It’s a warm day in August 2014. I am in Cape May—a true paradise in its own right. I have over 100,000 Twitter followers. Over 150,000 people have visited my blog ever since I first launched it. I am approaching 20,000 Pinterest followers.
I have written over 1,000 blog posts for this blog alone. It would be unfair to not mention the hundreds of thousands of words I wrote for Squidoo webpages (now on HubPages) and my other blogs.
I made just as much money as when I had less than 10,000 Twitter followers, less than 500 blog posts, only a few hundred monthly visitors, and no Pinterest account.
Everyone wants a large social media audience these days for the ROI, but even with my social media audience, I wasn’t generating any ROI. I felt frustrated. Luckily, I was in Cape May, so the frustration left quickly.
During that vacation, I made the most important decision for my growth. I finally created an email list, and I couldn’t be happier.
The good thing about having 100,000 Twitter followers was that it was easy for me to gain subscribers. I immediately went from gaining zero subscribers to gaining over a dozen subscribers every day. It was an overnight change that was made possible by years spent growing my Twitter audience.
More and more often, I woke up to making more money online. Now, I make money every day. It’s a great thing to see my products bringing in revenue.
I started taking my email list seriously when I got my first 1,000 subscribers. With a little under 2,000 subscribers, I made over $200 from my first promotional email. It was a starting point, and I now get more results from my promotional emails.
I want to help you reach your first 1,000 subscribers so you can establish a strong base for yourself. Here are five methods you can implement to get more subscribers.
Create A Landing Page
A landing page is a page on your blog that is dedicated to getting more subscribers. There is no menu or navigation other than having the person enter an email address. Here is an example of one of my landing pages that I created with Optimize Press:
This landing page gets numerous people from Twitter every day. My landing pages are responsible for a majority of my subscribers.
Promote Your Landing Pages On Your Social Networks
The only way to get subscribers from a landing page is if you promote that landing page. The reason my landing pages get conversions is because I promote them on my social networks often. I use Twitter to promote my landing pages every 1-2 hours. Here was my most successful tweet
Although Twitter is my top social network, the promotion doesn’t end there. I also promote my landing pages on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and my podcast. I am always exploring other options to promote my landing pages.
Use A Pop-up
Pop-Ups work, and based on my experience, they have an insignificant impact on bounce rate and the amount of time people spend on your blog. In other words, people will either click the x button and continue reading, or they will subscribe. It’s hard to go wrong there.
When I started using a pop-up for my blog, I quickly doubled the amount of daily subscribers I gained. I use the pop-up to promote my free eBooks that I would otherwise use my landing pages to promote.
I recommend timing your pop-up to show up within 20-30 seconds. That way, your visitor has enough time to look at your blog and get a feel for it. You want your visitor to feel comfortable on your blog so that visitor feels comfortable with giving you his/her email address.
Opt-In Box Above The Fold
I recently bought PlugMatter, a brilliant plugin that lets you put an opt-in box at the top of every blog post you write. It even goes on top of your blog’s homepage. If you didn’t notice it when you visited my blog, here’s what it looks like
This opt-in box allowed me to more than double my daily subscribers in a few days. This plugin essentially turns all of your blog posts into opportunities for you to get more emails.
The most important thing about PlugMatter is that it appears above the fold. Anyone who visits my blog will immediately see the opt-in box. People who are interested immediately enter their email address. People who aren’t interested simply scroll down and then see my blog posts.
While PlugMatter has resulted in a big increase in subscribers, it also leads to an indirect increase in subscribers. As people visit my blog again and again, they will constantly seeing my opt-in box. Seeing the same thing over and over again results in familiarity which results in that person eventually subscribing.
Host A Webinar—The Cool Way
A webinar is a live event on the web in which you empower others with knowledge. Webinars are basically seminars on the web. To some people, it may sound complicated to host a webinar, and hosting a webinar can get quite expensive.
It costs around $49 per month for an entire year just to get 100 people on the webinar. If your webinar already has 100 people, and person #101 tries to join in, that person gets blocked out.
What if I told you there was a free way to host a webinar? What if I told you the free way to host a webinar is better than most paid options?
That option does exist, and it’s called Periscope.
I know what most people are thinking: Wait, Periscope is a social network. Since when did it before a place to host webinars?
Periscope is a social network with many capabilities. Hosting a webinar with a Periscope is just one of the options. Just get a stand for your iPhone or iPad, position it right by your computer, and deliver the presentation just like any other person with a webinar would do.
Want to see what a webinar on Periscope looks like. Contact me marc@marcguberti.com and ask me when my next webinar goes live.
Promote sign-up for the webinar with a landing page. Don’t forget to promote a product or landing page during the webinar.
In Conclusion
When you get your first 1,000 subscribers, you will be more motivated to surpass 2,000 subscribers. As you accomplish each milestone, you will be moving closer to an email list that can generate a full-time income.
What are your thoughts about using an email list to generate revenue? Which of these methods do you use to get more subscribers? Is email marketing in your strategy? What tips do you have for us? Sound off in the comments section now!
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