One of the strategies you should employ on your web site is an opt-in page. Opt-in pages are for gathering names and email addresses of your visitors so you can follow up with them and give them information in the future and make "back end" sales.
Building your own list of targeted potential customers is absolutely one of the most important internet marketing strategies you can use. If you're not collecting the email addresses of your potential customers, you're literally guaranteeing your internet business failure in the long run.
Opt-in lists provide your internet business with the ability to create a targeted list of potential customers in which you can advertise on a continual basis. With an opt-in list you will have a direct line of communication with your customers, which will increase your sales considerably. Some studies have shown that back end sales from opt-in lists have conversion rates of 30-60% and some even higher.
How can you afford not to build an opt-in list for your internet business? In order to build a database of potential customers and start collecting email addresses, you'll first need to set up an opt-in page or form on your web site or pages. You will also need to set up an autoresponder to collect this information and email your customers on a regular basis.
The key to creating an effective opt-in list is to provide your visitors with the chance to obtain pertinent, quality information or a free product that will satisfy one of their needs or answer a pressing problem of theirs. You could offer them an email course on the subject of your web site. Or a subscription to your ezine containing valuable information concerning their request through the opt-in form.
Free products are like bonuses on a sales page. People love getting something that will help them. Especially if it doesn't cost them. The product you offer your customer to opt-in to your list could come in the form of a downloadable software product, an ebook, or a white paper.
To build a database of potential customers and start collecting email addresses, you'll first need to set up a mailing list. You must allow your visitor's to submit their information and subscribe them to your list to recieve the information/product they are signing up for. This is done through a form to capture your visitor's information and an autoresponder to save this information to a database and respond to the visitor with an email or series of emails.
Through your autoresponder, you should provide a means to allow your visitor to verify that they are opting in to your list. Thus satisfying the anti-spam laws. This will save you hassles in the future. You should also provide a means to allow them to opt-out in the future if the decide they no longer wish to recieve emails from you.
There are many types of autoresponders and services that will satisfy your needs in creating opt-in lists. Some are free, some cost. I highly recommend you pay for an autoresponder service. They are generally inexpensive and reliable. The key here is reliable. Free services will also place their ads in the emails that your visitor will recieve. This doesn't look professional.
You can also obtain an autoresponder that you set up on your own web host server. With these, you will have to set up a database to go with it. I've never found these satisfactory. I prefer an honest, reliable service. You can order one of the best at:
AWeber that will satisfy all your needs and is considered the top in the industry. It will also generate your opt-in form for you to place on your web site.
Once you have an autoresponder service and have decided on an enticing informational promotion or product to offer them to opt-in, you need to create an opt-in form to place on the pages of your web site. There are various strategies for the placement of the opt-in form.
Some internet marketers prefer a single page devoted to obtaining the visitor's information. This is known as a "squeeze" page. You can direct the visitor to this squeeze page through links on your other web pages or it can be the landing page that is your homepage.
The squeeze page is similar to a sales page and must be designed to compel your web site visitors to opt-in for more information or the product you are offering them. It is crucial to reveal to them how the product or service you offer will satisfy a need and desire (such as specific travel information on a given region), make them more money or become more successful.
You don't want this page to be lengthy so you’ll want to focus on the top three to five things your market is hungry for and present to them the answer or solution that will satisfy their hunger. You are selling them on giving up their personal information for something they will consider valuable.
You won't need a large page for your opt-in form. All you need is a small paragraph or a few bullets that will stimulate enough interest and desire for what you are offering to them. If they feel what you are offering them can benefit in any way, they will want to know more information and will opt-in to your list to get it.
Keep this page specific. You want to limit the number of choices your prospective customer or opt-in subscriber can make. The only choice you want them to make is to opt-in or leave the page.
The hard part about having a specific page for your opt-in form is getting your visitors to it. You have to provide links throughout your web site where appropriate to drive them to the opt-in list form. This page should also be fully search engine optimized so that visitors will be driven directly to this page when they're surfing the net.
Many internet marketers prefer to place their opt-in form on every page or at least the pages that are relevant to the information you are providing your visitor to opt-in for. Your visitors can enter your website from many other pages other than your homepage. They may never even visit your homepage, so these marketers make sure their opt-in form is visible on every page of their website.
The key to placing the opt-in form on every page is where it's located. The form should be placed where it is highly visible but not intrusive. This should be near the top of the page. A two or three column page allows you to have plenty of content on your page and also an area for your opt-in form. Placing the opt-in form in the content is usually not advised. But this method works when it fits directly into the content of the page.
If you keep your opt-in list form separate from your content, you will be able to create a small, simple sales copy that will entice them to fill in the form and submit it to go along with the actual form. This is important as the visitor has to be convinced that to opt-in is in their interest.
One other way to provide an opt-in form is with a pop-up or a "fly-in" window. The pop-up has recieved such bad reception in the past that almost everyone has a pop-up blocker built into their internet browser. Now days, fly-in windows with a short, enticing ad to accompany the opt-in form is the way to go if this is how you want your visitor to be provided with the chance to opt-in to your list.
Once you have a significant number of subscribers to your opt-in list, you will begin to see why this list is so important. You will now be able to keep in constant contact with your customers and be able to supply them with a continual source of information that they requested. You will also provide them with back end sales possibilities that will create more income for your business.