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10 Simple Steps To Add An Opt-in Form To Wordpress
Posted by David Hobson | Posted in Blogging Tips | Posted on 20-01-2008
One of the great marketing tools around today is an opt-in newsletter. The ability to email hundreds of potential customers in one go with your latest offers is something all marketers should have. A great way to build a list is to add an opt-in form on your blog. I see many threads on forums around the internet asking how this can be done so decided I would write this tutorial.
Before making any changes be sure to make back ups of your files as even the most experienced people can make mistakes when installing.
To start you will need to download and install Phplist a free newsletter script, or if your host uses fantastico you will probably find it in there.
1.Install Phplist to your server
2.Setup your newsletter lists that people will subscribe to
3.Download the Phplist Wordpress Plug-in
4.Go to your plug-in manager and activate the plug-in
5.Go to the options page for the plug-in and enter the required details
6.Go to presentation and theme editor
7.Select your sidebar.php
8.Copy the contents of this file to notepad as a back up
<?php $content = apply_filters('the_content', '<!--phplist form-->');
echo $content;?>
9.Save your sidebar.php and refresh your blog make sure it looks ok. 10.Offer a freebie as an incentive for people to sign up
You should now have a fully functioning newsletter opt-in on your blog. Try signing up with your own email to confirm everything is ok.
You can now start to build your mailing list subscribers and greatly increase the marketing of your blog.
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Cool tip. I was just talking to a client about adding an opt in for a newsletter.
I’ll have to try this on my blogs as well.
Pixel Head’s last blog post..Top Commentators for Mid January 2008
Great post, very useful. However, you may want to check your settings with your opt in form. I subscribed and was taken to a 404 not found when hitting the “download” button.
WordPress Modder’s last blog post..Wordpress Cheat Sheets
Thx, I had been loking for exactlythisplug in for my WOrdpress 3 column theme. ow, I gotta look for ebooks and articles to give away from my blog!!
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Thanks for sharing. Been looking for something like this for a while now. This is very helpful and informative.
Hi David,
This is very useful for people who looking for solution to setup their own opt-in form in Wordpress.
I give my opt-in plug-in for Wordpress for alternative.
This plug-in can setup opt-in form in your Wordpress blog within 5 minutes.
http://www.fasterinternetmarketing.com/FasterIM-OptIn/
Cheers!
Awesome post — well written & very helpful! Thanks!
Very informative. Although step 2 seems a little vague to me. Can you elaborate on that?
Thanks