Fifteen Easy Ways To Get More Email Subscribers

Over the years some of my customers have become discouraged with the growth of their email lists. They tell me that no one wants to sign up for email anymore.

While it is TRUE that getting subscribers to sign-up is harder than ever, the fact is your email list is one of your most important assets. Working to build it can often times be frustrating, BUT you need to work smart. Working smart means building something now, so it will keep working for you, for years!

Three weeks ago I visited a customer’s blog site after chatting with her about her biggest blog problems.  One of them was her email sign-up rate.  She told me she was lucky to get one new subscriber a week.  When I looked at her website stats, I saw that she was actually getting a fair amount of traffic.  She “should” have been getting more subscribers.

I spent 30 minutes poking around, looking for “missed opportunities.”  It wasn’t hard to find them.

I helped her take advantage of eleven missed ops and within a week her list was growing by double digit numbers. AS her blog traffic grows, so will the number of new subscribers.

The truth is, there are dozens of ways to optimize for subscriber growth … the ones that follow are the EASY ones!

What email building opportunities are YOU missing?

1. Opt In Box “somewhere” in your side panel.
2. Dedicated newsletter landing page.  It’s surprising how many blogs fail to have a page that tells potential subscribers what their newsletter is about.
3. A small blurb (or subscription box) at the end of every article.  This is often built into premium blog themes, all you have to do is set it up and activate it.
4. Have a Twitter account?  Put a link to your signup page, in your twitter profile.
5. ON your twitter account, PIN a tweet with a nice image and a sign-up link to the top of your twitter feed.
6. Whenever you send out an email newsletter, send a link to the newsletter to your twitter followers.
7. Have a Facebook account?  Add a “Sign Up” button on your Facebook Page.
8. Whenever you send out an email newsletter, send a link to the newsletter to your Facebook followers.
9. You send emails don’t you?  Your signature file should contain a newsletter sign-up link.
10. Don’t ask for too much information.  For a general list all you need is first name and email address.  The more information you ask for the fewer sign-ups you will get.
11. Inside your email newsletter. Create a short blurb that encourages readers to forward the newsletter to like minded friends — make this blurb part of your newsletter template so that you only need to do it once.
12. Create a simple, attractive “resources” or “info” page using Google Docs.  Open the page up to the “public.”  Be sure to include your blog information as well as your newsletter link at the bottom. Share the Google Doc link everywhere, encourage readers to share it with their friends.
13. Create a slide-up panel on the bottom (or top) of your blog.  Program it so that it slides up after visitors have been on your blog for over a minute.
14. If you have a YouTube account.  Include a link with every video (in the video info section).
15. Exit pop-up.  Yes, many people “say” they hate it, but it really works!  Besides, they are leaving and may never come back again … so this is your last opportunity to get them as a subscriber.

All of these opportunities are really EASY to set up.  Some will take less than three minutes, others make take an hour or so.  The thing to remember is that once they are in place (with the exception of #6 and #8) they will keep on working for you — forever!