Adding opt in box to your blog
I recently did a post on my PLR blog about Double Your PLR Sales Easily. It was talking about capturing subscribers to be able to continue the conversation. I got this comment there.
The trouble is getting an opt-in box to look great on wordpress. Most, myself included, just stop trying to figure it out. If it isn’t done right, it isn’t worth doing.
Two things that bother me about that statement.
First even a poorly done opt in box will get some people to opt in.
Two it is not hard to add a good looking opt in to any blog. You even have multiple ways of doing it.
The most important part of your subscription box is the offer. If your ethical bribe is something of value people will want it even if it is not the prettiest item on the blog. Getting the offer right is the most important part of the puzzle. That could take a whole series of posts to cover all the options there and is more of a marketing topic than a WordPress topic.
Adding your actual form is relatively easy to do on any blog. If you are using Aweber (my recommended autoresponder service) you can create a variety of opt in forms with any number of options. It can be a slide in, an exit pop or even a light box form. I won’t go into the details as Aweber has great tutorials to show you how to create it.
To add it to your blog you just need to add the one line of java script that they give you to your theme template. It has to go between the body tags.
The easiest way is to add it to the header file for your blog right after the body tag. You can get there in your dashboard by clicking appearance – editor – header.

Just add the java script snippet right after the body tag. Save the change and you now have whatever form you created active on your blog.
Note – Your theme needs to be writable to be able to edit this from your dashboard. If it is not you will need to chmod the theme files to 666.
Adding it to your sidebar can be a bit harder depending on the width of your sidebar. Often you need to edit the actual html code if your sidebar is narrow. The java script snippet can cause spacing problems if the form you created is larger than the sidebar.
In the html there are two items that need to be edited if you have a thin side bar. You can edit the td tags between name and text box and email and the text box. Replace the <td></td> with a <br> tag. This will put the name over the text box instead of along side of it as it is in the form to the right.

You may also need to change the size of the text box if it is too large. The default is 20 and making it a smaller number (see the size=”20″ in the form above).
Once you have edited that just copy and paste it into a text widget in your side bar. To do that click appearance – widget and drag a text box to where you want your form. Paste in your edited code and save it. Check your blog and make an edit if you need to make it smaller.
Add in the numerous plugins that are available to add an opt in form to your blog in a variety of ways and it is relatively easy to add the form in numerous ways.
So there you have it now make sure you are getting subscribers from your WordPress blog. I do.
Mike Paetzold
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13 comments
Ron Barrett on July 17, 2009 at 7:14 am
Mike,
Thanks for the information. I have struggled with this exact thing for a while and your info is the perfect solution.
Thanks!
Ron
Ron Barrett´s last blog ..A Guide to Webhosting for Newbies – A Beginning
Brett McEllhiney on July 17, 2009 at 8:04 am
Good tip Mike!
I had problems myself using the javascript version on a couple of my blogs due to the theme and the width of the sidebar.
Changed over to the html code as you suggested and did basically the same thing.
Like you said, any form is better than no form!
There are even some plugins that will help you get it setup as well.
Brett McEllhiney´s last blog ..Accelerating Your List Building!
Kary on July 17, 2009 at 10:11 am
Thanks Mike, this was just what I was looking for.
Kary
rosie on July 17, 2009 at 11:03 am
Mike, as usual, your genius and generous sharing is making a difference. Thanks
rosie´s last blog ..Reverse Mortgage For Your Parents?
Earl Netwal on July 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I’ve had trouble figuring out where the header and body text were located in the past. Great job of explaining how to do this. I bet though you have readers not sure how to do the chmod fix.
Earl Netwal´s last blog ..Business Article Marketing Works
Doug Champigny
Twitter: SuperAffil
on July 18, 2009 at 10:21 am
Great post, Mike – might be a natural to do a video for, since many newbies are afraid to alter coding without a step-by-step video showing them how…
Or, conversely, have you considered bringing out a plugin to put a signup form in the sidebar? Seems there’s a lot of need for it… Or even a theme with that already embedded?
Doug Champigny´s last blog ..Beyond SEO: 15 Free Ways To Promote Your Site Effectively
Fred Lotgering on July 18, 2009 at 10:42 am
Thanks for the tips Mike. Adding an opt-in box is more complicated on blogs. Great explanations.
Thanks
Fred
Fred Lotgering´s last blog ..Saturday Seven and Organic Gardening Weekend Specials
Lonnie Minton on July 18, 2009 at 2:24 pm
First, I want to agree with everyone else, any opt-in box is better than none.
Second I want of thank you for your excellent coverage of how to get a good opt-in form and offer onto your blog.
Lonnie Minton´s last blog ..Your Internet Marketing Efforts Will Not Be Profitable If..
Luca Di Nicola
Twitter: rsonline
on July 20, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Another great wordpreess tip. I usually hate playing with the code but you break it down so that even I can do it. I’ll be playing with awaber and worpress to add an optin box. Thanks Mike
Luca Di Nicola´s last blog ..Top Traffic Tips Recording and Transcript Now Ready For Download
denise on July 24, 2009 at 4:39 am
i had installed the opt in box plugin on my project site. my problem now is that i do not have the code that i can paste on the opt in box wizard. before it asked me for activation but my problem is i used my email address to fill out the form which is suppose to be the email addres of my boss. i do not know what to do to get back to the first process where in it will ask me to fill out the form and to click the verify and activate button so i can put on the code script emailed to my boss email address. please do help me if you have any idea about this issue
Bobby - Make Money Online Free Tips on October 22, 2009 at 2:33 am
Thanks for the tips. But I think its more easy to use any plugins for opt-in.
Bobby – Make Money Online Free Tips´s last blog ..Hip-hop Music E-books
satrap on November 1, 2009 at 12:33 am
thank you so much for explaining it in a simple way. i have been having so much trouble in setting up a what seems to be a simple opt-in box, but your post has been helpful. its greatly appreciated.
satrap´s last blog ..Powerful Traffic Secrets For Achieving More Traffic And Sales!
Integrating Aweber with your blog | WordPress Made Easy on November 2, 2009 at 5:14 am
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