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How to Add an Email Opt In Form to The Top of Your Site

Gosh, I remember when I first decided to get serious about growing my email list. I wanted to make sure that I optimized my blog as much as possible for conversions.  

I also wanted to make sure that I gave my visitors multiple opportunities to join my email list…something that I cover in greater detail in Lead Ninja.

SoI fired up my trusty pc and headed over to Google to do some research.  As I searched the web, I stumbled on an article from Derek Halpern of Social Triggers where he shared some tips for increasing email sign ups.

His theory was simple, “Add more opt-in forms to your blog”.

Easy enough right?  

What Kind of Email Opt-In Forms Should You Add To Your Site?

Dereks article proceeded to go into more detail about several of the types of opt-in forms that you should add to your site.   The top 3 that stood out to me (several of which I have used on my own sites are:)

• Sidebar Email Opt-In Form – these are opt-in forms that you should add to the sidebar of your blog or website

• The Top of Your Blog or Website Email Opt-In Form – this is an area that is highly visible on your website or blog and that everyone will see!

• Bottom of Blog Post Opt-In Form  – this is where you add an opt-in form at the bottom of your blog posts.

 

Out of the the email opt-in forms that Derek mentioned in his post, the one that really grabbed my attention was the top of the website opt-in form.

I was pretty fascinated with this type of email opt-in form because I had never used it before on my site. But now, it was time to test it out!  

I mean think about it… when you head over to someone’s website or blog to check it out, one of the FIRST things that you will see is their header.

So I cranked up Google again… a search again and stumbled across the Hello bar plugin for WordPress.   Being the techie that I am, I decided to give this tech tool a good whirl!

Helloooo Hello Bar! Oh How I Love You!

After downloading the Hello Bar and adding it to my blog I noticed an immediate jump in email opt-ins. I mean seriously…it was awesome!  It didn’t take but a few minutes to get things going too with this plugin.

What I loved most about this tool is that you can use it to:

1. Grow your email list
2. Promote a product that you are selling
3. Promote a free event that you are putting on
4. Grow your social media following
5. Promote a freebie or opt-in that you are giving away

From experience I can tell you that you want to make sure that you optimize your blog to collect email addresses from day one of launching. It’s that serious peeps!

Hello Bar Tutorial:  How to Add an Email Opt-In Form to the Top of Your Site

To add the hello bar to the top of your website:

Step 1: Sign up for an account at HelloBar.com

Head over to HelloBar.com to sign up for an account. Enter a valid email address that you use regularly. After you sign up, you will receive additional account activation instructions via your email for this tool.

Step 2:   Add the URL of the blog or website

This should be the URL of the blog or website that you want to install the hello bar plugin into.

Step 3:   Select the goal of your Email OptIn

In this case you will want to select (Growing Your Email List) since we are setting the bar up to collect email addresses to grow your list.

Step 4:   Brand your Hello Bar

My recommendation is to brand your bar with a color that will jump out at your website visitors.  You can use a resource like Colorpalettes.net or Color-hex.com to choose a color scheme and apply it to your hello bar. 

Step 5:  Install the script for this tool

To install the script, go to Summary. If you are running a WordPress blog or website, then simply go to Summary then download the plugin. If you have an HTML based website install the script using the instructions.

That’s pretty much it!

But….to break things down a bit more, here is a video tutorial that shows you how to install the Opt-In Form to the top of your site…

Additional Plugins and Tools that You Can Use to Add Opt-In Forms to the Top of your Site

The Hello Bar isn’t the only tool that you can use to add an email opt-in form to your site.  A few additional plugins that you can use are:

#1:  Mailmunch.co Top Bar

Mailmunch.co is a free technical resource that you can use to add a top bar to your website or blog.  Oh and did I mention that it’s free to use.  

With the top bar app from Mailmunch, you will need to add as single line of code to your website’s theme to get it to work.

#2:   SumoMe Smart Bar

SumoMe is a resource that you can use to add what’s called a Smart Bar email opt-in form to your blog or website.

The Smart Bar from Sumo Me is compatible with quite a few email marketing services like Aweber and Mailchimp and will run you $29 per month.

 

#3:  Thrive Leads

Thrive leads is the current plugin that I am use to add all sorts of pop-up boxes, opt-in forms and etc to my blog.  

When I tell you that this is one of the BEST all in one list growth solutions for WordPress users on the market, it is an understatement.   

You should definitely check it out Thrive Leads when you get a chance. There is a video that you should check out as well.

So tell me. What kind of opt in form tools are you using on your sites to collect leads? Are you using Hello Bar or something else? I would love to know!