The Effects Of A Newsletter Pop-up On Spam

by Steven-Sanders

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I wrote a post about a Free alternative to Aweber’s subscribe to newletter pop-up, earlier this week.  Since that time, I’ve noticed some things I’d like to share with you.

I have seen both positive and negative comments (someone actually called me a “fucktard“- I guess you know you’ve hit it big when those kinds of comments start coming in.), as well as comments from those who are interested in finding out the results of my pop-up experiment.

Effects on Readers

There has been alot of mixed emotion on the internet about using popups.  There has even been hundreds of popup blockers created just for this reason.  But in my experiment of using a popup for asking others to subscribe to my newletter, I’ve noticed that while some say they don’t like it, my gains in readers and visitors to my blog has not slowed at all.  In fact, only two months ago (when I first started this blog), I was getting around 1,500 visitors.  This month I’ve seen a sharp increase to a little over 4,500 visitors.  My RSS subscribers number has dramatically increased as well.

The pop-up only appears the first time someone visits my blog, so I don’t think it’s having the negative effect that I or everyone else thought it would.  And maybe the biggest reason it’s not so negative is because it’s something pertinent to my blog, and not just a place jam packed with ads.

Effects on Newsletter Subscribers

The real reason the pop-up was put into place was to find out if it would lead to an increase in my newsletter subscribers.  And my results?

This pop-up has literally doubled my newsletter subscribers list.  So like John Chow said in his review of Aweber’s pop-up, it really works.  And the numbers prove that.

Effects on Comment Spam

Another and most least expected place I’ve seen affected by the newsletter subscribers pop-up is my comments form.

I was getting around 40 or more comments that were spam, every day.  That number of comments has literally disappeared.

I don’t think it will end up going away permanently, but most spam comments a blog receives comes from somewhere different every time.  So when these “spam bots” access my blog for the first time, a pop-up appears that literally stops them from being able to access my comments form.

I never even thought about this or expected it to happen, but it has had such a positive effect that I am truly convinced that the newsletter subscribers pop-up is the way to go on a blog.

If you use a newsletter subscriber pop-up, what effects have you seen to your blog?

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Leave a Comment »4 Comments
  • Reply » webdesi3 wds.webdesignservers.com October 31, 2008

    Hi Steven,

    I haven’t set up a newsletter yet,but between work and my blog I keep meaning too, the only problem is that I can’t think of something good enough to write about in a newsletter that I don’t already put up on my blog. I will check out the free alternative to aweber though, thanks for that.

    I’ve heard a lot of possitive things about pop-up newsletter subsbibers in the last few days though. And that your spam has been reduced is great:)

    webdesi3s last blog post..Freaky Funday Friday: Part 2

  • Reply » Tom dailybragger.com November 1, 2008

    I like the fact that the “pop-up” only appears once for the reader. This would definitely eliminate a lot of spam comments by making “bots” have to click the pop-up to access your page.

    Toms last blog post..What is Utterli?

  • Reply » Melanie melaniedejonge.com November 1, 2008

    Wow, a lot of the talk around the blogosphere lately has been about pop-up subscription forms. I think I’m going to give it a try.

    Melanies last blog post..Coolest. Gadget. Ever. Pulse Smartpen From Livescribe

  • Reply » FixThePig fixthepig.com November 1, 2008

    I like the fact that the plug in only shows up 1 time, that is a good thing. It seems like some of my other favorite marketing blogs have it pop up every time I visit; that is extremely annoying. I’m going to give the pop up in the very near future.

    FixThePigs last blog post..Who’s To Blame, Big Oil or You?

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