Have you added Grow to your site, customized your appearance settings, and set up Co-Branded Sign Up, but don't know what to do next? If your site is in the food and drink niche, we'll cover the best practices to make sure you're getting the most out of Grow!
- Not a food and drink site? Check out our other Best Practice guides!
Subscribe
Swap out all existing subscribe forms with Grow Subscribe forms to make sure you're obtaining reader consent to collect first-party data. There are several Subscribe form types to fit your desired set up:
- Link Share
- Most Valuable Content Subscribe
- Spotlight Subscribe
- Pop Up Subscribe (It's Google-friendly; read more here!)
- Subscribe Manual Placement
- Click to Subscribe
We recommend the Most Valuable Content Subscribe form for food sites specifically, so readers who Jump to Recipe are presented with a Subscribe form in the recipe card!
We also heavily encourage adding a Link Share form to your site. It lets readers subscribe to receive an email with a link to the post they're currently on, increasing the likelihood they will return! Link Share forms have the same function as a "Save this recipe" form.
- Pro tip: Set a Link Share form as your Most Valuable Content Subscribe form.
Make sure your Subscribe forms are as specific as possible. Use the description to let subscribers know what kind of content to expect and how often and establish a personal connection with your readers.
Enable Subscribe Action Pack. These are additional opportunities for readers to subscribe, like when they bookmark your recipes for later and can help you build your superfan audience more quickly.
- Create Subscribe forms for seasonal recipes or recipes by course, then add them easily to specific posts using Category Targeting. (Spotlight and Pop Up Subscribe only.)
- Set up your Email Service Provider Integration or enable Automailer to deliver your content to your subscribers.
- Use Subscribe Redirect to redirect subscribers from the Subscribe form to a thank you page, lead magnet download, purchase page, etc.!
Recommended Content
Enable What's Next on Mobile. Since most of your readers are on mobile devices, this increases the chances of them clicking through to a second or third post!
Inline Recommended Content and Sidebar Recommended Content will serve you best for desktop readers. If you have over 15% desktop traffic, you should enable at least one of these widgets.
Recipe Card Save Button
We know most readers immediately use the Jump to Recipe button. If you're using Create, Tasty, or WordPress Recipe Maker recipe cards and have Jump to Recipe on your site, enable the Recipe Card Save Button.
- Note: Only Create cards need this setting enabled in Grow Publisher Portal. Tasty and WordPress recipe cards will need to set this up in their plugin settings.
This feature combined with Subscribe Action Pack can supercharge your subscription rate because readers who save the recipe will be prompted to subscribe!
Exclusive Content
Exclusive Content should be used for supplemental materials, like your e-cookbooks, measurement conversion guides, dietary substitution hacks, etc.
Place Exclusive Content widgets directly below your recipe card. Making sure you place Exclusive Content where the most readers can see it should lead to the best conversion rate.
We do not recommend locking your recipe cards. Readers who land on your post and jump to a locked recipe card will go back to their search results to find a recipe they can access.
You can read more about how to best use Exclusive Content on your site here!
Print Pass
Enable Print Pass to lock your recipe card print page behind a Subscribe form, just like Exclusive Content. It can help you increase the value of readers who print your recipes, especially if you have ads on your print recipe page!
- Pro Tip: Since its release, Print Pass has become Grow's top conversion tool, beating Spotlight Subscribe by almost double.
Grow Links
Using the Links Toolkit allows you to generate Email Connect links for support Email Service Provider newsletters and Grow Links to share on social media networks and anywhere else you're linking (or non-supported ESP emails).
These links let Grow identify users who land on your site, serving them personalized ads and increasing their value.
More identified users = more revenue in your pocket!
Let's Recap!
- Customize Grow to fit your brand.
- Create a Link Share form and set it as the Most Valuable Content form.
- Make your Subscribe forms as specific as possible.
- Enable the Recipe Card Save button and Subscribe Action Pack.
- Enable Print Pass.
- Enable What's Next on Mobile Recommended Content.
- Use Grow Links (via the Links Toolkit) to share Grow Links anywhere you're linking to your site.