So, you’ve created the best freebie ever with intentions of releasing it to the world to grow your email list. You’re feeling quite accomplished and your hopes are flying high – however, you may be forgetting something… the most badass freebie in the world won’t do you any favors if your opt-in page lacks direction and visual interest.

All too often, we let the appearance of our opt-in box trickle down our priority list after we have spent so much time creating our amazing freebie.

But if all you have is a basic popup box on your page that doesn’t really stand out, visitors will most likely click that little x button before they even read the text.

Lucky you, that’s where I come in – I’m going to walk you through how to create an opt-in page that is attention-grabbing and gets your visitors to give you all the deets.

Landing Page Tools

WordPress offers page building tools galore for creating landing pages, and some email service providers – like ConvertKit – may include landing page options.

I strongly recommend using the Divi theme for building custom pages on your WordPress site.

Some other popular options include LeadPages, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating beautiful custom pages for your website.

Page Layouts with Divi

I really can’t recommend Divi enough if you’re looking for a customizable option that is easy-to-use. The possibilities are only limited by your creativity and CSS knowledge.

Your landing page can be as simple or extensive as you’d like – it all depends on what you’re offering.

You may find it best to keep it above the fold so scrolling is not required. Sometimes, a few words and an attractive opt-in box is all you need to get folks signing up for your offer.

Occasionally, you need more. It might take a whole page that scrolls for days to really sell them on something.

This is where knowing your audience comes into play.…

You can use a heat mapping tool to analyze the activity of visitors on your page, so you can tweak it accordingly.

You may notice that no one scrolls past a certain point on your page which could mean it’s time to revamp and condense, or it seems they’re only clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.

If so, you should determine if they’re rapid-scrolling because it’s the only button on the page, or they’re reading everything before making a decision.

If you’re using Divi (as if you need another reason to love this theme), there’s an option straight out of the box to split test. Heck yes!

You can go ahead and create two versions of your landing page and test those suckers out before deciding which works best for your audience.

Sure, it’s a little more work for you, but hey – no one said running an online business was all unicorns and cupcakes.…

So, let’s discuss these layouts, so you can get to testing them out on your audience.

The Simple Opt-In Box

The easiest layout to create for any website only involves a few elements:

• Solid background or full-screen size photo
• Your title and copy
• An embedded slim opt-in bar

That’s it! For some audiences, short and simple works best.

The Long-Form Sales Copy Page

I think we’re all familiar with this type of sales page. It feels like you have to scroll for days just to find out the product or course you’re interested in is way over your budget, and you wish they would’ve just informed you of the price several scrolls back.

These pages can definitely work, but it takes a shit ton of work to map out the skeleton of your sales page.

There’s the pain point, the silver lining, a few testimonials, the product introduction, the price tag, some more testimonials, a detailed breakdown of the product, even more testimonials, seven Taylor Swift memes, and finally – after your coffee is cold – you reach the purchase button at the end.…

Although these pages can work with the right audience, if you don’t have everything perfectly in place, it’s best to save the long-form layout for later.

Instead, start collecting all of the testimonials and information you’ll need to make this format work for you down the road.

The Webinar Opt-In Page

Just like the simple opt-in box, minimalism is key with a webinar page.

Grab their attention, persuade them to sign up, and send them on their merry way before they get distracted.

The webinar page option doesn’t need much to clearly tell them why they should sign up:

• Large title
• Catchy tagline
• Embedded webinar video
• Short description
• Opt-in box

Everything should fit nicely above the fold on desktops, and if scaled properly, minimize scrolling for mobile devices.

The Video Opt-In Page

The primary reason you’ll want a video opt-in page – it works!

The video captures and keeps their attention while they scan the rest of the page, and it allows you to contain a lot of information in a small section of your page.

You get the drift – video opt-in pages are where it’s at.

Keep things simple by following the webinar opt-in template, adding a breakdown of what they’re getting below the opt-in box, and placing a second opt-in section after that.

Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.

Remember: there’s nothing wrong with placing the same opt-in on your page multiple times.

The Opt-In Form

Now that your page is laid out with all of the copy you need to connect it to your email service provider – and depending on which provider that may be – this part’s relatively painless. Yay!

Of all the different providers I’ve tried over the years – my favorite is ConvertKit.

However, if you’re just getting started and your budget is a whopping $0.00, then I would suggest getting set up with MailerLite.

Starting out with MailerLite will allow you to use MailMunch to create beautiful popup boxes for free and upgrade to ConvertKit down the road. Since it works with both providers, you’ll only need to make changes inside of MailMunch – not to every single opt-in across your website.

MailMunch Popup Boxes with MailerLite

MailMunch is relatively easy to use for creating popup boxes.

If you want to create a new popup form within MailMunch, you’ll need to select “Create New > Form,” then “Popover” on the next page, and select the style you want on the last page.

And while MailMunch is free, you may have to upgrade to get different style options.

Then link your form to MailerLite, ConvertKit, or a number of other email service providers.

Once your form’s created, just grab the shortened code that begins with a “#” and paste that in the URL box within the Divi page builder – and don’t forget to install the MailMunch plugin for WordPress to keep it all working properly.

MailMunch Popup Boxes with ConvertKit

Creating MailMunch popup boxes for ConvertKit would essentially be the same process, but you’d need to link your ConvertKit APIs and select them when creating the form.

I recommend MailMunch because if you end up changing email providers down the road, it’s a much easier transition using a third-party tool like this than having to update every single opt-in box scattered throughout your site.

Popup Boxes Directly in ConvertKit

ConvertKit has the option to create popup boxes and forms that you can easily embed on any page without using a third-party tool.

Although this method is fairly simple, my biggest issue is the lack of customization – the most you can do is change the color of the button leaving them rather bland and boring.

However, creating the form only involves selecting “Create Form” from the Homepage, selecting “Form” on the page that asks if you want to gather subscribers, and from there you simply select one of the three form types.

Create a Shortlink

So, your page is set up, you’re ready to start directing traffic, and… you realize your URL is a mile long.

And if you’re sharing to Twitter, that shit is never going to work.

Here’s a few ways to shorten the link, so it’s easier to remember and more professional:

Option 1: Use a Pretty Link

This is a WordPress plugin that will let you create a shortened version of a link and have it redirect to a different link – it doesn’t even have to be on your site.

You can use this for affiliate links!

For example, I have http://the-creative-boss.local/GYBO that redirects to http://the-creative-boss.local/get-your-blog-on-free-course/ – I opted to go this way because it keeps my domain in the URL and doesn’t rely on a third-party tool, so it’s easier to remember.

Option 2: Use a Bit.ly

If you’re not using WordPress but still want a shortened link, use a link shortener like Bit.ly to create and track statistics to that link.

Option 3: Branded Short Domain

A great example of someone who uses this is Brittany Berger.

You will see that her Bit.ly links all start with bberg.wtf followed by the link that directs to either her website or other commonly used Bit.ly links.

Now that you have created your page, connected it to your email service provider, and snagged a shortened link to share to anyone interested in your offer – you’re ready to promote.

The process may sound complicated for something that doesn’t generate revenue, but with just a few additions, you can make this the beginning of your sales funnel.