Are Your E-mail Leads Lame?
If you haven’t heard this a million times, let me re-emphasize the following: Your website’s most important function is to maximize your ability to capture the email address of qualified buyers who visit your site.
If you are not doing this well – you’re wasting a lot of time and traffic.
So, how do you make sure you are making the most of every opportunity to capture your visitor’s email address?
You create an opt-in freebie that provides instant results and meets a pressing need.
According to a study conducted by infoplease.com, people primarily use the Internet to send and read email, search for information, get maps or driving directions, find info on a hobby or interest, and research a product or service before buying.
As a business owner, that should make you very happy. And, it means that you should strategically publish information your ideal customers are looking for to your website.
But publishing educational content to your website isn’t enough. You also need to engage with your ideal customer via e-mail, and posting an obscure “free updates” opt-in box often isn’t enough to get qualified buyers on your e-mail list.
The Internet is full of tire-kickers, so to make sure you’re attracting truly interested prospects you need to provide specific information that relates to the specific needs of your ideal customer.
Crafting the Perfect Opt-In: Focus on Solving Your Ideal Customer’s Pressing Problems
Internet users are becoming increasingly numb to opt-in offers because they over promise and under deliver. Your visitors want to solve a problem, meet a need, or fulfill a desire, and it’s your job to help them do that.
The fastest way to figure out what you should offer your ideal customers via your free opt-in is to determine what they are searching for.
Sign into Google’s free keyword tool, or use a paid search tool like Market Samurai, to determine what your ideal customers are search for most.
Let’s say, for example, you are a personal stylist in New York. Don’t look for terms like personal stylist NYC – that is too generic, it’s too broad, and it doesn’t target a specific person with a specific problem.
Instead, look for things like “shabby chic outfits for work,” or “how to wear boots with skirts,” or “what is the best way to wear leggings.”
These are the very specific queries that are going to help you connect with people trying to solve a very specific problem.
Next, pick the best and biggest combo on which to base your freebie.
Once you’ve identified a healthy list of specific queries similar to those above – pick one that has the highest number of searches, the lowest amount of competition, and that most closest relates to something you actually sell.
You can even combine a few queries so that you to appeal to a larger group of people.
Now, you are going to muster up the best copy your copywriting skill has to offer, and create a compelling curiosity-loaded headline.
In this example your opt-in offer may turn out to look like this: “How to Master a Classic Shabby Chic NYC Look to Parlay at Work & Play (Plus, learn 4 ways to wear boots with skirts that look great on leg shape!)”
If you’re a personal stylist looking for shabby chic professionals, which do you think will help you find truly qualified buyers? The copy above…or “Get Free Updates?”
Exactly.
A few side notes:
Make sure you actually make good on your promise to your reader. You will have terrible results if you don’t provide instant results. When it comes to email marketing, you really only have once chance to make a great first impression.
I recommend you also create a SOLO landing page for your opt-in offer.
Not only do you need to make multiple offers to opt-in across your site, but by creating a separate landing page you give yourself the opportunity to properly optimize that page, and have it rank well in search engine results.
Plus, when you create a landing page for your opt-in, you have a little more room on that page to sell the opt-in itself. This alone can help double your opt-in rate. If you need an example, check out one of my landing pages here.
Lastly, try not to have more than two different opt-in offers. When you present people with too many options, they typically don’t make a choice at all. If you can discipline yourself to focus on solving one primary issue you’ll be much happier with the quality of the prospects you reach.
This works for ANY TYPE OF BUSINESS. If in reading this and you thought, we’ll I’m in direct sales this won’t work for me…think again. If you thought I’m a photographer, this won’t work for me…think again. If you thought, I’m an author – this won’t work for me…yep, you guessed it…think again!
Why don’t you test it, and find out for yourself. I’d love for you to prove me otherwise. 
The bottom line: Your website is an incredible tool. Make it work for you the way it’s supposed to.
Need help in this area? Learn how I can help you by clicking here.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You are on point. There’s something I’d like to point out, though: There are niches that are NOT list-friendly. That is, they do NOT lend themselves to a list. For example, building a list around “cheap car insurance” isn’t feasible simply because it is…
1. A zero-sum niche. That is, once they get their quotes and buy, it’s over until when next they need a quote.
2. It’s NOT a niche where a particular person will consistently seek information on a regular basis.
Someone may argue that companies build lists in niches like this but check: If they are effective then they are probably in a niche that targets agents and NOT end users.
Chimezirim OdimbaHow To Make $10k Every 90 Days — Smart Hard Work Required
Solid advice, Marlee. I know that I intellectually understand the importance of all this – I just need to make sure that I’m truly implementing it.
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