Fishing & Lead Capture - Part Two of Three

The second in a three part article series about lead capture and email marketing - from a different perspective.

Keywords:

lead capture,email marketing,network marketing,list building,internet marketing,direct marketing

Article Body:

In part one we skimmed over the basics of fishing for leads, and turning them into customers. Now let's break that down and get into a little more detail.

Bait & Presentation

Traffic isn't all that easy to get. You will have to either pay for, or work hard for traffic to your website. You don't want to waste it, do you? Of course not.

When a visitor hits your page, you don't want him to just look around and swim away, right? No. You want him to buy. However, that doesn't happen often enough on just one visit. So, you need a way to stay in touch with your visitor so you can pull them back from time to time. Getting him to opt in to your mailing list is a great way to keep in touch.

But how do you get someone to give up their contact information to you when they don't yet know and trust you?

Well, while your visitor is at your site... while the fish is in your pond - offer the right bait.

What type of fish are you after? ...and what do they eat?

You know your niche better than I do.

What are YOUR visitors interested in?
What are their biggest problems?
What keeps them awake at night?
What do the want the most?

Find the right bait, then present it in the right way and I guarantee they will bite.

Through a joint venture, a little search time, or some desktop publishing, locate or create a product that your visitors will bite on.

...and setup a lead capture page using this product as your bait.

Fishermen know what bait to use for different fish because of experience, their own or someone else's shared wisdom.

Take a look around. Someone else may be selling in your market. Who am I kidding? Someone else IS selling in your market. Find them. How are they fishing for new leads?

A little research will reveal what the fish are biting on at any given moment. Find or create it something similar, then bait YOUR hook and start fishing.

Good baits - Nearly anything related & free.

Viral software, articles and ebooks
Prizes (contests)
Product samples
Valuable tips
etc...

The right bait STILL must be presented in the right way. Portal sites, link & banner farms - they have their place, but the best way to present you bait when fishin' for leads is with a simple lead capture page.

You've seen them many times already, I'm sure of it. A basic page with few graphics, some well written copy, bullet points and a subscription form ... that's about all it takes. You may have to experiment a bit with your presentation, but once they start biting - you know you're on the right track. At this point, make only minor changes (one at a time) and test, test, test.

When they do start biting, you better learn to set the hook with a subscription confirmation to ensure your email gets delivered ... and delivered only to those who actually want it.

Confirmation can and probably will lead to a few "big one that got away" stories, but your list will be better... more responsive.

On your 'thank you' page, remind your visitor to confirm their subscription. Nothing fancy, just a little something like this...

"In order for me to send your (bait)... please
remember to confirm your request.

The confirmation email should be in your inbox
very soon. This step, though a bit inconvenient,
protects us both from unwanted email issues.

Also - please white list my domain.com and
email@mydomain.com to ensure receipt of the
information you requested."

Set that hook - get on your reader's list of acceptable publishers, because you want your email to get through every time you send mail. You want ALL subscribers to receive ALL email. It's not likely that it's going to happen, but it's still a great target.

It's also a good idea to test your emails to ensure they won't be eaten by filters.

You can use software for this, or one of the many autoresponder services that have spam testing features built right in.

Now ... we've baited, presented and set the hook - and I am worn out.

Let's rest up a bit and land that biggin' in part three. Don't miss it.

Home Business Success – Three Habits to Have

There are many that have to happen for a home business to be successful. A home business is very similar to a regular business. The business has to be organized......

Keywords:

Home Business Success

Article Body:

There are many that have to happen for a home business to be successful. A home business is very similar to a regular business. The business has to be organized. You must also understand your target market and of course have a useful product or service for that market. If you are looking for tips for home business success, please consider the following.

Many people expect that a home business will be easy to start and it will instantly make a wheel barrel full of money. Unfortunately this is not the case and many people fail at it because they lack the effort to make the business sustainable and successful.

Sadly, they most likely didn’t have the skills to make the business successful. I’m sure most people want the skills. However, they did not empower themselves to learn the skills necessary to be successful. So, if you want a chance at developing a successful home business, become a student of the game and learn and develop the right skills.

It is important to know as much about your target market as you can possibly learn.   Market knowledge is of up most importance. If you don’t know your market, then you don’t know what you are selling. Knowing the need of your market gives you the advantage on what products to sell them. Knowledge also provides direction on how to market to prospective clients. Having an understanding your market in and out will help give you the direction you need to make a successful business plight.

You should also look at your home business as a long term commitment. If you look at the long term you can develop a vision of your business. Having vision will help build short and long term goals. Don’t expect to be a millionaire over night. That is a short term and possibly an unreachable goal. Expect to work hard and build and develop your business over time.

Make three month and six month goals to have your business reach a certain level. In reality, it could take a couple of years to make the business profitable. Whatever you decide your goals to be, you should envision yourself working towards those goals.

One of the most import skills to home business success is to research and know competition. Get out there in the world and talk to others to see what they are doing. You can learn what is successful and things to avoid.

If you want a chance at achieving home business success, obtain the skills necessary so you can work towards the big picture. Knowing your market, long term vision and researching the competition.

Fishing & Lead Capture - Part Three of Three

The last in a three part article series about lead capture and email marketing - from a different perspective.

Keywords:

lead capture,email marketing,network marketing,list building,internet marketing,direct marketing

Article Body:

In parts one and two we overviewed fishing for leads, then went into detail on baiting, presenting and setting your hook on new leads for your business.

Of course, the purpose of your lead generation is to sell a product, service, or opportunity. That's your number one priority - to make contacts and turn them into customers.

You've gotta land that fish.

Now that you have set the hook with subscription confirmation and delivered the bait you promised on your lead capture page ...

How do you get him in without snapping the line?

Well, you have to get your emails read - or all the previous effort is wasted.

Consider the subject of each email as a headline. If it's not interesting enough to be opened you will probably lose your fish.

Keep your (head)line tight. Short and sweet, and usually presenting a benefit - a darn good reason to open the email.

If you don't keep the line tight he will throw the hook - and throw your email in the trash.

Some fish fight harder than others. Many potential customers are quite defensive. Why should they trust you? They don't even know you. To earn their trust, and to have the best chance of landing your fish, use high quality line - VALUE.

Give of yourself. Give of your time. Give something of value to earn the respect and trust of your subscriber - and don't allow any slack in your line.

You offered the right bait.
You set the hook with confirmation.
You keep your (head)line tight so they don't throw the hook (in the trash).
You use strong line by providing valuable information.

...and you keep reeling up the slack.

You use your email to guide your customer to the sales page - and ultimately to the sale.

You can't force it or something will break - the line (reads but no clicks), the hook (thrown in the trash) - something will go wrong and you will go hungry.

Guide, offer, help, inform, entice...

Closer and closer he gets until you finally grab the net. ...and the net profit.

Above all, treat your lead with respect. There is a person behind that email address.

Do you prefer a mailbox full of ads? ... or useful information and related links?

Do you prefer an honest review? ... or a hard sales pitch?

When you DO offer a product, service or opportunity ... offer something of value - not junk for easy money. Your reputation won't stand up to it.

Treat your lead, your subscriber, your new friend like a person. Give them a good reason to do business with YOU.

... and stop treating them like fish.

Ok, so maybe fishing and lead capture don't have THAT much in common after all.

Sorry. My bad.

Fishing & Lead Capture - Part One of Three

The first in a three part article series about lead capture and email marketing - from a different perspective.

Keywords:

lead capture,email marketing,network marketing,list building,internet marketing,direct marketing

Article Body:

"Those worms are good enough to catch the sunfish around the edge, but you gotta use some liver and cast out to the middle to catch the big cats."

The ol' fella was right - good advice for that place and time. I caught more catfish that day than I had all summer.

Fishin' and lead capture. They're not so different.

Right bait... right place... BAM! You get a strike - someone drops their contact info into your autoresponder form to get some of that sweet smellin' bait you've offered them.

Then you set the hook - and verify their subscription.

To protect yourself, your business and your subscribers, always use a subscription verification to make sure they are actually interested in reading your material.

Some will confirm. Some will not. But that doesn't mean the trip is over.

You keep on fishing.

...and eventually you get another strike.

Once you get the hook set (receive confirmation of a new subscriber), it's time to real in your fish - deliver your lead to a sales page for your product or service.

You can't just lift your rod, crank the reel like a lunatic to drag the fish to the boat. You could easily break the line and lose your new lead.

You have to use a little finesse.

Let him take some slack (give up some great, free information), and allow just a little room to run.

Ease him in - guide him and reel up the slack as you go.

Show your lead - your new friend - that you can be trusted. Don't lose ground by sending junk in an effort to make money.

Closer and closer he gets until you have EARNED his trust - and his business.

Then you hold him up by the ankles and pose for a picture. (just kidding)

This is the first in a series of three articles devoted to the exciting art of lead capture and list marketing.

In part two we will talk more about your bait, presentation and setting the hook. Don't miss it.

Greater Conversion -- Three Things Everyone Should Do to Get More Sales

Many more people want to buy your product or service, but they don’t end up doing it! That’s because many companies are stuck in the print marketing mindset, and don’t realize that there are a couple simple things that they can do online to increase their conversion rates. In this article, I’ll outline three easy to implement changes that will take those extra sales right to the bank!

Keywords:

web, design, company, website, conversion

Article Body:

Many more people want to buy your product or service, but they don’t end up doing it! That’s because many companies are stuck in the print marketing mindset, and don’t realize that there are a couple simple things that they can do online to increase their conversion rates. In this article, I’ll outline three easy to implement changes that will take those extra sales right to the bank!

1) Product / Service Image Size
Chances are you’ve got images that represent or depict your product or service -- that’s a common sense way to add familiarity to what you have or do! An eye tracking study has shown that small images are oftentimes overlooked and that medium sized images (210x230 pixels) provide near a 150% increase in the amount of time spent looking at the image. The same study has shown that people tend to focus their attention on photographs that contain a human face. Medium sized pictures with faces in them retain interest longer!

2) Linking Images
The same study showed that people click on pictures, even when there is no indication that the picture is a link. For those images of products, link the image to the product page where they can buy your product! For those images depicting services, link the image to the related service information page or a contact page! Always link your images to the next step of your conversion process!

3) Call to Action
Visitors that are interested in your product or service may not know what to do to get it. Or they may be interested enough to purchase or subscribe, but only if it’s easy -- otherwise they’re not interested. This often overlooked scenario is easily overcome by a call to action link on every page. The call to action could be as simple as "Find out more about XYZ Widget Model 3 here!" It could be a Buy Now button underneath an image. The most important part of content written for sales is to make that call to action. You’ll quickly see that doing so will have you smiling all the way to the bank! Always have your visitors do something!

After you’ve implemented these three simple changes into your website, sit back and watch your stats increase. You’ll find that getting more conversions is a very pleasing scenario! As one last word of advice, other eye tracking studies (and possibly the same one I’ve referenced throughout this article) have confirmed that many people let their eyes wander below a picture when there’s text below it. Use that to your advantage by placing "Buy Now" buttons underneath your images. Good luck!

Source: http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/photos.htm