How to Use Pop Ups Without Annoying Your Visitors

By Merle
Posted Friday, July 16, 2004

How to use pop up windows on your website for best results

At the risk of losing you before we even get started, I'm going to say a "dirty" word: Pop Up (as in Windows). If you're like me, you've been popped more times than a firecracker on the 4th of July...but that's no reason to click away in disgust.

There is a method of using pop ups that won't annoy your website guests and can actually benefit you in a variety of ways in the long run. Impossible, you say? No! If you implement a pop up correctly, your guests won't be annoyed at all. Let's face it: the majority of people who put pop ups on their sites go about it all the wrong way. Most of them are triggered upon entry to the website, when a visitor is trying to focus on what the site has to offer.

In this instance, the least you can say about the pop up is that it is annoying and distracting. (The most you can say is something I'll leave up to your imagination!)

The visitor who has just entered your site is trying to see what you have to offer and does not want to be bothered with another window. Odds are, she'll close it without even glancing at what's being presented.

This is the wrong way to use pop ups. Why would you want to bombard someone as soon as he sets foot in your front door? It's like coming home from a long day at work, walking in the front door and being confronted by the wife, the kids, and the dog, all vying for your attention. You wouldn't like it -- and this is exactly how your visitors feel when you pull the same stunt on them when entering your site.

So if making a window pop up immediately upon entering your site is wrong, how do you make it right?

The best way to use a pop up is upon exit. Translation: when your guest is ready to leave your site -- then, and only then -- is when your pop up box should appear. At this point, your message will be better received and not seen as an obtrusion. You might compare it to someone coming over for a visit and on his way out the door you say, "Hey, don't forget about this." It's a gentle reminder. So, how can you use this beneficial reminder? Here are the most popular:

1) To remind them to subscribe to your ezine

2) To offer a free download such as an e-book or some other free offer.

3) As a final sales pitch for your product or service

4) To offer a free course by autoresponder

Remember, you never want to have more than one pop up window (something porn sites are famous for). Nothing makes a surfer madder than having two or three windows open up and possibly crash his browser in the process. You can even set it up so that only first time visitors see the pop up window. By using a script that sets a cookie you can ensure that your popup never appears to the same user more than once. And that's only one of the options you have when adding pop ups to your site.

There are software programs you can download that will make them easy to configure, as well. An example of this would be (http://www.codelifter.com/pop5index.html) They do offer a free demo and if you like it you can purchase it for a mere 0.00.

There are also plenty of free online pop up generators you can use that let you design pop ups to any size and specification. Some of them are:

(http://builder.com/webbuilding/0-7701-8-4561792-1.html) Scroll down to the link that says "Tip- Window Maker"

(http://www.Javascript.Internet.com/generators/popup-window.html)

(http://www.makingprofit.com/mp/free/popgen.shtml)

If you're looking for an easy script you can just cut and paste take a look at

(http://wsabstract.com/script/cut65.shtml)

So next time you decide to add a pop up to your website, make sure you keep the above pointers in mind and your new windows will work for you instead of against you!

About the Author
Merle is an internet marketer, promotion consultant and ezine publisher. Visit her sites at (http://www.mcpromotions.com/),(http://www.merlesworld.com/) and (http://www.ezineadauction.com/).