How To Choose The Perfect Email List Freebie For Your Christian Blog

Hello, everyone! If you haven’t created an opt-in freebie to grow your email list then you’re in the right place.

Or if your freebie isn’t converting like you’d like then you might want to stick around as well for the next few blog posts.

Over the next few days of the email list building 101 series that I’m writing for the #Write 31 days challenge I’m going to:

-Give you a list of free tools you can use to create your freebies

-Ideas to help you come up with a freebie idea, and

-Then show you some helpful YouTube videos that will help you create your Freebies.

If you need help making sense of blogging click here.

Let’s first talk a little about why a freebie matters

Why you need an opt-in freebie to grow your email list.

When I first started blogging I noticed that a lot of bloggers just had “sign up for my newsletter” and a sign-up form for the reader to enter their email.

Unless you’re super famous or super charismatic or your life is super fabulous, the days of just asking someone to sign up to your email list are probably over.

Blog readers are very sophisticated now and they know what’s up.

So not only do we need to offer a gift but we also need to offer a gift that will actually help them achieve their goal.

And can we blame them? We are bombarded with emails on a daily and they know if they sign up for the freebie they will get emails from us.

They only want to sign up for email lists that they will actually enjoy reading emails from.

What are the hallmarks of an opt-in freebie that your readers will want?

In theory, your email opt-ins should have these characteristics:

1. It should save your readers time

One of the characteristics of a good freebie is the freebie saving your readers time.

For instance, our time as bloggers is stretched thin so I know I’m always looking for a way to save time.

There’s so much to do so anytime I see a freebie that will make my life as a blogger easier or will make a task faster or easier, I want in.

Of course, the freebie that you create will depend on the kind of blog that you have and the audience.

A freebie that I make for this blog will be different than one made for a mommy blogger or a blog about sewing.

In tomorrow’s post, I will give you some ideas on the kinds of freebies you can create.

2. It should save them money

Another way you can look at an opt-in freebie is one that saves people money.

In the blogging niche, I know bloggers have put so much money into blogging with so little ROI so if they find a freebie that saves them money on something that they really want and need, they will probably sign up for it.

This is the thing…

In the real world, there’s no guarantee that your audience will like the first freebie that you create.

I know that I have personally tried 2 or 3 freebies for this blog and I keep tweaking it, as I get to know my readers better and where their heart is and what they need as bloggers.

Sometimes you can be so sure that “Yes, this is the one that everyone will love” and then it flops and no one signs up for it.

It can be so disappointing too when you put a lot of time and effort into it and then no one cares.

That’s one reason why it’s recommended that you don’t spend too long on any one freebie until you know it’s something people want.

I’ve heard that you should spend an hour or less on your freebie before you send it out into the world.

Then if people are loving it, you can either leave it as is or update or upgrade it into something better or more polished.

I have not followed this advice because I get really caught up in wanting it to be perfect.

Please don’t be like me. Don’t try to make your freebie perfect.

Just make it as awesome as you can in 1 hour and then send it out into the etherwebs and hope for the best.

It’s all about trial and error and testing out what you’ve made to see if it fits your reader’s needs.

A Few Tips For Creating Opt-ins For Christian Blogs

If you only read one thing in this post, then let it be this one. If you write for a Christian audience specifically then your freebie criteria might be a little different then the “save your readers time or money” concept.

For example, based on my observations and study of other Christian blogs, if your audience is mostly Christian women, then you will probably want a freebie that will capture their hearts as well as their minds.

I’ll admit that this can be hard for me because I can be so cerebral and I have to find that balance between thinking with my heart and thinking with my head.

I believe a lot of Christian women are a good mixture of both heart and head so if you can create an opt-in freebie that is a balance of the two, you might be able to make a real connection with your audience.

I’m going to share with you some Christian optin ideas that might help you create a freebie that will help you really build a relationship with your readers/email subscribers.

I hope this list will help you and me as well, as I continue to learn more about you all and continue to see you as more than just a “number”.

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging for business and impact then please download my free Christian business blogging roadmap. Just enter your email below.

 

Until tomorrow,