One of the biggest assets to your brand is an engaged email list. Capturing the emails of your audience is considered GOLD! Your email inbox is a sacred space, so when a reader hands over their email to you, they value you and your content. They WANT to hear from you. But converting those readers into email subscribers can be tough. What are you doing to get them to sign up?
A quick browse through most blogs and we’ve found that the majority of publishers simply have a pop-up or newsletter subscription box on their homepage. Which is a solid start. But we recommend going one step further and creating a subscription page dedicated to your opt-in freebie or exclusive newsletter content offerings. Why? It’s a great way to capture more emails through sharing on social media and including in your navigation.
Before you get started with a subscription page or any newsletter opt-in, we encourage you to create some sort of freebie. People won’t just hand over their email so they “never miss a post”. But they’re more likely to hand it over if they know they’re getting something in return. Check out some of our freebie ideas here. And if you don’t offer a freebie, at least provide exclusive content or a newsletter series that they won’t find anywhere else. Get them excited to be a part of your newsletter! (P.S. if you want to start sending out newsletters, we recommend using Flodesk! Get 50% off their subscription here.)
Benefits To Making A Subscribe Page
Easily share the page with followers on social media to drive more signups. This is great to re-share on your IG Stories every few weeks. Remind new followers that there’s exclusive content they’re missing out on.
A subscribe page allows you to include more information about your opt-in offer than what you can include in a simple pop-up or form on your blog. It allows you to really sell your freebie and convert more readers to subscribers.
You can also create subscribe pages for other new freebies you make down the road. For example, Jessica of An Indigo Day creates a signup page for all of her opt-in freebies that she offers. This way she can easily share them on social media when new offers are created or if she’s about to send an email to that specific list. Here’s the latest one she made to sell her latest fall capsule freebie in addition to creating a pop-up on her site.
What To Include In A Subscribe Page
A Sign Up Form
For obvious reasons, but make sure you have a form that functions on your subscribe page. The form should be above the fold. We love how Lauren Elyce included one above the fold, and again at the very bottom to capture anyone who needed a little more info before handing over their email address. This is a great way to “always be closing”.
Entice Your Readers
A subscribe page should SELL your newsletters to your audience. Whether the subscribe page is more general providing the overall benefits of being a part of your newsletter, or more specific to a current freebie offer, sell it to them! Entice them with the exclusive content they’ll get or maybe include a sneak peek of what they’ll be getting. Since pop-up forms only allow for a snippet of text, here’s an opportunity to give additional information on what they’re signing up for.
Be sure to use words that convert like “free” or “new” or “don’t miss out”. And never forget a call to action!
Testimonials
Including testimonials is a great way to ensure you get an email address in exchange for signing up to your list. Hearing from happy readers who love your content will only make it easier for people to make the decision to subscribe.
