If you want to start a newsletter, then you’ll need an attention-grabbing, quality lead magnet.
Even if you already have a newsletter, then you need more than one lead magnet.
You need several to grow your list faster.
Why?
Because your relationship blog attracts many different sub-categorized audiences with very specific needs.
The one-size-fits-all lead magnet that you offer throughout your site will not answer all of these needs.
Let’s look at some ways to create a lead magnet that converts more subscribers to your dating and relationship blog.
(Before you leave Share Your Opinion at the bottom- What specific needs does your lead magnet solve?)
Affiliate Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that pay a commission if a purchase is made.
Lead Magnet Ideas to Grow Your Relationship Blog Newsletter
1. Specifies Audience
Yes, you run a relationship blog, but not all of your visitors have the same needs.
Great, you created a lead magnet on how to understand men, but which audience are you targeting?
- Women in relationships?
- How long of relationships? Months? Years? Married?
- Are you suggesting how to rekindle lost love?
- Or are you writing for women re-entering the dating world?
- Middle-aged women?
- Divorced?
And you can dig deeper. Show that you understand their feelings.
- Are they fed up with going out on date after date?
- Do they even believe that men like them?
- How comfortable are they sparking a conversation with a man they just met?
- Do they fall in love quickly with the men that disappear quickly and break their hearts?
You get my point.
Specify your audience in sub-headlines and in the introduction of your lead magnets.
This is essential for product giveaways or for sale because they make up a sales funnel.
And not specifying who will benefit from your product will result in damage to your brand, unsubscribes and refunds.
Think about it.
Have you ever purchased a product hoping for it to advance your skills only to find out it was too basic and you already knew most of the material?
You see how laser-focused the title of my lead magnet is?
- 20 New Orleans Bucket List Things to Do for Couples
- 10 Famous Behind-the-Scenes Tours in the US
- 10 Famous Underground Caves in the World for Adventurous Couples
- 10 Top Destinations for Shark Encounters in the World
- 10 Romantic Spa Resorts in the US for Romantic Getaways
2. Content Upgrade: Solves Problem on Post
One of the best ways to convert sales is by cross-selling or by upselling.
You see it in grocery stores.
- Salsa next to potato chips.
- Beer by snacks.
- Bread close to the butter or jelly.
- Candy by the registers.
These products complement each other.
And their placement makes them convenient to buy.
That’s what an email opt-in within a post called a “content upgrade” does.
Check out some examples:
1. Variation of the Content
Post
- 10 Cute Texts to Send Your Husband that Make Him Miss You
Content Upgrade:
- 10 Sexy Texts to Make Him Turn Him on (while at work)
2. Fulfill Another Essential Need
Post:
- 10 Dating Profile Examples for Travel Lovers
Content Upgrade:
- Dating App Username Generator Grid for Travel Lovers: 100 Combinations (PDF): Find a creative, eye-catching username that make men stop to take a peek
3. Identify Problem, Provide Solution
Post:
- Man Lie Detector: the Real Truth Behind the Top 20 Man Lies in the Early Dating Stages
Content Upgrade:
- Man Lie Wizard: How to Defeat the Top 20 Man Lies
They look more interesting and compelling when you break the content down to more specific topics, don’t they?
This increases the chances that these lead magnet titles will resonate with your audience and the most important thing:
…that they’ll opt-in and subscribe to your newsletter.
In the next section, we’ll add even more elements to dig deeper into our compelling content and practice how to do it.
I love content upgrades. I believe that they are the type of lead magnet that grows your subscriber list the fastest.
Check out…
[MORE] on Lead Magnet Content Upgrades from Non-Relationship Niche Experts
THINK ONE LEAD MAGNET IS ENOUGH? THINK AGAIN by Lacy Boggs at The Content Direction Agency
Great description of the strategy that makes a lead magnet excel in enticing viewers to opt-in to your newsletter. Check out her graphic that illustrates how her content upgrades outperformed her main site-wide lead magnet.
30 Content Upgrade Ideas to Grow Your Email List (Updated) by Mary Fernandez at Optin Monster
If this post were turned into an eBook I’d pay for it. It offers priceless ideas on how to dazzle your audience and give them irresistible reasons to opt-in. (Plus get their free lead magnet checklist )
How to Craft Lead Magnets Your Customers Can’t Ignore by the master of SEO and growing email lists Neil Patel
Neil goes uses case studies and business psychology to explain why a content upgrade lead magnet succeeds and why it doesn’t. I especially appreciate his strategies on targeting the specific audience and not falling into the trap of generalizing to increase opt-in rates.
4. Sub-Topics and Specific Circumstances
Here’s another strategy for digging deeper.
After you’ve identified the specific target audience (you can use my target audience grid to help you), then look for sub-topics.
Sub-topics start from one more broad topic like text messages then break down into more precise categories.
Check out these examples:
Main Topic
Text Messages
Sub-Topics
- Romantic Text Messages
- Erotic Text Messages
- Cute Text Messages
- Emotional Text Messages
- Funny Text Messages
- Good Morning Text Messages
- Good Night Text Messages
- Flirty Text Messages
- Post-First Date Text Messages
Trust me, this list could go on forever.
You see, more specific, but we’ll keep going.
Now let’s chisel down further and add a specific set of circumstances.
Circumstances
- to make him miss you
- to get him to ask you out
- to connect with him on a deeper level
- to brighten up his day and make him miss you
- to get him to flirt back
- to get him excited to see you
- to get him to ask you out on a second date
Add in Target Audience
Let’s touch base on something first.
In some of the circumstances above, the audience is already identifiable without adding more details.
In the example, “to get him to ask you out”, it’s assumed that you’re referring to a single female wanting to go out on a date with a man.
Furthermore, you might determine that there’s no need to further identify if she’s in her twenties or thirties and divorced or never been married because it’s not important.
Why?
Because you may decide that the advice in your lead magnet is universal, it does not pertain to any sub-category audiences.
But for the sake of this exercise let’s add in a sub-categorized audience to these examples.
- Romantic Text Messages to Make Your Husband Miss You
- Erotic Text Messages to Get Your Husband Excited about Tonight
- Cute Text Messages that Rekindle Romance in Your Marriage
- Emotional Text Messages to Deeply Connect with Your Long-Distance Boyfriend
- Funny Text Messages to Brighten Up Your Husband’s Work Day
- Good Morning Text Messages to Get Your BF to See a Future with You
- Good Night Text Messages to Get Your New BF to Miss You and Text You Tomorrow
- Flirty Text Messages to Get Your New Boyfriend to Flirt Back
You see? Even more specific.
Now consider something important that distinguishes that these titles are tailored for lead magnets and not blog posts.
Why?
Because they’re too long.
A portion of the title might not show up in the search results.
Plus, you must do keyword research first to ensure that you’re choosing the right phrases in order to rank in the search engines.
Yes, you could get high levels of traffic without ranking with the help of Pinterest and Tailwind, but why not try to rank?
NOTE: For WordPress bloggers, if you consider using any super-specific headlines for blog posts use the plugin Yoast SEO to measure if the headline will completely fit in search results or get cut short.
These specific, more niched down, subcategorized titles are more likely to get a visitor’s attention once they’re already in your site.
They’ve already taken a step to read one of your posts on text messages and now they’re mind’s on text messages.
One more tip on digging deeper for lead magnet content and titles.
Add one more circumstance and place it in a subtitle.
4. Descriptive Subtitles
You may not need to go any deeper with your lead magnets title.
You could break the examples in the previous section into a main title and sub-title.
Check them out:
1. Main Title
Erotic Text Messages:
Subtitle
to Get Your Husband Excited about Tonight
2. Main Title
Cute Text Messages:
Subtitle
that Rekindle Romance in Your Marriage
3. Main Title
Emotional Text Messages
Subtitle
to Deeply Connect with Your Long-Distance Boyfriend
However, to make your lead magnet stand out you may elect to keep your title as is and then add subtitle to further clarify the specific person and set of circumstances.
So, taking the above examples, let’s add a subtitle to them.
Check them out:
Lead Magnet Titles with Subtitles
1. Main Title
Erotic Text Messages to Get Your Husband Excited about Tonight
Subtitle
(after a long time period without sex)
2.Main Title
Cute Text Messages that Rekindle Romance in Your Marriage
Subtitle
(when life gets in the way and you’re both busy)
3. Main Title
Emotional Text Messages to Deeply Connect with Your Long-Distance Boyfriend
Subtitle
(when you haven’t seen each other in a long time)
You see how much more compelling they sound?
Realistically speaking, how many other relationship bloggers do you see take the extra time to dig this deep?
Stand out from the rest and give your audience content they can’t resist to opt-in to get.
Now onto one of my personal favorite ways to convert visitors to subscribers.
5. Lead Magnet Packages
Why only offer one lead magnet?
The recurring lesson in this post is to make it irresistible to take the next step.
Make your free gift irresistible.
Add another.
Or even a few.
Look at the screenshot above of one of my opt-in pages for a package of text messages.
Plus, I make this package more enticing storing them on special members-only access page for them.
This is high-value.
Five different digital gifts in exchange for just their email.
I could easily charge for this and get paid.
To figure out the content topics to put in your packages refer to the previous sections of this post, particularly this one Content Upgrade: Solves Problem on Post
And then consider changing up the kinds of formats of your content- just like you see in my screenshot.
Let’s take a look at the next section.
6. Variety of Formats
Who doesn’t like to learn with a variety of tools?
Why not offer a variety of formats in your lead magnet packages (or even in your separate content upgrades?
Here are some ideas:
Lead Magnet Format Ideas
- ebooks (you already know this) (PDF)
- Checklists (PDF)
- Quizzes (using Google Forms)
- Interactive Exercises (using Google Forms)
- *More on this in a moment
- Copy-and-Paste Example Quick Reference Guide (PDF or Slideshow Video)
- Slide Shows
- Slideshow Videos
- Q & A Sessions (PDF)
- Q & A Videos
- A Series of Polls (that you conduct on your blog posts)
- How-to Videos
- Email Series
- eBook Series
- Video Series
These are all easy to make and cost nothing or very little.
Your skills will get better to create these high-quality, high-value lead magnets as you make more of them and you elect to take blogger training courses.
WARNING: do not give away too much information or you will eliminate your subscribers’ need to purchase affiliate products (or your own content for sale).
Either give the “what” they need.
Check out these title examples:
Lead Magnet Title Examples
- What a Man Needs to Hear to Trust You
- What a Man Needs to Want a Relationship
- What a Man Finds Disrespectful and Want to Stay Away from You
- What a Man Finds Romantic vs Clingy
None of these show “how to fix the problem”.
That’s the job of the affiliate product.
And even within the lead magnet itself, you could add links to the affiliate sales pages that promise how to fix the problem.
If you decide to construct a “how-to” lead magnet, then keep it super specific to a set of circumstances- essentially one step among many others.
Check out these examples:
Lead Magnet “How to” Title Examples
- How to Get a Guys Attention and Start a Conversation with You
(but she still will want to know what to do next to determine if he likes her, exchange numbers and get a date)
- How to Get the Guy You Just Met to Respond FAST to Your Texts
(but she still will want to know how to get him to initiate text conversations on his own, check in on her, make date plans).
- How to Find the Best Places to Meet High-Quality Single Men When You’re Super Busy
(but she will still want to know how to invite men to start conversations with her, how to determine if he’s actually single, how to get her friends to come along when she wants a wing girl, etc.)
- How to Figure Out If He Is Long-term Boyfriend Material
(but she will still want to know what to say, do and not say and do to give herself the best chances for him to see that they make a good match)
So, stick to a specific step and allow room for other steps.
Let’s look at some more examples in the next section of “how-to” lead magnets that don’t give away too much information and kill your chances of converting an affiliate sale.
7. Provides Action Steps
(read the previous section to remind yourself of what you need to finish this one- consider action steps that prep you for the next one like how to get confidence to flirt with a guy or to put yourself in places where you can meet single men)
Most people want an instant fix.
They want a solution to their problem right now.
And to help them feel better right now you can give them action steps.
These sound a lot like “how-to” lead magnets but they’re actually different.
“How to” content shows how to do something in a sequence.
Actions steps do not have to occur in sequence.
My first lead magnet ever on my relationship blog InfidelityFirstAidKit.com was an example of this.
“Infidelity Survival Guide: 10 Emergency Tips to Survive Week One”
Check out the cover.
Now understand I created that cover a long time ago.
Since then I’ve obtained the skills to create higher quality ones.
But the point I want to make is that this lead magnet offers action steps to feel better now.
And notice how deep I took the topic.
Who is it for?
People who just caught their cheating spouse.
What do they want to do?
Learn how to handle the emotional stress associated with just catching a cheating spouse without completely breaking down.
When?
Week one after discovering the affair
- Specific audience
- Specific time frame
- Specific need.
Essentially this is a list blog post turned into an eBook.
And within the eBook, I placed affiliate links with recommendations on how to solve specific problems.
I didn’t just identify a problem, I offered specific actionable advice my new subscribers could take to feel better right now.
And how to prevent from making things worse.
How to Create an Action-Step Lead Magnet
The simplest way?
Just take a list post with actionable steps and turn it into an eBook.
Or even a video slide show.
When creating it.
Just think about what action your audience can take to solve a specific problem.
You can check out some of the examples above, but check out these too:
Notice how specific I get.
Specific Audience Lead Magnet Title Examples
- Break Up Survival Guide: 10 Tips to Get Over the Pain of the First Week
- Single Life Slayer: 25 Tips to Gain Confidence in What You Offer High-Quality Men
- Flirt Goddess: 25 Tips to Get Men IRL and Online to Chase You
- Next Date in One Week: 25 Action Steps to Land a Date When You’re Too Busy and Don’t Know Any Men
- Inner Goddess: 20 Powers You Possess Over Men’s Feelings to Land a Date in Less than One Week
- Trigger His Hero Instinct: 25 Ways to Trigger Your Man’s Need to Help, Provide and Fix Things … Then Bend Over Backwards to Rush to Your Side
8. Optimize Thank You Page: Offer Affiliate Product
Know what a “Thank You” Page is, right?
The confirmation page you send a new subscriber after they opt-in to your newsletter.
Typically, it looks something like this:
(Image here)
But do you know how much of an opportunity you’re missing out on by not promoting an affiliate product here?
Instead of just confirming that a new subscriber’s lead magnet is in route to their email, suggest an affiliate product.
You can try it a few different ways and analyze the data to see which option yields you the best results.
Check out these ideas for optimizing your Thank You pages:
Thank You Page Lead Magnet Ideas
- Place an affiliate banner ad or product image along with an attention-grabbing headline, actionable sub-headline and CTA button that links to your affiliate’s sales page.
- A short affiliate product review.
- Offer a special bonus for a limited time period
(a couple of days from the moment visit the TY page)
- Ask them to forward you the confirmation email from the affiliate purchase as proof of purchase. Then email them your bonus.
What’s the bonus?
Simple.
Reserve a lead magnet that’s only used for bonuses instead of new subscriber opt-ins.
I’ve made several sales from my Thank You pages.
Check out one of my Thank You Pages with affiliate offer below.
After someone subscribes to my newsletter they’re redirected to this Thank You page which assures them that their free gift is on the way. Then it places an affiliate offer in front of them that relates to the lead magnet.
9. Opt-in Page High-Conversion Template
Keep in mind that people can’t pay attention for long.
That’s why you should keep it short and sweet and get straight to the benefits.
Stick to the same set of elements on your opt-in pages to make things easier for you.
It will help you finish these pages faster.
Plus, it will help you convert more subscribers.
Check out the key elements here:
Headline
- Grab attention
- State your lead magnet’s format. (What are they getting?)
- What’s the main problem or reward you lead magnet offers?
Sub-headline
- Goes deeper and specifies the circumstances, clearly identifies the audience and possibly presents a sub-topic
- 3-5 Features and benefits
(or just benefits- the feelings they will experience from reading or watching your lead magnet)
CTA
- State the action steps to get the lead magnet (such as “enter your email to receive your free eBook)
CTA button
- Tell them what to do ([Click here] to receive eBook)
- Or elect a first-person CTA like:
- “Yes, I want this eBook!”
- “Yes, send me the eBook!”
- “Send me the checklist!”
- “Show me the video!”
Check out some of my examples from InfidelityFirstAidKit.com
The CTA button from the above opt-in page calls for strong action from a first-person voice. It also specifically explains what format the lead magnet comes in (eBook) and how the new subscriber will access it (sent via email). The red color stands out from the rest of the white background.
This opt-in landing page gets around a 27% opt-in rate. (I have a different version of this page that offers a package of lead magnets that gets around a 46% opt-in rate).
The purple color stands out from the gray background. The white text makes it easy to ready. I chose to insert an arrow and close in the CTA words “click here” with brackets to call attention to them. Again I include the lead magnet description within the button to communicate exactly what the subscriber will receive.
This opt-in landing page currently gets around a 28% opt-in rate. (The pop-up does better at around 41%)
(ADD EXPLANATION OF ABOVE GRAPHIC AND ADD MORE)
10. Cover Image and Graphics Match Title and Mood
I’ve gone over this elsewhere in my blog.
Your lead magnet’s cover must aid its value proposition.
Both its image and the accompanying graphics must make sense.
The right image will help tell the story of how to fulfill your lead magnet’s promise.
I want to show you some of my covers from InfidelityFirstAidKit.com’s lead magnets.
Some of these are bonuses that I offer for the purchase of affiliate products, but the point’s still the same.
The image and graphics help set the mood and tell the story of the headline and value proposition.
Sample Lead Magnet Covers
Title #1:
10 Flirty Responses to His Short, Boring Texts to Instantly Turn Him On
The image matches the following:
Target audience: women who like men (single or in relationships)
Preferences of Target Audience: a confident, well-dressed, attractive man
Action of Proposed Solution: he appears to be texting
Mood of Colors: man dressed in black sitting on a black suede couch makes him look mysterious and desirable.
The graphics and cover elements accomplish the following:
Colors: the black spine adds to the mysteriousness of the man dressed in black, the purple background behind the title is an attractive color to the target audience and in the relationship niche
Headless Pic: we don’t know what he looks like which adds more mystery
Insight Behind the Cover’s Design
The cover elicits feelings of mystery which matches how the target audience’s feelings about the subject matter. Men are a mystery and the women who elect to download the lead magnet wish to decode a man’s behavior.
Plus, the title offers an irresistible solution to a common problem. Men oftentimes send dry, emotionless texts which give no clues about their feelings towards the woman he sends them to. This makes her feel helpless as the man can keep her guessing what he’s feeling and she can only hope that he eventually reveals his intentions.
However, the solution of getting him to in turn send texts that make it irresistible to respond and flirt back provides the solution putting the power back in her hands.
This is a double-benefit solution: reward and relief of pain at the same time.
Title #2
Affair Stethoscope [Checklist]: Gauge the Pulse of His/Her Affair
Can You Save the Marriage?
The image matches the following:
Target audience: wife in 30s or 40s healing from her husband’s affair. Most of my audience in the affair healing niche are wives (about 70%).
Preferences of Target Audience: a confident, well-dressed, attractive man
Mood of Situation: she is upset with him because he cheated, while he pulls away and appears in deep thought contemplating his next move
Action: they appear to be in a deep discussion which matches the proposed solution of her figuring out how serious his affair is
The Graphics and Color Elements accomplish the following:
Colors: Red and black create a sense of alarm and set the mood for an uneasy encounter. This matches the color scheme of my blog too for branding.
Illustration: The stethoscope, of course, matches the title which attaches to a broken heart, further matching the mood of the situation.
Insight Behind the Cover’s Design
A grieving wife (or husband) after an affair ponders the question to stay or leave the relationship.
Therefore, he or she will try to determine how salvageable the relationship with their spouse is.
The title is creative by playing off the comparison of the purpose of a stethoscope of how it measures the health of a heart, which in the case of affair recovery is figurative.
The subheadings describe the solution to the viewer- determine if your marriage can be saved and if it’s worth staying in.
As I review this cover I would improve the subheading by getting more precise. I’d could add something like 20 Signs to Measure the Risk-Level of Staying Married
[Quick Take Aways] Lead Magnet Conversion Tips
…and What I Use to Create My Landing Pages
I have created my landing pages with Leadpages.org for years.
Their drag-and-drop software makes it easy to create them in minutes.
This makes my life much easier.
Every image you see here of my landing pages I made with Leadpages.org.
Most other bloggers I know have subscriptions with them too.