It’s frustrating, right?
You want more loyal subscribers. You know that the more subscribers you have, the more sales you could potentially make.
But for some reason people just aren’t signing up for your email list as much as you’d hoped.
You’ve listened to the experts. You’ve started blogging, created a freebie, and been active on social media. But you’re just not attracting as many subscribers as you thought you would.
What gives?
Well, you might be making some (or all) of these seven mistakes.
1. Avoiding asking people to share your freebie
According to a survey by Nielsen, 92% of people say they trust word-of-mouth marketing and recommendations by friends and family more than any other form of marketing.
This is a huge deal.
This means that the easiest way to get more subscribers is to make your current subscribers happy, and then get them to refer other people to you.
How can you do that?
Just ask.
An effective, yet often overlooked strategy to get more subscribers is to ask your current subscribers to share your freebie. All you have to do is send them a follow-up email, after they sign up, asking them to share it.
If someone likes what you’re offering, they’ll probably happily refer other people your way.
For example, when someone signs up for one of my freebies, I send them an email with the link to download my freebie and I also include this…
2. Not having opt-in boxes all over your website
There are at least 5 places you can have opt-in boxes on your website.
Now, I get it. You don’t want to come across as a sleazy, flashy sales person. And you don’t want to overwhelm your website visitors with too many “in your face” opt-ins.
But here’s the truth – people have short attention spans and sometimes don’t notice the obvious.
So you want to boost your chances of actually getting more sign-ups by having opt-in boxes in lots of strategic places.
You don’t absolutely need to have opt-in boxes in all these places all the time.
But, if you want more subscribers, test how well different places on your website convert visitors to subscribers by putting opt-in forms in these 5 places.
On Your Sidebar like SocialMouths
If someone comes to your blog for the first time and they’re enjoying your posts, they’ll probably want to sign up for your email list.
So make it easy for them by having an opt-in form in your sidebar.
On Your Homepage like Marie Forleo
When someone finds you on Google and comes to your website, you want to make sure that your homepage is set up to capture subscribers.
This means giving people a clear reason to subscribe to your list. Promise to help them get something they want or need when they sign up – like Marie does when she says, “Get anything you want”.
On Your About Me Page like Social Triggers
Did you know your About Me page is one of the most visited pages on your website?
People want to know who you are and why you do what you do. So take advantage of all this traffic by putting at least one opt-in form on your About Me page.
On The Bottom of Your Blog like Nathalie Lussier
If people get all the way to the bottom of your blog post, that’s a sign that they liked what they read.
This means they’ll probably wanna read more. So give them the opportunity to do just that by encouraging them to sign up for your email list.
On a Landing Page like Jeff Walker
Landing pages (sometimes also called squeeze pages) are so effective because they get rid of any distractions.
There’s no navigation bar, sidebar, footer or anything else that might distract people. This means there’s literally nothing for the person to do other than sign up, or leave.
Try making your freebie sign-up page a landing page so you avoid distracting people with other content. You might find you’ll get more email list sign-ups.
3. Failing to get people to “Tweet That”
Whenever you write a blog post, you want to create captivating snippets – pieces of text that people will want to share.
Whether it’s a motivational quote, an eye-opening statistic, or something unexpected that you say, make it easy for people to tweet a sentence or two of your blog post.
The key is to make sure they include a link to your blog post in that tweet so that it drives traffic back to your blog.
Lucky for you, you can use a plugin like Quotable, Easy Tweet Embed or Click To Tweet. These are simple tools that’ll allow you to grab whatever text you want and create a tweet out of it.
Here’s an example – from Forbes.com – of how it might look on your blog…
This is an easy way to drive more traffic to your site. You’re just getting your existing readers to encourage other people to come check you out.
If they like what they see, and you have compelling opt-in forms in easy-to-find places, you may just end up with more subscribers.
4. Forgetting to ask people to share your posts
Remember, when people like what you’re doing, they’re happy to share. But sometimes they need a gentle nudge.
You probably already know that you should ask people to tweet, like and share your stuff at the bottom of your blog posts. But why not ask people to share your post right in the email you send with the link to the post? Whether you ask them to forward the email to a friend, or just remind them to share the blog post once they get to your blog?
Sometimes people need to read or hear something more than once before they actually take action. So it doesn’t hurt to ask people to share your blog post at the bottom of it and in your emails.
Just like Jon Morrow – from BoostBlogTraffic.com – does in his email here…
5. Not getting influencers to help
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve used a lot of examples from other experts to demonstrate my points throughout this post.
A smart way for me to potentially drive more traffic to this post would be to reach out to those people and let them know they’re featured here.
They might come check it out, and then share it with their community if they like what I have to say.
You can use this strategy too.
Whenever you use another expert as an example in a post you’ve written, reach out to them – via social media or email – and let them know you’ve featured them.
You can even directly ask them to share the post with their community if you’ve built a relationship with them, or if you feel like it’s appropriate to ask.
6. Ignoring your email signature
Do you just put your name at the end of your emails? You might be missing out on potential subscribers if you do.
Try including a link to your free offering – with a clear, compelling reason to sign up – in your email signature like Jenny Shih does. You never know when someone you’re emailing might be the ideal subscriber (or knows someone who would be).
7. Overlooking your social media profiles
You’ve probably heard that you should put a link to your freebie in your social media profiles.
But what about making your freebie the focus of your about section?
Amy Porterfield knows that if someone stumbles on her Facebook page they’ll know who she is from her cover photo. It says, “Amy Porterfield. Facebook Expert + Author + Trainer”. Pretty straightforward, right?
So she doesn’t have to repeat that information in her about section. Instead, she can use that piece of prime real estate to drive people to sign up for her email list.
You can use this strategy on your social media platforms – like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ – too.
Tell people who you are and what you do in your cover photo, and then invite them to join your email list in your about section.
Stop missing out
Did you find some ways you might be missing out on attracting more subscribers?
Well, now that you know, it’s time to take action and make some important changes.
I know it’s not always easy. And it can feel frustrating and overwhelming trying to grow your email list.
But you and I know that the only way success happens is by taking small steps that lead to big results.
So stop missing out by picking one of these tips. Implement it right away. And go get more subscribers.
What tip are you going to implement? Tell me in the comments below.
Image credit: GraphicLoads, marfis75
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