10 Hot Spots on Your Blog for List building

List building is essential if you are a business owner. No if's, and's or but's about it. When you build a list of persons who are interested in your content, products and services or your free opt-in offer, it opens a realm of possibilities. The people on your list are obviously interested in the information you have to share on the free level. Chances are, they are interested in your paid products or programs and just want to get to know you first before making the 'final' decision to buy.

A list allows you to build relationships, maintain a virtual dialogue via blog posts and newsletters, share resources: free and paid that may help your subscribers, get new referrals and so much more. I shared in a previous blog post, 14 Ideas to grow your email list. You can check it out here:

In the post, I will share 10 hotspots on your blog that you can utilize to boost your list building efforts. Note: This is NOT an exhaustive blog post on How to Build an Email List. This is a post on utilizing real estate on your own blog to build your list.

So here goes:

1) Place your opt-in form in the header of your blog - Many people are accustomed to placing an image in the header of their blogs. However, with a little bit of coding on the backend, you can place your opt-in form there instead with an image of your free offer and some benefits about your offer. Some themes also come with plugins that let you do these kinds of customizations so that you do not have to edit the blog's stylesheet directly. Studiopress is a good one. My blog runs on the Genesis Framework by Studiopress so I know this first-hand.

2) Sidebar - This is the most common area on your blog to place an opt-in form. Note that it is best to place your opt-in form above the fold, that is - where it can be seen by website visitors without having to scroll down.

3) Opt-in form in footer - If you have a Wordpress theme that allows you to have footer widgets, you can place an Opt-in form there.

4) Opt-in block at the beginning of each post - This is also easily accomplished with the Studiopress suite of themes.

5) Opt-in block above your blog content and sidebar - I did this recently. So you can see the example of how this looks at the top of my blog. Got the idea from a blog I subscribe to and read regularly here: http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/

6) Opt-in bar at the extreme top of your blog, even before header - can be accomplished easily with a free plugin called ViperBar. Here is the link to find out more and download this plugin: http://www.viperchill.com/viperbar/ The good thing about this plugin is that it can be customized to accept sign-up's to your email list or RSS feed. It can also be customized to make a special announcement with an embedded link that the website visitor can click for more information.

7) Opt-in footer plugin at the extreme bottom of your blog, underneath footer - Another plugin I came across recently. I have not tried it yet, but you can get more information here: http://www.danielwatrous.com/optin-footer-plugin

8) In the middle of your blog post - Some websites introduce a break in the middle of their articles and posts to place Ads. This can be used quite cleverly to build your list as well. A great way to do this and make it stand out is by using the 'Blockquote' attribute in your wordpress dashboard.

9) Pop-up Opt-in - A very popular premium plugin for the Pop-up with an opt-in form is Popup Domination. You can check it out at this link here:
There is also a free wordpress plugin that can also be used called Wordpress Popup Scheduler. I have used it and it's a decent and highly customizable plugin.

10) Call to action at the end of each post - Place text with a link to your opt-in offer at the end of each post. Here's an example: "If you liked this post, you'll love my 10-Video Kick Start Marketing Tips filled with actionable advice and resources to launch your business online". The blue underlined link points to a website with my opt-in offer. You can also place a block of code at the end of each post with your opt-in form and a call-to-action to complete the form for your free offer.

So there you have it, 10 places that you can utilize on your blog to build your email list. I am sure that you are buzzing with ideas about where to start. However, I have one word of caution for you, do NOT utilize ALL of these hotspots. Building an email list, as I mentioned is paramount. But you have to exercise balance with the way you do it so that you don't annoy or overwhelm your readers.

You can test different combinations of these various hotspots to see what works best for you and builds your list. For instance, you can use a Pop-up with your free offer and opt-in form, an opt-in form in your blog's sidebar and a message with a text link or opt-in form at the end of each post. Definitely spend some time anaylzing your blog and your on-blog list building strategy so you can make full use of this online real estate that you have invested in.