If you insist on having pop-ups on your website, wait until your visitors are hooked

We've all been to a website where you get a pop-up right away, asking for a conversion, for example to sign up for their newsletter. What website owners don't usually measure is the negative impacts of such activity -- if you're only measuring the signups, and not the exits, it looks like success. Consider instead the more normal socialized model of marketing, which is to ensure that people are having a good experience before you ask. "jab jab right-hook" as GaryVee would say.
Even at the end of reading my first article on a given website, if I get a popup, I'm likely to block the website from working in my browser in the future. The first few times someone comes to your website, should be a positive experience, and the website visitor should find what they're looking for without being interrupted. It's quite easy, technology wise, to detect when a user is back.
If it's my 5th time on your website, you know I'm hooked. At the end of an article and when I'm about to leave, not interrupting my access, would be a good time to facilitate the ask. Even then, I would consider if a popup is the best way to make that ask. If you don't have the confidence you can attract someone to your website without a pop-up for at least 5 visits and they have a good experience being able to consume your content, consider resolving that first. This blog gets anywhere from 10k-100k hits per day now, more than many local news outlets, and I have no popups, or any experiences that will interrupt you. Build traffic with good content, and throw out an ask once in a while, to your repeat visitors.