Blogging is by far my favorite [free] way to build an email list these days.
The main reason for that, is because the cost for advertising keeps going up.
This isn’t going to change anytime soon. Some companies are paying HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS for a click.
I consider myself to be a halfway decent marketer, but there’s no way in hell I can afford to pay a few hundred dollars per click (lol).
So, That’s Why Blogging Is More Important Than Ever. 🙂
If you love to write, then you can turn that passion into subscribers, consistently and reliably.
Now, I don’t want to sell you unicorns; you’re not going to get hundreds of subscribers each and every day unless you’re a guru marketer.
But, wouldn’t a few subscribers each day (even 1 a day) be enough to warrant some type of paltry effort?
The Master Secret To Turning Your Blog Into Email Subscribers…
Toward the end of this article, I’m going to reveal the master secret to getting more subscribers. (I’m going to make you read this entire document first though, because it’ll be good for you. Much like eating a fat stack of broccoli; maybe it’s not the most enjoyable thing in the world, but you’ll benefit hand over fist).
So first, before we talk about the master secret, let’s talk about blog post frequency.
The number of blogs keeps increasing. There’s never going to be less content on the Internet.
People are publishing, every minute, of every day online.
Unless you’re already famous, you’re going to need to publish lots of content. Google loves fresh content, and they reward consistent publishers with more Google rankings.
It’s Kind Of Like Going Fishing.
The more content you have in Google, the more likely you are to attract someone who actually likes your content.
But… That’s both good news and bad news… Because…
Your content is literally a needle in a haystack.
So, ask yourself WHY should people even bother reading your content?
For me, I try my best to write content that doesn’t suck. Sure, some of it sucks, and some people definitely think I suck, but at the same time I have plenty of readers who think my content is helpful.
But to be honest, that isn’t enough.
I notice that the more content I write, the more traffic and subscribers I get.
So, rule number one is to publish content frequently. Try to publish a cool blog post at least ONCE per week.
If You Can Publish More Than Once Per Week? Then That’s Awesome. But Aim For At Least One Per Week!
Another thing to absolutely do, is create a cool graphic for each and every blog post, and make that graphic shareable on Pinterest, AND make it so when your readers click on that picture, they get taken to your lead capture page.
This is something I used to do in the past, however got tired (I’m epically lazy) of doing each time I posted.
However, it’s DEFINITELY worth it to include graphics in your post.
This is something that I’ve been recently experimenting with, and I’ve been getting more subscribers simply by having a big pretty graphic on each blog post that points to my lead capture page.
So, if you have blog posts that are currently popular, that DON’T have graphics? Simply create a cool looking graphic, and make it hyperlinked to one of your lead capture pages.
If You Don’t Have Photoshop? Do This.
You can get Photoshop for relatively inexpensive these days, and you can also use free open source graphic editors such as Gimp to create awesome graphics.
You can also use free online graphical editors such as Canva to create beautiful blog post images that are very clickable.
What I do, is download a beautiful piece of stock photography from Pixabay, and then I add a colored opacity of about 30% so I can write over the image, and bam, I have a really cool looking graphic I can slap on my blog post. People love to click these images, and hopefully they’ll share them on Pinterest also.
But This Is All Just Tactics. What About Strategy?
It’s true that blog post frequency, quality of content, and decorating your content are all really just tactics.
The overall strategy needs to be sound, or nothing’s going to work.
So, the master secret strategy, needs to be all about your end users.
Who the hell are you serving? What kind of blogger are you? What type of problems and struggles are your end users having?
What would they walk over a bed of hot coals to get?
If you can answer those questions, and if you know your audience well enough, then you’ll never run out of beautiful content to create.
And, your lead capture page will speak to your audience DIRECTLY, and your lead magnets will be PERFECT, so your audience can’t help but subscribe.
That’s just my two cents after blogging since 2010.
Some have told me that I suck at blogging, and writing, and that’s okay.
Because The Real Master Secret? Is This.
Not everyone is going to like your content.
You can be the best writer on the planet, and about 20% of people who read your stuff will think that you’re a joke. About 60% will be indifferent. The remaining 20% will absolutely love your stuff.
To those people who don’t like your style? Forget about them. Never let them drain your energy one way or the other.
Life’s too short to focus on people who aren’t going to read your stuff anyway.
So, never focus on, worry about, or write content for people who don’t give a damn about you.
Do just the opposite.
Create content for people who totally dig your style. Focus all of your energy into providing awesome content for those who appreciate you.
Do that, consistently and reliably, and they’ll be bending over backwards to join your email list.
All you’ll have to do, is provide a few opportunities for them to do so.
;]
That’s my two cents, and wish you the utmost best.
Cordially
Mike “Your Blog’s Never About You” DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com