An important part of email marketing is getting permission to send marketing emails to someone before you hit the send key. That means, you need a way to get people to opt-in to receive your marketing emails. Whether you send a newsletter or promotional offer, you still need people to opt-in before you can send information that might be deemed solicitous via email. You also need to provide an easy way for them to opt-out of receiving emails from you later.
With that in mind, you can use your business blog as a tool to collect email addresses. But proceed with caution! You don’t want the process of obtaining opt-in email addresses to damage the user experience on your business blog. Remember, successful social media marketing stems from the removal of the gateways to content sharing and conversations. The last thing you want to do is insist that people provide their email addresses and opt into receiving email messages from you in order to view your shareworthy content. That content should be freely accessible without barriers.
Therefore, your goal in collecting opt-in email addresses through your business blog is to make the process not seem disruptive. Here are 5 easy ways to do it:
1. Hold a blog contest.
People love contests, and a contest offers a perfect time to request email addresses and invite people to opt into receiving your email newsletter and marketing emails. If you use WordPress.org as your blogging application, I recommend Gravity Forms to help you create the entry form to meet your specifications.
2. Include a message at the end of your blog posts.
The message can invite people to sign up for your emails for special offers and information. Link the message to an opt-in form page on your business blog.
3. Include an ad in your blog feed.
Many bloggers monetize their blog feeds with ads. Why not advertise your special offer emails with a link to your opt-in form page on your business blog?
4. Include an ad and link in your business blog sidebar.
You should already have links in your business blog sidebar for visitors to subscribe to your blog or follow you on Twitter, Facebook, and so on. Why not include an ad or link to the email opt-in form page on your business blog or create a form that’s available directly in the sidebar rather than on a separate page (just keep it short).
5. Use an email opt-in plug-in.
If you use WordPress.org, there are a number of plugins that allow you to easily add a double opt-in form to your business blog. Check out WP-Opt-in or WP Email Capture or conduct a search in the WordPress Plugins Directory. For example, follow the link to check out the results for a search on “email opt-in“.
Image: stock.xchng
