100 Articles in 100 Days Marathon Challenge
Explode Your Traffic, Prospects, Publicity & Profits
Increase Blog Subscribers in 7 Easy Steps
Now that you have gone live with your blog, what’s next? How will you know if it is successful; how will you know if you are delivering the content your readers, your prospects and your clients are after? You will definitely want to monitor your pageviews, traffic, clickthroughs, search engine rankings and other overall indicators of website success. Your number of blog subscribers, however, may be the most accurate and reliable measurement you have for determining the success of your blog.
Easily put, let’s say that your blog is like a coffee shop, and your blog subscribers then are the repeat customers who keep coming back on a regular basis. In business terms, your customers are what keeps your business up and running. If you don’t have customers, you might as well close shop. With a brick and mortar business, you certainly wouldn’t turn down the occasional customer, the casual guy who just comes in once a year, or the straggler who came in off the street, who’s never been there before and will more than likely never return. But it’s the repeat customer, the guy who comes in week in and week out, just like clock work… that’s the guy who keep you afloat. He’s the one you can count on for steady revenues.
The same holds true for your blog. Sure, it’s nice to have readers who find your blog accidentally; the ones who clicked a link from another website, not really sure what to expect. Or the reader who is looking for something very particular and found your blog in Google. These one-time readers are nice, but it’s your regular readers, the ones who subscribe so they don’t miss a single post, the ones who respect what you have to say and what you are able to teach… those are the readers you really want. They are the ones you’re posting for any way, aren’t they?
So, how do you increase blog subscribers to keep your blog running? Here are 7 easy steps for getting more blog subscribers – most of which can be implemented immediately.
1. Make sure your readers know that you welcome their subscription. Place your subscription box in a strategic area where your readers can easily spot it. Consider adding the subscription box to the bottom of each of your blog posts. Include a warm and welcoming message to encourage subscribers and let them know you are interested in a relationship.
2. Be a guest contributor or blogger on someone else’s blog. A reference to your blog with a brief description at the end of your post is a great way for increasing your blog traffic and subscribers. Just inform the blog owner of your plans before you start posting. And make sure that the content you will be posting is original content which cannot be found in your blog.
3. Stay within your chosen niche. Do not stray away from your typical topic. A highly specialized, unique topic generally works best. Your readers will come back to your blog because you will be regarded as the authority on the topic.
4. Consider offering a freebie such as an e-book, special report, an audio series or an e-course to your website visitors if they sign up as blog subscribers. Use a technique similar to the freebie offer for newsletter subscribers. (I’ll be doing a Twitter series on offering freebies in just a few days. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to learn more http://twitter.com/KarenScharf )
5. Create a landing page whose primary purpose is to drive blog subscribers. Again, this is similar to the techniques used to increase email subscribers. This strategy can be used with your AdWords campaigns or with joint venture partners.
6. Feature a podcast that is related to the subject matter of your blog. Have it listed in different podcasting directories and get it into i-Tunes. Never forget to mention your blog in every single episode and discuss the different benefits of subscribing. Another great way of promoting your blog is landing some interviews with prominent players in your niche. Aside from increasing your presence online, you are creating content that can be used as part of your special gift or "ethical bribe" for new blog subscribers.
7. And just like driving traffic to your website, be proactive by participating in forums relevant or important to your niche. Creating informative posts will get you noticed and most likely, people will take interest in you and what your blog have to offer. Add your blog subscription form to your signature file or resource box.
But the most important tactic for increasing blog subscribers is to produce relevant, timely content on a regular basis. Once you get in that habit, I guarantee you that you will see your number of blog subscribers grow.
Easily put, let’s say that your blog is like a coffee shop, and your blog subscribers then are the repeat customers who keep coming back on a regular basis. In business terms, your customers are what keeps your business up and running. If you don’t have customers, you might as well close shop. With a brick and mortar business, you certainly wouldn’t turn down the occasional customer, the casual guy who just comes in once a year, or the straggler who came in off the street, who’s never been there before and will more than likely never return. But it’s the repeat customer, the guy who comes in week in and week out, just like clock work… that’s the guy who keep you afloat. He’s the one you can count on for steady revenues.
The same holds true for your blog. Sure, it’s nice to have readers who find your blog accidentally; the ones who clicked a link from another website, not really sure what to expect. Or the reader who is looking for something very particular and found your blog in Google. These one-time readers are nice, but it’s your regular readers, the ones who subscribe so they don’t miss a single post, the ones who respect what you have to say and what you are able to teach… those are the readers you really want. They are the ones you’re posting for any way, aren’t they?
So, how do you increase blog subscribers to keep your blog running? Here are 7 easy steps for getting more blog subscribers – most of which can be implemented immediately.
1. Make sure your readers know that you welcome their subscription. Place your subscription box in a strategic area where your readers can easily spot it. Consider adding the subscription box to the bottom of each of your blog posts. Include a warm and welcoming message to encourage subscribers and let them know you are interested in a relationship.
2. Be a guest contributor or blogger on someone else’s blog. A reference to your blog with a brief description at the end of your post is a great way for increasing your blog traffic and subscribers. Just inform the blog owner of your plans before you start posting. And make sure that the content you will be posting is original content which cannot be found in your blog.
3. Stay within your chosen niche. Do not stray away from your typical topic. A highly specialized, unique topic generally works best. Your readers will come back to your blog because you will be regarded as the authority on the topic.
4. Consider offering a freebie such as an e-book, special report, an audio series or an e-course to your website visitors if they sign up as blog subscribers. Use a technique similar to the freebie offer for newsletter subscribers. (I’ll be doing a Twitter series on offering freebies in just a few days. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to learn more http://twitter.com/KarenScharf )
5. Create a landing page whose primary purpose is to drive blog subscribers. Again, this is similar to the techniques used to increase email subscribers. This strategy can be used with your AdWords campaigns or with joint venture partners.
6. Feature a podcast that is related to the subject matter of your blog. Have it listed in different podcasting directories and get it into i-Tunes. Never forget to mention your blog in every single episode and discuss the different benefits of subscribing. Another great way of promoting your blog is landing some interviews with prominent players in your niche. Aside from increasing your presence online, you are creating content that can be used as part of your special gift or "ethical bribe" for new blog subscribers.
7. And just like driving traffic to your website, be proactive by participating in forums relevant or important to your niche. Creating informative posts will get you noticed and most likely, people will take interest in you and what your blog have to offer. Add your blog subscription form to your signature file or resource box.
But the most important tactic for increasing blog subscribers is to produce relevant, timely content on a regular basis. Once you get in that habit, I guarantee you that you will see your number of blog subscribers grow.
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