       
Subscribers
How to Get 7,000 Subscribers to Your
Business Blog in One week
Remember the ecommerce commercial that showed a small group hovering
around a computer as they launched their new website? They cheered when
the first order notification came through, and again with the second…
and then freaked out as the order blips became a relentless torrent.
That’s what Adam Schwartz, CEO of Articulate, said it felt like last
Wednesday when we launched their new Rapid E-Learning Blog. The blog
attracted 7,000 subscribers in the 24-hour period following the launch
promotion, and now has over 8,500 and counting less than a week later.
Existing businesses have incredibly valuable assets that others do
not—customer and prospect lists. That being said, telling your existing
customers about your new blog full of press release content and
expecting them to come running is a recipe for mediocrity. If you don’t
have an existing list, you can create an offer that is attractive to
social media news site users and your results will be similar.
Articulate is one of the few companies I’ve continued to work with
outside of my own projects in the last year, and Adam gave the green
light to share the strategy we implemented. Here’s what we did,
step-by-step.
1. Positioning: Articulate sells software that allows users to develop
flash-based e-learning and training courses based on PowerPoint, which
has become known as rapid e-learning due to the ease of use of the
tools. The goal for the blog is to provide valuable content related to
rapid e-learning development (outside of the software) and to establish
15-year e-learning veteran and Articulate VP of Community Tom Cullman as
an authority in the field.
In other words, the blog is designed not to sell software directly, but
to offer value to existing and prospective customers of Articulate. The
halo effect of Tom’s tips over time can do nothing but enhance the
Articulate brand as the definitive leader in the rapid e-learning space.
2. Cornerstone Content: Before the blog was made public, Tom developed
some great foundational content in the form of a 7-part series called
Rapid E-Learning 101 and a 5-part series called 5 Myths About Rapid
E-Learning. A first-time visitor to the blog has plenty of
well-organized and targeted content to dive into, which also acts as a
motivator to get on board as a subscriber.
3. Incentive: The next step was a free e-book that became the focus of
the launch promotion. Tom put together the Insider’s Guide to Becoming a
Rapid E-Learning Pro, which focused on the business end of e-learning,
and I added a bit of editorial input. This content is unique and
valuable to corporate instructional designers because it helps them see
what the true role of e-learning and training is within the larger
business context. The strategies in the book allow training staff to
create courses that provide a true return on investment, and are also
perceived as valuable to upper management and the learners themselves.
4. Launch Email: I wrote a brief email formatted in HTML with a nice
graphical representation of the e-book. This 72-word email was not
designed to sell the subscription, but to sell the click through to the
landing page, and was sent to a house list of both customers and people
who had downloaded a free trial of Articulate software. The initial
response briefly crashed the dedicated server that houses only the new
blog.
5. Landing Page: The landing page consists of an e-book graphic
positioned just as in the email, a brief intro, 8 bullet points related
to the content of the e-book, a statement that lets the reader know they
are subscribing to the blog, a call to action, an email form, and a “no
spam” statement.
6. Delivery: The email subscription is powered by Feed burner's email
service, so new blog posts are automatically sent to subscribers. The
e-book is delivered via the WP RSS Sticky plug-in that Chris Garrett
also uses. This means that people who subscribe via feed reader will
also receive the free e-book.
7. Start Blogging: The launch went very well, and Tom is now perfectly
positioned to become the preeminent voice in the growing rapid
e-learning space. Mission accomplished, but now the real work begins.
Once you’re perceived as an authority, you have a responsibility to
continue to deliver, and I have no doubts that Tom is up for it.
No Customer or Prospect List?
The above is an excellent game plan for any existing business to enhance
their market position with valuable content delivered via blog. But if
you don’t have an existing customer or prospect email list, substitute
in a social media site like Digg, Reddit, Sphinn, Netscape or some of
the other small niche sites as your launch pad. The key is to offer
something that people really want, surround it with other valuable,
targeted content, and then continue to deliver over time to maintain and
grow your subscriber base.
P.S. For those scoring at home, the promotional email drew a 10% click
through ratio, which was fairly strong given that the prospect portion
of the opt-in list did not require email validation to download the free
software trial (in other words, there was likely a lot of junk on the
list). The conversion rate on the landing page opt-in was right at 54%.
Subscribers
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