How To Boost Conversions by 785% in One Day (The Content Upgrade)
Written by Brian Dean

If you want to grow your email list (FAST) thereโs one thing you need to know:
Traditional bribes like free reports and email courses donโt have nearly the same juice that they used to.
Soโฆ
What CAN you offer that gets people to fork over their email address?
The Content Upgrade.
Itโs a simple strategy that instantly increased my conversion rate from .54%. to 4.82%.
And in todayโs case study Iโm going to show you the exact step-by-step process that I used.
No One Wants Your Free Report (And What They Want Instead)
A while back I told you about The Social Squeeze Page, a simple page you can add to your site that converts like a champ:

While thereโs nothing wrong with a page that converts at 21.7%โฆ
โฆa single page โ even one that converts at 21.7% โ isnโt enough to build a thriving email list.
After all, as you can see from my Crazy Egg data, only 2% of my visitors click on the sidebar banner that takes them to the Social Squeeze Page:

Which got me thinking:
โHow can I convert the 98% of people that DONโT go to my Social Squeeze Page?โ
Thatโs when I noticed this weird thing Kim Roach was doing on her blog.
Instead of offering readers something vague โ like free updates โ she gave away a resource that was unique to each blog post.
Let me show you what I meanโฆ
A few months ago, Kimโs published a post of the top 10 Fiverr gigs for small business owners.

โBut wait, thereโs more.โ
When you scroll down to the bottom of the post youโll notice that she has a link where you can download the top 20 Fiverr gigs:

If you click on that link, a box appears that asks you to opt-in to her email list:

A few days after reading Kimโs post, I noticed Bryan Harris doing the exact same thing on his blog.
For example, Bryan recently published a post that teaches people a productivity technique called โThe Zero Based Calendarโ.
At the end of that post Bryan offers access to a โbonus lessonโ on productivity.

Like Kimโs post, you need to subscribe to get your hands on Bryanโs free resource.
Thatโs when I said to myself:
โBrian, building your email list is a top priority. You NEED to try this at Backlinko.โ
(Yes, I talk to myself. Doesnโt everybody? ๐ )
What happened next made my jaw practically hit the floorโฆ
One Day. Two Links. 785% Increase in Conversions.
I decided to see if giving away a post-specific resource would increase conversions on my blog post: Googleโs 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List.
(Iโll show you why I chose that post a bit later)
Before implementing the Content Upgrade, that page was converting at .54%.

Not horrible for a blog postโฆbut not great either.
On June 1st I created a checklist and added LeadPages links to the topโฆ

โฆand bottom of that post.

The result? A 785% increase in conversions (compared to the previous month).

Keep in mind that this isnโt a flukey conversion increase like you might see with an A/B test that only lasts a few days.
Iโve had over 4700 unique visitors and 370 conversions on that page since implementing the Content Upgrade. The sample size is more than enough to conclude that this data has legs to stand on.
Plus, as Iโll show you at the very end of this post, Iโve tested The Content Upgrade on three other postsโฆ
โฆand itโs significantly boosted conversions on those posts too.
Hereโs The Craziest Partโฆ
If you count all of the opt-in forms that I have on the Backlinko blog, like in my sidebar:

On my homepage:

And at the bottom of every blog post:

I have a grand total of 54 opt-in forms on my blog.
The two little LeadPages links that I added to my Google Ranking Factors post now account for 30% of all new subscribers.
Think about that for a second.
Those two links bring in more subscribers than SIXTEEN opt-in forms.
Crazy, right?
How to Get More Subscribers Using The Content Upgrade
At this point youโre probably wondering:
โOK, Iโm ready to try the The Content Upgrade. How do I start?โ
Hereโs a breakdown of the 5-step process:
Step 1: Find a high-traffic page on your site
Step 2: Identify a resource that would make the content better
Step 3: Create that resource
Step 4: Add the resource to your site
Step 5: Get more email subscribers
Now letโs dive into how you can add this list building machine to your site.
Step #1: Find a Page on Your Site That Gets a Lot of Traffic
This may sound simple, but stay with me.
If you want to maximize the number of subscribers that you get from The Content Upgrade, you need to start with a page that has the most potential for generating email subscribers.
In other words, blog posts on your site that bring in the most traffic.
Make sense?
You can easily find your most popular pages by going to Behavior โ> Site Content โ> Landing Pages in Google Analytics:

As you can see from that screenshot, my Google Ranking Factors blog post was the most popular page on my site.
So I started with that.
Once youโve identified your siteโs most popular page, itโs time for step #2โฆ
Step #2: Identify a Resource That Will Make Your Content Even Better
This may not be easy to hear, but here it goes:
No one wants your free report.
Well, maybe thatโs not 100% true.
If you give away something for free on your site, SOMEONE will sign up to get it.
But 99% of people wonโt.
Why not?
Because your report has nothing to do with what that person wants at that moment.
Itโs like if you walked into H&M for a new belt and the salesperson said: โWould you like to see our new dress shirts that just came in?โ. No, you wouldnโt.
The bottom line?
When you offer your visitors something thatโs a perfect fit for what they came to your site for, theyโre MUCH more likely to opt-in.
For example, I noticed people leaving comments on my Google Ranking Factors post like thisโฆ

โฆand this:

These people were basically telling me in black and white:
โBrian, this is a great post. But itโs an overwhelming amount of information. How can I actually put this stuff into practice?โ
Thatโs when I realized that a checklist that listed the 10 most important factors โ along with practical tips for implementing them โ would add a lot of value to that post.
Another example:
James at SuperFastBusiness.com gives away text transcripts of his podcasts:

What do you think happens when you click on that purple box?
Youโre taken to a squeeze page where you can download the PDF:

Other things you can give away as a Content Upgrade:
- A set of bonus tips
- Downloadable PDF version of the article
- A video tutorial that dives deeper into one section from your post
- A visual guide to your post (for example, a mind map or infographic)
- An interview with an expert on your postโs topic
- A free product guide or hands-on review (this is PERFECT for ecommerce sites)
The possibilities are endless.
Now that youโve decided on what youโre going to give away, itโs time to get this party started.
Step #3: Create Your Content Upgrade Resource
Hereโs the deal:
When someone first signs up for your email list theyโre actively looking for reasons to opt outโฆ
โฆand if you give them one, theyโll take it.
On the other hand, if you wow new subscribers with a GREAT first email, theyโre much more likely to stick with you for life.
(You know what they say about first impressionsโฆ)
Thatโs why I decided to set aside 5-hours to outline and write my Google Ranking Factors checklist.
But I took things one step further.
After I finished writing the checklist, I sent it to a professional graphic designer on Elance.
She turned my checklist from thisโฆ

to this:

Needless to say, this professional design makes a HUGE difference in how people perceive the value of my checklist.
When someone receives a high-quality resource in their inbox (like this checklist), they think to themselves:
โHey, this was pretty cool. Iโll make sure to keep an eye out for their next email.โ
And because your list loves what youโre sending them, youโre going to increase your conversion rate over the long-term.
In fact, youโll actually get messages from people that say theyโre looking forward to future emails from you.
For example, this is an email I recently received from a subscriber that just finished reading my Google Ranking Factors Checklist:

Having a high-value resource in hand is greatโฆ
โฆbut itโs not nearly as important as the next step in the Content Upgrade process.
Step #4: Give Your Resource Away
Like anything in conversion rate optimization, HOW you present your Content Upgrade is key. In fact, your pitch is 10x more important than the resource itself.
Hereโs what I meanโฆ
As Iโm sure youโve seen yourself, lame pitches like โsign up for our newsletterโ and โdownload our whitepaperโ arenโt effective anymore.
To put it another way, you really need to sell your Content Upgrade.
Hereโs the approach that worked best for me.
First, I added a yellow box at the end my blog post introduction:

My old blog post conclusion asked people to leave a comment. I swapped that conclusion out with a pitch to download the checklist:

When someone clicks on the link in the yellow box or the download image at the end of the post, a LeadPages box appears that asks them to opt-in:

According to my Analytics, 65% of people that see that box enter their email and opt-in:

Because it converts so well, I recommend using LeadPages to giveaway your Content Upgrade resource.
If youโd prefer not use LeadPages, you can create a normal opt-in form in Aweber or MailChimp.
For example, you can embed a normal opt-in box like this into your blog posts:

(Youโd just want to replace the generic โFree Updatesโ with a description of your Content Upgrade resource)
Pro Tip: The Power of The Yellow Box
Hereโs one of the most surprising things I learned from this campaign:
The simple yellow box I added to my blog post grabbed A LOT of attention.
Just look at how many people clicked on the little yellow box vs. the massive download image.
Yellow Box:

Huge download image:

As you can see, peopleโs eyes (and cursors) naturally gravitate to the yellow box.
I highly recommend using a yellow box on your site so that you maximize the number of clicks and opt-ins that you generate from your Content Upgrade.
Hereโs the code you can add to your themeโs โfunctions.phpโ file (or โcustom_functions.phpโ on Thesis) to create a yellow box:
function make_yellowbox($atts, $content = null) { return '<p style="background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #ff9; clear: both; margin-bottom: 18px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid #e5e597; padding: 13px;">' . do_shortcode($content) . '</p>'; } add_shortcode('yellowbox', 'make_yellowbox');
Once the code it added, any text wrapped inside of this shortcode will appear in a yellow box.
[yellowbox]Here is the text in the yellow box[/yellowbox]
Step #5: Get More Email Subscribers
Now that you have the Content Upgrade set up, you should notice a massive increase in subscribers coming from that page.
But donโt stop there.
Iโve since added The Content Upgrade to three additional posts at Backlinko. Like with my Google Ranking Factors post, conversions on those other page have shot through the roof.
In fact, The Content Upgrade has brought in an EXTRA 655 subscribers in only 18 days:

Because it works so well, The Content Upgrade is going to be the focus of my list building from now on.
So I recommend repeating The Content Upgrade process on other high-traffic pages on your site.
The more you scale this process, the more youโll increase conversions on your website.