I pulled an all-nighter last night. It wasn’t intentional, but I found myself immersed in figuring out how to perfect my lead generation funnel here on CashReview.net. After lots of brainstorming and Googling, I decided it’d be best to use a few different squeeze pages that would each serve to market to a specific website visitor.
As you know, I just freshened up my WordPress theme (see best WordPress themes 2012 for full details, if you missed that blog update) a few days ago. I’m ‘geeking’ over this new Thesis theme — love how clean and lightweight it is…
But there was one thing missing: how was I gonna maximize opt-ins without plastering ugly Aweber forms on every page? And although I’ve used it in the past with a ton of success, did I really want to have PopUp Domination annoying the hell out of everyone who swings by the site?
This was my dilemma that sparked the all night “operation list building” session.
And like I said, after strategizing for a while, I knew that the all around best move would be to add several premium, high converting squeeze pages to funnel targeted traffic onto my list and into a long term relationship building and monetization process.
Sure, that’s Internet marketing 101, but the art is in the details. Everyone already knows that you’ve got to build an email list to really grow your online business exponentially. Yet, most marketers don’t give much thought to the intricate details of the list building process.
They simply put a static opt-in form in the upper right sidebar area, then have something like PopUp Domination jumping out each time a visitor clicks through to a new page. Hey, I’m not pointing the finger at everyone else — this was ME for the longest time. I was content just doing what everyone else seemed to be doing, without really putting any thought or testing into it myself.
To be honest, I thought testing was for dorks and I didn’t see how little things like locations of the opt-in forms, headlines, font styles or bullet points could make all that much of a difference in terms of the conversion rate.
That was DUMB.
It makes all the difference and is the one area that sets apart the so-so marketers from the elite level 7-figure Internet marketers. And once again, hindsight is always 20/20 ’cause when you think about it, it’s much easier to improve email sign-ups from the traffic you already have than it is to get more traffic.
Why Use Multiple Squeeze Pages Over One Static Opt-In Form?
Well, there’s a few reasons why I chose this approach over the more conventional one-size-fits-all way of using a static form and/or a hover pop across the entire blog…
First off, I don’t like the cluttered and predictable look of inline forms, nor do I care for the annoyance that hover pops bring to the table. Sure, those are more of just my personal preferences than anything else, but I know by now that there’s something to be said for NOT following suit with every other affiliate marketer out there (hence, my constant reminders to avoid blending in with all the other “me too” marketers flooding the Internet).
Now, in addition to that being my preference for a cleaner, smoother website design… I do have a theory as to why this approach would actually be superior to traditional list building tactics…
- To start, this method of using multiple ass-kicking squeeze pages — without having inline opt-in boxes or hover pops on your main blog posts and pages — makes it EASIER to grab the attention of website visitors, since this isn’t the standard protocol. I’ve seen much higher conversion rates, probably due to the fact that I’m offering value in content first, then making a strong call to action to visit the squeeze page and sign-up to my email list SECOND. By the time the visitor gets to the squeeze page, they’ve likely already formed an opinion about me (hopefully a positive one) and I’ve had an opportunity to establish a bit of trust and credibility.
- Next, you’ve got the fact that there’s some law out there (that’s escaping me right now) which basically says you’re a lot more likely to take action after having just recently taking a preceding action — hence, the fact that upsells are so powerful. In other words, if I can get someone to click a link or button to go watch the video I’ve prepared on the squeeze page, they’ll naturally be in a state of doing, and are much more likely to submit their email address on that squeeze page.
- Lastly, not all traffic is created equal. For example, just because CashReview.net deals with Internet marketing doesn’t mean that every single visitor wants or needs the same thing. Some visitors are interested in SEO, others came for a specific affiliate marketing product review, and others might have been looking for coaching. It should be obvious that grouping all these very different prospects onto the same list and following up with them all in the same manner is not optimal. You’re pretty much throwing money out the window by failing to tailor the experience to the individual user.
Oh, and it’s not necessarily a conversion-related benefit, but another major bonus to building your list in this way is easier management. Think about it – by having nearly every page on your site link to a specific squeeze page that’s most ideal for the traffic that particular page brings in, it therefore makes testing different elements and changing up promotions so much more manageable over the long haul.
Speaking from experience, try having hundreds of pages with an individual opt-in form on ‘em, then a few months down the road you discover the affiliate product you were promoting is being taken off the market… or some of the Aweber forms weren’t working… or the freebie you were offering was no longer applicable…
… all of those things have happened to me on TopFatLossTrainer.com and it was an absolute nightmare to go back and redo things post by post.
By utilizing just a few unique squeeze pages, if any of that were to happen again, I’d only have to go in and edit those few pages, as opposed to editing hundreds or even thousands. Of course, that’s only an advantage if you were stupid like me and embedded single forms on each page, which most people probably don’t do… so maybe that benefit is unique to me ;-)
But the testing different variables part is HUGE. Simply go in, change up the headline or bullets or add a video in place of written text… and monitor results. If you see an improvement, keep it. If not, switch it back and test a different variable. The multi-squeeze system works brilliantly in this way, and allows you to continually assess and tweak your lead generation funnel.
In the end, I feel that my users will get a better experience… the site looks and functions better… and I end up with higher conversion rates, more opt-ins and better quality leads overall. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below and let me know what ya think.
Next up, I’ll go into more detail about how I designed my killer squeeze pages and how you can follow my lead to get more leads, haha. Until then, check out my handy work by clicking below to sign up for my affiliate marketing video series…
