How to Start an Email Newsletter (and Stay Out of Spam Folders)
Choose a platform, set up your domain properly, get your first 100 subscribers and write emails people actually open. A practical step-by-step guide.
Social media reach comes and goes with every algorithm change. An email list is yours. If a platform disappears tomorrow, you can still reach your readers or customers directly.
Here's how to start one properly.
Step 1: Decide what your newsletter is for
Write one sentence: "Every [week/month], I send [who] [what], so they can [benefit]."
Every Friday, I send small business owners one practical marketing idea they can use in under an hour.
If you can't fill that in, people won't know why to subscribe, and you won't know what to write.
Step 2: Choose a platform
| Situation | Good pick |
|---|---|
| Writer or creator building an audience | Kit (free up to 10,000 subscribers) |
| Business with a big contact list |  Brevo |
| Simple small-business newsletter | MailerLite |
| You need lots of integrations |  Mailchimp |
More detail in the best email marketing software.
Step 3: Send from your own domain
Send from you@yourbusiness.com, not a Gmail address. Then set up three DNS records your platform will give you:
- SPF: says which services may send email for your domain
- DKIM: a digital signature proving the email really came from you
- DMARC: tells inbox providers what to do with emails that fail those checks
Big email providers like Gmail and Yahoo now expect bulk senders to have these in place. Without them, your newsletter is far more likely to land in spam. Your platform's setup guide walks you through it in about 15 minutes.
No domain yet? See how to buy a domain name.
Step 4: Create a signup form people want to fill in
- Say exactly what they'll get and how often. "One email every Friday" beats "Subscribe for updates".
- Ask for as little as possible. Email address, maybe a first name.
- Use double opt-in (they confirm by clicking a link). It keeps typos and fake addresses off your list.
Put the form on your website's homepage, at the end of blog posts and in your social media bio.
Step 5: Get your first 100 subscribers
The first 100 are the hardest. Ideas that work:
- Tell people you know. Friends, customers, colleagues and your social followers.
- Offer something useful in exchange: a checklist, template or short guide.
- Add a signup to every blog post. See how to start a blog.
- Collect emails in person at your shop or events, with permission.
Never buy email lists or add people without permission. It's against anti-spam laws in many countries, and it wrecks your sender reputation.
Step 6: Write emails people open
- Subject lines: clear beats clever. "5 free tools for freelancers" beats "You won't believe this…"
- One main idea per email.
- Write like a person, to one reader, not "Dear valued subscribers".
- Make links obvious, and don't cram in ten of them.
- Keep a consistent schedule. Readers learn when to expect you.
Step 7: Keep your list healthy
- Remove addresses that bounce.
- Every few months, remove people who haven't opened anything in a long time (or send them a "still interested?" email first).
- Make unsubscribing easy. It's the law in many places, and unhappy subscribers marking you as spam is worse than losing them.
