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Written by Professional Academy Guest Blogger Laura Slingo
Email marketing is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site. It can help build deeper relationships with customers, keep your brand top of mind, and, best of all, you can leverage email at a fraction of the cost of other popular marketing channels.
However, the challenge is growing your audience in the first place. Not only is blogging a way to write about your passion(s) and share your expert knowledge with an avid audience, but it’s a great way to generate the content you need to launch an email marketing campaign.
Check out the post below to discover six surefire ways you can use content to get more people to subscribe to your email list.
Want to get the most from your email subscriber database? Check out these essential tips.
First things first, you need to draw people in with creative content. Wow them with exciting blog posts. Pick topics that are relevant, interesting and made specifically for your audience. At the outset, you should know that merely writing blog posts that are exciting isn’t enough. Maintaining a high standard of writing is crucial if you want to retain your readership and get them to subscribe to your blog’s email list.
When we say this, we’re referring both to the quality of your copy (grammar, punctuation and readability) and the quality of your content (subject matter, layout, format). Each of your posts needs to be crafted with love and attention.
It can feel difficult to maintain a high standard of writing if you’re updating your blog regularly. Who has the time to proofread, if you’re already moving onto the next post and it’s due in two days? Writing well can also be super hard if you’ve hit a creative wall — but don’t worry, there are ways to overcome mental blocks.
Although it’s tempting to cut a few corners and get lazy with your writing, beware: readers will notice. If you’re creating home improvement content, for example, readers will be disappointed if they don’t see lots of high-quality images, actionable tips and aspirational copy. And disappointed readers leads to cancelled subscriptions, which you don’t want.
We all love free things. That is a fact, and one worth remembering when you’re trying to grow your blog’s email list. If you incentivize subscription with an attractive offer, you’ll soon discover that your email list goes up in size.
This incentive could be anything you want. If you run a B2B business, for example, you could create an exclusive ebook on accounting, HR or training. On the other hand, if you run a B2C business, you might want to consider running a competition or giveaway.
However you decide to do it, an unrefusable offer will entice readers to sign up to your email list in seconds.
Your audience don’t subscribe to your emails just because of their great content. They need to be compelled to open those emails first, and stellar subject lines are the way to achieve that.
But not only do clickable subject lines encourage people to open your emails and subsequently sign up, it keeps them locked in. If someone subscribes to your email list, you need to keep them hooked with email subject lines that compel them to open.
But if they regularly receive emails with tepid, uninspiring subject lines, your audience won’t even open them — they’ll just unsubscribe. To that end, create subject lines that incite clicks.
It’s worth taking a lesson from BuzzFeed’s clickbait headlines here. The media platform is renowned for its irresistibly clickable article titles. It commonly needles emotions and piques curiosity in a bid to compel readers to open an article.
Similarly in your emails you should lean on these same tactics. Power words such as “secret” or “missing out” play on your audience’s emotions and urge them to open your email.
Your subject lines alone won’t get more people to subscribe to your email list. But when used in conjunction with the rest of the tips on this list, they pave the way for emails that get opened and engaged with.
We’re not being superficial here: appearance does matter — at least when it comes to your blog.
Of course, your content needs to be well-written and engaging, but frankly, if your site isn’t looking very pretty, prospects will quickly be deterred.
You don’t want to lose potential subscribers just because of a bit of website upkeep. It’s not even that difficult to sort out your aesthetics and make your blog that bit more attractive to readers.
For example, if you use an ecommerce platform, you will be able to use ready-made, drag and drop templates that make it easy to create a visually appealing blog. For example, mist ecommerce platforms come with a range of embedded capabilities that will allow you to insert images and video as well as schedule posts and manage comments. You will also be able to create a blog that helps sell your products by integrating features such as social sharing buttons links to products and that all-important email signup form.
It’s important to pick a consistent theme and maintain it throughout your website. This means sticking to a few key colors (try to stay away from anything garish, particularly for backgrounds), and choosing only a couple of easy-to-read font types (no Papyrus, please!). Use a graphic design tool like Snappa to help you to pair color themes and fonts, as well as create unique banners and imagery for your blog.
Having an attractive blog not only makes it seem more professional, but also makes it easier to read and navigate. All of these factors will work together to increase your chances of converting readers into subscribers.
If you want more readers to subscribe to your email list, you need to make sure that subscribing is as easy as it can be.
Unfortunately, humans are an impatient bunch. In fact, recent studies show that we currently have an attention span of around eight seconds — less than that of a goldfish. You need to appeal to this side of your reader by capturing their attention quickly and effectively with an eye-catching CTA (call to action).
It’s easier than you think: pick a bright color, keep your CTA copy short and sweet, and stick it somewhere obvious. While we’re here, you should check how your CTAs look on mobile; they need to be translatable for the portion of your audience reading on the go.
You’d be surprised how many sign-ups businesses miss out on because they’ve left their opt-in forms in some dark corner of their website, and no one can be bothered to root around for it. So Don’t restrict opportunities for signing up to your blog either.
Pop-up forms are like mini landing pages that you can incorporate into any webpage - from blog posts to homepages. Ecommerce systems like BigCommerce or Squarespace include a wide range of pop-up apps that make signing up as simple as possible. But remember, with Google cracking down on intrusive pop-ups, the best tactic is to use pop-ups that trigger once the user has reached the end of your content.
You want to excite your customer with the first email you send. And as they could sign up at any point, this means that each email you send needs to be strong and memorable. This means choosing the right words. Make use of power words in everything from your subject line to your in-email copy to your closing CTA.
Another way you’re going to hook your readers in and keep them subscribed to your email list is through personalization. Personalization is proven to be one of the most effective methods in email marketing; personalized email CTAs convert 202% better than non-personalized ones, and personalized segmented emails have click-through rates that are 112% higher.
Personalization can be anything from including your reader’s name at the start of your email, to recommending product purchases, to referencing the day that they subscribed to your blog.
Although it sounds like a lot of effort — how are you going to find the time to personalize emails for each reader? — it’s actually very easy if you use an email automation tool.
They help you tailor each email to your readers, ensuring that their experience is unique and showing your subscribers that you value them. This goes a long way when you’re trying to raise your click-through rates and generate more traffic to your site.
It’s true what they say — oldies really are goldies, especially when it comes to your audience base. Your oldest readers (in terms of how long they have been loyal readers of your blog) are most likely the ones who will continue to read your posts, engage with your content, and promote your blog to other people. These are the backbone of your brand community.
Show that you care and value their loyalty by treating them. There are a number of ways you can do this — from sending them exclusive updates to giving them discounts (if you sell a product or service on your blog).
By implementing some or all of these techniques, you can get more people to subscribe to your email list. Keep experimenting and tweaking your methods and you’ll soon have a winning list-building strategy.
If you are interested in Sales, Marketing, Management or Digital Marketing then you are in the right hands, Professional Academy will help you progress further into your career! We offer both electronic and printed copies of learning material and the chance to undertake a professional qualification within a time-frame that suits you. If you would like to find out more you can speak to a qualifications advisor today or download a prospectus.