Why "Why Subscribe?" | A Prudent Move for Every Blogger and Why!

9 Aug 2008

Why "Why Subscribe?" – A Prudent Move for Every Blogger and Why!

Author: Jim | Filed under: Blog Services, Blogging Tricks, Observations

This is the first and last time I’ll have the word “why” appear three times in my title…

I’ve got to hand it to the bloggers out there that have outfitted their own blogs with a “Why Subscribe” page. This is a step that I believe is prudent, as essential to a blog as a “contact” or an “about” section. But why exactly are these pages so good, and what makes a great subscriber information page?

Of course, when I refer to “Why Subscribe” I am talking about a page or post that you set up on your blog to tell your readers why they should be subscribing to your content. The problem that this page solves is that a lot of people visit websites and don’t really know what subscribing does! You need a way to relay to your viewers that subscribing is easy, beneficial to you & to them and is absolutely free. These are essentially the “big three” reasons that I feel need to be on any subscription page… so let’s have a look more in depth!

What Makes a Good “Why Subscribe” Page?
Before we get into the three big reasons, we need to take a look at what exactly makes a good subscribe-baiting page. First of all, you need to have things organized in a list. Lists are some of the most easily read posts, and even those with the shortest attention spans will be able to work through your page. In addition to a list, I believe it is necessary that you add a “Why Subscribe” link onto the end of every post. You can do this in many places, but I feel that it should be somewhere around the comment area. My personal favorite is having it right next to the number of comments at the end of every article you put out.

Want to know what you are looking for? Some of my favorite subscriber-bating “Why Subscribe” pages are the ones found on TheUniversityKid.com, for its easy-reading and assertiveness, DoshDosh.com, for its practicality and simplicity, and BarbaraLing.com, for its creativity and humorous touch.

1. Subscribing is Easy!
One thing that you will have to work into your “Why Subscribe” page time and time again is the fact that it only takes about 5 seconds to subscribe to a blog over RSS. Explain to them what Really-Simple-Syndication is very briefly, then tell them that they can join up through an RSS reader or even through email. Providing ways for your readers to sign up to receive updates from your blog is getting to be quite easy, especially now that Feedburner.com is completely free. You can really boost your reader count by providing several easy ways for people to get updates. Don’t forget to ensure them that there won’t be any spam!

2. Subscribing Benefits You and Me!
Subscribing to any RSS feed is really a win-win situation. People often don’t understand this right off the bat. Just as it is beneficial for the subscriber to get updates automatically, making them smarter and happier people, it is a huge benefit to the blogger to have a nice RSS user base to show off. Once people start to understand that they are helping both you and themselves, you’ll find that there are going to be a lot more interested subscribers lining up to read your content.

3. Subscribing is Completely Free!
Finally, people on the internet absolutely love free stuff! I’ve recommended time and time again that you offer a free eBook (or similar digital download) to anyone that subscribes to your blog… and I’m asking you to again rub in the fact that they are getting something for nothing here. When people think of “subscribing” it is usually linked to some wort of magazine subscription where they need to pay a bit, or at least provide too much of their personal information, to get the publication. With RSS, you need to stress that it is 100% free forever and that they won’t need to offer up more than their email address to get it! It’s virtually 100-percent anonymous and they will never need to pay for a thing. This is just another way to work the whole “free” craze to your advantage, so that you can pick up some more subscribers.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!)
Finally, you will want to keep the post or page that you use for your “Why Subscribe?” page relatively simple. The examples above, and other good ones I have come across, range from 100 to 600 words. You shouldn’t be writing a textbook, which is why I recommend a simple list of reasons with some cool pictures and a call to action at the end. Make it easy for people to understand why they need to subscribe, and they’ll be much more likely to join up in comparison to a page where they need to sit back with a cup of coffee to read through your debate.

Bottom Line: Making a “Why Subscribe?” page that appears either in the top navigational bar or down near your comment area is an essential part of RSS subscriber building that shouldn’t be overlooked. If you don’t like to write that much, you can (an should) make it a standard post before you link to it. This is something that I have not done yet, and have always regretted putting off. The results can be truly amazing, and it only takes a half hour or so to write up an effective subscriber-bait page… so get to it!

-Jimvesting