Let s Get Serious About Increasing Your Conversions Question #1 Have you tried everything you can think of to get more people to sign up to you email list, but Nothing Seem To Be Working? Question #2 Do you ever wonder why your list isn t growing as fast as you d like it to, while others seem to get hundreds (even thousands) of sign ups a month? Are you ready to get serious about what you re doing wrong, so you can finally see more people signing up to your email list?.. Great, Let s Get Started!
The truth is, you probably only have to make a few minor tweaks and changes to your existing landing page to start getting more subscribers. That s The Good News The Bad News is that most bloggers don t take the time to actually build a landing page in the first place, so let s talk about what a landing page actually is. What s a Landing Page? A landing page is simply the page on your website that a visitor lands on after clicking on or following a promotional message. For example, if you tell your podcast listeners to grab their free copy of Muscle Building 101 at www.buildmuscle.com/ebook - the page they go to would be considered the landing page. The same applies if those visitors land on your site after clicking on banner ads, text link ads, and guest post bios. Some blog owners (myself included) have decided to turn their homepage into a landing page. Why? Because landing pages convert better than blogs, period!
What You ll Get Out Of This Short Guide is Nothing Short Of Awesome Seriously! The information in this PDF is designed to help you build landing pages that convert. I m going to help you optimize the pages you already have by making 6 simple tweaks, so you can get more out of the traffic you re already getting. Have You Met A.I.D.A? Here s what it stands for: A: Attention. The first element of your landing page is supposed to grab your visitor s attention. I: Interest. The second element of your landing page is supposed to spark their interest in some way. D: Desire. The third element on the page is supposed to convince them that they want/need what you re offering. A: Action. The last element on the page is supposed to ask the visitor to take some sort of action. I use AIDA because it WORKS!!
Tip #1: Write An Awesome Headline A lot of people think that the headline is just suppose to grab their attention. But that's only half the equation. The headline is also suppose to get them to continue reading the page. You don't accomplish much if people read the headline and nothing else. So how do you do that? Here are 3 tips taken from my blog: 1. Make sure it's benefit driven - Everyone is always tuned into their favorite radio station when they re browsing the web. What s In It For Me W.I.I.FM. Your job is to attract your audience by creating content that benefits them somehow; and your headline should reflect that. 2. Keep it short and sweet - Long headlines can work, but if you re just learning how to write headlines, stick to short ones that you can read in one breath. It should deliver a benefit and entice them to read in 10 words or less. 3. Number headlines almost always work - Why do they work so well? - They work because they make a very specific promise of what the visitor is going to get in return for their time. These headlines will compel them to continue reading the page....and what they read next is just as important
Tip #2: Follow With An "Interest Sparking" Sub Headline Now that the Attention part of the A.I.D.A formula has been accomplished, we can now move on to sparking their interest. The sub headline is the perfect time to do this. In order to write an effective sub headline, you need to think about it as a continuation of the main headline. A perfect example of properly used sub headlines is the 37 signals landing page. Here's what it looks like: This is how a sub headline continues to build on the benefits that the headline stated. Do it, it works!
Tip #3: Show Them They're Not Alone Social proof is a powerful conversion tool and it should be used whenever possible. People look for validation for their decisions in the actions of others. It's just how we're wired. There's nothing more compelling than telling your visitors, "..look, I know you're skeptical, but 2,017 people have already downloaded the free report.." - What this does is continue to spark their interest. If they weren't compelled to get the report before, they now start to think that it must be a good report if over 2,000 people have it. A perfect example of this powerful conversion tool is the Copyblogger landing page. Here's what that looks like: Notice how they state "over 57,000 smart people" - that's a lot of social proof. I'm sure they would still get thousands of sign ups per month without that social proof element, but they use it because they know it works! So use it!
Tip #4: Build Desire With Compelling Copy (Sell It, Even If It s Free) People have this misconception that their visitors will sign up in droves, just because what they're offering is FREE. Although FREE is a very powerful conversion word, it can use some help from other copywriting tactics. Here are some tips to writing compelling copy: 1. Focus on the reader. State the benefits, not the features. 2. Don t digress, and don t ramble. Stay laser focused. 3. Use bullets to separate each selling point. 4. Use your audience's language. Avoid industry jargon and talk to them in their own words. Here's what it looks like on my site --->
Tip #5: Use Images & Videos To Build Even More Desire For Your Offer A landing page can have more than just text. Images and videos have been proven to increase the effectiveness of landing pages online, so you should really consider using them. I use images to do what is harder to do with just plain text - Direct Attention. On my homepage there are two arrows that point to where I want my visitors to look. The first place is the opt-in form and the second is the link to my blog. You can, however, use images for different things. Kissmetrics (as you can see in this screenshot) uses an image to show their visitors what they're going to get once they get inside. A.K.A Building the desire.
Tip #6: Give Them Clear-Cut Instructions Now we have to get them to Take Action. It helps if you tell them what to do next. Don't assume they know what you want - tell them! No matter how obvious you think it is, it really does help boost conversions. This is called the Call To Action and here's how I do it on my site:...and I'm Not The Only One Who Thinks This Is Important Take a look at Wordpress.com Right after clicking on the sign up button, they ask you to "Fill out this one-step form.." Again, most people will probably know what to do on this page, but adding the instructions increases the chances of them actually doing it.
More thoughts on the Call To Action: The call to action is probably where most people drop the ball. It needs to be there and it needs to stand out. Don't be afraid to ask them for their email or to ask them to press the buy now button. If you don't, you'll be doing a disservice by not telling them how to move forward to benefit from what you have. What YOU Can Do Next... If you found this short report helpful, be sure to send it out to anyone that you think can benefit. You can tweet about it to your followers. You can share it with your Facebook friends and fans. You can share on Google Plus. Or... you can do all three. Also, if you haven't yet grabbed my 8-part Blog Marketing Course, be sure to do that too. :0) Talk soon, Hector Cuevas - www.hectorjcuevas.com