Improving My Email List

Now that I've gotten my previously outdated site into the world of the secure web with https, I've been making a concerted effort to increase traffic. I'm trying out UpViral, and I'll let you know how it works for me. Getting ready for a campaign to get subscribers, I learned a couple of things which might help some of you!

Important: Check your email subscription from beginning to end with your own email. Often! What if potential subscibers are being lost because you made a coding mistake along the way?

It turns out that my subscription button was taking people to a "Content Not Found." (I found humor in seeing that the Chrome tab labeled it "Nothing.") They got the email from my mail service (I use MadMimi.) None of those people clicked the "confirmation" link from their email, probably because I had already broken trust with them with the "Content Not Found."

1. It might be, as it was for me, that I had changed from http to https but not updated my email list service about the change in url. Easy to fix: go to mail service and correct the url.

2. But DON'T copy the link from your editor, because it adds a tag to the code. I did this, and my url had "%E2%80%8E" tacked onto the end of it when my subscribers clicked on my now-corrected link, STILL resulting in "Content Not Found." Easy to fix: Just type in your url carefully instead of pasting.

3. Check it again with your own email, so you can see what your potential subscribers would see.

4. Try to repair the broken trust with those who have not confirmed. Send them a personal email, admit to your mistake, and give them the confirmation code again. I have gotten 100% of those people to confirm by telling them it was ME who messed up but I've fixed it. I think that lets them know you're a real human being, not just a website, and people respond to your humanity.

5. Quickly get something exclusive to your subscribers-- especially if you messed up one of the steps as they subscribed, like I did. Give them something unique or of value in exchange for their trust. I'm starting with an introductory video of myself, letting them know that I'm a real person and I'm glad to have them following. Then, everyone already subscribed gets 5 extra entries into the drawing I start next week.

I hope some people find this helpful. It's crazy how little details can mess up a whole series of things.

Write On!

--Kelley