How to Turn a Blog Reader Into a Blog Subscriber
How to Get More Blog Subscribers
Having readers is a great thing. It shows that people are visiting your blog or website and that they are reading your content. Having blog subscribers is even better. This is because your list of email subscribers represent the people who you know are receiving all of your content on a regular basis, and who you know are interested enough in your brand to subscribe. There are also technical reasons that make blog subscriptions preferable to casual readership.
What happens if your blog platform makes significant changes, or if you make significant changes, and the platform is no longer the right place for your blog? Having an email subscription list makes it much easier to port your content and your subscribers to a new platform. Fortunately, converting readers into subscribers isn’t too difficult. Just follow these simple tips.
Make it Easy to Subscribe
Remember that your is a simple one. You want to get new people added to your list of subscribers. Don’t make doing this a challenge for them. Place your subscribe button or subscription form in a conspicuous place. Make sure that your subscription form is short and easy to fill out. Don’t force your readers to enter in a bunch of extra information just for doing you the courtesy of subscribing to your blog.
Offer Premium Content to Subscribers
If your readers can already click into your blog and read everything that you have to say, there’s not much incentive for them to subscribe. Without any incentive, you are essentially asking them to give you their email address for nothing. Would you go along with that? Give them an incentive by offering exclusive, valuable content just for subscribers. Then, follow through on that promise.
Let Readers Get to Know You
If your readers feel a personal connection with you, they will be more likely to subscribe to your blog. You can accomplish this by letting them get to know you. Here are a few steps that you can take to create some much needed familiarity.
- Let them see your face. Try putting a simple head shot at the top of your posts, and use pictures of yourself and your team in your posts. Not only will this make your posts more personal, it will also increase the likelihood that they will be shared with others.
- Create a Personal/Company Profile or an About Us page on your blog or website. Let users know your story, or the story of your organization. Let them know your values and interests, and let them know about your brand.
- Make sure your contact information is complete. Include your geographical location. Believe it or not, this makes you appear to be more familiar to visitors than if you limit your contact information to a form or email.
Publish New Content Frequently
One problem that many bloggers have is that they do not publish content frequently enough. Instead, they approach blogging as a casual pursuit, and they assume that they can produce new posts at their leisure. This approach is fine for those who are blogging for their own pleasure or for a tight circle of friends or people with a similar position. However, if you new subscribers and more engagement, blogging has to be treated as a job, and constant production of new and curated blog content is a must. Think of it this way; If you are going to casually publish a new post every few weeks, your readers will feel as if they can casually surf into your blog every few weeks to do a bit of reading.
However, if you are publishing a prolific amount of content, you create a feeling in your readers that they might miss something if they don’t get to visit your blog or web page. Many of them will be willing to eliminate that risk by simply subscribing to your content.
Hold a Giveaway
Offering a special prize or discount for subscribing can be a great way to get those coveted emails added to your list. Remember that your offering doesn’t need to be extravagant. You could, for example, offer a discount coupon off of your products or services for those who subscribe before a certain date. Another option would be entering subscribers into a drawing for a nice prize. Just be aware that using this technique will draw at least a few subscribers who are only interested in the offer, not the content. If you are tracking subscription numbers to measure the effectiveness of your giveaway, you may have to take that into consideration.
End Posts With a Call to Action
When you write your blog posts, be sure to conclude with a call to action requesting that readers sign up for your subscription list. At that moment, if they are truly engaged in your interesting content, readers will be very receptive to an invitation to subscribe.