If you've been putting off starting an email list because it feels like one more thing to figure out, I get it. But after going through it myself, I can tell you it's one of the decisions I'm most glad I made for my business.

Here's the thing about social media: your following there isn't really yours. You've probably noticed it yourself. You put work into building an audience and then the algorithm changes, reach drops, and the people who were seeing your content regularly just stop seeing it. That's the nature of platforms you don't control.

Your email list is different. When you send an email, it goes directly to the people who signed up to hear from you. No algorithm deciding who gets to see it. No paying to boost it. Just a direct line to your audience that you own completely.

That's why I think building an email list is one of the smartest things any small business owner or freelancer can do, and why I started mine earlier than I thought I needed to.

What You Actually Need to Get Started

The barrier to starting is lower than most people expect. You need three things: a way to collect email addresses, a tool to send emails, and something to offer people in exchange for signing up.

The tool I use and recommend is MailerLite. It has a genuinely useful free plan that lets you have up to 1,000 subscribers and send up to 12,000 emails per month. For anyone just getting started, that's more than enough room to build and test your approach before spending anything. I wrote a full breakdown of why I chose MailerLite and how I use it in my own business if you want more detail on the platform itself.

What I like most about it is that it doesn't make things more complicated than they need to be. You can build signup forms, create landing pages, set up automated welcome sequences, and send newsletters all in one place. If you've been avoiding email marketing because it seemed technically overwhelming, MailerLite is the platform I'd point you toward first.

Give People a Reason to Sign Up

The most effective way to grow your list quickly is to offer something in exchange for someone's email address. This is called a lead magnet, and it works because it gives people an immediate reason to subscribe rather than just asking them to sign up and trust that future emails will be useful.

A good lead magnet solves one specific problem for your audience right away. It doesn't need to be long or complex. A one-page checklist, a short guide, a template, or a resource that saves someone time can work really well.

For web designers and small business owners, some ideas that perform well are things like a website checklist (I have a free Ultimate Homepage Checklist if you need a starting point), a guide to writing your website copy (my free Website Copy Starter Guide covers exactly that), or a template for something your audience uses regularly. Think about the questions you get asked most often and what you could put together to answer them in a useful format.

Once someone downloads your lead magnet, you have a reason to follow up with a welcome email sequence that introduces your work, shares useful content, and builds the kind of trust that makes people want to hire you or buy from you down the road.

How to Use Your List Once You Have One

A lot of people start a list and then don't know what to send. Here's how I think about it: your emails should be mostly useful with occasional mentions of things that are relevant to your audience, whether that's your own services, resources, or tools you genuinely use and recommend.

The key word there is genuinely. Readers can tell the difference between a recommendation that comes from real experience and one that's just a sales pitch. When I mention a tool like MailerLite in my emails, it's because I actually use it and think it would help the person reading. That's what keeps an email list worth being on.

A few things that work well for freelancers and small business owners specifically:

Your welcome sequence is where a lot of the work happens automatically. When someone joins your list, a series of emails goes out over the following days to introduce who you are, share your best content, and let them know how you can help. Setting this up once means new subscribers are always getting a warm, structured introduction to your work without you having to do anything manually.

You can also share useful content in a regular newsletter, link to new blog posts, mention tools or resources that are relevant to what your audience is working on, and occasionally share what you're offering directly. The goal is to stay in front of your audience consistently so that when they're ready to hire someone or buy something, you're the first person they think of. If you're unsure what kind of content to share, my post on what to say on every page of your website is a good place to start thinking about how to communicate your value clearly.

A Note on Transparency

Whenever I recommend a tool I have an affiliate relationship with, I say so. It's the right thing to do and it's required by advertising regulations. In this case: if you sign up for MailerLite through my link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend it because I actually use it and think it's a solid tool, especially for people who are just getting started.

Start Small and Build From There

You don't need a big list to start seeing results. A small, engaged list of people who are genuinely interested in what you do is worth far more than a large list of people who don't open your emails.

Start with a simple lead magnet, set up a basic welcome sequence, and commit to sending something useful to your list regularly. That's it. The rest builds from there.

If you're ready to get started, MailerLite's free plan gives you everything you need to build your list, send emails, and set up automations without paying anything until you're ready to grow.

And if you're building a new website and want help thinking through how to set up your signup forms and lead magnet delivery as part of the build, take a look at my services or get in touch directly. It's exactly the kind of thing I help clients get right from the start.