How to Get Email Addresses Via Your Website: Introduction
If you own a business, you most likely own a website for your business. But the chances are that you don’t know how to get email addresses.
If you do not, then you are missing out greatly on quite possibly the greatest opportunity in the online world!
However, having a website is not enough. It’s not about just owning a domain name with your business name in it.
You must make the best out of your website whether it be sales goals, online presence or in this case, attaining email addresses.
Let’s now discuss how to get email addresses from your website and how you can make those changes today!
1. Using the Navigation Bar
The navigation bar, which is the first thing a visitor to your site sees, must be used properly. This is the part above the fold that your visitors will land on first.
Aside from being attractive and well designed, you should have a call to action placed here from the get go.
Always keep in mind how your website looks on mobile devices versus desktops. Make sure your site and navigation bar look appropriate in both scenarios.
Once you have determined that your website and navigation bar fit appropriately, add your call to action button here. What I mean is, have a button that says “Sign Up” or “Join our Mailing List” here atop your site.
If you want your mailing list to grow exponentially, make sure your method of joining that list is easily accessible. If you bury it deeply within your site, your visitors won’t find it and you wont benefit from your website’s navigation bar.
2. Newsletter Offer
The best way newsletter offers work is by designing them as a contest. You can also offer something for free that your visitors will gain from by simply signing up to your mailing list.
You can easily make this offer on the sidebar of your website or as a pop up ad. However, make sure it is very appealing.
Especially if you use a pop up ad, you want to make sure it captivates your reader right off the bat. Pop up ads are annoying and most people close them right away, so you must make sure that your offer is one they would be crazy to pass up.
You can offer a one-time discount they will get by signing up, or a free item.
You can also offer a piece of information that will add value to their everyday lives.
If you have a website all about power tools, you can offer a step by step guide that will help your customers save time with their projects. Who doesn’t appreciate saving some time in their busy lives?
The point is to be appealing and add value. Your customers will appreciate this and if they find value in what you are offering, they won’t think twice about handing over their email address to you.
3. Create a Blog for Your Site!
Most businesses have a blog as a part of their website. Why is that? Plain and simply, we live in the information age. We live in a time when, if people have a question about something, all they have to do is open up Google and search for it.
If you have a blog on your site and it is optimized with proper SEO, you will land visitors to your site whom you wouldn’t have come into contact otherwise.
Make sure your Blog is made for your sector of business and that it answers common questions your customers may have. The more informative your Blog is, the more trust you will build for your brand and the more customers you will build online.
Place yourself in your customers shoes and think about what concerns and obstacles they face in your line of work.
A great way to start your blog would be to look at competitor blogs or simply send out an email to your current email list and ask them how you can help answer any questions they may have.
Just do your research and make sure you have every corner of your business covered.
At the very end of your Blog, make sure you add a “Sign up” form for your email list. Remember that the point of your Blog is not only to bring visitors in, but to establish a sense of trust.
Once you have gained that trust, you can go ahead and ask for your visitors to sign up to your email list. This is why we recommend that you place the email sign up form at the end of the blog rather than the beginning.
If you place it at the beginning, you have not earned your reader’s trust yet and even if you do by the end of the blog post, they will forget to scroll back up to sign up.
Make sure you are strategic with your placings and the offers to sign up to your email list. Remember that people will not just give away their email addresses until you have established trust and have proven that you can add meaningful value to their lives.
Your Blog should contain these fields:
- Cover everything to do with your business sector, company and subject matter
- Provide solutions to common problems within your line of business
- Offer great value that enlightens your customers and keeps them wanting to come back
- Have a “Sign up” email form below every blog post
4. The “About Us” Page
Yes! That one page on your website that you thought was just a “filler” page just because you thought you should have one.
Well, this page is much more important than you think. In fact, it is a crucial page in which you have the opportunity to sell yourself and your brand.
The about page should be where you convince your visitor that your business is one of a kind and that they will benefit greatly from it.
The about page is where you educate and inspire your reader to want to be a part of your business culture. This is how to get email addresses creatively!
Your “About” page should contain these fields:
- Show them how your service or product directly benefits them
- Keep bragging to a minimum and show how you add value instead
- Highlight what makes your company one of a kind and what makes you stand out
- Have a sign up link for them to sign up to your email list
Only after you have presented yourself as a business that will add value, can you present an offer for signing up to your email list. Remember that trust is everything!
Why would anyone give out their personal information to someone they barely even know anything about?
The same perspective can be applied here. Your about page should simply inform your visitor who you are and why you are of value to them.
It should convince the reader that without you, they would not be the same. They should feel a sense of need for your business.
Once you have established this and have presented yourself as an asset to their lives can you ask for their email addresses. The hesitation to give out that personal information will be gone if you have promised to be of assistance.
If they are on your website, they have questions, doubts and/or concerns. Keep this in mind and approach your customer understanding what it is that they want to hear.
How to Get Email Addresses Via Your Website: Wrapping Things Up
As a business, regardless of size, your website should be atop with your main priorities. Your website is the store-front of your business in the online world. Your presentation, content and information should be of a high caliber.
The way your website looks is how your business looks in the eyes of your online visitors. Therefore, it should be very important to you how your website looks because it is the first thing potential customers online will evaluate.
Remember that by adding value, you add trust and with trust you can convert those visitors into customers. And with trust, you can go ahead and offer an email sign up form. This is how to get email addresses in a nutshell!
If you present yourself as a business that adds value and you convince your visitors that they can’t do without you, you will definitely get more email sign ups.
Your image is everything! So make sure you create the best image for yourself. Make these 4 changes on your website today and you will be on your way to generating more email sign-up conversions for your business!
How did you like my article on how to get email addresses from your website?
Do you have anything to add?
Please let us all know in the comments below. 🙂
About the Author
Marvin Arciniega is a graduate from California State University of Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing Management. An avid blogger on Email Marketing and contributor to helping small businesses achieve proper Email Marketing strategies. Follow him on Twitter here: @EmailSkills1
Featured image:
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
