12 Simple Ways to Increase Your Blog Subscribers Now

Do you need more blog subscribers? Of course, you do.

Subscribers are loyal contacts that raised their hands, saying they want to read your content. They help gauge what the industry wants to read and determine if your content is getting readership ROI. Plus, since subscribers have already opted in, they serve as the contacts you can market to in different ways when new campaigns are activated. 

If you aim to increase your subscriber base, publishing quality content (and more of it) is the first step toward understanding what resonates and what doesn’t.

The problem is that it takes time. You might be able to design a campaign or change your content marketing strategy by the end of this year, but what do you do if you need subscribers by the end of the month? 

You need some quick wins. This post will help you increase your subscribers using tactics that are easy to implement in a short period of time for fast results. 

Subscriber Growth Hacks You Can Execute Today

1. Update your email signature. 

Think about how many emails you send per day. The average person sends roughly 40 emails daily. 

You can leverage this ordinary task to grow your subscribers. Tack on a subscribe CTA with a tracking link to your subscription page or blog in your email signature. This will take you mere minutes and creates the opportunity for people you already contact on a regular basis to transform into subscribers with minimal effort.

 2. Create an incentive.

People can be stingy with their personal information. Can you blame them? A small incentive makes a big difference in perceived value for potential subscribers. In fact, a recent study found that 90% of consumers will share their email address for a small incentive, such as a discount.

Choose a small prize or discount code that compliments your business, industry, or content. If your prize is geared towards a specialized market, you will gain qualified leads interested in your industry. Make the contest exclusively for subscribers and see just how many more people are willing to share their information. Think of it this way: If you nail down a cost-effective prize, it will be much less than how much you would spend to boost a post on social media. 

3. Connect with key influencers. 

Tools like Buzzsumo can help you identify key influencers for a specific topic. If you’re able to catch their attention, you can reach their audience. Aim to build a genuine connection to encourage that key influencer to become a subscriber and brand ambassador. Even if they simply retweet a post, those are additional impressions to a segmented audience filled with potential subscribers.

Try finding 10 or 15 influencers in your industry and reply to their tweets with your content and an engaging comment. If the content is relevant, you may earn their endorsement and the attention of a much wider net if they engage with your reply.

4. Support your own initiatives.

Hey, if you don’t like what you created, who else will? Ask fellow stakeholders to share your content and spread it yourself.

Consider sharing your content on your personal LinkedIn page with a link back to the original post. Or, remember to spread the word on your personal social accounts to tap into the audience you’ve already attracted.

5. Pop in to say “hi.” 

Consider adding a subscription popup like a Hello Bar to your content to encourage visitors to subscribe. And, it’s possible to do this without becoming invasive. Programming the pop-up to only appear once the visitor has been on a specific post for a set amount of time or hovers over the back button ensures that it’s a non-intrusive user experience.

Are you a HubSpot user? Check out HubSpot’s lead flows feature, which allows you to create various styles of subscription pops. For certain HubSpot customers, you can even integrate lead flows with nurturing efforts to trigger automated emails, enroll in workflows, and more. 

6. Update your CTA.

Many blogs already have blog subscription CTAs on a right-side navigation menu, but when was the last time you changed your CTA button? A simple refresh like a color change, copy update, or a more actionable button can capture the eye of visitors who now gloss over the button they’ve become accustomed to.

7. Include more opt-in opportunities. 

Add a checkbox for users to opt-in to receive your content on all your site’s forms. If they are interested in one of your premium content offers, they may be interested in regular content. Make becoming a subscriber effortless by including that opt-in box on all lead generation forms. Give potential subscribers the power they want to control the frequency by providing options to receive notifications daily, weekly, or monthly. 

8. Make things personal. 

The more often you can customize content or build personal connections with potential subscribers, the better. Machine learning technology is helping marketers personalize marketing efforts to each individual user. While investing in artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t a decision that can be made overnight, you can take steps to build personal connections in a small way in the meantime. 

Connect with industry pros at conferences, speaking events, or trade shows and promote your content one on one. Those personal connections can help expand your network until AI can take the reins. 

9. Reengage with top visitors. 

Valuable relationships don’t need to come from influencers with large followings. Reengage with visitors who consistently visit your site or share your content but have not converted to subscribers yet.

These people are the low-hanging fruit you can convert while your bigger efforts are in the works. If they have shown repeated interest in your content, just offer an extra push or incentive to convert. 

10. Throw a little budget towards it. 

Promoting content on social media via paid ads is a good way to capture fresh eyes and, in turn, receive more subscribers. Experiment with different paid strategies in small budget increments to find what works for your content and target audience. Focus on designing compelling, eye-catching content. 

Understand what social channels your audience is on across platforms that support paid ads like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Snapchat, and target accordingly. You can put $50 or $100 towards a promoted post and help get the extra push you need. 

11. Revisit your SEO strategy. 

In the hustle to deliver content on a weekly or even daily basis, it is easy to skip some SEO steps. Having the best-ranking content will help audiences enter your site via organic search and, in turn, could add to your subscriber base. Update your meta description, titles, and subtitles to capture keywords. Ensure you have alt text added to all images on your site. Consider adding more images with alt text if they are applicable, and work to make your site rank higher.

Taking simple steps like this increases your reach, which could increase your subscriber base.

12. Keep visitors on your site longer.

Add related reads that will entice readers to stay on your site longer and engage with more content. This promotes familiarity with your site and helps visitors see the value of your content. Consider adding related reads or topic tags to each post to help visitors find more content by vertical industry, persona, or pain point.

The more they like your content, the more likely they are to subscribe. 

Unlock Your Website's Full Potential 

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