Hi Guys, Do you have a WordPress website? Are you wondering how to get leads for your business? You may have not reached this stage yet in your decision making but if you don’t have an email list already then you really should get one.
The difference between having somebody just visit your website once, and having someone signed up to your list is massive. In contrast, instead of having a potential customer visit your website just once you have repeated opportunities to target them again and again.
Of course, it really boils down to the quality of your content but in essence, this is the best way to do affiliate marketing.
After all one of the most popular sayings in digital marketing is this. It’s All in the List”!
However, building your list is not always easy. Even if you have the traffic you still need a system in place that works.
Now, what I mean is if you are building an email list through a WordPress website. Of course, you can also build lists often much faster, and easier with standalone landing pages. I will maybe try covering this in another post. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this already (I think in this post here). Anyway, let’s forget about that for now.
Let’s look at…
How to Get Leads for Your Business on a WordPress Website
Table of Contents
Step 1: Sign Up for an Email Autoresponder Service / Email Marketing Solution
How to Get Leads for Your Business
For me, there are 5 different services that really spring to mind. Although there are others.
These are the following;
- GetResponse
- Aweber
- MailChimp
- ConvertKit
- MailerLite
The price varies for each service. Aweber, MailChimp and CoverterKit offer a free tier that uses their branding in your emails. I think each is pretty similar (1 list, 500 contacts and 300 emails a month limit)
My personal choice is GetResponse which offer a paid plan of £10 or $15 a month for up to 1k contacts and unlimited lists and emails. If you are new to the concept of email marketing maybe try one of the free plans first to help set up a system that works.
Once you have then definitely look at getting a Pro plan. The best deal from my experience is GetResponse as this also allows a feature to build landing pages. MailerLite is another one that represents good value – $10 a month for 1k contacts but if you wish to build landing pages etc. It’s an extra $10 a month.
After you have chosen your email marketing/autoresponder service now you can start building your list.
Step 2: Download a Plugin to your WordPress Website
How to Get Leads for Your Business
First thing’s first. To install optin forms to start collecting leads you will need to find a good plugin for optin forms.
Each of the email marketing tools I’ve mentioned above has its own plugins (I think). Personally, I only used the GetResponse plugin and honestly, I do not really recommend it.
I actually had some good results for a few months with this plugin. Although for one it was really slowing my website (Big Time) because it used too much JS code (I think it was). Plus the worst thing was is it malfunctioned after I deleted one of the other forms that I did not use.
For this reason, I recommend choosing another third-party plugin. I can’t really speak much from experience about the Aweber or MailChimp plugins. I think ConverKit may be the exception. If the name is anything to go by.
However, I think something like Optin Monster, ConvertBox, or ConvertPro are much better options. Although, my personal choice which I would use and do is a Plugin called Thrive Leads.
This is very popular amongst other bloggers as well. You can choose from these plugins and I will write about the best places to insert these forms after the next section. However, just before I want to share a bit of information about the Thrive Leads plugin.
What Is Thrive Leads
How to Get Leads for Your Business
OK, I know you don’t need to use this plugin. I will actually explain where to add your optin forms in the next section. You can use any plugin for this but what I would like to explain is why this one is a solid and effective solution.
So, Thrive Leads comes as part of the package as a member of Thrive Themes (aka Thrive Suite). This has a lot of different perks – I think all together it’s 16 different plugins.
Find out more about Thrive Themes by Clicking HERE<<
Anyway, so Thrive Leads once you have it there is actually lots you can do.
Features include:
- Various Different Types of Pre-Made Templates
- Pop-Ups and Ribbons for Mobile Users
- In Content Opt-In forms that can be activated by Shortcode
- 2-Step Opt-In forms
- Slide-In Forms
- Optin Widgets
- Content Locker
- Multi-Choice Forms
- A/B Testing
- Triggers and Animation
The other great thing is that there is plenty of training resources provided. Thrive University you can join for free, and it can really help. In fact, these ideas I’m going to share are from this website: 22 Tips To Build Your Mailing List Faster (please note you to create a free Thrive University account).
Step 3: Best Places to Add Your Optin Forms
How to Get Leads for Your Business
i.) Adding Forms within your Content
There are a few different ideas you can try here. Different types of websites will have different results. The 3 places you can add are at the top, in the middle or at the end of your content. Sure you can add anywhere depending on the post but let’s just stick to these three for the time being.
So, having a form at the top can sometimes work. You don’t want right at the top but maybe just after the introduction. This can be good for readers that don’t finish reading your posts. Just try and offer something to get their attention.
Adding a form in the middle or towards the end may work to better effect. Once people have read enough of your content, as long as it is good enough this might help influence their decision.
Let them know how they will benefit from joining your list. Offer them an eBook, and use different forms. One tip is to use a bright colour that stands out from the rest of your theme. For me, one idea is to focus on getting everyone onto the same list. You don’t have to but instead of having the ebook in the first email have it as a redirect.
This way you can generalize your list. You can also ask in your 1st email – “Did you join for the EBook – Let Me Know Which One by replying to this email”. This way you have the advantage of whitelisting your autoresponders to your leads by default.
ii.) Add Forms to Home Page and About Me Page
2 of the most popular pages for a lot of websites are these two. The home page and about me page. Both are an excellent opportunity to place optin forms. Many websites use their homepage as one big optin form page. This might not work for every niche but take a look around and see what your competition is up to for ideas.
As for the about me page. This can also be a great source of sign-ups. Many people may not consider placing optin forms here but this 100% worth doing. One idea is to add 2 different forms. One in the middle and one towards the bottom.
iii.) Permenantly Fixed ‘Sticky’ Top or Bottom Bar
So either you can try in both positions. Maybe test the two to see what works better after a given period of time.
I have personally seen different websites using this technique. Not together but you get what I mean. The main benefit is that this form will always be shown whenever someone is reading your content.
iv.) Pop-Ups and Pop-Outs
Pop-Ups who doesn’t just hate them. As far as UX (User Experience) is concerned nobody really wants to see a pop-up. However, this does not mean that they do not work. Many websites have pop-ups exactly for this reason. The best time to display a pop up though is another question entirely.
From different articles I’ve read that an exit intent pop up is best when someone goes to leave your website. Another post I read said that it’s best to display a pop-up after a reader has read through 60% of your page.
I have even read that a pop-up can work after someone has just visited your website. The best things are to do different tests to see what works the best.
As for pop-outs in Thrive Leads they have something called Thrive Boxes. So once you click on a highlighted section of text a box pops out on the screen with your opt-in form. This will usually be a 2-page setup. So page one will display say the free EBook (Lead Magnet) and page 2 will contain the optin form to sign up.
This is good because you can also add these trigger words to your main menu.
v.) Left Sidebar, Right Sidebar
Most people will actually think of adding a Sign-Up form to the right sidebar of their website. For websites that have a left sidebar, this can also work. In fact, Neil Patel the owner of UberSuggest and a very famous blogger noted that he found he got more signups using the left but as result having a left sidebar had a quite negative effect on his readership.
So right sidebar is best, and the best place apparently is right at the top.
iv.) Within your Comments Section
So, have you ever left a comment and seen the boxes you tick to join an email list or newsletter. This is actually a very clever way to get subscribers because if somebody wants to comment they will already have to give their details. Ticking a box after doing this is really nothing – in fact, next section I will show exactly how to do this.
Step 4: Adding a Subscriber Box to your Comments Section
How to Get Leads for Your Business
This will require you to add a plugin from your chosen autoresponder service
eg. MailChimp, Aweber, MalierLite, ConverterKit. etc.
Below are the instructions on how to set up with GetResponse
Another idea if you want to go the Thrive Suite route is to install Thrive Comments.
In Summary
This is a very important question I think ~ How to Get Leads for Your Business on WordPress. If people aren’t already building an email list then they really should be. There is no doubt about it.
Even if you just have a free account with Aweber, MailChimp or MailerLite. Once you know what works you know, and if needs be you can easily change where your leads optin to without changing a thing design-wise.
Putting these things into practice is a very important step towards making regular commissions. Most people will not want to buy something from a website the first time they visit. You have to put yourself in their shoes. Would you want to buy from a website after visiting it only once?
How about if you visited 2, 3 or more times. What about then? They say that on average it will take a customer 6 times of seeing something online before they decide to buy it. So, your job will be to show them your offer 6 different times.
This why I would say that Thrive Leads is probably one of the best one-time investments that you can make.
How Much Does Thrive Leads Cost?
If you would like to own Thrive Leads you can either get by a 1-year subscription or a quarterly subscription to Thrive Suite (Thrive Themes).
Unfortunately, you can no longer purchase one time licenses for any of Thrives products. You now must purchase a Thrive Suite membership.
There is 2 options available: $19 a month for a 1-year membership or $30 a month every quarter.
Or read my Thrive Suite 2021 review HERE
In Conclusion
I think the first thing is first if you are yet to start doing email marketing start with a free membership. You can choose from either Aweber, MailChimp, MailerLite or honestly ConverKit is the best free option. Free for up to 1k Subscribers.
I personally use GetResponse but actually think I might just start using CoverterKit myself lol
Anyway, so yes building an email list is important but please bear this in mind. There are 2 different things you need to get the hang of. Firstly you need to collect leads like I’ve written about in this post…
Read Neil Patel’s article here: 22 hacks that tripled my email list in less than a month!
The other thing is you need to build a relationship with your leads. The truth is that collecting leads is the easy part. If you really want to convert these leads into paying customers you need to build relationships. You need to get people to want to read your emails. I will probably write about this in a future post but for now just one tip.
Try and make this first email as professional, and interesting as possible. Invite your reader as well to reply back to the email. Offer something back in return for every lead that responds like an ebook, PDF, or checklist.
This will not only allow you to talk to your lead personally but also will help the email algorithm not mark your future emails as junk. You can even also invite a further response by asking open questions. If your leads are waiting for a response from you and they receive your autoresponder series emails chances are they will be more likely to open them.
YOUR FEEDBACK
Finally, I hope you have enjoyed reading this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you know anyone that might find this information helpful then please share. Try and help me to get this post too as many people as possible.
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Many thanks;
To Your Future Success 🥂
Alex B. Chivers
iBusinessToday.com
