How to Get More Subscribers Using The Content Upgrade
At this point you’re probably wondering:
“OK, I’m ready to try the The Content Upgrade. How do I start?”
Here’s a breakdown of the 5-step process:
Step 1: Find a high-traffic page on your site
Step 2: Identify a resource that would make the content better
Step 3: Create that resource
Step 4: Add the resource to your site
Step 5: Get more email subscribers
Now let’s dive into how you can add this list building machine to your site.
Step #1: Find a Page on Your Site That Gets a Lot of Traffic
This may sound simple, but stay with me.
If you want to maximize the number of subscribers that you get from The Content Upgrade, you need to start with a page that has the most potential for generating email subscribers.
In other words, blog posts on your site that bring in the most traffic.
Make sense?
You can easily find your most popular pages by going to Behavior –> Site Content –> Landing Pages in Google Analytics:
As you can see from that screenshot, my Google Ranking Factors blog post was the most popular page on my site.
So I started with that.
Once you’ve identified your site’s most popular page, it’s time for step #2…
Step #2: Identify a Resource That Will Make Your Content Even Better
This may not be easy to hear, but here it goes:
No one wants your free report.
Well, maybe that’s not 100% true.
If you give away something for free on your site, SOMEONE will sign up to get it.
But 99% of people won’t.
Why not?
Because your report has nothing to do with what that person wants at that moment.
It’s like if you walked into H&M for a new belt and the salesperson said: “Would you like to see our new dress shirts that just came in?”. No, you wouldn’t.
The bottom line?
When you offer your visitors something that’s a perfect fit for what they came to your site for, they’re MUCH more likely to opt-in.
For example, I noticed people leaving comments on my Google Ranking Factors post like this…
…and this:
These people were basically telling me in black and white:
“Brian, this is a great post. But it’s an overwhelming amount of information. How can I actually put this stuff into practice?”
That’s when I realized that a checklist that listed the 10 most important factors — along with practical tips for implementing them — would add a lot of value to that post.
Other things you can give away as a Content Upgrade:
- A set of bonus tips
- Downloadable PDF version of the article
- A video tutorial that dives deeper into one section from your post
- A visual guide to your post (for example, a mind map or infographic)
- An interview with an expert on your post’s topic
- A free product guide or hands-on review (this is PERFECT for ecommerce sites)
The possibilities are endless.
Now that you’ve decided on what you’re going to give away, it’s time to get this party started.
Step #3: Create Your Content Upgrade Resource
Here’s the deal:
When someone first signs up for your email list they’re actively looking for reasons to opt out…
…and if you give them one, they’ll take it.
On the other hand, if you wow new subscribers with a GREAT first email, they’re much more likely to stick with you for life.
(You know what they say about first impressions…)
That’s why I decided to set aside 5-hours to outline and write my Google Ranking Factors checklist.
But I took things one step further.
After I finished writing the checklist, I sent it to a professional graphic designer on Elance.
She turned my checklist from this…
to this:
Needless to say, this professional design makes a HUGE difference in how people perceive the value of my checklist.
When someone receives a high-quality resource in their inbox (like this checklist), they think to themselves:
“Hey, this was pretty cool. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for their next email.”
And because your list loves what you’re sending them, you’re going to increase your conversion rate over the long-term.
In fact, you’ll actually get messages from people that say they’re looking forward to future emails from you.
For example, this is an email I recently received from a subscriber that just finished reading my Google Ranking Factors Checklist:
Having a high-value resource in hand is great…
…but it’s not nearly as important as the next step in the Content Upgrade process.
Step #4: Give Your Resource Away
Like anything in conversion rate optimization, HOW you present your Content Upgrade is key. In fact, your pitch is 10x more important than the resource itself.
Here’s what I mean…
As I’m sure you’ve seen yourself, lame pitches like “sign up for our newsletter” and “download our whitepaper” aren’t effective anymore.
To put it another way, you really need to sell your Content Upgrade.
Here’s the approach that worked best for me.
First, I added a yellow box at the end my blog post introduction:
My old blog post conclusion asked people to leave a comment. I swapped that conclusion out with a pitch to download the checklist:
When someone clicks on the link in the yellow box or the download image at the end of the post, a LeadPages box appears that asks them to opt-in:
According to my Analytics, 65% of people that see that box enter their email and opt-in:
Because it converts so well, I recommend using LeadPages to giveaway your Content Upgrade resource.
If you’d prefer not use LeadPages, you can create a normal opt-in form in Aweber or MailChimp.
Step #5: Get More Email Subscribers
Now that you have the Content Upgrade set up, you should notice a massive increase in subscribers coming from that page.
But don’t stop there.
I’ve since added The Content Upgrade to three additional posts at Backlinko. Like with my Google Ranking Factors post, conversions on those other page have shot through the roof.
In fact, The Content Upgrade has brought in an EXTRA 655 subscribers in only 18 days:
Because it works so well, The Content Upgrade is going to be the focus of my list building from now on.
So I recommend repeating The Content Upgrade process on other high-traffic pages on your site.
The more you scale this process, the more you’ll increase conversions on your website.