Hellobar For a Gentle Poke

I love marketing, but I really love “gentle” marketing more than I like “hit you over the head” marketing. If you’ve swung by my site in person lately, either mobile or via your desktop/laptop, you’ll notice a little bar up top. That’s the Hellobar I added.

What’s a Hellobar?

It’s a fairly simple thing. It’s just a little snip of code that you can add to your website or blog that puts a little colorful banner up top, and that allows you to add a link to it. Pretty simple, right?

So far, it’s been very helpful in inviting people to subscribe to our small business newsletter. It’s just a simple floating link above the page. It’s not exactly rocket surgery, as my friends in Boston say. But it’s helpful, and it’s unobtrusive.

Want One?

The first 500 people who use the code “chrisbrogan” when singing up will get one free at http://hellobar.com (not an affiliate link). (Chuck gave me 50, but then he gave me 500, because he knows you will jump on this.)

It’ll be neat to see what you do with it.

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http://twitter.com/rebeccawoodhead Rebecca Woodhead

Brilliant bit of kit, but the beta code isn’t working.

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

Check your email. Mine appeared not to work but I received a few emails from hellobar…

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

The code doesn’t seem to be working. :(

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

I think I spoke too soon.

When one enters your code and clicks the submit button, nothing happens, but after checking my email there are ’3′ invites (as many times I clicked the submit button). Sorry. I hope that doesn’t screw anyone out of an invite!

Neil Minetto

If you have an extra invite can you send it my way? neil.minetto@gmail.com. Thx.

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

…sent!

Neil Minetto

Thanks Rocco! Up and running now.

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http://thedealerblog.com the dealer blog

I think the site is down

http://thedealerblog.com the dealer blog

ok, nevermind.

and yes – if you click submit after entering chrisbrogan it doesn’t redirect but check your mail before you hit it again you’ll probably have an email.

http://www.jetsongreen.com Preston

I like it, but in my browser, the hello bar is abutting your logo in a weird way. Should the hello bar push the content down? Or is it meant to overlay existing content?

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

That’s a setting you can change.

http://talkingmediasales.com Ben Shute

Thanks Chris, was wondering what the little bar was. Have grabbed mine, implementing later today. Great idea.
http://www.jungleoflife.com/ Lance

Hey Chris,
I’ve been using the HelloBar for the last couple of months, and love it – especially that it’s not “in your face”, just a subtle way of sharing…
http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

Been using it a while on different sites. It’s free for any users – maybe your “free if you use this link” text could be confusing?
http://www.mikeslife.org Mike CJ

Thanks for that! A very cool piece of kit, and I have it working on two sites already – fantastic to see the stats in real time.
http://lyndonology.com/ Lyndon

Thanks for the code Chris :)
http://twitter.com/timbickers Tim Bickers

I’m browsing in Google Chrome and I’m jamming on the “Submit” button to get the code, but not able to acquire the code. Stranger things have happened I’m sure, but was starting to get excited about trying this out.

http://www.roccocapra.com/ Rocco

You’re gonna have an email for every time you hit that submit button dude.

http://www.noliesplace.com/blog Nolie

Thank you for the code. All signed up and going to set it up tomorrow.
http://twitter.com/samui_art Samui Art Gallery

Hi Chris,
I used to have that up top bar for h1 tag and to get people attention on some of my promotions but never think of to get people sign up for newsletter. Cool! Thank you for sharing.
http://twitter.com/flevour Francesco Levorato

Too bad 500 people were quicker than me. That’s the punishment for not checking GReader before going to bed :P Hopefully Chuck will release some more soon! Thanks for sharing :)
http://twitter.com/flevour Francesco Levorato

Too bad 500 people were quicker than me. That’s the punishment for not checking GReader before going to bed :P Hopefully Chuck will release some more soon! Thanks for sharing :)
http://twitter.com/flevour Francesco Levorato

Too bad 500 people were quicker than me. That’s the punishment for not checking GReader before going to bed :P Hopefully Chuck will release some more soon! Thanks for sharing :)
Wendy

Well, I obviously was not one of the first 500 because it said “chrisbroagan” is an invalid key. Looks like a fun and helpful tool, but won’t be able to try it.
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Neil Minetto

Dang I was too slow.
Anonymous

Chris,

When I visited the site from your link, there was no place for a “code” using your name. I did get a response from them after entering my info that they’re sending out waves of authorizations every week but that’s about it. What did I miss … Or just too late?
Carrie

Same here, it didn’t ask for a code, and also didn’t look like it cost anything?? Had it on my list to try out over the weekend in any case.
Carrie

Same here, it didn’t ask for a code, and also didn’t look like it cost anything?? Had it on my list to try out over the weekend in any case.
http://www.dtelepathy.com Chuck

Hey Guys – thanks for all your comments. We just added another 500 invites Chris’s beta key.

If you haven’t already signed up, just fill out the first 3 fields on the homepage, then enter the code “chrisbrogan” on the subsequent page.

Sorry about the submit button woes, We are fixing that right now.

Chris – thank you for the coverage!
http://mrtunes.ca/blog Mr. Tunes

great choice chris – this is much better than those popups you were considering. let’s just hope they convert as well!
http://twitter.com/JeanMarcBegin Jean-Marc Begin

Love the hellobar! Just installed it to my WordPress Blog :) Thanks
http://twitter.com/JeanMarcBegin Jean-Marc Begin

Love the hellobar! Just installed it to my WordPress Blog :) Thanks
http://www.owenmarcus.com Owen Marcus

I have used the Hellobar on several sites for a few months – I love it.
http://www.owenmarcus.com Owen Marcus

I have used the Hellobar on several sites for a few months – I love it.
http://twitter.com/ClarabelaMedia Clara Mathews

Thanks Chris,

I am setting up a Mail Chimp account this weekend, so the HelloBar will help me get my email list started.
http://www.JoeTaylorJr.com Joe Taylor Jr.

Neat tool — I love that I can hook it up to a backend RSS feed to rotate time-sensitive material into the mix.
http://www.JoeTaylorJr.com Joe Taylor Jr.

Neat tool — I love that I can hook it up to a backend RSS feed to rotate time-sensitive material into the mix.
http://travisoberlander.com Travis Oberlander

This is great, however I ran into a few snafus while deploying on my tumblr. It can also make for a nice little place to put a login link for webapps.

http://www.google.com.ph/images?q=Heidi+Walker&hl=en&prmd=ivnso&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=r_uETaDOJIbCsAO0_sjrAQ&ved=0CCYQsAQ4Cg&biw=1600&bih=963 Heidi Walker

I’m having the same problem. I’m hoping you can update us soon on what can be done about it.

http://travisoberlander.com Travis Oberlander

I ended up fixing the problem by placing the Hellobar code at the end of the HTML for my tumblog. I first had to enable custom HTML, I then placed the javascript at the end of the HTML code. Specifically after the Google Analytics javascript and before the tag. Hope that helps!
http://travisoberlander.com Travis Oberlander

I ended up fixing the problem by placing the Hellobar code at the end of the HTML for my tumblog. I first had to enable custom HTML, I then placed the javascript at the end of the HTML code. Specifically after the Google Analytics javascript and before the tag. Hope that helps!

http://travisoberlander.com Travis Oberlander

This is great, however I ran into a few snafus while deploying on my tumblr. It can also make for a nice little place to put a login link for webapps.
http://www.itinerantentrepreneur.com/journal/traffic-conversion-swipe-file/ Robert Dempsey

I added that little bitty to the IEJ site (linked in my name) and have gotten more clicks to my SEO Report page. Happy days!
http://mugshotsusa.com/osceola-fl/1885 Heidi Walker

I got mine! Thanks, Chris!

Hellobar For a Gentle Poke

What’s a Hellobar?

Want One?

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

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