Q and A: A Sign-up box for WordPress and Mailchimp

Question

An attendee from WordCamp Gold Coast who watched my talk wanted some advice on how best to do the Sign-up for a Mailchimp mailing list from A WordPress website.

Do you recommend using a MailChimp plugin, or using a separate online form. As I’ve not MailChimp before I need some advice from an expert.

Answer

Thank you for the nice expert comment :).

Firstly, is it WordPress.com or full WordPress (WordPress.org)?

• If WordPress.com then I would recommend a simple link to the MailChimp sign-up form or use a Wufoo form (but see the issue with using Wufoo forms and MailChimp that I blogged about previously).
• If it’s full WordPress then you have a number of options. There is a MailChimp signup Widget that you can add to the Sidebar, or you can do a simple link to a MailChimp signup form or a more customised form on your site.

Examples

• Here is an example of a site with just a link to the mailchimp form to sign up to the newsletter http://www.girlgeeksydney.com/
• Here is an example of a very nicely designed Mailchimp signup form in a custom designed Wordpress site http://valeriekhoo.com/

Resources

• Here is a video showing how to add the Mailchimp sign up form to a widget on the sidebar in full Wordpress http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpmxsIpaD1c
• And here is some code you can download for some different designs for mailchimp sign up forms (not sure if these use the plugin or not) http://diythemes.com/thesis/mailchimp-email-signup-forms/

Let me know in the comments if this suggestion was useful to you also.