When I started with my first blog, I was shocked, I thought that the first day visitors would come and read my articles. That was 3 years ago. From 20 readers in the first month, I got to 500 unique visitors per day after a year. I could have done better. But considering that I was learning from WordPress to SEO to Social media I think I did quite well. From then on, new visitors came and I kept looking for a way to keep those users. Then I discovered I could use optin forms. Optin form is widget on your website which user can use to subscribe to your newsletter. Once user is subscribed, chances are that he or she will visit your site regulary, maybe not with every newsletter, but they will return if you will have something interesting to say / sell.
I started with Feedburner optin form, but soon discovered that it doesn’t work as I imagined. By that I mean that users didn’t subscribe. I used couple of plugins where I could make optin better looking but still no subsribers. Then I found Optinmonster. It had a great feature set but it was too expensive for me. I tried many commercial plugins. From Mail chimp wordpress plugin to Uber optin. I trialed both Optinskin and Hybrid connect but both didn’t match features and power of Optinmonster. That was also a period when I discovered that many commercial plugins got abandoned by their creator. When you visit their website, you read all great things, they tell you that they offer exceptional support, but when you need help, you get no response. When you do a bit of research you see that plugin was last updated two – or more – years ago and then I realised it’s time to try Optinmonster.
Optinmonster review
Optinmonster is availabe in 4 plans. Basic is just a basic Optin without exit intent. Plus is a bit better than Basic, it has additional optin options Footer bar, Sidebar and after post. You can use it on 3 websites. It doesn’t have 2 most popular features – exit intent and Canvas. Pro plan has all the features. They all have one thing in common. Support is only available for one year. You can still use the plugin after one year, but you don’t get support or new updates (which may include new features).
Optinmonster installation
Optinmonster has a great design, you see, it was designed to be modular. You see, you may not need all the optins. You can install only the one you need. By having modular design, it’s also lighter if you don’t use all the features. When you install Optinmonster, can activate optins you will use.
After you install optin type, you have to activate it.
Optinmonster Addons / modules
The following modules are available
OptinMonster Footer Bar
3 templates are available for the footer optin. Footer optin is placed at the bottom of your browser
OptinMonster Slide In
Optinmonster Slide in has one theme which you can modify, it slides from the side.
OptinMonster Lightbox / Exit Intent
Lightbox is included in the plugin but Exit intent is available as an add on. Normal light box pops up after X seconds (you can control delay) while lightbox with exit intent pops up when user tries to leave your site.
OptinMonster Sidebar
You can place Optinmonster as a widget in the sidebar, there are 4 templates available. You can modify them to match design of your site.
OptinMonster After Post
After post is a very popular optin, it’s placed just below your article. 
OptinMonster Canvas
Optinmonster Canvas is a new feature and enables you to add your own elements to Lightbox. Maybe you don’t need users to sign up to your newsletter. Instead, you would like them to Like your facebook page.
OptinMonster Effects
Optinmonster Effects are additional effects for Lightbox. Now Lightbox can move to grab users attention.
OptinMonster Mobile Addon
Finnaly, one of the most requested features, Mobile addon is available in Optinmonster. Now you can show Lightbox to users with mobile devices. In the past this feature was not available. In version 2, mobile support has been added. With mobile support, Optinmonster is responsive and is able to show the right size on mobile devices.
You can find more information on Optinmonster website.
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