Step 1. Decide on a “Lead Magnet” or Free Gift You’ll Give Folks Who Sign Up to Your List and Upload it to Your Blog.
Step 2. Create a Page on Your Blog to Serve as Both a “Thank You for Signing Up” and “Download Your Free Gift” Page. (Not a Post, a Page that You’ll Not Include on Your Main Menu) Include the Access Link for the Free Gift.
Step 3. Decide Which Autoresponder Service You’ll Use and Create an Account.
Step 4. Search the WordPress Plug-ins Directory for the Free Plug-in That Serves Your Autoresponder, i.e., “Aweber Plug-in,” “GetResponse Plug-in,” “MailChimp Plug-in,” etc. Install & Activate Plug-in in a Side Widget of Your Blog.
Step 5. Configure Your Autoresponder (AR) with a New List for “Signups from Blog,” or Similar and Create a Welcome Message for New Signups that Includes the Download Link to the Free Gift.
Step 6. Return to Your WordPress Plug-in to Ensure it Delivers Visitors to the Page you Set up in Step 2.
Step 7. Make Sure You Have Blog Stats in Place so You Can Track Number of Visitors Compared to Number of Sign-ups.