More and more business owners are becoming aware that they need to have an opt-in form on their website and are doing this now, which is great! (Although a lot are still not sure what to do with those subscribers … but we’ll cover that in another post).
But did you know you should have multiple website opt-in forms? In fact, there’s 4 different types of opt-in forms that I recommend most sites include.
These 4 must-have website opt-in forms are:
Sidebar Opt-In Form:
If your site has a sidebar on it – even if it’s only on certain pages, such as a blog page – then you should have an opt-in form within this sidebar. Preferably at the top of the sidebar.
Many autoresponder programs will allow you to create a form that will fit nicely into this section. Although it’s also okay to have compelling text and an image that, when clicked on, directs people to a dedicated opt-in page.
Pop-Up Opt-In Form:
Oh, pop-ups … how people love to not-love these. (I don’t like using the word hate, so we’ll go with ‘not-love’ instead).
🙂
So many people say that pop-up forms are annoying but yet, opt-in forms within pop-ups often out-perform other types of website opt-in forms hands down. That’s why they’re still used so much … because they work!
The trick here though is to not make your pop-up annoying. Set it to show when someone is exiting your page, rather than as soon as they arrive on your page. Also, make sure that your offer is worthwhile. Meaning, make sure that you offer something of true value in exchange for asking people to enter their name and email address.
When done correctly, these are well received and will help you to keep in touch with your site’s visitors, rather than annoying them.
A word of caution though:
- Set up your opt-in pop-ups so that they don’t show on mobile sites.
- Don’t have pop-ups on pages that you’re directing traffic to via advertising such as Google AdWords.
I like using the Thrive Leads plug-in to manage my opt-in pop-ups. It’s a paid plug-in, but well worth the investment. Using this gives you a lot of flexibility over what pages your pop-up displays on and much more.
Bottom Of Page Opt-In Form:
While some people see the opt-in form in the sidebar and enter their details in there, others completely overlook this part of the site. But when someone has just finished reading some content on your site, often they’re keen to subscribe for updates. That way they won’t risk missing out on any new content you publish.
So if you have a blog on your site, add an opt-in form that displays at the end of each post to make it easy for interested readers to keep in touch. You can see one of these types of opt-in forms at the end of this blog post.
However if you don’t have a blog on your site, you may want to add an opt-in form to the bottom of other, more general pages on your site. (There are a number of plug-ins that you can use to do this on WordPress websites.)
Dedicated Opt-In Page:
This is one of your most important opt-in forms, where there is nothing else on the page except your opt-in form and a little information about the benefits of subscribing.
You can see an example of this type of page by clicking here.
One of the main reasons for having a dedicated opt-in page is so that you can promote it wherever might be relevant. For example, via your social media accounts, by emails, in newsletters, via PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads, by affiliates and all sorts of other marketing strategies.
Important Note: Don’t add additional opt-in forms to dedicated opt-in pages or sales pages. You’ve already got a strong Call To Action on these pages (“subscribe” or “buy”) and adding another opt-in form via a pop-up or at the bottom of the page will be too distracting.
Download Your Copy:
Want to download this infographic and save it to your computer for easy reference? Sure. Click Here to download the 4 Must Have Opt-In Forms For Your Website infographic.
