WordPress Blog – 8DegreeThemes

5 Ways to Get More Email Subscribers from Your WordPress Blog

vikas — Fri, 31 May 2024 17:51:17 +0000

Do you want to get more Email Subscribers from your WordPress Blog?

There’s no denying the fact that email marketing is certainly one of the best tools of ROI to date. However, when it comes to counting email subscribers from your WordPress blog, it is always a daunting task. One could have traffic of more than thousands per day but barely manage 15-20 subscribers. With more than 3 billion people around the globe using email, it’s a bit surreal to think why your email list only has a handful of people subscribing, even though you send your emails at the right time.

Ways to Get More Email Subscribers

The flaw in the fabric is generally one’s adopted approach for getting people to sign up for their email list. In this post, we take a look at 5 proven ways how one can maximize the number of email subscribers for a WordPress blog.

Giveaways are an absolute favourite

Everyone likes gifts and when you run giveaways, there’s a good chance that people will subscribe to your email list. Giveaways needn’t be expensive. Of course, you can have your own set of giveaways if you can manage, but when you are starting, things like free ebooks or an Amazon gift card can do the trick.

Nevertheless, giveaways can be a cliché when everyone is using them. So, you improvise. Design a contest or a competition for your visitors and at the end throw in the “precious” giveaway. Such an approach will give your visitors a sense of accomplishment and get them to happily punch in their email addresses when they take part.

Blog posts with opt-in forms

Embedding opt-in forms right within your blog post is another great way to lure subscribers. Readers give more attention to such opt-in forms since they will be spending some time reading your blog and staying on the same page. You might as well club an offer alongside a free ebook or exclusive discount.

One can use form-building plug-ins on WordPress that has easy drag-and-drop features and also interacts seamlessly to collect and record the email addresses of potential subscribers.

Content upgrade

Essentially, a lead opt-in, content upgrade is nothing more than a bonus write-up that functions to complement your blog posts. Some of the most popular content upgrade options include:

Ebook on the very subject the blog is about, only a little bit in-depth
Case studies
A cheat sheet that functions as a CTA (Call-to-Action) implements what’s been discussed in the blog
Create a newsletter utilizing a newsletter template to promote updated content, promotions, or products
A PDF version of the blog page
Checklists that help you achieve a particular goal

In order to receive the content upgrade, visitors will have to sign up via the opt-in form included. One can also break their post in the form of small MP3 files (use a text-to-speech tool); especially if it’s a long read so that people can save it for later, or give it a listen on the go while driving. This will broaden your chance to get the number of subscribers. Alongside this, it will also boost the number of visitors adding value to your blog.

The controversial, but highly befitting Pop-ups

Truth be told, pop-ups have always been the centre of controversy. What works in their favour is that when it comes to conversion, they work exceedingly well for WordPress blogs. In order to rope in more email subscribers, you can use three kinds of pop-ups, namely;

On-load pop-ups
On-scroll pop-ups

Exit-intent pop-ups
Apart from these three basic pop-up types, there are also click-on pop-ups, but they aren’t that effective considering the frictionless experience that it brings to people. On the other hand, on-load and exit-intent pop-ups seem to get the job done easily, subjected to a couple of admonitions:

The content upgrade has to be accurately related to the goal of an article and should be high-quality reading material. For instance, if someone runs a Google search for the keyword, “Virtual Reality” and is presented with a related pop-up that reads, “ Ten Ways you can use Virtual Reality in Real Life”, you have got your new email subscriber right there.

One should stick to using on-load pop-ups only on their desktops since Google has its own penalizing formula for on-load pop-ups across mobiles, where your ranking takes a hit. Personalizing a pop-up with an opt-in form for recording subscribers’ email addresses is a more befitting approach and less annoying to a user.

Don’t ignore the sidebars

A rather simple way to boost conversion via email sign-up is to include an opt-in form in your blog sidebar. The glitch in the mechanism is that every time users scroll down your blog, the sidebar widgets tend to disappear on their own. So, in order to ensure a reader sees the opt-in form always, use a fixed widget that stays atop your page even when one scrolls down to the bottom.

Wrap up

More number of email subscribers for your WordPress blog means more revenue to your pockets. Given the fact, that email works to convert better than any other channels of marketing; it can help contribute to prosper your business. As you go on implementing content upgrades in the best manner, you stay one step closer of easily converting users to email subscribers. Using the right set of tools and plug-in, your WordPress Blog email list can easily build a huge audience to cater.

Here’s What You Need In Your Blog For Your Freelance Business

vikas — Fri, 31 May 2024 17:49:59 +0000

New freelancers always ask me how they can convince clients to pay for their services if they have no experience. What can they use as a portfolio if they haven’t ever been paid for work?

The great thing about living in the internet age is that you don’t have to send samples of your work to random editors in the vague hope that they might read it, let alone like it.

The “democratization of information” means that you can get your stuff out there without needing any validation from outside sources. You may not get paid for this but if you want to get your name out there, it’s not all that difficult – even if it can be tough to stand out from an increasingly crowded field of online bloggers, journalists, and social media experts.

In particular, I tell new freelancers to create a website for their business and use its blog as their portfolio. The thing about freelancing is that you are not applying for jobs. You are offering your services. That’s what separates you from a part-time employee. And when offering a service you don’t need to show your CV. You simply need proof you can provide the service.

This is perhaps the most crucial bit of advice I can give any up-and-coming writer (or any other freelancer working in the creative field): writing is not a normal job so don’t treat it as such.

Who needs a CV when a good blog shows that you can provide the service that any potential client is looking for – writing that is engaging, informative, and shareable? Post, if not often, then at least as regularly as possible as it shows an ability to hit deadlines – even if they’re of your own making – and a solid work ethic. Exceptional writing is crucial, yes, but so is dependability. Especially when you’re starting.

Still, many freelancers don’t know what to put in their blogs. What follows is what you need for a freelance blog that works as a portfolio.

Before I continue, I do need to emphasize the importance of data security as a freelancer. I have had friends lose their entire businesses because of hackers stealing their data and even their identities. A VPN is a basic necessity these days. If you are not sure whether you want to commit to one, at least learn how to get a VPN for free. After all, the last thing you want is to have some malicious hacker ripping apart all of your hard work, because, let’s not kid
ourselves, writing is hard work.

Blog about your niche

A successful freelance writer needs to pick a niche. Without one, you will struggle to convince anyone that you are the right person for a big job. But picking a niche is not what this article is about. For that, check out some other resources.

By blogging about topics in your niche, you are proving you can do the work your clients want. Informative, engaging articles that provide value show that you have what it takes to write the content they need. So, if you are in the healthcare niche, write about current healthcare trends. If your niche is financial, write about economics.

How do you find which niche would suit you best? First, ironically enough, stop thinking about it in those terms. The first and most important thing you should be thinking about isn’t which niche will bring in the most amount of money or, even worse, what a “person like me” would write about, it should be based purely on what interests you the most, what you have the most to talk about and what will genuinely interest you enough to keep going.

This isn’t just about “doing what you love” but is about giving you the best chance to prove yourself within a chosen field. If you don’t, for example, care about finance, which is known as being one of the best-paying writing works out there, it’s pointless to try and compete against those who do and who have dedicated years of their own lives to learning the in and outs of the field. That would simply be setting yourself up to fail.

Blog about marketing

All of this does, however, take time. While building up your name, your craft, and your reputation – as well as exploring your chosen niche and learning as much about it as possible – it is possible to bring in a decent amount of money by applying your skills to marketing. Your niche may be in marketing itself, but even if it’s not, you would do well to blog about it. This is because what you are selling as a freelance writer is content that can be used in a marketing strategy. In other words, companies want blogs to bring in customers with inbound clicks, as well as to prove that they have expertise in the field.

Blogging content marketing shows potential clients that not only are you good at writing about your niche, but you are savvy enough to write strategically as well.

Marketing may not be what you want to write about at all, but freelance writing is not about writing what you want. By choosing a niche, you are putting yourself into a position to get jobs that coincide with your interests, but ultimately, you write what is best for the client. The same should apply to you. In your website’s blog, write what is best for your freelance business. The quality of the jobs you get will make up for any frustration you feel at having to
write these blog posts.

Your website’s blog can serve as the perfect portfolio and almost negates the need to prove you have prior experience. Use it to position yourself as the person to take potential clients’ businesses to the next level.

How to Easily Add Featured Images in WordPress?

vikas — Fri, 31 May 2024 17:49:56 +0000

Images are the key elements that make every blog, article, and posts interesting. It engages more portion of the mind as it is Attractive. In simple word, Featured Images summarizes the main content of the whole particular article in form of an image. Adding feature images makes your article look more managed and attractive.

Using a professional image editing tool for editing and optimizing your featured images can greatly enhance the visual appeal of your website, and can help to drive more traffic and engagement