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Trying to decide between ConvertKit vs MailChimp email services? Here’s what you need to know when choosing an email service for blogging.

Bloggers wear a bunch of hats – and one is the marketing hat where we have to decide which platforms work best for our business. I’m going to tell you that email is THE MOST IMPORTANT platform every single time someone asks, because it’s that important. 

I’ve talked about email marketing before, along with why and how to do it in The Complete Guide to Email Marketing for Bloggers – but today I want to dive into the biggest decision of all:

ConvertKit vs MailChimp: Which email service is the best for bloggers?

Before we dive too deep, I do want to tell you that these are the only two systems I’ve personally used (but I have done research on several others), so my opinions are based on my own knowledge of each service. 

Also, the links included are affiliate links, so I am compensated if you sign up.

Let’s start with the pros and cons of each service:

MailChimp

PROS

• Free up to 2,000 subscribers/12,000 emails a month
• User friendly with low learning curve
• Somewhat customizable

CONS

• Limited amount of emails per month on free plan
• Cannot use affiliate marketing (more on that in a sec)
• Each person on each list is counted individually
• Difficult to combine lists
• Can be throttled if sending too many emails to too many lists close together

ConvertKit

PROS

• Unlimited emails per month
• Affiliate Marketing is acceptable
• Tagging/Segmenting lists is easy (and can be highly customized)
• Each subscriber is only charged once, regardless of how many lists they are on
• More capabilities to customize (and it’s much easier)

CONS

• Steeper learning curve
• Cost starts at $29/mo for up to 1,000 subscribers
• You have to have your site approved before sending your first email

Since you know the pros and cons, let’s take a deeper look at why I choose ConvertKit vs Mailchimp

The number one reason I use ConvertKit vs MailChimp (or MailerLite or Madmimi) is the limitations on affiliate marketing. You CANNOT use affiliate marketing on MailChimp (read here) – but you CAN on ConvertKit. Game changer!

Most people don’t realize the difference, so let’s break it down:

• Affiliate links: When you simply mention a product in the context of an email, but it’s not the sole focus of the email. 
• Affiliate marketing: When the entire point of the email is to promote a product, service or any other affiliate related program.

So if you’re only dropping in a link to the sofa you bought, but the email is about a room makeover, that’s affiliate linking.

If the entire email is about how you bought a sofa that you love and why you chose that particular sofa and hope the reader will buy the sofa, too – that’s affiliate marketing.

You’ve probably already broken the TOU of your email service but didn’t even realize it!

Let’s move on to subscribers…

In MailChimp, the best way to segment subscribers is by putting them into different sign up forms to separate them out by subject matter. It gets difficult to merge those lists in different varieties. And if one person is signed up on 5 lists, you’re charged 5 times.

In ConvertKit, you can also separate by sign up form, but you can also tag them in a myriad of ways so you can super segment out your list (this is crucial for selling products!) I have people on as many as 10 different lists and tags, yet ConvertKit only charges me one time per person – not 10 times like MailChimp would. And bonus – you can mix and match tags and forms and whatever else you’d like to send an email in any combination to your subscribers.

Let’s talk about sending emails in ConvertKit vs MailChimp

MailChimp can (and does) throttle people who send out too many emails too close together. Mainly it’s because they don’t have set protocols in place to keep spammers from signing up in the first place.

ConvertKit, however, will not let you send the first email until your site is approved (it’s super easy and they are SO friendly!) This keeps spammers out of the system from the start, so you aren’t throttled as to how many emails and when you can send them out. 

Now that you know what I LOVE about ConvertKit, let’s talk about what I’m not so keen on…. the learning curve.

In their defense, the reason the learning curve is so high is because there are SO many capabilities. MailChimp makes it pretty easy, you pick a design, drag and drop in photos… add a bit of text and BAM. You’re ready to hit send. But if you want to set up a funnel that’s a whole different conversation that gets a bit more complex.

In ConvertKit, there’s a LOT of bells and whistles. It’s laid out a lot different… there are tons more options… you have lots more flexibility – yet it takes a minute to wrap your head around how it all works. Once you get the hang of it, it’s amazing! But you need to devote at least a day to making sure you understand the system. (But they have a TON of great free training on how to do every single thing.)

Once you get into that, then the funnels are really easy. Like easier than I could have ever imagined. And you can bulk update and save all on one screen (versus changing back and forth like on MC.)

Now it’s time for you to decide:

ConvertKit vs MailChimp

What’s going to work best for you? 

PS – if you decide to move to ConvertKit, they make it SUPER easy to do… they’ll help you do it free, all you have to do is ask!

Looking for the best blogging resources around? These are the ones I use every day to help manage & grow my blog. They are each tested throughly and I highly suggest each and every one of them. We use these tools consistently to run this site & our business as a whole.

Running a multi-six-figure business isn’t always easy, but these tools take the overwhelming workload and stream line it to perfection.

*Some services included in these blogging resources are affiliate links – but each and every one of them are services I use and trust to keep my business running at full steam.*

I’ve used quite a few email services over the years, but ConvertKit is by far the best. I run multiple newsletters on it with no problem. It’s easy to use and has great features – as well as analytics to make running your business even better.

Need some great fonts or graphics? Creative Market is the go-to source for all of these and more. Digital files from creators all over the world use the site to sell their work – and you’ll find some of the best values on tools that can help your business stand out from the rest.

UpViral is a email growing platform that has made my list explode – I gained 21,000 new subscribers in 30 days. It works to use giveaways as email sign up incentives – then creates affiliate links for readers to share. 

Building your email list with popups isn’t a new concept, but PopupAlly makes it super simple. You can have as many different versions as you’d like, and run them specifically on pages directed towards the content on the page. It’s a great tool to grow your email list organically.

Looking for a reasonably priced host? Bluehost  starts at only $3.95 a month. It’s a great way to get started without a huge investment. 

Scheduling Pinterest couldn’t be easier than with Tailwind. It’s a system that lets you set up campaigns that run with your content to pin consistently for best results.

Finding the best keywords for SEO can be a bit tricky. KWFinder is a tool that helps you to optimize your keywords in common sense terms to help you get to the top of search engines with ease.

Need copyright free images? Pexels is the best source to get commercial use photos for free. No strings attached.

Another great free resource is Canva. While there is a paid version, which I use myself, the free side is jam packed with tons of useful tools to help you build social media graphics, ebooks, and more. It’s very user friendly and the possibilities are basically endless.

Thinking of selling something? Gumroad is my favorite platform. You can sell anything from books to videos to music – even physical products. Want affiliates? No problem. They even pay them for you. Just upload your products to sell, promote them, then you’ll get a weekly deposit of all your earnings. 

Asana is a productivity tool that helps you to keep track of all the moving parts of any project. You can assign different tasks to individuals, create due dates, add notes in relation to the tasks, as well as get notifications along the way. If you have multiple people working on a project – this is a great free resource to keep it all flowing smoothly.

Craving a connection to people who understand the crazy world of blogging? I get it! Explaining the intricacies of online business isn’t for everyone. But, if you need a community of people who get you, then you’re welcome to join my Facebook Community. I share my best tips & tricks on blogging every day with free live training.

Being a lifestyle blogger for nearly a decade means I have had a camera in my hand for a long time. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that photography equipment for bloggers is a bit different than that for normal needs, however I think there’s a lot to be learned from those of us who have been striving to take magazine worthy photos while shooting in our own kitchens. It takes time, work and some great equipment. So I’m sharing my top picks for the best photography equipment for bloggers. No matter if you already have a blog or want to start a blog, these pieces can help you up your blogging game.

Photography equipment for bloggers

*this post contains affiliate links – which means I make a tiny portion of any purchases with no additional cost to you whatsoever*

Choose Your Camera – I’ve been a Canon girl for a long time, and I’ve used the Canon T3i for a few years now. It’s still in great shape, and we still use it every day. However, I needed a second camera so we could do video and still shoots at the same time to speed up content production, so I just invested in the Canon T5i.  Both cameras are great models for bloggers. Just because they make a $5000 camera doesn’t mean you need one. A $500 camera will do just fine, because a good camera won’t make a bad photographer better…. only practice will make you better. (And yes, I’ve talked at length with someone who owns one and rarely uses it.)

50 mm fixed lens – this one is commonly called a “nifty fifty” and it is one of the most popular lenses around. It’s pretty cheap at around $100, works great for tight shots, and it features a pretty low F-stop to help you get that pretty bokeh look that bloggers love. This was the first photography equipment I purchased outside of the original camera and it’s been a great buy. I’ve had mine nearly 5 years and it still works like a champ.

10-18 mm lens – this lens is my secret weapon. It can take a tight space and capture the whole room because the width of the frame is massive compared to any other lens I’ve seen. If you take shots of entire rooms or huge groups, this lens is a dream. It is the single best investment I’ve ever made in my photography (other than my camera.) It will seriously change your interior photography game.

Tripod – any tripod is better than no tripod – but investing in a great one means you’ll stop burning through cheap ones. I just upgraded to this Manfrotto after reading nearly every photography blog I could find to make the best choice I could. Getting frustrated with a cheap tripod in the middle of an important photo shoot will make a hard job even harder. Investing in this will make your photos better and go smoother. And also, if you’re going to spend a lot of money on photography equipment like cameras and lenses, a good tripod will keep them safe.

Tripod Side Arm – ever tried to get great overhead shots? It’s back breaking when you have to do 900 shots to get 3 good ones. A tripod side arm will help you to get those shots without breaking your back. It works by extending it from your tripod and you can adjust it from there. If you want to make life even easier, you can add on a laptop platform – then tether your computer and camera together and you can see your shots on your computer in real time without stressing over how it looks in the camera.

Tripod – any tripod is better than no tripod – but investing in a great one means you’ll stop burning through cheap ones. I just upgraded to this Manfrotto after reading nearly every photography blog I could find to make the best choice I could. Getting frustrated with a cheap tripod in the middle of an important photo shoot will make a hard job even harder. Investing in this will make your photos better and go smoother. And also, if you’re going to spend a lot of money on photography equipment like cameras and lenses, a good tripod will keep them safe.

Tripod Side Arm – ever tried to get great overhead shots? It’s back breaking when you have to do 900 shots to get 3 good ones. A tripod side arm will help you to get those shots without breaking your back. It works by extending it from your tripod and you can adjust it from there. If you want to make life even easier, you can add on a laptop platform – then tether your computer and camera together and you can see your shots on your computer in real time without stressing over how it looks in the camera.

White Balance Card Set – I’m embarrassed to admit that I just recently started using this one. Setting your white balance on your camera isn’t hard (just google your model) and it will make the color in your photos so much better. It’s hard to get the white balance right, so if you can fix it in the camera then you’ll have less of a struggle in Photoshop.

External Flash – I’ve blogged about this one before, and I still fully believe in it. It’s an amazing piece of equipment that you can get for around $35 and it will make your photography so much better – especially when shooting interior rooms with low light.

Light Kit – besides an external flash, you will find a light kit can help to even out the light in areas where you might have dark spots that are hard to work around. Make sure you have as much natural light as possible, then use this as a filler and you’ll find that this is a great investment to help you on the days where it’s just not bright enough. At around $50, it’s a good option for a smaller investment that makes a big impact.

Camera Remote – if you’ve been using a DSLR for still shots very long, you probably know that you should use a timer on your camera for shooting rather than hand pushing the button. It helps keep the camera stable for that crystal clear shot. But if you use a camera remote then you get the same effect, yet it allows you to slowly tweak things between shots without getting 99 of the same shot. It’s a great little tool for under $10.

Photography backdrops – these are so handy because they give you the appeal of pretty wooden tables & backgrounds, yet roll up so you can have dozens of options even in a tiny space.

I’ve been a blogger for nearly a decade – and the most frequently asked question I receive is how to make money blogging. First, I want to dispel the myth that it’s quick and easy money. Not even close. I had to work for nearly 5 years before I made more than $1000 per month. And a lot of that was eaten up by expenses. But now, all these years later, I can tell you that I’ve made a six figure income for three years in a row. If you want to start a blog – or grow a current blog – this post is for you. Instead of creating a series on my tips for blogging, I decided to throw it all into one massive post. It’s a lot of information, so let’s get started so you can learn how to make money blogging.

Don’t have a blog yet? No problem – go here to learn how to start a blog (you can do it in under 15 minutes!)

How to Make Money Blogging

*this post contains affiliate links for your convenience*

Before you actually get to the money portion of learning how to make money blogging, you’ve got a little groundwork to do. These are the top five things I always recommend to bloggers who are either just getting started or are ready to up their game.

• Sign up with WordPress.org. That’s the self-hosted kind of blogging that you have complete control over. While you can get started on free blogs, if you ever want to learn how to make money blogging, you’ll want to be in charge of everything in your blogging world. Choosing the right company to host your website is one of the most important blogging decisions you’ll ever make. I highly recommend Orange Geek (you can save 10% on hosting fees by using coupon code SHABBYCREEK). You want to be sure you choose a hosting service that can handle your traffic (I get 3 million hits a month with no problems) and has great customer service.  BUT – if you’re not 100% sure you want to invest $50 per month for hosting, BlueHost is one of the cheapest available starting at $3.50 per month.
• Pick the right plug-ins. There are very few that I consider essential, but Yoast SEO is definitely one of them. I also recommend PopupAlly for emails (more about that later) and Wordfence Security to keep your site safe.
• Take time to showcase your brand. You’ll want a good logo, but you can find a lot of great options on Etsy that don’t break the bank. If you are starting this on a budget, spend your money on good hosting. Also be sure to create good social media graphics (I use font packages from My Design Deals to keep it affordable.)
• Learn the basics of tech on your own. Paying someone to fix every tiny detail of things you need done can get to be expensive, so you should at least learn about the bare essentials. I learned what I know from Lesley Clavijo’s book What the Tech. If you fix just a couple of things yourself by learning from this book, then you’ll have saved money over hiring someone. At the very least, try to use Google to find solutions to sort out issues before you start panicking.

Now that you’ve got a blog set up, you need to add some content. And, as the old saying goes, content is king. Learning how to create blog posts that stand the test of time – and that people actually want to read – that’s the ultimate key to success – and that’s what you need to know before you learn how to make money blogging. Because without a good blog there is no money.

• Build up a catalog of sustainable content. I’m not going to go too in-depth about this one, because I wrote an entire e-book just on the topic of creating content alone called the Blog Post Tool Kit. Essentially it teaches you every tiny detail about writing blog posts and how to promote them properly (which leads to how to make money blogging), but it all comes down to this: use the keyword tool to find the best keywords, use them to maximize SEO in your posts, then promote them properly (more on that later.)
• Photography is important. Photography is the thing that grabs the reader’s attention, long before they see the words. It can make good content even better. (Notice how the images in this post compliment the content.) Teaching you about how to improve your photography isn’t really the goal here – but learning more can improve your blog a lot. The best tool I’ve used in improving my own photography was Aniko Levai’s book The Ultimate Photography Book for Bloggers. 
• Creating a content plan. Any successful blogger will tell you the same thing: you need to plan out your content. Between making a project, photographing it, writing the post, then scheduling in social media promotions, there’s very little room to fly by the seat of your pants. Whether you plan on using an old school calendar to pencil in ideas, or use a more streamlined plan for creating and maintaining content, either method will need at least a little planning. You might have to reconfigure a bit when something in life pops up (because life does happen!), but having a good basic plan in place will help to keep you on track.
• Maintaing old content is more important than creating new. Yes, you just read that right. If I wrote this post, then continued for years on end to promote it without any revisions, the content would go stale rather quickly. So after you’ve built up an arsenal of good, sustainable content, be sure you take care of that content so it doesn’t die.

Writing great content isn’t enough. You have to promote that content for years and years to come. One of my strongest posts was written nearly 3 years ago – and I still promote that post almost every day. Promotion is often overlooked in the to-do list of bloggers – but high earning publishers know that the key to page views is promotion.

• Pinterest is the king for creative content. Write a DIY, craft or food blog? Then Pinterest should be your blog’s BFF. Seriously. 40% of my overall traffic comes from Pinterest, and it is 74% of my social media driven traffic. That’s huge! With over a million hits a month directly from Pinterest, it would be silly for me to ignore it. I personally use Board Booster to schedule out my pins – because you only have so many hours in the day. Just be sure you’re sharing at least 50% of other people’s content to balance things out.
• Facebook isn’t dead. Don’t worry, I used to think Facebook was useless, too. That was until I learned how to properly utilize it. With over a billion users on FB, you shouldn’t ignore the potential. Although I admit, I ignored it for way too long, now I’m using it to create crazy good traffic for my blog. I use Post Planner to help find (and sometimes) schedule out content – but good posts will not go very far unless you engage with your followers, so be present on Facebook and it will be kind to you.
• Instagram’s community is insanely interactive. I find that the most invested community among my social media outlets is Instagram. Since the beginning, users there were encouraged to like and comment on photos – so that’s what they are ingrained in doing. If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of your blog audience, Instagram can be the perfect place to do it.
• Email marketing is the best marketing. Social media sites change their algorithms often to keep spammers at bay – but your email list is yours to keep and no one can take that outlet away. That’s why it’s crucial to build up a mailing list starting as soon as you can  – and use it! Every day you’re not adding to your list is a day you’ve lost forever. Start today – using PopupAlly to gather and ConvertKit to deliver is my preferred way – and capture those page viewers and turn them into loyal readers. Those are the people who will help you learn how to make money blogging. Speaking of making money….

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. So let’s see… we’ve started a blog with the right set up, we’ve created good, sustainable content, we’ve learned how to market that content, and now we’re ready to get down to the nuts and bolts of how to make money blogging. No matter what other sites says, at the end of the day there are really only 5 ways to actually make money blogging. Any other option just falls under one of these categories:

• Adding on advertising networks. There are tons of them available, starting with the most basic, Google Adsense – and moving up to the cream of the crop, Adthrive (in my opinion). Each of them will either pay you per view or per click for visitors. Per view means for every 1,000 people who see an ad, you’ll receive X amount of dollars (usually between $5-6). Pay per click means you earn money when someone clicks on an ad, whether they buy or not (price varies.) If you are just looking to make money, this is the easiest way. The main objective is to get the most page views you can, because the more page views the more ad money. It’s pretty simple – yet effective. It is the #1 way I make money from this blog.
• Affiliate marketing is essential. Until recently, I never thought much about affiliate marketing. I used Amazon affiliates here and there, but it was never a huge focus. Then last year I read Tasha Agruso’s Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers and it pretty much blew my mind. Her blog receives 1/4 of the page views of mine, but she was making 10x more than I was in affiliate earnings. Since reading her book, my affiliate earnings have gone up dramatically – because I actually started using affiliate links! Now I spend as much time perfecting the affiliate links in a blog post as I do researching the keywords (like throughout this post.) It’s a little more work, but I’m earning much more money. And it kind of makes me sad to look back and see all the money I lost out on before I started. So start now. Like today. Your page views have nothing to do with your earnings – even smaller blogs can make big bucks.
• Working with brands (aka sponsored posts.) If you’ve ever been to my blog before, you’ll know that I don’t shy away from writing sponsored posts. I’m highly selective in the sponsors I accept, and it has to be a product that I can incorporate in a natural way into a project. I made 25% of my overall income in 2015 with sponsored posts. That’s a huge amount – more than I made from the day job I left 6 years ago. I know they’re not for everyone – but if you can partner with the right sponsor it can be a win/win for both sides. There’s tons to learn about working with sponsors, and Shannon Acheson’s book Bloggers + Brands is a great place to start.
• Selling your own product. These days I make about 25% of my income from product sales – and those are all digital products. On the flip side, I’m working more on products and less on sponsored posts, so those numbers will change over the course of time(I hope.) I currently only have 2 ebooks available – The Blog Post Tool Kit and Super Fast Freezer Meals. There are successful bloggers who make 90% of their money selling products, so don’t sell this idea short.
• Social media promotions. You don’t have to have a huge following to make money posting on social media. Unlike blog posts (so you’re not really learning how to make money blogging here), you are getting paid for sharing content exclusively on social media outlets (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) You can signup with networks like SheKnows who offer bloggers these deals, or try to strike your own with brands you love.

And that’s what I know about how to make money blogging. It sounds like a very long winded explanation, but you really need each of these stepping stones to create the path of successful blogging. Of course, we can dig deeper and go super in depth with advanced tactics, but that’s after you’ve tackled all of these steps.

Want to learn how to start a blog? CLICK HERE

Have questions? Leave a comment and I’ll do my best to give you a solid answer!