Newsletter Subscription Bait: The Results
About 3 days ago, I wrote a post titled How To Gain New Readers With One Simple Marketing Strategy. The purpose of the post was simple: to gain more newsletter subscribers while at the same time providing my readers with a very effective marketing tip. I had simply written the article to make it look like it was a regular blog post where I would share my tip on how to gain new readers with one simple marketing strategy, but as you can see, you need to be a newsletter subscriber to get the rest of the post.
Now don’t get me wrong. Yes, it was bait, but everything was legit. I stated that after signing up for the newsletter, the rest of the tip would be emailed within 24 hours. And that’s exactly what happened. Everybody is happy. In fact, I’m already getting emails from my new subscribers that after reading the tip, they had a significant increase in their traffic and backlinks overnight. I’m glad that my first official newsletter tip is already a big help.
The Results
Let’s dig deeper within the results. After the subscription bait, my subcriber number shot up from 396 to 431… a 35 subscriber increase that happened overnight. Now remember, this only happened because I am using AWeber as my email newsletter autoresponder. For those who don’t know, AWeber has a feature that lets you enable “Blog Broadcasting”. Basically, your AWeber subscriber numbers are sent over to your FeedBurner account, thus giving you another source of subscribers.
What I Learned (And What You Can Learn)
What did I learn from this little experiment? Well, one thing that I learned is that you need to provide your readers with something worthy in order to get them to do what you want them to do. It’s the same reason why they subscribe to your blog in the first place, right? I also learned that this method of increasing blog subscribers actually works. I’ve seen it happen on other blogs, but this is the first time I actually tried it.
Oh and by the way, I’d like to thank all of the new subscribers! If you’re reading this but haven’t subscribed yet… what are you doing?!?! Go to the sidebar and sign up for the newsletter!
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#1 by Trevor on November 21, 2008 - 2:47 pm
Haha.
Great bait technique. I don't even need to suscribe and I know what the technique is. Pretty smart!
#2 by Sly on November 21, 2008 - 6:36 pm
Why don't you subscribe?!
#3 by Tom - Entrepreneur I on November 22, 2008 - 8:37 am
Very Creative Sly! How is the popup working for you, I am considering making one for my blog.
#4 by Sly on November 22, 2008 - 10:37 am
The lightbox popup is going pretty good. Over half of my newsletter signups are coming from the popup, so it's apparent that it actually works.
#5 by IronBlogger - Bloggi on November 23, 2008 - 12:12 am
This kind of method can work very well, however you need to already have that level of trust with your readers in order for it to be really effective.
By having a successful blog, a decent feedburner count, and great content you can easily convince people to take the action of signing up to your newsletter for some extra tips. A 35 readership increase is pretty impressive. Good job on that.
I also noticed the talk and buzz around lightbox forms these days. I have to admit that this little form is also doing very well for me, at least on a consistant basis. I'd love to see your results though. I'll be posting mine as well.
<abbr>IronBlogger - Blogging Tips and Tricks´s last blog post…Create A Pop Up Form With Aweber</abbr>
#6 by ZK@Internnet Marketi on November 25, 2008 - 9:48 am
The real impact of a blog is the comments that the posts have , I would rather have active commentators than passive RSS subscribers…….What do you think ?
<abbr>ZK@Internnet Marketing Blog´s last blog post…Tips to make a Blog Contest successful</abbr>
#7 by Blog for Beginners on November 25, 2008 - 5:38 pm
What a great experiment, Sly! I second ZK that "I would rather have active commentators than passive RSS subscribers" in much the same way, I would rather have people who buy my product that a good SERP with no conversion. At any rate, 35 in a day is indeed a good result.
Yan
<abbr>Blog for Beginners´s last blog post…Use the Power of Blogging to Make a Difference to The UnderPrivileged</abbr>
#8 by Sly on November 26, 2008 - 5:11 pm
So far, the lightbox has done pretty well for me too. I haven't had any complains since it only shows up once per visitor. I'll try to post more results on this in the near future. ;]
#9 by Sly on November 26, 2008 - 5:12 pm
I agree, ZK. :]
#10 by Sly on November 26, 2008 - 5:13 pm
True that, man. :]
#11 by Paul Leadbetter on December 5, 2008 - 11:01 pm
I am glad to meet another fisherman, you wont catch fish unless you have some bait on the end of your hook.
I can not understand why you seem to be apologizing in the undertones of your words.
This industry is all about breaking the rules.
Well done " He who dares wins"
#12 by Hansen@electric guit on December 14, 2008 - 11:26 am
Bait method is usually work great as long you give good content in your newsletter.
#13 by peter on March 19, 2009 - 12:01 am
I have got some 10000 email addresses and I am going to send a simple newsletter. Let see what happens
#14 by guitar bodies on April 13, 2009 - 5:11 am
hello! Can I ask what theme are you using in your blog? thanks!