Should I add a pop-up to my Squarespace author website?
One of the frustrations that many of my website clients share with me is that they are struggling to get people to sign up to their author newsletter / mailing list.
With all the author websites I build, I add a newsletter sign-up box as standard (usually in the footer, as this means it’s visible on every page), whether or not the author wants me to.
It’s honestly best to have a newsletter sign-up visible somewhere on your website, even if you have no intention of sending newsletters in the near (or even far!) future.
Why?
Because it takes a REALLY long time to grow an author mailing list.
Let’s be honest - no one wants more emails in their Inbox, and even the most die-hard of fans will think twice before sharing their email address with you.
Lots of authors are surprised at how tough it is to get people to sign up for their newsletter, and just how long it takes to build a decent-sized mailing list.
And you don’t want to spend a long time crafting a beautiful, interesting newsletter only to send it to a handful of people!
(I always advise waiting for a minimum of 50 subscribers before you start sending newsletters - the return on your time investment will just not be worth it with any fewer.)
My author website clients often come back to me further down the line frustrated about how slowly their newsletter list is building, and ask me if there are any other ways that they can encourage more sign-ups.
And that’s when we get talking about pop-ups!
What is a pop-up?
In case you aren’t sure, a pop-up is a small window that appears in ‘front’ of your main website screen and aims to encourage people to take some kind of action.
They are most usually used to encourage visitors to sign up to mailing lists, but they can actually be used for anything - buying tickets to your next event, or pre-ordering your new book or snapping up your ebook while it’s on a Kindle deal - basically sharing any information that you want to draw attention to.
But aren’t they really annoying?
Yes they are. I’m not going to lie to you.
However, if you set yours up right, the likelihood of a visitor to your author website vowing never to buy another of your books again when they see it is slim.
We are used to pop-ups. We know how to click the little X in the corner to make them go away.
Sometimes we even do it on reflex.
So don’t worry, your readers who hate pop-ups with a passion will forgive you if you add one to your author website.
Why do you want a pop-up on your author website?
Put simply: because they work!
They are undoubtedly the most effective way of encouraging sign-ups to your author newsletter.
Pop-ups can vary in terms of design and implementation, but they have been reported to have conversion rates ranging from 1% to 8% or even higher in some cases.
Here’s my current pop-up (you should have seen it at some point while browsing this site!):
My current promotional pop-up
How do they work on Squarespace?
Like with most things Squarespace, pop-ups are built into the software.
However, please note you have to be on the Business plan of Squarespace before you are able to access this feature.
You can find out more about the different Squarespace pricing plans here →
How to set up your pop-up on your Squarespace author website
You can add a promotional pop-up to your Squarespace website by going to Marketing > Marketing Tools > Promotional pop-up.
Alternatively, you can use the nifty Squarespace shortcut and press the forward slash button [ / ] on your keyboard and search in the box that appers for ‘pop-up’.
From here, you can follow all the steps to set up your pop-up: choosing the message, image, call to action and also the timing of the pop-up - how often you want it to appear when people visit your website.
The key to this is not to spam people with it on every page, but also not to be a wallflower about it!
Make sure that everyone who visits your website, even for a few seconds, gets to see your pop-up and the opportunity to sign up to your newsletter.
If you prefer to watch, I’ve recorded a quick video to walk you through how to access and set-up your pop-up:
The key to pop-up success
The key to a successful pop-up is the same as with any other attempt to drive sign ups to your newsletter: make it worth their while!
Offer your reader an incentive. No one wants to ‘sign up to hear your latest news’ because that’s INCREDIBLY boring!
So either think of a ‘gift’ you can offer your subscribers (such as entry into a competition to win a signed copy of your book, or a free short story, or a bonus chapter from one of your books) to make it worth them handing over their email address.
Other ways to drive newsletter subscribers
Setting up a dedicated newsletter page that you link to regularly from social media is another great way to encourage sign ups.
My newsletter sign-up page
It’s simply a dedicated ‘landing page’ on your author website that only has one call-to-action on it - and that’s the sign up to your newsletter.
While it’s important to have your newsletter sign up box in your footer, the likelihood of many people noticing it is, unfortunately, pretty slim.
So having a page that only asks visitors to sign up to your author newsletter is a great way of focusing their attention and ensuring they don’t get distracted by other stuff (like reading your blog, or buying your book).
Again, you’ll want to be careful and thoughtful about what you put on this page, to ensure that you are offering readers a genuine incentive to sign up.
And then the key is to link to this page from elsewhere frequently. Not just once. But multiple times each month.
This will really help drive subscribers.
But the truth is - the pop-up window is still Queen. So don’t be shy about including one on your author website.
Yes they are annoying, but not as annoying as those incessant bloody cookie banners, and we all manage to cope with them without throwing too much of a tantrum 😆
So stick a pop-up on your author website, and watch your newsletter list grow!
