ConvertKit for Podcasters Part 1: Getting Started
I’ve been saying for a long time that if you have a podcast, you need a clear call to action (CTA), and it should be to join your mailing list.
But what I often don’t talk about is literally everything else. Where do you get a newsletter? How much should it cost? What do you send once people start signing up?
So I thought there was no better time than Podcast Advent to dive deeper into the topic of building your newsletter — specifically with ConvertKit — so that you can start building, and leveraging, your email list in 2024.
This is Part 1: Getting Started. Part 2 will be sending emails and automating. Part 3 will be growing your list and making money.
Why Have a Mailing List?
Let’s address the elephant in the room first: if you have a podcast and perhaps a social media presence, why do you even need a mailing list? The answer for most creators and small business owners is simple:
A mailing list is the only place where you truly own the access to your audience. If Facebook, X, TikTok, or Medium disappeared today, you’d immediately lose access to the people you were able to reach so easily a mere 24 hours ago.
For podcasters, it’s even more important than that. You don’t really have access to an audience at all. Sure, people subscribe or come across your show and listen — but there’s no platform to send them messages outside of their podcast app.
Further, they can’t interact with you at all. There’s no liking or commenting on individual episodes. And if someone rates your podcast on Apple Podcasts, you don’t get further access to them.
Podcasting without a mailing list can feel like a one-way street. But what you have a mailing list, you have direct access to people and you’re not just relegated to their podcast app.
Mailing List Options
Now, there are lots of options for creating a mailing list — ConvertKit isn’t the only game in town.
There’s Mailchimp, which has been around forever.
There’s the relative newcomer that’s gained a ton of popularity, Beehiiv.
There’s also ActiveCampaign, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)1, AWeber, MailerLite, and a bunch of other ones.
Outside of that, there are publishing platforms that double as mailing list services — most notably Substack, which also has its own ability to host a podcast.
I started on Mailchimp, but moved when I outgrew everything they had to offer. And honestly, if I were starting today, I’d give Beehiiv a closer look…but as you’ll see in Part 3, there are some features that put ConvertKit in its own class of Email Service Provider (ESP).
It really depends on what you’re looking to do. There are pros and cons to each, but here’s why I’ve stuck with ConvertKit.
Why I Recommend ConvertKit
ConvertKit is free for your first 1,000 subscribers — and honestly it gets pretty pricy after that. But there’s good reason for it. They have infrastructure in place to allow you to connect with your audience in ways other ESPs don’t.
You can tag and segment your list based on interest (or favorite episode), and send just those specific segments emails.
You also get rich automations to make sure your new subscribers feel welcomed as soon as they subscribe.
Their growth and monetizations tools are fantastic. They offer the Creator Network — which is a similar feature to Substack’s recommendations — and they allow you to sell digital products right from the platform2.
Finally, they know the industry and share their knowledge. Their podcast, Deliverability Defined, is a gold mine of information to help you keep a clear, healthy email list.
And of-course, you own your list. If you want to export it and go somewhere else, you can!
If that sounds good to you, check out ConvertKit here3.
How to Build a Form (📹)
In the video above, I show you step-by-step how to set up your free ConvertKit account:
Setting Up Your Account
- Sign Up for a Free ConvertKit Account
- Provide your email address, create a password, and agree to ConvertKit’s terms and conditions.
- Set Up Your Account
- Select “I’m just starting out” and choose the free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers.
- Specify that you are a podcaster when prompted to select your creator type.
Create the Opt-In
We’re going to create a landing page — that way you don’t need a place to embed the form, just in case you don’t have a website for you podcast.
- Create a Landing Page
- Click on “Landing Pages & Forms” under the “Grow” section.
- Choose “Create New” and select “Landing Page.”
- Select a template that best suits your podcast.
- Customize the Landing Page
- Edit the general styles, font, and background to match your podcast’s branding.
- Replace the default artwork and add text or a testimonial to encourage sign-ups.
- Set the color scheme and customize the call-to-action button.
- Create a thank you page and customize the redirect settings.
- Publish Your Landing Page
- Save your settings and publish the landing page.
In the video I cover some other options worth checking out too…things like how you might want to set up a custom domain, what to do you do have a WordPress site, etc.
How to Connect Your RSS feed (📹)
Something you’re probably wondering is what you should send to your subscribers. I’ll cover that more in Part 2 of this series, but for now, you could automatically email them when a new episode is out. This video shows you how to do that:
You’re Ready!
All right — you’re all set to start building your mailing list. Now, it’s time to start promoting it on your podcast.
Keep a look out for Part 2, where we’ll go through your first set of emails (the welcome sequence), and some basic automations.