How to Create a Welcome Gate in WordPress (Easy Way)

Using a welcome gate is one of the most effective email list-building techniques out there. It instantly captures the user’s attention and helps you boost conversions.

We regularly use welcome gate campaigns on WPBeginner and our other products to grow our email list and increase conversions. In our experience, the best tool to use is OptinMonster. It is super straightforward and offers powerful display rules.

In this article, we will show you how to create a welcome gate in WordPress without affecting SEO.

What Is a Welcome Gate?

A welcome gate is a full-screen call to action that appears before a user can see any content. Often, WordPress website owners use it to quickly grab users’ attention and display a targeted offer to build their email lists.

Traditional welcome gate techniques simply redirected users to a new page. Since users do not see anything else on the screen except for a call to action or an advertisement, this ensures maximum conversion. Sounds great, right? However, here is the catch.

Redirecting users to a page they didn’t request is bad for your site’s WordPress SEO and user experience. Google penalizes websites for redirecting users instead of showing them the requested content.

However, modern WordPress welcome gate plugins allow you to maximize conversions without affecting your site’s SEO. Let’s look at how you can create them for your website.

Adding a Welcome Gate to WordPress Website

The best way to add a welcome gate in WordPress is by using OptinMonster. It is the best WordPress popup plugin and lead generation solution on the market.

It allows you to create high-converting optin forms such as welcome gates, exit-intent lightbox popups, scroll-triggered slide-ins, floating bars, and more. You can also do A/B testing, page-level targeting, and gathering conversion analytics.

You can read our complete OptinMonster review for more details.

OptinMonster is a paid service, but WPBeginner users get an exclusive 10% off with the OptinMonster Coupon code: WPB10. You’ll need at least the Basic plan to use the Fullscreen Overlays to create a welcome gate.

First, you’ll need to visit the OptinMonster website and sign up for an account. Simply click the ‘Get OptinMonster Now’ button to get started.

Once you have purchased OptinMonster, you need to install and activate the OptinMonster WordPress plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin lets you connect your OptinMonster account with your WordPress website.

Upon activation, you’ll see the welcome screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.

Next, a new window will open, asking you to connect your WordPress website.

You can click the ‘Connect To WordPress’ button to continue.

After that, you’ll need to go to OptinMonster » Campaigns from your WordPress dashboard.

Here, you can click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button.

Next, OptinMonster will ask you to select a campaign type and template.

Since you want to create a welcome gate, go ahead and select the ‘Fullscreen’ campaign type. From here, you can choose a template for your campaign.

After selecting a template, a new window will open.

Go ahead and enter a name for your campaign and click the ‘Start Building’ button.

This will launch the drag-and-drop campaign builder.

You can add blocks from the menu on your left by simply dragging and dropping them onto the template. For example, there are blocks for adding images, buttons, videos, and more.

Besides that, you can click on the existing blocks on the template to customize them further.

For instance, you can click the template’s call to action (CTA) button to change its text, alignment, color, and more.

When you are done, click the ‘Save’ button at the top.

Displaying Your Welcome Gate Campaign in WordPress

Timing is crucial when you want to display a full-screen welcome gate. Unlike other solutions available on the market, OptinMonster provides a wide range of behavioral controls that help you boost your conversion rates.

First, you’ll need to switch to the ‘Display Rules’ tab at the top.

Next, you can select different types of rules to show your campaign. For instance, you can display the welcome gate when a user spends a certain amount of time on the page.

Similarly, you can also show the campaign as an exit gate.

By selecting the Exit Intent display rule, the popup will open just as the visitor is about to leave your website. This helps convert abandoning visitors into leads and customers.

Next, you can choose where your welcome gate will appear.

For this tutorial, we will use the default setting that shows the campaign on all the pages when a user spends at least 5 seconds on the website.

After that, you can go to the ‘Publish’ tab at the top.

Then, change the Publish Status from Draft to Publish.

Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Save’ button at the top and exit the campaign builder.

After that, you will see the WordPress Output Settings for your campaign. Go ahead and click the Status dropdown menu and change it from Pending to Published.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you are done.

Your full-screen welcome gate is now live on your website. You can check it by opening a new window under incognito mode and visiting your website.

Helpful Resources for Creating WordPress Popups

Here are some additional helpful guides on creating different types of popup campaigns on your site:

• How to Add a Contact Form Popup in WordPress
• How to Add a Cookies Popup in WordPress for GDPR/CCPA
• How to Open a WordPress Popup Form On Click of Link or Image
• How to Use the Psychology of Popups to Boost Signups by 250%
• How to Add a Countdown Timer Widget in WordPress (3 Ways)

We hope this article helped you create a welcome gate in WordPress. You may also want to take a look at our guide on how to create a WooCommerce popup and the best WordPress banner plugins.

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