When you log in to convertkit, choose the “grow” option from the top menu and select “landing
pages & forms.”
Find the red button that says “create new” (it’s to the right, just above the fold) and click it.
Choose “form.” Pick whichever format you prefer. (“modal” is the traditional pop-up form)
Then, you will see options for templates. Choose one of those.
(I like the templates with big picture spaces, because you can customize it a little more.
Convertkit has some pretty generic templates, which is fine. But if there’s a picture spot, you can
make your own design in canva and then upload it in the space for a picture. Just be awarekeep your design really centered on canva, with a good sized border. If words or photos come
too close to the edges, it’ll cut off part of the image on some smaller phone screens.)
You can customize colors by clicking on elements (such as the button) and changing them in the
sidebar to match your branding. I also chose to make the background color the same as my
canva image’s background, so you couldn’t really tell that there was a separate image
uploaded- it all just looks like one template, if that makes sense.
Play around with the design, and when you’ve figured out how you want it all to look, go to the
“settings” tab above.
Once you’ve clicked “settings,” what pops up should say “form settings” and have 4 tabs on the
side “general,” “domain name,” “incentive,” and “advanced.”
Within “general,” choose “show a success message,” and fill it in with something simple that lets
them know they will be receiving an email to subscribe and receive their freebie, and to check
their junk/spam mail. (To avoid spammers, you NEED this feature. Don’t bypass the double
subscription authentication by choosing “redirect to an external page.” It won’t work as well.)
If you selected the “modal” template, fill out other details, like “timing” “scroll percentage,” “how
often should a visitor see this?” etc
Now go to the “incentive” tab on the side. Choose “send incentive email” (again, to avoid
spammers), and click “edit email contents.”
Fill it out with a little welcome email and next steps CTA. Here’s what mine looks like:
Your subscribe button should say something about the freebie like “click here to download your
freebie.” Don’t bypass that button, because it’s the magic button that adds them to your
subscriber list.
Go back to the “incentive” tab. Under “after confirming redirect to” you can either choose
“download” and upload your freebie there.
Or (this is what I prefer) choose “URL.” Enter the url for your landing page.
I created my landing page on my website. That’s where I gave them the rundown on their
freebie and embedded a link for them to download the freebie.
I bypassed making my landing page with convertkit or another program because I figured doing
it on my own site just increases traffic, so why not? It’s not as pretty as other landing pages. But
it does the job. (There’s an option to create landing pages on convertkit, but then you’d
ultimately be sending your subscribers to convertkit, not your site)
So, once your landing page has been made, copy the url link and paste it into the “url” spot on
the “incentive tab” on convertkit.
You can look at other settings, but that’s really all you need to get the job done!
With convertkit’s free version, there is not automation. But I decided to move forward with
convertkit anyways, because I like it better than other programs, and you can still send out
emails to your entire subscriber list with the broadcast feature (found under the “grow” tab at the
top of your convertkit page).
So, that’s good enough for me right now, until I get more subscribers and want to upgrade to a
paid version that automates. Creating and sending out a broadcast once a week doesn’t seem
like too much hassle.
Hope this helps!
And feel free to show your support by checking out my blog here. Thanks! 🙂