A pop-up is for something you want everybody to notice: a sale, a new service, holiday hours, or a way to join your mailing list. It comes up once a visitor has been on your site for a while, which you choose, and it shows on every page.
It is built not to be annoying. Somebody who closes it, presses its button or signs up will not see it again for a month. If you change what it says, everybody sees the new one. On a phone it slides up from the bottom of the screen, and visitors can close it with the cross, by tapping outside it, or with the Escape key.
The button can go to one of your own pages, ring a phone number, or start an email. It does not appear on the page its own button goes to, because there is no point telling somebody to visit the page they are on.
Tick the email sign-up and a small form appears under it asking for a name and an email address. Each sign-up reaches you like an enquiry, sent to the email address you choose.
The notice is the quiet version: one line across the top of every page, with a link if you want one. Use it for something people should know but do not need stopping for, like being closed on Monday.
Step by step
Open the Overview in your dashboard and find "A pop-up".
The notice is in the same place, as "A notice across the top".
Press Set up.
Write a heading and what it says.
Put stars round a word in the heading, like *today*, to show it in your accent colour.
Add a button if you want one: its words and where it goes.
A page of your own site, a tel: phone number or a mailto: email address.
Tick "Add an email sign-up under it" if you want one, and say where sign-ups should be sent.
Choose when it comes up: from 15 seconds to 5 minutes after somebody arrives.
Press "Put it up". It is on every page in about a minute.
Press "See it on your site" to see it straight away, without waiting.
If it does not go to plan
I put it up but I cannot see it on my site.
If you closed it once, it stays hidden from you for a month. Press "See it on your site" in your dashboard, which shows it whatever you did before. It also waits the time you chose before it comes up.
How do I take it down?
Open it on the Overview and press "Take it down". It comes off every page, and you can put it back up any time.
Can I add a picture?
No. A heading, some words, a button and a sign-up is what it holds, which keeps it small enough not to cover a phone screen.
Can it show only on some pages?
No, it shows on every page, except the one its own button goes to.
Somebody else on my site cannot change it.
Only people who can publish can put a pop-up or a notice up, because both go live straight away.
Can I have a pop-up and a notice at the same time?
Yes. They are separate. Use one or the other most of the time, though: two things asking for attention at once is one too many.