31 Content Upgrade Ideas For Your Blog (With real examples!)
Do you use content upgrades in your blog + biz?
Personally, my content upgrades have contributed a lot to my email list growth.
Generating an amazing content upgrade becomes much easier when you have an abundance of content upgrade ideas.
Hence, in this post, I will share with you 31 content upgrade ideas that you can use.
Throughout the post, I will also intersperse real-life examples of each type of content upgrade just for you!
31 Content Upgrade Ideas For Your Website:
1. Cheat sheet
This is by far my favorite content upgrade type. Cheatsheets are very popular – people love shortcuts and fast results.
People also have a very short attention span as they are busy, so a cheat sheet promises a fast consumption process.
2. Checklist
A checklist is an action-oriented content upgrade that breaks down a difficult task into small, digestible steps. I find this to be very popular amongst my audience as well.
I find this to be very popular amongst my audience as well. They can print it out and use it again and again!
3. Webinars
A webinar is an in-depth online workshop that teaches your audience something. This is often seen as a high-value opt-in if your topic is something that your target audience is interested in.
I personally use and love Webinarjam to host my webinars. You can host a free webinar using Youtube Live, but if you’re ready to go pro and have many functions such as launching offers and having countdown timers in your webinars, I recommend Webinarjam for that.
If you’re interested in running evergreen (automated) webinars, check out Everwebinar.
- Example: My free webinar, 3 Key “Ice To Fire” List Building Blueprints That Helped Me To Go From 5 To 40,527 Subscribers (& 10,582 Customers!)
4. Podcast
Give out exclusive episodes of your podcasts. This works especially well if you have 1-2 high-value podcast episodes. For instance, if you managed to invite someone extremely famous to your podcast!
5. Swipe files/scripts/ templates
Swipe files and scripts and basically ready-to-use, plug-and-play templates that you personally use.
For instance, if you are a dating coach for women, you can give away scripts to teach women exactly what to say on their first date to captivate their date.
Bonus points if it is a script that you have personally used and achieved success with!
6. Transcripts
Transcripts are great as people can skim through the transcript and get to the main point of an audio recording or video.
7. Infographics
We all love infographics, don’t we? People will not only opt-in to get a high definition version of an infographic, they are also more willing to share these colorful bad boys!
8. Case study
An in-depth case study is useful as it promises to allow your audience to view the steps behind someone else’s success without going through the trouble of acquiring the information themselves.
This is great if your case study participant has achieved X result that your audience desires to achieve.
9. Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are often perceived as “complex” and difficult to create – so offering one may work in your favor.
10. Calendars
Offer a calendar – aka a timeline to do something! This will offer to help organize the schedules of your audience and save them time.
11. Planners
In the same vein, you can create an e-planner and offer it as a download! If you are like me, you love staying on track with your goals and a planner does just that.
Just make sure that the planner is relevant to your niche. Eg, if you are in the gardening niche, you could perhaps design the planner around plants, or center the planner around planting something. Just make it gardener friendly 😉
12. Video Tutorials
Have an exclusive video tutorial? Well, recording a video and offering it as a content upgrade is a fabulous idea!
13. Challenges
Challenges are great. You can get your readers to opt-in and then send them daily emails with the challenge information. This provides great engagement as well!
14. Snippets of a paid course
You can consider offering a small part of your paid course. Not only does this build your list, you get to acquaint people to your paid offerings and potentially increase sales!
You can easily offer a free preview of your paid course using Teachable, which I use to host all my courses and absolutely LOVE. Do check it out if you’ve been wanting to start a course. It allows me to provide the best possible course experience for my students and I have received so much praises about how my course is presented and organized after I switched.
15. Printables
I have offered printables many times and they have always worked well for me. Anything that can be printed is usually perceived as pretty valuable! Here’s how you can make a printable.
For instance, you may sell adult coloring books – you can offer a few designs for free for people to print out and color at their own time.
- Example: You can view all my printables here.
16. Facebook group
This used to work better before Facebook groups became so ubiquitous, but this still works well as humans crave connection and community.
I even have a link to join my Facebook group at the end of every post because I love it when more people join my community and connect with me!
17. Mini-course
This can be an email course – offer a short 5-7 day course to engage your new subscriber. This gives your readers an idea of the kind of quality content you provide.
18. Ebook
Have an ebook (here’s how to write an ebook) that’s related to your article? Why don’t you offer that as an opt-in? An ebook is simple to understand.
However, ebooks are pretty common nowadays. You run the risk of people downloading your ebook and having it stay forever on their desktops without being opened.
19. Tools / Resource List
Collate a list of useful top tools or resources that you use! This is extremely easy to create and readers can easily download the PDF content upgrade.
Plus, you get to earn some extra affiliate income if they purchase the resources that you recommend!
20. Free trial
If you run a software company (or sell something that works with a free trial), try offering a free trial as an exclusive offer within selected articles. This may even generate extra sales for you!
21. PDF of article
Want to offer a content upgrade but don’t have time to create one? Just convert your article into a PDF and offer that as a content upgrade!
Some people will want the PDF because they can save it and refer to your article again. A PDF of your article works well if your article is super high-value.
22. Fill-in-the-blank templates
This is similar to a content upgrade idea above about providing scripts and swipe files – just this time round, have blanks for people to customize your templates into their own!
This allows for a certain level of personalization that some people may find useful.
23. Video or audio recording of your article
You can offer a video or audio recording of your article to cater to different types of viewers on your blog! Offer to send it to them via email and get their email in the process.
24. Bonus content
If your article has 10 points, offer another 5 more! For instance, if your article is about “5 hacks to fold clothes neatly and quickly”, your content upgrade can include another 5 more hacks.
- Example: If you look at my catchy headline template content upgrade above, the article has 190 templates, but the content upgrade has 220 templates – I offered a bonus for those who opted-in
25. Worksheets
Worksheets that supplement your blog post works well as well, as they encourage your readers to implement your advice.
- Example: My one-paged worksheet I created to help you craft out YOUR business model via this 3-step process
26. Formulas
If you have a formula achieving a particular result, you can offer that as a content upgrade! A formula is very quick to the point and easily consumable.
27. Raw PSD files
Raw PSD files can be very valuable!
28. Free stock images
Offer free stock images! This works especially well if your readers are bloggers, photographers and other creative types.
- Example: Here’s a list of bloggers who offer free stock images – 30 Cool Places To Find Free Feminine Styled Stock Photos
29. Slideshare version of article
If you’re good with creating SlideShare presentations, do consider offering a SlideShare version of your article as a content upgrade.
This works well if you have a long article, as a SlideShare presentation helps to present your content in a concise manner to your audience.
30. A kit
Put together a kit of stuff to send to your audience as a content upgrade! A kit sounds more valuable than a single download, and adds a nice personal touch to your content upgrade, given that the downloads in your kit are lovingly curated!
31. Resource library
I love offering a resource library, which is basically a password protected page of freebies that your subscribers can access to get all your available freebies in one convenient place.
The great thing about offering a resource library is that you don’t have to create a fresh new content upgrade for all your posts – you just have to offer your resource library, because it is universally attractive to 99.99% of your audience.
Summary of all 31 content upgrade ideas:
Tweet this post if you like this list! [Tweet “This article has a ton of fantastic content upgrade ideas! Love it.”]
1. Cheatsheet
2. Checklist
3. Webinars
4. Podcast
5. Swipe files/ scripts/ templates
6. Transcripts
7. Infographics
8. Case study
9. Spreadsheets
10. Calendars
11. Planners
12. Video tutorials
13. Challenges
14. Snippets of a paid course
15. Printables
16. Facebook group
17. Mini-course
18. Ebook
19. Tools/ resource list
20. Free trial
21. PDF of article
22. Fill-in-the-blank templates
23. Video or audio recording of your article
24. Bonus content
25. Worksheets
26. Formulas
27. Raw PSD files
28. Free stock images
29. Slideshare version of your article
30. A kit
31. Resource library
That’s all folks! I hope this helps, pal. What’s your #1 favorite content upgrade idea? 🙂
P.S. If you’re ready to get serious about your email list, check out my step-by-step course on how to grow + monetize your email list. As you can see from the multiple examples in this post, I only preach what I really practice. 😉
Content upgrades are just part of 1 tiny module in the course. Check out List Building Incubator for everything you need to know about traffic and growing your list. x
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