The next step that you need to take in your list building quest is to create a squeeze page. This one page will be where you drive all your traffic to. As those people come and visit your site, they will see your squeeze page, want to learn more, and sign up to be on your list.
A good squeeze page will be a web page that is very simple and gives your visitor only one choice, and that's to subscribe to your list and start receiving emails from you. If he/she wants to do anything else, then they will have to close the page or hit the back button.
There should be absolutely no distractions that could take them somewhere else. That is absolutely critical!
There should be only 4 parts to your squeeze page
- Big, bold headline
- Bullet points
- Call To Action
- Opt-in Form
Let's go through these one at a time.
Big, Bold Headline
This is the most important part of the page. Since you only have a few seconds to capture the attention of your average visitor, this is where it's done.
It's the biggest text on the page and at the top so naturally it will be where they look first.
Now how should you write the headline?
It SHOULD NOT be a statement of what your free report is. A headline like this will give you a terrible opt-in rate:
"Grab A Copy Of My Free Dog Training Tips Report"
It won't work because quite frankly…nobody cares about you or your report (sorry!). The only thing your visitor cares about is what it will do for them.
So what you need to do instead is pull out the free content you're going to giveaway and find the biggest benefit that your ideal prospect will pull out of it.
If the free content you are giving away teaches how to potty train a dog in just 2 hours, that's a pretty big benefit. So in your headline make that promise to your visitor.
"Train Your Dog To Stop Peeing On The Carpet In Under 2 Hours"
Be as specific as possible, make a promise that your prospect can't refuse. If someone visits your page and they have a dog who won't stop soiling their carpets do you think they'll close your page if it has that headline?
Bullet Points
Next include some bullet points that give some other very specific promises that they will instantly get if they sign up. Use the same logic as your headline, use the biggest problems that your market has and promise to solve them (just make sure your content does that, no lying!)
You shouldn't go overboard with this. Pull out the best ones you've got and throw them on there, don't try for 10 bullet points, just a few will suffice.
Something else you shouldn't do is put blocks of text describing things. Your squeeze page should be as easy to read and as simple as possible. The more text that's on it, usually the worse it will convert.
You're not trying to sell them something, just getting them to give you their email.
Call to Action / Opt-in Form
I'm grouping the last 2 together, because they should be implemented together. At the end of your bullet points, add a line that says, "Enter your email address now for instant access" with a big ol' arrow pointing to the opt-in box.
Never have a button there that just says "submit." They button they hit should have yet another call to action on it. Something like "Download Your Free Report" or "Get Instant Access Now." Don't be afraid to make your opt-in form big and obvious. Putting some big red arrows that point to it can also help your visitors know exactly what to do to get your awesome information.
Creating your squeeze page should not be a huge deal. You've already done the research and know what your prospects are looking for. You have already created a chunk of free, valuable content that you're going to give them to build trust and capture loyalty.
So really all you have to do is put it into some short words, format it and put it up on the internet. Don't make it harder than it is!
If you're using WordPress, you may notice that creating a new page won't work too well to create a squeeze page since it will look like your blog with all those distractions. If you don't want to mess with HTML, grab these WordPress landing page templates and you can create a pro squeeze page with WordPress no problem.
ACTION STEPS:
Step #1: Practice writing a few headlines until you get one that really pops out and promises a huge benefit that you can deliver on.
Step #2: Pick out 2-3 more big benefits and format them into specific promising bullet points.
Step #3: Write a call to action that tells your visitors exactly what they need to do to get your awesome information for free.
Step #4: Copy & Paste your opt-in code from Aweber onto your new squeeze page.
Easy right? Don't overcomplicate these things, the power is in the words you use, not the design. If you have 2 different ideas for headlines or squeeze pages, make two pages and use Google's website optimizer to split test them. That way you'll know for sure which one brings in more subscribers.
After you have your list system set up, all that's left is to start driving traffic. Do at least one thing a day to drive traffic to your squeeze page and your list will start to grow consistently.
