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

Brian Dean

Written by Brian Dean

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

If you want to grow your email list (FAST) thereโ€™s one thing you need to know:

Traditional bribes like free reports and email courses donโ€™t have nearly the same juice that they used to.

Soโ€ฆ

What CAN you offer that gets people to fork over their email address?

The Content Upgrade.

Itโ€™s a simple strategy that instantly increased my conversion rate from .54%. to 4.82%.

And in todayโ€™s case study Iโ€™m 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:

social squeeze page screenshot

While thereโ€™s nothing wrong with a page that converts at 21.7%โ€ฆ

โ€ฆa single page โ€” even one that converts at 21.7% โ€” isnโ€™t 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:

CrazyEgg Date

Which got me thinking:

โ€œHow can I convert the 98% of people that DONโ€™T go to my Social Squeeze Page?โ€

Thatโ€™s 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 meanโ€ฆ

A few months ago, Kimโ€™s published a post of the top 10 Fiverr gigs for small business owners.

kim roach blog post

โ€œBut wait, thereโ€™s more.โ€

When you scroll down to the bottom of the post youโ€™ll notice that she has a link where you can download the top 20 Fiverr gigs:

End of Blog Post Bonus

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

Leadbox

A few days after reading Kimโ€™s 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 โ€œThe Zero Based Calendarโ€œ.

At the end of that post Bryan offers access to a โ€œbonus lessonโ€ on productivity.

VideoFruit Bonus

Like Kimโ€™s post, you need to subscribe to get your hands on Bryanโ€™s free resource.

Thatโ€™s when I said to myself:

โ€œBrian, building your email list is a top priority. You NEED to try this at Backlinko.โ€

(Yes, I talk to myself. Doesnโ€™t everybody? ๐Ÿ™‚ )

What happened next made my jaw practically hit the floorโ€ฆ

Hereโ€™s The Craziest Partโ€ฆ

If you count all of the opt-in forms that I have on the Backlinko blog, like in my sidebar:

Sidebar Optin Form

On my homepage:

Feature Box

And at the bottom of every blog post:

Bottom Of Post Optin Form

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 youโ€™re probably wondering:

โ€œOK, Iโ€™m ready to try the The Content Upgrade. How do I start?โ€

Hereโ€™s 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 letโ€™s 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:

Google Analytics Landing Pages

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 youโ€™ve identified your siteโ€™s most popular page, itโ€™s time for step #2โ€ฆ

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 thatโ€™s not 100% true.

If you give away something for free on your site, SOMEONE will sign up to get it.

But 99% of people wonโ€™t.

Why not?

Because your report has nothing to do with what that person wants at that moment.

Itโ€™s like if you walked into H&M for a new belt and the salesperson said: โ€œWould you like to see our new dress shirts that just came in?โ€. No, you wouldnโ€™t.

The bottom line?

When you offer your visitors something thatโ€™s a perfect fit for what they came to your site for, theyโ€™re MUCH more likely to opt-in.

For example, I noticed people leaving comments on my Google Ranking Factors post like thisโ€ฆ

BlogComment2

โ€ฆand this:

BlogComment2

These people were basically telling me in black and white:

โ€œBrian, this is a great post. But itโ€™s an overwhelming amount of information. How can I actually put this stuff into practice?โ€

Thatโ€™s 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:

PDF Transcript

What do you think happens when you click on that purple box?

Youโ€™re taken to a squeeze page where you can download the PDF:

Squeeze Page Screenshot

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 postโ€™s topic
  • A free product guide or hands-on review (this is PERFECT for ecommerce sites)

The possibilities are endless.

Now that youโ€™ve decided on what youโ€™re going to give away, itโ€™s time to get this party started.

Step #3: Create Your Content Upgrade Resource

Hereโ€™s the deal:

When someone first signs up for your email list theyโ€™re actively looking for reasons to opt outโ€ฆ

โ€ฆand if you give them one, theyโ€™ll take it.

On the other hand, if you wow new subscribers with a GREAT first email, theyโ€™re much more likely to stick with you for life.

(You know what they say about first impressionsโ€ฆ)

Thatโ€™s 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 thisโ€ฆ

Ranking Factors Checklist Rough Draft

to this:

Checklist Designed

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:

โ€œHey, this was pretty cool. Iโ€™ll make sure to keep an eye out for their next email.โ€

And because your list loves what youโ€™re sending them, youโ€™re going to increase your conversion rate over the long-term.

In fact,  youโ€™ll actually get messages from people that say theyโ€™re 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:

Email

Having a high-value resource in hand is greatโ€ฆ

โ€ฆbut itโ€™s 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.

Hereโ€™s what I meanโ€ฆ

As Iโ€™m sure youโ€™ve seen yourself, lame pitches like โ€œsign up for our newsletterโ€ and โ€œdownload our whitepaperโ€ arenโ€™t effective anymore.

To put it another way, you really need to sell your Content Upgrade.

Hereโ€™s the approach that worked best for me.

First, I added a yellow box at the end my blog post introduction:

Blog Post Intro

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

Bottom of Post

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:

LeadPages Box

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

LeadPages Analytics

Because it converts so well, I recommend using LeadPages to giveaway your Content Upgrade resource.

If youโ€™d 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:

Opt In Form

(Youโ€™d just want to replace the generic โ€œFree Updatesโ€ with a description of your Content Upgrade resource)

Pro Tip: The Power of The Yellow Box

Hereโ€™s 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:

Crazyegg Screenshot

Huge download image:

Download Image

As you can see, peopleโ€™s 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.

Hereโ€™s the code you can add to your themeโ€™s โ€œfunctions.phpโ€ file (or โ€œcustom_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 donโ€™t stop there.

Iโ€™ve 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:

Aweber Subscribers

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 youโ€™ll increase conversions on your website.