Did you know that you can use your blog to grow your e-mail list? If not, it’s something you want to move to the top of your list of priorities. It’s one of the most effective and profitable things you can do for your online business. Perhaps you have heard the phrase “the money is in the list”? Let’s look at three different forms you can use to get subscribers from your blog.
Opt-in Form In Your Sidebar
Think about the blogs you have read, what is something that almost all blogs have? An opt-in form. The first thing most people do when they want to use their blog to grow their email list is to add an opt-in form to their blog page template. A blog page template ensures that the form will show on every blog page. The sidebar of the blog page is a great place to start.
One great thing about using an opt-in form on your blog page is that it is a template that you only have to create and place where you want it and the form will do the work for you. I thought to myself “How hard could it be?” (a nod to my Mom) and I set out to use my blog to grow my email list utilizing an opt-in form that appears on several pages of my website.
If you’re ready to build your list faster, I recommend considering testing different locations, different headlines, different images, and different opt-in offers until you find one that converts well for you. I chose my high-traffic areas as identified by Site Kit by Google-a plug-in on my website.
Pop Up Forms
As a reader, I am annoyed by pop-ups, as a site owner, I love that they can capture information without taking up so much space. Love them, or hate them… they work and they work well. If you don’t want to annoy your loyal blog readers, then set it up to only show up once every few weeks. As with any other opt-in form, it helps to switch things up and see if you can get a better conversion rate with different copy or offers. I have learned that it’s a fluid process, and have a plan to refresh my forms quarterly to try to stay in line with readership trends.
No matter how you personally feel about pop-up opt-in forms, just place one on your business page, you might be pleasantly surprised at how well they work and how fast your lists start to grow once you start using them. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!
Customized Opt-in Forms At The End Of Your Blog Posts
Last, but not least, let’s talk about a slightly more advanced technique. One that you can use to grow your email list. I discovered that this particular strategy for growing your list involves a little more work and it’s not something you want to do every time, but it can be incredibly effective for special offers.
The idea is to have a blog post and offer a related opt-in offer (i.e. tip sheet, e-book) at the end. So you’re blogging about parenting and just wrote a blog post about different ways to motivate your child to do their chores (or their homework) without being told to do it. One of your tips is a reward system based on a parent/child agreement. At the end of the post, you place your opt-in offer. This is where readers can sign up for more parenting tips from you. As a thank you for signing up, they get a printable parent/child agreement. You made it easy to use and that’s a win-win for whole the family (Talk about adding value!).
The copy of the opt-in form or the opt-in freebie is based on the blog post content. This is a little more work and likely not something you will want to do for every single post. Instead, reserve this for your highest-traffic posts (Use your website data analyzer-piece of cake!).
Up Next…
You’re involved in social media daily as it is… why not use it to grow your list? What a great way to grow your business and your income simultaneously! (And no, that doesn’t mean spamming your Facebook friends). Join me next time as we explore using social media to grow your email list.
All the Best,
Patricia
If you missed any of the earlier blog posts in this series Click here to catch up.
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