Are you struggling to get more email subscribers?

 

Well I want to start something new with the Friday Favesletter. I've been wanting to share non-design-related blogging tips as I've had so much I want to share from my own experiences. I just never felt it was right to share on the blog, but it's still GOOD STUFF!

 

 

Ask any big blogger what their biggest mistake/regret was when they started blogging and they'll tell you, "Not getting my email list started early enough." 

 

It's a pain, I get it. You have to be patient and it's a lot of hard work. But if you have any interest at all in pursuing a blog that makes you any money, then you have to take building your list seriously. 

 

DYOB launched less than 11 months ago but in that time I've gained over 1200 email subscribers! Now that doesn't exactly classify me as A-list status, but I think that's pretty good, don't you? So let me tell you a bit about how I got here. 

 

DYOB was actually born long before it ever launched last July. It was a project in the making for quite a while. Did you know that I started building my email list BEFORE it even launched? Yep and here's how.

 

Once I started to hone in on what I wanted my new blog to be about, I created a Facebook page before I even started designing the blog. I wanted a place to share all the cool stuff I was finding like all those amazing freebies and fonts! And I wanted to know what people were struggling with in terms of their own blog designs. 

 

So I started the Facebook page and tried to share useful stuff on it every day. 

 

I also started using Pinterest a lot more. Ok, I got addicted to it for a while as I searched for relevant blog design stuff and posted all the freebies I could find. I watched my followers grow and grow until I couldn't keep up anymore.

 

Then I bought the domain www.DesignYourOwnBlog.com, created a new WordPress site and put a "Coming Soon" countdown theme on it. (I actually restarted the countdown several times haha!) But on the page, I put an opt-in form and a link to my Facebook page.

 

 

 

I stay very active on social media. I have to, there's no question about it. If you don't like spending time on it, you might want to look into other ways to make a living. Just sayin.

I'll go into this a little more in my next Favesletter. So for now you can start with the following:

 

Here's what I recommend you do now to start building your list:
 

1. Add an Opt-In Form to every page on your site. There should be one at the top of your sidebar, on your home page, on your About page and at the bottom of each post. You should add one to your footer too for good measure.
2. Make Your Opt-In Form Noticeable and Attractive. Use your bold, accent colors and highlight what they get by signing up. Don't expect people to sign up just because you asked. They need an incentive, whether its exclusive content just for subscribers, a free consultation, or a free download.
3. Create Your Opt-In Offer. If you decide to use a free eBook to entice subscribers, some ideas are Resources Guides, 5 Steps to _____, tutorials, etc. Look around at offers on other blogs for ideas. Then create your eBook in PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Presentations and export it to PDF. If you're not inclined to design your own, do a search for templates you can download for free or purchase.

 

I've got a few more tips to share but this is a lot to start with, so I'll save those for next time. In the meantime, don't lose any more time not having a beautiful, prominent opt-in and incentive!

Reply to this email if you've got questions!




Now for some Friday Faves!