Trust us, you want that coveted email list.
But there’s one big problem. No one has subscribed to your email list.
Sure you may get a few subscribers a week but you want more than that. You would like to triple your current subscriber rate. But nothing you are doing is working and you are frustrated. You feel like you are spinning in circles trying to grow your email list and nothing is happening.
If you aren’t growing your list like you want it’s time to take an honest look at your opt-in offer freebie. Here are the top four reasons why people are not subscribing to your email list and how to fix it.
1. Assuming not Knowing
You start a blog and it’s going pretty well. You are getting comments and people like your writing style. You think to yourself “Okay I’ve got this! I bet if I offer my readers this free checklist they will sign up for my newsletter.” You’re excited and think this is the ticket to building a booming email list.
With that excitement, you build your freebie, share it, and then nothing. No one shares it, no one subscribes, no one likes it. You are crushed, disappointed, and frustrated. What went wrong? You had this killer idea for a freebie and it fell flat.
What is wrong: In this case an assumption was made about what your audience wants for a freebie. The idea sounded good to you, but is it what your audience wanted? Was your idea so valuable they were willing to give you their email address for it? I have made this mistake more than I would like to admit. It is self-defeating and frustrating. But I promise you there is a solution that works.
How to fix it: First, shake off the emotional dust. You have a lot to offer your audience, you just need to find the right thing that appeals to them. The best way to do this is to ask them! Take a poll in a Facebook group. Ask your readers to fill out a survey. Get on Skype with some of your followers. Ask them what they want to learn more about or what they are struggling with. Then write your freebie around solving those problems. Do this and I promise you will have people knocking on your door to subscribe to your list!
2. Bad Freebie
I have researched a lot of blogs and these are the common opt-in offer freebies I see:
- Join my newsletter and get my latest blog posts in your inbox!
- Subscribe to my blog now!
- Give me your email address and you will get printables, worksheets, and more!
If you have any of these opt-in offer freebies on your blog it will be hard to grow your email list.
What is wrong: Our emails are becoming a valuable commodity. We get so many emails and we won’t give out our emails addresses to just anyone. We want to know that in return we are getting something valuable. A piece of information that is going to make our lives easier. Something that is going to help us. Generic offers don’t give us that sense of help or value.
How to fix it: You have to create an opt-in offer that people want to read. The first step is discovering the problem they are desperate to solve. Solve that problem in your opt-in offer and they will will happily hand over their email address to you for it. A generic “Join my list” won’t work.
How do you find that perfect freebie? Much like asking your followers, you also need to research them. Look for them in Facebook groups, on Twitter, and Reddit. Read the comments in blogs that are more popular than yours. You are looking for questions people are asking. What do they want to learn more about? What do they need help with? By taking the time to ask your niche and doing the research you will create the perfect opt-in offer.
3. No Niche
Bloggers will often ask me, “Do I need more than one opt-in offer freebie to grow my list?” My answer is you absolutely do, and here’s why.
Let’s say you blog about paying off debt, investments, and how to build a blog. Your common personal finance blog with the side hustle about how to blog thrown in. Right there you have at least three different niches. One freebie is not going to fit each category you blog about. The person that wants to learn about how to grow a successful blog might not be interested in how to pay off debt.
What is wrong: There is not a one-size-fits all when it comes to your blog. You will have different cross sections of readers that will go to your blog for different reasons. The same is true of your opt-in offer. When you create an opt-in offer and try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. It’s not specific to their individual problems and they won’t download it.
How to fix it: Get to know each niche and write an opt-in offer that is just for them. Break down your blog by categories and write an opt-in offer for each category. Start with your most popular category so the task isn’t too overwhelming. The more you define opt-in offers for your different niches, the more your list will grow!
4. No promotion or Too Much Promotion
You create your freebie, you think it’s good, and then no one subscribes. Sure it could be the reasons I’ve mentioned or it could be something as simple as marketing. Are you promoting your freebie or are you burying it on your blog? In order for people to subscribe to your email list they have to know it exists.
That being said you don’t want to overdo it either! There is nothing worse when you go to a new blog for the first time and you are bombarded with an opt-in bar at the top, a pop-up, and a slide-in before you are halfway through the post. Don’t beat someone over the head with your freebie!
What is wrong: Like any marketing you have to create a strategy on how to promote your freebie. If you don’t promote enough, no one will see it, and sign up for it. If you promote it too much, people will feel like you are spamming them. If they think you spam them on your blog, they will worry that you will do it to their inboxes too.
How to fix it: Once you are confident that you have written an awesome opt-in offer using the previous steps, it is time to put it into the world!
Ideas to promote include:
- Your blog: Sidebar, footer, in the blog post, header, slide-in. Just not all at once!
- Blogging promo groups on Facebook
- Share daily on social media
- Create a landing page for your freebie and link back to it when you guest post or comment on other peoples’ blogs
- Pin it on Pinterest
- Use it as a link in your Twitter and Instagram Bios
- Stumble it
- Ask other bloggers to share it
Building your email list is the key to growing and monetizing your blog. When you have a loyal email list you have people that will consistently visit and share your blog. These loyal followers will buy your products and be the first in line when you open up your cart for your new course. Sounds great doesn’t it?! But first you have to take an honest look at why your list isn’t growing. Then you can find out what people want help with, give it to them, and watch your list explode!
What things have you done with or to your blog to grow your email list?
Please share in the comments below!
Jen Snyder is a blogger at Women Winning Online and is passionate about helping women build and grow their blog, so they can have the flexibility to do the work they love while spending time with the people they love. If you are stuck on email marketing and don’t know what to send after the opt-in, download Jen’s 10 point worksheet to create the perfect email newsletter people will want to read.
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