This course is best experienced with AWeber
Get AWeber FreeIntroduction
02:50
1. Research your audience
05:31
2. Choose a lead magnet format
08:52
3. Create your lead magnet
06:48
4. Select a sign up form type
07:40
5. Find a sign up form tool
04:49
6. Write and design your form
04:33
This course is best experienced with AWeber
Get AWeber FreeIntroduction
Here’s what you can expect
Before you start this course, learn how it’s formatted and what you’ll need to do to complete it.
View lesson transcriptHi! My name is Liz Willits and I’m a content marketing specialist here at AWeber.
Welcome to Email List Growth Blueprint.This is an accelerated course where you’ll learn how to build the framework that’ll help you grow your email list.
This framework is scalable and can grow your list while you do other things. And it’s proven to work. At AWeber, we used it to grow our own audience. And marketers and businesses around the world use this same framework as well.
An email list will help you connect with your audience and sell more of your product or service. But often, it can be challenging to actually get people to subscribe to your email list, because honestly, they may not want to receive another email in their already cluttered inbox.
This course is going to show you how to not only get people to subscribe to your list but how to make them excited to join your list.
In 6 short videos, I’m going to show you how to construct your own audience-building blueprint, tailored to your unique business. In lesson 1, you’ll learn about audience research. In lesson 2, how to choose a format for your lead magnet. In 3, how to create your lead magnet. In 4, sign up form types. In 5, sign up form tools. And finally, in lesson 6: copywriting and design tips to optimize your sign up form.
At the end of each video, I’ll give you easy-to-follow, short homework that’ll help you build a part of your blueprint. You should be able to complete most of the homework in this class in less than 30 minutes.
To complete this course, you’ll need a few things: a sign up form creation tool, Google docs and an email marketing platform. If you don’t have these things, don’t worry! I’ll walk you through getting them during the course.
But, for right now, if you don’t have an email marketing platform, I recommend getting an AWeber Free account that you can use throughout this course. With AWeber, you’ll get both an email marketing platform and sign up form builder. So you’ll be set up for success.
Once you finished this course, you’ll have everything you need to grow your email audience. You’ll have an optimized website sign up form and an incentive that’ll convert your website visitors into email subscribers. And, I’ll be sharing my best strategies and tips to make your sign up form a conversion machine.
For today’s lesson, I’m going to talk about the first part of your blueprint: your lead magnet. You’re going to learn what a lead magnet is, and the secret to creating a lead magnet that your audience will LOVE.
So let’s get started.
Collapse transcriptLesson One
Planning a Lead Magnet
Download lesson one worksheetIn this lesson, learn the number one way to make your audience love your incentive. Complete audience research and choose a topic for your lead magnet.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
What a lead magnet is
The importance of audience research
Three methods to research your audience
How to use your research to choose a topic for your lead magnet
Plus, you’ll get your first homework assignment!
View lesson transcriptFor today’s lesson, I’m going to talk about the first part of your blueprint: your lead magnet. You’re going to learn what a lead magnet is, and the secret to creating a lead magnet that your audience will LOVE.
So let’s get started.
Lead magnets, which are sometimes called incentives, freebies, or content upgrades, are something you give people in exchange for joining your email list. They give your subscribers a reason to join. A really good lead magnet will make your subscribers excited about subscribing.
Lead magnets are often digital, such as a PDF or coupon code. But sometimes, they can be a tangible item, like a t-shirt. Or, it might be based on a service, such as a free consultation.
For this course, we’re going to focus on digital lead magnets, because they’re often entirely free to create and can be finished in a few hours or less.
But before we get into the details of creating a lead magnet, which we’ll cover in our third lesson, we have to do something way more important.
We have to determine what your audience actually wants and needs.
This is vital, because you don’t want to spend time creating a lead magnet only to find out it’s not actually something your audience wants.
Figuring out what your audience will love starts with a little research.
There are three ways I recommend for researching your audience.
The first method is my favorite: survey your audience.
In your survey, ask your audience questions about your industry, such as: “What are you struggling with?” “What questions do you have?” “What’s your greatest challenge?” “What do you want to learn more about?”
The answers to these questions can give you the concept and topic for your lead magnet.
Let’s say you’re a personal trainer. You might ask your audience, “What is your greatest challenge?” If a few people respond saying something like, “I’ve heard yoga is good for me. But I have no idea how to get started with it.” – that’s something you can work with. You can then create a lead magnet called “The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started with Yoga.”
Surveys can take the guesswork out of choosing a topic for your lead magnet because you’re getting ideas directly from your target audience.
I recommend emailing a survey to every new subscriber who joins your email list. This way, you hear from every subscriber.
If you use AWeber, you can include a survey in your automated welcome emails for new subscribers, or send it as a one-time broadcast email.
If no one is subscribing to your email list right now, then send your survey to current customers, friends who are interested in your product or service, or even post your survey on forums or social media.
Method two is social listening.
Social listening is conducting online research around a specific topic on social media and forums.
For example, when I want to learn more about my audience, I go on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Quora (If you’re not sure what this is, I’ll explain it in a moment). On these sites, I’ll search email marketing groups and forums to find the questions you’re already asking about email marketing.
We actually decided to create this course because of the questions we saw people asking about email marketing on social.
My favorite place to do social listening is Quora. Quora is a site where anyone can ask a question and anyone can answer it. To use Quora for your own audience research, find the questions people are asking about your industry, product, or service.
If a lot of people are asking the same question, then that may be a great question for your lead magnet to answer.
Let’s revisit the personal trainer example I used earlier: as a personal trainer, you could search Quora for people asking questions about weightlifting. You might find that a lot of people are asking how to tone their abs. This could then be a great topic for you to cover in your lead magnet!
Now for our last research method: Talk to your best customers.
This type of research can give you more in-depth information than the previous ones we covered because it allows you to engage in a conversation. Plus, it’s really simple. Just look for 10 of your best customers, and ask them what they want to know more about. You can do this via email, phone call, Skype, Facebook messenger – wherever!
This method works because people usually want to talk about themselves – especially if they know they’ll get something helpful as a result!
Surveying, social listening and talking to your best customers are the three ways I recommend for researching your audience and finding THE BEST topic for your lead magnet.
Now, here’s your homework: choose 2 of these research methods and start learning more about your audience.
Ask them about or research their challenges and what they’d like to learn about. Then, use that information to choose a topic for your lead magnet.
This could take as little as 30 minutes to complete.
After you’ve completed your homework, join me for our next video where I’ll talk about the second part of your list growth blueprint: choosing a format for your lead magnet.
See you then!
Collapse transcriptLesson Two
Choosing a format for your lead magnet
Download lesson two worksheetThis lesson will show you the different type of lead magnet formats and how you can choose the best one to get more email marketing leads.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
Six types of lead magnets you can easily create
The advantages and disadvantages of each format
Tips for choosing the right format for you
And you’ll also get lesson two’s homework!
View lesson transcriptHi and welcome back to Email List Growth Blueprint, the mini-course about building the foundation for your email list.
In video 1, I talked about one of the key components of your list growth blueprint: the lead magnet. Then, I explained how you can find the perfect topic for your lead magnet with audience research. If you missed that video, go back and watch it now. It’s one of the foundations of your blueprint.
After today’s lesson, you’ll know everything you need to know about the different types of lead magnets. You’ll also understand how to choose the right type for your unique business and goals.
With the right lead magnet, you won’t just get leads. You’ll get quality leads who are likely to purchase your product or service.
The format of your lead magnet is important. Because certain formats will work better with the topic of your lead magnet, and for your audience.
Lead magnets aren’t just PDFs or ebooks. There are dozens of different types of lead magnets, but today, I’m going to talk about six of the most successful and easiest to create ones.
Here we go!
Our first lead magnet is The Guide or ebook. A guide or ebook provides comprehensive information on a specific topic. It can be two pages long or ten pages. The length all depends on your topic, your audience and how much time you have.
This lead magnet format is a great option because it may seem highly valuable to your audience and very informative, as long as it dives deep into a particular topic. And if you like to write, it’s pretty easy to spin up a guide in a few hours.
Or, you can combine a group of blog posts that cover a common topic, and turn that into a guide or ebook for your lead magnet.
For example, we recently created a guide using a few of our blog posts about email contests and some new content we wrote exclusively for the guide, which saved us a lot of writing time.
One of the best parts of the guide format is that you can create it with as little as one tool. All you really need is Google docs, which is free.
There are a couple potential downsides to this format that you may want to consider before choosing it. One, if you’re not a writer, the guide may seem like a chore to create. And two, if your audience doesn’t prefer to read content , the guide may seem boring or overwhelming to them.
Now let's move on to the second type of lead magnet - the checklist. This is perfect for long form content that can be broken down into individual sections. The checklist is easy to digest and can be as simple as a how-to or step-by-step list.
It’s also really easy for you to create. You could write a checklist in less than an hour.
For example, let’s say you’re a marketing consultant who specializes in social media consultation. You could create a checklist called, “The Ten Essential Things to Review Before You Post Anything on Facebook.”
The checklist is another format that you can just use Google docs to create.
A checklist is really easy to create and can be super valuable to your audience, one disadvantage of it is that your audience may not see it that way if it’s too short.
Three, the explainer video. An explainer video provides step-by-step instruction on a narrow topic.
If your audience are visual learners, this is the perfect lead magnet format for them.
Imagine you’re a food blogger who shares recipes with your audience. If your audience struggles with creating puff pastry, for example, you could create a step-by-step video to show them how to do it, and give them this video in exchange for their email address.
While many people get overwhelmed by the idea of creating video, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Use your iPhone (or any phone with a good camera) and shoot the video in a quiet, well-lit location in your house or office.
Then, host it on YouTube and set it up as an unlisted videos. Unlisted YouTube videos can only be viewed by people you give the video link to. So you can make the video exclusively for those who sign up to your list.
Four, the online event. Invite your readers to an educational webinar, workshop, demo or other event in exchange for their email address.
We’ve seen amazing success with live events like these. When I present at webinars, I get to speak to and with my audience in such a personal way.
Webinar attendees will even email me after the webinar, and we’ll have one-on-one conversations. These kinds of connections are priceless and can lead to more sales and more awareness for your business.
If you’re a talented public speaker, live events may be the perfect format for you. And if you get stage fright, this may be the perfect opportunity to overcome it and work on your skills.
One of the main benefits of live events is that you have the opportunity to connect with your audience on a personal level, since you’re actually speaking to them and they can ask questions.
A disadvantage of them is that they’re not evergreen content, or always up-to-date. Since they’re live, you’ll need to keep creating a new webinar or hosting a new workshop. One way to work around this though, is to record your webinar and then people can rewatch it.
One more disadvantage is that webinar software can be pricey. But there are options out there that are inexpensive. If live events are something you’d like to do, compare prices for different webinar platforms like Easy Webinar, GoToWebinar or Webinar Ninja. You can even investigate free options like Facebook Live or Google hangouts.
Five, the discount or coupon. This option is perfect for retailers and ecommerce businesses. And it’s probably the easiest lead magnet type to create.
Offering a discount on your products and services is an effective way to get people who are already engaged with your content to try your products. You can offer $5 or $10 off or 5% or 10% percent off.
Including discounts or coupons also sets an expectation that you may send more in the future – which can be a huge incentive to keep people subscribed to your list.
Most ecommerce website platforms let shoppers apply coupons when they purchase, like Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce for example.
But if you don’t have a site that allows people to apply coupons, you can even ask people to email you the coupon to claim the special discount.
And you can deliver your coupon with an automated welcome email.
But depending on your product or service, you may not be able to offer a discount or coupon.
And last, the course. Right now, at this very moment, you’re watching a course.
This can serve as your living, breathing example of how it works. Courses are one of the best lead magnets because they are high value, attractive to most audiences, and often, something people want and are more likely to subscribe for.
You can create a video course, like this one. Or, make it a written course.
You can deliver your course on a course platform such as Thinkific or Udemy, on a site like YouTube, or, through my personal favorite, email.
There are so many options!
For example, let’s say you’re a travel blogger. You could create a written or video course on “How to Travel Through Europe on a Budget”.
Now, that I’ve explained the 6 lead magnet formats, how do you choose the best format for you?
First, consider what your audience will like most. Second, think about your resources and time. What format makes the most sense for you? Third, check out what your competitors or other brands are doing. If they have a similar audience who is responding well to a certain type of lead magnet, you may want to consider creating something similar or unique if you’d like to differentiate yourself. And fourth, remember the research you did and the lead magnet topic you chose from your last homework assignment? Consider what lead magnet type will work best with that topic.
Now, your homework: choose a lead magnet type from the 6 that I described in this video. When you’re selecting your format, keep in mind the three criteria I talked about for choosing the best format.
Once you’ve completed your homework, join me for our next lesson, where I’ll give you step-by-step direction to create your lead magnet.
See you then!
Collapse transcriptLesson Three
The start-to-finish plan for creating your lead magnet
Download lesson three worksheetCreate and launch your lead magnet with expert advice and easy-to-use tools. And get writing tips to guide you along the way.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
A recommended, free tool for writing and hosting your lead magnet
How to effectively outline and structure your content
Copywriting tips to help you write like a pro
How to lend credibility to your writing
Tips to make sure your lead magnet content is flawless
Simple design pointers to create a visually appealing lead magnet
How to share your lead magnet with your email subscribers
And you’ll also get lesson three's homework!
View lesson transcriptHi there! Thanks for joining me for lesson three of Email List Growth Blueprint.
In lesson one, we covered how to research and select a topic for your lead magnet.
In lesson two, you learned how to choose a lead magnet type from six powerful formats.
Today, I’m going to walk you through how to write, create and share your lead magnet with your audience. To keep it simple and make sure you can create your lead magnet quickly, we’re going to focus on written lead magnets instead of other formats like videos.
Let’s get started.
First: choose a platform or tool to write your lead magnet in.
You need a tool that’ll allow you to write content in a format that is visually appealing. And something to help you host that content online so your audience can view it once they subscribe to your list.
I recommend using Google docs to host it. Google docs is a simple and free solution for writing and hosting your lead magnet. You can also use it to download a document as a PDF, which you can share with your audience.
I’ll show you how to share your Google doc with the world a little later on.
Now, onto step two: writing your content.
No matter what, the first thing you should do is outline your content. This will help you ensure that you cover everything you need to; it’ll give you a holistic look at your content, and it’ll make the actual creation process easier.
To outline it, start by listing out the main points you want to cover. When choosing your main points, consider the research that you did in lesson 1.
What are the questions that your audience has which your lead magnet will answer? What points do you need to cover to answer those questions?
What extra information can you include that’ll really help your audience master this topic?
Once you’ve listed out your main points, add subpoints that’ll help elaborate on and support the main ones.
When you’re outlining, put yourself in your audience’s place. Keep in mind what information they already know and what info they don’t know. It’s easy to assume your audience knows more than they do so make sure to explain every point fully.
At this point, you also want to consider what data and quotes you’ll use to support your points. They can lend credibility to what you’re saying which’ll make your writing more authoritative.
Once you’ve finished outlining, you can begin writing your lead magnet content. The key to writing it is to just write. Don’t stop. Just keep writing! Don’t make changes or edits. Get all your thoughts out on paper.
You’re probably going to be tempted to start editing before you write your first draft. But don’t give in to that temptation. You’ll be able to write much more quickly without being distracted by going back and perfecting your writing.
When writing, use simple words, short sentences and paragraphs and break your content into easily digestible sections with headlines, subheadlines and bullet points where it makes sense.
Doing these things will make your writing easier to read. Which will make your audience more likely to consume your lead magnet content and get value from it.
Once you’ve finished writing a draft of your content, review it and have at least one other person review it as well.
This is important because it’ll give you a new perspective. And of course, you want to create the best thing possible!
At this point, look for typos, unclear writing, confusing structure and information that you need to explain more fully.
When editing, try to look at your content from the perspective of your reader, rather than your own. And remember, your reader is not an expert in this topic like you are.
So look for technical terms and unfamiliar words that may be confusing to them and make sure you’re explaining them.
The third step is to make your lead magnet look more visually appealing!
There are a few simple design tips you can use to make your incentive more visually appealing.
One, use a larger font size for your headlines and keep this font size consistent across your headlines. For example, if you use a font size of 20 for a headline that conveys a primary point, make sure to use that same font size for every headline that conveys a primary point.
If you have secondary headlines that support a primary headline and are of lesser importance than the primary one, use a smaller font size than the one you use for primary headlines. So if your primary headlines use a font size of 20, your secondary headlines could use a font size of 16.
Two, bold or italicize important information. For people who like to skim, this can make reading your incentive much easier and help them find the important info.
And three, try using one of your brand colors for headlines to add a little splash of color! Just don’t use too many colors. Keep it simple.
Now finally, the fourth step is to set up sharing settings for your lead magnet so others will be able to access it.
To share your Google docs, click on the blue share button at the top right of the Google docs screen. In the modal that pops up, select “On - Anyone with the link” under sharing settings and select “View only”.
Make sure to select “View Only” -- if you select a different setting your subscribers will be able to edit or comment on your Google Doc. And you don’t want that to happen.
The link that appears once you select these settings is the link you’ll share with your audience once they subscribe to your email list. Keep this link handy for later.
Another option is to download your Google doc as a PDF and then upload it to Google Drive and share it with Google Drive.
The advantage of this method is that a PDF may look more professional and polished than a Google Doc.
And that’s it!
Let’s talk about your homework: create and host your lead magnet.
Outline your content. Write it. Edit it. Make it more visually appealing. And finally, determine how you’ll share it with people.
This may sound overwhelming, but break it out into steps and do a little at a time. If you set aside time and focus, you can do this homework in an hour. You got this!
Don’t forget to watch our next video – lesson 4 – I’ll be talking about the second major component of your audience growth machine... the sign up form.
Collapse transcriptLesson Four
Selecting your sign up form
Download lesson four worksheetIn this lesson, learn the ins and outs of the seven most-popular form types and determine which type will help you reach your list growth goals.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
How you can use the seven most popular form types to grow your list
Best practices for using each form type
How to choose the right form type for you
Form strategies we use at AWeber to get more subscribers
Tips to stop annoying your subscribers with disruptive forms
How to avoid Google’s SEO penalty for intrusive forms
And you’ll also get lesson four's homework!
View lesson transcriptHi Everyone!
Welcome to lesson 4 of Email List Growth Blueprint.
In our last lesson, I gave you step-by-step instructions to create your lead magnet.
This time, I’m going to dive into how to get people to join your email list with sign up forms. I’ll explain the different types of forms and their advantages, and you’ll see when and where you should use them.
Ready? Let’s get started.
Sign up forms are what you use to collect your website visitors email addresses and other relevant information, and as a result, grow your email audience.
Raise your hand if you hate sign up forms. Yep, lots of people do. Sign up forms sometimes get a bad rap.
But the reality is, they work. And there are techniques you can use to use them in the right way and at the right time so that they don’t annoy people.
In this lesson, I’ll talk about the six most popular types of sign up forms and how you can use them.
First, one of the most-used form, embedded forms.
Embedded forms are forms that are in line or embedded into your content. They don’t follow users as they scroll. They are a part of the page.
Your homepage or landing page is a great place to insert an embedded form. The main advantage of these forms are that they don’t disrupt your user from reading content since they’re part of the content. And they often have good conversion rates as long as they are eye-catching and communicate the value of an email list.
However, there is a chance your users won’t notice your embedded forms because they don’t appear in front of your site content or follow them as they scroll.
Second, the pop up form. A pop up form appears on a users’ screen after a period of time has passed, typically on the middle of the screen. It blocks them from seeing the main page content until they either successfully opt in or close the popup. With most form platforms, you’ll be able to determine when you’d like your pop up form to appear.
Depending on the purpose of the form, you could set it to appear after it has been on a page for one second, 30 seconds, 15 seconds, or even a few minutes later.
We’ve split tested different delay times at AWeber and found that 30 seconds converts well.
Pop up forms tend to have good conversion rates, because your website visitor can’t miss them. However, they can also be disruptive since they stop your visitor from seeing the content on the page. And being disruptive can increase your bounce rates and annoy your visitors.
Third, lets talk about exit-intent forms.
Exit-intent forms appear when a user tries to exit the page, either by navigating to a different tab or by exiting the screen.
There’s a huge advantage to using exit-intent forms. They don’t disrupt your user from reading the content on the page, since they don’t appear until your user tries to exit. This is great for pages where your primary goal is to get the reader to read the page content and your secondary goal is to convince them to complete your exit-intent form and sign up to your list.
For example, I like to use exit-intent forms on landing pages where I’m offering someone a course or guide in exchange for their email address. If they try to exit the page without subscribing, I display an exit-intent form that reminds them to subscribe before they go, or that promotes a different offer that they may have more interest in.
I frequently see conversion rates above 20% for exit-intent forms that appear in these circumstances, which is really really awesome!
OK, form type four is slide-in forms.
Slide-in forms typically display on the bottom left or bottom right of a the screen. They’re called slide ins, because they slide on to the page, rather than just appearing or popping up onto the screen. They also will follow a user as they scroll down the page.
In most platforms, you can set slide-in forms to appear once a user has scrolled down a certain percentage of the page or after a specific amount of time.
For example, here at AWeber, I set our forms to appear once a user scrolls 40% of the way down a page. This gives them enough time to begin consuming the content and become engaged with it, which makes them more likely to complete the form when it does appear.
Slide in forms are less disruptive than pop ups, but more disruptive than exit-intent forms. They’re great for circumstances where you’d like users to continue being able to read the content on the page, but also see your form.
The fifth form type is horizontal bar forms.
Horizontal bar forms extend the length of a computer screen and can either display at the top or bottom of your website content. These are static forms, which means they’ll appear as part of the web page as soon as someone lands on it.
The main advantage of these forms is that they’re not disruptive, and are always visible to your website user, even as they scroll.
The disadvantages are that you can’t fit much content onto these forms since they’re horizontal. So you need to be concise with the content you add to it. They also tend to have lower conversion rates than pop up, slide-in and exit-intent forms because they’re less noticeable.
And now for our sixth and final form: the full page form.
Full page forms are like pop up forms, but instead of a small window, it covers the entire browser screen.
Your website visitors can’t help but notice them, which means they often have very high conversion rates.
But be careful! Full page forms are the most disruptive forms, and may annoy your visitors. Which means they may exit the page and even avoid visiting your site in the future.
Make sure to use them in moderation and in places where they won’t annoy your readers. One way to make sure they’re not as disruptive is to promote relevant content on the form. If the content on your full page form is relevant to the content they’re already reading, you know, at the very least, that it’s a topic your reader is interested in.
Finally, here’s one important rule to keep in mind: Don’t display pop up forms, slide in forms, or full page forms for mobile site visitors. Google may penalize you for doing so by lowering your SEO rankings. Google does this because pop up forms can be extremely disruptive to people viewing your site on their mobile devices.
But don’t worry! It’s easy to avoid this penalty. Because most form platforms allow you to determine on which devices your forms should appear, so you can have a form appear on desktop devices, but not mobile devices.
Here’s your homework: consider what type of form would be the best form to host your lead magnet. Then, choose a type that you’ll use on your site. Or, choose multiple form types for different scenarios.
This homework is easy! It should only take you five to ten minutes to complete it. All you need to do is choose a form type. In our next video, we’ll actually choose a platform on which to build your chosen form type.
That’s it for today! Don’t forget to join me for our next video lesson, where you’ll learn about the tools and platforms you can use to create your form.
Collapse transcriptLesson Five
Sign up form tools that work for you
Download lesson five worksheetFinding a reliable and powerful sign up form builder is simple. In this lesson, learn the best sign up platforms for growing your email list and how to choose one that fits your needs.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
Three things to consider before you choose a sign up form platform
Four sign up form builders we recommend
The advantages and disadvantages of each platform
And you’ll also get lesson five's homework!
View lesson transcriptWelcome to lesson five of Email List Growth Blueprint.
In our last lesson, I talked about six form types and how to choose the best form type for you, your audience, and your goals.
In this video, we’re gonna dive into the platforms and tools you can use to actually create a forms. By the end, you’ll know how to choose the right sign up form platform, and 4 different providers I recommend using.
First, let’s talk about how you choose the right sign up form platform.
There are a few things you might consider at this time: features, cost and ease of use.
First, features. As a part of the homework for this course, you’ve already chosen a form type that you’d like to use on your website. You should make sure that the sign up form platform that you choose allows you to create that form type. A simple step, but an important one! Additionally, most platforms have WordPress plugins, which makes it easier to install if you have a WordPress site. So, this may be another feature to look for.
You should also review the display rules that different platforms give you. Display rules are what determine where, how and when a form appears on your site. Every platform has varying levels of display options and complexity. You should choose a sign up form platform that gives you the display options you need.
But keep in mind, if you need more features, such as advanced display options, you may need to pay more for your sign up form platform.
Which leads me into my second point: cost.
Many form platforms have free versions of their platform that offer reduced functionality. But for many people, free form builders offer all the functionality they need. So depending on what you need, this may be the perfect option for you and your budget. But, many email marketing platforms, such as AWeber, include a sign up form platform for free.
If you want advanced features and customization options, you’ll most likely need to pay more. So determine how much you’re willing to pay for your sign up form platform, whether that’s $0 per month or $50, and choose a sign up form platform that fits your budget.
The last thing,you should consider when choosing a platform is the ease of use. Many providers allow you to test a free version of a form builder or get a free trial before you buy it. I recommend trying this to to see how easy it is to use. If a platform doesn’t offer a free trial or free version, search online for reviews of the platform.
Now that you know a few things that you should consider before choosing a platform, I’m going to share a few different providers you can use for to build your form.
First, AWeber. AWeber is a full email marketing platform that gives you email automation, analytics and much more. But it also gives you a sign up form builder. So if you already have AWeber or want to try it out free for 30 days, you’ll get a sign up form builder as part of the deal. Which is awesome, because you won’t need to pay extra for it.
And because we recently added a bunch of new, beautiful forms to use on your site.
With AWeber’s forms, you’ll be able to customize your forms to fit your branding, split test them, create different kinds of forms such as pop ups and lightboxes and more. Plus, it easily and automatically adds your new subscribers to the right email list.
If you’d like even more advanced functionality, try OptinMonster. OptinMonster gives you nearly limitless customization options for your forms and advanced display options as well as full page forms.
Want a form builder with a free version? Try HelloBar. If you love HelloBar and want more features, you can pay to upgrade. But you can get basic features at no cost with their free version.
If you have a WordPress site, Gravity Forms may be perfect for you. Gravity Forms is a WordPress plugin that allows you to easily publish forms on your WordPress site. While there isn’t a free version of Gravity Forms, it’s relatively inexpensive to purchase.
So now, your homework: choose a form platform.
Research what’s right for your business, your budget and your goals. Then, sign up for or purchase a form platform. Or if you’d like to use AWeber’s sign up form builder, just sign up for an AWeber Free account.
In our next video, I’ll explain how to make your forms convert with copywriting and design tips you can easily implement. Don’t miss this last lesson! It’s going to be rad.
Collapse transcriptLesson Six
Copywriting and design strategies to make your sign up form convert
Download lesson six worksheetGet simple optimization hacks to create a sign up form that will grab people’s attention and get them to subscribe.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
Tips for writing a form headline that’ll grab people’s attention
What to write in your form subheadline
How to make your call-to-action button copy more effective
Guidelines for using color in your forms
When to add images to your forms
The importance of context and how to use it to your advantage
And you’ll also get lesson six's homework!
View lesson transcriptWelcome to lesson 6 from our mini-course Audience Growth Machine. Congrats! You’ve made it to the last lesson. And this one’s going to be awesome!
In our last video, you learned about 4 different form platforms and hopefully signed up for one if you haven’t already.
In this lesson, I’m going to give you tips and strategies to write and design an amazing form. I’ve used these tips to create sign up forms with great conversion rates, and now I’m going to show you how to do this too.
OK, first, let’s talk about form copywriting tips.
Your headline is the first thing your website visitors will read when they see your form. To get your form to convert well, you gotta have a good headline.
Try asking a question in your headline. Or, promote your lead magnet in the headline. Or, mention the main benefit of subscribing to your email list and getting your lead magnet.
Think about what will catch the eye of your user when writing your headline.
Below the headline, you can write a subheadline that provides more context and more fully explains the benefits of your lead magnet and emails.
Keep your subheadline short. Through testing, we’ve found that too much subheadline content reduces conversion rates.
You can also set expectations for website visitors by explaining in your subheadline how frequently subscribers will receive emails from you.
The last component of your sign up form is the call-to-action (or CTA) button. This button is important because it can mean the difference between conversion and aversion. :)
Your CTA button copy should be short and descriptive. Instead of writing, “click here,” try “Get my freebie,” “Subscribe now,” or “I want in!” to be more specific and inviting.
Now, let’s talk about the design of your form.
First, color choices. Use your brand colors or colors that complement your brand colors. Use contrasting colors to catch website visitors’ eyes. You could try a brightly colored headline, CTA button or even form background. Just be sure that you don’t use too much color!
Another strategy to try is adding images to your forms. Depending on the image and your audience, this could have different results. When we split test the same form with an image against an identical form without an image, we see different results.
Sometimes the form with an image wins. Sometimes the form without an image wins. It depends on the circumstances and how we use the form. Often, I’ve found that images on forms don’t work when the images distract from your copy rather than add context to it. So split test this with your own audience to find what works.
When using images on your forms, make sure your image isn’t so big that it takes up too much of the screen or takes forever to load. This can annoy and distract your reader and as a result, decrease your form’s conversion rate.
Finally, consider the context.
Context is huge! Before you begin designing your form, think about the content of the page that will be surrounding it, the goal of your form, the overall look of your site and the messaging of your copy.
All of these factors are the context which surrounds the design of your form. When you design for the context, you’ll see higher conversions.
You can make your form fit the context by aligning your design to your website branding and messaging.
For example, if you have a technology company with bright, modern colors throughout your website, you shouldn’t use pastel colors on your sign up form or old-fashioned fonts.
Now, for your final homework assignment, apply these tips and write and design a sign up form using the sign up form platform you chose from our last video’s homework.
Remember to promote your lead magnet and set up a welcome email to deliver it once people subscribe.
Then, launch your form on your site and start promoting it.
Congratulations! You’ve completed all the videos for our mini-course List Growth Machine. Thank you for joining us.
Here at AWeber, our mission is to help you use email marketing to grow your business and reach your goals. And I hope this course brought you closer to doing so.
Collapse transcriptReady to learn more? Check out these resources:
The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Your Email List
The 4 Survey Emails That’ll Give You Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions
25 Content Upgrade Ideas (That People Actually Want!)
5 Irresistible Incentives for Your Sign Up Form That Aren’t eBooks
How to Create a Lead Magnet in Less Than a Day (That Actually Works)
How to Write a Lead Magnet Introduction Guaranteed to Seduce Your Readers
How to Design a Lead Magnet That Will Engage Readers from the Get Go
6 Mobile-Friendly Sign Up Forms to Try Now
[Podcast] Episode 005: What Types of Pop Up Forms Have the Highest Conversion Rates?
4 Ways to Avoid Google’s Mobile Sign Up Form Penalty
Beginner’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Optin Type
7 Steps to Building Sign Up Forms That Convert
8 Ways to Improve Your Call-to-Action Copy to Get More Subscribers
The 3 Commandments of Sign Up Form Design
39 Places to Find Images for Better Conversions
How to Persuade People to Subscribe: 7 Psychological Triggers
Liz Willits
Content Marketing Specialist
I lead AWeber’s sign up form strategy, so I spend quite a bit of time split testing forms, creating incentives and building AWeber’s email list. Through this experience, I’ve learned firsthand how to get more people to subscribe to your email list. As a content marketer at AWeber, I spend my time organizing promotional campaigns, hosting webinars, writing and editing content and optimizing our email marketing strategy.
Who is AWeber?
AWeber is an easy-to-use email marketing tool that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to cultivate relationships with their customers. Since 1998, AWeber has been the email engine powering the growth of organizations around the world, including leading sites like Social Media Examiner and ProBlogger and industry influencers such as Peter Shankman and Ann Handley.
Today, more than 100,000 businesses, entrepreneurs, agencies and nonprofits are making the most of AWeber's sophisticated segmentation and analytics capabilities, extensive template libraries and industry-leading deliverability and live support.
Ready to learn more? Check out these resources:
The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Your Email List
The 4 Survey Emails That’ll Give You Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions
25 Content Upgrade Ideas (That People Actually Want!)
5 Irresistible Incentives for Your Sign Up Form That Aren’t eBooks
How to Create a Lead Magnet in Less Than a Day (That Actually Works)
How to Write a Lead Magnet Introduction Guaranteed to Seduce Your Readers
How to Design a Lead Magnet That Will Engage Readers from the Get Go
6 Mobile-Friendly Sign Up Forms to Try Now
[Podcast] Episode 005: What Types of Pop Up Forms Have the Highest Conversion Rates?
4 Ways to Avoid Google’s Mobile Sign Up Form Penalty
Beginner’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Optin Type
7 Steps to Building Sign Up Forms That Convert
8 Ways to Improve Your Call-to-Action Copy to Get More Subscribers
The 3 Commandments of Sign Up Form Design
39 Places to Find Images for Better Conversions
How to Persuade People to Subscribe: 7 Psychological Triggers
Liz Willits
Content Marketing Specialist
I lead AWeber’s sign up form strategy, so I spend quite a bit of time split testing forms, creating incentives and building AWeber’s email list. Through this experience, I’ve learned firsthand how to get more people to subscribe to your email list. As a content marketer at AWeber, I spend my time organizing promotional campaigns, hosting webinars, writing and editing content and optimizing our email marketing strategy.