McAllister - 25 guaranteed ways to increase email opt ins from your blog

25 Guaranteed Ways ToIncrease Email Opt-ins From Your Blog

By: JamesMcAllister

Copyright:

2015 by James McAllister.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book maybe reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, orphotocopying without written permission of the publisher or author.The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied inthe critical articles or reviews and pages where permission isspecifically granted by the publisher or author.

Although every precautionhas been taken to verify the accuracy of the information containedherein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for anyerrors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that mayresult from the use of information contained within.

Introduction

If you're not buildingyour email list, you're an idiot.

For most bloggers, thereal money isn't made through their blog. It's made by promotingproducts to those who have opted-in to their newsletter. Therefore,your main goal should be to get people onto your email list andinto your sales funnel.

However, this is easiersaid than done. Convincing readers to part with their email isharder than ever before and you've really got to go above andbeyond your competitors if you want to win your visitor'semails.

While this book cannotcollect emails for you, it will make the process as easy aspossible, providing you 25 different ways to improve your opt-inrates and make you more money as a result!

1. Use A Good EmailMarketing Service

First and foremost, you'vegot to use a good email marketing service. Everything else fromhere on out will be pointless if you're using a horrible, freeservice such as MailChimp.

Heres why. Y aredisposable to free email marketing services. If you are not makingthem money, they can and will get rid of you if you give them anyreason to do so. They have no incentive to keep you around. As aresult, they often have ridiculous terms of service and are willingto ban you for the most ridiculous reasons.

Its also worth notingthat free email marketing services have limited features and harshlimits. While they may not be an issue in the short term, in thelong term youll end up having to switch to a better service anywayand by doing that, youll lose a lot of your subscribers in theprocess.

The single most importantthing you can do is use a great email marketing service likeGetResponse. Aweber is another solid choice, but I preferGetResponse because they have more features I actually use. If youhaven't already, I highly recommend checking them out. It would bea real shame if your list was wiped out because the free marketingservice you chose decided that they didn't like you.

2. Use SingleOpt-In

Single vs. double opt-inhas been an ongoing debate for years now. It's argued that doubleopt-ins lead to a more engaged audience and less spam complaints.You'll also pay less using double opt-in, because you won't have todeal with the issue of fake emails.

However, these reallyaren't as important as they are made out to be. Using singleopt-in, you not only get all the people that would've taken thetime to verify their email, you also get all the extra people thatwould not have.

Let's be realistic -people are busy. They forget things. Many people will not take thetime to go searching through their spam or junk folder to find youropt-in verification if it ends up there.

You can avoid spamcomplaints by making it clear that they can unsubscribe easily atany time.

Finally, if you'reactually using a good email marketing service you won't pay anyextra charges for fake emails.

3. Multiple Opt-inBoxes

Its very important tohave multiple places for people to opt-in on yourwebsite.

On my websites, I havefour. One at the top of the page, one on the sidebar, one at thebottom of each post, and one pop-up that activates once you scrollall the way down the page under certain conditions.

These opt-in forms convertat 0.8%, 1.97%, 2.9%, and 8.22% respectively, although the pop-upisn't displayed very often. This brings the opt-in rate for a newvisitor that triggers the pop-up to an incredible 13.89%, with asite-wide average of just under 10%.

Every single opt-in formcontributes significantly to this percentage. Could you imagine howmany less subscribers I would get if I just used one opt-inbox?

Make sure you have opt-informs in plain sight at all times on your website. You never knowwhen someone will be convinced to opt-in, and you want to make surethey have the opportunity to do-so the second they make thatdecision.

4. Use A Pop-up

People cannot opt-in toyour email list if they cannot see your opt-in form. Pop-ups areeffective because they aren't blindly scrolled over- people WILLnotice them.

It's foolish to not beusing a pop-up on your website. They don't have to be annoying orintrusive to be extremely effective.

Pop-ups are acontroversial subject, so Id like to take a bit of time to talkabout them further.

Pop-Ups Work. HeresWhy.

If you want people to getonto an email list, they have to fill out an opt-in form. To fillout an opt-in form, they have to see the opt-in form. To see theopt-in form, you have to make it noticeable to them.

Even if you do your bestto make your opt-in forms stand out, people will inevitably missthem. But you know what people cant possibly miss? The huge pop-upin the middle of the screen that screams, Read me!

And people do. For manypeople, their pop-up is the highest converting opt-in form on theirsite for this very reason.
If you added a pop-up to your site today, Im willing to bet thatyoull experience the exact same thing, and see a boost in opt-insalmost immediately.

Pop-ups Dont Have To BeAnnoying

Pop-ups do not have to beannoying to be extremely effective. I personally have my pop-upsdesigned to maximize conversions without disrupting the userexperience.

Rather than popping up onevery page you visit, youll only see a pop-up on my site onceevery 30 days. Thats it. This means my regular readers dont getannoyed by having to close a pop-up every time they visit my site,while still providing me the opportunity to capture search enginevisitors who would otherwise probably never visit my websiteagain.

Additionally, the pop-uponly appears when you reach the bottom of the article. This isincredibly effective because it gives the reader something to donext, and it doesnt disrupt your visitors from reading yourcontent.

Since adding my pop-ups tothe site, I havent received a single complaint, nor has my bouncerate changed. The only difference is Im collecting more emails andbuilding my list faster. Which, you know, should be the primarygoal of any blog.

James, Youre A Liar.Pop-Ups Are Annoying No Matter What!

and I will never, evervisit your website.

Cool. Bye!

Like I said, I haventreceived a single complaint about my pop-ups yet. But if I have,thats exactly what Id say. Because those people, quite frankly,are not worth our time.

If somebody is seriouslygoing to complain about you offering them valuable free stuff, theydont deserve it. Not like they wouldve subscribed anyway, butthat doesnt matter. You shouldnt even want them as an emailsubscriber, because those types of people are bound to cause manyother headaches further down the line.

Heres the truth. Thereare pros and cons to everything you do, and the pros of having apop-up far outweigh the cons (if there really are any.) Look atthis from a time perspective would you let one person go if itmeant 50 new people would stick around for the long-term? Whichwould be a better use of your time? Think about it.

So sure, maybe a pop-upwill anger somebody, sometime, but youd be foolish to believe allof the extra opt-ins arent worth it. There are far more people inthe world who will not mind your pop-up, actually fill it out, andbecome a long-term member of your community.