Why Can't I Make This "List Building" Thing Work?

For quite some time, I've worked in web design and have never had to worry about "getting traffic."

But, I've just recently created an info product and am trying to build a list of subscribers.

People talk about how they have lists of thousands and I find it hard to believe because I've had an opt-in form up on my site for 6 weeks now, offering TWO ebooks for subscribers, and to date, I've only gotten 35 subscribers.

Is this normal? A less than 1% subscriber rate from my site traffic?

I've seen others do this so I don't believe it's against the rules. My site is listed at theblogmaker.com. Could I ask a few of you to visit the site and maybe offer some suggestions as to how I can get more subscribers?

Thanks.

 

Really? No one?

 

Ok, I took the time to visit your blog. The problem is you don't have an 125x125 banner nor an ebook cover image landing to your landing page. You just have a text link which doesn't catch most people eye. I would get a banner made for the landing page to promote on high traffic blogs within your niche.

 

I am agree. The blogs offering free ebooks are using attractive banners.

 

I maintain a site for one of my clients and he has something similar to what your doing. he sales oral care products, gets about 150,000 unique visitors a month and has a section to subscribe to a monthly newsletter. Also every month he gives away 1 free electric toothbrush to a subscriber. on average he gets about 24 email signups a day. So i guess thats kinda normal.

 

I came to your site, I tried looking to see where the newsletter is. Couldn't find it.

Change that "blogs for sale" thing and replace it with "Get 2 free ebooks, subscribe to my mailing list" + pics + forms and things will change.

EDIT: after some time I saw "free downloads"... why not instead say "get/download 2 free ebooks"?

 

Give something back to the people who subscribe to your website. Just think what the majority of them are interested with and find away to give them a chunk of it if they subscribe to your site. Then advertise this.
They will start subscribing.

 

I have to be honest, I couldn't tell what to do and where to sign up. Are using an rss feed tob uild an email list?

The people I know with big lists and who use email lists to make money, devote their efforts to building that list. They make their offer VERY visible and they almost FORCE the reader to opt-in to their list. They also don't use the rss feature, they use third party services like aweber and getresponse.

A lot of the time (and I recommend this) they setup their webpage where the only thing you can see is an opt-in form and some content next to it (maybe text describing the offer or a video, video often boosts conversion rates). And thats it! You are forcing the visitor to look at your offer and decide whether they want to opt-in or leave the page. This is how a lot of people build their lists to be massive. They put as much effort into "selling" their free subscriptions as they do selling paid products.

Now you are using a blog. A lot of big bloggers have opt-in forms visible in a prominent position on their blog and they have graphics of whatever they are offering next to the report. You seem to be just using a link.

There are others (and we are talking about some big bloggers here) who have a pop-up that darkens the rest of the screen and prompts people to sign up to the opt-in list. This annoys me when I visit blogs, but it has to be working on some level, otherwise I am sure these bloggers (who are smart cookies) would not have been using this tactic for so long.

Thats just my 2 cents. If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask.

 

You need to know two things:

1. Just about all Internet users aren't interested in blogs or message boards.

Unless you are advertising in places that its visitors ARE intersted in them?

2. Your placement of the e-books' offer is just fine. They can see it. Well, the ones with brains, anyway, and that is who you want to buy, so....
But, another thing is...how many daily visitors do you have? A certain percenatge (less than 10%,) will sign up for them.

Do the math, and there's your answer.

I would, however, make the sales pitch better, longer, though. Tell them WHY they need it.

Yeah, they are probably lying their asses off. You find these blowhards usually on message boards and blogs. And or they are trying to sell you something.

A webmaster needs tens of thousands of daily visitors to get that many people.

And of the legitimate webmasters who do have that many, a large percentage of them are no longer active. They no longer read the e-mails. So the "thousands" is more than likely in the hundreds.

THAT is the reality of it.

That is not an opt-in list.

In many cases, yes, that is normal.

Again, THAT is the reality of it.

It can be better, though.

 

Hi Blogbuilder... 1% subscriber rate? or buyer rate? If your subscriber rate is less than 18-20% you are doing something wrong.

What niche are you in?

It is not hard to build a list of 300-400+ in the make money online niche in a few weeks.
After that you can leverage that list to easily start growing it exponentially. ie) ad swaps with others.

Lance

 

Hi lance,ow do you find it easy to gain a list of 300-400+ im really strugglin, would appreciate any help.

 

Hi nparsons,

Here is a free video I made,
http://jvlistbuildingsystem.com/easter

Also, you can check out

http://jvlistbuildingsystem.com

Lance

 

Thank you to everyone for the input. It's really helped me see what I'm doing wrong.

I'll take all suggestions into consideration.

 

i guess you dontwish to hear this again but i have to agree with what kush86 has to say. Give it a try you will see a difference

 

Consideration? Just put the thing more visible and stop considering. That way you can easily see what kind of effect it can have to change the sign-up position to a visible spot.

 

The main issue I see is that your site is that you have too many of the "BB" images. Frankly, so many of the same images make your website look a bit like spam.

P.S- Where did you buy that layout, its fab?

 

Hi Sally,

Yeah, that theme IS awesome. I got it at studiopress.com. They have a bunch of them available that are very similar. The one I use is called "Church" theme.

 

It seems that me and Studio Press are meant to mingle because every time I search for a WP template, they're always the first result. Either that or they have an amazing SEO writer, haha.

 

If you're talking about this page:

http://www.theblogmaker.com/freegifts.html

It actually looks pretty good. If you're looking to build a subscriber list, I'd send them directly to that page first, then once they opt-in they get sent to your main page. Basically, the simpler the opt-in form is, and the fewer elements competing for the customer's attention, the easier and more likely they are to opt-in.

Also, for the page above, I'd go with a stronger headline and benefits. Rather than talking about your technique, talk about what's in it for them once they have the technique. Give a specific benefit, a dollar amount, or a number of visitors, if possible.

 

The thing is that the homepage has a lot of different things in there that distracts visitors from what you actually want them to do: be your subscriber. If you make your site focused and less-cluttered, then expect to have improvements in your subscription rate.

I hope that helps.