Pop-up windows are small windows which automatically appear when
you visit or leave a website. You've probably seen one at some
point as they are not very uncommon, and for a good reason.
Pop-up windows are effective! They get in your face, grab your
attention, and require action just to get rid of them. They can't
be ignored and scrolled over like a banner ad on your site. While
they do annoy some, most webmasters agree that the results of
an effective pop-up window outweigh a minor annoyance.
You can effectively use these pop-up windows to greatly increase
the subscriber base of your newsletter. Pop-up windows are the
perfect tool for generating new subscribers. When a surfer
visits your site, or when they leave it, you hit them with a new
window containing information about your newsletter and a form
to subscribe.
What I really want to share with you in this article is maybe the
single most effective way to build your newsletter's subscriber
list at no cost: joint ventures and pop-up windows!
I just told you that pop-up windows are an effective tool for
increasing your subscription rate. Think about how effective it
would be to have your newsletter in pop-up windows on two sites?
How about on 5? or 20? In exchange, your pop-up window would
allow people to subscribe to the newsletters of all those other
websites.
For an example of just what I mean, take a look at this sample
page. It will pop up a window which allows you to sign up for
various related newsletters. Each newsletter's publisher agreed
to place this same pop-up window on their website so that all
of the publishers could mutually benefit:
http://www.websitegoodies.com/sample.html
So how do you go about doing this same thing to increase YOUR
newsletter subscription rate?
First thing you need to do is learn to create the pop-up window
and be ready to handle subscriptions to multiple newsletters from
just one form.
There are many places you can find the JavaScript necessary to
create the pop-up window and many variations of the script. These
are a few of my favorites:
Dynamic Drive's Browser Window Scripts:
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex8/index.html
JavaScript Source:
http://javascript.internet.com/
You'll also need a script to handle the form. It will need to do
more than the average subscription form, handling checkboxes for
multiple newsletter subscriptions so that surfers can subscribe
to as many or as few as they want. Here are two which will do
what you need pretty easily:
Master Subscriber Pro by WillMaster ($35)
http://willmaster.com/master/subscriberpro/index.shtml
Check Box Requester by WorksNet ($25)
http://www.worksnet.com/cbrmain.htm
Once you purchase one of these solutions, write your own, or find
a different one and set it up, you need to start finding other
newsletter publishers to partner with.
Like link swapping or any other type of partnership, you'll have
to write many emails to find people to participate in this with
you. You want to build a group of newsletters which complement
eachother they all focus on different aspects of a common
topic.
You don't want more than one newsletter on the exact same topic
and you don't want topics that are not related to eachother as a
surfer at your website may not be interested in other topics at
that time.
Once you find a couple publishers to do this with, have each
insert the pop-up window on their site using JavaScript. Now,
each surfer to any of the participating websites has the
opportunity to subscribe to not only that one site's newsletter
but all of the participating publishers' newsletters.
If done correctly, this method of generating new subscribers can
quickly become your most effective.
About the Author
Dan Grossman runs WebSiteGoodies where you can find over 250
hand-picked resources, articles and tools for website owners!
http://www.websitegoodies.com