10 Effective Ways to Get More Blog Subscribers

The question I seem to be getting over and over these days is…

How did you get 6,000 subscribers in 10 months?

The answer is simple—I value subscribers more than any other measure of blog success, such as page views or raw traffic. Subscribers are the life blood of a successful blog in my opinion, and frankly, I wish I had more of them. :)

OK, that may be a bit vague.

So here are 10 specific strategies you can begin to implement today and start getting more blog subscribers right away.

1. Make it easy and obvious

As I’ve said before in more detail, make your subscription options prominent, offer an email alternative to RSS, and ask for the subscription, preferably at the bottom of each post.

2. Be laser focused

Make sure that you are primarily focusing on a particular topic, and the more specialized that topic is, the better you’ll do. It’s also key to step back and evaluate whether there are enough prospective readers in your chosen niche. It’s better to be brutally honest with yourself than to toil away and end up disappointed.

3. Offer a bribe

Relax, it’s nothing illegal. It’s an ethical bribe, in the form of a free ebook, report, e-course or audio series. Typically this only works with email subscriptions tied to autoresponders, because you want to condition delivery of the bonus on subscription.

But here’s a nifty way to do it with RSS:

If you have a WordPress blog, use the free Feedvertising plugin to link to the download page for your free gift. Since Feedvertising links only show up in the feed (and not in the post), only feed subscribers will see the link and have access to the bonus.

4. Use viral ebooks

This is a spin on the ethical bribe strategy, but instead you let other people give away your PDF ebook or even bundle it for sale with other products. The PDF in turn promotes your blog. Check out this post to see how I bundled my free Viral Copy report with a book that spent several days at the top of the Amazon bestseller list.

5. Dedicated subscription landing page

Create a page that is dedicated to nothing more than obtaining a subscription, and drive traffic to it from your blog, AdWords, or really any other source you want. You can even put it on a unique URL, and add in the ethical bribe strategy to increase signups. For more information on doing this with AdWords, read this article, and then this one.

6. Become a guest blogger

Contributing content to someone else’s blog may seem crazy, but it’s a solid strategy to gain exposure for your own blog and build your subscriber base. Just make it very clear to the blog owner that you require a very brief byline at the end of the post, with a link back to your site. And make sure it’s original content, not something recycled off of your blog.

7. Start a podcast

Start a related podcast on your subject matter, and get it into iTunes and listed in the various podcasting directories. Mention your blog in every episode and the benefits of subscribing, and try to land some interviews with prominent players in your niche. Not only will you be opening up a new promotional channel, you’re also creating bonus content that can be reused as part of your ethical bribe campaign for new subscribers.

8. Post in forums

A tried and true technique since the earliest days of the Internet is to be a helpful, proactive participant in forums that are important in your niche. People will notice that you are offering yourself up to others, and will be more inclined to see what else you have to offer with your blog.

9. Networking

This is perhaps the most overlooked strategy for gaining traffic and subscribers. Don’t badger other bloggers for links, because it rarely works anymore. Find a way to help them with something, and then eventually work that initial graciousness into a business relationship and even friendship. There are real people behind these blogs, and they respond to good will just like people do offline.

10. Cross-promotional deals

Here’s another cool way to make use of the Feedvertising plugin for WordPress.

Find a blogger that publishes related, but non-competitive content. Work out a deal where you both promote each other in your RSS feeds, using Feedvertising. If one blog has way more subscribers than the other, work out a ratio deal. Since Feedvertising allows you to create up to six rotating links, the smaller blog would promote the other blog continuously, while the larger blog would reserve one slot for the smaller blog, and use the other slots for other cross-promotion deals, affiliate links, or sponsor ads.

So there you have it, with one additional word of caution.

All of the above presupposes that you are producing the best content you can. If you honestly cannot say that you are doing your best work content-wise, start there. But afterwards, using some or all of the above will definitely increase your subscriber count.

P.S. This is where I ask you to sign up for free Copyblogger updates via RSS or email. :)

176 comments... add one

#1 Bucktowndusty → 11.14.06 at 6:48 pm

Brian. If you want to see the absolute best example of point #1, go to http://www.reviewme.com/blog/ and scroll down until you see their rss feed graphic (one of the funniest, effective ideas I’ve seen in some time)

Regards
Buck
#2 Brian → 11.14.06 at 6:52 pm Copyblogger

You can blame Chris Pearson for that. :)
#3 Rizky → 11.14.06 at 6:54 pm

another great tips. thx Brian..

comments on #1. do we need something like the world’s biggest rss button? :P
#4 Brian → 11.14.06 at 6:56 pm Copyblogger

Sheesh! Is Andy Hagans paying you guys to comment? :)

No, in fact I’ve been considering scaling down the size of my own RSS button. It has to be prominent, but not obnoxious.
#5 Michael Stelzner → 11.14.06 at 7:07 pm

Brian -

Number 1 on your list should be:

write quality posts!

Nothing brings people back more than quality.

Mike
#6 Rizky → 11.14.06 at 7:11 pm

yeah, i wish he was..

hey Brian, another question for #2. U see, I’ve tried to be focused on the SEO niche. and I think I’ve done quite well.

I’ve gain good credibility, even a popular local magazine just reviewed my site. but the problem is, in my country there’s just not many people that’s interested or even know about SEO.

any suggestions?
#7 Caydel → 11.14.06 at 7:29 pm

Hi Rizky.

While I cannot comment on your content, nice template :P

It appears that we are in the same niche. Perhaps your best bet may be to do linkbait style piece on how proper SEO can help local Indonesian businesses, leaning heavily on the local angle.

Send it around to a few businesses, or hire friends to do the same. If that doesn’t work, make 500 photocopies and distribute them at your local equivelent of a chamber of commerce , if such exists. If you can provide good, relevant content to the right people who need it, your readership will definately grow.

If you have good content, don’t forget about off-line measures to promote your blog!

Good Luck!
#8 Tammy → 11.14.06 at 7:39 pm

Hi, Brian - About your 6,000+ subscribers, your posts are focused but more importantly, your voice is consistent and your mission is clearly reiterated with each post which keeps people coming back. When we hear (or read in this case) what we are looking for and each post builds on the last… it’s like experiencing a living textbook. Even the handful of posts that seemed to not hit the mark you intended… you rebounded quickly.

The focus and consistent voice with an ever present courtesy to us that read makes your blog a MUST read. The subscription rate is testiment to that. Any blogger that takes up those two keys will build a hungry audience. (I’m still working on it! :-))

PS - Copyblogger uses all of the most effective “tools” to take advantage of the viral nature of blogging. You make it easy for us to stay on top of what’s happening here.

Tammy
#9 SEM Basics → 11.14.06 at 8:07 pm

Hello Brian,

This is yet another great post. I’m one of those 6,000 subscribers who you have collected over the last 10 months and I’m very happy to be on board.

In the meantime, I’ve added on a few other strategies that are worth trying. You can read about them here.

Once again, thanks for the great blog and post. Keep up the good work!

All the best,

Moshe
#10 How to get people to subscribe to your blog » SEMBasics → 11.14.06 at 8:13 pm

[…] I just read (yet another) excellent article by Brian Clark from Copyblogger (a blog which is quickly becoming one of my favorites). It’s called 10 Effective Ways to Get More Blog Subscribers and I highly recommend that you read it right now. In it, Brian comes up with a number of useful, creative ways in which you can encourage people to sign up to your RSS feed. Indeed, he claims that this method has helped him garner 6,000 subscribers in 10 months! What’s more, he argues that the number of subscribers to your blog is a more telling indicator of the success to your blog than other, more common stats such as visitors and page views: I value subscribers more than any other measure of blog success, such as page views or raw traffic. Subscribers are the life blood of a successful blog in my opinion, and frankly, I wish I had more of them. […]
#11 Bucktowndusty → 11.14.06 at 8:21 pm

I knew it! I thought I recognized CP’s style. That makes it even better.

Regards
Buck
#12 BrettFromTibet → 11.14.06 at 11:51 pm

“offer an email alternative to RSS”

Great advice, a lot of the the people who we are trying to target at work aren’t RSS literate, yet.

Is there an easy way to offer email subscriptions from an Wordpress blog?
#13 Brian → 11.14.06 at 11:55 pm Copyblogger

Sure thing. I use Feedblitz on this blog, and Feedburner has an email solution built right in. These services are great because your content is pulled directly from the feed, so instead of creating a separate newsletter, your posts just get delivered to your subscribers.
#14 Mike → 11.15.06 at 12:17 am

Dangit BC - I was trying to wean myself off of kissin’ up and commentin’ after EVERY freakin’ post you do, but this one is another classic that just freakin’ rawks .. as CP would say.
#15 Roshawn → 11.15.06 at 12:29 am

Bookmarked. Or should I say, subscribed. Thanks for the insight. ;-)
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#19 Jesse → 11.15.06 at 12:18 pm

I just got rejected for the third time by TLA. Any idea what kind of stats they are needing in a site before they let you in?

I did as much as I could in Feedburner, though, and have the Feedburner plugin for WP 2.x.

Thanks for the tips, you have a great source of info here.
#20 Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com → 11.15.06 at 5:40 pm

We just created an automated system where recruiting and career bloggers can sign up to receive free blog articles, post blog articles to run on other blogs in our niche, or both. So I definitely agree with your point #6 but would take it a step further: by getting your entries on other blog or by running more content on your blog, you’re going to improve your search engine rankings as more content on your blog and more links to your blog are going to indicate to the search engines that you’re a higher quality source of information for their visitors so you’ll get a boost in your rankings.
#21 jf.sellsius → 11.15.06 at 8:02 pm

Another reason to love Copyblogger. He shares his secrets to success. BC is probably the most succinct writer of quality.
Every word is gold Jerry, gold.
#22 HART (1-800-HART) → 11.16.06 at 12:33 am

Actually, I thought #3 and #10 tips with the Feedvertising plugin was quite ingenious .. although, it doesn’t work when you use Feedburner on a Summary Feed .. The blogs I have that are currently full feed do not attract any advertisers .. It might be time for another experiment
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#24 vmunster → 11.16.06 at 12:55 pm

Very helpful tips! Thank you…

Tip #5 was of most immediate concern for me. How do you create a page that is dedicated to gaining subscription without being too blatant about it? Or is it okay to be blatant about it? Also, if the blog is a company blog, should this subscription gaining page be a page that’s directly off of the blog? Or could it reside in say a company promotion site?

Any help would be appreciated?
#25 Mary → 11.16.06 at 10:40 pm

Now that you’ve joined b5media, I wonder if they’ll allow these widgets. I can’t make ANY changes to my blog template whatsoever. oh well. Nothing beats good content, however.
thanks for the inspiration.
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#28 Deborah Ng → 11.17.06 at 8:03 am

Great post. I agree an email alternative should be made available for those who aren’t RSSers. While I don’t have near the subscription base you do, I have a few hundred. Many more if you count the feeds. People appreciate options.
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#31 Alex Lewis → 11.18.06 at 4:31 pm

Another great post Brian.

This is the first time I’ve commented on a blog, but I couldn’t let another one go by on copyblogger without saying how much I enjoy reading what you have to say.

Thanks for all the great advice!
#32 TJP → 11.19.06 at 7:17 am

Great post. I’ll definitely take advantage of the feedvertising plugin.
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#34 Elise Wright → 11.20.06 at 3:57 pm

Brian,

I could not agree more with your first strategy. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had the pleasure of searching high and low on a site to find an email alternative to the RSS feed.

Most people don’t have enough interest to participate in the hunt for ways to subscribe. When they lose that interest you’ve probably lost them for life.

Making things difficult for your readers is NOT the way to gain their interest. People like easy.

Easy is what we have come to expect. We will accept nothing less.

Thanks for the great tips once again.
#35 Stuart → 11.20.06 at 7:47 pm

Love #5 I’ve implemented it over at my own blog & noticed the subscriptions increase by twofold over the past week :)

Cheers
Stuart
http://www.earnersblog.com/
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#41 WSLiang → 11.28.06 at 11:41 am

Easy to understand yet great advice. I shall apply some of the effective ways in my blog. Thanks Brian!
#42 Jonathan Kantor → 11.28.06 at 1:25 pm

Thanks for the info. It’s really helped me refine my blog strategy!
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Can anyone recommend free software to create a downloadable PDF eBook?

Thanks!
-Andrew
http://www.jobacle.com
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http://www.pdf995.com/
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#50 David Airey → 01.06.07 at 9:17 am

Keep up the good writing Brian.

All the best for 2007.
#51 Siddharth Thakkar → 01.13.07 at 4:28 pm

Hi Brian,

You seem to have comprehensively addressed the topic. However, #8 seemingly does not work too much these days. Now, we all know that leaving our URL on forum posts is pretty harmless, but it is taken a bit harshly these days. Also, fewer people seem to be visiting your blog with a URL left in signatures. Hence, I personally feel that it is not amongst the most effective strategies to get people to visit your blog. Although it is a very accessible one for beginners like me.

Cheers!
#52 Adrian → 01.19.07 at 8:40 pm

Brian, great post & great site, thanks.

Lots of useful info here.
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#54 the Brit → 01.25.07 at 8:58 am

Hi Brian

I think this is one of the most constructive blog sites I have visited.

the Brit
#55 teddy → 01.30.07 at 3:51 am

wow, this tips are very useful man. I gonna try some of the points you mentioned above, and will post here again how is the result. thx for such a good tips.
#56 wellwisher → 01.31.07 at 12:26 am

hi
this guy has copied your whole article exactly as it is and posted it on his blog..
have a look .

http://digitalworld4u.blogspot.com/2007/01/10-effective-ways-to-get-more-blog.html
#57 David Airey → 02.01.07 at 4:06 pm

^^^^ It is sourced, even if the linkback doesn’t work and it’s in tiny text.

Unfortunately this happens all the time. You just have to look at the amount of Adsense that’s plastered everywhere to know the site isn’t worth a lot.
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#59 Andre → 02.09.07 at 1:50 am

I like the idea with feed i looked at the text link ad but not used it yet i think i will put it on my site soon.

Andre

http:/www.googleandme.com
#60 JT → 02.11.07 at 3:05 am

These tips are very useful! Much appreciated.
#61 Stephen → 03.17.07 at 1:10 pm

Interesting….

About #6, would the reverse also work? By inviting others to be contributors to your blog, wouldn’t that have more or less the same effect of exposure? I’m sure guest bloggers would want to highlight their guest blogging activities on their own blog. And their contributions will add to the diversity (in voice or content) of your own.
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#63 Dave Prouhet → 03.29.07 at 9:49 pm

Hey Found your blog though those carnivals and gotta say you produce some excellent articles. Really liked this one for its list of activities to further promote a blog…some of these are repeats but a number of them are new. I am interested in understanding why subscribers are so important…I’m sure you posted a article on it, I just have to find it.

Dave
http://www.BusinessAdviceDaily.com/
#64 Ginene → 04.07.07 at 11:18 am

Great tips!! I normally subscribe to blogs that offer good advice.
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#75 Aimee → 05.29.07 at 11:27 pm

Wow great post! Thanks for the tips, I will be putting them to good use.
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#86 cyberst0rm → 06.27.07 at 4:39 pm

Very informative post! I will implement some of the things you mentioned and hopefully I will see an increase in subscribers.
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#88 Gaje Master Blogging → 07.14.07 at 12:11 am

Where do you come up with these ideas? You are pretty awesome to share them with us. I have learned a lot from reading your post and I will continue to read them. Keep up the good work.
#89 Paul Bradish → 07.16.07 at 5:26 pm

Making it “easy and obvious” helped me land more RSS subscribers. I increased the size of my RSS button by about 500% and placed it above the fold - the results were instant.

Great blog post, thank you!
#90 Why You Should Take Part In Blog Writing Projects | Web Business Blog → 07.17.07 at 6:47 pm

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#91 How To Triple Your Subscribers In One Easy Step : Make Easy Money With Google And AdSense → 07.19.07 at 8:05 am

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#94 David / Homeopathy Zone → 07.28.07 at 12:14 pm

I’d like to add to the above a strategy that’s been working really well for me: use paid ads (such as Google AdWords) strictly to advertise your newsletter.

Doing this on my blog I’ve managed to keep the click-through-rate low (under 1%) which reflects the fact that few people are interested specifically in signing up for a newsletter on my topic and in turn saves me money.

Once these people make it on my site, however, they convert at what is, to me, an excellent rate of around 30% (with an overwhelming preference for e-mail over RSS subscription - presumably reflecting a non-blog-savvy audience) using a specialized landing-page.

So this seems to me like a cost-effective way of obtaining subscriptions early on in the life-cycle of a blog, before it becomes established. Presumably such subscribers are very well-targeted, and what remains is to live up to subscribers’ expectation with quality content, so that they eventually become regular readers.
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#96 RNB → 08.01.07 at 12:03 am

very interesting, thanx!
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#98 www.thehappinessblog.com → 08.01.07 at 5:00 pm

Thanks for the great tips! I will begin using them today. You should post a feedback section so that you can hear back from all of us about what happened after we used the advice :)
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#102 Wynn → 08.24.07 at 9:31 am

Do some blogging applications allow you to view your subscriber list? I’m planning to send out a newsletter that covers many of the same topics as my blog, but I don’t want to hit the same people twice.
#103 kcdc627 → 08.27.07 at 8:03 am

I agree with some of the others here, writing quality content should be the number one concern! Nice tips, thanks.
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#110 Lund → 09.30.07 at 6:00 am

Where do you come up with these ideas? I have learned a lot from reading your post and I will continue to read them.
Thanks!
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#119 Megan → 10.19.07 at 5:09 am

Great article. More subscribers… all bloggers want and need them. Great tips. I will definately practice the ones I have not done at this point. I will definately be returning to see what else is coming up on your site

http://www.PassportMentors.com
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#126 Saschaeh → 11.12.07 at 8:13 am

Great post thanks! Im sure there are many bloggers out there scratching there heads this very minute…. “why is no coming to my blog!” It would be worth there while to read this.
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#128 marvin → 11.18.07 at 2:25 pm

This is something I’m really focusing on right now. I just started my blog. I’ve been posting in forums and just plain trying to promote it everywhere I can. But I’ve been stuck at 15 subscribers for 4 days in a row now. Well I just subscribed to yours, hopefully implementing your suggestions will improve my posts as well!
#129 Derek Baker → 11.20.07 at 12:07 pm

Great tips. I will try the “landing page” idea sometime this week on my blog.
#130 Jehzeel Laurente → 11.24.07 at 12:43 am

i hope i can reach that number of subscribers :)
#131 Bridget → 11.28.07 at 12:24 am

Great tips! I’m going to put them into place now.
#132 Keron Calame → 12.04.07 at 10:40 pm

This is a very interesting post i am going to implement it on my blog.

I just hope it works as well as it did for you.
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#139 Mior → 01.14.08 at 10:16 am

Your blog is very good. Many information that useful to me. I hope you can give more focus of getting traffic to website. Thanks.
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#144 Tech, How to, Computer, Linux, Dog, Make Money Online with AhTim → 01.28.08 at 10:15 pm

Increase Rss subscribers experiment…

My rss readers are increasing gradually from month to month. But this is still my biggest weakness till today. According to my last SEO report, number of my rss readers is about 50 in average. Highest is 61 rss readers.
I have tried to submit my to som…
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#147 clint → 02.06.08 at 11:20 am

great tips,i wish i could get a review on my little bitty blog from such a great person..

clint
http://www.promomaker.blogspot.com
#148 Geek → 02.11.08 at 2:42 am

Applying these.After 15 days i will post on my remarks on what it did for me.
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#153 Nick → 02.18.08 at 8:35 pm

I’ve learned a lot from your site. Thanks. I want to try “bribing” folks to subscribe to my site by offering a free gift in exchange for their e-mail address. But what do I do if my current subscribers “sign up” in order to get the gift? I don’t mind giving it to them, but I don’t want a lot of duplicate e-mail addresses. (Almost all my readers are RSS illiterate.)
#154 pinoy money talk → 02.20.08 at 11:33 am

Thanks for this awesome tips :)
#155 Terry Finley → 02.21.08 at 8:15 pm

I am amazed at what is available to bloggers.
Thanks for the info. It is most helpful.
#156 Sean A. → 02.23.08 at 11:46 am

Aw