Many of our frequent visitors ask us what would work best for their business: a newsletter or a blog. In fact, some aren't clear on the differences between a newsletter and a blog . Therefore, in this article, we'll define each channel and discuss the differences between them.
Let's start, then, by explaining what a newsletter is and what blog posts are .
What is a newsletter?
Email newsletters are a type of content sent regularly to a specific, segmented audience, determined by you . They contain several articles on topics of interest to the recipients . The purpose is to engage users, build relationships, and maintain brand awareness with a particular group.
In order to send your newsletters to users, which is known as email marketing, you must first have those users subscribe to your website through the specific forms for this purpose.
What are blog posts?
Blog posts are content that remains on your website and is available for everyone to see . Each blog post covers a topic that is useful in some way to site visitors . Blog posts can educate customers and leads, keep your website dynamic, and help improve your site's search engine rankings—in other words, they contribute to your website's SEO .
Now that we've figured out what a newsletter and a post are, let's look at the main differences between them.
Main differences between a blog and a newsletter
- The blog remains on your website and can be viewed by anyone. The newsletter is sent by email to a specific group of people who have previously subscribed.
- Blog posts help you position yourself and your company as an industry expert. Newsletters allow you to track and target a specific group of users.
- Blog posts are often used to educate potential customers about a product or service and move them through the sales funnel . Newsletters help nurture leads and existing customers and keep business top of mind.
- Blogs are permanent content . That is, they remain active on the website until you delete them or stop paying for their hosting. Newsletters, on the other hand, are ephemeral content that disappears once sent.
- Each blog post is considered a new web page , which increases your reach, popularity, and search engine rankings (good for SEO). Newsletters aren't web pages per se .
- Blog posts can be shared on social media . This allows you to generate links and increase visibility in search engines. Newsletters do not directly influence your organic ranking in these engines.
- The blog encourages comments and sharing , which are indicators of an engaged audience. Newsletters don't.
- Good blog posts provide excellent content to share on your social media channels, providing a solid foundation for your social media strategy. Newsletters aren't typically shared on social media.
- With newsletters, you can target different segments of your database with different content. With a blog post, you can target everyone.
What works better, newsletters or blog posts?
A blog is great for generating traffic in the early stages of your business, while newsletters are more useful for connecting with users who have already visited your website , are familiar with your brand, and are one step closer to purchasing your product or service.
Both newsletters and blogs allow you to communicate effectively with prospects, potential clients, and customers in different ways. Therefore, our recommendation at Maktagg is to combine both strategies, as together they will allow you to reach many more users, both those who know you and those who don't.
A powerful blog and newsletter strategy
How to use your blogs and newsletters to drive traffic to your website, convert this traffic into leads, and then turn these leads into customers and brand advocates.
- Write and publish a post with valuable content for the user.
- Create a newsletter to promote that content , as well as other content (ebooks, news, case studies, videos, etc.).
- Contacts open your newsletter, visit your website, and fill out your contact form to download your eBook, news article, case study, or video.
- Contacts are nurtured with workflows and marketing automation .
Promote your blog with your newsletters
An effective way to approach newsletters is to design them as a compilation of recent blog posts . This newsletter gives users a preview of the content they can access by visiting the website.
Good content in your newsletter
To spice up your newsletter content, include more content from the web . Share interesting posts from thought leaders, great tweets and other social media updates, events your readers might be interested in, and even jokes, quizzes, and stories (if that fits your brand).
This type of content will allow you to become an expert in the field.
Titles for your newsletters and blog posts
Try to avoid the typical "August Newsletter" as your newsletter subject line. You won't encourage people to open it! Instead, try selecting something interesting from the content to use in your headline .
How to know who reads your blog?
It's not possible to know exactly which person (with their first and last name) reads your blog posts. What is possible is to check which article receives the most visits in Google Analytics .
Blog posts typically gain visitors and continuous incremental traffic, driven by Google searches, social media sharing, and email marketing.
Suggestions for blogs and newsletters
- Make it easier for people to subscribe.
- Give them a good reason to subscribe.
- Encourage readers to share your content.
- Promote your newsletters and posts.
- Keep readers engaged with amazing content.
Don't know how to get started? Not sure what to write on your blog? Then, at our digital marketing agency, we can help you design the best blog and newsletter strategy to achieve greater visibility, traffic, and sales.
Fill out the form and start taking advantage of the full potential of our email marketing service .