I think I've picked the mailing list tool I'm going to use--MailerLite.
I started setting up my first "campaign" for letting people join my email list. "Campaign" is what these tools call the popup that gives the sign-up form. Of course, it's not going to be as simple as: "Here's a link to join my mailing list."
There is so much to think about.
The first is finding a hook for getting people to sign up. These tools are built for marketers. Best practice is to hook people with a deal of some sort: "Free ebook," "Sample story or chapter," "Discount code on your first order," or as simple as "Be the first to know."
I started fretting about what my hook should be, but I realized that I was letting that worry distract me from getting started. I decided to keep it simple in this first round and just give people who want to follow my writing journey a place to sign up.
So, I went to creating my first campaign.
Distraction: Ooh, look at all the different templates.
Distraction: Design time. All the colors and fonts and positions. Oh, and I need a photo for this page.
Distractions from Distraction: Which photo should I use. Oh, look the photo tool has all kinds of color filters.
I finally got down to getting words on the form. Each block of text--the right title, description of the list, a promise to not share data, even the title of the submit button--require some careful thought.
Distraction: As I write the description of the what people are signing up for, I realize that some people just care about when I publish a book, others might want a short story now and again. The tool lets me log those preferences with a check box. What should I call those check boxes? Does the group of checkboxes need its own title, or just each checkbox?
Distraction from Distraction: Given that I can get people to select groups they want to be part of, perhaps I should add a checkbox for people willing to be early readers.
I set up all that and then I noticed that there is a whole other popup to set up--what they call the success page. That makes sense from a user interface perspective. You have to show them something when they click the button. So I designed that popup too, with all the same complications and choices from the first one.
I finished the designs and clicked next and got a whole page of options about when and how to display this popup. I realized I wasn't nearly done.
Distraction: Should it pop up on top of the window, slide in from the side, hover near the bottom? And, after how long? The default is wait five seconds, then shove the annoying pop up in my audience's face. How should I set that up to be the most effective and least annoying.
Distraction: Speaking of annoying, how can I set this up so that I don't annoy the people that are already on my list every time they come to read my blog? Should I set up a side page, or a permalink blog post about joining my list? Can blogger support adding the javascript code on just a single page?
Distraction: This is getting complicated, I better do some beta testing of this. I should test that I can send mail to the list before a bunch of people are on it, and that I can actually unsubscribe people who ask.
--- insert record scratching sound here ---
As I was writing all this, I was thinking, something felt too complicated. What I really wanted was a link to send someone to where they can sign up--No pop-ups, no "campaigning," no cleverness. Then I remembered that all these tools have something called a landing page. I hurried back to the tool I'd picked to see if they had a landing page concept.
That's it, that's what I wanted! Simple-ish. It still required some design, including a photo, but now I can share that page from anywhere that I can put a link. Simple is better. Time to get on with it.
If you want to sign up for my list go here, to my new landing page!
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