First things first — why is it called Generate?

Because the Generate child theme was designed specifically to build your list. In other words, to capture the email addresses of people who want to know more about who you are and what you do, so you can make offers they may be interested in.

Even though “lead generation” is a marketing term, Generate isn’t just for marketing. It’s for anyone who wants to collect a database of email addresses, for further communication that persuades readers to take action.

Here are a few examples of how you can use Generate.

• Generate can be used to build a list of like-minded political activists.
• Generate can be used to build a list of people who share a parenting philosophy.
• Generate can be used to build a list of enthusiasts for a particular game or hobby.
• Generate can be used to build a list of people who want to protect the environment.
• Generate can be used to build a list of potential members for any organization.

And yes, Generate is a great child theme for marketing a product or service. 🙂

Why is the opt-in box so prominent?

The first thing you’ll notice about Generate — you literally can’t miss it — is the prominent box near the top of the page to collect opt-ins. (Opt-ins are people who are letting you know they want to join your email list.)

The placement of this box is dictated by the web design principle that every page should make it incredibly simple and obvious to see exactly what you want the reader to do next.

This placement has been tested by popular blogs like Copyblogger, Social Triggers, and others, and has proven itself by immediately improving opt-in numbers whenever it’s used. And it doesn’t rely on pop-ups or other mechanisms which many readers find intrusive.

It’s impossible to miss, but it doesn’t jeopardize the reader experience. That’s a winning combination.

Collecting email addresses from individual posts

Of course, you won’t collect email addresses exclusively from your home page. Each post in Generate has a sign-up box in the upper right corner of the screen. That’s prime real estate for capturing reader attention — and getting them to take action.

For the best results, don’t clutter Generate too much with additional ads. There’s nothing wrong with ads, of course, but every new item you put on your page creates some confusion for your reader about what to act on.

If monetization is important to you, building a strong, responsive email list is the best way to monetize a site, because it allows you to make powerfully effective, targeted offers to your list … without the distractions we see on most blog pages.

Generate focuses your readers’ attention

As we all know, web readers face a lot of distractions. Ads, pop-ups, and other distractions lead their attention spans anywhere and everywhere.

The smooth, clean design of Generate is designed with a purpose — to focus your reader attention on signing up for valuable content on your opt-in email list.

Minimize your reader distractions and you’re going to maximize your site results. 🙂