Welcome to Press This, the WordPress group podcast from WMR. Each and every episode choices guests from around the group and discussions of crucial issues going thru WordPress developers. The following is a transcription of the authentic recording.
.redcircle-link:link {
color: #ea404d;
text-decoration: none;
}
.redcircle-link:hover {
color: #ea404d;
}
.redcircle-link:vigorous {
color: #ea404d;
}
.redcircle-link:visited {
color: #ea404d;
}
Powered by way of RedCircle
Record Pop: You’re being attentive to Press This, a WordPress Group Podcast on WMR. Each and every week we spotlight people of the WordPress group. I’m your host, Record Pop. I strengthen the WordPress group through my serve as at WP Engine, and my contributions over on TorqueMag.Io where I get to do podcasts and draw cartoons and academic motion pictures. Take a look at that out.
You’ll subscribe to Press This on Purple Circle, iTunes, Spotify, your favorite podcasting app otherwise you’ll download episodes directly at wmr.fm.
I’m going to mean you can know a quick secret. I in reality like signing up for newsletters. I think I’m a bit little bit of an anomaly proper right here, but if we aren’t close personal buddies, I’m nearly unquestionably not going to watch you on Mastodon or Instagram or Facebook, alternatively I won’t imagine in moderation quicker than I sign up for your e-newsletter.
While you’ve were given a restaurant, proper right here’s my electronic message. You got advice for game design? Sign me up. Weekly WordPress data roundups in my inbox? Don’t ideas if I do. So I’m already presented on the advantages of talking on your shoppers directly through electronic message. Alternatively I believed a couple of of you listeners might need some encouragement to find the e-newsletter house.
So I’m glad to say that nowadays’s customer is Lesley Sim. The co-founder of E-newsletter Glue, a plugin that turns your WordPress internet web page into a powerful e-newsletter CMS. And we’re going to talk about why you’ll have to be getting into newsletters.
Lesley, let’s kick problems off with merely telling us how you got into WordPress.
Lesley Sim: Hi, Record. Thanks this kind of lot for having me on. I always love drawing near the ones podcasts and live streams. My WordPress beginning position story, wow. I think my first exposure with WordPress used to be as soon as in 2016. I was taking a look to build a internet web page for a craft beer trade that I had merely started and given where I’m now, you’ll tell that that didn’t work out.
As a result of it kind of feels, craft beer breweries are onerous to run. so now we have been in search of an reasonably priced solution to assemble our internet web page and that’s roughly the main time I stumbled upon WordPress. And craft beer didn’t work out and I ended up going deeper down the WordPress hole, starting a digital corporate where I did promoting and assemble web sites for consumers.
And then merely quicker than the pandemic hit, I roughly got sick of that. I’d been doing it for a few years at the moment and dealing with consumers. Now and again it’s in fact amusing and delightful and each so incessantly it can be in fact frustrating. And I was like, Okay, I’ve given this services issue a excellent go, in all probability it’s time to try my hand at products.
And since I’ve been running in WordPress for a while now, I was like, good enough, in all probability I’ll check out building a WordPress plugin. And that’s very, very briefly roughly how I got started and the best way Newsletter Glue were given right here to be for the reason that WordPress plugin that once some trial and blunder, I decided to build used to be as soon as Newsletter Glue.
Record Pop: I don’t know if I knew that you just had been a craft brewery trade owner quicker than this. That’s in fact cool. I always love being attentive to the ones further little stories initially of the show. So, is the craft brewery, how you got into, I wish to make a e-newsletter plugin, or used to be as soon as that, after you already roughly dived into WordPress, you spotted this need for that?
Lesley Sim: When I’d already roughly dived into WordPress, so I’ve been doing WordPress for a while and newsletters started getting an increasing number of standard. I think as RSS roughly light into the background somewhat of bit, which I’m personally in fact unsatisfied about on account of I always loved RSS, I think folks sought after a solution to stay up to the moment and newsletters had been it.
So I think spherical 2019, 2020 used to be as soon as when Substack started turning into in fact standard. And yeah, so I roughly wanted to do my own e-newsletter and then that’s roughly how I got the idea for Newsletter Glue.
Record Pop: Yeah, definitely pouring out some craft beer for RSS and I was a heavy RSS particular person, so that might give an explanation for why switching to newsletters where it used to be as soon as basically my electronic message now may well be the RSS aggregator. Right kind. That’s roughly how it nearly unquestionably works. It’s like something like that.
I indicate, I’m sharing my personal knowledge where with RSS I didn’t have to do that, alternatively that’s in all probability what you and I’ve in now not atypical with why we got into newsletters. Can you tell us about what’s Newsletter Glue and what hollow does it fill available in the market?
Lesley Sim: Newsletter Glue works with publishers, media corporations, and newsrooms, and we be in agreement them connect their electronic message supplier provider, like MailChimp, Advertising and marketing marketing campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign to WordPress. That permits them to assemble their newsletters within WordPress, one of the best ways they’re already writing their articles. So one of the best ways I imagine it’s, if in case you have a personnel of editors and writers who’re already spending all their time in WordPress writing their articles it’s roughly a pain for them to then switch brains.
To log into MailChimp, for instance, and fiddle spherical with that editor and write their emails in there, and historically that’s always taken a long time and it’s a lot much less intuitive on account of it’s a will have to to jot down in a separate pane than what you’re seeing. So we perform a little little bit of all of that. Writers can as an alternative merely log into WordPress or they’re nearly unquestionably already logged into WordPress and easily spin up a brand spanking new publish or a brand spanking new e-newsletter within WordPress and get began writing. And that experience is such a lot quicker. There’s no onboarding sought after if in case you have new writers, on account of everybody, {{most professional}} writers, freelance writers already know the way to use WordPress.
And the other aspect advantage of that is that now your entire newsletters are in fact deeply integrated into your WordPress internet web page, so that manner if you want to do paywall stuff or search engine marketing stuff along side your newsletters, you presently can. Whilst in the past, your entire e-newsletter archives had been within MailChimp and it’s a unique URL and likewise you don’t in fact have so much keep an eye on over that.
You’re not able to have subscription forms on your e-newsletter archives on account of they’re sitting in MailChimp and on and on and on. So merely having that deep integration is in fact huge for enlargement and branding and all of that stuff.
Record Pop: Yeah, I think there’s such a lot to be discussed regarding the integration on your internet web page. You’re talking about the use of the search engine marketing from the newsletters as a receive advantages on your internet web page, and that’s attention-grabbing. Alternatively you briefly touched on one thing I merely roughly want to take care of right here’s MailChimp and Substack. Within the match that they go away, which we’ve spotted very an equivalent services go away simply in recent times, within the match that they go away, then you definately’re in all probability at a troublesome position, correct?
On account of Substack hosts your e-newsletter and MailChimp has hosted permutations and then the style inside the electronic message box, alternatively there’s not going to be that archived style where in case you occur to’re the use of something like Newsletter Glue, you’ll, depending, I assume, on the privacy settings, most of the people settings that you just’ve allotted to each publish, you’ll roughly keep those hosted and folks can nevertheless to seek out them later, correct?
Lesley Sim: Yeah, that’s exactly it. And in case you occur to wanna migrate electronic message supplier providers, however, equivalent issue, correct? You don’t will have to manually migrate ’purpose the whole thing’s already on your WordPress internet web page.
Record Pop: You’re talking about electronic message supplier providers. I consider like we’re with regards to the highest of the main phase proper right here, alternatively let’s try to get into that. If I’m the use of Newsletter Glue and I’m going to will have to have a number for my internet web page, which I will have to have anyway, am I moreover going to will have to pay massive money for an electronic message server of a couple of sort?
I don’t know the way that works.
Lesley Sim: Yeah. So, all the shoppers that we art work with already have MailChimp accounts or ActiveCampaign accounts, and at the dimension that they’re at, it’s normally in fact, in fact onerous for them to move off it. They will have a complete bunch of segments, tags, automation organize in there already.
Alternatively at the equivalent time, they don’t similar to the everyday art work, doing the everyday art work throughout the ones platforms on account of they’re not in fact built for easy writing. And so that’s kind where we’re to be had in and be in agreement with that everyday e-newsletter operations.
Record Pop: So, if I’ve a internet web page, a WordPress internet web page, all over again, you don’t will have to pay web web hosting for that, alternatively I may also have something like a MailChimp merely to deal with the e-newsletter serving. And what’s the blending like for that?
Lesley Sim: On our end, it’s super easy. So they just need an API key and key that right through, and then we connect the whole thing for them behind the scenes.
Record Pop: Okay. And you almost certainly do that like inside the dashboard, inside the WordPress dashboard, correct?
Lesley Sim: Positive.
Record Pop: Yeah, I like it. Okay, that totally makes sense. I haven’t used Newsletter Glue however, alternatively I can utterly roughly imagine what it’s like there, on account of I’ve used quite a lot of other WordPress plugins. Once we come once more, we’re gonna take a quick ruin, but when we come once more, I’m gonna continue chatting with Lesley Sim, the co-founder of Newsletter Glue.
We’re gonna speak about why you need a e-newsletter inside the age of social media. And we’re going to talk moreover somewhat of additional deeply about how this is going to mix along side your WordPress internet web page and roughly questions about new choices which may well be coming to Newsletter Glue. So stay tuned for additonal after the short ruin.
Record Pop: Welcome once more to Press This, a WordPress Group Podcast. I’m your host, Record Pop. At the present time, I’m chatting with Lesley Sim, the co-founder of Newsletter Glue, a wonderful e-newsletter plugin that turns your WordPress internet web page into basically, I don’t know, Lesley, what do you title it? A e-newsletter CMS?
Lesley Sim: Yeah, I may say it’s a e-newsletter builder, alternatively e-newsletter CMS sounds excellent too.
Record Pop: We discussed my love for newsletters, and I definitely think there’s a place for newsletters. I’m hoping in all probability, Lesley, you will have to try to tell a couple of of our listeners who could be putting a lot of energy into Instagram posts or TikTok motion pictures, they usually’re putting all their energy into there.
And in all probability they think newsletters and electronic message are roughly pointless. What would you tell them? What statistics do you’ve got saying, saying, in truth, the ones are nevertheless in fact now not atypical? Or, you know, what would you try to tell someone to roughly convince them that they wish to be inside the e-newsletter trade?
Lesley Sim: Wow, that’s onerous. They’re merely quite different promoting channels. With social media platforms, that tends to be roughly where you go in case you occur to don’t have your personal target audience. In order that you’re going down a unique platform to try to get came upon inside the first place, alternatively on every occasion you’ve grown an target audience on your self, you in fact want to put across them into your world, your universe, your Wonder cinematic universe. And that’s roughly where newsletters are to be had in.
On account of all over again, whilst you’re on a social media platform and likewise you’re taking a look to get came upon, you’re at the mercy of the algorithms. Once your subscribers or your dependable shoppers or dependable fanatics learn about you, they do want to learn about in case you occur to’re a donut retailer your Friday, you know, donut specific. Or in case you occur to’re a hairdresser, there are per 30 days discounts. If you’re to be had in each month, you get a 20 % cut price or something like that.
They don’t want to have overpassed it for the reason that algorithm didn’t show it to them. And so that’s where newsletters are to be had in in fact handy. In order that you bring in, let’s say, something like 10 % of your social media following into your newsletters they usually’re your most avid fans. You’ll make certain that each and every time you’ve got a promotion or a cut price or even just a story or an exchange to percentage, those individuals are going to get it. And that’s roughly one of the crucial highest tactics to build rapport with them, assemble a deeper dating by some means that you just can’t on social media.
And likewise you private those relationships, correct? On account of folks have opted in, they’ve actively given you your electronic message take care of. They want to listen from you, which is a very different vibe from social media where they roughly are scrolling randomly happen upon you and apply you and then forget about you 5 minutes later.
So I may say that’s not an each or roughly issue. It’s not like you each do Instagram in a different way you do newsletters. It’s further like a funnel where, Instagram and TikTok and social media generally is kind of at the top of the funnel where you’re going out of your universe into someone else’s universe to go looking out subscribers and fanatics and then you definately’re drawing them in deeper into your funnel by way of the newsletters and then you know at the end of the day on your retailer whether or not or now not that’s online or in person.
Record Pop: I in reality like that. It’s not each or I think that’s excellent. I’ve been pointing out problems as despite the fact that they’re binary, alternatively like, yeah, Instagram is excellent for giving style to your corporation and talking along side your shoppers, in all probability having a back and forth and giving them behind the scenes. But if I’m following an artist, I don’t want to find out about their Monday night time paintings show on Tuesday morning. For the reason that algorithm messed problems up.
And similarly, if I’m following an artist they usually’ve a brand spanking new album coming out, I can’t click on on on a link from Instagram, not super easy, alternatively in an electronic message, utterly might simply. So I in reality like that idea that in all probability do each and every. It’s not one or the other, alternatively it sounds as if like newsletters have somewhat of bit further of an actionable roughly like, proper right here’s a time dependent issue, or proper right here’s a link we want you to click on on.
And that in all probability is their receive advantages. Does that sound excellent?
Lesley Sim: Yeah and I think as your promoting operations increase then obviously you’ll do further. We’ve got a number of publications the use of us that publish greater than in the future through day newsletters. And so that’s something that you just’ll aspire to. So it’s not merely last minute discounts and stuff like that.
Record Pop: This is each different issue too, I’m taking into consideration very in particular about newsletters with the intention to keep up a correspondence on your shoppers, alternatively there’s a complete generation of newsletters, publish Substack, as you mentioned, there’s a complete generation of e-newsletter writers which may well be turning that in all probability into income, like writing the newsletters isn’t a solution to energy trade, it’s the trade, and does Newsletter Glue strengthen choices like that?
Lesley Sim: Not directly, we do art work smartly with a complete bunch of quite a lot of paywall plugins and tool. LeakyPaywall is one in all them that we art work in fact carefully with, Memberful is each different person who a number of our shoppers use, and so on.
Record Pop: What about Patreon integration? Is there any longer or much less integration there?
Lesley Sim: Not at the moment, alternatively that’s in fact attention-grabbing and I’ll have to try it.
Record Pop: Yeah, I’m a Patreon particular person so I’d love to talk to you about that afterwards.
So let’s speak about one of the crucial essential choices that someone can get from Newsletter Glue that could be missing from other problems. Like I’m assuming you’ve got Gutenberg integration in Newsletter Glue?
Lesley Sim: Yep. So that’s in truth one of the crucial a very powerful massive problems about us. We use the block editor. So in case you occur to’re nevertheless the use of the antique editor, you’ll to seek out that whilst you use us, you’re faced with something somewhat of bit new, which is the block editor. And one in all our core choices is that we’ve were given a complete bunch of quite a lot of blocks that in fact dramatically boost up your workflow.
So shoppers, on affordable, say that they save one to two hours in line with e-newsletter the use of us, otherwise you will have to moreover say that we cut back your publishing time partially. And that’s just because a lot of them, after they’re building electronic message digests, for instance, they’re sharing links to their internet web page or to other web websites. If that they’d to do that in an electronic message supplier provider, they may have had to manually upload the image, sort out the heading, sort out the excerpt, turn it proper right into a link, and do that 5 events or ten events, depending on what selection of links they’re sharing in their e-newsletter.
With us, you merely wish to paste inside the URL otherwise you’ll set quite a lot of choices and filters and it routinely pulls out the articles from your internet web page. And so that takes seconds as an alternative of 20 minutes or phase an hour, depending on what you’re attempting to achieve. Yeah, so that’s roughly one in all our primary choices.
And then moreover, on every occasion you’ve got your e-newsletter all organize, it’s in fact easy to hit publish and send the e-newsletter out from WordPress as an alternative of having to go into Mailchimp to do it.
Record Pop: Is that the best way you moreover prepare your subscribers and problems too, is all over the WordPress dashboard? Or is that something you’d be the use of the MailChimp aspect of things to do?
Lesley Sim: That may well be on the Mailchimp aspect of things. So we point of interest in fact carefully on the building segment, like that roughly the day-to-day art work that it’s a will have to to do to send out the e-newsletter. So we’ve moreover got in fact powerful automation choices, so it’s roughly like RSS emails, which if folks aren’t conscious about, basically you’ll set an RSS feed to send out as electronic message notifications each time a brand spanking new article is outlined.
While that serve as has existed for a long time, it’s roughly always given me anxiety because you don’t have any keep an eye on over what that final e-newsletter seems like. And so we built an electronic message automation serve as where, while you’ll moreover send it out routinely based on a certain time that you just’ve set, you’ll moreover set it to easily save as a draft.
And so this allows you to automate 90 % of the art work or 99 % of the art work, and then go in that 1 %, take a look at that draft, send yourself a take a look at electronic message, exchange the subject line, and in case you occur to’re happy with it, then send it out. It saves a lot of time, however moreover prevents you from being scared that you just’ve unintentionally sent out something that you just didn’t want to send out.
Record Pop: I assume just one further question on that whilst you’re filling out this publish or this article form, is there moreover roughly like Yoast search engine marketing integration if in case you have Yoast search engine marketing so that it in reality works shortly down the street or is that roughly a separate issue?
Lesley Sim: Yeah, in order it’s merely inside the block editor, you’ll moreover use Yoast and do all the keyword stuff and make it search engine optimized.
Record Pop: Neatly, that’s an excellent spot for us to take a quick ruin. And after we come once more, we’re going to wrap up our conversation with Leslie Sim about Newsletter Glue, and I assume we’ll merely keep up a correspondence regarding the state of the industry, so stay tuned for additonal after this fast ruin.
Record Pop: Welcome once more to Press This, a WordPress group podcast. I’m your host and E-mail Newsletter Addict, Record Pop, I’m chatting with Lesley Sim, the co-founder of Newsletter Glue. And I think one of the crucial a very powerful problems I want to speak about, roughly like changing gears somewhat of bit, we discussed social media and websites, search engine marketing, electronic message newsletters.
We haven’t discussed podcasting, which is an element that Lesley, I don’t know if you know I’m into, and likewise you had merely started a brand spanking new podcast referred to as Sticky. Can you tell us somewhat of bit about that?
Lesley Sim: Yeah, we simply in recent times moved to pay attention to media corporations and newsrooms, like I mentioned earlier. Previous than that, now we have been roughly focused on somebody with a e-newsletter, which is kind of a antique trade mistake. And so once we moved to pay attention to media corporations and newsrooms, I briefly realized, oh, we would like a brand spanking new manner of marketing to them.
And I wanted to offer in fact high quality content material subject matter that may be in agreement people who are already professionals inside the trade and not merely roughly, me for instance, in my room studying my own e-newsletter for the main time. If I was like an novice e-newsletter author, I would wish very different content material subject matter from someone who has been writing a e-newsletter for 10 years for a large e-newsletter, for instance.
And so, I briefly realized, good enough, I can’t interview myself or we will’t rely on in fact elementary enjoy after we write e-newsletter sort articles anymore. And that used to be as soon as when the idea for the podcast took place on account of I spotted that the most productive folks to interview to get in fact high quality skilled level content material subject matter had been skilled industry operators.
And so, I’ve been lucky enough to have a complete bunch of customers and buddies who’ve been inside the industry for a while, and I got involved with them and organize a complete bunch of quite a lot of interviews. The podcast presented this week, the main episode drops next week, and I’m in fact excited.
The usual is in fact high, and I consider like even though you’ve been inside the e-newsletter publishing trade for the former 10 to 15 years, you’re nevertheless going to learn valuable belief and advice from the episodes, so I’m in fact enthusiastic about it.
Record Pop: Who’s your first customer?
Lesley Sim: My first customer is Alyssa Doin. She used to be head of deliverability at ConvertKit. I think now she’s head of target audience enlargement, nevertheless at ConvertKit. She’s been running in deliverability for a couple of years now and has dug into some narrowly deliverability issues. And so we roughly coated that inside the podcast.
And I tried to stick it in fact, in fact actionable. In order that you in fact listen what you’ll have to do in this case? What’s going to must you do if that’s the case? And I think I’ve already shared it with some people who are inside the data industry they usually’ve already came upon it in fact helpful.
Record Pop: And speaking of actionable, if you are a marketer taking a look to get complicated advice on your electronic message e-newsletter needs, you’ll go to sticky.fm to resolve further or just seek for Sticky on your podcasting app. Did I nail that?
Lesley Sim: Positive, that’s perfect.
Record Pop: nailed it, And in addition, while we’re talking about title outs, you’ll apply Lesley on Twitter @lesley_pizza, otherwise you’ll apply E-newsletter Glue on Twitter as smartly. And I think on that, Lesley, I’m going to thank you this kind of lot for turning into a member people nowadays. It’s been great having you on. Is there anywhere else that you need to tell folks to discuss with quicker than we wrap up proper right here?
Lesley Sim: Nope, that’s about it. NewsletterGlue.com is where you’ll to seek out further about us.
Record Pop: Right kind on. Neatly, thank you this kind of lot for turning into a member people nowadays, Lesley. It’s been in fact great speaking to you. This is Press This, a WordPress Group Podcast. Each and every week now now we have conversations with folks in WordPress. Next week we’re going to be chatting with Jeff Paul from 10Up a couple of new open provide detector that he’s built so that you’ll scan WordPress plugins and make sure they’re compliant to your needs. I’ll let him mean you can know further about it next week, alternatively it’s gonna be a amusing episode in the case of open provide and trade, and in all probability what 10 Up is up to this present day.
I’m moreover gonna be at WordCamp US, which it will likely be already finished by the time you listen this podcast, alternatively optimistically, in case you occur to had been there, I got an opportunity to say hi to you.
Record Pop: Thanks for being attentive to Press This, a WordPress group podcast on WMR. Once all over again, my identify’s Record and also you’ll apply my adventures with Torque magazine over on Twitter @thetorquemag otherwise you’ll go to torquemag.io where we contribute tutorials and flicks and interviews like this on a daily basis. So take a look at out torquemag.io or apply us on Twitter. You’ll subscribe to Press This on Purple Circle, iTunes, Spotify, otherwise you’ll download it directly at wmr.fm each week. I’m your host Doctor Common I strengthen the WordPress group through my serve as at WP Engine. And I in reality like to focus on people of the group each week on Press This.
The publish Press This: You Will have to be The use of Newsletters with Lesley Sim seemed first on Torque.
Contents
0 Comments