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How to Capture Email Addresses on Your Website
By Tech Boy | October 29, 2008
So you see the importance of having an email newsletter, and you’ve learned some tips on what to put in it and when to send it, but I can hear some asking, “Now how do I put an opt-in option on my website so that people can sign up?”
There are a number of different ways that you can do this yourself. Two simple ways you can do this are covered here.
First of all, if you want to manage your email list manually, you can add a simple form to your website that will collect the subscriber’s information - email address - and send you an email with that info. This is a simple solution if you don’t want to have to try to figure out how to use a mailing list program - but it also means that you have to manage the list, and transfer the email addresses from the emails you get into a spreadsheet or whatever you are using to build your email list. This may be more hassle then it is worth, or it may work perfectly for you. The main thing is to find what works for you!
Form Experts
To add a form to your website, I recommend using this service, Form Experts - the Fastest and Easiest-to-Use Website Forms, Guaranteed. Advantage Website Solutions uses this service for our forms, and for our clients, and we have found it to be exceptional! The cost is low - less than $50/year - and you can make as many forms as you need. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate. You can use these forms without any knowledge of html or any other kind of programming. You set your own colors, fonts, sizes, form fields, and more. You set the email address you want the notifications sent to, and you can also set an auto-responder to send an email to the subscriber automatically.
To integrate the form into your website, you can choose from two different options. You can let Form Experts host the form - for this option you would have a url to link to your form. This is an option that we use a lot, and just have the link open in a new window so that the visitor does not have to leave your website to subscribe. The other option is to put the form right into your webpage. The Form Experts website automatically generates the html code for your form - and all you need to do then is to paste that code into your website, wherever you want the form to show up. Both of these methods are easy and simple. Form Experts does all the work, and you can relax knowing that when someone subscribes, the email will come right to your inbox for you to take care of from there!
Mailing List Software
Another option that we also use is mailing list software. Our preferred provider of this is BlueHost.com, where you can also get excellent web hosting, blogging tools, and many many other options for your website. We love that they have partnered with other programs and offer so many fantastic tools to their customers!
A software program that they offer is called PHP List, which is a program that will manage your email lists, subscriptions and your actual newsletters. You can do it all from this program! Setting it up is fairly straightforward, and involves customizing your subscribe pages, as well as the emails that are automatically sent when someone subscribes. You can customize the pages by adding your own logo. PHP List handles all of the details like adding new email addresses to your list, sending automated confirmation emails, as well as including easy links to unsubscribe as well in each email newsletter. You can design your newsletter right in the PHP List interface and automatically send it out to your mailing list.
To integrate PHP List into your website, you simply have to add your subscribe link (you’ll find it in the PHP List management page) to your website, wherever you want it, for people to click on - PHP List does the rest!
You do not have to sign up for a BlueHost account to use PHP List. If you do not need the web hosting or the other cool programs BlueHost offers, then you can go straight to PHPList.com and use it alone - but don’t forget that BlueHost has it all in one place - hosting, domains, blogging, mail list, photo albums and more, and it’s not expensive (less than $100/year for everything)!
Which option do you choose? This will depend on what you are comfortable with, and what works best for you and your business! But if you need some assistance, or suggestions, or just some coaching to help you set it up, don’t be afraid to contact someone who can help you!
Topics: Communications |
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