Getting email subscribers for your mailing list can provide a huge boost to your business. The costs for running a blog can add up when you factor in advertising, hosting, image purchasing, graphics, SEO experts, writer’s fees, and other miscellaneous purchases. If you aren’t doing your best to maximize your return on investment, running a blog or website can become more costly than beneficial. For many websites that sell products and services, the subscriber list is crucial.
Here are a few tips on getting more subscribers:
1) Sell your email list. Simply putting a form on your website that allows visitors to sign up will not do the trick—especially when you’re looking for long term results. Your landing page should discuss the benefits of becoming a subscriber and the value you offer. Use social media and guest posts to further propel this.
2) Offer free thing. Offering your site visitors incentives to subscribe works very well for your email list. This can include a free e-book or course that offers insightful information and will keep the subscriber coming back. A service like Aweber hosts your email list and sends out free materials upon subscribing.
3) Advertise. To get your name out there, it could be very useful to advertise via Google and social media platforms with strong advertising models, like Facebook. Set your budget and only pay what you can afford to advertise. With so many different options for placing advertisements, there’s no reason not to give it a try.
Depending on your budget, you may also want to consider affiliate advertising. Create a list of influential bloggers prominent in your industry. With this model, you’ll be paying for each subscriber you receive from that external source. To do this most effectively, you’ll have to have an in-depth understanding of your cost per lead to ensure that you’re not paying affiliate prices that are higher than the cost of customer acquisition.
4) A/B Test your landing page. By testing your landing page, you can figure out what works best for you and increase the amount of subscribers. Services like HelloBar allow you to create appealing messages at the top of your page with different buttons and split test them to determine what works best. Popular bloggers like Tim Ferriss (author of “The Four Hour Work Week”) use this service. The Hello Bar, as well as comparable tools, can remind site visitors of the amazing advantages of being on your mailing list.
It’s equally as important to A/B test your email campaigns. Play with different subject lines and tactics to see what gets people to open it. Keep in mind that there is a vast difference between the percentage of opens and the percentage of conversions—people who open the email vs. those who click an external link for a purchase or more information. In some cases, a higher open rate doesn’t always translate to more income.
5) Track your stats. Tracking your website’s stats gives you a great deal of insight into what’s working and what’s not. This is invaluable information that you can’t afford to overlook. Services like Aweber and Google Analytics can help you with this. Additional services, like Crazy Egg, can even give you insight as to where users are looking and clicking on your site.