You’ll immediately disagree with me, but keep reading: I’ve got proof.
The single heaviest reason nobody signs up to your list is because you’re not asking hard enough. Hands down, period.
No matter how many signup boxes you have on your site, nobody is signing up because you don’t have one in your golden triangle – which is arguably your most valuable area. Derek Halpern convinced me to give it a test, and now my feature box is responsible for more than 70% of my signups.
In this video, I discuss:
- The test that determines whether you should use a feature box
- How many subscribers I got from mine in two days
- The best way to implement this on your site for less than $100
Here’s the code:
1. If you’re using the Genesis Framework, add this function into your child theme’s functions.php:
add_action('genesis_before_content', 'include_home_box');
function include_home_box() {
if ( is_home() )
require(CHILD_DIR.'/featured.php');
}
2. Create a file called featured.php and add this to your child theme directory. Add your signup markup to this file, and it’ll appear above your blog home.
Note: If you’re looking for some suggestive CSS as well as a cushier way to handle the markup, check out Brian Gardner’s excellent article.
Once you’ve implemented your featured box, toss a comment downstairs and show us your work.
Welcome to video! You did great!
It’s pretty redneck … MacBook Air + Ladder. Thanks!
Haha, I was going to tell you I liked your tripod.
I’ve recently found that blogging is a key part of getting subscribers.
Lol.
Great post. I’ve been looking all over the net for instructions how to add a feature box for Genesis but all I found was about Thesis.
I’ve made one on my blog, it’s not so polished yet. I might have to play around with the opt-in sign up form so that it doesn’t look weird.
Thanks for this great post, Martyn.
Glad to be a help, Josh!
You’ve got a great looking signup box. It’s actually giving me some ideas …
Good work for setting it up Josh.
Quick questions: any particular reason why you have a link to you about page instead of a sign up box? or is this just temporary as you figure stuff out?
Hey Martyn,
I recently launched my new site and made sure to include this feature box. About 42% of all the new sign-ups came from that feature box. That’s pretty darn significant if you ask me.
I think most people come to blogs through individual posts (either through organic search or because someone shared a post and they saw it). So that feature box usually isn’t the first thing they see anyway – nothing shady about it.
If they show enough interest to go to the “Home” page to check out your other stuff, then they see the feature box.
And since they are already showing interest it’s a good idea to give them a readily available option to opt in. It’s good service if you ask me
.
Absolutely, Eugene. I totally agree.
Okay, I’m sold. Can you point me to some good info on how to add this using Thesis?
Look no further than DIYthemes. They’ve got your back:
http://diythemes.com/thesis/thesis-theme-feature-box/
Thank you, Martyn. Your blog is great. Love the video addition too.
I loved the video !!!
Do more videos. Seriously.
I don’t really have a problem with those feature boxes. I haven’t figured out what to put on one if I add one, but it’s on my to-do list now! Thanks!
You don’t have to offer an eBook. Just do what Derek does – offer the key benefits of subscribing, with a nice graphic. It works like crazy.
Is this feature available for Blogger?
Perhaps … but I don’t support Blogger and I’m not sure who does. My best suggestion is to move to self-hosted WordPress.
Great video and very helpful…those of us on Blogger need help with this. Is it something that can be done using Aweber? (Can you tell that I’m new? LOL)
AWeber will certainly give you the HTML to paste on your blog, and that works no matter what you’re using. But like I told R.Ann Rousseau, I’d strongly recommend switching to WordPress. It gives you better, easier control of your site.
My time is so limited that I’ve been hesitant to make the switch.
But someday, I know I will. Thanks.
Hi Sinea,
If you need help transferring your blog, that something I’d be happy to help with. You can learn more about it here: http://www.blogtweaks.com/guided-blog-transfer/
Let me know if you have any questions.
I added this to my site about a month ago ( as well as in the about page ) and my subscribers increased by an order of magnitude. Now I’m toying with the idea of a full on squeeze page as my blog lander, like mixergy.
I like the feature box and been interested in putting one on my site. Great post and very helpful video! Thanks!
I still don’t understand how to add this to my site. We should talk.
Definitely. If nothing else, we’ll do it over coffee in LA.
Hey Martyn, one thing in your video really distressed me – you. You look young enough to be my SON … ok, like a little brother maybe. Sorry, had to say this, as you were.
Marya
I’m trying hard to keep my age a secret.
Hey Martyn, I’d already heard the benefits of the feature box from Derek, but as is almost always the case I need to read something like this from 2 different sources before I get pumped up and do it.
What do I do if you have another theme than Thesis or Genesis? I’m using WPAnniverary from Site5
My best advice is to hire someone from eLance.com.
Funny to see you writing this article / doing this video, considering you tried to tell me that the feature box was wrong for “real” websites.
No one was using the Feature box on blogs, until I started telling everyone how great it was. People tried to disagree with me, but the results don’t lie
I’m actually working on a complete redesign of this site, which will involve removing most of the blog content and feature box from the home page.
Right now we’re putting together a Web site for a multi-million dollar company. The CEO would die if we tried having a feature box, at least the way you and I are doing it. I still think feature boxes aren’t for *real* Web sites.
Hey Martyn,
Gotta love video, eh? For me it is like: Camera on; brain shuts off. lol!
So is this “feature box” the same thing as the floating “light-box” opt in form that you can add to your site using the various form options with Aweber; or is it somehow different? Because I’m sure virtually every autoresponder service offers versions of these. Don’t bloggers typically use autoresponder services for their emailing? What am I missing here?
Awesome information Martyn,
Having a feature box , looks like sure shot way to skyrocket one’s email signup numbers.
However, it should be done very carefully like a crisp signup area, enticing headline and so on. And your blog has a great looking feature box.
I have seen Derek’s videos and a regular reader of his blog social triggers. He amazes me with his deep skills in design and passion for visual aesthetics.I did implement some of his suggestions on my own blog.
A welcome Video and keep up the fantastic work