Your Mailing List Is Good As Gold
You already know how important it is to have a mailing list. If you are not currently working on your list, drop everything and start right now.
Your mailing list is as good as gold. The money is in the list. These people are your audience that reads and wants more content from you. These people are your most loyal subscribers.
So how do you get your list started? How do you get more people to sign up for your current list?
These are both good questions.
Your mailing list is as good as gold. The money is in the list.
The first is simple, just sign up with a newsletter or list service, like MailChimp or Aweber, and get your list started. Both of these services are fairly reasonable, as far as costs goes.
The second question is a little more challenging. You have your list set up, but now how do you get people to sign up.
Well first, you need to place an email opt-in form somewhere on your website. This is what we are going to talk about today, where is the best place to put this opt-in form?
Locations To Put Your Opt-Ins
Here are locations you can put the opt in on your website:
- Just below the header
- In the sidebar
- Below the blog post
- On your about page
- On a landing page
- In the footer
- Header bar
- Pop Ups
Below The Header
One location you could put the opt in form is just below the header. Your header is usually the first thing your visitors see on your website. Putting it below the header puts it right in their face.
I personally have used this location before, and it did not work for me. But it may work for you. Just try it and see.
Placing the opt-in box at the top, or near the top of the sidebar, gives it a better chance to be seen. And you can always use different colors here to make it stand out.
I use this location on my blog archive page.
After Single Blog Posts
When a visitor comes to your site to read your blog, if they read the entire article down to the bottom, they may feel like they need to do more, or may not know what else to do.
What a better way to satisfy this need then to give them the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter by putting the opt-in box here.
I like this location the best, as it is not very intrusive like some opt ins are.
Put It On Your About Page
If you check your Google Analytics you will see that your about page is one of the most poplar pages on your site. This is not an accident.
People go to your about page because they want to learn something about you and what you have to offer them. Or maybe they are looking to see what your site is all about and they are looking for an explanation there.
People go to your about page because they want to learn something about you. This means, that they are probably more willing to sign up for your newsletter here if they see an opt-in form here. So put one here to give the opportunity to do so.
Landing Page
Create a page that is solely dedicated to getting email signups. This would be a landing page. Have a lead magnet there to attract them to signup for something to get for free.
Landing pages are great for opt-ins as they most often have higher conversion rates. And they are designed to target just one thing, in this case, getting an email address.
You can direct traffic from your social media accounts to this landing page my putting links on your social media posts.
If your visitor makes it all the way to the end of your web page, that means they are engaging with your content and looking for more.
If they like your content you want to ask them for action right away.
This is a last chance to give them the opportunity to sign up for your list. So why not put the opt-in form in the footer.
They made it this far. They want more, so they will sign up for your list.
Header Bar
The header bar is the little bar across the top of your site. What, you don’t have one? You may not have one, as this is usually a plug-in feature.
You may have heard of Hello Bar. This is an opt-in bar that gets added to the top of your website and has an opt-in box for emails. This can go away or remain static, based on how you set it up.
Another one that is popular these days is Sumome. It has a header bar, and also opt-in boxes that pop up in different places on your site, usually when the reader is about to leave.
This leads into the next way to add opt-ins to your site by the use of pop up boxes.
Pop Up Opt Ins
These pop up boxes have become really poplar these days and a lot of people swear by them as a way to increase their email sign-ups.
Some people have had great success with these types of opt-ins, however depending on your niche, they may not work.
In some niches, these pop ups can kill your conversions, as they are down right annoying. But in other niches they work great.
Which Email Opt-In Form Should You Use?
It really depends on your niche as to which one you will use and if it will be successful.
You really just need to try them all and see which works the best for you.
Me personally, I don’t like the pop ups, I think they are annoying, and I don’t use them on my site, but then, again, it could be the niche that I am in.
Which Ones Do You Use On Your Site?
Which opt in forms do you have on your site? I would really like to hear from you about which ones you use, and how they have worked for you. Please let me know in the comments below.