Black Friday is less than a month away. Are your promotional emails ready?
Implementing an effective holiday email marketing strategy can help drive ecommerce and online sales, increase charity donations, or get your subscribers directly to your store.
But don’t wait until the last second to get started on your emails: Winter holidays are the top consumer spending events of the year, according to the National Retail Federation, and some businesses are already sending holiday emails.
Create a revenue-driving email marketing plan for the holiday season.
Execute exciting holiday promotion ideas.
Write must-open holiday subject lines.
Add holiday cheer to your email design.
And more!
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Picture this: You fill your mug with piping hot coffee and sit down at your desk to write a sales email. You fire up your laptop and open a fresh draft.
But, you find yourself staring at a blank screen — unable to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You have writer’s block.
AWeber’s Liz Willits recently joined an episode of “Beyond the Hustle” — a podcast for entrepreneurs who hustle to make their dreams a reality — to share an email copywriting formula that helps her eliminate writer’s block.
“When you want to transition from providing value to selling your product or service, just remember ‘P.A.S.’ — problem, agitate, solution,” shared Willits.
Start an email by highlighting a problem your audience experiences, and then agitate it by explaining why it's a pain point for your audience. This demonstrates that you understand their struggles, and sets you up to sell your product or service as a solution, said Willits.
“The goal is to show how your product or service is going to change your readers’ lives.”
For more tips on how to write effective emails, how to use email marketing and social media together, and what you should avoid in your email marketing, listen to episode 72 of Beyond the Hustle with Liz Willits and Carolina Millan below. Or, listen on your favorite podcasting apps like Stitcher or Spotify.
For more than 20 years, AWeber has supported entrepreneurs and small businesses with powerfully-simple email marketing solutions. Get your free trial today.
Are you used to browsing Instagram without signing in to check out what your favorite brands are sharing? If so, here’s a change you won’t like one bit. The photo-sharing social network is now locking down its platform by preventing signed-out users from having unlimited access to public profiles. As a result, you’ll now be prompted to either sign up or login after viewing a handful of photos and posts via mobile or desktop web. Worse, there’s no getting around it. “This is to help people see photos on Instagram and then understand how to get the best Instagram experience…
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg and Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), went head to head during a hearing where Zuckerberg defended his right to allow political ads on his platform — even if they contained lies. “I just think that in a democracy people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying,” Zuckerberg said during the hearing. “People should make up their own minds about which candidates are credible and which candidates have the kind of character that they want to see in their elected officials.” However, it seems that preventing people of color from queer communities from contracting HIV and…
I thought I had quite enough streaming/video sites to keep up with, but now a new contender called Caffeine has entered the fray — and it’s signed Offset in an attempt to garner more views. Caffeine, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a streaming site that’s designed to be a hybrid of the other sites out there. It’s designed to offer more than just individual livestreamers as entertainment, and also touts its lack of ads. It’s also backed by 20th Century Fox (and now its new owners, Disney), which invested $100 million in the platform last…
Welcome to the Social Spotlight, where we dive deep into what we love about a brand’s approach to a specific social campaign. From strategy through execution and results, we’ll examine what makes the best brands on social tick — and leave you with some key takeaways to consider for your own brand’s social strategy.
Overview
Few brands have as successfully embraced UGC as GoPro, and with good reason; when your product makes great images and video possible for your consumers, showing is better than telling. And in Instagram, GoPro has found the perfect channel on which to build the kind of loyal community that keeps it top of mind for adventurous consumers across the globe.
Analysis
User-generated content (UGC) has long been a best practice for B2C social strategies, with the typical goal being to solicit and repurpose content that shows real people using your products. It’s authenticity, visualization and peer-to-peer recommendation all rolled into one. But GoPro’s take on UGC is unique in that the product itself is rarely shown. And that’s quite alright with the brand, because that means its heaviest users are out doing what they’re meant to do with the product: capture astounding images and video of life on the proverbial edge.
GoPro quickly realized the value of UGC and has developed several incentivizing programs to keep the content firehose on. The GoPro Awards offer prizes–gear, cash and “social stoke,” or tags and re-shares from GoPro’s official social channels–in exchange for killer content in a variety of categories that show the breadth of product uses for GoPro cameras. I especially like the Million Dollar Challenge, which offers an equal share of $1 million to every user whose submitted clip is used in the brand’s epic, year-end highlight reel, because it only accepts entries shot on the latest high-end camera. What better way to show off what your best product can do?
Goals: Awareness and loyalty, which, like with any strong UGC program, are linked. But the combination is especially effective since the UGC is made possible by the product GoPro is aiming to drive awareness for. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, all of that UGC (an average of xx posts using a GoPro hashtag per day) adds up to volumes of pure marketing gold.
Offline connection: Recognizing the critical role that social plays in fueling brand loyalty and perpetuating the aspirational brand lifestyle, GoPro has quite literally built social sharing into its product DNA. Using the GoPro app, users can edit photos and video and share directly to Instagram (including a nifty Stories upload feature), Facebook, YouTube and more. Not only does this reduce the friction of using GoPro’s products–no more tethering to a laptop or saving videos first to you phone’s camera roll–it also makes GoPro an essential tool in the quest to share one’s life in as real-time as is possible.
Key channels: The GoPro universe is vast, with more than 36 million followers across social media. I’ve talked a lot about Instagram but I’d be remiss to discount Facebook, where GoPro takes advantage of the video-friendly algorithm to share longer-form user videos, as well as YouTube, which is well-curated to feature product videos and content from the brand’s partner professional athletes and adventurers. Perhaps most importantly, carefully curating playlists, profiles (including more than 20 geographically diverse Instagram handles alone) and opportunities to connect with other users capturing similar content has made that world more useful, appealing and connected for the brand’s consumers. From scuba divers and backcountry skiers to wildlife enthusiasts and new parents, GoPro’s social communities are designed to bring people together over shared passions and great content.
Takeaways
Evaluate why your customers love your product and ask them to incorporate your brand into their existing behaviors. For instance: GoPro users buy the cameras to capture their most memorable moments for posterity and to show friends and other like-minded people, so making it easy for them to share (and be rewarded for sharing) via social has been key to expanding the brand’s reach and generating loyalty.
TL;DR:
Good social strategy borrows from what works, but you have to put your brand’s unique stamp on it or you won’t build the kind of equity that breeds excitement and loyalty. UGC is as tried and true a tactic as there is, but GoPro’s approach–like calling its user content credits “social stoke”–shows that it understands the lifestyle it’s trying to be a part of and has built a brand that enhances that lifestyle for its users.
You can’t get something for nothing, even when it comes to UGC. So don’t shy away from incentivizing your asks so that you get the kind of content you can build a brand with. Tying its most lucrative incentives to the latest product releases is an especially savvy touch.
Design your social presence to prioritize relevance from the start, so that the experience feels tailored to the user and the reasons they have for connecting with your brand. Make sure you’re not only considering their lifestyle touch-points, but also where they’re located and how that drives their decision making. Using social to create smaller communities within your larger brand following helps your followers find value in connecting with other fans of your brand and the sense of belonging and resonance that is necessary to earn true brand loyalty.
Reddit‘s taken r/The_Donald’s teeth away. The once proud community was, in its heyday, the vanguard for the MAGA movement. Now it’s just a sad group of self-declared victims whining about how unfairly they’ve been treated by social media. Back in June, the subreddit was quarantined for “threats of violence against police.” Widespread community outrage over an Oregon politician’s threat to have law enforcement officers bring Conservative lawmakers back to session resulted in a rash of anti-police, pro-violence posts on the forum. The quarantine essentially just forces visitors to acknowledge a disclaimer indicating the community is being given time to clean…
If your Instagram feed is anything like mine, it’s littered with timelapses of injected lip fillers, Kardashian-promoted beauty products, and Story filters that “enhance” your face. The subliminal pressure to be “perfect” is no longer subliminal, and it’s putting more more of a strain on young users more than ever. This is why Instagram is planning to remove all AR filters that depict or are associated with cosmetic surgery. Over the past few months, filters like “Plastica” — an effect that gives you extreme plastic surgery — have become increasingly popular, even viral. But with their rapid popularity comes growing…
Social media, a tool created to guard freedom of speech and democracy, has increasingly been used in more sinister ways. From its role in lowering the levels of trust in media, to inciting online violence, and amplifying political disinformation in elections— Facebook isn’t just a space to share “what’s on your mind,” and you’d be naive to believe so. With just over a year left until the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, Facebook updated its policies on the spread of misinformation and released a bunch of new tools to better “protect the democratic process” in a post published yesterday. Now, Facebook…
TikTok, the song-and-dance social media app that’s spiked in popularity this year, is allegedly the site of the latest attempt by the Islamic State terrorist organization (ISIS) to spread propaganda. While the site is banning the problematic accounts, it’s still a worrying trend. According a Wall Street Journal report, the organization is attempting to use the TikTok format to make themselves more appealing. Social media intelligence agency Storyful identified two dozen accounts spreading the bad news via TikTok. These accounts posted videos showing corpses, people singing ISIS songs, and women affirming a “jihadist” stance, often as hearts and stars pour across the screen. It sounds…
The UK has scrapped a controversial plan to require age verification for accessing porn online, after repeated delays. Digital Secretary Nicky Morgan said the measure — which was initially scheduled to go into effect in March 2018 — “will not be commencing.” Instead, the government plans to accomplish the goal of “protecting children online” as part of a “propsed online harms regulatory regime.” Morgan didn’t elaborate further on what these proposals would entail. The proposed law would’ve forced pornography websites to age-verify internet users in the UK to ensure they are above the age of 18 before allowing access to pornographic material. But…
TikTok users are reporting an unusually high number of posts showing up in their feeds related to Donald Trump. While the network has long been considered a haven for Trump supporters, until now they appeared to languish in an echo chamber. Now, as Trump‘s been eagerly announcing the mysterious progress he’s making in negotiations with China, posts about the president are apparently showing up everywhere on the Chinese-owned social network. #TikTok is being flooded with pro Trump videos. — Emily Turrettini (@textually) October 15, 2019 One Reddit user posting about the phenomenon said: I mean I probably should have deleted…
I don’t know how to tell you this, but at least some of the people who work at CNN have a personal bias against President Donald Trump. According to performance art group Project Veritas, CNN employee Cary Poarch came forward earlier this year with hundreds of hours of video he secretly recorded inside the network. This whistle-blower, we’re to believe, began working at CNN two years ago in an idealistic time when he had no clue the network was a left-leaning outlet. He claims getting the job was “a dream come true.” Then he found out that some of the employees, including…
Welcome to the Social Spotlight, where we dive deep into what we love about a brand’s approach to a specific social campaign. From strategy through execution and results, we’ll examine what makes the best brands on social tick — and leave you with some key takeaways to consider for your own brand’s social strategy.
The New York Times is considered by many to be the greatest general interest publication in the world, but until recently lagged behind its digital-first peers in terms of innovation and risk-taking in its storytelling. Not so today, as the Gray Lady has come into her own in part by redefining the role of social media in compelling and accessible journalism.
Overview
It’s no surprise that in the media world, good social content is dependent in large part on good journalism. While this has never been a problem for The New York Times, its methods of delivering that great journalism in the format and channel desired by its audience have struggled to evolve at the same rate as the rest of the market.
Flash back to 2014: The Times was struggling through another year of declining ad revenue and, surprisingly for the one of the most venerated newspapers on the planet, declining readership. The Times’ digital readership specifically had been in decline for more than two years, with readers looking first to direct competitors like the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, or to digital-first media startups like Vox and First Look Media, for their superior web, mobile and social media experiences.
So in May 2014, the paper commissioned a group of employees from “both sides of the wall” – newsroom and business – to study if and how the Times should make structural changes to address the viability of its current model in the digital news age. One huge advantage the report found for the “disrupters” was the use of social media to bring digital storytelling to the audience, rather than expecting them to come to it. It shares a great analogy: At the dawn of print distribution, the paper was printed in bulk, loaded on trucks, delivered to cities and towns across America and given to paper boys and delivery people to place on readers’ doorsteps. That mentality doesn’t exist for the digital products the NYT offers because they’ve operated under the assumption that the journalism is so good that digital readers will come to them. It’s the equivalent of abandoning that print distribution model, plopping a pile of papers in front of the NYT offices on 8th Avenue and saying, “If you want to read it, you have to come and get it.” Most people would take the local paper on their doorstep over the NYT they had to travel to get, despite the higher quality. And that created a big problem.
How to solve it? Enter: a new approach to storytelling, learned from social.
Analysis
The interim years have seen a renewed focus on the foundational elements of good digital journalism at The New York Times, including improvements to its app, core site, auxiliary pages like nytimes.com/cooking and digital ad offerings. But while the core publication is still working to optimize for the way readers consumer content today, the success it sees in social through visual storytelling, engagement-driving content and digital-first experiences is second to none.
Goals: As with most media social teams, there is a heavy focus on driving awareness of the content produced by the publication. But where the Times has evolved into a leader is in its ability to create deeply engaging social experiences that expand the impact of the published stories. A great example is the use of Instagram Stories and Highlights to surface the most impactful visual stories for that channel’s audience.
Offline connection: Social is used to drive offline experiences in much the same way a B2C product would use it: to highlight what you can’t get on social. For the Times, this includes teasing print-only content and driving registrations for the numerous panel discussions, screenings and meet & greets with reporters (I especially love the “group calls,” which allow readers to dial in to what is essentially a conference call between Times staffers to discuss a timely news topic).
Key channels: As recent 2020 report indicates, visual storytelling is a huge area of growth for the publication itself. But it’s long been the cornerstone of the Times’ social strategy, with a resource- and frequency focus on Instagram. As that channel’s’ storytelling tools have evolved, so have the Times’ stories (and Stories), often turning dense and complicated subject matter into digestible, understandable, visual content. Another excellent focus for Instagram is bringing context and humanity to the world-class photography and illustration of the core publication.
I also love the Times’ use of Facebook Groups to encourage readers and reporters to engage in “civil discussions” on topics as broad as life in Australia and as niche as favorite podcasts. While one might follow the section pages to see content, the Groups enable organic, ongoing dialogue among people who feel emotionally or intellectually invested in a subject.
Takeaways
Much of The New York Times’ evolution of this decade has been driven by the focus on subscribers as the paper’s primary source of revenue. This shift away from ad-driven KPIs like page views has refocused the newsroom on delivering quality and driving retention. The role of social in this model has crystallized as 1) an awareness driver for the kind of unparalleled storytelling available to subscribers, and 2) an engagement platform for readers and others to deepen their understanding and interest in the world captured by the Times’ content.
TL;DR:
PAUSE. Invest the time, people power and resources in understanding what is working for your business and your customers and what isn’t. Even the best social content and strategy is lipstick on a pig if the brand it supports isn’t resonating.
Identify your most enticing resources and make them as available as possible to your customers. The Times creates myriad opportunities for readers and reporters to meet, dialogue, exchange ideas and offer feedback. This keeps reporters honest to the audience’s needs and gives readers the opportunity to feel like part of the stories they consume.
Bring your stories to your audience. They’re not going to come to you when they can get a passable equivalent without lifting a finger, so you have to give them the motivation to visit your site, store or experience. If social isn’t your primary storytelling channel, use it to tease the full story and draw your audience to the deeper experience you want them to have.
Although mental health is by no means a new phenomenon, research proves that anxiety and depression are at an all time high. Multiple studies show that technology, specifically social media, is detrimental to people’s mental wellbeing. However, tech is taking on some of the responsibility to help those struggling with their mental health. Yesterday, on international World Mental Health Day, Pinterest announced in a blogpost that for the past year, it’s been using machine learning techniques to identify and automatically hide content that displays, rationalizes, or encourages self-injury. Using this technology, the social networking company says it has achieved an…
Social media, a tool once used to keep in touch with friends and family to share daily updates of your life, has seemingly evolved into an archive holding millions of memes. Whenever you scroll through Twitter or Facebook, you’re faced with a wall of meme after meme — be that the “Distracted boyfriend meme” or “Pepe the frog.” Memes are undoubtedly changing the way we communicate and reference popular culture online, it was even reported that memes are more popular than Jesus Christ. But for the 1.3 billion people living with some form of visual impairment globally, a substantial chunk…
The NBA boasts some 600 million fans in China and rakes in billions of dollars from lucrative TV and merchandising contracts with the PRC. But that could all change because of a single tweet. Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, took to Twitter last week in support of the people of Hong Kong. While his single tweet on the matter wasn’t necessarily controversial (he said “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”), it was enough to prompt an immediate apology from the NBA and retaliation from China. The owner of the Houston Rockets – which, by the…
Instagram today revealed it’s launching Threads, an Instagram spin-off app specifically for private messages between friends — similar to Facebook’s Messenger. Whether it’ll actually last as long as Messenger has remains to be seen. The app is camera-first, meaning your own face is likely to be the first thing you see upon entering the app. You can quickly take a picture and shoot it off to a friend. Users have access to Instagram‘s suite of photo- and video-editing features, so it’s pretty much the same as sending a DM on Instagram itself. Users can also share one-word statuses accompanied by…
Do you know what the key to a successful blog is? A loyal community of readers.
No, not those one-off readers who visit your website, read a blog post and disappear. I mean, sure it’s great to attract as many readers as possible, but it’s a waste of an opportunity if you don’t know whether they’ll return — and you’re not enticing them to comeback.
This is exactly why building an email list is so crucial to any online business, especially if you want to convert your blog into a source of real income and actually make money blogging. Having access to your readers’ email addresses lets you not only communicate, but also build real relationships with them.
Working hard to drive traffic to your blog is only half the battle. You’ve still got to convert those brand new readers into (excited) returning fans. Here are four key ways I’ve optimized my blog for collecting a high volume (more than 120,000!) of qualified email subscribers.
1. Optimize content for search intent.
There’s been too much talk about only using keywords to rank well in organic search. What many marketers fail to understand is that Google never really relied on keyword stuffing to determine page rankings.
While using relevant keywords is essential, what’s equally important, is understanding how people search — also known as search or user intent.
Search intent refers to what users are actually looking for when they type a search query. This concept goes beyond keyword usage, because it aims to understand the psyche behind a particular search.
Here’s how to create impactful blog content that’s in line with search intent.
Evaluate keyword intent.
Keyword intent is all about giving searchers exactly what they want. Your ability to accurately interpret the intent someone has when they’re searching for a particular keyword phrase online is crucial to creating content that does the best possible job of answering their questions and solving their challenges.
Let’s assume you have a list of core keywords which include your brand name, features, and words related to your domain.
Another place to look for keyword intent is Google’s own search engine results page (SERP). Start by typing the main keyword in the search bar and Google’s auto-fill function will give you insights into what else people search for related to your keyword.
For instance, if you run a home decor blog and you want to write about small space furniture, you can type “small spaces” in Google and see what automatically appears below your keyword:
Other places you can look at are the ‘Related searches’ and ‘People Also Ask’ section.
When you match your blog content to meet popularly searched queries, there are more chances of appearing on Google’s featured snippet which ensures maximum visibility.
Perform a content gap analysis.
If you’ve been consistently producing blog content, but don’t see it performing as well as it should, it’s time to pause and analyze. It’s quite possible that your competitors are doing a better job of matching the search intent for the keyword phrases you’re targeting.
Doing a content gap analysis lets you understand how your content is performing (compared to others ranking for the same keywords) and gives you the opportunity to identify areas of improvement that should help better address search intent.
Have a broad topic in mind? Great. Start with doing a Google search and studying the first page of results to see the high ranking pages. Then, evaluate each of them to see what they are missing. Consider these questions as you evaluate the content:
Is the information up-to-date?
Does it answer all pertinent questions?
Is it visually appealing and engaging?
By the end of this exercise, you’ll walk away with some clear ideas for how to create content that fills these gaps better than the existing competition.
You should also use tools like Buzzsumo and SEMRush to study your competitors’ content and identify keywords they’re ranking for that are also relevant to your blog — and can be included in your future content lineup.
Create content that addresses user intent.
Now that you’re aware of the different kinds of search intent, it’s time to create blog content that addresses each of them. There are 3 types of search intent — navigational, informational, and transactional.
Navigational searches: Your reader is seeking a specific website. This kind of intent is generally direct and clear as the user is very specific about the brand/company they’re looking for. You can optimize your blog content for such a query by strategically using your brand name in the title, meta-description, and subheadings of the blog post.
Informational searches: Your reader is actively looking for information. This search query involves “how,” “what,” “when,” and “why” questions. Users are looking for answers or more information. You need to optimize your content to answer their questions.
How? Create comprehensive how-to blog posts, videos, step-by-step guides, and eBooks. You can also create downloadable content to capture visitor email addresses and grow your email list.
Transactional searches: Your reader is prepared to take action, such as making a purchase. Here the user seeks to make a purchase, so you need to create content that addresses their concerns while listing your product or service’s benefits, solutions, value-added offers, case studies, and even comparisons that entice them to take your desired commercial action.
2. Create quality content.
None of these efforts will materialize in tangible business results if you don’t create quality (and meaningful) content that makes people want to read on.
From the moment of capturing their attention to the time they finish reading, your blog posts need to engage your readers so they hit the ‘subscribe’ button and join your email list.
Here’s a look at the ingredients of a perfect blog post that’s sure to increase your traffic.
Craft attention-grabbing headlines.
The headline forms the first impression of your blog post. You need it to grab people’s attention and attract clicks. So, the first step to write a successful blog post, is to create a powerful, SEO-friendly headline by keeping the following tips in mind:
Apart from adhering to this checklist, you should also use a tool like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer, which tells you how powerful your headline is from an SEO point of view. If you score 70 or above, you can safely move forward with the headline.
Instantly hook readers.
Your title managed to get readers to click on your blog post, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll read it.
So, how do you pull the reader in and ensure they make it through the entire post and feel glad they did? You craft a strong introduction that instantly hooks readers from the start. The first 1 to 2 sentences are crucial because they dictate whether your post will be interesting enough to warrant further reading.
Here are a few blog hooks you can use to entice readers to continue onward:
Use humor to your advantage (like James Altucher regularly does).
Answer questions.
Meaningful and relevant content will always win with readers.
So, uncover your audience’s burning questions by scanning communities like Reddit and Quora. You should also review the comments section of your blog to listen to your readers and understand if they have specific questions or pain points you can address with new content.
Another effective way to deliver content your readers will want to read, is by sending them a short survey to understand which kinds of topics they’d like to learn about. Your readers’ opinion matters most — so let it be a two-way conversation and give them what they’re genuinely interested in.
So, always combine meaningful content with visuals to make your posts more interesting and engaging. If there’s something that can be said better with the help of a short graphic, ditch the paragraph and explain it with a well-designed infographic instead.
Use images, GIFs, videos, colorful graphs, slides and infographics to break up the text and enhance the appearance of your blog content for better readability.
Optimize for mobile.
It’s a mobile-first world. If your blog doesn’t load quickly on a mobile device or requires users to zoom in and out to see it, then you’re losing out on a huge chunk of readers.
So, choose from only mobile-friendly WordPress themes to power your blog and incorporate responsive menus that automatically adjust to any device type or browser size, for users to navigate and read your content with ease. Before going live, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to evaluate your website.
3. Create clear, in-content calls-to-action.
The best way to get readers to join your email list is to tell them to subscribe with the help of clear call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
Here’s what you should keep in mind to ensure your in-content call-to-actions are effective.
Complement your content.
In-content CTAs should aid the reading experience and not obstruct it. They need to be organically weaved in, so they naturally flow with the content and avoid being intrusive.
You can increase conversions when you insert CTAs that match user intent. Use a tool like TextOptimizer to extract search intent tables and related questions that’ll help you understand what your blog visitors are specifically looking for.
Once you have that information, you can tailor your content around it and also insert relevant CTAs that match that user intent.
For instance, in my ultimate guide about how to start a blog, I inserted a clear CTA to my free course on growing a profitable blog — which matched the search intent of that post and expanded upon the goals of my readers.
Make it highly visible.
An effective CTA is one that’s clear, direct, and manages to stand out on the page. Use action-oriented, specific words that urge the reader to take the desired action.
If you’re offering a free trial, include the word ‘free’ or any other value add that can generate clicks. It’s also a good idea to insert a fascinating statistic or create a sense of urgency if it’s a time-bound offer.
For CTAs to be visible, use contrasting colors that make them pop out and place them strategically for better visibility.
4. Use effective popups.
Have you ever come across popups that appear right before you plan to leave the page? Those are called exit-intent popups.
While some experts say they’re a great way to capture email addresses and create a sense of urgency, they actually tend to create a negative last impression.
Instead of exit-intent popups, use a delayed popup that displays a relevant offer after a reader has been on your page for a set duration of time. Engaged readers will spend more time on your page. By showing forms only to these readers, you’re more likely to convert the right subscribers.
Your popup needs to be in line with your website design and layout. So, make sure it matches your website’s colors, theme, fonts and tone of voice in order to drive more sign ups.
Readers are only ever one click away from abandoning your blog, but the right popup offer, featuring action-oriented copy and a prominent CTA, can entice readers to click through.
When writing the popup copy, clearly highlight the offer and value your reader will get in exchange for signing up. Create a sense of urgency and explain the benefits of subscribing to your blog. Here’s an example of a high-converting popup for for my free course on how to build a blog:
Ask only for the important information.
When readers are brand new to your website, you can’t ask them to fill out lengthy forms. Keep the sign up form simple and only ask for the most basic information you need in order to build a stronger relationship with them — their email address and first name.
Final thoughts on converting (more) readers into email subscribers
Creating high-quality blog content that attracts readers is one of the most effective forms of content marketing today — but you can’t afford to let all that traffic go waste once you’ve nailed a strategy for driving traffic to your blog.
Make it work for your underlying business goals by converting those otherwise one-time readers into email subscribers that you can build (and maintain) a long-term relationship with over the days, weeks, and months to come. Eventually, they’ll be primed to become paying customers.
Ryan Robinson is a blogger, podcaster, and side project aficionado who teaches 400,000 monthly readers how to start a blog and grow a profitable side business at ryrob.com.
