How To Add A Content Upgrade Your Squarespace Blog Post Using Mailchimp
Three step-by-step video lessons to show you how to upload an opt-in to your Squarespace site, easily organize your new subscribers on one Mailchimp list, and deliver your freebie gift with ease.
When you have a website for a service-based business, one of your goals needs to be experimenting with interesting and refreshing ways of inviting people onto your email list.
Brand new websites that I create for clients always have one main opt-in embedded into the site footer so it displays on every page a visitor clicks on.
But you shouldn’t stop there.
Over time, you’ll want to add more opt-ins to your website.
A great way to do this is by incorporating content upgrades into your blog posts.
Think of a content upgrade this way…
It’s a useful add-on, tip sheet, video, or audio that accompanies a blog post. It’s a way for you to give additional information, short-cuts, or tools—that would help the reader actually do something with the information they just read.
Content upgrades are a good way to continue adding opt-ins to your website without cluttering every page with pop-ups and ads.
Why add multiple opt-ins and content upgrades to your website:
Because they can help you grow your email list.
And your email list is a great way to build trust, brand awareness, and goodwill with people who may want to purchase your services some day.
A few beautiful things about opt-ins and content upgrades:
- They give people little sips of what it’s like to work with you (builds trust).
- They demonstrate your skills and expertise (builds credibility).
- They can help people do something meaningful (builds goodwill).
- They continue putting your brand in front of people after they’ve left your website (builds a bridge).
- They can be a nice incentive for people to give you their email address, which means you’ll be able to correspond with them through your emails and get to know each other better (builds a relationship).
- Now that you know what they are and why you’ll want to continue adding opt-ins to your website, you need to know how to do it (I've created a three-part video series and downloadable guide for you below).
But before you learn the steps, I want to quickly introduce you to Squarespace's hidden fields.
Why you should use Squarespace’s hidden fields:
Adding hidden fields to your Squarespace opt-in forms enables you to tag or identify how people join your list.
This is good to know because you’ll get clarification on which types of content inspires people to sign up for your emails and which ones don’t. In the future, you can do more of what works and stop doing what doesn’t.
Additionally, you may want to segment your list in Mailchimp so you can send specific emails to certain people on your list.
For example, if someone signs up for an opt-in on your website that helps them create better work/life balance, eventually you may want to create a work/life balance product or offer and market it directly to the people who expressed an interest in work/life balance.
Did you know you can organize all your subscribers on one Mailchimp list and keep them tagged based on how they joined your list?
I bring this up because that is always the big argument away from Mailchimp to a platform like ConvertKit.
ConvertKit is truly awesome. I love it. I have clients who use it and adore it because it minimizes some of the steps you need to take with Mailchimp to keep your subscribers organized on one list.
Even so, I recommend Mailchimp to new business owners (not always, but most of the time).
Note: There are exceptions where Mailchimp isn’t the best choice. For example—spas, massage therapists, and salons. Often, your customer relationship management software (CRM) has the perfect email marketing tools built-in for your type of business.
Why I often recommend Mailchimp to new business owners:
Because business owners who are new to content marketing and have never sent a single email campaign don’t need to be paying a monthly fee for their email list in the early days, while they’re getting their sea legs. Mailchimp is free if you have under 2000 subscribers. All those little subscription charges for tools and applications add up, so I say...don't spend money where you don't need to when you're just starting out.
I always advise growing out of one tool before growing into another (especially with a new business)—unless you’re planning to be super dedicated and aggressive with your marketing from the start. Most of my new clients aren’t rocking a comprehensive marketing plan right out of the gate, simply because they need to do a lot of learning and gather a lot of data through trial and error before they have a feel for their best marketing opportunities.
I also recommend Mailchimp because it’s very easy to use, looks professional, and integrates seamlessly with Squarespace.
If you are using Mailchimp and want to send emails to a select group of people on your list, you’ll need the ability to segment your list.
And to bring this full circle, that’s where the hidden fields in your Squarespace sign-up form come in.
This is the result of adding a hidden source field to your Squarespace form:
You can identify your subscribers on your master list in Mailchimp. And this is beneficial because you can:
1. Understand what your subscribers like.
2. Segment people on your list and send them specific emails based on their interests.
Okay! So enough chit chat. Let's get into the lessons.
NOTE…I recommend not using headphones for these videos because in the third video there’s a loud part—due to a mic glitch—just an FYI. So sorry about that;)
