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The Best Place for Your Email Subscriber Box

Are you actively seeking email subscribers? Did you know that where you place your email opt in box matters?

Increase your email subscribers instantly by putting an opt in box in THIS spot, the place where more visitors are converted to email subscribers than any other.

It TOTALLY does!

If you want to locate the BEST place on your website for an email subscriber box, the location that will see more conversions than any other… you might not like what I recommend.

Where to put an email subscriber box

So where should you place the opt in box? Anywhere it will fit! But if you need more specific ideas, check out this list:

Sidebar – Probably the default location for an email opt in box on most websites but even in the sidebar, the location matters. Bump that box to the TOP of the sidebar to see the biggest benefit.

After the Post – When placed at the bottom of a blog post, the email subscriber box appeals to anyone who reads the entire article. This placement works even better if the box is a contrasting color to the background of your website.

Middle of the Post – Since most blog visitors never make it to the bottom of a post, placing the blog opt in box in the middle of a post will catch more attention. However, frame the box instead of using a solid color as many readers will think a solid box marks the end of the post.

Entry Welcome – Just like a welcome mat on your front porch, the entry welcome scrolls down from the top of the page upon new visits and prompts readers to subscribe. This is one of the most obtrusive types of email opt in box but it is also very effective.

Related: 4 Mistakes Destroying Your Email Marketing Strategy

Entrance Bar – You might have seen the “Hello Bar” or another entry bar across some websites. While these are easy to overlook, they work best when the bar is a contrasting color to the website’s background color. You should also have the opt in form in the bar instead of having readers click to view a different page.

Homepage Feature – Similar to an entrance bar in style, a homepage featured email opt in box is placed to reach across the page in the middle of other featured content.

Sliding Box – Scroll triggered boxes work well for email opt ins as most can be customized to scroll from the bottom, side, or top and can be adjusted based on the amount of time a visitor is on your website or the amount of the page a visitor has viewed.

But the BEST place for an email opt in

Despite the public outrage over them, pop up boxes remain the undisputed champion for converting visitors to subscribers. However, pop up boxes can be tricky because if they interfere with user experience, Google will notice and ding your search engine optimization.

The best use of pop ups includes:

  • A clear way to close the box with a visible X.
  • Mobile-optimized sizing that does not block the entire content nor hides the X to close.
  • Only presenting upon the visitor’s exit intent or upon viewing 40% or more of the page.

Why are email subscribers important?

Why does any of this matter? Because email is the only means of communicating with your readers that you CONTROL.

Related: Why Bloggers Need an Email Marketing Strategy (and where to find email subscribers)

You can’t control the ever-changing social media algorithms. You can’t determine who will see your Facebook posts. You can’t even know that your Pinterest strategy will work.

But, you can control when an email is sent… which means…

If you want page views, you send an email.

If you want product or affiliate sales, you send an email.

Ready to know more about email marketing? You need INBOX: Email Marketing for Bloggers – the newest course by Inspired Bloggers University.

Learn More

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Why Bloggers Need an Email Marketing Strategy (and where to find email subscribers)

When you want to grow your blog’s traffic, where do you look first? Facebook? Pinterest? Video?

Yes, social media is awesome! It helps you attract an audience in a very broad way. However, the most important element to marketing your blog and gaining pageviews is… email marketing.

You need email subscribers, but do you know why? Be honest with me (and yourself). When was the last time you put your energy into creating a detailed email marketing strategy for your blog?

Since you are reading this post, I’m offering KUDOS to you because you are researching email subscribers now.

But, do you spend as much time working your email marketing strategy as you do on social media?

Maybe? Maybe not?

This makes me wonder… if email marketing is so important, why is it the most neglected tool for blog growth?

4 Reasons Why You Need an Email Marketing Strategy

Perhaps you are reading this an thinking, “But could email be THAT important? I mean… it’s just email. And I delete more than half what I receive each day without ever reading it.”

Obviously, those emails you delete are sent by brands who need to improve their strategy. You are smarter than they are and can do it better!

Here’s why you should care:

1) Email takes the relationship you have with your readers to a one-on-one level.

Immediately, email is a more intimate form of communicating with your audience than social media because you are not writing a message to the masses as you do on Facebook. Your letter is addresses to ONE reader, personalized with their name if you use a shortcode.

When you approach email marketing with relationships as your focus, you create raving lunatic fans. (That’s a GOOD thing.) These are the people who will read your blog, click your links, and share your content with their friends.

2) Email marketing doesn’t require mastery of complicated algorithms.

In the online world, social media is constantly in flux. Algorithms change on a daily basis and once you have beat the system, the algorithm changes again.

Related: Is Facebook worth the effort?

Emailing your readers takes very little understanding of how it works. There are subtle issues to make sure your email is delivered but for most people, you send an email and it is received. Done.

3) Creating an email marketing strategy is cost effective.

If you want to be seen on Facebook. you have to pay to play. If you want to grow a successful Pinterest account, you need to spend your valuable hours pinning organically.

Email is simple: Write. Send. Done.

And the cost is very affordable because the expense grows with you as your email list grows. And if you are working your email list correctly, your income is growing too. Therefore, any expenses you incur s a result of emailing your readers will pay for themselves.

Add 100+ Email Subscribers in 1 Week

Join Subscriber Surge List Building Challenge and master strategies that will grow your email list fast. It’s FREE!

4) Email is the only communication that will instantly and significantly change your pageviews and profits.

Social media has to simmer before it is seen by your audience. Most algorithms wait to see if a small segment of your audience will engage with the content before showing it to other followers.

With email, you have the control over when it is seen by choosing when you send a broadcast. This creates a powerful opportunity:

  • If you need page views, you send an email with links to click.
  • If you need profits, you send an email with a product to sell.

This only difficult part in this scenario is that your success depends greatly on the number of subscribers you have on your list.

6+ Places Where You Can Find Email Subscribers

Email subscribers are literally everywhere because almost everyone has an email address. Therefore, almost everyone is a potential subscriber.

Opt in Forms

If you want people to subscribe, you must make it possible for them to find a way to join your list.

That means you first have to join an email service provider like ConvertKit or Mailerlite and create the capture forms.

Then, install the forms in several locations on each page. Try to place forms where the eye naturally falls: inside the content, in the sidebar, as a slide in form, or within a pop up.

Related: How to Get Email Subscribers with Freebies

Social Media

Whether your audience is on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn… where ever… you can attract them to sign up as email subscribers by creating an opt in form and directing followers to the page where the form is installed.

Facebook – Encourage your followers to subscriber by asking them to join your list. Post the link/s to your list at least once a week. Pin the best post (with the most engagement) to the top of your page. Also, place a link to an opt in form in your profile (personal and page). Take advantage of every space and opportunity Facebook gives you to mention your email list.

A successful email marketing strategy has less to do with where you find subscribers and more to do with how you invite them to join your list.

Pinterest – Actively save the pages where you host email opt in forms. Place these links in a rotation using Tailwind or another schedule service so they are being saved to multiple boards regularly.

Instagram – Place the link to your email opt in form (not your homepage) in your profile and invite followers to join your list by “subscribing at the link in my profile.”

Twitter – Pin a tweet containing the link to your email opt in to the top of your Twitter profile feed. Also, add the link to the email subscriber form in your profile instead of using the link to your homepage.

Where ever you are – Regardless of the social media platform you use, direct followers to subscriber by placing a link to an email opt in within your profile and each time a link is allowed.

Email Signature

How often do you reply to readers or send messages to people who are potential readers? Add a note to subscribe in your email signature.

Each time you send an email, you will automatically send the invitation to subscribe.

Business Card (Networking)

Networking with others in real life offers a tremendous benefit but you need something to give people so that they will remember you.

Business cards might feel old fashioned but they are still a very useful tool for generating social media followers and email subscribers.

Related: 4 Mistakes Destroying Your Email Marketing Strategy

More than once, I have handed a business card to someone in line at the grocery store. On the back on my card is an invitation to join my email list. While I cannot track the success, I would assume that at least a few have visited my website. And all I need is one raving lunatic fan to find me. He or she will then help my email list grow.

Guest Posting

This could easily go on the list of most neglected ways to market your blog.

I often hear bloggers complain that guest posting doesn’t work for them. Cough… pardon me… but you might be doing it wrong.

If you are posting on someone’s blog, make sure you are talking to the right audience. If no one within that blog’s followers matches your target, you are in the wrong place.

Next, create a special offer just for that blog’s readers and link to the email opt in. This makes the readers feel special from the very beginning because you created something just for them.

Podcast or Video Interviews

If you have friends who podcast or do live video interviews, get on their shows! Just like guest posting, being a featured guest helps spread awareness. Make sure you create something special just for listeners and encourage them to subscribe.

One last surprise about email marketing

Now that we have walked through why email marketing is important and where you can find subscribers, I want you to focus on one important fact:

A successful email marketing strategy has less to do with where you find subscribers and more to do with how you invite them to join your list.

After collecting an email subscriber list with 100,000+ names, I am sharing my growth strategies with you for FREE through a 6-day email training, Subscriber Surge.

Sign up today and start learning how to grow your email list with purpose. You will see more subscribers and that results in more page views and profits. Guaranteed.
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How to Write an Elevator Pitch

So, tell me about your blog.

If these words strike fear in your heart and cause your brain to bleed, then you need to know how to write an elevator pitch.

If you have a hard time talking about your blog, you need an elevator pitch. Learn how to write one and never be at a loss for words again.You are sitting in the waiting area of the auto place while your car is getting an oil change. The stranger next to you attempts to strike up a conversation and asks, “So, what do you do?”

You suddenly find your brain is empty and your tongue is twisted.

Or, have you ever had a (skeptical) friend ask, “What’s your blog about?” in her oh-so-condescending way only to leave you baffled for words?

Been there?

Personally, I have found myself thumbing through the thesaurus in my brain more than once, trying to enunciate what I do but failing miserably. And if I have faltered, then perhaps you have too.

You need to write an elevator pitch. A no-fail, memorized explanation of who you are and what you do.

Why you need an elevator pitch as a blogger

Many people consider an elevator pitch to be a sales tool. They shrug and think, “I’m not selling anything so why bother?”

Excuse me… do not disregard the fact that as bloggers, we are always selling something. Even if you don’t have a product, you are trying to gain new readers and therefore are selling the concept of your blog.

An elevator pitch is a synopsis of who you are and what you do. You will need to have an elevator pitch memorized to answer others clearly when networking at events or even when a relative asks, “What have you been up to lately?”

What you need to know prior to writing your elevator pitch

Prior to penning and committing your elevator pitch to memory, you will need to have two things:

  1. Your ideal audience
  2. Your unique value proposition

If you do not have a clearly defined target audience, your elevator pitch will be difficult to write. You must know the audience you are trying to attract. And be as specific as possible.

Likewise, you need to know your unique value proposition.

Perhaps you have never considered what sets you apart from the other bloggers in your niche. Now is the time.

Learn more about a Unique Value Proposition in the 8 Characteristics of Successful Bloggers Class.

Part of your elevator pitch is gently stating what makes you different from the hundreds of other people writing on your topic and how you use your uniqueness to serve your audience. How you add value to the lives of those who read your blog.

Without knowing how you are different and what value you offer, you will struggle to write an elevator pitch.

Characteristics of an elevator pitch

Writing an elevator pitch is not like writing a novel or research paper. Your goal is not to be all-inclusive. This is not the time to go into a rattling story of how you started blogging or even a synopsis of your most recent blog post.

An elevator pitch is short and can be said in 30 to 60 seconds. So, think about 2 sentences or less.

Within these 60 seconds, you do need to pack some specific information:

  • Identity – who you are (name and website’s name)
  • Target – who you are aiming to help (quick characteristics about your audience)
  • How – how you help (your primary topic or category and/or type of resources)
  • Difference – what makes you different (often included in the “how”)
  • CTA – the call to action (visit my website, share, etc.)

How to write an elevator pitch

When you sit down to write your elevator pitch, think about the flow of information and how it connects. You might find it helpful to think in a progression of Who > Where > What > How.

Take a look at my elevator pitch as an example:

I’m Tabitha Philen, the founder of Inspired Bloggers University. As a professional blogger, I make a full time income from blogging and love teaching others who need to supplement their income to do the same through online courses and live video with an emphasis on personal relationships.

Now, let’s break down the pieces…

IDENTITY

  • Who am I? “I’m Tabitha Philen, the founder…”
  • Where? “…of Inspired Bloggers University.”
  • What? “As a professional blogger, I make a full time income from blogging and love teaching…”

Something to note about your “what” is that this is your hook. Your “what” should intrigue them and leave them with questions. But be prepared for the follow-up questions.

TARGET

  • Who am I helping? “…others who need to supplement their income…”

HOW

  • How do I help? “…teaching others… to do the same…” which refers back to “…make a full time income from blogging.”
  • On what topic (if not already mentioned) or with what resources? “…through online courses and live video…”

DIFFERENCE

  • What sets me apart from others? “…with an emphasis on personal relationships.”

As you can see, your “difference” can easily be included in your “how.”

CTA

Personally, I think the call to action is the trickiest part as you often cannot predict what needs to be said. For instance, if you are at a conference of colleagues in a related niche, your CTA could be more relational.

  • “Tell me about you.”
  • “I would love to connect with you on [insert social media platform where you are best.]“

If you are talking to someone within your target audience, your CTA would be an offer to assist.

  • “I would love to give you a free [insert email optin offer.]“
  • “Please consider joining my Facebook group where I can help you with [insert topic of group.]“

If you have a hard time talking about your blog, you need an elevator pitch. Learn how to write one and never be at a loss for words again.

Another example of a blog elevator pitch

Must your elevator pitch follow this same progression? No! Your elevator pitch can be as unique as you are but should include all of these elements.

Consider my elevator pitch from Meet Penny:

I’m Tabitha and I’m a mom to four kids who has overcome bankruptcy and six-figures in debt through side hustles. I blog at MeetPenny.com to help families like ours raise their kids with common sense on cents by sharing family finance tips, fun kids activities that educate, and how to live a generous lifestyle without a ton of time or money.

You can see that what makes me different falls much earlier in my elevator pitch. I was also able to integrate my tagline and the three main topics on my blog.

When to use your elevator pitch

Once you have your elevator pitch written and memorized to the point that it flows naturally, when should you say it? Which situations are prime for using your elevator pitch?

  • When friends or relatives ask you what you do.
  • At conferences when you are networking.
  • In your email signature.
  • As your live video intro.
  • Anytime someone wants to know what you do.

Your elevator pitch is a tool that can educate others, create new relationships, and open opportunities with potential sponsors.

Commit your elevator pitch to memory and use it often.

Free Worksheet: Write your elevator pitch

Need help putting your words on paper? Subscribe and receive this free worksheet that will guide you through each part of your elevator pitch.

I even included a fill-in-the-blank template if you are still uncertain.

Free elevator pitch worksheet

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Success Story: Using Google Plus Collections for Blog Traffic

Have you wondered if Google Plus was worth the time investment? Please welcome Pam Larmore of P.S. I Love You Crafts as she shares how she grew her blog traffic using Google Plus Collections.


If you read blogging message boards, you will see that writers either love Google Plus or they are completely baffled by it. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground.

blog traffic google collections

In the fall of 2014, I devoted two weeks to each social media platform, so that I could learn how to use them. For the most part, I already understood Facebook and Pinterest. With its straight forward platform, Instagram was pretty easy to learn as well.

The one social media that I avoided and dreaded was Google Plus. I had a Google Plus account. I even had some friends. I was in circles (which still confuses me). However, I was completely lost.

Not only was I confused by how the platform worked, I was completely lost trying to figure out how to promote my blog using G+.

So I did what I always do when I had blogging questions. I googled it!

>>Learn more about using Google+ to promote your business.<<

Google revealed a mixed bag of reviews from bloggers for Google Plus and very few details on how to actually navigate the actual platform.

Feeling rather defeated, I did that only thing I knew how… I jumped in with both feet. I made myself (yes, I had to force myself to do it) go to my G+ account EVERY DAY. It was brutal!

Every day, I logged into my G+ account.

I had zero notifications.

I had zero +1’s.

I had zero shares and zero comments.

I was starting from scratch.

I clicked anything and everything that was clickable to see if I could figure it out. I found communities, and there were some communities in my niche. I found that this was a much better place to find followers and content to share.

My first mistake on Google+

Somewhere, I read, “Follow lots of users, and they will follow you back.” So I spent an hour every day, following random users in hopes that they would follow me back.

Very quickly, my followers grew. I was ecstatic! It was working. I was making progress. It took a whole year to realize that none of these “friends” cared about what I shared. They were NOT my target audience.

Not only did I have that problem, but now my feed was flooded with articles that didn’t interest me either. It took me a month to pare down the number of people that I was following.

Collections were a game-changer

In July 2015 someone on a message board said they were having good luck using G+ Collections. I had never heard of them, but on a whim, I took a look.

A Collection is a group of related content, similar to a Pinterest Board. I set up four Collections: Handmade Cards, Cricut, Scrapbooking, and Crafts.

A Collection is a group of related content, similar to a Pinterest Board.

The concept was interesting, but I really wasn’t convinced that there would be any benefit to using Collections. A fellow blogger said that she didn’t have much luck with Collections until she had 30 posts within it.

Within a matter of weeks, I noticed that I was getting a nice flow of new followers to my Handmade Card Collection. The best part was that they were engaging with my posts.

Gaining 600 followers within the first month, the increase in followers encouraged me to post to the Collection more frequently, and September saw a growth of more than 3,000 followers.

>>Read more about growing your Google+ Collections followers.<<

I was so excited, and my follower count continued to grow.

I was invited to the G+ Collections Community that is run by the G+ Collection Team. Though I was having so much success with my Handmade Card Collection, I wanted to know why.

What had I done that made this Collection a success?

Posting this question in the group, they answered, “You have found a niche with low competition that lots of people are seeking. You post consistently, and the photos you share are good quality. You use good hook words.” (I later learned that Hook Words are what you use in your description.)

My Second Mistake was a Doozy!

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that Google Plus has business pages.

I have worked so hard to build my G+ account, but it is all on my personal page. Having come so far, I’m not going to start over, although the analytics on the business pages would be super helpful.

>>Read more about why you should choose a Google+ Business Page.<<

In June 2016, I reached 100,000 followers on my Handmade Card Collection.

I am still stunned every time I look at it. Not only has this collection grown like crazy, but it drives traffic to my site with very little effort. If I see that my page views are lagging, I can share a few of my posts to the Handmade Card Collection, and I will be rewarded rather quickly.

Google+ Collections is definitely a social medium platform worth investigating.


Pam Larmore, P.S. I Love You CraftsAbout Pam Larmore

Pam Larmore with P.S. I Love You Crafts started creating at 9 years old, when she joined 4-H.  She has tried lots of different crafts, but thirteen years ago, she fell in love with card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting. She started blogging in 2006 and is currently working on her first eCourse.

 Connect with Pam

 

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What is SEO? Using Search Engines for Organic Blog Growth

>>Download the SEO Cheat Sheet Now<<

If you have wondered, “What is SEO,” you have taken a step towards a stream of organically driven traffic that does not stress over constant social media changes.

If you have wondered, "What is SEO," then you have taken a step towards a stream of organically driven traffic that does not stress over constant social media changes. Includes a free printable cheat sheet of SEO tips.SEO is an acronym for search engine optimization, or creating a website that search engines recognize as an authority that delivers answers for which people are seeking online.

People are always searching the internet for information.

You are always creating content for your website.

It’s a match made in… search engines… but you need to know how to optimize your website so that search engines refer traffic to you.

But, this goes beyond search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. An unseen benefit to understanding search engine optimization is that the SEO practices you learn and implement also impact your results on YouTube and Pinterest.

Strong SEO strategies improve your rank with Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, and Pinterest.

But how does a search engine know what you have published on your blog? How does the search engine choose the results to show?

How Search Engines Rank Content

Have you ever wondered how search engines work?

Each search engine is different but they function in similar ways.

Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) is called Rank Brain. Designed to be the best search engine, the AI constantly sends search robots/bots/spiders to crawl over 60 trillion pages on the internet, cataloging pages based on topic, quality, and hundreds of other factors.

The search bots travel by links, following strings of text until a new link directs the bot in a new direction, and reports the information to “the index” that contains over 100 million gigabytes of information.

When someone searches for a topic, algorithms use over two hundred rules to determine the true desire of the user and lists the AI’s best guess on the SERP, search engine results page.

The facets of the algorithm are a closely guarded secret but Google emphasizes the importance of:

Basic Elements of SEO

Hundreds of factors go into which websites rank at the top of search results but most SEO experts agree that there are some universal elements playing a tremendous part including:

Structure – How your website is built

  • Hosting/site speed – Faster load times are better. If your choice of host or your hosting package causes pages to load slowly, your website will be dinged.
  • Theme – Some themes are set up with clean coding that makes it easy for search engine bots to crawl your website. I personally recommend using the Genesis Framework.
  • Navigation – Drop down menus can hinder search engine crawlers, but your website should be mapped and easy to navigate, for the reader and the bots.
  • Usability – Keep your website clean and user-friendly. Excessive ads and image maps can impact the user experience and be difficult for search engine robots to navigate.
  • Mobile optimization – If your website is not viewable on mobile devices, you will fall farther down the search results and may not show up at all.

Topic – What your content is about

  • Authority/niche – Check the Google Search Console to understand how Google perceives your expertise and niche.
  • Trends – Understand the number of people searching a particular topic will vary seasonally and according to current events.
  • Type of content – Videos are given precedence in search engine results. Increase the impact by placing your keywords and other relevant content close to the embedded video.
  • Quality – The quality of your content supersedes all other factors.
  • Length – While some believe the optimal length of a post is between 300 and 500 words, others think longer posts of 1,500 words or more receive greater recognition.
If you have wondered, "What is SEO," then you have taken a step towards a stream of organically driven traffic that does not stress over constant social media changes. Includes a free printable cheat sheet of SEO tips.
Subscribe and receive the SEO Cheat Sheet by email.

Keywords – Which words you target to achieve ranking

  • Voice-recognized results – Choose long-tailed keywords, or keyword phrases, based on how someone would naturally ask you a question. This increases the SEO value for voice-entered search inquiries.
  • Focused content – Your post should focus on your keyword or keyword phrase.
  • Uniqueness – Have a goal to optimize each page or post for one set of keywords.
  • Frequency of keyword use – Write naturally but avoid overusing pronouns (it, they, there, etc.) within your content. Use your keywords (or variations of your keywords) instead, but do not “keyword stuff” your content.

Placement – Where the keywords are placed within your website and posts

  • On page – Have keywords in text links, page URL, image names, image alt attributes, and subheadings of your post.
  • Meta date – Set the meta data for each post and include keywords in the description. Using a plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast allows you to determine the meta description and can increase your click-through rate from search engine results.
  • Link building – Link out to other relevant blogs in your niche as this can help Google relate you to your chosen niche.
  • Nofollow – Protect your website by using the rel=nofollow attribute when linking to an affiliate or sponsor.

Promotion – How popular your content is on the internet and in social media

  • Backlinks – Keep backlinks from quality sources as they increase your value. Increase incoming links to your website by guest posting on other websites within your niche.
  • Social media – Social media marketing has been an important part of SEO since 2011 and increases in importance each year. Do not neglect promoting your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc.
  • Google+ – Use your keywords in your G+ status update. Google owns Google+ and gives SEO bonus points to content posted to Google+.
  • Content aggregation – Seek to be included in content round-up posts focused on a particular topic as researchers speculate search engines prefer sources where content is aggregated by topic.

Other factors – Where, what and how

  • History – The search engine includes a user’s browser history when calculating the search results.
  • Frequency – Posting regularly to your website increase the number of visits from a search engine bot and boosts your SEO ranking.

Free Printable SEO Cheat Sheet

For these search engine optimization tips and more, sign up for the SEO tips cheat sheet.

Blog traffic got you down?

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Tired of ever-changing algorithms on social media?Subscribe and receive the SEO Cheat Sheet with over 25 tips proven to generate organic traffic from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and even Pinterest!

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Step-By-Step Guide to Get Email Subscribers with Freebies

So you want to grow an email subscriber list. You have heard that offering a freebie is a great way to increase your email subscribers, but don’t understand what or how to give something to readers who sign up. You have come to the right place!

Number ONE priority: Get email subscribers! Step by step tutorial on what to offer as a freebie, where to store it, and how to automate it.Through this step-by-step video, you will learn:

  1. why you should build your email subscriber list
  2. what to offer for free to encourage readers to opt in
  3. where to store your freebie
  4. how to automate your freebie delivery

Video Notes:

  • Different types of products you can create as freebie for subscribers 2:25
  • Why you should not store your printables in your blog media files 6:52
  • Tour of Amazon S3 to store your digital products 8:29
  • Using a plugin for squeeze forms and selling printables 9:28
  • Why the links to your digital products should be encrypted 14:42
  • Setting up an email opt in automation 18:00

Recommended Resources:
*May include affiliate links*

Additional help getting more email subscribers:

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Get More Traffic with 301 Redirects

So you’ve just created a product or post that’s awesome, but you want to send people there without having a huge URL (http://yoursitename/store/category/incredibleproduct). You’d also like the URL to be short and catchy and easy to remember for advertising purposes. What do you do?

Harness more traffic and make life easier by setting up 301 redirects

There are two options:

1. Redirect with Bitly

You can create a free account on bitly.com and then enter any URL you want and it will shorten it for you. For example, if I enter InspiredBloggersNetwork.com/more-traffic-redirects it would give me http://bit.ly/1B0J4xu.

When someone types in the bitly link, it redirects to the original url. This solves the first problem of needing a shorter link (especially good when sharing on social media where characters are limited). But it doesn’t solve the other problem of being easy to remember.

I can also customize it to be http://bit.ly/IBNredirect. This is a little easier to remember, but still through someone else and not optimal.

2. Use a 301 redirect

You’ve checked GoDaddy.com and there is a domain name available for your product (RedirectUniv.com).You don’t want it to be it’s own site, however, so you purchase the domain and create a 301 redirect, directing the product’s domain name (RedirectUniv.com) to the product page (InspiredBloggersNetwork.com/more-traffic-redirects). Short and easy to remember = problem solved.

What is a 301 Redirect?

A 301 redirect tells search engines that the site has been permanently moved to the new location and will tell search engines to treat the new site as a replacement of the old site. For our purposes, we have purchased a new domain name for a specific product, we want to permanently send people there. We’ll use a 301. (This also works well if you are rebranding your blog and want to permanently stop using the old domain name and want search engines to only “know about” the new site.)

A 302 redirect tells search engines and visitors that the redirect is only temporary. You should use a 302 redirect if you intend to remove the redirect in the future.

How do you create a 301 redirect?

  1. Login to your GoDaddy account.
  2. Go to your list of domain names, and find the domain you wish to redirect.
  3. Depending on how GoDaddy shows you the list, either click “launch” or click the hyperlinked domain name to open the details view.
  4. Go to Forwarding and click on “manage” under “domain”.
  5. In the pop up box, click “add one now”
  6. Add the URL you want it to redirect/forward to.
  7. Select 301 permanent or 302 temporary.
  8. Check the box to update my nameservers and DNS settings to support this change”.
  9. Click “Add”.

You should receive an email from GoDaddy, usually within a couple of hours telling you that the information has been updated. And then the redirect should be working. If you type in the new URL and it does not redirect properly, you may have to clear your browser history (or cache) and restart the internet browser.

Now you have a short and memborable url to share in marketing and an easier way to drive more traffic to that product or post.

Need another example?

I recently created the product Melk, the Christmas Monkey, an advent book of activities for families. I wanted to host and sell it on my main blog, Paradise Praises. So, for advertising purposes, I bought the domain MelkTheChristmasMonkey.com and redirected it to ParadisePraises.com/melk. Much catchier and easier to brand the product with.

Note, experience says it would NOT be a good idea to redirect the main domain of the website (InspiredBloggersNetwork.com for example) to a different page on that site, unless you have advanced technical experience, because redirecting the main domain that the whole site is created on can take your site down temporarily. If rebranding your site, you should have it all set up on the new domain and functioning as you wish it to before redirecting the old domain. If in doubt get help from a professional. 

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How to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic

Ever feel frustrated when trying to grow your blog? Feel like you are doing everything right but cannot increase your blog’s traffic?

Simple but GREAT tips to increase blog traffic. Includes a free daily promotion checklist.

When my blog at Meet Penny was only a month old, a new blogger asked me about how to increase blog traffic:

I read your Advertising/PR page and I was very impressed. I am a new blog, almost 3 months old. I am now getting about 6,000 views a month. I was wondering if you are willing to share how you got 12,000 views a month in such a short time. What is the difference between pageviews and visitors?

What great questions!

Because you cannot understand how to increase blog traffic until you understand how to read blog analytics, let me explain the definition of page views and visitors first.

The difference between page views and unique visitors

A “unique visitor” is a computer, smartphone, or tablet’s IP address that connects with your website. Every computer, smartphone, and tablet has a different IP. So, the number of unique visitors is assumed to be the total number of original devices to visit your website. From my experience, this is the most important number in your statistics.

“Page views” is a completely different stat because each unique visitor might look at more than one page on your blog.

Ways to increase your blog traffic

While those numbers are completely true, they might be discouraging to new bloggers. You have to keep in mind that I had two websites previously and then combined them into this one. Those websites were getting about 2,000 unique visitors each. The traffic is now redirected so if someone follows an old link, it brings them to the new website.

Pinterest

I find that writing content that people want and placing it with an image that communicates well encourages the readers to pin on Pinterest. If I look at my top three referral sources over the last three months, Pinterest is always there.

Self Promotion

I have been a reader of several blogs for so long, I know the type of content they want to share with their readers and I create content they will want to share.

For instance, freebie bloggers love printables for homeschooling. When I have something of high quality to share, I send a note to a few bloggers letting them know what I have posted and the url. It is then up to those bloggers whether or not they share it, but when someone does… BAMM! Big traffic spikes.

Commenting

When I leave a comment on another blog that adds to the post, not a spammy “Follow me back,” I get a lot of click-throughs.

Guest Posting

I do not guest post on other blogs very often but when I do, I see a surge in traffic.

Networking with bloggers will grow your blog traffic

The key, of course, is writing a quality post for a blog of high regard. You can always swap guest posts with a friend and see a few readers added to your traffic but to see a large spike, you have to approach larger blogs.

Promoting Others

Most of all, I get a ton of help from other bloggers. When I promote them through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon, they promote me. Their readers may not know me but they trust the author of the other blog and will then come see what I am all about.

How to Get Blog Traffic

When I decided to get serious about blogging as a business, I knew that I did not have anyone else that was going to put my name in front of people like I could. I could not make money without blog traffic. But if I wanted blog traffic, I had to go get it.

After spending time researching the various social media outlets, I made a checklist of ways I could attract people to my blog and each day, I worked off this checklist.

How do you get traffic to your blog? Be intentional!

This is the exact printable checklist of what I did every day to bring traffic to my blog, but you can use it too if you want to grow.

The daily traffic boosting list includes:

  • Check email and respond,
  • Schedule updates on Facebook,
  • Add my post to Google+,
  • Comment on a blog in my niche,
  • Pin ten posts to Pinterest,
  • and ten other tasks.

No one said that blogging was an easy business and if they did, they were lying. You have to blog because you love it, and if you want to make blogging a career, you need to spend hours upon hours getting your name out there.

You can do this. Get started.

Free Traffic Boosting Checklist

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