Bumping up the conversion rate

I’ve often said that for blogs like mine, audience is more important than traffic. I define audience as the people who will hear what you have to say next, not just what you had to say in the past. If you are getting good SEO traffic on an article you wrote years ago, that isn’t your audience. It could be, but it isn’t until you convert them.

I’m really all about conversion. Getting people to make a 1-click commitment to hear more from you in the future. They might want to hear more from you via RSS, email, Twitter or Facebook. It really doesn’t matter so long as they like you enough to want to hear more.

The best method is almost certainly email and that is one area where I have been lax in last few months. I’m going to be coming out with a host of products over the next few months, so getting my email list in order is now a top priority for me.

The first thing I did is set out to find an intern to help me compile the newsletter every 2 weeks. It actually isn’t that big of a job, but with all the other stuff I’m doing I’ve let it slip through the cracks one too many times. It is primarily compiling a list of what has been on the site the last 2 weeks.

The second thing is increasing the raw number of subscribers. I have a bunch of plans for this including putting a signup form in my new iPhone app, coming out with another free ebook, and some other things I’m not going to divulge at this time.

I’m also going to be upping the content in the newsletter. I’m going to be coming out with a multipart series which will be be releases every few days after someone signs up for the newsletter.

Basically, I need to make the newsletter on a par with the blog in terms of the attention I give it.

I think there is enormous potential in boosting my subscriber base if I can give this the attention it deserves.