The Most Successful Elements for Increasing Your Blog Subscribers

 Just like William Shakespeare's Hamlet questioned life with his famous "to be, or not to be" line, you might be asking yourself the same question when pondering whether or not to subscribe to a blog. Well, the same mantra goes for your potential blog subscribers.

"To subscribe...or not to subscribe."

There's a direct correlation between the quality and relevancy of your subscription offer and any potential growth of your contact database. Is there any value in a user subscribing? Sure, they get your content emailed to them, but they can get the same content by simply visiting your website. Are you offering anything additional to entice visitors to subscribe?

Okay, let's be honest some subscription offers are great, and others are... well, terrible.  I'm sure you've even had times where you could not even find the subscription box.

But there are some blogs that have a way of keeping us coming back for more, which of course is the ultimate goal.  So lets go a little deeper into the good, the bad, and the ugly of blog subscriptions and how to successfully entice your website visitors to subscribe.

Boosting Your Blog Subscribers

Value behind subscribing

One tried-and-true method of enticing visitors to subscribe is by offering additional value. For instance, when you subscribe to the IMPACT blog, you receive an exclusive ebook, "7 Ways to Generate More Customers in 2013."

I don't know about you, but whenever I see a certain incentive to subscribe to a blog, I immediately want to know what it's about.  It can be a great way for a blog to attract and capture their readers to subscribe.  Some common incentives successful blogs use are:

• Limited time offers

• Contests/competitions

• Free ebooks/ downloads/ other resources

• Coupons

Provide visitors with more value than they would expect, and you'll surely see an increase in your subscribers.

Looks are important

Knowing how to present a blog subscription box can either make or break a readers decision in subscribing or not.

First, the box should be clear for the reader to see, ideally having the box above the fold of the page, which will instantly direct the readers attention towards the call-to-action. Other prime real estate for a blog subscription box is in the sidebar of your blog page. Visitors on your blog page have obviously taken an interest in your content, so don't miss this golden opportunity to offer a way to bring them back on a consistent basis.

Secondly, having an easy way to share the blog will help create buzz about the articles. Given the power of social media shares, it's a wise move to include share buttons on your blog subscription box, increasing the potential reach and growth opportunity for your blog.

Below are some examples of subscription boxes that catch the readers eye.

Subscription Landing Page

Along with having a subscription box, it is important to have a separate subscription landing page that goes a little deeper in what the subscription has to offer, as well as options to subscribe using social media networks.

This will be another way to draw readers to subscribing without being repetitive.

Social Media

One of the ways I hear about blogs or find blogs on the internet is through my friends, I see a person liking a blog on Facebook or posting a blog on Twitter.  Instantly I want to know what they are reading.

Blogs that excel with social media subscriptions or making it easy to share and access through social media, also excel when it comes to blog subscribers.

Quality of Content

It can be easy to tell if you will enjoy a blog post pretty quickly or not. Whether it's in the title or the opening paragraphs, we as readers can spot quality content when we see it.

Obviously no blog will attract readers to subscribe if their post isn't quality work.

So beyond anything else, consistently offering quality content is the best way to entice visitors to subscribe to your blog.