Hi Reader,
Okayyyy after last week’s email about SEO vs. Collabs, I got a realllllly good question. And if one person has this question, I'm sure a BUNCH of people have the same question.
Let's get into it...
"My takeaway from this email is to carry on writing blogs BUT make sure these blogs are attracting subscribers not just readers. My follow-up questions are, do you have any blogs or anything about how to turn readers into subscribers? Is it only a lead magnet that will do it? Do you have multiple? How did you get those 750 subscribers???"
- Dina from dinagrishin.com
There's quite a bit to unpack here.
And I don't have a blog post about this, which is why I'm writing this email lmao
I do have multiple lead magnets. They can be found on my website here!
And I also have my straight up newsletter marketed all over my website (in my header, footer, etc).
I think the real *juice* is not only the topic of the freebies + the newsletter, but also the VERY intentional strategies behind them all.
Because it's not just ONE thing, it's a few the work together....
My MAIN email subscriber strategy is powered by YouTube + YouTube SEO.
I use my YouTube videos to drive traffic to one of my main freebies, but not in the typical way that most people do it. I tried to make it SUPER EASY for myself lol
Instead of trying to remember to mention the freebie every time I record a video (which I absolutely would forget to do lol), I created a 60-second "commercial” for it.
Like a literal mini ad. About my freebie. Talking about it like it's on TV lolol
And now that mini "commercial" clip just gets dropped into my videos by my editor (ONE video, used DOZENS of times!)
We usually drop it in around halfway through each tutorial.
So by that point, someone has already:
- Watched a bit
- Gotten value
- Decided if they vibe with me or not
And THEN they see my lil' freebie commercial, which feels like a very obvious next step.
This strategy ALONE brings in about 75+ new subscribers every single month. Consistently.
Which still kinda blows my mind because I literally forget about it.
(This was THE strategy I shared in the "What’s Working Now: Grow Your Email List" directory, hosted by Erin of MemberVault. This free directory is STILL available to sign up for if you want MORE email growth strategies like this!)
So this tactic is great for VISIBILITY of the freebie.
(NOTE: If you don't have a YouTube channel, you can implement something similar on a podcast or even in a blog post if you make a cute lil' graphic and insert it 1/2 way through your content-ish)
But the next part of the strategy is WHERE the freebie actually lives....
Because I don’t *just* have my freebies floating around willy nilly on my website.
Every single freebie lives on it's own page, with it's own URL.
This is a BIG deal for a few reasons:
- It keeps the user focused on SIGNING UP for the freebie bc they go directly to that page vs. trying to find it in the footer of my website or 1/2 way down my homepage
- Since the freebie has it's own URL, it can actually show up in Google search results
This is a double-whammy.
I'm intentionally sending traffic to this freebie via marketing, AND Google + AI are intentionally sending traffic to it via search.
And if you're like "wait, can a freebie ACTUALLY show up in search results?"
Yes.
My YouTube SEO Checklist is currently on page #1 of Google, in position 5 (screenshot below)
AND, if we needed another reason why your lead magnet/freebies should be on their own page, it ALSO makes it SUPER easy to link back to, ANYWHERE, like:
- Instagram stories
- Threads posts
- Inside of emails
- Inside of blog posts (which is another thing I do, especially for my blog posts that are getting found via Google + AI. I ALWAYS make sure there's a freebie linked inside that post!)
- Podcast interviews
- Collaborations/events
I can just drop the link and KNOW that the person will find it & be able to sign up for it vs. making them do a scavenger hunt on my website lol.
(I actually break this whole strategy down in a YouTube video + show real examples of how I set it up, so if you wanna go deeper on this part, definitely watch this video here!)
This super simple tactic makes your freebies way more findable, everywhere.
The 3rd part of my email strategy has nothing to do with a freebie...
Most people join my email list through my freebies, that's a fact.
BUT there’s also a portion of people who just subscribe to my newsletter, straight up, FOR the newsletter.
Not in the typical, boring, "sign up for my newsletter to get updates from me" kinda way, which only works in rare situations.
Nope.
Instead, I made my newsletter feel like something you’d actually WANT to sign up for.
I have the newsletter sign up form on it's own lil' page, with it's own URL, just like a freebie AND I treat that sign-up page like it's a SALES page.
It explains what the newsletter is all about, what I talk about and why it’s valuable.
And then I back it up with TRUST BUILDING SIGNALS, aka real testimonials, screenshots, actual feedback from subscribers so it's not just me being like "I send good emails," it’s *literally* OTHER people being like “no seriously, don’t sleep on this shit.”
The trust building signal are huge bc then it shifts the potential subscriber's mindset from thinking “do I reallllllllly want another email in my inbox?”
To something like.: “wait…I think I NEED THIS.”
JUST like you would do on a product or services sales page 😈😈😈
So, to wrap it all up...
I don't have just ONE entry point to my email list.
I have multiple, in different ways, intentionally.
AND I TALK ABOUT MY NEWSLETTER LIKE IT'S WORTH BEING PART OF.
I love this place.
I love sharing shit with you.
And you can probably FEEL that energy, on my website, on my freebie pages, in my YouTube video commercial. Everywhere. Because energy is contagious.
That piece alone, can completely shift your email subscriber game.
✅ Action step(s) for this week:
If you don't already have your freebie/lead magnet on it's OWN PAGE, go do that this week!
The page doesn't NOT have to be fancy.
Just make sure the page has it's own URL annnnnnnnd make it clear as fuck:
- WHAT problem the freebie solves
- WHO it's for
- WHY it's helpful
BONUS POINTS: if you have screenshots, DMs, or feedback on how helpful it is, add them to the page!
(If you don't, ASK YOUR PEOPLE FOR FEEDBACK lol. That's how I got my screenshots. I'll ask people. "What'd ya think????" and they tell me lol)
Once you create this "freebie sign up page" once, you can usually just copy the page or copy the template/design and use it for ALL other freebies moving forward.
(And if you want to see examples of mine, you can view the different freebie pages by clicking on one from this resource page on my website)
