Yep, you’ve heard it before, “The money is in the list.” If you want to create an income with your WordPress site or as a blogger or WordPress developer, you need a solid list of loyal subscribers.

But if you’ve got only a handful of subscribers on your WordPress blog and none of them are commenting on your posts, this can be pretty discouraging. So I’m going to share five things that WILL increase your subscriber count and make your subscriber list more responsive starting today…

#1: Just Get the Email

If you want more subscribers, stop asking them for so much information. Just get the email and worry about the rest later.

To see a great example of this in action, go to copyblogger.com and look at the information they ask you for when you subscribe. They ask for an email address. That’s it. No first name, no last name, no phone number, address, social security number or blood sample.

There might have been a time when it was a good strategy to use someone’s first name in your marketing emails. But today, it’s a clear sign of a spammer. I know that people who email me almost never call me by name in the title of their email, but spammers do it all the time.

So what’s the big deal about getting your subscriber’s names? Just make it easy for them to subscribe and get the email…you can get more personal as you build the relationship.

#2: Tell Them Why

A lot of subscription invitations tell the reader to sign up or subscribe, but they don’t say squat about why the reader should do it. What’s going to happen if your reader’s subscribe to get updates from your blog or to receive your newsletter?

Better yet, what’s going to be the practical benefit of them signing up? ß This is what you need to tell them in your invitation. For example, check out these three subscription invitations and tell me which one sounds the most appealing to you as a reader:

“Sign up and get FREE updates from our blog

“Sign up for our FREE Weekly Newsletter”

“Sign up for FREE tips on solving your most complex WordPress problems”

Doesn’t the third one sound more appealing?

As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, our readers really don’t care about our blogs or the newsletters we spend 10 hours a month working on. They care about solving their problems. So when you tell them why they need to subscribe for updates from your blog, make sure the “why” means something to them.

#3: Use Social Proof

Social Proof is a great way to remove the “fear barrier” when you’re asking for a subscription. I remember back in High School, my buddies would try and get me to do something dumb by saying:

“Everybody’s doing it.”

You know, it actually worked too. It can also work when you’re asking someone to do something smart. So if you have 100 subscribers already, or 500or 1,000, tell people about this when you ask them to subscribe.

For example:

“Sign Up to Join 500 Smart Readers Who Use This Blog to Solve their WordPress Problems!”

There’s a sneaky bit of psychology in here too.

Can you spot it?

Not only am I telling the reader that 500 other people are already subscribed, I’m calling my current subscribers smart. This suggests that if the reader signs up, they’re smart too.

#4: Location, Location, Location

Marketing research has revealed that the upper right hand corner is the best place for a subscription invitation. I’ve found that placing your invitation here can even be effective than trying to call someone’s attention to it within your blog posts.

Ever read one of those odd sounding articles that end in a “for more information sign up for blah, blah blah…?” Not necessary, and not even the best way to get subscriptions on your WordPress blog. Just put it in the upper right hand corner and let them find it.

Then you can focus strictly on writing good and engaging content and let your subscriptions happen naturally.

#5: Don’t Write Posts, Start Conversations

This is tough to master. But some of the most popular WordPress communities on the internet become popular, not because of their content, but because of the conversations they start.

What does it take to write a blog post that starts a conversation? While there’s no magic formula, I’ve found that there are three things people find irresistible when it comes to putting their two cents in:

Popularity: the more popular the topic, the more likely it is to solicit feedback.

Relevancy: the more relevant the topic is to a person’s everyday experience; the more likely it is to solicit feedback.

Controversy: controversy always attracts attention, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, but the conversations that follow are always interesting and engaging.

Think about these three things ^ the next time you choose a blog topic. Just try it for your next 10 posts and see if you get more engagement from your readers.

Recap of 5 Action Steps

#1: Just Get the Email

#2: Tell Them Why

#3: Use Social Proof

#4: Location, Location, Location

#5: Don’t Write Posts, Start Conversations

Have a blast!

-Best,

Seth C

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These 3 title box snippets (all tested with the Twenty Eleven theme’s functions.php on WP 3.4.1) will let you customize your “New Page” or “New Post” title areas.

Change default “Enter title here” text for Posts and Pages

Before: Default Add New Post title box

function title_text_input( $title ){
return $title = 'What are you feeling?';
}
add_filter( 'enter_title_here', 'title_text_input' );

Source: WPSnipp.com

After: New Post Title text

It works for both Posts and Pages.

Change default “Enter title here” text for Custom Post Type Posts

function change_default_title( $title ){
$screen = get_current_screen();
if  ( 'pricing_table_post_type' == $screen->post_type ) {
$title = 'Enter Pricing CPT Title';
}
return $title;
}
add_filter( 'enter_title_here', 'change_default_title' );

Source: WPSnipp.com

After: New Post Custom Post Type Title text

You can find the custom post type name in the URL of its options or Add New page.

For example: /wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=pricing_table_post_type

Change Post, Page, and CPT titles to WYSIWYG (add TinyMCE Editor)

This will override both of the customizations above, yes, even for Pages and Custom Post Types.

function tinymce_title_js(){ ?>
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready( tinymce_title );
function tinymce_title() {
jQuery("#title").addClass("mceEditor");
tinyMCE.execCommand("mceAddControl", false, "title");
}
</script>
<?php }
add_action( 'admin_head-post.php', 'tinymce_title_js');
add_action( 'admin_head-post-new.php', 'tinymce_title_js');
function tinymce_title_css(){ ?>
<style type='text/css'>
#titlewrap{border:solid 1px #e5e5e5 !important;}
tr.mceLast{display:none;}
#title_ifr{height:50px !important;}
</style>
<?php }
add_action( 'admin_head-post.php', 'tinymce_title_css');
add_action( 'admin_head-post-new.php', 'tinymce_title_css');

Source: WPSnipp.com

After: WYSIWYG Post Title Input

After: WYSIWYG Post Title Output

The End

I hope you enjoyed these 3 snippets. You might also be interested in putting them into your own plugin instead of functions.php, adding a subtitle to post titles, or even hiding some of your Page and Post titles from displaying on your theme.

Related posts:

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If you are concerned about someone trying to crack your WordPress login ID and password, then you definitely want to create a strong login ID and password. But, even with that, crackers will still try brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and many other methods to try to crack the door on your WordPress website.

What Can You Do?

You can install a simple plugin such as Limit Login Attempts to lock them out after a defined number of failed attempts. And that works quite effectively – I use it for my clients.

Can More Be Done On The Login Side

If the login screen is where they will try to access your WordPress website – trying to guess your login ID and password, then why not just eliminate that port of entry? Oh yeah, there’s that pesky business where we might need to log in ourselves and take care of some task.

Then, why not limit the access to the login page altogether?

Block Access Except To Certain IP Addresses

In the root directory of your WordPress installation (where the wp-content folder is located), edit your .htaccess file adding the following lines of code BEFORE anything else in the .htaccess file.

01 <files wp-login.php>
02 order deny,allow
03 deny from all
04
05 # whitelist Your First IP address
06 allow from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
07
08 #whitelist Your Second IP Address
09 allow from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
10
11 #whitelist Your Third IP Address
12 allow from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
13
14 </files>

Add as many #whitelist sections as you need to allow access from.

If you are on a Dedicated (or Static) IP then you are set.

Only the IP addresses that you’ve white-listed can even see your Login page to even attempt any type of login to your WordPress website. Anyone else that tries to access the login page will get a 404 error which will be handled however you’ve programmed 404 errors to be handled.

What If I Don’t Have A Static IP?

Some people believe that you should NOT use this method if you are not on a static IP. I don’t subscribe to that idea.

Why?

It’s too simple for me to type “What is my IP” into a Google search, discover my new IP, and then using my FTP software, edit my .htaccess file to use the new IP address. Grand total of a couple of minutes to change the allowed IP address.

What If I’m In A Public Access Point (Starbucks, McDonalds, a friend’s house)?

Use the same steps as when your own IP address changes – Google search to find your IP and add that IP as an additional access in your .htaccess file. But, when you are finished at that location, be sure to remove that access so no one else can potentially access your login page from that location.

O.K. Now My WordPress Website Is Secure. Right?

Your WordPress installation is definitely more secure than it was prior to this point, but it’s not completely secure. There are plenty of more steps you can take to secure your WordPress website. Take an evening to read through many of the articles on WPMU.org that have been written about WordPress security. You will come away more educated to protect your WordPress installation.

Are there any specific steps you’ve taken to better secure your WordPress installation? Share them here so that everyone can benefit.

Photo Credits

rofltosh via photo pin cc
lanier67 via photo pin cc

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