1. Not placing your opt-in form on every page. Don’t hide your opt-in form, place it on every single page of your blog or website.
2. Not placing your opt-in form above the fold. The optimal location for your opt-in form is nearly always above the fold, on the right side of the page. In addition, you might also place it at the bottom of each of your articles or blog posts.
3. Not having a strong call to action. Tell them exactly what you want them to do. “Fill in your email address and click submit.” Leave nothing to guess-work or chance.
4. Not giving them a strong incentive. Make your incentive so enticing, many of your readers would consider paying for it if you weren’t giving it away in exchange for their email address.
5. Not making your form and offer big enough. Make your opt-in form and offer big enough and bold enough that it cannot be missed, even by a casual surfer. Use colors that contrast well with the rest of your website, but don’t use anything annoying or flashing – that can actually reduce conversions.
6. Not using a testimonial or endorsement in your opt-in offer. A one line quote from an industry expert about how much they enjoy either your opt-in incentive or your newsletter can lend a tremendous amount of credibility to you and your offer.
7. Not testing. Test your offer, test the colors, test the language/copy that you use, test everything. Nothing is as important as building your loyal list of followers, and testing is the best way to be sure you’re not losing new subscribers every day by presenting the right offer in the right way.
In testing, changing some of these common mistakes has increased subscriber opt in rates by 35% or more. Put them to the test on your site, and see what they do for you!
