The Controversial Lightbox

Building a list, or money list as some would call it is a huge thing for any marketer or blogger, so many times you see people claiming they made a huge amount of money from selling things to their list, and with lists of people in the thousands its not surprising really is it?.

But how do you build a list?…. A question that I’ve been asking myself for a while now. Researching the many forums and other related blogs the main option to build a good list seems to be an offer, “Offer a FREE report”, that’s what you will see answered the most, so in basic terms, BRIBE PEOPLE!!!.

List Building Blocks

But if you are just starting out, or just starting a list, and do not have a free product to give away what do you then do?, well then you THREATEN THEM!!:), now that was a joke, but listen to this. A couple of months ago I was playing around trying to come up with ideas to build my opt-in list, I would change the words, change the colors, even change the fonts!, but still I would only get about 1-2 opt-ins a week!, my list was its safe to say……. a small one.:)

One day I got to the point where I was fed up, hands and head to the sky I said “what do I do, do I have to threaten people!!?”, then I had an idea pop in my head, “Now that would be kinda funny!, I’ve not seen that before, they might like it?”, armed with this unbelievable idea I hit my Aweber account immediately, and I wrote this above my opt-in form…

“Sign Up OR Else!!”

Not a day later than writing that funny, but intimidating opt in title, I look at my awber account to find to my amazement 2 new subscribers to my list!, lol, it worked for some I guess;). Now for obvious reason’s it did not carry on that way, and I went back to the 1-2 opt-ins a week, but hey, two people thought I was funny and different!

Lightbox Lights On

Reading some of my favorite blogs for more list building advice, I came across two that after about 5secs, the screen darkens and slowly from below a box scrolls into the middle of the screen, it stops right in front of your eyes and gets your undivided attention by asking you too sign up to the newsletter with your name and email, this technique is called a “Lightbox” if you use Aweber.

Now some people hate these things, and some don’t mind them, but the thing is, they WORK!, I only put mine on this blog a few days ago and already have seen a near 50% increase in opt-ins!, so for me its working very well, however as this technique is very controversial I wanted to ask you if you feel I should remove it?, did you find it annoying when it popped up in front of you?.

You can set these things up to only show one time, and only once a week, as well as giving the visitor the option to close it and get back to reading your blog if not interested, but its always a good idea to ask if your visitors find it intrusive in anyway?, so if you are put off by this Lightbox then please let me know why in the comments below, it would be great to get your feedback good or bad on this list building technique.

Other List Building Options

As I said earlier the best way to build your list is to make a FREE offer to sign up, give them a reason to opt in to your list, it does not have to be a huge report you could even give out a list of your top 10 favorite links, just make sure its of some value to them, and im sure they would love to pick up your information.

When you write new posts you could also ask them to sign up, why not say for more in-depth articles on this subject, please sign up to my list, just make it seem like they are getting something more than the others that are not on your list.

But the most important thing is to make sure you do give them great information when signing up to your list, and also make sure its good after they have signed up too, you want to keep them their after all this hard you put into it in the first place right;).

I would love to know what you use to increase your opt-ins?, any funny stories?, or maybe you like to see or get something when you sign up to a site?, let us know in the comments below, oh and remember to sign up to my………. )

Have a great day everyone!!:)

Tags: building a list, opt in list

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 pm and is filed under internet marketing blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.