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3 Simple Changes to Increase Your Subscribers by 50%

Posted By Guest Blogger 3rd of May 2011 Blog Promotion 0 Comments

This guest post is by Goddess Leonie of GoddessGuidebook.com.

In blogging years, I’m approaching my mid-life. Instead of having a crisis though, there’s life (and new tricks) in this ole goddess dog yet! In the last three months I’ve increased my subscribers by a whopping 50%. All with three simple changes. Because simple is fun and good, and really, it’s the best way to do things.

Are you ready to hear them? Hurrah!

1. Getting people in

I’ve SEO’ed the heck out of my website. I’ve commented like a fiend on all my favorite blogs. I’m aTwittering and FriendFace-ing with the best of them (a li’l “IT Crowd” joke in there for those playing at home). Want to know the thing that’s lovingly ushered people through the doors into my blog?

Guest blogging.

I had it on my to-do list for a bazillion years. “Yus yus yus, sooo important. OMG must be all ova dat! But mmm, can’t be bovered.” Every week, I put it off. Until I kicked my own butt (somewhat lovingly) into guest blog town.

  • I asked all my affiliates if I could guest blog for them.
  • I popped an “Interview me!” button on my blog.
  • I contacted all the places I knew that accepted guest blog submissions.
  • And I asked all my favorite blog peoples if I could write for them.

Whenever I wrote the guest blogs, I made sure I infused as much of my trademark ridunkulous silly and soppy language in them. Just to shoot up a little beacon of a freak flag so my right people knew I was a ginormous raving hippy, and that I was one of their kind.

And people spilled through the doors, and it was grand.

Mission Getting People In a success! Hurrah!

2. Making them welcome

But the next mission is just as important, and it’s one that we totally ignore.

We all know that the bounce rate on our websites is super-high. When you jump on a blog for the first time, it’s hard to know where to begin, or if you belong. We need a better doormat, people. And a lounge room to welcome them into. We need to help them recognize instantly that our blog is a home for them.

Some ways we can do that:

  • Add a New Here page to your blog introducing yourself, explaining what your blog’s about, and sharing some of your best posts to get them started.
  • Add a YouTube video to your sidebar welcoming new readers, and introducing yourself and your blog.
  • Do some brainstorming. If your blog was a magazine, what themes would it cover? Then make those themes prominent on your blog—whether that’s written in your banner, or as an image.

Here’s the one I popped together:

3 Simple Changes to Increase Your Subscribers by 50%

Mission Make Them Comfy complete! *confetti*

3. Helping them stay

How do we get our guests to become regular drop-in-aholics?

The best way I know is the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin. It appears the first five times a new friend visits your blog, and asks them if they’d like to subscribe by RSS or email.

Since using it, I’ve noticed a 20% increase in subscribers alone. Happy days!

Mission: Stay foreva, my one true reader-love = done.

3 simple changes = 50% more delight

It’s been dang glorious. And I’m pretty sure it’s been way more fun than having an existential blogging mid-life crisis!

Let us know your secrets for upping subscribers in the comments.

Goddess Leonie is the creator of GoddessGuidebook.com, a popular creativity and spirituality blog for women. She’s also the creator of the upcoming Become a Business Goddess ecourse.

About Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above.
Comments
  1. This is something that I’ve been putting off for a while now, but your article helped me.

    So, thank for that!

    Another thing is about the 3rd change you mention. In my opinion the message needs to be custom. It will make a huge difference.

    Yours it is, but I’ve seen lots of blogs with the default message.

    Eugen

  2. Thank you for a concise article that manages to be informative and uplifting at once. Brava! I just had to visit your blog. Fantastic! I love everything about it: the whimsical graphics, the positive tone, the content, everything. I’ll be sharing it with friends and family. Today I have learned some things from you; I intend to visit your blog again and learn more.

  3. Thank you and in the same time your guest poster for this informative post. I will always strongly believe in returning customers and how else if not gathering subscribers. Every business man should learn how to turn customers into returning customers.

  4. Goddess great post…

    I love your catchy phrase too, “drop-in-aholics” and your “Add a New Here Page Tip”…, I have seen this on a few other blogs and I may consider adding one to my own one day…

    Also, thanks for your plug in recommendation…

    I am a big fan of the Socialize plug-in which provides the HTML content box similar to Problogger. Not sure if he uses it or something a bit more advanced…

    Anyways, keep cranking out the compelling killer content

  5. *groan* guest blogging is such a positive thing to do but it’s something that I’ve struggled to do. I’ve been meaning to do it for some time now… As for the idea of adding a “new here” page, that’s something I think I’m going to get right on with!

  6. Guest blogging is questionable for me as I don’t have enough time to write on my own blogs!!

  7. I guess I’m the opposite of everyone else here. I would totally love to guest blog, I love to write about all different topics, even though my blog is kind of scattered brained at times, I try and keep a theme of geektasticness. Also, I believe I’m copyrighting that word. Now. Obviously, guest blogging works for you, because I am following your blog now!
    The only real question I have is will that seth godin plugin work with blogger, or just wordpress. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

  8. Hey everyone,

    I think this is great, it has a lot of brilliant ideas and I definitely think that guest blogging and giving the option to subscribe to you through that plug-in is the way forward.

    I know more from my YouTube success and perspective rather than my blog. I myself had never thought of using these ideas in a blog! You see more and more people on YouTube doing vlogs, (Video Logs). This is my style of videos and I still didn’t think about implementing the idea into a blog.

    I have an about me section in my channel for viewers and possible subscribers to see what I’m about and a little information about myself. I obviously have a subscribe button like any account but I have also done collaboration videos with other people for their channel, which is in effect a guest blog! I must have been blind not to see the similarity and relevance between the two!

    I’ll definitely be using these ideas and thinking more and more about what I am doing right with my YouTube account and how it will help me by implementing my knowledge into my blog as well!

    Thanks for showing me something so obvious I was blinded from it. It’s has really made an impact on the way I think about my work and possible business ideas too!

  9. Oh, Leonie: I would follow you anywhere! I never finish reading one of your posts (guest or not) without a smile on my face and a more optimistic view. I’ve just started delving into guest posting and I’m just loving the new friends I’m making.

    Thanks for the tips! I just had to share them:
    http://binspiredmama.blogspot.com/2011/05/binspired-link-love.html

  10. I definitely need to begin implementing these tips.

    Top on my list is making a welcome page. I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time and just been delaying it. Very bad.

    Have to get on it ASAP!

  11. All your points under “Make them welcome” make so much sense. I had left the default picture on my blog when I switched themes meaning to switch it out for a welcome video, but keep putting it off. After reading that section, I realize it’s time to do the dirty dead and get that video up and running.

    If my blog were a magazine, what themes would I cover? Hmmm? I think I’d cover exactly what I’m covering right, now, but I’ll have to review it in that light. That question is perfect – absolutely is the question I needed to be asked.

    Thanks for the post.

    Connie

  12. Anyone here tried the ‘What Would Seth Godin Do’ plugin before? How’s the response?

  13. Love this. I have a tab that is not getting much traction so I think I am taking your advice on the New Here section. Great tip.

    While I have had a pretty good traffic flow, I am not getting followers so this was great inspiration and advice for me.

  14. Goddess Leonie, thank you for the tips. Just added the ‘Seth Godin’ plugin to my WordPress blog. With implementing a few other ideas (welcome video is on the list), I hope to turn more of my visitors into subscribers.

    Thanks again,
    Cheryl

  15. I am such an avid reader of your website for a few months now. Thanks for being such a wacky, uplifting, lovely soul with so much GOOD, useful information! You’re an amazing resource for both blogging know-how and spiritual health.

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