Welcome Mats – How Top Sites are Growing their Mailing Lists

What is the secret to growing your mailing list like crazy overnight? One of the best ways to do this is through the use of a popup lightbox window like OptinMonster. However, as of lately, a new and FREE tool has gained the attention of many of the world’s top bloggers and it’s actually working even better than any and all previous methods used!

This method is called Welcome Mats — and it’s free to download and use through SumoMe.

With traditional popup lead generation forms like PopUpDomination or OptinMonster, the lightbox will appear over the content of your site and fade out the rest of your content — which has worked extremely well for site owners of all sizes. However, with these new Welcome Mats, the lead generation form basically takes over the whole screen when someone first gets to your site. This leads to a much higher engagement and conversation rate.

In the video below you will get a quick walkthrough of what Welcome Mats are, how they work and how to set them up and customize them for your own sites.

I previously showcased 32 top bloggers and the popup windows they were using to increase email signups to their mailing lists. Now it’s time to show you how top blogs and sites are using Welcome Mats to take their engagement and sign up numbers to a whole new level!

Get Inspired with These 10 Welcome Mat Examples

Before walking through the list of hand selected Welcome Mats shown below, I want to stress the importance of both customizing and split testing your results. What you will notice with many of the examples below is that you can really customize the look and feel of these lead generation forms to match with the branding of your site and have a great call to action in the process.

Let’s first take a look at some of the more creative and branded approaches to using Welcome Mats.

Problogger.net

Problogger is one of the largest ‘blogging resource’ sites on the internet today. The site was started by Darren Rowse, who is very well known throughout the world. By incorporating his picture and the “Build a Better Blog” call to action, he is both building his brand while getting people to join his list who are genuinely interested in creating a better blog.

HelpMyBusiness.com

This welcome mat is a perfect example of how to get the attention of your audience. HelpMyBusiness.com was created by Andrew Lock and just like the example with ProBlogger, he is using his personal brand in his Welcome Mat. However, Andrew is taking his engagement and conversions to another level by incorporating his cat and using humor with his call to action of “Subscribe to the Show, or the Kitten gets it!”.

MaidNHouston.com

Welcome Mats aren’t just being used by bloggers, they are also being used by thousands of regular sites and for businesses as well. Maidnhouston.com is a cleaning service that is using their Welcome Mat to not only serve as a source for new email signups, but they are also providing a 15% off coupon on their first cleaning. This is a perfect way to both increase email signups while also bringing in new paying customers in the process.

[thrive_link color=’blue’ link=’https://zacjohnson.com/sumome’ target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Click here to setup your Welcome Mat for Free![/thrive_link]

SpeakEasy.co

SpeakEasy is a mobile app for connecting with locals in your area to help you “Find the authentic places and experiences that only locals know about.”. Through their Welcome Mat, they are using a picture of their startup team to not only show the faces behind the company, but also to show the same time of experience you might have with your own friends and family, and how this app might relate with you in the same way. “Join our startup story” is also their call to action get you on their mailing list.

StellyBelly.com

Everyone loves a good coupon code and feeling like you have VIP access is even a bigger plus. StellyBelly is an ecommerce story for children’s clothing and their Welcome Mat is one of the most targeted out there. Nearly all people who visit the site are shopping for kids clothing, which is covered with their image backdrop. However, where it really gets exciting is how they have a “Text Message” call to action in addition to saving 10% off instantly when they take action through the Welcome Mat!

Wiggles.ch

As we’ve seen with previous examples, using a Welcome Mat as a way to bring in new customers and providing them with discounts works extremely well. Wiggles.ch is an online jewelry store that offers a 20% discount coupon to all users that subscribe through their form, while also using a colorful image of a woman with a necklace on.

MatthewWoodward.co.uk

Not all Welcome Mats need to be high tech, fancy looking or even provide a discount or coupon. In Matthew Woodward’s case, he keeps it simple, while also seeing a massive increase in emails signups in the process. Most people coming to Matt’s site are interested in online marketing, making money and ranking their web sites in the search results. With his simple call to action of “Unleash My Personal SEO Strategy – Get instant access now” — why wouldn’t you take action? You can also read his case study on this here.

GrowthHackers.com

Growth Hackers is a community site for everything relating to business, entrepreneurs, tech and more. To go along with their simple site design and navigation, they decided to take the same route with their Welcome Mat — simply offering the end user the ability to get the most recent and best growth posts sent right into their email each week. The good thing about a call to action like this, is that you know everyone who signs up for these mailing, really want them. (since there is no incentivized offer)

[thrive_link color=’green’ link=’https://zacjohnson.com/sumome’ target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Click here to setup your Welcome Mat for Free![/thrive_link]

OkDork.com

Noah Kagan is the man behind OkDork (his personal blog) and also the successful startup AppSumo.com. Through OkDork, Noah shares his best advice, case studies, news and more relating to everything from increasing your email signups, conversions, revenue and much more. With his Welcome Mat, Noah takes a much different approach than everyone else on the list — in that you really have no idea what you are getting… but it definitely makes you want to signup to find out!

RobbieRichards.com

When it comes to creating a success site and business on the internet, it seems like there is an endless supply of resource sites out there that provide high-quality tutorials, case studies and guides. Robbie Richards is an online marketer and blogger who also falls into this mix. With his vast experience and success online, he shares his own personal stories and case studies on how you can follow along and do the same — all of which ties into his Welcome Mat, which simply gives an offer no one can pass up — getting an extra 200,000 people to your site!

How to Setup Welcome Mat on Your Site

Now that you’ve seen what’s possible through the use of a free Welcome Mat, it’s time for you to setup this same type of lead generation on your site!

As mentioned earlier, the tool is from SumoMe, which provides their users with 12+ free tools to help better market their sites and increase lead generation. All of which is easily done and managed through their free WordPress plugin.

To setup a Welcome Mat on your own site, you will need to:

1. Create a free account with SumoMe
2. Install the free SumoMe WordPress Plugin
3. Click on the Sumo Store icon and click the “Welcome Mat” app to install.
4. Create your Welcome Mat within the plugin
5. Publish, Split Test and Increase Signup Conversions Immediately!

To unlock the full potential of Welcome Mat and all of it’s advanced customization and tracking features, you will need to upgrade to the Pro version — however, the free version is definitely a great way to see improved conversions and signups right away.

Enough about how others are using SumoMe and Welcome to increase their conversions and revenue… now it’s time for you to do the same!