Bloggers face a daily struggle to improve results continuously. Day after day, they strive to attract new users while continuing to keep existing followers engaged. On top of that, these bloggers accept responsibility for securing user data that they collect.
If it sounds a bit like a juggling act, I can assure you from my first-hand experience…it is! Moreover, the more blogs that you publish or, the larger you grow your blog, the higher the demands increase.
But, there’s an easier way to keep all those balls in the air—by putting secure forms by EmailMeForm to work on your behalf. Take a look at how bloggers are using our secure forms to achieve multiple goals.
#1 - Create a Subscription Form and Add a Welcome Email
Perhaps the most essential form for bloggers is the subscription form for users. Building an email list is of paramount importance to create top-of-mind awareness in your readers. Additionally, this data allows the blog owner to notify users of fresh content and send other email marketing.
A subscription form is a relatively standard offering on any website. Users expect them and don’t mind completing them if they are intrigued by your blog or site.
When you choose EmailMeForm, you can take an ordinary subscription form and transform it into a workhorse that enhances user experience (UX) and streamlines your processes.
How?
Set your form up to send out a welcome email after a user subscribes A customized message welcoming them will make them feel special, and it will build loyalty.
In addition, you can connect your subscription form to top email marketing providers like Constant Contact and MailChimp. No manual entry, no tedious process, just seamless performance that simplifies your life and keeps you in touch with your subscribers.
Here’s a simple subscription form from my own website. I only request the user’s name and email address, as that’s all the relevant information I need. You can make yours as complex as required.
#2 - Add Followers with a Registration Form
It seems that many bloggers today supplement their blog’s earning by hosting classes and workshops. It makes perfect sense! After all, readers can be fickle, and diversifying income streams can help to build economic stability.
When you use EmailMeForm to build your registration form, you can gather important data from those who register for your seminars and store it safely.
There’s a Registration Form we liked from HeartCore Leadership, a company that offers workshops.
They are requesting a lot of personal data on this form. Using EmailMeForm, a PCI-certified form company, they are assured that their user data will not be compromised. This secure form allows them to do what they do best—conducting workshops—instead of worrying about form security.
Whether you need a registration form to schedule participants into your program or to send out lead magnets, we have you covered.
#3 - Address Client Needs with a User Inquiry Form
Is your blog intended to attract new clients to your service-based business?
We see many travel bloggers who also operate agencies and utilize their blog as the primary means of attracting new clientele. In this case, bloggers need an inquiry form to allow users to request more information.
The inquiry form nets you hot leads. These are the most earnest buyers who have a particular interest in your service.
Using our travel agency example, here’s a comprehensive inquiry form that we found in use:
We love the in-depth questions that will help the travel agent drill down and customize a fantastic experience for the user. And, we are also impressed that they tailored the background to make it more appealing.
The blogger might be attracting new clients in any industry, not only travel! Think of real estate, event planning, agricultural services, or education—the possibilities are limitless.
#4 - Receive Documents with a Submission Form
Many bloggers build user engagement by asking users to share photos of their DIY projects, pets, or recipes. Other bloggers accept guest posts and use a submission form embedded in their “guest blog” page to keep spam to a minimum.
How can a submission form accomplish these two very different tasks?
It’s easy! You can include a “file upload” button that allows the user to attach images or documents as part of the submission form. In fact, you can also stipulate which file outputs you’ll accept. For example, if you only want to receive image files, .png or .jpg, you can do that.
Here is a guest post submission form that we found on the blog Fifty Plus Fab.
This blogger effectively masks the email address from spammers and filters submissions using this tool. We love that the blogger requires the user to agree to the terms and conditions of their guest post policy and uses clear language.
#5 - Engage the Audience with a Contest Form or Online Quiz
Experienced bloggers know that user engagement is an ongoing challenge. According to this infographic by Wyzowl, human attention span is shrinking to the point where goldfish have longer attention spans than we do!
With statistics like that, it might sometimes feel impossible to keep those users engaged with your content.
Don’t despair! You can easily create a contest form, survey, or quiz that your users will keep your followers interacting with your blog for longer.
We found a contest form in use by the Phoenix Revitalization Corporation. They request submissions of original photographs, and they will feature the winning entry on a future cover of their newsletter.
We enjoy how they use the “upload file” feature and include the contest terms and conditions as part of the contest form.
While it’s a contest has a definite “prize,” whether it has monetary value or bragging rights like a photo contest, quizzes usually do not. Instead, they might have small incentives as the “prize.” These rewards often include a free consultation, test drive, or even a trial of additional features.
Let’s look at an example of this concept in action.
GetAgeFit Transformation Center has an engaging online quiz that users can take. It’s very clever because it allows them to gain insight into the user’s wellness needs and contact the user for a tour of their facility and a fitness consultation.
Active on social media? You can connect your EmailMeForm quiz or contest form to Facebook to increase the chances of social sharing.
#6 - Receive Funds Safely with Secure Payment Forms
A monetized blog can mean that you are handling credit card payments. This payment process can result from booking services, selling digital goods or e-commerce merchandise, or charging any other fees.
If this seems to sound a little bit like you, then you need payment forms. And, any online forms won’t do the trick. You need secure forms that will protect credit card data.
Why is that important?
Some bloggers mistakenly think that having an SSL certificate offers comprehensive protection against credit card fraud.
The cold, hard truth is that SSL is only one layer of protection—you need more. Partner with a PCI-certified form company to ensure you secure user credit card data.
Luckily, you don’t need to overcomplicate things and create a payment form from scratch—we’ve done the work for you. Just grab our template and customize it to suit your payment form needs.
Not only are we PCI-certified (which is a step above PCI-compliant), but we also up our game with the EmailMeForm Vault.
What’s the Vault? It is a safe place to store sensitive customer data like credit card information and it requires multi-factor authentication to retrieve it.
To learn more about PCI-compliant versus PCI-certification, click here.
Final Thoughts on How Bloggers Use Forms
Bloggers tend to be creative people with an entrepreneurial mindset. There’s no limit on how you can implement forms.
Consider using forms to achieve the many needs of your blog. To recap, here are a few ways that forms can help you:
- Engage your audience
- Enhance user experience
- Accept payments safely and securely
- Store data in the EmailMeForm Vault
- Connect forms to email marketing and social media accounts
Once you fill your blog with the forms you need to amplify UX and increase engagement, you will fuel growth. Plus, you will be able to streamline processes so you can stop the juggling act and get back to the real work of monetizing your blog.
Deborah Tayloe
Deborah is a blogger and freelancer who often writes for EmailMeForm. When she’s not blogging, you’ll probably find Deborah working on DIY projects around her home in North Carolina.
