So you’ve decided on a method to get people to your blog, you’re working that method and more people are showing up. Now you need to get them to get their ticket to jump on the bus tour. (AKA sign up for your opt in list) You do have an opt in list ready right?
Whether you’ve got your freebie ready or not, create your opt in box and get it live on your site. You can start off with just providing blog updates, it’s ok. The most important thing is that you have a way for them to “buy into the bus tour”, and your list is it.
Today I’m going to share with you some ways you can improve the rate at which people will join your list and therefore be on the bus! (This is also known as joining your list/opting in/ and the rate at which they do that is the opt in rate.)
Put your opt in box in more than one place.
Having your opt in box in your sidebar is important. However, that’s not the only place you want to have your opt in box. The more places you can put it the better ~ as long as it doesn’t become the only thing you see on your site of course.
I had no idea there were so many places to put your opt in box until I read John Chow’s free report last week. I must admit I have never read John Chow’s blog before, but Gideon Shalwick did such an excellent review of this free report I grabbed it. He talked about 5 or 6 different places to put your opt in box on your site. (BTW ~ this is an excellent report. I learned a lot. Especially the chapter on building your list. I did get a little overwhelmed by the final chapters but … it was good information, just a little more than I’m willing to do at this point ~ although I probably should. Anyway… you should grab it and take a look at his indepth analysis of getting people on your list ~ it’s really good.
Where Else Can I Put My Opt In Box?
Sidebar ~ of course. The prettier you can make it the better. Here’s a post on how to do that.
The lightbox. The lightbox is the opt in form that pops up once someone gets to the site and blacks out the site until they do something with it ~ either opt in or click the x to make it go away. You get the code for this opt in box from your autoresponder (Get Response is currently having a 33% off sale until the end of June ~ I’m just sayin’) and then add the code to the footer of your site before the </body> tag. It’s controversial I know. I resisted it for a LONG time ~ years. I find them very annoying… but here’s the deal. They work.
Here’s an example. I added the lightbox to this site last Thursday. It’s only been a week. Last night I looked at the stats from June 10-15 (the week before I added the light box) and then from the 17th -22nd (the same time period after I added the light box) Here’s the results. It’s pretty amazing.
10-15: 9 opt ins (yeah, pretty miserable right ~ I have not been doing a great job of getting opt ins)
17-22: 48 opt ins (yeah, huge difference.)
The only difference was the lightbox. That is one simple change that makes a big difference. A lot of these opt ins are coming from older pages on my site that get traffic from the search engines. These are people who I would never have had any future contact with… but now, they get my email series as well as updates when I post to the blog. I get to pull them in, let them get to know me better, and hopefully they turn into raving fans of the blog and me!
Because the lightbox is so intrusive you want to make sure you set it to only show up once. It would be over the top annoying if it showed up every time someone landed on your site, but once isn’t too bad, and it really helps make your opt in box the main focus ~ at least for those few seconds.
Footer:
You may have seen some blogs lately with a little opt in box in the footer of their site. It looks really cool right? It’s another great way to bring your opt in box into focus. They do that will a plugin called Ultimate Footer Ad This little plugin acts like any other plugin, just upload and activate and you can create a unique opt in box in your footer. You can also use it to get more followers at twitter. This is less intrusive, but still pretty noticeable. It will help with “ad blindness” where people just don’t see the opt in box in the sidebar anymore, it will get your opt in box noticed.
Here’s an example:
After someone comments:
If you’ve got people leaving comments you’ve got yet another way to increase your opt ins. I haven’t yet implemented this one, but I can see where it would be really effective. There’s a plugin you can use called Optin Comments. This plugin works together with your autoresponder software. It will send out a quick email message to the person who just commented on your blog. You create this email, and can ask them to grab a copy of your free report ~ or whatever you are giving away to build your list. If they agree they will be added to your list from the email.
This is a great tactic. The person has just taken time, been engaged enough to take action on your site and leave a comment. Chances are they liked what you were talking about, and would enjoy your freebie. Especially if you’ve created a very related freebie.
This plugin will also give you the option to put a check box under your comment box. If the person checks the box they will automatically be added to your email list. It also has other features and is something worth looking at.
In your RSS feed:
There’s yet another plugin that will help you with this. It’s called Feed Footer. It will allow you to add advertisements to your RSS feed. So people reading your site from a feed reader will get the messages as well. You can use regular ads or you can encourage them to get your freebie and join your list. (When your feed numbers get high enough you could even sell this ad space!)
This plugin also allows you to add a copyright notice to your RSS feed ~ which is nice.
Facebook:
If you have a facebook page you can add an optin form to your fanpage by using the fbml option. This is somewhat complicated, but it can be done, and each time someone visits your fanpage it’s yet another opportunity to get them on your list where you can start building your relationship even more.
This is a lot… I know. You may not feel comfortable adding all of these options, and that’s ok. I am not either ~ at least not all at once. You know how “they” always talk about “testing” ~ this is one of those times you can easily do that. Add one thing ~ start with the lightbox, or one of the other options. Add that one thing and then wait a week or two. Make sure to check your stats and see what changes have happened in your subscriber rate. If there’s no change… give it another week and see. If there’s a big change hooray!
As time goes on keep adding these opt in elements, and keep checking on what effect the new element has on your site. These are simple changes you can make and as you’ve seen can create a huge influx of subscribers, and subscribers are what we’re after to create a profitable blog and bus tour.
It’s time to get started. What are you going to do first? I can’t wait to hear what it does for your site. Make sure you come back and let me know!
No related posts.
Great article, im a newbie and this was very helpful, i look forward to more interesting articles.
People are often skeptical about submitting emails. They feels that their email address will be sold or spammed. Even if you provide free download, they don’t usually submit form. The first thing here is to build trust. Which is very hard.
Is it good idea to add popup option box?
GetResponse was unable to duplicate the issues people are having with the lightbox showing up on every page. They did give me some suggestions to try to fix it, which I’ve done. Please let me know if you continue to see the lightbox all the time.
Nice read! I didn’t knew the importance of optin box before but thanks for your post!
How long you have kept your opt in box and how beneficial was it for you? Would love to hear on this from you as well as others who have followed this strategy before!
Bookmarked you over my delicious!!
Hi Jackie,
Don’t know if this helps the GetResponse peeps work out what it going on, but I just clicked on a link from your latest post and the lightbox came up again. However, when I come to this post from a link in one of your emails it did not.
I am using IE 8.
Hope you get it fixed, it doesn’t bother me, because it is you! But I know it would bother me on other blogs.
Cheers
Annie
Annie @Gold Coast Australia´s last [type] ..Things That Make You Australian
Hi Val, if you can tell me what browser you’re using that would be helpful. I had turned it off for a couple days and my opt ins completely dropped off. I fiddled with it and then put it back on and opt in rate popped back up.
I have to leave it up now because Getresponse is looking into it and they have to be able to see what’s going on with it.
Hi Jackie,
I too have been getting the lightbox every time I visit your blog. However, I think using a lightbox is an excellent suggestion. I am very impressed with the increased opt-in rate everyone seems to be getting.
The tech folks at GetResponse are taking a look at the problem. I have to leave the lightbox up so they can see what’s happening. If you are seeing the lightbox more than once please leave a note with the browser you’re using so they can check it.
I’ve already noted Safari MacOS to them, so they will be looking at that specifically. Thanks for your help and your patience.
Excellent tips!
I teach the first three spots are, header, sidebar (somewhere in the middle) and footer. This way, pretty much no matter where they’re reading it should be visible.
I’m undecided on things like Ultimate Footer Ad though. MANY readers REALLY don’t like those bars (any bars) in the footer like that…..that one especially seems quite large.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Blog Network Almost Ready to Rise – Multiple Posts Coming Here. =-.
Hi Jackie,
Hope you are well.
Really nice list and a coincidence that I found John Chow today and downloaded his ebook (two actually) — haven’t gotten to it yet. Hopefully tonight.
I am a big fan of the light box. For some reason it is disabled on both of my sites as I have been making some changes as of late, but you reminded me that I have to return it. It did make a big difference in my sign ups.
devin
.-= Devin´s last blog ..My Travel Business Explained, the Sunday Check-in =-.
Excellent tips. I will try to incorporate them in my blog too!
Hey Toad ~
I was over at your site earlier today ~ your lightbox looks really good. Your site is doing really well ~ I love how much conversation you’ve got going on over there. You’re doing a fantastic job!!
Thanks!! The #1 thing that has supported my success is my enthusiastic PASSION for what I blog about. I think it shows… the acne blog I had earlier just wasn’t doing it for me. Starting a new blog was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life.
Anyone reading this who is about to start a blog or contemplating starting a new one… Please, please, please, do yourself a HUGE FAVOR and blog about your PASSIONS. The more passion you have for your topic, the better you will do – I PROMISE.
Oh, and following Jackie has been a huge help too!!!!
.-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..June Chicago Trip: Severe Storms (Tornado?) & Barefoot Golf =-.
Great tips Jackie. It sounds like Gideon Shalwick knows what he is doing! I downloaded John Chows report because of Gideon as well. Believe it or not, I had no idea who Jon Chow was until Gideon recommended his free report.
Wow! I learned a lot. I have implemented the lightbox hover and will be getting the paid plugins very soon. My subscription rate has increased a lot in just the first couple of days. I can not wait to see what happens over the next few weeks! I got 5 leads today which is the highest of course and I don’t even have my free report out yet!
Ladies and gentlemen – read this carefully… I DO NOT EVEN HAVE A FREE REPORT OUT AND I GOT 5 LEADS (more than likely all will confirm as most do) today. Do I have a lot of traffic? You tell me. I have 152 unique visitors… That means 1 out of every 30 people that visit my site opt-in… pretty cool if you ask me. Now, I do have a note saying my free tips report is due June 28 which MIGHT have something to do with that.
Like Jackie says… if you do NOT have a newsletter opt-in box on your blog then do it NOW. Please, DO NOT WAIT!!!!! Just do it!!!! What are you waiting for??????? GO! Now!!
Haha, but really! I can’t believe how long I waited…. I could easily have more than 100 subscribers!! Get the lightbox hover but make sure it only shows up one time and wala – magic!!
Ok, I am out
.-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..June Chicago Trip: Severe Storms (Tornado?) & Barefoot Golf =-.
I must add that 6 of my last 7 leads have come from the hover lightbox – AMAZING! The only one that was from the standard form in the right hand corner of my blog was from my mom….
.-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..June Chicago Trip: Severe Storms (Tornado?) & Barefoot Golf =-.
This is something I really need to start looking into. Thanks for the post. I know I will use it as a reference in the future.
On another note -is anybody else having issues with Squidoo today?? I have not been able to get in for the last 3-4 hours.
Jane ~ MoneyMom
.-= Jane´s last blog ..Denon DVD 2500BTCI Blu Ray DVD CD Player updated Mon Jun 7 2010 10:21 am CDT =-.
I was able to log in and edit a lens. But that was just a minute ago.
Hi Annie ~
It seems everyone is having the problem, so I’m guessing it’s an issue on my end. Which is weird because it only showed me the lightbox once. It’s always something.
I don’t use PPC so I’m not familiar with the rules. I don’t know about a search penalty ~ I’ll look into that, although a lot more of my traffic these days is coming from places other than Google. (although a lot of my spam comments DO come from Google.)
Hi Jackie,
I have same problem with lightbox showing every time I visit your blog. However, here is a thought, I also have my security settings reasonably high on my laptop and I notice that the lovely virus software and protector seems to like to remove certain tracking cookies, wondering if the problem is my end and not yours?
Just a thought.
I don’t use PPC to get traffic to my websites or blogs, but I know Yahoo PPC doesn’t like you using lightboxes on landing pages. Was just wondering if you know if google has any organic search penalties for using a lightbox?
Thanks once again for great information.
Annie from the land downunder!
.-= Annie @Gold Coast Australia´s last blog ..Things To Do In Gold Coast In June School Holidays =-.
Just this week I am finally getting around to placing opt-in boxes on my sites. Unfortunately, gathering list names has been a low priority. Reading this post and several others this last week – I guess God is trying to tell me something – has been like a kick in the pants. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of list building and the many ways we can build a list.
.-= Edie´s last blog ..Tempting Treats Gourmet Snack Food Basket – Great Christmas Holiday Gift Idea for Her =-.
Thanks for letting me know. That will not do. Just too annoying. I am on the live chat with Get Response right now trying to get it worked out.
It was doing the same thing for me too. But…
it didn’t show up this time! I think its fixed
.-= Primal Toad´s last blog ..June Chicago Trip: Severe Storms (Tornado?) & Barefoot Golf =-.
Probably not ~ that just isn’t ok with me so I took the code out, and I’ll have to figure out what to do and work with Get Response on this issue.
Hi Jackie:
I also have the lightbox showing up every time I visit your site.
Jackie, just so you know, your lightbox does show up every time I come to your site!
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Water Aerobics Workout =-.
Really? Oh no. Do you have cookies on on your computer? Anyone else have it showing up every time?
Yup — me, too.
Not me.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Blog Network Almost Ready to Rise – Multiple Posts Coming Here. =-.
Yep me too. Shows up every time I come to your site, but also once I’m at your site it shows up for every post I open in a new tab (Safari on MacOS). I do have cookies enabled.
Donna@Healthy Vegan Recipes´s last [type] ..David Wolfe- Boost your Immunity- Accelerate Healing -amp Increase Longevity