OK, here is the bit you really wanted to read. Where to get lots of eager subscribers:
1. Yourself! Sometimes people really do not take advantage of all their own potential places to reach new subscribers. Build on your own touch points such as:
- Your blog - Content is a great way to reach subscribers. Give them great content followed by a call to action to tell them why they should subscribe. Kind of like this series you are reading, if you want to not miss the next part then you will need to subscribe, right?
- Forum postings - Many forums allow you to include links back to your own site. Instead of “here is my blog / home page”, put “get tips and news right to your inbox by signing up to my newsletter”. Think about it, the people taking part in the Walrus Polishing forum will be interested in more info on that topic, especially if your postings are good.
- Other lists - You might already have email newsletters. Some of the topics will overlap, while others might intersect occasionally. For example, Darren launched Digital Photography School partly through mentions on ProBlogger.
- Email signatures - Any email interaction is a potential for a new sign up, especially email discussion lists. Do NOT harvest email addresses, put the subscribe URL in your signature with a call to action and if they are interested they will opt-in.
- Networking - Be it online or off, there will be a chance to put your subscribe page on your profile, business card, powerpoint … now aren’t you glad you spent time creating a compelling subscribe page?
2. Forwards - Forwarded emails are an excellent source of new subscribers because it is both an endorsement and a free sample of your good stuff. This is why you should include subscription options or obvious and compelling web links in your subscriber messages, not for existing subscribers but those you tell. If it is too hard to sign up they will just think “interesting” then move on.
3. MGM - “Member Get Member” or “Recommend a Friend” is a common way to get your subscribers to bring friends. Rather than just ask or hope they will forward, ask or incentivise them to use a special form. This form will send a customized email to each of their submitted friends, telling the friend about this cool thing, and optionally then delivering some goodies as a thank you. Another way to do it is give additional chances of winning a prize for each member they attract. Just be careful, this can be spammy if taken too far!
4. Incentives - I have already mentioned incentives a fair bit, because they work. There are three ways to get sign ups from free gifts:
- Before - Subscriber bonus that you can’t get without giving your email address, my Flagship Content ebook is one example
- After - Links in the document, video pages, and so on, encourage sign up but you do not need to opt-in to get the content. This is basically how blogs work and also “watch video one, opt-in to get part two”.
- Before AND after - The most advanced is to give free, open content, get opt-in then reinforce subscription with further permissions. You want to build a deeper relationship, from reader, to subscriber, from subscriber to customer, and so on. Consider what I have been doing moving feed subscribers to email subscription by offering benefits over and above my daily content.
