Are you frustrated with not getting enough people to sign up through your website?
If you’re willing to try new things or tweak what you’re already doing, they might just be the solutions you need. Just keep in mind that it’s all going to come down to two things: offering a reason to sign up and making it easy to register.
If you’re able to bridge these two obstacles, you will see an enormous increase in the people willing to give you their information.
1. Call to action
On a sign-up page, one of the most crucial elements is your call to action because this is what gets people to sign up. The biggest problem most websites face is the fact that they don’t make theirs stand out. Instead, they allow the call to action to blend into the rest of the page, and, therefore, they get fewer sign-ups.
You can draw arrows to lead people visually to where they need to enter their names and emails. Use larger fonts and easily noticeable colors where people need to click. Red and green buttons have psychological meaning in our everyday lives. Give them both a try, and test which one gets more clicks.
Don’t be afraid to play around with the words that prompt visitors to sign up. Instead of just saying “Register” on the submit button, try “Let’s get started.”
2. Give something away
People love to get something for nothing, so it’s great to give things away for free. This freebie can make visitors feel as though they’re getting more value than what they’re giving, and that will drive them to sign up with you.
We have given away iPads as part of a drawing. If you belong to a larger brokerage, you can team up with the rest of the office and offer a more substantial prize to create more buzz. A drawing for a family trip to Disneyland was successful for us recently because it spread like wildfire on social media.
3. Give away community images
We often drive from one community to another while visiting clients. If you see a nicely maintained street or a park that looks like a postcard, take a photo of it. Then upload it to your website with the proper keywords describing the image.
Chances are it’s only a matter of time before someone wants to use the picture. You can offer to give it away for free if they sign up on your website.
4. Showcase your blog
When you make a blog that grabs people’s attention because it’s entertaining and focused on the visitor’s interest, you’re going to earn their trust. When they see real value in the content you’re delivering consistently, they will be much more likely to sign up with you and regularly visit your website.
Take your time to find a stellar image, and add text to it to reflect the content of your article. Having an excellent image and a catchy headline is most certainly going to get you a lot of visitors. On top of that, if you can do a much better job of creating great content, you will leave your competition in the dust.
5. Embrace pop-up forms
Did you know that when visitors are prompted to click another page to sign up on a site, they are more likely to exit out? This type of psychological barrier is one that can get in the way of you getting information, so why not remove it?
You can easily do this by creating a small pop-up form for signing up. This pop-up can be displayed in front of all other content so users can quickly fill out what they need to before moving on to the content you offer.
6. Simplify your sign-up form
What are you asking for on your sign-up form? If you’re asking for a whole lot of information, then you’re not going to get as many users signing up because you have increased the barrier to enter.
The best sign-up forms include the bare-minimum required information. If there’s no financial transaction involved, then it should be limited to email, name and maybe a phone number.
7. Leverage social media APIs
If you integrate social media platforms to your site, it can make signing up click-of-the-mouse easy. All they’ll have to do is click the Facebook, Google Plus or another social media button to connect their account with your site, and finalize their sign-up within seconds.
8. Give it a social media boost
Millions of articles are shared through social media every day. If just one person shares some of your content, you’ll be exposed to more people every day.
This exposure is why you should consider adding a “share” button that will link your content to various social media platforms. When more people see you, more people will sign up.
9. Split testing
You should test out different combinations of phrases, colors and fonts for your sign-up button. Believe it or not, some combinations will do better than others. It takes little time to change these small details, and because of the impact they can make, they are worth trying.
Any of these methods can turbocharge your sign-ups in a short time — so try them out. Just remember they are not overnight miracles, so you’ll have to keep up with them and continue going forward with what works.
Joe Samson is a Realtor in Calgary, Alberta, as well as a blogger and social media marketer. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or Facebook.
