Experts all over the web swear by building your email list.
After all, entire businesses have been built off the back of email marketing.
And it all sounds so straight forward in the beginning.
Choose an email marketing provider, add some opt-in forms to your blog, and then wait for the users to sign up.
Then you wait…
Yet the hordes of subscribers don’t appear.
And the reality that this is much harder than you first thought starts to set in.
I’ve been there before and I have felt the same frustration that you do.
But, there are tactics that you can use to boost your conversions and get more subscribers.
Most of the beginner bloggers made this mistake: they didn’t collect their user’s email addresses or they didn’t implement the opt-in form on their website.
They use professional fast loading wordpress themes and make quality backlinks to rank the post higher in the search engine but they didn’t take its full advantage.
And, That is the worst mistake a website owner can make.
Now. Let’s move to our email list building strategies.
Double your conversions with 2-part blog posts
Offering your readers something unique can be very powerful.
But, what if you published the first part of a 2-part blog post, then offered that second part to readers that opt-in to your list?
This is exactly what Kim Roach tried on one of her blog posts, and this single post resulted in generating 694 subscribers. Conversions for that single post were at around 15%.
That’s a huge number for a single blog post.
You can read more about the multi-part blog post.
Why this works so well
People reading the post are reading because that’s what they’re there for.
And the offer of a 2nd part provides a logical next step with potentially more value on offer than they have received from the initial post and was promised in the headline.
How to implement this tactic yourself
You can use a nicely designed button (Using Elementor) to make it more clickable.
The next step involves using a 2-step opt-in form process (more on this later) whereby the reader clicks on a link and sees an opt-in form with a direct call to action.
You can simply build pop up using various wordpress free plugins to take the user’s email address.
LeadPages can also be the best fit for you.
One, in particular, that is very helpful here is the digital asset delivery feature, where you simply upload a file to your LeadPages account. When readers subscribe to your list, this is emailed out automatically.
Alternatively, an opt-in content locker plugin could be used if your blog runs on a self-hosted installation of WordPress.
Finally, I think it’s important to consider your post title. For example, if you offer 30 tips for your readers, you need to include those in the post and offer additional tips when the reader subscribes.
Otherwise, the promise conveyed in your headline will be broken and potentially have a negative impact on conversions.
Use a social squeeze page and get incredible results
Brian Dean recently shared a case study that showed how a new page on his blog was converting at 21.7%.
Brian calls this a ‘social squeeze page’ and when you look at it, it looks pretty straight forward right?
But, here’s the thing – it works.
Why this works so well
It all starts with the topic, and Brian has picked a topic that anyone in the SEO and marketing space would desperately want to learn about.
The rest of the page is designed in a straightforward way, with social sharing buttons to push the page further, and a sign-up form that jumps out at you.
There’s something else that makes this page incredible.
The offer is pitched as a straightforward sign up to Brian’s newsletter with the promise of more content like that which is on the page.
This is great because those who subscribe are handing over their email address because they really want to be on Brian’s list.
Not just because they want to get a free eBook.
Brian initially sent this to his email subscribers as an exclusive piece of content, then to get a continuous stream of traffic; it was added to the sidebar of his blog:
How to implement this tactic yourself
Implementing this is quite straightforward.
The most important thing here is to identify a topic that your readers are desperate to learn more about. Then couple that with a compelling headline and you’ve got yourself a solid foundation to build on.
All you need to create the page is the ability to add a page to your site without a sidebar (to minimize distractions). You then need a solution for adding social sharing buttons and a sign-up form below the content.
Now you need to think about how you’re going to drive traffic to the page.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Promote via your social media profiles
- Invest in Facebook Ads
- Add a call to action to your sidebar
- Create Backlinks To Rank Higher
- Email the page to your email list
- Use Hello Bar to increase lead flow (more on this in a moment)
Try a 2-step opt-in process and watch as it improves your conversions
Earlier I mentioned the 2-step opt-in form that you use as part of the 2-part blog post strategy.
The same 2-step opt-in process can be used elsewhere on your site, and to great effect as Ian Brodie shows in a case study.
Ian found that by swapping out his regular opt-in form for a button that opened a Leadbox when users clicked, he was able to boost conversions by 59%.
Why this works so well
The thinking behind this is that it’s easier to get someone to click a button than to enter their name and email address into an opt-in form.
And by getting readers to comply with that single action and effectively say ‘yes,’ it’s easier to get them to complete the next action, which is handing over their email address.
How to implement this tactic yourself
In order to test this for yourself, you would need to create a split test using a tool like Optimizely.
You would also need access to LeadPages or another system that offers a 2-step opt-in process.
Make better use of your blog traffic and increase lead flow by up to 166%
One of the challenges for a lot of sites is getting blog traffic to flow to pages that have the potential to generate a high conversion rate.
I’m talking about digital assets like white papers, eBooks, and alike.
This was a challenge that SuperOffice managed to overcome by adding a notification bar to the top of their site using Hellobar.
The results look very promising, as they were able to increase conversions from the blog by more than 116%.
Why this works so well
Hellobar fixes itself to the top of the page and scrolls down as the user scrolls.
This makes it very eye-catching and difficult to ignore with the right combination of colors.
What’s more, is that you can use Hello Bar to target specific blog posts and offer a white paper or eBook.
This provides readers with the next logical step to take after reading the current blog post.
You can then set up split tests to improve your conversions.
How to implement this tactic yourself
Head over to Hellobar to get setup.
It’s a free tool that is very easy to use. You can choose to add code manually to your site or use a zero-configuration WordPress plugin.
Are you ready to take your conversions to the next level?
We’ve talked through some powerful tactics here. Now it’s time to implement them and see how they perform for you.
Use these tactics as a starting point, but don’t leave it at that.
Performance can definitely vary between industries and your own distinct target audience.
So, test them for yourself and keep testing to improve your conversions.
And if at first, you don’t succeed, adjust your strategy.
Over to you: what tactics are you using to build your list? And how are they working for you?
I hope you liked this article and if this article helps you to increase your email conversions then please comment below your thought.
It helps me to write awesome blogs like this one.
Shivansh Singh is the founder of AskBlogging.com, he loves to write about Blogging, Affiliate Marketing, and SEO. He helps other people to start their blog, set it up, and monetize it.
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