5 Tips How to Gain Subscribers for Your WordPress Blog

Updated October 6, 2023
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The subscribers to your WordPress blog and newsletter are your most loyal audience. That is why it is important to know how to gain subscribers. Here are some simple tips how to attract numerous subscribers in an unobtrusive way:

1. Install an Opt-in plugin.

One of the things you can’t go without is a good WordPress plugin that manages the process. There are a lot of WordPress plugins that either deal with opt-in forms only, or cover a larger part of the newsletter marketing process but since not all of them do a good job, you’d better first check which of them are reliable and go with them. For instance, the free Newsletter Sign-Up plugin is easy to use and has enough options. Some of its settings are shown in the screenshot below:

WordPress Opt-in Plugin Settings

2. Make the Subscribe form visible.

When you want your visitors to become your subscribers, you need to put the Subscribe form in a visible place. Of course, if people are really dying to become your subscribers, they will find your form to matter where it is hidden but since you want to turn even occasional visitors into subscribers, don’t play the hide-and-seek. Put the Subscribe form in a place where it attracts attention – i.e. above the fold, in the sidebar, or in a popup. Use large text and nice graphics because these also help to draw users’ attention to it. You can add a very cool popup optin form to your blog using popup domination wordpress plugin.

3. Use a simple opt-in form.

If your opt-in form is as simple as possible, this results in more subscribers. Ideally, you should ask for name and email only. This data is sufficient to send the newsletter and you aren’t crossing any privacy boundaries. If you are asking for lots of information, most of your would-be subscribers will back off because they hate filling so much data. Asking visitors to fill dozens of boxes just to subscribe to a newsletter is a poor tactic because this takes a lot of time and no busy user will do such sacrifices for you. Additionally, many people have privacy considerations and they will simply be unwilling to share data with a stranger, even if you write explicitly that the data will neither be used for any other purposes, nor shared with third parties.

4. Clearly state the advantages of becoming a subscriber.

When you want your readers to do something for you – i.e. subscribe to your newsletter, you need to give them a valid reason why. For instance, you can explain what your subscribers will be getting in return. State that it’s free to sign up and if you have any exclusive offers you offer to your subscribers only, don’t forget to mention it. If your newsletter is a round up of the posts (for the week, month, etc.) on your blog, you can also use this fact to attract those readers who might not have the chance to read every single post but who’d like to keep in touch and the weekly (monthly) briefs are a great way to do it.

5. Promote your subscription.

The more people know about your subscription, the higher the number of potential subscribers. This is why you need to promote your subscription. You can do it in your posts and on external sites. For instance, you can place a link to the subscription form at the bottom of every post, or display a popup every 5 pages (don’t do it on every refresh, i.e. on every page load, because this will certainly irritate users). One of the best ways to attract subscribers is with the help of affiliate networks. There are affiliate networks where you register, enter some data about you and their affiliates start promoting your site. When they send you a subscriber (called lead), you pay a commission. Signups via affiliates is the fastest way to gain subscribers but as a rule there are many fraudulent signups, so be careful if you use it.

Building a good mailing list doesn’t happen overnight – it takes long weeks and lots of patience. If there is no crowd of subscribers waiting in queues to sign up, don’t give up but try alternatives. The reasons for the lack of subscribers can be different and very often changes to the design of the opt-in form, the opt-in plugin you are using, and/or the placement of the opt-in form make miracles. This is why experiment a bit with the design and placement of your opt-in form till you find the optimal solution. The winning combination is unique and you need to find what works best for your WordPress blog.

Related: Checkout another great wordpress plugin called wp subscribers that can be use to gain subscribers.

Author Bio:- Ada is a contributor to WinkPress, which is a web resource about leveraging WordPress, its themes, and plugins, including a list of the available opt-in form plugins, to create versatile and unusual websites.

3 comments

  • @Ritesh – Right, you can’t go with the general blah, blah, blah, blah and hope to attract subscribers. People want to know what exactly they will be getting, otherwise they just walk away.

  • Amrik Virdi

    It’s really worth reading tips about Gain Subscribers from wordpress. thanks for the awesome article.

  • Ritesh @ TechSpacia

    nicely written. I fully agree with it… perticularly “Clearly state the advantages of becoming a subscriber.”.
    Once your visitor know the advantages, definitely they would like to join you.

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