In less than 2 weeks, I’ve managed to increase my blog’s subscriber count by nearly 200% to about 900 subscribers (198% to be exact, at the time of this writing). Many of you already know how, but I’ll say it anyway. Two words: Free Ebook.
I did this according to a plan, and I’m going to tell you how, but first, I would like to thank everyone again who has subscribed in order to receive the ebook. My hope is that you get real, actionable value out of it. This is way more than just some cheap gimmick to get you to subscribe. I put a lot of work into this in an effort to make it something good enough to pay for, yet I gave it away for free. Why? Well, that has to do with the plan behind all this, so I invite you to follow along with me as I explain.
Permission, Attention, and Something Else
I’ve been disappointed in the free offerings by others (especially internet marketer types) in exchange for an email address, and I’m sure many of you have, too. Not fun. But I’ve seen other bloggers do it, and do it right, like Chris Garrett and John Chow. You see, as far as blogs go, perhaps the most important metric for success is the number of RSS subscribers. Subscribers give you permission and attention, which are two of the most valuable assets a business can have (there’s a third–I’ll get to that).
One of my burning desires is to have as many RSS subscribers as possible, so I followed the excellent example set by others, but there’s more. Not only did I want to use a free ebook to increase my RSS subscriber count, I also wanted to use it as a springboard for future offers and services. And there is simply no way in hell anyone would go for that… unless the free product provided the same amount of real value as something that was worth paying for.
So why would I give away something that I could have easily charged as much as a real book for? Because of that third valuable asset (that I mentioned above) that every business needs to truly succeed: trust. Trust is difficult to earn and keep. If I offer a product or service in the future, it is my hope that you will find it worth your time and money because I have already proven myself to you and earned your trust.
You Can Learn from This
Why am I telling you all this? Am I giving away my secrets? Am I just bragging? No, and for goodness’ sakes, no! First of all, I don’t have any secrets. If my plans can’t succeed out in the open, then they’re not worthy of success at all. In fact, I have absolutely nothing to lose by being open and transparent about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it… and everything to gain. I feel with total conviction that this will help me. But I also know that such transparency makes this a great way for others to learn by example.
I’m not doing this to say “hey, look at my subscriber count!” because it’s nowhere near the likes of Chris Garrett, Maki, or Darren Rowse, so bragging would be silly. I’m not in competition with anybody but myself (when it gets over 1,000 I will do my little happy dance like Snoopy). I’m just saying, “here’s what I did, and why it worked, and so maybe you can learn from this.”
Here are some tips to help you do the same:
- Repurpose your existing content: the basis for much of what’s in the book is already on the blog. I wrote a series of posts on how to start a business blog, and I added material from a couple other posts as well.
- Expand on that repurposed content: I know my blog posts are long, but still not nearly as thorough as you would expect from a real book. I expanded on my original post material, sometimes by a great deal.
- Remember you’re creating a real book that should be valuable enough to sell: This is the key to the whole thing. Your ebook has to be good enough to sell. But you’re not going to sell it. You’re going to give it away for free in order to get permission, have attention, and earn trust from your audience.
- Think about how you can use the free ebook as a launchpad: Always be thinking ahead, about how one thing leads to the next. The next logical thing to do based on my ebook, for example, is to have an online seminar around it (this is described in the introduction of the book). Each thing we do is a stepping stone to the next thing.
- Ask for links from others to help boost your launch: Once you have built up enough of a network of friends and associates, this is one thing with which you will want as much help as you can get. You want to generate momentum and critical mass in terms of links, social media, and subscriber count. These things can combine to become a tipping point that catapults you clearly into success territory. Do not be afraid to ask for what you want from people. This isn’t totally selfish: bloggers are always looking for linkworthy material, and a great free ebook fits the bill. After all that hard work, don’t let a little fear stop you! Go for it!
Hey: I’ve got another post coming up — a multimedia post (oooh!) on permission, attention, and trust. Don’t miss it: Subscribe to Remarkablogger! Oh… did I mention you get a Free Ebook? 
PS – Hat tip to Christine O’Kelly for helpful advice on how to write a post like this.
PPS – Of course today is the day I show a slight dip in the numbers. Typical FeedBurner fluctuation.