Welcome to the Academy! In this lesson of the Growth Hacking Academy I want to tell you about a tool for creating website widgets called GetSiteControl (go to the official site).
Are you asking yourself:
- How do I create a widget for my website?
- How do I create a pop-up with a promotional message?
- How do I create a newsletter sign-up pop-up?
- How do I add a chat to my website?
- How do I run a survey on my website?
- How do I add a sidebar with buttons for sharing the page or following my social channels?
If you want answers to those, you’re in the right lesson. With GetSiteControl you can build all the widgets you need to improve your user experience (UX) and give your visitors extra services.
It’s a growth hacking tool our growth hackers use on almost every client project. As you can see, we’ve used it on this Academy site too, where we’ve added:
- a survey widget (do take part — it genuinely helps us improve the Academy);
- a newsletter sign-up pop-up widget;
- a chat widget.
So if you’re building your growth hacking strategy, I’d strongly recommend this tool.
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How to use GetSiteControl to create website widgets
GetSiteControl is a straightforward, user-friendly tool that, as we said, exists to create widgets for websites.
To use it, go to the official site, click Sign Up at the top right and register with your email address, or connect straight through Facebook or Google.
Image from GetSiteControl.com
Once that’s done you can log in, enter the few details asked for, and reach the GetSiteControl control panel, from which you can do everything and see the statistics for the widgets you’ve built.
The second job is connecting GetSiteControl to your site.
Installing GetSiteControl on a site
Installing GetSiteControl is very simple:
- in the control panel click “Site Settings”;
- click the “Install” tab;
- copy the code you find there;
- paste it into your site between the <body> and </body> tags.
Installing GetSiteControl on a WordPress site
It’s simpler still if your site is built in WordPress:
- in the WordPress dashboard click Plugins;
- search for “GetSiteControl Widget”;
- install the plugin and activate it;
- sign in;
- click “Go to dashboard”.
Done. Your WordPress site is now connected to GetSiteControl.
And the good part is that from here on you don’t have to touch the site again. To create widgets, analyse the data or use the chat, all you need is the GetSiteControl site and your management panel.
Need a list of growth hacking tools?
Need tools to grow your business? Want to use growth hacking for your clients and work out which tools are available? No problem, we’ll give you the full list. FREE!
Request the free growth hacking tool list
Creating website widgets with GetSiteControl
Now that the tool is installed, it’s time to put your growth hacking strategy into practice. Let’s look at which widgets you can build with GetSiteControl:
- Newsletter sign-up widget
- Contact form widget
- Promotional offer widget
- Survey widget
- Follow us on social media widget
- Share on social media widget
- Chat widget
Let’s take them one by one.
Newsletter sign-up form
Image from GetSiteControl.com
One growth hacking technique used heavily by growth hackers and marketers alike is the pop-up carrying a newsletter sign-up form.
The newsletter widget is an opt-in form that can help you gather a great many email addresses.
What this widget gets you:
- more newsletter sign-ups
- lead generation — contact details for users you can turn into customers
Contact form
Image from GetSiteControl.com
The contact form is a fully customisable widget and an excellent way of communicating with your visitors. You can invite them to send you ideas, ask you questions, and use it as a customer service channel.
Promotional offer form
Image from GetSiteControl.com
With this one you can show promotional offer pop-ups to your visitors. You can catch their attention with pop-ups, buttons, bars or panels.
It lets you improve conversions and put tailored offers in front of your users.
Survey form
Image from GetSiteControl.com
Putting a survey form on your website is one of the fundamental things a growth hacking strategy should account for.
Why? Because a survey tells you what users think of you, of your site, of your products and your offers. And it lets you refine everything in light of those answers — which is fundamental when you’re doing growth hacking.
Follow us on social media
Image from GetSiteControl.com
GetSiteControl lets you create widgets for your site, and one of them is the follow us on social media bar. Beyond the follow bar you can also add buttons and pop-ups.
Share on social media
Image from GetSiteControl.com
For sharing on social media too you can create pop-ups, buttons and bars to display on your site.
They’ll grow your traffic and your brand awareness.
Chat widget
Image from GetSiteControl.com
Adding a chat to a website matters a great deal, but it has always looked complicated to implement.
With GetSiteControl a chat can be added quickly and simply. You can offer proper customer service and get instant feedback from your visitors.
Conclusion
In this lesson you’ve learned to use one of the best growth hacking tools there is, to my mind. With GetSiteControl you can add newsletter forms, offer pop-ups, chat, social share and follow bars and message forms, on a plain HTML site as well as on WordPress.
That puts you in control of your site and lets you test all your growth hacking strategies, and more besides.
Enjoyed our lesson on creating website widgets? Then keep following us and stay tuned to your favourite Growth Hacking Academy.
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