Chapter 4: Building Your Squeeze Page

First a couple of tips:

Keep it above the fold:
When designing and building your squeeze page, you want to do your best to keep everything above the "fold". This means that you want to keep everything on the top of the page so that people don't have to scroll down to read and opt-in.

No Outgoing Links:
NEVER put outgoing links or ads on your squeeze page. The last thing you want is a potential subscriber to leave from a link. The .05 you make off the click for an ad isn't what you're after here. (duh right? but seriously, I've seen it. A few times..)

Okay, now it's time to put this thing together.
The key components to your squeeze page are going to be:

1. A strong headline
The purpose of your headline is to get people interested enough to continue reading more. It needs to be big, bold and eye catching. You have a bout 3 to 5 seconds to grab someones attention when they get to your squeeze page and this is where you do it. A good headline keeps them reading, a bad headline sends them to their "back" button. I've seen some pretty crazy headlines out there and guess what, the crazier they were the more I wanted to keep reading.
Side Note: (Using an Exit Pop-up is not a bad thing)- You can easily set this up in Aweber.

2. Some bullet points with benefits not features
Now that you've got their interest with your headline, it's time to convince them of why they need to sign up. Remember, people are always asking "whats in it for me". They want to know what the benefits are going to be for them by signing up and you need to tell them. Don't list the features of your giveaway, list the benefits. Tell them how its going to make their life better or improve their business. Explain things visually so they can picture in their mind how much better their life is going to be once they put their name and e-mail into your form.

3. An image of the gift they will get for signing
Show them what they'll be getting. Pictures are worth a thousand words and since you don't have room for a thousand words on your squeeze page, you'll want to include a picture. The more "real" you can make something for someone the better. Even if all they are doing is signing up to your 'newsletter', you should still have a picture of a newsletter. This way they can see what they'll be getting once they sign up.

4. A STRONG call to action
You've given them a good reason to sign up, they want to sign up so now you just need to tell them to do it.
People need to be told what to do. This is your chance to do just that.

5. Your opt in form
Your opt-in form is where they are going to enter their name and e-mail address. You'll be able to design this in Aweber and then just need to copy and paste it into the right spot on your squeeze page.
On the opt-in form you should only ask for as little information as you need. Because most people are wary about giving their information out online the less you ask for the higher your conversion rate is going to be.

Be sure to always customize your "submit" button. Make it say something like "Yes! I Want My FREE Report NOW!" instead of the standard "submit".

6. Privacy Info
Beneath the opt-in form you want to say something to re-assure them that you aren't going to share their personal information with anyone or sell their e-mail to spammers. People are always scared of giving out their e-mail because they don't want their in-box filling up with anymore spam than it already does. Let them know that their info is safe with you and that you're the only one that will use it.

Here is an example of a squeeze page that we use:

 

http://www.directeffectmarketingtips.com

If you do want to create your own, and you don't have any HTML software, you can download a free HTML editor that works extremely well at: http://www.net2.com/nvu/

Setting up Your Autoresponder:

When setting up your autoresponder, you always want to have them sent to a page where you can possibly monetize the sign up. If you don't put anything in this field when setting up Aweber it will just take them to a standard white page thank you page.
YOU NEVER WANT TO DO THAT!

This is prime time to put an offer in front of them and hopefully get some money coming in from your list building efforts.

Side Note: ( You also want to set the tone right from the start that you are a marketer. If you always give give give, but don't ever offer anything for sale, or give recommendations, the moment you do offer something they will most likely be offended. That's a bad position to be in.)

Once they click the link to submit their information they'll be redirected to another page. You can either have it go to an affiliates site, a One Time Offer or a custom page that gives them more instructions on what to do next.

I like to do a mix of all three. I make a page that first tells them they need to check their inbox and junk box for the e-mail and click the "confirm link". Then I also pitch them a product of some kind. If its a niche where I have my own products I'll do one of my own as an O.T.O. (one time offer) and give them a special price that they will "only see once". If it's a niche where I don't have any of my own products then I'll just promote an affiliate product here.

Here is an example of a good confirmation page: http://www.directeffect.biz/confirm.html

This tends to work best with lower priced items or a "no brainer" as we like to call them. Something that is directly related to what they were interested in enough to sign up and that has enough value at the right price that they can't refuse.

If you do this correctly and test enough to get your offer fine tuned so it's converting well this alone will pay for your list building efforts. Everything you're able to market to them later on will just be icing on the cake, or profit in your pocket however you want to look at it.

Making sure they open and confirm their subscription:

Since the goal here is to get them on your list getting them to confirm their opt-in to your list is vitally important. All previous efforts are wasted if they neglect this step. They should already be excited to confirm their subscription so they can receive whatever it is that you are giving away on your squeeze page. However its still important to do everything you can to help the process along.

You'll need to customize the confirmation e-mail in aweber so that it says something like:

 

subject:

 

{!firstname}, Confirm to receive your Report

Message:
Hi {!firstname},
Thank you for requesting this report.
Before I can send it to you I need to make sure I have your permission. Please confirm your request by clicking the link below to go to the download page.
In Aweber you NEVER want to leave the confirmation page setting blank. This is another prime time to try and re-coupe some of your list building costs by having an OTO.

Once they click the link in the confirmation e-mail you're presented with your second chance for marketing to them. On your confirmation page you'll have an OTO with a link at the bottom that says "No thanks, take me to my download"

They can either purchase the OTO at that time or they can bypass it and just get the free download as promised on the squeeze page.