How to Get 30% More Emails Per Post

Content Upgrades.

A content upgrade is an opt-in bribe created for readers of a specific blog post.
Using content upgrades has grown my list from 205 subscribers to over 10,000 in the past 10 months. I’ve tried 18 different list-building strategies, and content upgrades outperformed all of the others combined.

A content upgrade has two parts:

Part 1: Incredibly helpful blog post
Part 2: Bonus content given in exchange for an email address

Step 1: Identify your most popular blog posts

The quickest way to get started using content upgrades is to identify your most popular blog post of the past 90 days and install a content upgrade in that post.

To find your most popular article follow these 4 steps:

• Step 1: Login to your Google Analytics Account
• Step 2: Click on “Behavior”. “Site Content” and then “All Pages” (sidebar)

• Step 3: Set you date range to the last 90 days (upper right hand corner)

• Step 4: Identify the blog posts that received the most traffic

Step 2: Create your Content Upgrade

Now you need to create the content upgrade to use in your post. I’ve used 11 different types of content upgrades and have found 3 that work the best. 

1. Training Video: Some of the highest converting content upgrades I’ve created are training videos that show my readers how to do what I just taught them in the blog post. You can easily create these videos using the free screen recording software Jing.

2. Checklist: Turn your blog post into an easy to follow checklist. 3,000 word in-depth blog posts are great but it’s really easy to get lost in them. By turning the post into a short checklist the information becomes much more actionable. Use this Google Doc template to create your checklist.

3. Resource Lists: In the post referenced above I compiled a list of links that helped the reader take action on the strategies that I outlined in the post. You can compile all of the links into a Google Doc. Here is the list I compiled and offered as a content upgrade (use it as a template to create your own).

Step 3: Setup your Content Upgrade

Setting up content upgrades can be a pain in the butt.

Leadpages: I made a tutorial video showing you exactly how to do it using LeadPages.(Use this special Email1K link to pay $1 to get a Leadpages template and free 30 day trial – then it’s $67/month) 

Leads by SumoMe: If you already have SumoMe installed you can quickly add Leads in the Sumo Store. Leads gives you the first 100 content upgrades free. After that it’s just $100/yr. 

Lesson 3 Task

1. Identify your most popular post through Google Analytics 
2. Create a relevant content upgrade: video, checklist or resource list. (Use my checklist example) 
3. Set up Leadpages or install Leads by SumoMe for free.
4. Embed your Content Upgrade in the top 1/3 and at the bottom of your post

Now Sit back and enjoy the new email signups. If you are highly motivated, set up your next four most popular posts.