The Basic Subscribe Form:

Here your goal is to simply get a subscribe form for your list on your site without using the integration code we provide. In case you are wondering, there are 3 main reasons people don't want to use the forms we provide:

  1. They want a slick Ajaxy call that doesn't cause a page transition
  2. They don't want the form to pop open a new window.
  3. They don't want the user to see a domain that is not theirs, even though we use very generic ones

This is by and far one of the easiest things to accomplish. Before you even think about breaking out the big programmer guns and getting down and dirty, the first thing to do is look at the plethora of signup related plugins we offer. There's a pretty decent chance that we cover your system.

What, still here? Ok, time to roll up your sleeves.

If you are using PHP, you are also in luck as we provide full signup examples using PHP here. There is also documentation on the listSubscribe() function that you will use.

Enough beating around the bush, though - here are the basic steps you'll need to follow regardless of the language or system you choose to use:

  1. Get an API Wrapper or decide between using XML-RPC and building up your own HTTP Query Strings. If there is no wrapper, we suggest XML-RPC.
  2. Design your HTML form. You'll need a field for the email address and any Merge Fields that you configured as required.
  3. If you want some ajaxy goodness, plan out those callbacks and javascript. Otherwise, setup that form to submit to a script that will run your listSubscribe() code
  4. Once you get it making API calls correctly, the script is very simple. At most it will need to:
    1. call login()
    2. call listSubscribe()
    3. Do Error Checking!
  5. That should be it. Don't forget to look for the Double Opt-In email!!