Creating a dependable stream of visitors to your website is crucial in today’s digital age. Among various strategies, email marketing stands front and center, mainly due to its reliability in reaching out to your target audience. One vital aspect of this strategy is how you treat your subscribers – a well-treated subscriber can turn into a lifetime supporter for your brand.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn how to integrate a sleek and user-friendly opt-in box into your website’s sidebar. We’ll be using Aweber Scripts Addlead as the autoresponder for this tutorial – a popular choice among modern bloggers.

Create Your Own StudioPress Inspired Email Opt-in Feature

Capturing emails from site visitors is crucial for sustained engagement and marketing effectiveness. Email marketing stands as a reliable channel for content distribution and product promotion. When managed with care, subscribers can become lifelong supporters.

This guide demonstrates the steps to integrate a StudioPress inspired opt-in box within your website’s sidebar. The model for this design is the opt-in feature seen on StudioPress’s ‘A Beginner’s Guide to The Genesis Framework’ page, noted for its clean, simple, and stylish appearance.

The tutorial will utilize Aweber, a widely favored autoresponder among bloggers, and the same tool used on the author’s site. While discussing the use of Aweber Scripts, it’s useful to also look at how this ties in with the latest updates in Thrive Content Builder.

Step 1 – Inserting the Opt-in Form HTML into Your Sidebar

To embed the opt-in form in your website’s sidebar, navigate to your WordPress Admin panel. Proceed to Appearance > Widgets and introduce a new Text widget to your sidebar. Then, copy and paste the provided code into this widget:

<div id="optin">
	<h3>Free Email Updates</h3>
<p>Sign up and get updated whenever we publish new tutorials on the site</p>
	<form method="post" action="http://www.aweber.com/scripts/addlead.pl">
		<!-- Put your AWeber Input Values Here -->
 
		<!-- End Aweber code -->
		<p id="input_area">
			<input type="text" name="email" class="email" value="Enter your email address..." onfocus="if(this.value==this.defaultValue)this.value='';" onblur="if(this.value=='')this.value=this.defaultValue;" tabindex="501" />
			<input name="submit" type="submit" value="Sign Up" tabindex="502" />
		</p>
	</form>
</div>

Ensure that you personalize the headline, descriptive paragraph, and button label of the opt-in form within the above code to align with your specific requirements.

Close-up photo of a laptop screen displaying coding software with script visible

Step 2 – Integrating Your Aweber Details

Within the code you’ve added, look for the placeholder marked “Put your Aweber Input Values Here.” Access your Aweber account to locate these values. Proceed to the Sign Up Forms section within your list management area. Here, start creating a form but forgo the design elements to advance directly to the publishing options. Opt for “I Will Install My Form” and pick the Raw HTML variant. Remember to disable the option for styled forms to ensure you receive the plain, unstyled code. Amidst the extensive code presented, identify and extract only the necessary snippets as indicated.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
<div style="display: none;">
<input type="hidden" name="meta_web_form_id" value="848863995" />
<input type="hidden" name="meta_split_id" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="listname" value="slickwp" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="http://www.aweber.com/thankyou-coi.htm?m=text" id="redirect_c8c9aa1c60f7cb19ba00135b0f5980b1" />
 
<input type="hidden" name="meta_adtracking" value="My_Web_Form" />
<input type="hidden" name="meta_message" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="meta_required" value="email" />
 
<input type="hidden" name="meta_tooltip" value="" />
</div>

Insert the selected snippet within the designated comment tags in the opt-in HTML code from Step 1.

Adjust the provided code by changing the meta_required value from name, email to solely email, as we are collecting only the email addresses. After making this modification, ensure to save your changes.

Digital illustration of a desktop and mobile device with coding and syncing graphics

Step 3 – Customizing the Appearance of the Opt-in Form

The following CSS is what has been utilized to give the opt-in form its distinct style.

#optin {
    background: #222;
    padding: 10px;
    text-align: center;
    border: 1px solid #DDD;
}
#optin h3 {
   font-family: Open Sans, sans-serif;
   font-size: 22px;
   color: #FFF;
   margin-bottom: 12px;
}
 
#optin p {
   color: #AAA;
   font-family: Montserrat;
   margin-bottom: 24px;
}
#optin #input_area {
    width: 200px;
    display: block;
    margin: 10px auto;
}
#optin input {
    font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #666;
}
#optin input[type=text] {
    display: block;
    margin: 10px auto;
    height: 53px;
    text-align: center;
    width: 97%;
}
#optin input[type=submit] {
    font-family: Montserrat;
    font-size: 18px;
    background-color: #0274BE;
    border: none;
    border-radius: 3px;
    padding: 12px 24px;
    color: #FFF;
    width: 100%;
}

Conclusion

Successfully implementing an opt-in form on your website can significantly boost your email marking effectiveness. By using Aweber Scripts Addlead, and creating an appealing form, you can ensure you’re providing a seamless experience to your visitors. This in-depth guide should aid you in tackling the technical aspects of adding an opt-in form, effectively helping you to build a strong email subscriber list, enhancing your site’s traffic, and ultimately, your brand’s success.

In conclusion, adding a StudioPress inspired opt-in box in your site’s sidebar using Aweber Scripts Addlead can prove to be a game-changer for your email marketing strategy. This powerful approach not only enhances your website’s aesthetics but also allows you to grow your subscriber base effectively. Remember, a well-structured, captivating opt-in form can turn casual visitors into lifelong supporters. As you incorporate these steps, ensure regular assessments for further improvements, personalizing your communication, and aligning your strategies with your overall brand vision.

Leave a Reply