They introduce the blog post with a sales letter. It’s SO compelling that I was sure it was going to have an opt-in to access the post. It didn’t and that was a HUGE relief. Not that I mind signing up, but the case they made spoke to me so clearly that I wanted access now.
The fact that I wanted access and got it was more based around time and interest. They had me on a hook and REWARDED me for paying attention with some glorious free epic useful content.
Screenshots of social proof. If it works, we should be showing off why it works. The sales letter approach to introduce the blog post works amazingly BUT it does have to have social proof and screenshots of it working.
They aren’t afraid to do some old school link posting. We’ve been conditioned to stop using links on posts incase people move away from where we are. But here’s the truth. If what we’re post IS genuinely useful and engaging, we shouldn’t fear people opening other links and even leaving the page. They’ll come back if it IS that good.
They also link back to other content in their blog. Other items that they’re proud of or well known for. It’s the type of post that I honestly feel could make my business better if I followed every link and step.
Example and steps. Nothing new here but the post gives examples of ideas and steps on how to do a process.
From short snapshots on finding curated content to an entire epic blog post structure, this post nails giving away free epic content.
There are a couple of maths formula (simple) and links to practical tools. It gives step by steps for some BIG and practical ideas that could easily themselves become webinars or individual posts.
It’s brutally honest.
“If you can’t make three sales to your friends in a week, how can you possibly sell even more to strangers?”
Pragmatic and maybe tough to hear, but the advice is practical enough to really measure what you’re experiencing against it.
Outside of the ‘brutal honesty’, the author gives their own personal experience of what they’ve used and tried in the past. They talk about what works and what isn’t worth your time, with examples and proof.
It’s not afraid to make money. The post is itself about how to monetize blog posts and free content. It takes a huge dose of it’s own medicine though as many of the links, adverts and images are to paid content.
As well as not being scared to make money, it’s taking it’s own advice and providing opportunities for readers who are interested, to make a purchase. Which is exactly what the post talks about any way.
It’s essentially a long process. If you followed this post step by step I have no doubt that you’d achieve the results it sets out to get you. In fact I’m going to be taking this blog post and trying it myself.
The blog post is broken down to such simple and easy to understand steps that you can easily reference and follow them. There are screen shot examples and gifs that show little steps.
It’s long enough to qualify people. The post is so in depth and covers so much that it qualifies people who read it. If you’re SERIOUS about this, you’ll read it and you’re more likely to be hooked than someone who scans through it. If I hadn’t tried sumo.me before, I’d download it for sure.
(In fact by the time I did finish the article I had signed up again to sumo.me). By offering people the chance to sign up during the post, it very sensibly leads onto the next point…
It’s using it’s own product as the example. This is so smart that I don’t know why I haven’t done it before. Sumo.me as a product is mentioned all the time during the post.
“Need more traffic to convert to subscribers?” No problem, Sumo.me does that. I’ve used it and here are the screenshots to prove it.
Where I’d improve it. Personally, I think there’s a little disconnect between the title and the goal. Having said that, it’s not a typical ‘get 1000 subscribers’ post. It does talk about being a content creation engine. I think the power of the post comes from other people’s recommendation.
Takeaway. Niklas Geoke has written a stellar article. Clear, easy to follow and with practical steps to follow.
Niklas opens the post with an epic sales letter style intro. It makes you want to buy what he’s selling, but then, it’s a free post!
The structure is a step by step post with a very clear goal. Get more subscribers from your post.
What do you reckon? Have you read the post? How about creating your own lengthy, killer post? Let me know in the comments below.
You can read the post here.
