One of the keys to having a popular blog is having many newsletter subscribers. If you have many newsletter subscribers you can increase your blog traffic whenever you publish a new post. All you will need to do is send a newsletter with links to your latest blog post, to your list and you will start seeing an increase in your website traffic.
You can also send updates about latest offers, latest news, and latest guides to your subscribers. Having a lot of subscribers is one of the reasons why blogs like Social Media Examiner and Content Marketing Institute have had a lot of success. So it’s absolutely necessary to have subscribers for your blog too.
Below are 5 tips which can help you get more newsletter subscribers
1. Have a sign up form on the header
One of the quickest ways to get someone to subscribe is by placing the sign up form on your header. If you place it on your header it will be the first thing your readers will see. So they will be more likely to sign up as soon as they visit your website.
An e.g. is Chris Brogan’s website where you have a sign up form on the header. If you visit the website you will see that it is first thing anyone who visits the home page will see.
2. Use Pop-overs
Some people avoid using pop-overs, because they feel that it might disturb their readers, but before you decline this option, keep in mind that a pop-over can increase sign-ups. There is a study which proves that pop-overs can increase sign ups to up to 300%.
The best thing to do would be to try it out for your website and see how it works. Check if you get more sign ups and if it affects the bounce rate or browsing time of your blog. If everything seems fine you can continue using it, but if you have some problems you can get rid of it.
I have used them for both my blogs and found them to be very effective in increasing sign-ups without causing any problems for my readers (as the browsing metrics are almost the same).
3. Give a free gift
This is probably the best way to get more people to sign up to your newsletter. Usually convincing people to sign up to your newsletter to receive updates can be hard.
But if you give away a free gift like a white paper or a guide or a video, you can convince more people to sign up to your newsletter as people will want to get hold of the guide as it will more likely contain better information than the blog posts as its access is gated.
4. Have a call to action at the end of the post
Many people make the mistake of not having a call to action at the end of blog posts. At the end of every blog post you need to have a persuasive call to action which leads to a landing page where readers can download your free documents.
In the call to action let the reader know that they can get better tips by reading the free gift and then include the link to the landing page on which this free gift can be downloaded. This will increase the traffic to your landing page.
5. Place sign up forms everywhere you can
This is another important point to keep in mind. People will more likely sign up to your newsletter if you make it easy for them to find the sign up forms.
Usually the best place for a sign up form is the landing page, but along with this, you need to have sign up forms at the end of blog posts, on the side bars and in the blog posts itself (wherever possible).
These are five ways to get more newsletter subscribers. If you follow them strictly and try out all these techniques you should see a rise in the number of newsletter subscribers.
Have I missed out any other important points? Have you got any tips you would like to share with us? Please leave your comments in the comments box below.
Ben Krahne says
July 30, 2012 at 3:53 amThat’s a good idea on a give away, maybe I’ll give away a video I’ve been working on.
I’ll have to check that out before i load it in you tube.
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:29 pmThank you for your comment Ben! – Mitt
Chris Madej says
July 30, 2012 at 3:33 amHi Mitt, thank you for the great tips about getting more subscribers. I must try all of them 🙂
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:30 pmYou’re welcome Chris! Thank you for your comment. Hope you find them helpful. – Mitt
Ammar Ali says
August 2, 2012 at 6:16 amProvide your readers free gift and ask them to signup and download!. This is best method to increase subscribers 😉
What do you say!
Mairaj Pirzada says
July 30, 2012 at 6:55 amHi MittKay,
Looks like that you’ve much experience in Bringing more subscribers to Newsletter. Well! I enjoyed the post, reading it and now commenting to let you know my way to Boost Subscribers.. Believe me It’s the Best one.
Here’s a tip, I use to get lots of subscribers daily. Newsletter-Sign up Plugin is just a simple plugin, but it rocks. It adds a Check box saying ‘Subscribe to our Newsletter’ below the Comment box..
I do turn my commentators into my newsletter subscribers in this way, and have got lot from this way.. You must try this way, I know you’d be thinking it’s Tricky!?
Then, I’d say that they can uncheck the prechecked check box.! lol.. They don’t, and comment without having a look at the check boxes, it’s their own mistake.. Haha, thanks for the post Anyway..
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:28 pmHi Mairaj,
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you found the post helpful.
That sounds like a great plugin. Thank you for sharing it. I use Aweber and it’s quite easy for me to place the sign up form below the blog posts. But I might give the plugin a try in the future. – Mitt
Aaron says
July 30, 2012 at 11:15 amThanks for the tip Mitt,
I have to try them. I’ve been playing around with getting more subscribers but I have not tried pop-ups, I have heard great things about it though.
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:22 pmThank you for your comments Aaron. Pop-ups can really increase your sign-ups. It’s worked really well for me. – Mitt
Sandeep Kumar says
July 30, 2012 at 12:04 pmHi Mitt…
Thanks for your tips…..
I would like to add another point here…
We should ask user to join mailing list at the end of each post by putting two lines about that.
Reason is user has read your article and if your article is of good quality then he/she is already impressed so this is the great place to as for joining mailing list.
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:20 pmYou’re welcome Sandeep! That sounds like a great tip. Thank you for sharing it. – Mitt
Simmeon says
July 30, 2012 at 12:06 pmHey Mitt,
Making sure to use strong CTA at the end of content will help generate more subscribers but also in the sidebar. I’ve not tested these popup opt-in boxes but they sure annoy me when browsing.
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:17 pmThank you for your comment Simmeon! -Mitt
Christine Brady says
July 30, 2012 at 2:50 pmHi Mitt,
Excellent points about boosting newsletter subscribers!
The point about placing the sign up forms in strategic locations on your blog is super valuable. Make it very easy for them to signup – don’t make them search. Opt-in forms should be right in front of them.
Another thing that I’ve seen help with my subscriber rate is to clearly outline what they get for opting in. You offer more than just a newsletter – you offer tips, free advice, and tools to help them succeed, etc.. Let them know what all you can help them with.
Thanks for sharing!
~Christine
Mitt Ray says
July 31, 2012 at 7:16 pmHi Christine,
Thank you for your comment. Letting people exactly know what they get for subscribing sounds like a great idea too. – Mitt
Albert Nelson says
August 1, 2012 at 8:19 amHi Mitt,
The tips you have provided is really effective for getting more newsletters subscribers.Thanks for sharing such a useful article with us.
Ehsan Ullah says
August 1, 2012 at 11:08 amHey Mitt,
Awesome ways to increase the newsletter subscribers. I’m currently using Mailchimp as email service providers and it is quite difficult to have a good popup form to place on my blog for Mailchimp.
I will soon buy a premium plugin called WPSubscribers.
And Chris, The sign form below post looks pretty nice. Are you using any plugin for that?
Chris Madej says
August 2, 2012 at 5:41 amHi Ehsan, it’s a bonus pack from Pat to Optin Skin. But support of Optin Skin isn’t great – I’m waiting for answer from them since 6 days. So please wait a moment – I must check it…
Matt Smith says
August 1, 2012 at 10:27 amGreat tips Mitt!
I totally agree about having a pop-over (or ‘lightbox’ as it’s also known). I use one on my site and it outperforms all of my other sign-up boxes that I have on my site. Yes, it can be quite annoying, but you can set it up to only appear once when someone visits your site. That way, they aren’t bothered by it on each page that they visit.
Having a free gift is also a great way to encourage people to sign up. This could be in the form of a free eBook, eCourse, voucher, video tutorial, discount on membership, etc. Anything that gives an added incentive to people to want updates.
Keep up the great work Mitt!
Rahul kuntala says
August 3, 2012 at 2:09 pmLanding pages convert more! If you’re using landing pages for email list building, you can see a huge growth, I did for my blog and I averaged 8 to 10 new subscribers everyday!
But I had few problems with the optins and the code, so removed it now. Still I’m getting good numbers, but not as much as before.
For those who are not using landing pages, ‘Above the fold’ concept is the way to go!
Chris Madej says
August 3, 2012 at 2:47 pmHi Rahul, thanks for your tip!
Sameer Gandhi says
August 7, 2012 at 7:18 amPosting Subscription box at the end of the content will fetch you more subscribers, provided if your content is really excellent
Felicia says
September 21, 2012 at 2:37 pmHi Mitt,
I always thought that the best way to get more subscribers from your opt-in list is the proper placement of your as well as the free gift you offer. The thing about pop-overs for me is I personally hate it when visiting sites, particularly those that are very insistent that it pops up every time you click a link within the site itself, or those that have a very hard to distinguish skip or close button. I know businesswise that it is very childish not make use of it only because I hate it. Then again, that’s me.