| After many months of procrastination, I finally got | | | | action. Provide a compelling benefit or result to your |
| around to adding a hover ad to my website. A hover | | | | visitor that makes them think, "I've got to get that!" |
| ad is a type of pop-up ad that appears in your | | | | 5. Description of offer. Visitors are leery of giving out |
| browser window from the side or top of the screen, | | | | their email addresses. Provide a concise description |
| or may just slowly float in front of the page you're | | | | what they're receiving that makes them believe it's |
| viewing, or may suddenly pop in and bounce up and | | | | worth their time to part with their name and email |
| down for a bit. What differentiates a hover ad from | | | | address. |
| traditional pop-up ads is that it's not blockable by | | | | 6. Sense of urgency. Remind them that they can |
| pop-up blockers built into web browsers. | | | | instantly receive this information, which satisfies an |
| The hover ad is incredibly effective because it brings | | | | Internet browser's need for immediate gratification. |
| your primary call to action to visitor's attention right | | | | 7. Value of offer. Place a dollar value of the |
| away and asks that they respond to that call to | | | | information you're giving away. There's little value in |
| action. Consequently, you'll experience a great | | | | "free", so make your offer worth something. |
| increase in the number of signups to your list as a | | | | 8. Privacy policy. Visitors want to know how you'll be |
| result of using this technology. In the time I've been | | | | using their contact info. State your policy in a short, |
| using a hover ad, my opt-in rates have doubled over | | | | concise sentence. |
| using the traditional opt-in form embedded on my | | | | 9. Field labels. Instead of simply leaving the boxes |
| site. | | | | beside your requested information fields (name and |
| There are a number of software/services offering | | | | email address) blank, fill that in with default text as |
| the hover ad popup technology. I use the one that is | | | | yet another reminder of the information that you're |
| included as a part of my service with my email | | | | seeking. |
| broadcast provider, aWeber. | | | | 10. Submit button. Don't simply request that the |
| Here are 11 features of a hover-ad that will help you | | | | visitor submit the info. Give them a call to action, |
| double (or perhaps triple or quadruple) the opt-ins to | | | | such as "Send my info today!" |
| your website: | | | | 11. Frequency and delay. Most hover ad software |
| 1. Descriptive page title. Let you visitor know what | | | | permits you to time the entrance of your hover ad |
| they will be receiving by creating a descriptive page | | | | to the page as well as control the frequency with |
| title. | | | | which the ad appears. My rule of thumb is not to |
| 2. Close window option. If you don't offer your visitor | | | | surprise or bombard my visitors with my hover ad, |
| the option to close the hover ad, you risk annoying | | | | so I set the ad to appear slowly on the screen, and |
| them, which may result in a hasty exit from your | | | | to appear once every 10 days only so that my |
| website. | | | | visitors aren't bombarded again and again with the ad |
| 3. Graphic image. Pictures are worth a thousand | | | | once they've opted in. |
| words. Embed a graphic image of what you're | | | | Spend some time creating an effective hover ad to |
| offering so that your visitor can "see" what they're | | | | promote your primary call to action. When you see |
| getting. | | | | your opt-ins increase, you'll wonder why you didn't |
| 4. Compelling headline. Headlines make visitors take | | | | choose to use this strategy sooner! |