You may have wondered how to require an email subscription for access to your high-quality content, the stuff you can’t find just anywhere on the Web.
After all, you spend a lot of time and energy putting it together. You brainstorm, dig around the Internet doing research and polish your message like a well-loved shoe.
You could charge for your content, but you know that subscribers, of course who will read and respond to your emails will be more valuable in the long-term.
So how do you make the trade?
Require A Subscription For Access To Your Most Valuable Content
Hiding your content behind your email sign-up is called “gating” the content. It’s an effective way to motivate your web site visitors to subscribe, and it’s easy for you to set up.
You see, when you set up your web form, you choose a “confirmation success” page – a page your new subscribers land on after filling out your web form.
Generally, that page will confirm the reader’s subscription and thank them for their support.
In this case, however, you’ll redirect your new subscribers to a custom confirmation success page where your high-quality content resides. (Here’s how to set it up.)
You’ll want to make sure that a word of thanks for signing up is still included, ideally above your promised content.
One last detail: make sure your “gated” web page isn’t linked to from anywhere else, or you’ll have would-be subscribers hopping the fence!
You Can Gate Files As Well
If you want to offer an e-book, a whitepaper or even an MP3, you can use the same process. Just put the link to your download on your new confirmation success page.
Up-front Payment Or Email Addresses?
Some people charge a straight-up, one-time payment for their content. Others use the strategy above, asking for email addresses in return for premium information.
Which do you prefer? Is marketing to your subscribers over the long-term a better alternative to a one-time sale?