How to Use Pop Ups Without Annoying Your Visitors

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 $20.00.

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.cnet.com/webbuilding/0-7701-8-4561792-1.html
Scroll down to the link that says "Tip- Window Maker"

http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=220844
Pop Up Making Wizard

http://www.makingprofit.com/mp/free/popgen.shtml
Making Profit's Online PopUp Generator

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!