It is really easy to go nuts trying to figure out how to include nice looking opt-in forms into your blog. And, shopping for plug-ins is frustrating because it is hard to tell the difference between some of the available options.

In this installment, we cover the top tools for creating opt-in forms for your blog. Discussed in this episode is:

- Thrive Leads

- OptinMonster

- OptinMonster

- SumoMe

For each, I give my review of the plug-in... and then share which I would go with today if I were starting over.

What exactly is a squeeze page? And how does it work alongside your existing blog?

In this episode, we go back to basics on this extremely important part of your email marketing and list building strategy. We can't rely on our blog sidebars to do all the heavy-lifting, so it is important that we make use of squeeze pages. Plus, the typical squeeze pages converts typically 10X to 20X better than the typical blog when it comes to building your list. If that isn't a good reason to do it, I don't know what is!

In this episode, we talk about:

- What a squeeze page actually is

- How you use it alongside your blog

- Why you squeeze page should NOT look like your blog

- The 4 elements of a squeeze page

- Why the simplest squeeze pages usually convert better

Hello! Welcome to another episode of Coffee Break Blogging!

In this episode, we go back to basics on this extremely important part of your email marketing and list building strategy. We can't rely on our blog sidebars to do all the heavy-lifting, so it is important that we make use of squeeze pages. Plus, the typical squeeze pages converts typically 10X to 20X better than the typical blog when it comes to building your list. If that isn't a good reason to do it, I don't know what is!

And in this one, we talk about:

• What a squeeze page actually is
• How you use it alongside your blog
• Why you squeeze page should NOT look like your blog
• The 4 elements of a squeeze page
• Why the simplest squeeze pages usually convert better

Now, for those of you who already know what these stuff are; I just want you to bear with me. I mean, understand that the Coffee Break Blogging podcast is essentially a course that goes from beginning to end in creating an online business and there are people of all experience levels that are listening. And I know that not everybody is fully familiar with what a squeeze page is or the different elements that go on it and there might be some questions related to squeeze pages so we are going to go ahead and just talk about this topic in this episode so that we do not leave anybody out.

In the last installment, we talked about how your blog content itself will be the area where you can get the highest opt-ins to your list - IF you use the content upgrade strategy.

But, how do you insert opt-in forms into a Wordpress post or page without the editor screwing it up?

Wordpress is designed to be a blogging platform, not a marketing platform. This means that the post editor will tend to strip out things that you may want to put in there, including opt-in form HTML code.

In this episode, we talk about several different tools to make this happen. One of them you've likely never heard of, but looks very promising. :)

Hello there! Welcome to Episode 73 of Coffee Break Blogging. In this episode, we talk about several different tools to make this happen. One of them you've likely never heard of, but looks very promising. :-)

In the last installment, we talked about how your blog content itself will be the area where you can get the highest opt-ins to your list - IF you use the content upgrade strategy.

But, how do you insert opt-in forms into a WordPress post or page without the editor screwing it up?

WordPress is designed to be a blogging platform, not a marketing platform. This means that the post editor will tend to strip out things that you may want to put in there, including opt-in form HTML code.

Today we are going to jump right in to how to easily insert opt-in forms inside of your actual blog post.

Now that we've talked about how to create the perfect lead magnet in episodes 70 and 71, it is time to talk about your general opt-in strategy on your blog. What are the most effective ways to build your email list from your blog?

In this episode, we cover 7 different strategies for building your list effectively. These strategies are specifically chosen to increase your conversion rate on your blog and put more people onto your list.

• What are the best converting locations on your blog for opt-in forms?
• How do you integrate squeeze pages into your blog?
• Should you ask for their first name?
• When is it OK to turn OFF double opt-in?
• How does a two-step opt-in increase conversion rates?
• What's the most effective opt-in strategy for a blogger - bar none?

All that, in this episode of Coffee Break Blogging.  :-)

Now that we've talked about how to create the perfect lead magnet in episodes 70 and 71, it is time to talk about your general opt-in strategy on your blog. What are the most effective ways to build your email list from your blog?

In this episode, we cover 7 different strategies for building your list effectively. These strategies are specifically chosen to increase your conversion rate on your blog and put more people onto your list.

- What are the best converting locations on your blog for opt-in forms?

- How do you integrate squeeze pages into your blog?

- Should you ask for their first name?

- When is it OK to turn OFF double opt-in?

- How does a two-step opt-in increase conversion rates?

- What's the most effective opt-in strategy for a blogger - bar none?

All this, in episode #72.

This is part 2 of how to create a perfect lead magnet. In this part, we take the 7-point checklist from episode #70 and apply it to the "real world".

What are some bad lead magnet ideas? And what are some good ones to aim for? What's wrong with the "big honker eBook"? What is the problem with offering a 7-day free course as a lead magnet?

Also, we talk about why you should have MULTIPLE lead magnets rather than just one. This is an important episode, because the lead magnet sits right at the top of the blog profit funnel.

So with that,  welcome to Episode 71 of our Coffee Break Blogging series. :-)

Today we are going to do Part 2 of what we started in the last episode where we were talking about how to create our perfect lead magnet. So we are going to wrap that up today with this episode.

This is part 2 of how to create a perfect lead magnet. In this part, we take the 7-point checklist from episode #70 and apply it to the "real world".

What are some bad lead magnet ideas? And what are some good ones to aim for? What's wrong with the "big honker ebook"? What is the problem with offering a 7-day free course as a lead magnet?

Also, we talk about why you should have MULTIPLE lead magnets rather than just one. This is an important episode, because the lead magnet sits right at the top of the blog profit funnel.

What is a lead magnet? Well, it is just something to give away to get people onto your email list. Right?

Well, there's more to it. In this part 1 of 2, we're going to dive in to how to create the PERFECT lead magnet. And in this episode, I share the TWO main purposes of a lead magnet (most people forget the second one). And I'm going to share a 7-point checklist of criteria for the perfect lead magnet. And the good news is that it will save you a lot of time, because the perfect lead magnet is actually a lot LESS work.

So, welcome to Episode 70 of Coffee Break Blogging!