Marvin Russell — April 18, 2017 
I’ve personally collected about 100,000 emails. Half of those emails were collected by offering exclusive bonus content in exchange for an email address. It’s not enough anymore to simply ask for a email subscription, unless of course you brand is extremely well known for having rockstar level content.
If 2 million blog posts are written each day, what on earth makes you think it’s going to be easy getting someone’s email address? You have to earn that email these days.
That why you should offer a content upgrade for every single blog post you write. To be clear, each blog post should have it’s own unique content upgrade.
What is a Content Upgrade?
When reading a blog article, a content upgrade is bonus content readers can download for free, usually in exchange for a subscribing by email.
Brian Dean, of Backlinko, was able to increase conversions by 785%, from one month to the next, by implementing content upgrades. If that’s not enough of a reason why to using content upgrades, I don’t know what is.
Examples of Content Upgrades
- Checklists (Checkli Pro is free)
- Recipes
- Videos (Vimeo is Perfect)
- PDFs
- White Papers
- Coupons (Use RetailMeNot.com)
- Coupon Codes
- Power Points (Try SlideShare.net)
- Spread Sheets (Google Docs)
- Contract templates
- Website Themes
- Interviews (Vimeo or Soundcloud)
- Case Studies
- Ebooks
- Education Courses
- Free Stock images (Use your iPhone)
- Free Trials
What you choose to giveaway is totally up to you. However, since you should make a unique content upgrade for each blog posts, I suggest offering simple a checklist or white paper.
These are examples are super easy content that you can create a giveaway for free, in exchange for an email address. Mix it up a bit. Some of your free content upgrades should be easy to create and some should a be a little more difficult.
Make sure you’re AB testing everything to see which type of free upgrade converts the best.
How content upgrades work (Infographic)
5 steps to implementing content upgrades right now.
This is the easiest way to create a free content upgrade right now and start collecting email addresses.
Step 1: Create a free checklist
Step 2: Upload your checklist to your blog
Step 3: Get the link to your checklist
Step 4: Add the link to your “Thank you for subscribing” page
Step 5: Customize your email subscription form to promote your free bonus content.
That’s it. You are done. You can do the same thing with almost anything including a video, PDF, templates, coupons and more. It’s totally up to you.
Final thoughts:
Adding your first content upgrade should take no more than 20-30 minutes, if you start with something small like a checklist. Remember, people get asked for their email addresses all day and on every website they visit. So be sure to give your readers an incredible reason to give you their email address.
Good luck!
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