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Things You’ll Learn in this Episode of Doing it Online:

• Why pop-ups are like kale
• My tips on how to make pop-ups NOT suck
• In 15 minutes you too can set up a handy pop-up tool that helps you explode your email list.

Let’s talk about something nerdy…

Something not a lot of people like…

POP-UPS!

I know, I know…but hear me out! 

There is a RIGHT way to use Pop-ups. And when you use them in that way, they can absolutely explode your email list and be one of the best hands-free tools you can use in your business to get your list building firing.

Pop-ups are like Kale… no one really likes them, but man are they good for you!

The reason no one likes pop-ups… is that they’ve been done so very very badly for so long.

They’ve left a bad taste in your mouth… kinda like Kale!

And now I’m here to show you how to add a little garlic… a little butter so that you can make these pop-ups into something that makes everyone happy.

Pop-ups can be powerful, when they’re done right. Let me give you a little example.

So I used to use pop-ups with my old business and it worked really well, but for some reason (tech clashes, plugin in dramas) I stopped using them when I moved from WordPress to ShowIt. 

I then saw the lifetime license for Convertbox (I’m a sucker for a lifetime licence!), bought it because I loved that it could be used across multiple domains (not just my blog) and no harm giving it a go right?! 

This pop-up took me about 15 minutes from start to finish – to install, design, set up and hit go – and it brought in nearly 500 new email subscribers in about 5 weeks.

Yes! 500 new email subscribers in 5 weeks for just 15 minutes of work!  

And before you think I have HUGE website traffic…I don’t. 

So it was actually an 8% conversion rate – meaning that 8% of people that landed on my website signed up to my email list – that is unheard of!

I wanted to share this with you because it’s such a simple thing that you can do to explode your email list and it’s super low cost.

It’s something you can set up, leave and let it keep growing your email list easily.

So now you’re convinced that you need a pop up to help grow your email list…but how do you do it so it’s not just insanely annoying?

There are 3 things you need when you set up your pop-up…

1. You need the right pop-up tool

You must choose a pop-up software that isn’t going to slow down your website or clash with your website tech. It must look good on both mobile AND desktop. And there needs to be some logic or smart scheduling behind it. Convertbox does all of these things which is why I like it.

2. You need to get the messaging of your pop-up tool right

To make sure your pop-up converts well and doesn’t just annoy people is that you need to get your messaging right. I like to be a little bit cheeky with the messaging on my pop-up. But the key thing is to lead with what’s in it for them – an opt in bribe ready to go and lead with the benefit of that opt in. You’re far less likely to be annoyed by something if it’s actually something that’s useful to you. You have a fraction of a second to either engage or annoy a website visitor. 

3. You need to set up your pop-up tool so it’s NOT annoying

One of my pet peeves is as soon as you land on a website, the pop up takes over whichever page you’ve landed on and shows a passive aggressive message (No I don’t like awesome stuff etc) – DO NOT DO THIS! 

I’ve been testing different types of pop-ups with Convertbox, and the one that seems to work best looks like a chat box popping up from the bottom (rather than a full page takeover). 

The real key is NOT to set your pop-up to instantly appear as soon as someone hits your website. You need to let people take a look around your site before you hit them with the pop-up box. It allows them to actually start consuming the content on the link that they clicked through to. Mine is set to only show to people who’ve scrolled more than 30% of the page. It’s more of a gently, gently approach – rather than a BAM in your face!

Another feature is you once someone closes the pop-up box…they’ll never see it again. They’ve told us they’re not interested…so we respect that! 

You can play with these settings to see what feels right to YOU. Use your own personal experience with pop-ups – what annoys you? What captured your attention?

So there you have it – my tips on how to make pop-ups not suck. All you need is 15 minutes to set up a handy pop-up tool to help you grow your email list.