You have probably heard that “the money is in the list.” That means that the subscribers to your email newsletter can be a source of profits for your business. After all, these are people who want to hear from you, and have invited you in to their email inboxes. They will be more likely to buy from you than a random visitor who happens to land on your website.
You do not have to have 100,000 subscribers to have a profitable email list. When you build good relationships with your subscribers, you can do well with a few thousand readers or even fewer. Of course, having a large list of interested and motivated readers can make you even more profitable. The key is building a list of subscribers who want to hear from you and will open and read your email newsletters. Getting your information in front of them on a regular basis increases the odds they’ll turn to you when they have a need.
Here are just a few ways to get more newsletter subscribers:
Offer a valuable bonus to subscribers. A free report, an online course, an audio or video program and other information products are low- (or no-) cost, high-value items that will motivate prospects to subscribe.
Dedicate a page on your website to promoting your newsletter. Give details about what subscribers can expect (e.g., content, frequency, special offers and bonuses). Include testimonials from other readers. Link to your privacy policy. And include a big sign up form right in the middle of the page!
Promote your email newsletter in your email signature, your profile pages on social networking sites, forum posts and other communications. People can’t subscribe if they don’t know about your email newsletter, so let them know.
Do an ad exchange with a complementary email newsletter. For example, if your niche is diet and weight loss, a newsletter about fitness could be a good match. You run a blurb about their newsletter, they run a blurb about yours, and you both get more new subscribers.
Offer sales and promotions exclusively for email newsletter readers. Everyone likes to save money, and everyone wants to get a special deal. Let potential subscribers know they will get discounts and freebies not available to others and they will be happy to sign up.
Test, test, test your sign up form. Test the layout, design, colors, position, headline, text on the submit button—everything. Generally, sign up forms are in the left or right sidebar, near the top of the page. You may find you get better results, though, with a form in the content section of your home page. Or, you might try a slide in or lightbox sign up form that appears on the page after a period of time. (Aweber makes it easy to create these forms.) It may be that none of these elements makes a dramatic difference by itself, but making several small improvements can make a big difference in the number of subscribers you get.
Each of these suggestions can increase your email newsletter subscriber numbers. Apply one of them or all of them, and watch your subscriber count climb!
