and convince them to stop scrolling and open your email. 

And “New update. . .” isn’t going to get the job done.

If your email is meant to announce your new blog post and your blog post has a good title, the simplest thing to do is to put that title in the subject line of your email. 

There are other options, but this works most of the time.

So, why doesn’t this experienced blogger do that? I don’t know. But don’t do what he does. 

And don’t do what he does in the body of his emails, either.

The only content in his emails is a hyperlinked copy of the title of his blog post. Nothing else. 

Why is this a mistake? Because while the title/headline might be enticing, it might not be enough to get subscribers to click the link. 

And the goal isn’t to open the email, it’s to get subscribers to read your post.

You have two options for accomplishing this.

Option one is to use the body of the email to sell them on clicking the link. Tell them more about the benefits they get from your post, share how others have benefitted from this kind of information, say something about why you’re qualified to present this information, or otherwise prove that reading the post will be worth his time. 

And yes, you could enclose the first few paragraphs of your blog post (and the link to continue reading). 

Option two is to enclose the entire blog post in the body of your email. 

That’s the way I do it. 

When you get my email, you don’t have to click anything to read my latest post. You can read the post right there in your email inbox. 

I know, by doing it this way, I get fewer people going to my blog. That would improve my traffic and engagement numbers, and make it more likely that when someone finishes reading the post, they’ll read something else on the blog. 

But I think it’s worth it. 

It’s worth it because by making it more convenient for you to read my post, you’ll be more likely to do it. And get the benefits thereof. And become interested in hiring me or buying something from me or contacting me to learn more.

Which you are less likely to do if you can’t read the post without going to my blog.

The goal is to get more people (1) to open your emails and (2) read your content. Because it is your content that convinces people to take the next step.  

Email marketing for attorneys