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Best place for opt in - sidebar, footer, pop up?

by sentient
22 replies
Basically wondering what people's experiences were of the most effective position to put their aweber or similar opt in box (other than a squeeze page obviously)?

The options to me seem to be sidebar, pop up, footer or in content / at the foot of posts.

I personally find pop ups annoying, but that could be because I'm used to visiting sites set up by IMers!
#footer #opt #place #pop #sidebar
  • Profile picture of the author butters
    Only one right answer to this, try each position, collect the data and then come to the conclusion based on YOUR website. Other peoples figures mean nothing, their traffic is different, people are different, layout is different and a whole lot more is different. Test, Test, Test!
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcarnivore
    I have one on my right side bar, the middle of each blog post, and at the bottom of each blog post. Works pretty well in combination.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    Like it in the side bar (if you have a blog type of website)

    Maybe have it also at the end of the post. (or point to a squeeze page)

    Cheers,

    Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author sentient
    Thanks guys. Obviously I'll be testing different options, but it's always worthwhile gathering opinions from people who've already do these things.

    Interesting to note no one has recommended pop ups so far. Can't just be me who finds them annoying!
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by sentient View Post

      Interesting to note no one has recommended pop ups so far. Can't just be me who finds them annoying!
      No, indeed. That's one of the few things I'm not even willing to test, myself (because I wouldn't be willing to use one even if more people opted in to it than do now - the biggest list isn't always the best list anyway): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4985800
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      • Profile picture of the author JasonAaron1
        I have a heat map installed one of my most active websites. I was testing a pop up for a few months, and was seriously considering removing it, but then I checked the results and found out that over 50% of the optins on my site came from the popup. I do make sure to limit the pop up though. I only have it on the homepage, and I have it only pop up the first time someone comes to my site.
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      • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        No, indeed. That's one of the few things I'm not even willing to test, myself (because I wouldn't be willing to use one even if more people opted in to it than do now - the biggest list isn't always the best list anyway): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4985800
        What if you tested it and found that not only more people opted in but the list was more responsive, made more sales AND increased visitor time spent on your website.

        You'll never know until you test...
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        • Profile picture of the author uraliss
          Common wisdom is to have the opt-in box in the top-right hand corner.

          But of course the correct answer is to test because who really knows until your visitors tell you.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by RockingLastsForever View Post

          What if you tested it and found that not only more people opted in but the list was more responsive, made more sales AND increased visitor time spent on your website.
          I've had enough long-term subscriber feedback (including from some of my best customers), across a wide range of different niches, to know that there's a very substantial overlap indeed, from my perspective, between the traffic demographics of "the people who won't opt in to a squeeze page" and "the people who won't opt in to a pop-up".

          I've tested squeeze pages extensively and found that they consistently build me bigger lists which produce less long-term income, in every niche in which I test them.

          The people who tell me they don't opt in to squeeze pages are the same people who tell me they don't opt in to pop-ups.

          I'm as sure as I can be (and sure enough for my own purposes, which aren't the same as everyone's purposes, I admit) that a pop-up will once again build me a bigger list which produces less long-term income. For the same reasons. So I'll pass. :p

          However, I agree with you that technically one never "knows" (i.e. provably) without testing everything. In reality, I have enough other things to test, not to be feeling any sense of loss at all over not testing this one.

          I've actually found no statistically significant differences between having my opt-in boxes at the top-right or the top-left. I think I have all but one of them at the top-right at the moment.
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          • Profile picture of the author sentient
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            I've had enough long-term subscriber feedback (including from some of my best customers), across a wide range of different niches, to know that there's a very substantial overlap indeed, from my perspective, between the traffic demographics of "the people who won't opt in to a squeeze page" and "the people who won't opt in to a pop-up".

            I've tested squeeze pages extensively and found that they consistently build me bigger lists which produce less long-term income, in every niche in which I test them.

            The people who tell me they don't opt in to squeeze pages are the same people who tell me they don't opt in to pop-ups.

            I'm as sure as I can be (and sure enough for my own purposes, which aren't the same as everyone's purposes, I admit) that a pop-up will once again build me a bigger list which produces less long-term income. For the same reasons. So I'll pass. :p

            However, I agree with you that technically one never "knows" (i.e. provably) without testing everything. In reality, I have enough other things to test, not to be feeling any sense of loss at all over not testing this one.

            I've actually found no statistically significant differences between having my opt-in boxes at the top-right or the top-left. I think I have all but one of them at the top-right at the moment.
            And how do you get people to your squeeze page Alexa? I get the impression from your posts that you have more authoritative sites rather than sniper style, so do you have links within your articles to your squeeze page?
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by sentient View Post

              And how do you get people to your squeeze page Alexa?
              I don't use squeeze pages. As mentioned above, every time I've ever tested them, they built me bigger lists which produced less long-term income for me, so I've abandoned them now.

              I get people to my landing pages (which contain a prominently incentivized opt-in and are nearly always the home pages of my sites, though the opt-in box itself, without most of the text incentivizing it, appears on every page) in a variety of ways, but more than 75% of my traffic comes from article marketing.

              Originally Posted by sentient View Post

              so do you have links within your articles to your squeeze page?
              I have links to my landing pages at the end of them, and I get them published as widely as I can - anywhere where there's already-targeted traffic for me.
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              • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
                Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                I get people to my landing pages (which contain a prominently incentivized opt-in and are nearly always the home pages of my sites, though the opt-in box itself, without most of the text incentivizing it, appears on every page) in a variety of ways, but more than 75% of my traffic comes from article marketing.
                The lander sounds like a squeeze page to me, since it is squeezing information?
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          • Profile picture of the author RanjitB
            You will get a thorough understanding if you head over to this infomation page. Good stuff.
            Email Signup Forms

            Hope that will help.
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  • Profile picture of the author Devin X
    Banned
    Originally Posted by sentient View Post

    The options to me seem to be sidebar, pop up, footer or in content / at the foot of posts.
    Pop ups suck. They drive people away from your site more than they drive people into your list.

    Sidebar is the way to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author gjohansson1
    I have forms all over the place which generate pretty decent results for me. Here are the options I use or have used in the past.

    1. Feature box on homepage
    2. Sidebar
    3. Post footer
    4. Blog footer
    5. Lightbox
    6. About page
    7. Dedicated subscribe page
    8. Blog welcome page
    9. Links and banners in posts
    10. New Comment redirect wordpress plugin (free)

    Currently, I have the feature box, sidebar, lightbox, post footer, about page, subscribe page, comment redirect, and random links and banners for building my list.

    You'll want to test and see which ones work for you.

    I'm about to remove (and rework) my horrible feature box, as well as the lightbox popup.

    The form below posts almost always brings me the most active and engaged subscribers, although the numbers are much lower than the sidebar or dedicated pages.

    Of course, you have to test different offers, but even the infamous "Get Updates (it's free)" offer attracts people who are interested in more of your content, not just getting a free gift.

    I've rambled on long enough lol, but I hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    On my blog i have an opt-in form on the left side. It's working pretty well for me now. It used to be on the right side of my blog - but i decided to consider the natural eye movement of visitors, and found that putting it on the top-left side of my blog is the best.
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  • Profile picture of the author sentient
    Thanks everyone, some really useful feedback there. I appreciate you all taking the time to post.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndrewKav136
    Generally on the right hand column above the fold but... test, test, test
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  • Profile picture of the author Luis Vaugier
    There is no one simple answer to that, it works differently on each niche and blog, the bets thing to do is test what works better for you
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    The most effective position is sidebar - right, top. Above the fold is definitely going to work better.

    This will mean that you sacrifice whatever is there currently so that you can maximize list opt-ins.

    This other way is to get a popup or lightbox to show after a set time. That is also very effective too, but once that has gone, there's no way to opt-in. I know a lot of people think they're annoying, but they do work - you'd have to test them to see if they work for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author iwowwe4you
      If I open a website and pop-up window jumps out, I close both pop-up and webside without even checking what is on it. I know many people who does the same. If fact many people consider them as virus attacks or some king of similar stuff, lol. I know people who when they see a pop-up would immediately restart their PC and scan it. Sounds funny, but in same cases they may be right as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    To maximize opt-ins, probably a pop-up or a prominent display above the fold.
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