8 Places to Promote Your Freebie on Your Squarespace Website
If you’re an online business owner, chances are that you know the importance of growing your email list. Gone are the days of “sign up for my newsletter.”
Today, you have to give away a freebie providing some kind of value in exchange for an email address. A freebie is also known as a lead magnet, lead capture or opt-in. These words are all interchangeable.
Common freebie examples are an ebook, email course, audio training, or video series. Whatever form you choose, it should align with one of your core offerings. It should be something easily digestible and not overwhelming because the person receiving it should be able to take an actionable step right away.
This helps to give a taste of your expertise and gains trust.
Once these people join your email list, you use an email marketing platform like Convertkit (yes, that’s an affiliate link!) or Mailchimp to automatically send an email welcome sequence, which is typically anywhere from 5-8 emails introducing yourself, providing value, and letting them know how they can work with you.
But in this post, I’m going to break down 8 areas you can promote your freebie on your Squarespace website:
1. On the main banner image
You should always have a call to action at the top of your homepage (learn more about that here). If you want people to immediately join your email list, you could have your call to action link to your freebie offer.
Use a button instead of a text link because it stands out more and has a higher conversion rate.
2. Announcement bar
You can add this by going under Marketing, then clicking Announcement Bar. Here, you can add a description and a link.
Under Site Styles, you can change the color and font style.
Best practices:
Make sure that the text stands out against the background
Don’t make the text too big as to take away from the rest of the area “above the fold”
Keep the message to one line so that it doesn’t look overcrowded
3. In the navigation
If your freebie links out to a third party landing page or is housed inside a Squarespace cover page, this is a great place to add it.
If you are using a template that allows for secondary navigations, you can turn it into a button to help it stand out amongst the rest of the navigation, as you can see below with my website.
Be careful though. Your navigation should only include 4-5 pages, or else it can be overwhelming to your site visitor.
4. Below the main banner image
I had to really zoom out on my computer to showcase this one, as you can see below. This location is recommended if your call to action just above this does not link to the same thing.
For example, my call to action on the banner image leads to my services page. Therefore, it made sense to add a call to action for my freebie below it.
This is also a great place to add a visual to what you’re giving away. When you have a designated space like this one, try to include a visual because they help with conversions.
If it’s an ebook like mine, you could create a similar mockup inside Canva, where you take screenshots of each page and fan them out. If it’s an audio training, you could create a mockup of a phone that has headphones attached to it. If it’s a video training, you could take a screenshot and add it inside a laptop mockup.
5. Promotional Pop-up
You can add this by going under Marketing, then clicking Promotional Pop-Up. Here, you can:
choose a layout
add an action to a link or form
add a headline and small paragraph of text
control the settings for when the pop up appears, on what pages, and its frequency
add an image
change the fonts, colors and animations for desktop and mobile
Under Display & Timing, I recommend turning off mobile. Google has taken action against websites with pop-ups (known as interstitials) that take up most or all of a mobile screen.
6. Website Footer
The footer is a great place to showcase your freebie because it ensures that it is seen on every single page. If your template allows for a secondary footer where you can change its background, that’s even better.
If not, you can still add your freebie with a line above and below it so that it doesn’t get too confused with the rest of the information in the footer.
I use the Rally template, which doesn’t have a secondary footer, but I was able to add it with code.
7. Inside blog posts
Why not give your blog readers a chance to opt-in to your email list while viewing your content? Within blog posts, you can either add a form or an image that leads to your sign-up page.
As you can see below, I include a mockup, title, and call to action. You can include one in the middle of your blog post and at the end as well.
8. Designated shop or resources page
In addition to your paid courses or programs, you can also create a page just for freebies or add it to the same page. You can add a mockup or preview, a title, description and call to action button.
As you can see, there are various locations where you can add a freebie to your Squarespace site. To recap, they are:
On the main banner image or “above the fold”
Announcement bar
In the navigation
Below the main banner image
Promotional pop-up
Website footer
Inside blog posts
Shop/resources page
You don’t have to add your freebie to every single area mentioned above, but the more times you include it, the higher the number of subscribers you’re more likely to get.
On many solopreneur websites, I see many business owners barely promoting their offers and find that their freebies are hidden within their site. You want to make sure they are front and center.
To be strategic, I would recommend:
having at least one call to action above the fold on your homepage
placing it in your footer
including it inside blog posts
Have questions or comments? Drop them below!