Comments on: A quick copywriting tip to get more subscribers

By: Latest Copywriting news – Copywriting Tips From the Pros – How to Become A Valuable Resource …

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:10:53 +0000

[...] A quick copywriting tip to get more subscribers [...]

By: Paul, SuperPowerCopy.com

Paul, SuperPowerCopy.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:32 +0000

Great little tip. I wonder whether it would be beneficial to add a small “blurb” about the benefits of subscribing… oops, I mean “getting free updates”.

And as others have mentioned, offering VALUABLE freebies can be good.

By: Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:34:30 +0000

Deja,
I certainly think it is important to offer, there is a good amount of people that don’t know what RSS is so email is the best alternative to offer.

Jesse,
Offering something for free is always going to be a winner. As for the phrase ‘Join’ this could also have a negative association with it, as people sometimes associate this with membership, which usually attracts fees. Just a thought? But yes, everything is subject to testing.

Jazzikens, Jackie,
I changed the wording to “get updates”. It does need some more padding though, will get to that soon hopefully.

Preston,
Thanks for the link, an interesting read. As for the Twitter field, I am using a plugin for that, not sure of it’s name but a quick Google will find some options.

Douglas,
Sorry, can’t give all my secrets away :P And yes, as for headlines, that is why there are so many “XX Free Resource” posts. As for getting subscribers, the start is the hardest part but as your site grows, the snowballing is much more effective.

Bogdan,
Thanks for the link.

Evi,
The phrase is friendly enough but like others have pointed out, you should test it with other phrases too. Thanks for your comment.

Alessandro,
As pointed out by Preston, here is the link to the article on CopyBlogger: http://bit.ly/1T3dgY

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:40:39 +0000

Nice tip Jacob and it makes a lot of sense. Might have to rework my subscription area as well!

By: Amanda Vlahakis

Amanda Vlahakis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:08:18 +0000

This is actually really excellent advice, thanks :)

By: Designium

Designium — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:42:38 +0000

Yea feedbuner rules… easily manage your subscribers :D

By: Alessandro Mingione

Alessandro Mingione — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:16:56 +0000

Not so long ago Copyblogger blogged about the exact same topic, advicing to use “get” instead of “subscribe”.
I’m not an english native speaker, it doesn’t affect me so much, but I think that for an american or english guy it sounds much more convincing.

By: Urszula

Urszula — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:24:25 +0000

Re: to Jesse Nano

I agree with you completly. Good point.

By: Evi

Evi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:26:05 +0000

You have a point! I would like to add sth that I did on my web site. I placed the words “Keep up to date with RSS” as I found it friendlier and catchier! But I believe those who know how rss works do not hesitate to subscribe what ever text you may use! The main reason for someone to subscribe is, if they find your articles interesting or whether you have something interest to give them for free! So we should give emphasis to the content! Anyway “Get Updates” sounds better than “Subscribe”! :-)

Evi – Greece

By: Bogdan Pop

Bogdan Pop — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:17 +0000

This would definitely work. Check this small case study http://www.webia.info/articles/usability/increase-sales-by-70/ about how a company’s site that increased sales up to 70% by changing, just like you recommend here, a few words on action buttons.

By: Douglas Bonneville

Douglas Bonneville — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:45:15 +0000

I must have done something wrong. I changed my text like you said but don’t have 20,000 readers now. Did I miss something? :)

There are simply some phrases that resonate with the human psyche more than other. Take for instance the classic headline formulas of the last 50 years – they are consistent! I bet a consensus on wording for web action items emerges authoritatively over the next few years. There is psychology, math, and then definitive conclusions. I have steadily increased traffic since day one following all the rules – many of which I discovered right here. RSS subscribers are not yet where I thought they would be, but more content and time should remedy that. I guess it’s true that you need to be clever, patient, and work really hard at blogging (or anything…)!

By: Preston Lee

Preston Lee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:15:38 +0000

Very cool, by the way, that you added the twitter ID here in the comments section. I like.

This is actually a technique I just read about on copyblogger.com in an article titled “How to Increase Your Blog Subscription Rate by 254%”. It’s a great read and totally backs up what you are saying here.

Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/1T3dgY

Cheers

By: Rochelle Dancel

Rochelle Dancel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:23:23 +0000

Wow, such a small tip but will probably have a big impact on subscriber count – thanks!

By: Jazzikins

Jazzikins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:59:05 +0000

I agree with Jackie about the white space on the old one. I was kind of thinking the same thing when I saw it the first time. I guess the “Get Email Updates” button is larger than the “Subscribe” button, and makes it look a little…cluttered?? I guess that’s the correct word. Maybe some extra spacing will help.

By: Jackie White

Jackie White — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:01:27 +0000

I prefer how the older boxes design looks, maybe it’s just the extra whitespace?! I think Daniel’s choice of the word “Grab!” is much more fun and inviting then “Get Email Updates”.

Great Blog Jacob!!

By: Jesse Nano

Jesse Nano — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:40:46 +0000

Hi jacob,
I am an internet marketer, been doing for more then 1 year now and in this world there is a thing called “bribe” to get people to sign up to your list.

Get some freebies, COOL ones, like excellent ones, put a small picture of them above that email optin of yours on this blog, under the picture write:
“Join our little community and receive these free awesome gifts, deals…” you continue with what more you can offer.

On the button just simply write “Send”.

Now, please know this: everything is subject to testin and MV testing…never just leave something on your site just because some dude tells you to…add it, test it via google webmaster tools, if it works better keep it, if now trow it away.

Also as a last tip, try to style that area abit, it is very cluttered and you can barely notice that email box and stuff,
background is gray, button is gray.

Also try changing the title of the whole widget to Join our community.

Hope I helped, got questions, fire away :)

By: Decent Weblog

Decent Weblog — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:39:24 +0000

Very nice point and I think not many blogs using this technique so if we use different wordings then it may do good for our blog :)

I also changed it on my blog http://www.decentweblog.com/ :)

Thanks for the tip.

By: Chaitanya VRK

Chaitanya VRK — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:29:59 +0000

Sounds promising. Will try now.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:53:43 +0000

I’m kinda trying out with just the word “Grab!” to replace the word “Subscribe”, following another freelance blog’s approach of giving 3 avenues to get the updates.

By: Deja

Deja — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:47:46 +0000

Thanks for the tip. My blog is new and I don’t yet have an option to receive email updates at all. Personally, I almost never sign up for blog subscriptions via email. Do you think this is important to offer?

By: Jazzikins

Jazzikins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:16:33 +0000

I can definitely see how this approach would be more welcoming to a visitor. Especially if they are new to RSS feeds. I will definitely be trying this out.