26 ways to build subscribers to your newsletter or blog

The weekly newsletter we put out from www.kirstydunphey.com is currently circulating to over 4,000 people weekly. We’re often asked how we’ve built our database to that size in 3 years given that this newsletter started as just an in house newsletter to around 20 staff! To follow are some of our best success tips on building your newsletter (or blog) database.

1. Have a sign up button or form on every page of your website. 

2. Don’t make it too difficult for people to sign-up, people get bored if they have to jump through too many hoops. All we ask for is first name, surname (optional) and email.

3. Set up a facebook fan page for your email (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsty-Dunphey-Weekly-Email/23652386192?ref=nf) and encourage your friends / family and current subscribers to join.

4. To attract those ever present Gen Y’s have a presence on myspace. Some of my favourites:

·         http://www.myspace.com/jackcanfield

·         http://www.myspace.com/thebaileynetwork

·         http://www.myspace.com/jimrohn

·         http://www.myspace.com/thatguywiththenametag

·         http://www.myspace.com/kirstydunphey (and mine of course!)

5. Link your facebook, myspace and linked in pages on your website and newsletter.

6. Any time you speak at a public event, mention your newsletter and encourage people to sign up. By public event I mean everything from a keynote presentation in front of 2,000 to a networking group of 5 – just mention it!

7. If you do any regular public speaking, grab a box, bucket or any receptacle and allow people to simply throw a business card in at the end of any of your talks if they want to subscribe.

8. Promote your newsletter on the bottom of your email (in your signature)

9. Make it easy for people to recommend their friends signup and mention that you’d like them to in your newsletter (in ours we say we’re aiming for 10,000 subscribers – can they help?)

10. I regularly submit articles to be used in other newsletters. Our two most exciting contributions to date have been multiple entries in Zig Ziglar (www.zigziglar.com) and Jeffrey Gitomer’s (www.jeffreygitomer.com) newsletters.

11. Allow people to reproduce your articles in their newsletters – and make it easy. We do this by having a statement telling people they can reproduce our articles in every newsletter and a whole page of articles they can use here: www.kirstydunphey.com/usemebaby.html

12. We submit our articles (which reference our newsletter) to online articles. Try www.ezinearticles.com and www.articlesbase.com, www.goarticles.com

13. Solicit testimonials from the people who currently read your newsletter (even if it’s just 5!) and use them on your website.

14. Allow people to see archived copies of your newsletters – to give them a better idea of what they’re signing up for.

15. Don’t sell or loan your database and make it clear on your website that you won’t

16. Mention your newsletter as often as possible (media, tv interviews, social events, networking).

17. Consider mentioning your newsletter on your business card / letterhead.

18. Link to your newsletter in your blog.

19. Oh yeah – have a blog (see: www.kirstydunphey.com/blog ) and if you don’t think you have time to blog read: http://kirstydunphey.blogspot.com/2008/02/are-you-already-blogging-and-you-just.html

20. There are lots of online ezine diretories that you can register your database at (we’ve not had a great response from these – but hey – if you’ve got a spare 10 minutes go for your life!)

21. Ask your friends / colleagues if they’ll mention your newsletter on their website (see: www.kirstydunphey.com/recommendations.html) More links to your website also can do great things for your search engine optimization.

22. You can pitch your product in your newsletter – but it can’t all be a sales pitch. Find a happy medium that works for you in terms of selling vs educating.

23. If you write a book (www.unleashedknowledge.com ), mention your newsletter in it.

24. Make your database feel loved – have special offers that are only for those people who subscribe.

25. Use a reputable email marketing service to ensure a good delivery rate, we use icontact but there are several other options available.

26. Finally, the number one (and most simple) way to get more people subscribing is to put something out there that’s of value to readers. If people like a newsletter they’ll forward it on and it’ll grow without you having to concern yourself too much!

Is your culture infectious?

At a conference in gorgeous Hamilton Island this morning I asked a packed room of around 400 people a question of opinion. I told them that the morning before I’d take two flights - one with Jetstar and one with Virgin Blue (both Australian domestic airlines). My question to them was which flight did they think I’d had more fun on? Their answer overwhelmingly that they thought I’d had more fun on the Virgin flight.

And they were of course right. When I hopped on the Virgin Blue flight I was called by my first name – off to a good start. And then because someone in that company a long time ago gave them permission to have fun and show their personality I got a little comedy routine as well as my flight.

Was the Jetstar flight in any way bad or did I get poor service? No (not this time). The flight was fine, but unmemorable in every way.

When Virgin Blue tell a plane load of people that we can’t bring fish products, fish fingers or mullet haircuts back home their culture infects people on that plane and leads to this overwhelming feeling that Virgin Blue are the “fun” airline such that a room full of 400 strangers know it instantly.

I’d love to think that in the companies I work with I’m constantly working towards a cultural state whereby a room with 400 strangers would be able to overwhelmingly pick my company as the one they’d had fun with too.