Did you know you can grow your blog with printables? You can increase your page views, grow your email list, and even increase your income with printables!
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Guest post by Bridget of Sunshine And Rainy Days
I spent hours creating an eBook called The Garage Sale Handbook. This was going to be it — the one thing that readers would love to give up their email address for.
Every one of my blog posts had an opt-in for The Garage Sale Handbook. It was also in the sidebar and the Hello Bar. I plugged it everywhere I could, even dedicating special blog posts to promote it.
What I didn’t realize is that my work wasn’t done with just one product, and that one opt-in was not nearly enough to resonate with everyone who visited my blog.
I quickly realized that if I wanted readers to sign up for my email list, I would need multiple opt-ins.
I continued to write blog posts and dream up printables or content upgrades to go along with them.
But THEN…I had a mindshift.
Instead of dreaming up printables to go along with blog posts, I began to create blog posts that went along with printables that I had already created and was using in my home. These printables had real life, practical uses.
How to Grow Your Blog with Printables
1. Grow your page views with printables.
People are looking for solutions to their problems, and if you can present solutions for those problems, you are gold!
People will be more curious to visit your site if you have a solution to their problem — which will increase your page views!
Here’s what I suggest:
- Create a printable others need. The best ideas are the ones you need and would use yourself.
- Write a blog post about the printable.
- Create images of your printable to share.
- Promote your printable on your favorite social sites, in Facebook groups, on Pinterest, with your email list, etc.
For example, after hiring a few pet sitters and writing out everything the sitter needed to know about our dog, TeddiBear, I decided to create The Ultimate Pet Sitter Printable.
At first, I put it right in the blog post for immediate download. No email required.
I shared the printable on Pinterest, which is the primary way I share posts.
The post started getting better page views — particularly in the times of year when many people were going on vacations and hiring a pet sitter!
When you create a printable people need, your page views will grow!
2. Grow your email list with printables.
Free printables are a great way to grow your email list! Here’s how:
- Create a form for your printable through your email service provider (I use ConvertKit).
- Place the form in any blog posts that relate to the topic of your printable. And be sure to do a dedicated blog post all about the printable!
- Deliver the printable to those people who sign up for it.
Note: You may choose to deliver the printable directly through your email service provider or you may choose to create a Printables Library that houses all of your printables. I often deliver the printable directly to their inbox and also provide the printable in my Printables Library for those who have already subscribed. There are pros and cons both, so you have to experiment to figure out what works best for you.
When my page views started growing from the Ultimate Pet Sitter Printable, I could see how many visits I was getting in Google Analytics, but I couldn’t tell how many people were actually downloading the printable. Plus, I really wanted to grow my email list!
That’s when I decided to create a form in ConvertKit to deliver the Pet Sitter Printable after someone signed up for my email list.
I was then able to see how many people were actually subscribing to get the printable and what the conversion rate was. At the same time, my email list grew!
Check out my real life ConvertKit landing page and form signups. Can you tell when I started creating printables?
Think of the possibilities if you had multiple opt-ins that converted as well as this one did!
3. Grow your bank account with printables.
If you’re giving printables away free, how are you supposed to earn money?
In addition to your ad revenue increasing as your traffic increases, you can also use free printables as a tripwire or upsell to your email list for a paid product!
Since I knew there were decent page views and my email list was growing from The Ultimate Pet Sitter Printable, I took it one step further.
It was time to create a product that would be a benefit to anyone who liked the Pet Sitter Printable.
That product was The Big Book Of Everything For Pets!
Now, as soon as someone signs up for my Pet Sitter Printable, they are redirected to a tripwire page offering The Big Book Of Everything For Pets at an unbelievable price.
To date, 79 Big Book Of Everything For Pets have been sold through the tripwire without me doing anything other than promoting The Pet Sitter Printable through Pinterest!
The Big Book Of Everything For Pets is also listed and sells at its regular price in my Printables Shop!
So from my one Pet Sitter Printable, I earn ad money from page views that the post generates, but I also promote it to my email list during specific seasonal times throughout the year — which generates sales of The Big Book of Everything for Pets!
Need Help with Ideas for Printables?
The BEST printable ideas are the ones you would actually use in real life. Aim for practical printables that help make life generally easier, help you stay organized, or provide information/entertainment.
Here are some examples:
- An Information Sheet
- Full Page Worksheets
- Signs
- Artwork
- Charts
- Checklists
- Games
Psst! For more info, check out How To Create Printables, The Easy Way!
What if you had multiple printables that led to products?
What if you had multiple tripwires set up to work while you sleep?
The possibilities to grow your blog are endless when you dive into creating practical printables people will love to use!
Need some help creating printables?
Note from Crystal: If you’re brand new to creating printables or all of this seems really intimidating because you’re not sure where to start, Bridget has you covered!
She’s put together a really comprehensive Printables Playbook — a step-by-step guide to creating printables the easy way!
The Printables Playbook is broken down into bite-sized chunks so that anyone can learn to create printables. And you can refer back to it any time you need it! Best of all, it’s just $36!!
Go here to sign up!
Bridget is the wife of a super awesome principal and mom of two incredible teens! She spends her days cheerleading her songwriting son, plotting the next box to send the college student, and creating printables to share with YOU! DIY and Printables are her jam and it is her desire to inspire domestic engineers to make every day full of Sunshine and Happiness!
Jayleen, Thanks for sharing all your ideas. I especially appreciated your mind shift about creating posts to go along with printables you had already found practical for your everyday life!
Thank you, Miranda! That mind shift to share practical, real life printables can open up a lot of opportunities. It’s amazing what thinking outside the box can do!