5 Ways to Get More WordPress Blog Subscribers

Yep, you’ve heard it before, “The money is in the list.” If you want to create an income with your WordPress site or as a blogger or WordPress developer, you need a solid list of loyal subscribers.

But if you’ve got only a handful of subscribers on your WordPress blog and none of them are commenting on your posts, this can be pretty discouraging. So I’m going to share five things that WILL increase your subscriber count and make your subscriber list more responsive starting today…

#1: Just Get the Email

If you want more subscribers, stop asking them for so much information. Just get the email and worry about the rest later.

To see a great example of this in action, go to copyblogger.com and look at the information they ask you for when you subscribe. They ask for an email address. That’s it. No first name, no last name, no phone number, address, social security number or blood sample.

There might have been a time when it was a good strategy to use someone’s first name in your marketing emails. But today, it’s a clear sign of a spammer. I know that people who email me almost never call me by name in the title of their email, but spammers do it all the time.

So what’s the big deal about getting your subscriber’s names? Just make it easy for them to subscribe and get the email…you can get more personal as you build the relationship.

#2: Tell Them Why

A lot of subscription invitations tell the reader to sign up or subscribe, but they don’t say squat about why the reader should do it. What’s going to happen if your reader’s subscribe to get updates from your blog or to receive your newsletter?

Better yet, what’s going to be the practical benefit of them signing up? ß This is what you need to tell them in your invitation. For example, check out these three subscription invitations and tell me which one sounds the most appealing to you as a reader:

“Sign up and get FREE updates from our blog

“Sign up for our FREE Weekly Newsletter”

“Sign up for FREE tips on solving your most complex WordPress problems”

Doesn’t the third one sound more appealing?

As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, our readers really don’t care about our blogs or the newsletters we spend 10 hours a month working on. They care about solving their problems. So when you tell them why they need to subscribe for updates from your blog, make sure the “why” means something to them.

#3: Use Social Proof

Social Proof is a great way to remove the “fear barrier” when you’re asking for a subscription. I remember back in High School, my buddies would try and get me to do something dumb by saying:

“Everybody’s doing it.”

You know, it actually worked too. It can also work when you’re asking someone to do something smart. So if you have 100 subscribers already, or 500or 1,000, tell people about this when you ask them to subscribe.

For example:

“Sign Up to Join 500 Smart Readers Who Use This Blog to Solve their WordPress Problems!”

There’s a sneaky bit of psychology in here too.

Can you spot it?

Not only am I telling the reader that 500 other people are already subscribed, I’m calling my current subscribers smart. This suggests that if the reader signs up, they’re smart too.

#4: Location, Location, Location

Marketing research has revealed that the upper right hand corner is the best place for a subscription invitation. I’ve found that placing your invitation here can even be effective than trying to call someone’s attention to it within your blog posts.

Ever read one of those odd sounding articles that end in a “for more information sign up for blah, blah blah…?” Not necessary, and not even the best way to get subscriptions on your WordPress blog. Just put it in the upper right hand corner and let them find it.

Then you can focus strictly on writing good and engaging content and let your subscriptions happen naturally.

#5: Don’t Write Posts, Start Conversations

This is tough to master. But some of the most popular WordPress communities on the internet become popular, not because of their content, but because of the conversations they start.

What does it take to write a blog post that starts a conversation? While there’s no magic formula, I’ve found that there are three things people find irresistible when it comes to putting their two cents in:

Popularity: the more popular the topic, the more likely it is to solicit feedback.

Relevancy: the more relevant the topic is to a person’s everyday experience; the more likely it is to solicit feedback.

Controversy: controversy always attracts attention, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, but the conversations that follow are always interesting and engaging.

Think about these three things ^ the next time you choose a blog topic. Just try it for your next 10 posts and see if you get more engagement from your readers.

Recap of 5 Action Steps

#1: Just Get the Email

#2: Tell Them Why

#3: Use Social Proof

#4: Location, Location, Location

#5: Don’t Write Posts, Start Conversations

Have a blast!

-Best,

Seth C

PS: If you need to set up email addresses on your domain, WPMU DEV offers free email hosting to members.

 

Tags:

• blogging