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With Aweber now tracking some of the goals with analytics, I’m ready to send some more content. Since I’m going to do that quickly (I have pre-written content to use), I’ll also take some time to optimize a couple of opt-in boxes that have been bugging me.

So today’s steps are to:

• Write message 8
• Change the opt-in box in the blog sidebar
• Change the opt-in box at the bottom of each post

Let’s get started…

Write Message 8

When I wrote message 7, it was an extended lesson on autoresponders. I want to counter-balance that with a short message 8 that is more universal in its approach.

I’m going to be sharing my business philosophy, and rejuvenating the conversation. This message will be going out at the start of the second month, and this is a critical point in the list relationship. They could go down a different path, or I can give them even more to stick around for.

That’s the goal with message 8.

I’ve written a book in the later stages of editing, and the central premise is my philosophy, “Take Action Revise Later.” So I’m going to give them the first chapter which explains the philosophy and how I came up with it.

This will do a couple of things:

1. Give them a closer look at the way I think, so they’ll either want to stick around as a like-minded person, or disqualify themselves from working with me
2. Get them interested in my book so when it’s ready, they’ll want it.

Since this is an autoresponder series, I will need to go back and change the message a bit when the book is published.

Message 8 is designed for conversation as well, so I’ll ask them to comment on the post and read what others have to say.

I’ll send the post to my friends on Twitter, and get a few “seed comments”. This will start the ball rolling, and I hope this post becomes one of my most popular.

This will spark a renewed interest and involvement in the community here.

Fix The Opt-In On The Sidebar

You may have already noticed this, but I’m changing the opt-in form on the top right of my blog to call more attention to it.

Instead of using the javascript version that Aweber gives me, I need to use the raw HTML version. I take that code and paste it into FrontPage so I can tweak the layout more.

Since it’s in my sidebar, I need to reduce the width of the form in the table to 160px. I also need to reduce the size of the fonts a bit more.

The biggest thing is to take the field where people enter their email addresses and make it skinnier. The default is 20 (characters), and I shrink that down to 12. People can still enter more, of course; but this way I can fit Email: and the box on the same line.

I also need to make the phrase on the submit button a bit shorter so the entire form displays properly on the sidebar.

I’m also going to change where the privacy policy is. Instead of above the button, I’ll have it below. This will make this particular form a bit cleaner in such a small space.

I make the background a light blue to help it stand out, and give it a dashed black border, width of 2. The purpose of all these changes of course is to get more subscribers, so making it obvious is important.

Fix The Opt-In Between Posts

The other thing I need to change today is an existing opt-in form between the posts. This currently goes to a separate list that only sends out the blog digest. I want to concentrate my energy all on this one list, and since I’m sending the digest to the new list as well, I want to avoid doubling it up.

I take the same box code I just made for the sidebar form, but now I’m going to make it wide and short, instead of thin and tall.

I’m also going to put the field name, the input box for the email address, and the submit button all on the same line in the form. I do this by running them together in the same cell of my table. This way I can avoid too much “white space” in my form.

With these changes in place, I should see an increased amount of new subscribers who are visiting my blog.

Bob Jenkins
DiscoverAutoresponders.com

p.s. Like my new forms? Want to suggest changes? Feel free to add your comments below! And send us to your blog so we can see the changes you’ve made.

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