One of the best ways of growing your email list is with a content upgrade.

Kit creators, like Katie at Wellness Mama, have used this strategy to exponentially grow their list, and it's really easy to do.

Start by making it simple.

Go into Google Analytics, and find the post with the most traffic. Copy that URL. Done.

That’s your first content upgrade!

At this point, if you're thinking,

“Why would I create an opt-in for a post that already exists on my blog?” 

It’s a fair question, but the truth is that people are not diligently searching through your archives for the best posts. You need to guide them there!

A popular post has already done the heavy lifting for you by proving its worth. Allow it to continue doing so.

The next level is to create a complimentary bonus to that popular post.

This could be a checklist, a resource guide, a chapter of your book, or bonus audio content from an interview.

So, go ahead and get that set up.

Create a new Form in Kit, and write your Form's headline.

To keep it simple, use your popular post's headline as the Form's attention-grabber. Remember, allow the content that has already proven itself valuable to do the hard work.

Now, set up the delivery of the complimentary bonus.

Click Settings at the top right of the Form builder. On the Form Settings' General tab, click Redirect to another page upon subscription if you are redirecting subscribers to your popular post. Paste the URL of your popular post into the field provided, and then click Save.

This way, readers who subscribe to your Form will be immediately redirected to your post.

If you're giving away a PDF download (or other file) instead, click the Form Settings' Incentive tab.

Check the box for Send incentive email if it isn't already ✅:

Doing this will set your Form to double opt-in, which means subscribers will get an incentive email after signing up. To receive their incentive and join your email list, they'll need to click a link in the email to confirm their email address.

Enabling double opt-in adds an extra step in the subscription process, which may reduce the number of sign-ups you get. However, subscribers who click to confirm are far more likely to stay with you for the long haul.

After checking the option to send an incentive email, you can edit the email by selecting Edit Email Contents.

You can also optionally check the box to Auto-confirm new subscribers. This option will still send the incentive email so subscribers can download their incentive, but it will no longer require them to click the button to confirm their subscription.

Next, set where the incentive email's button will send subscribers. In other words, whether they'll get sent to a specific URL or get an uploaded file to download.

In the General styles menu in the sidebar, you’ll see the Form template you’re using, as well as an option to change it.

Depending on the Form template, you’ll see other main style options, like background color, border radius, and background image.

You also have the option to add custom CSS.

Learn more about styling your Form here.

Place the Form on your site the same way as any other.

For example, you can paste the JavaScript embed code or raw HTML, or use the WordPress plugin. Click Embed at the top right of the Form builder to access the embed options.

The Kit Form builder