I'm looking to expand my blog a lot in 2012. I'm trying to set everything up, so I'm working five days ahead on blogs that post. I'm trying to go back to my original intent (posting music I like) and I'm trying to grow subscribers and build a mailing list. Getting traffic is probably the easiest thing to do, it's the conversion to sign up for a mailing list that is hard. I don't want to buy a list from someone else, because than the conversion would be even worse, rather I need hints and tips on getting visitors to sign up in a completely organic manner. I mean, who REALLY signs up for this kind of stuff? Should I offer a prize for people who sign up? Other ideas on getting real people to sign up? The email list won't be sent up to much for now, since I'm still building it and I don't want newcomers to feel overwhelmed with emails. I'm thinking of sending out one email a week, maybe once every two weeks, with a recap of postings. Any other ideas on how to make the email more valuable to users? Thank you!
A weekly e-mail isn't all that bad, just make sure they can unsubscribe whenever they want to. To get subscribers, you could offer a prize like you already mentioned, people also like free stuff, and if a free sign up is all they have to do, they will go for it. You say it's about music, right? Maybe offer a Spotify prize for someone? Tell them everyone that is subscribed is in a draw and one lucky person wins a subscription for x months.
Thanks. I currently allow comments on my site, but you must create an account to post. Needless to say, I get a lot of made up emails from spammers who want to advertise Russian Viagra or counterfeit passports. Can't imagine how many I'd get without that set up... I'm not sure how to set up a way to verify emails are real. MailChimp verifies emails when people sign up that way, so it's a bit more legit. I imported the emails from my comments into MailChimp and about 90% of them bounced back...
As has already been mentioned, offering free stuff for an email address works great! The Spotify prize was a cool suggestion... things along those lines will make people eager to sign up. From there, just keep offering them quality content (don't over-promote) and you should be able to grow & maintain a responsive list of happy subscribers. For the people who have just signed up, you might want to email them a little more often (maybe 3 days or so) so they are invested and don't forget that they signed up for the emails. After the initial period, you can slow it down more like you're planning. Whatever you choose to do, good luck!
You can use a tool called popup domination to add to your blog. This will allow you to get more subscribers with less effort.
Yes a popunder optin form could definitely help your ratio increase... But you said music, what about music? Do these people like the music you post? is it exclusive in some way? what is you usp? and target market? why do people come to your site? Once you can answer those questions you will have more of an idea to getting them what they possibly want... and only by signing up. Make it an exclusive thing, that no one gets unless they sign up.. whether it be contest prizes, exclusive requests or posts from subscribers or whatever you choose. Could be a guide on how to get music before it comes out... I don't know... Another tip is on every single post, at the end give a little pitch on why it would benefit them sign up. Or just sign up to get "your irresistible offer" Hope that Helps, Dave R.
Have you considered offering a free e-book/report? If you can come up with something genuinely valuable to your target audience - something that would be an absolute no-brainer for them to grab for free - you could seriously boost your sign-ups. Free audios could be another option - is there anyone in your niche you could interview? Perhaps someone who could spill the beans on something that is of great interest to your site visitors? Hope this helps and best of luck to you.
Every end of your post , you may put some call to action to request them sign up your newsletter to get your latest post update or something free. Make sure you mention it free or the call to action button do mention free or not related to money . Because most of people to not like to click on subscribe because they will thought that there a need a money to subscribe. So you need to make it clear from your end.
Dont buy a list from someone else because your " clients " will not be targeted. Instead you can make a Facebook page ( if you don't have already ) and use facebook fist which will make your page viral and you will have a lot of details about all your subscribers such as sex, age, address, emails and much more. Check my signature for more details