I usually do not fret about subscriber counts – because, ultimately, a lot of it has to do with personal knacks that you cannot change easily. Some folks get more subscribers without doing nothing, while some others do not get any even after having worked hard for months(years?).

But I believe that the #4 is the most important among them all. Although I would like to add something. How about including a teaser about your next post and the end of each post? Say, part 2 or something like a continuation of the current post?

The reader will make sure that he will not miss it, and subscription is the best way.

But this is a nice post anyway.

Nice to be back here after some months of absence. Stupid me leaving this blog after Kevin allowed me to be guest blogger here for three times.

So to avoid missing you again, I decided to subscribe. Isn't it a wonderful coincidence?

Regards,

Angel Cuala

aka Guardian Angel

Very nice of you to bring up that resource and making your point clear.

It states that the number one hated is "Pop-Ups". But when you see some of the internet marketer's sites, they have popups and it converts well for them. The thing here is that, whatever is mentioned there in the resource is true when it comes to ads. If it is a helpful information, many people would grab on it.

There are advertisements where the publisher gets paid for every load of the audio. These are the ones that people hate. If the audio is welcome note which is short and sweet, I don't think people will hate it.

Also when you are giving a free ebook and that appears as a popup, people will not mind it. But if it is an ad, people will get irritated.

Hope I'm clear.

P.S: Thank you for posting constructive comments

I don't have any links ready on this exact question by I quickly searched up study on most advertised techniques which does includes unrequested audio:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20041206.html

79% hate it.

And to clear it up I was only referring to automatically starting, having widget that plays something when visitor clicks it is totally fine.

I love to hear negative comments as it gives me a better chance to prove my point, at least what my opinion is. You need to have an audio in your blog but not necessarily play every time a visitor comes to your blog. You can place it in a visible place and let them hear it if they want. Even a short audio if played when a visitor reaches your blog the first time will not freak them out.

I agree with you that audio makes some people freak out but if it is done properly, it WILL surely improve the conversion rate. Let me give you a couple of examples seeing which I have written that point.

Yaro Starak's blog has a welcome note and almost everyone loves it. His blog has 43,000+ subscribers.

How many times have you visited a sales page of a product and you hear an audio that welcome you and introduces you to the product? Ask the product owners how much increase in conversion they had by including an audio in their sales page.

Indeed some people don't like audio. There are always people who don't like something. Even some people don't subscribe to blog that updates everyday. It makes hard for them to follow. But the bloggers don't blame it as a reason and stop updating everyday. They consider the many people who love to see blogs updated everyday.

Again, it is not a must to have audio in your blog as a welcome note. It all depends on how you think it will work.

I have the habit of not explaining some points deeply. Anyway, I guess I have explained to your my point. Please do ask if you have any further questions.

Wesley,

Actually I don't recommend playing the welcome note every time the reader refreshes the page. You just need to play it when they visit the blog first time. Or instead have them choose to play the audio.

Tom,

Yes absolutely. Replying to every comment will indeed increase your subscribers. You will develop trust in them.

I would freak out and never ever visit again. Playing unrequested audio or video on page load is a sin. Seriously, it's huge turn off for lots of people. It hadn't ever worked since beginning of Internet.