Build Your List: How to Get People to Subscribe to Your Blog

How to gain blog subscribers

Building a loyal subscriber base takes time and effort. When you share content that’s genuinely useful and relevant to your audience, you build trust and encourage them to keep coming back. Consider the following best practices that can help you attract and keep subscribers.

1. Make your blog’s subscribe button easy to find.

A visible subscribe button is one of the simplest ways to gain more blog or email newsletter followers, yet many creators overlook how much placement matters. Research from the Nielsen Norman Group shows users spend about 80 percent of their time viewing the top half of a webpage, so keeping your button above the fold is key to encouraging clicks.

It’s important to select an optimal location for your subscribe button. Subscribe buttons are often placed on the top right of a blog, where most people’s eyes naturally go, like on this Lifehacker blog:

You can also include your subscribe button as a call to action (CTA) at the bottom of the page. This example from the Say Yes blog invites readers to join its newsletter:

Another option is to use a pop-up box that appears when visitors are about to leave your site. Exit-intent technology detects when a user’s cursor moves toward the browser’s close button and triggers a final subscription offer, which can capture some of the visitors who might otherwise leave.

2. Offer an incentive for subscribing to your blog.

Value exchange is still the backbone of any strong subscription strategy. NetLine’s 2025 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand report found that total registration volume for gated content has climbed 84 percent since 2020, generating more than 8 million first-party registrations in 2024. That growth shows audiences are still eager to share their contact information in exchange for valuable resources like e-books, guides and white papers.

Your offer doesn’t need to be extravagant. Even a small discount can deliver a massive return. For example, the Goop blog presents a pop-up that offers a 10 percent discount on products and exclusive access to other items. The exclusivity focus encourages users to sign up because otherwise, they’ll feel like they’re missing out.

Here’s another incentive from Copyblogger that entices subscribers with free training:

3. Create a dedicated subscription landing page for your blog.

If you promote your blog or newsletter via email, social media or your website, send visitors to a page built just for that purpose. Unbounce’s 2024 Conversion Benchmark Report found that landing pages convert at a median rate of 6.6 percent across industries, with top performers nearing 9 percent — far higher than most standard webpages. 

To get the best results, Unbounce recommends keeping your landing page focused on a single, clear call to action. A dedicated page minimizes distractions, highlights your offer and makes it easy for visitors to subscribe.

Here’s a sample landing page from Apartment Therapy:

4. Make your content easy to read.

Attention spans are short — especially online. To make your articles easy to skim and more engaging, pay close attention to the space around your text. Thoughtful white space makes your content look cleaner and encourages readers to keep scrolling.

Structure your content around the F-pattern reading behavior that eye-tracking studies have repeatedly confirmed. Put your most important information in the first few paragraphs, use descriptive subheadings to guide the reader, and break up long blocks of text with bullet points for quick scanning.

Beyond formatting, simplicity matters. Cut the jargon, use plain language, and aim for short, clear sentences. Unbounce’s 2024 Conversion Benchmark Report (cited above) found that landing pages written at a fifth- to seventh-grade reading level convert at 11.1 percent, which is 56 percent higher than pages written at an eighth- or ninth-grade level and more than twice as high as professional-level writing, which converts at just 5.3 percent. Small changes in readability can make a big difference in how many readers subscribe to your content.

5. Leverage social proof to gain more blog subscribers.

People look to others when deciding what to trust — it’s human nature. Social proof taps into that instinct by showing that others already value your content. When readers see that your blog has a loyal following, positive reviews or strong engagement, they’re more likely to believe it’s worth their time.

According to BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey, 42 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from family and friends. That same mindset applies to blogs and newsletters. When visitors see subscriber counts, testimonials or featured comments, it reinforces credibility and makes them more comfortable subscribing.

Showing proof that people already enjoy your content can go a long way in building trust. Displaying your subscriber count or community size helps new visitors see that others find your content worth following. Here’s an example from Backlinko:

6. Ensure people can find your blog.

To gain more subscribers, you must be highly visible. Here are some ways to ensure people can find your blog or newsletter:

• Make your blog accessible from your website. It’s important to place a clear blog link in your main navigation menu so visitors can easily find it. Studies show that top and left menu placements result in fewer clicks and higher satisfaction. In addition, research suggests that a significant portion of users scan navigation menus right away — nearly 40 percent pick up on links in the navigation bar as soon as the page loads. In other words, a prominent, easy-to-find blog link boosts discoverability, increases engagement and helps drive more subscriptions.
• Increase your social presence. If you want people to find your content, you need to be where they spend their time: on social media. Statista reports that people worldwide spent an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes per day on social platforms in 2025, making them one of the best places to build visibility and attract new readers. Share every new blog post across your business’s social channels, and add social sharing buttons so your followers can easily pass your content along.
• Contribute to other sites. By writing articles for websites with a higher domain authority than your own, you can gain valuable backlinks to your site, more eyes on your articles and, ultimately, more subscribers.
• Create backlinks. Put links to your blog on all of your digital assets, including websites, social media platforms and email signatures. Also, put blog links in your biography wherever it’s posted, including guest posts and comments you make on others’ blogs. These backlinks will drive traffic to your blog and contribute to your organic SEO.
• Optimize posts for search engines. Each post should focus on a single keyword or key phrase to help search engines understand your topic. Aim for comprehensive, in-depth content, not bite-sized info. A Backlinko analysis found that long-form articles earn 77 percent more backlinks than shorter ones, which can significantly boost your search rankings. Additionally, include your target keyword in the post title (ideally near the beginning) and in your image alt tags, and use SEO strategies to improve visibility. If you use WordPress, several free plugins can help optimize your posts automatically.
• Leverage influencers. Many brands collaborate with social media influencers to showcase a product, share a quote or amplify their message. Once your post is live, let the influencer know — they’ll often link to it or share it with their followers, driving new traffic to your blog and improving your search visibility. And you don’t need to chase celebrities to see results. According to Aspire’s State of Influencer Marketing 2025 report, 61 percent of marketers now work with nano- and micro-influencers — creators with as few as 2,500 followers — because they deliver stronger engagement and better campaign performance. 

Benefits of growing your blog subscribers

Growing your blog’s subscriber list takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it. Consider the following benefits of increasing your blog’s subscriber count:

• Increased brand awareness: A robust subscriber list helps you boost brand awareness online. More people will know about your products and services and engage with your content strategy. They’ll see your name and offerings more frequently via their blog subscription and better understand your brand’s unique selling proposition.
• Goodwill: Blog posts are distinct from promotional communication because their primary aims are to educate, inform and entertain. Blog subscribers view this content as valuable and appreciate that it’s free. Giving something valuable for free engenders goodwill among subscribers, making them see your company favorably.
• Boost in website traffic: A growing blog audience naturally drives more visitors to your website. According to DemandSage, businesses that blog see up to a 55 percent increase in website traffic, thanks to consistent content that keeps readers engaged and returning. As your subscriber list expands, you’ll build a steady stream of repeat visitors who are more likely to explore your products, services and other site content.
• Higher search rankings: More web traffic leads to higher search engine rankings. This is in addition to the positive SEO impact of having substantial content with relevant keywords. Benchmarking from HubSpot suggests that companies publishing 16 or more blog posts per month may see up to 3.5 times more inbound traffic compared to those publishing four or fewer posts.
• Relationship building: Most products are not impulse purchases. Your business must slowly build relationships with potential customers over time. A blog is at the lower end of the sales funnel, where you get people generally interested in your product. Once they subscribe to your blog, you can further engage them by encouraging them to subscribe to your email list, direct them to specific website links, and invite them to follow you on social media.

Mistakes to avoid when trying to boost subscribers

Understanding what drives visitors away is just as crucial as knowing what attracts them. These common missteps can sabotage your subscription growth efforts and damage your brand’s credibility. 

Here are some mistakes to avoid:

• Revealing a pop-up subscription banner that covers the screen before your post loads
• Interrupting your post content with multiple subscription requests
• Asking people to subscribe without telling them why
• Misleading subscribers about the content or the frequency of your posts
• Providing outdated content
• Adding new content infrequently or inconsistently
• Giving general or commonsense advice that readers can find anywhere
• Neglecting mobile optimization (Unbounce reports that mobile visitors outnumber desktop users by nearly five to one)
• Uploading poor-quality images or error-riddled writing
• Using too much jargon
• Writing what you want without thinking about readers’ needs

As with all digital marketing strategies, it takes testing and fine-tuning to see what works best. Track key metrics like subscription, open and click-through rates to understand what resonates with your audience. Regular A/B testing of subscribe buttons, incentives and content formats can help you identify small improvements that lead to steady growth.