25
22 Comments

Hit 2000+ subscribers!

This week was an exciting one, as I surpassed the 2000 subscriber mark on my personal blog.

In January, I decided to finally launch something that I long wanted to, but wasn't sure the world would want. At the time, I set my yearly goals, including getting my blog to 1k subscribers. At the time, that was the goal I was most unsure about. But this week, I managed to double it.

I've been tracking the number of subscribers almost daily, and this has been my path since January 1: https://imgur.com/a/PDPn0Jf

As you can see, a lot of movement came from 3 articles which went "viral", particularly on Hacker News.

The three articles were:

One other helpful thing to mention was that I've been experimenting with my subscription copy. Over time, I've found copy that's converted much more effectively, by including social proof and also tailoring it to the reader.

Starting subscription copy:

  • I enjoy sharing my thoughts about remote work, learning to code, personal growth, and tech. If you liked this one, stay updated here.
    CTA: Subscribe

Current subscription copy:

  • I write a weekly newsletter about productivity, remote work, continuous growth, and tech. If you liked this article, join 2000+ subscribers here. Forecast: 0% chance of spam.
    CTA: Stay Updated!

Notable changes:

  • Number of subscribers
  • Stating exact offering (weekly newsletter)
  • Explicitly calling out no chance of spam
  • Updating CTA from Subscribe to Stay updated

These changes resulted in over 700 subscribers coming in from my latest article.

Anyway, I just wanted to share as this was a big milestone for me and can hopefully help some others looking to build their "list". 🤗

  1. 5

    Congrats! So well deserved ❤️

  2. 2

    Congrats, Steph! 😊

    1. 2

      Thanks Merott! Hope you're well! 😊

  3. 2

    Congrats! This gives me hope since I just reached 100 signups to my newsletter-hybrid. Methinks I should condense my About / Subscribe page? Thoughts? https://jaehermannsblog.substack.com/about

    1. 1

      Thank you! Congrats on your first 100 signups. Are those 100 paid signups? If so, that's amazing!!!

      I do think your about page is great, but quite lengthy. Maybe making it punchier would up your conversion rate. Also, get some social proof on there! :)

      Here's mine: https://mailchi.mp/3e320512ed0b/stephsmith

      1. 2

        Thanks for taking a look and for the reply. I took your advice and condensed it. I'll rustle up some social proof to add as well.

        1. 1

          Great! Love the "What folks are saying" section.

  4. 2

    Steph, congrats on hitting another milestone! I look forward to your future articles, especially the one on SEO :)

    One question - I've uploaded once on Hacker News and seems I've been banned.. can't upload new articles anymore :( Have you had a similar experience?

    1. 1

      Thanks so much, Shin! 💛

      I've heard of people getting banned, but normally not after a single post! Normally, people get banned if they create "voting" circles and things of the sort.

      What are you seeing when you try to post? And if you don't mind me asking, what was th first thing you posted?

      1. 1

        No problem! It says, 'Sorry, your account is too new to submit this site.' (Made it 12 days ago. Or maybe it's because I don't have enough Karma)?

        The first thing I posted was actually an old newsletter issue from my MailChimp archive. The url would look something like this: https://mailchi.mp/24..

        Also, the title was 'This Guy Makes $30,000/mo and I Love His Product' - I posted with good intentions, but perhaps the folks at HN thought it was spammy 😭

        1. 1

          Also, I would reach out to the mods to find out! They're extremely thoughtful and respectful with their responses.

          [email protected]

        2. 1

          Ah, I see! I joined HN a while ago and can't remember if there was a karma bar that you needed to hit first, but it wouldn't surprise me. I've seen this on some other sites as well. I would try building up your karma by adding valuable comments to posts and see if it then enables you to post again.

          1. 1

            Hi Steph! So sorry for the late reply :( It seems like it was just a time issue, my account was too new to post stuff on HN! I've posted fine a few days after reading your comment, thanks so much for your detailed reply :)

  5. 2

    Congrats!!!!! 🎉 Really enjoy reading your stuff!

  6. 2

    Congratulations!

    I have trying hard to blog more frequently but quite failing. This is an inspiration.

    Well you have a new subscriber now.

    Thanks for sharing this with the community.

    1. 2

      Thank you so much!

      Writing consistently is surprisingly difficult, but just keep on keeping on and be patient with yourself.

      Wishing you the best!

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments