Content Upgrades

An Important Recurring Task for MailChimp Users

November 14, 2019

Hey—want some one-on-one help getting this set up? Book a 20-minute consultation and we can work through it via video chat!

Because I blog as a hobby, instead of as a full-time job or side hustle, I try to be conservative about my blog spending. That’s why I still use MailChimp for my email marketing, even though a lot of bloggers have moved onto “bigger and better” email marketing systems.

MailChimp is free for users with fewer than 2,000 contacts, which is why I love it! I can practice email marketing and connect with my audience while keeping my overall blogging expenses low.

However, MailChimp has updated their policy on contacts recently, which means there’s a new crucial step for bloggers who use MailChimp!

Not a Designer? No Problem! How to Design Your Own Worksheets with InDesign

March 5, 2019

Content upgrades are an amazing way to grow your email list as a blogger, and they can help you show your authority by proving how knowledgeable you are about a certain topic. Things like worksheets and ebooks are especially valuable when you give them out for free to your email subscribers!

However, if you’re not a designer, it can be quite daunting to try to figure out how to design your own worksheets. Where are you even supposed to begin?!

The good news is, InDesign is quite user-friendly (unlike its design sibling Photoshop), so you don’t need a ton of background knowledge to design your own worksheets in InDesign!

Why Content Upgrades Alone Don’t Help You Grow Your Email List

November 30, 2016

Content upgrades are an amazing way to grow your email list. In fact, it’s one of the main ways I’ve grown my email list over the past three years as a blogger.

But it’s time to be honest about content upgrades for a second.

Content upgrades alone won’t grow your email list.

Say whaaaa?

What are Content Upgrades? (Plus, 100+ of the best content upgrades to send out!)

September 7, 2016

When I first started blogging, I didn’t understand the need for an email list. My blog was just a hobby, and I didn’t really care if I made any money of it.

Well, I still moderately feel that way (I don’t want to have any ads on my site, for example), but I’ve changed my outlook on email lists.

After all, one of my main goals with my blog is to help make the intimidating aspects of blogging and design easy to digest. If I’m not getting my content out there… I’m not really helping anyone, am I?

I set to work on growing my email list using popups, subscription forms in my sidebar, you name it.

But my email list wasn’t growing.

What’s a girl to do? Easy: content upgrades.

How to Send Content Upgrades with MailChimp

June 15, 2016

This post contains affiliate links that I could make commission off of. All opinions are my own. Learn more.

If you want to grow your email list, it’s absolutely critical that you offer content upgrades to your readers.

You’ve probably been told that the best way to send content upgrades is through programs like Leadpages and ConvertKit, right? While these tools are great, they’re really expensive. We’re talking $25/mo and $29/mo each, minimum.

Yeah, no thanks.

I’ve talked before about how to give out content upgrades fo’ free, but that involves a redirection away from your blog post. Not ideal, but it’s doable when you’ve got a nonexistent budget.

So, what if you wanted to send content upgrades with MailChimp, so it sends the new subscriber an email? Luckily, it’s 100% possible to send content upgrades with MailChimp, and as long as you have fewer than 2,000 subscribers, it’s free!

How to Create Fake Leadpages Popups for Mailchimp

May 25, 2016

This post contains affiliate links that I could make commission off of. All opinions are my own. Learn more.

If you’ve been in the blogging world for any amount of time, you know Leadpages is a big friggen’ deal. But it’s got an equally big friggen’ cost to it.

And really, when your blog is just a hobby or isn’t quite making money yet, who can afford $37 per month just on one program? Ain’t nobody got money for that!

So I was super pumped to discover that the lovely Marianne of Design Your Own (Lovely) Blog came up with a FREE way to create fake Leadpages! The only downside: you had to use ConvertKit to get the Leadpage-esque popups. At $29 per month, ConvertKit isn’t exactly in my budget either.

Womp womp.

Luckily, after some research, I found out how to create similar popups for a whopping $21 total. That’s a one-time payment of $21 to create infinite fake Leadpages landing pages, popups, and thank you pages, as opposed to $37 for one month’s worth. Yes please!

Want to find out how? Let’s get started!

6 Ways to Take Your Content Upgrades Up a Notch

March 14, 2016

Content upgrades are an awesome tool to grow your email list. But here’s the thing: if you’re not sharing helpful content in those upgrades, the people who download your content upgrade are likely going to unsubscribe from your email list and stop reading your blog.

So, how can you take your content upgrades up a notch? It’s actually not as hard as it sounds. Here are six ways you can do it today.

7 Things Every Blogger Needs to Know About InDesign

February 18, 2016

This post contains affiliate links that I could make commission off of. All opinions are my own. Learn more.

There are a lot of great tools out there for bloggers to use. Plenty of them are talked about everywhere: Leadpages, Photoshop, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc. But it seems like a big one is missing from the discussion: InDesign.

A sister program to Photoshop, Adobe InDesign is an amazing tool for bloggers and business owners. It can be used for a ton of different things: content upgrades, ebooks, image templates, and more.

So, why isn’t anyone talking about it? And what all do you need to know about InDesign as a blogger or business owner? Well, let me tell you.

Blogging on a Budget: Creating Your Own Images + Content Upgrades

February 16, 2016

Blogging on a budget is super important for a lot of bloggers out there, myself included. It’s a hobby that can get expensive fast, but only if you let it.

So, how do you go about cutting costs on your blog without taking away anything from your readers? Lots of ways! My favorite, though, is creating your own images and content upgrades. And I promise, it’s a lot easier than it sounds.

How to Create + Share Content Upgrades (for free!)

January 12, 2016

This post contains affiliate links that I could make commission off of. All opinions are my own. Learn more.

By now, you’ve probably heard from 50 million places that you should be growing your blog’s email list. And it’s true. Email lists are amazing.

And one of the best ways to grow your email list is through content upgrades. It’s honestly the #1 way I’m growing my email list right now. So, what are they, how do you make them, and how do you share them, without spending a pretty penny? Stick around and I’ll tell you!

Content Upgrades

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