Tag: newsletter

Adding a MailChimp Newsletter Signup Form to Your WordPress Theme

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

blow-your-own-hornLast week I wrote a geeky article I hope makes it easier to choose a WordPress theme (short version: it’s about look and feel, not how it works.)

Since the origin of this series of posts was a conversation about your newsletter being the most important marketing tool you have, this week, we’ll go over the basics of adding a MailChimp newsletter signup form to your WordPress site. (There are other newsletter tools. I think MailChimp has the right balance of power and simplicity. The concepts here apply adding any code to your WordPress site to varying degrees, so you can mentally stretch them to include other newsletter tools if that’s your preference.)

Overview: Continue reading “Adding a MailChimp Newsletter Signup Form to Your WordPress Theme”

Faster Horses II

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

holy-grail-of-author-marketing(Faster Horses was the title of this month’s newsletter. This is more on the same subject.)

“If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said ‘Faster horses.'” — Henry Ford (attributed)

When I asked authors what they wanted, the universal response was “Someone to do my marketing for me.”

I’ve been racking my brains pondering a technology automation tool I could create to give struggling authors an effective marketing service they could afford.

Because, y’know, that’s what authors said they wanted.

Continue reading “Faster Horses II”

My fiction newsletter signup — the official handwritten welcome note

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Every person who signs up for my newsletter gets a personal welcome. Some, it’s just that: a welcome. Others, it’s an excerpt from something I’ve written. Most, though, get a vignette I compose on the spot.

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Reviewing them just now, I realized I could rearrange them to make sense as the introduction of a story. Almost.

Like this:

Continue reading “My fiction newsletter signup — the official handwritten welcome note”

Newsletter Q&A With Mrs. A

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Mrs AEvery person who signs up for any of my newsletters gets a personal welcome note. Sometimes they turn into great conversations, like this one with Carrie Aulenbacher about making the most of a newsletter.

Hulloo, Carrie!

As I anxiously await the printed proof of what will likely be my only children’s book (back to the mysteries!) I think about how easy it is to get distracted from the One True Path (I know; ain’t no such thing; work with me here.)

What could I do to help you stay focused or to keep moving? I’d like to write about that.

Welcome aboard.

Interesting you mention the One True Path because the feedback I’ve been getting lately points to my being pulled in a bunch of different directions and not sticking to ONE path.

So, you’ve just met a romance author who is trying to improve her own newsletter, is passionate about marketing, loves being creative, is excited about writing business articles for Fridge Magazine, was just in the Wall Street Journal last month on a non-author related article -and- who is up to her elbows in a day job with a newsletter and marketing of its own!

With a lot of irons in the fire, I want to glean expert knowledge on how to follow so many passions while not making my author newsletter unattractive.

Do I eliminate one of the passions so as to not dilute myself?

Or add another fork in the road? Another lane to my highway?

Continue reading “Newsletter Q&A With Mrs. A”

The Story (Cartel) Continues

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Story CartelUpdate on my Story Cartel launch. My goal is to share every detail I can so you can see what would work for you.

Last Monday we sent out a special edition of the newsletter, and posted the same content here at the blog. We had launched the download at Story Cartel on Friday so we’d have the page’s URL for the post and newsletter.

By Monday morning, 9 Story Cartel members had already downloaded the book. This was before the newsletter and post went live.

The day of our launch, 9 more people downloaded the book; 6 of them newsletter subscribers. (One of the earlier downloaders is also a fan who follows everything I do closely, but I’m still pleased they discovered my launch on their own.)

According to Story Cartel’s data for average downloads per review, the 18 downloads shouldn’t result in any reviews. Continue reading “The Story (Cartel) Continues”

Free: Here, There . . . Everywhere?

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

How much free is good for your marketing?

I’ve written bunches about using “free” as a marketing tool. Generosity is your greatest marketing tool. Don’t use it sparingly; spread it around like manure and watch things grow.

Generosity and free aren’t the same thing. Generous can include over-delivering on what you were paid to do. I’ve had generous helpings of fish at our favorite chippy in St. Paul. Paid for, but still generous. When you hire me to help with your writing and publishing, generosity will be ladled over you like gravy. Good white gravy like we make in Texas for your sausage and biscuits; that kind of generous.

mailboxes

My newsletter is also an act of generosity, one which also happens to be free. Membership, though, is stalled out at 140 of you good folks. When we hit that magic number, a couple people unsubscribe, and then someone else finds me and we roll back up to one Tweet’s worth.

One thing I realized is that the signup form simply offers “more information.” Not the most enticing offer, perhaps. I considered giving away something more; a whole book, maybe?

Continue reading “Free: Here, There . . . Everywhere?”

Growing Followers

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Your blog and newsletter (oh, please tell me you have both!) are where your fans get to know you as a person and develop the connection which will ensure their fandom for life.

List-growing is all the rage. More more more. Ask these folks “Are you looking for more followers, or better followers?” and they’ll universally say “Both!”

Consider the concept of focus: it’s not possible, with our eyes or our mind, to focus on two things at once. That’s just not what focus means.

photo of crowd http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=view&id=965625 by michael lorenzo http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nazreth; photo of glasses http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1415587 by Alfonso Romero http://www.creactionsdesign.com/
Continue reading “Growing Followers”