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Guide 3 · Newsletter

Running the Newsletter

Welcoming subscribers and sending a simple update each time you publish.

1 · How it's connected

Your mailing list lives in a tool called MailerLite. The good news: the hard part is already done.

The "subscribe" form on your website is already wired to MailerLite. Whenever someone signs up, they're automatically added to a group called "nsp-web blog subscribers." You never copy emails by hand or touch the form — subscribers just appear in that group, ready for you to email.

Good to know

Your free plan covers up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails a month — far more than a monthly newsletter to a professional list will ever need.

2 · First-time setup (do once)

  1. Complete your sender profile

    In your account settings, fill in your business name and a mailing address. This is legally required — every marketing email must include a real postal address. A business address or P.O. box is fine.

  2. Verify your sending identity

    Follow MailerLite's prompt to verify your email/domain so your newsletters send from your northstarparalegal.com address and land in inboxes, not spam folders. MailerLite walks you through it.

  3. Find your subscriber group

    Open Subscribers → Groups and look for "nsp-web blog subscribers." That's your audience. Click in anytime to see who's joined.

[ Screenshot: MailerLite → Subscribers → Groups ]

3 · Set up a welcome email (recommended)

A warm "thanks for subscribing" email makes a great first impression — and you only build it once. It then sends itself to every new subscriber, forever.

  1. Go to Automations

    In MailerLite, open Automations and create a new one.

  2. Choose the trigger

    Pick "When a subscriber joins a group" and select nsp-web blog subscribers.

  3. Write a short welcome

    Thank them, tell them what to expect (a thoughtful post about once a month), and maybe link to one of your favorite articles.

  4. Turn it on

    Activate it once and you're done — every future subscriber gets greeted automatically.

4 · Double opt-in (optional)

Double opt-in asks each new subscriber to click a confirmation link in their email before they're fully added. It's optional, but it keeps your list clean and improves deliverability — a nice touch for a professional audience.

If you turn this on, tell your developer

With double opt-in enabled, new subscribers are "pending" until they confirm. So the website's success message should change from "You've subscribed!" to "Check your email to confirm your subscription." Just email Frostbyte Web Solutions (john@frostbytewebsolutions.com) and they'll update that one line for you.

5 · Sending a newsletter when you publish

Here's the simple monthly move: you publish a blog post, then send a short email pointing your subscribers to it.

  1. Create a campaign

    In MailerLite, click Campaigns → Create campaign and give it a subject line (your post's title works great).

  2. Choose your recipients

    Send it to the nsp-web blog subscribers group.

  3. Write a short intro

    Two or three sentences: what the new post is about and why it's worth their time. Add a clear button or link to read it on your site.

  4. Send a test, then send

    Send yourself a test first to check how it looks, then hit send. Done!

Tip

Keep newsletters short. Your readers are busy attorneys — a tight intro and a link to the full post respects their time and gets more clicks than a wall of text.

6 · Managing subscribers

7 · Reading the results

After you send, MailerLite shows you two numbers worth glancing at:

Open rate

The share of people who opened it. For a small professional list, anything around 30–50% is healthy.

Click rate

The share who clicked through to your post. A few percent is normal and totally fine.

Don't obsess over these — a small, engaged list of the right attorneys is worth far more than big numbers. Use them only to notice what topics resonate.

8 · Staying compliant

9 · Your monthly checklist

That's the whole rhythm

Publish a post, send a short email about it, once a month. Simple, sustainable, and it keeps you on attorneys' radar all year long.

Want a branded welcome email or automation set up?

If you'd like a polished, on-brand welcome sequence — or any of this handled for you — Frostbyte Web Solutions can design and wire it up so it just runs in the background.

Ask Frostbyte