The best content upgrade ideas to grow your email subscriber list (updated 2019)

A content update is simply an extra content that people can access in exchange for their email address. However, unlike traditional lead magnets throughout the site, content updates are unique to the specific content that people are already reading or listening to on your site.

Lead magnets throughout the site work. I have used the same here in SPI for more than 5 years (Ebooks the Smart Way). I have promoted this free e-book in the sidebar of my website and at the bottom of each blog post since January 2010.

I did it very well for me, helping to collect more than 120,000 emails since then.

But, when you think about it, this particular guide is not always related to the content that people read or listen to. As a result, sometimes people are not so willing to download it. Many times, this means absolutely nothing to those who read or listen to my content, and imagine how many more subscribers they could have if they used the updated content more frequently.

What works even better today are smaller, unique lead magnets that are directly related to what people are already consuming.

I've experimented with this in both a podcast episode and a blog post in the past, and it really works. On each of those specific pages, I saw approximately a 500% increase in email entry options.

The idea of ??updated content is not new. Clay Collins, co-founder of LeadPages (and lead host at SPI Podcast Session # 78 and # 119) mentioned that the promotion of updated content at the end of the blog posts in LeadPages was the number one factor in the growth of their email list , and one of the main reasons why your company has grown so fast. [Full disclosure: I am a compensated advisor and an affiliate for LeadPages.]

Brian Dean of Backlinko has also mentioned this here on the site before as well. In fact, he has the # 1 Article Step by Step about exactly how to maximize conversions using content updates. Its publication is mandatory for anyone who is thinking of creating content updates for their site.

In addition, large marketers like Amy Porterfield are now using content updates in almost all publications.

While the updated content works like a charm, the big fight that most people have, and the reason why most do not, is the fact that it requires additional work. We spent all this time creating a unique publication , valuable, a podcast episode or a video, and then we have to work even more after that?

You should already know this, but the results will not come without an arduous job and if building your email list is an important goal for you (what it should be), the updated content will work.

Updated content does not have to be scary, and does not even require a lot of additional work!

To help you, here is a list of 10 ideas for several types of updated content you can create, followed by some additional tips to help you make the most of it and build your email list even faster.

1. PDF Blog Post

Without a doubt, this is the easiest update to offer. All you have to do is save your final draft as a PDF and provide it as an update.

It really is as simple as that. Because if your content is really valuable, your readers will want to go back to it again and again.

2. Cheat sheet

A cheat sheet is another super simple content update to offer. Used in the right context, it can also be very effective. Gather all the most important information related to a publication in a practical package.

Let's say your post was about the increase in blog traffic You could create a page sheet full of blog title templates to boost SEO and capture the reader's attention.

3. Checklist

The checklists are ideal for publications of "instructions" or longer (more than 4,000 words) that can be cut into easier parts.

This could be a printable list step by step, a set of materials needed for a project or even some of the best advice taken from a large guide.

If your publication is teaching your audience how to build a WordPress blog, your checklist could be a series of steps that they can print and consult when necessary.

4. List of resources

If your publication has a strong focus on tools and resources, creating a master list that links directly to each of them means that readers do not have to search for each tool on their own.

Maybe your publication is a directory of the best sites for free photos. Your list of PDF download resources could take your reader to each individual site.

5. Video or audio recording

If you organize webinars, informative videos or interviews, it is useful to offer a recording as a bonus.

Another idea could be to record a blog post as an audio file. People digest information in different ways. Providing a recording of you speaking through the content with additional bits of information could be seriously attractive to those who learn best through audio.

6. A downloadable asset

This is how LeadPages grew so big, so fast. [Full disclosure: I am a compensated advisor and an affiliate for LeadPages.]

Leadpages sells access to a huge library of easy-to-use, customizable home pages (among other useful email list creation tools), but when they present a new template for a landing page, they often include a free download to the HTML version of that template

Of course, this requires an email address, but when people access the actual website code that they could use on their own without LeadPages, it's quite simple. Then, when people see how easy it is to use a tool like LeadPages, the sales funnels do their magic.

If you are a web designer looking to build your email list, for example, maybe you write a publication about different image sizes optimized for different social media platforms, and your updated content becomes access to a free library with templates PSD (photoshop) included so that subscribers can easily create the images you mentioned in that publication.

7. A multimedia summary

I have not seen anyone do this before, but it would be fun to experiment with!

After a post, it promotes an update of content that is essentially a video (or audio file) of you that talks about the content in more detail. People are aware of you and hear more about a topic in which they are obviously already interested. This gives you a great platform to include a call to action related to your content.

This could be the easiest and fastest way to create updated content if you are struggling to save time.

8. a printable

Let's say you write a list post titled 10 stretches you can do while sitting on your computer.

Amazing! This is what you can do:

Create a 1-page PDF file that people can easily print and place next to your computer. Maybe it's just a list of ten sections, or it could even include images that you included in your publication as well. Request an email address to get access to this and BAM: everyone is happy!

9. Access to a recorded webinar

Instead of giving away an additional bonus magnet like a PDF, you could instead attract people to subscribe by offering a bonus webinar related to the content! Do the webinar live the first time, and then use recording that as the content is updated later.

Super high value, and can even generate some sales that come off the webinar also in an always green way.

10. An additional article

Do you have a list of publications to come, or maybe one that you have already done? Expand the publication of the list by adding some more articles and packaging them in a content update.

Maybe you will post a summary publication with answers to a question that you have asked several people in your niche. Pack some of them in a content update for the people who want them all.

Perhaps you share an amazing strategy to help your audience and several case studies of people using that same strategy. Put some more examples in a content update for people to subscribe to.

11. Challenge

A challenge could be a mini project for the reader to assume. It could be a small reminder, or a continuous task for them to invest time. The best thing about this update is that it also offers the opportunity for community participation: you can create a hashtag to share your progress on Twitter.

If your blog post encourages readers to write, the challenge could be to write a certain number of words each week, with the Twitter chat encouraging people to discuss what they have written about that week.

12. Assignments or worksheets

Does your blog teach anything? So, why not provide a downloadable task to help bring the concept home and consolidate the lesson?

Let's say your publication is about creating a Lifestyle aware : You could set a task to write a gratitude list or create a diagram of all the values ??for which you want to live your life with points on how you plan to get there.

13. Exclusive interviews

Interview someone who is an expert in your niche and provide the recording as an update. Better yet, provide it in video format.

The subject of the interview must be related to the publication of your blog so that all those who read it wish to download the interview update.

14. Case study

Discovering other people's success stories is always attractive. So, why not write a case study about an influential person in your field, telling your readers how they are going where they are now?

15. Extra content

Are you looking for an easy way to do a content update? If your publication includes a list, just cut it in two and provide the other half as additional content. Simple!

Here is an example of Pauline Cabrera's publication of headline ideas. To get people to subscribe, she offers more than 50 additional ideas, plus a printable PDF.

16. Mini eBook

Are you writing a series of publications on a general topic? You can chain the series in PDF format and offer this mini e-book as a content update in each of the series' blog posts.

The focus here is on the word mini. Do not get carried away by adding a lot of additional content. long e-books can be overwhelming for the user.

17. Templates

People love the templates. They make their lives much easier! And templates can come in many different forms . email templates, budget templates, business card templates, etc.

Maybe your publication will be a lesson for bloggers on how to get to brands for sponsorship or collaboration. Write an email template to send to those important contacts.

John Corcoran offers a similar template. Your 72-word "magic email template" would be the perfect content update for a publication on how to write emails to influential people.

Gather all your documents of Update of content and documents that can be offered to readers, including checklists, templates, spreadsheets and guides.

You can create a private page on your website for your resource library and, when someone registers with your email address, you can send them an email with the link and password to the page.

your turn

Now that you have decided what amazing content update you will offer your readers, you should add it to your blog. The good thing is that you do not have to start from scratch. You can use a tool such as OptinMonster to create impressive pop-ups to promote your content updates without knowing how to code. With the strategic location of your email capture forms, you can duplicate, and even triple your email list in an instant.

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