Ask HN: How do I increase my newsletter subscribers?
I am not going to put a link because I really want good answers without coming across is self-promoting.
Newsletter topic is front-end development. Current subscribers = 1700
Newsletter topic is front-end development. Current subscribers = 1700
https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/020-scott-keyes-of-scot...
But in his case, his subscribers mostly came from a story Business Insider did about his two month round-the-world trip on frequent flyer points. The story took him from 300 subscribers to 5000 overnight. (Sounds like he's now over 150,000 paid subscribers). Another takeaway is that he doesn't used paid ads, and puts the money towards on-theme giveaways instead. Since the newsletter is about cheap flights, the giveaway was for free international flights.
In another HN thread, someone suggested looking at the Cooper Press mediakit to compare your metrics, most of their lists are in the 10,000 - 20,000 subscriber range and 'only' grow at 100/week: https://cooperpress.com/advertising/
I've been trying to get subscribers to my own http://indieconference.com list, but a couple of HN comments are the only traction I ever got. I thought monitoring HN automatically for opportunities to mention would help, but it was a colossal waste of time - lots of noise and very few relevant moments to mention. So don't spend time on that :)
1. more site visitors 2. higher subscribe rate 3. lower unsubscribe rate
There are dozens or hundreds of things you can do to work on any of those.
Here is some low hanging fruit for most folks:
1. Ask folks that have linked to your previous projects to link to this one too (SEO & maybe traffic benefit).
1. Ask current subscribers to share out your site.
2. Force the email subscribe. Create a landing page or drop down w/ SUPER CLEAR messaging that folks have to fill out or skip to get to the content. Not a popup. You should be able to get subscriptions up to 15 - 30%.
2. Run a giveaway w/ software like King Sumo.
3. Less fun answer: create more value. E.g., give them free stuff, insider info, etc.
I wrote a mega guide about this here:
I have generated a couple of thousand subscribers with a giveaway ebook. [0] In the beginning, it was difficult for me to get subscribers with only content. That's why I decided to write an ebook to grow my audience, to get exposure and to learn myself more about the topic in detail.
Personally I try to keep the newsletter annoyance low for my visitors (e.g. avoiding popups to signup for my newsletter). My personal opinion is that if you are in for the long run with your website, you want visitors to enjoy the reading experience and in return to come back to your website.
My newsletter isn't typical "here's a bunch of links every week" thing, though, so possibly easier to go this route: the basic pitch is "if you like this post, here's some more of my writing that will also be useful."
Focus on the 'click through' of what 'customers' you already have. Improve on that first. The thinking behind this is that it is easier/cheaper to keep customers than to acquire new ones.