Creative Blogs

Lately, I hear a lot of complaints from Internet marketers. They complain that people just don’t opt-in to squeeze pages any more.

Thanks to spam, fear, and paranoia, it’s now harder than ever to get an opt-in. Used to be you could put a form on your web page that said, “Sign up here to get e-mails.” Literally, you could use those exact words.

People used to opt-in like crazy! E-mail was new. E-mail newsletters were new. It was exciting! “You’ve got mail!” Now, we’re all overwhelmed with e-mails. We’re changing e-mail addresses; we have multiple e-mail addresses; some of us even have a fake e-mail address that collects all our spam, that we never look at.

Finding genuine opt-ins is challenging. Is there a way that you can ensure your opt-ins are from real people who will actually read your e-mails?

The good news is that you can increase your opt-ins, using simple proven methods that need little work.

Here are three tactics you can use to get more opt-ins:

Make a good offer. People don’t want to opt-in unless they are getting something in return - a video, a special report, a piece of software. To most folks, opting-in is the same as begging for more spam. So you need to try a creative approach. Whatever your ethical bribe, make it stunning. Offer quality work with great writing and important information, something that addresses your readers’ needs. Don’t just offer the same old tired deals. Make it something that they can only get from YOU.

Use a bigger button. Go to my website at www.RayEdwardsCopy.com. Check out the big button on my subscription form - it’s larger than most other buttons I have seen. While you’re there, check out how the color of the button changes from red to green as their cursor glides over it. This subtle psychological influence takes people from “Stop” to “GO!”. It may sound silly, but it works! And it’s not just me saying so - this has been verified by other colleagues, like Michel Fortin, Armand Morin, and even Eric Graham, The Conversion Doctor.

Keep all distractions off your opt-in pages. Look at my page again. You’ll notice there are no distractions available. I have some legal notices at the bottom of the page, but they are required to be there (You should have legal notices at the bottom of your pages, too). But notice that I display them in subtle fashion, and when you click on them, they open in smaller pop-up windows, and don’t lead people away from my opt-in page.

While these tactics seem simplistic, they really work. Try them, and increase your opt-in page conversions today.

Today, we’ll talk about how you can cash in with the power of niche marketing.

Many people think that you can’t make a profit with niche marketing. Ed Dale and Fred Kerr popularized niche marketing with their course, “Underachiever”. However, since that course isn’t available anymore, people assumed that niche marketing is dead.

Nothing could be further from the truth! Niche marketing still works and you can still make A LOT of money doing it. In fact, I have a friend who has some niche websites in obscure markets that make him about $8000 a month, and his business is growing every month because he uses the principles of good marketing. Basic things you can learn from various Internet marketing teachers.

I have another friend, Dr. Andrew Jones, who started as a client, then a coaching student and now a friend. He started with a little $27 e-book in a niche market, and has grown it into a $15,000/month business. And it’s still growing!

Want to know how it works? Through my coaching program, I can teach you how you can draw on niche markets. There are still spaces available for the next course. Visit this site at www.rayedwards.com/letmein, 5k In 30 Days, for more information. I can’t wait to see you there!

I didn’t write this article to sell you my coaching program. I want to sell you an idea - that niche marketing works, and can help you cash in. I’m offering you five simple steps to build your niche, quickly and easily. Of course, this is a broad overview of a complex topic, but these simple steps can get you on your way without spending any money or undertaking a long study of marketing. You’ll have to put some work into it, but you already knew that, right? Too bad you can’t just push a button and have money spit out of your CD-ROM.

Here are those 5 steps:

Find a product. I say “find” and not “create” because many people are intimidated by the thought of creating their own product (unfairly, as it turns out, since product creation is quite easy). Begin by finding private label rights packages which offer you the right to re-publish a product that has already been created. You may think these products aren’t worth much, maybe because everyone has seen them, or they don’t work well, or The truth is, despite the number of people who have private label sites, very few people actually use the products. Simply repackage the product with new graphics and a new title to get a great product in a short time. I promise, it’s easy and fast - you can do it in less than an hour! Just pick one, and start playing. Less than an hour, I promise!

Create a sales page and testing software. Many private label rights packages contain a sales page template, often pre-written. This is a great place to start, though you probably don’t want to use it forever. Once your sales page is set up, test it with Google’s Website Optimizer. That can help you to tweak it to improve your sales.

Accept payments through Paypal or Clickbank. Both of these sites will process payments for a small fee. Don’t drive yourself crazy setting up your site to accept credit cards - these folks make it quick, easy, secure, and inexpensive.

Use Adwords to drive traffic. Set up an Adwords account with Google and go through the great tutorials Google provides to learn how to use it. It’s easy!

Repeat!

I have one last piece of advice for you. Many people have picked “How to make money online” as their niche market. While a lot of people make money with this approach, the competition is fierce! Try to pick a less-competitive market to begin with - you won’t have to deal with sophisticated competition, and your hard work will pay off in better rewards.

Great testimonials - whether audio or video - can make a huge impact. Yet marketers struggle to find enough good testimonials for their websites.

How can you get great testimonials? Well, doing great work is a start! Your fans will want to help you spread the word. However, even your biggest fans may need a little push to get those testimonials flooding in.

If you take a few simple steps to prime the pump, you could soon find yourself with an endless flood of testimonials. Best of all, these methods will keep testimonials rolling in, even while you sleep.

There are many ways to set up audio on your website. In my opinion, the easiest and best tool in the industry for gathering testimonials and putting them on your website is Audio Generator. You can find it at: www.NewAudioMarketing.com. It is very easy to use.

There are three ways to increase your testimonials today:

Ask for them. If you have provided any kind of service to your list at all, you can e-mail them asking for testimonials. Your e-mail could say something like this: “Dear Ray, In the past you purchased product X from us. Could you take a few minutes and tell us how you like it and what you thought of your experience with our company. If you have positive comments, we might even use it in our marketing. Thanks so much for your cooperation.” Of course, you can word it differently, so they know it’s from you, and not me. Just asking for the testimonials will produce a great response.

Create an ATM (Automated Testimonial Machine). This great machine works all day, every day. I have one on my website, and it works wonders! This Audio Generator feature can be found at: http://rayedwards.com/feedback to see “Ray’s Automated Testimonial Machine”.

Use autoresponders to ask for more. Set your autoresponder on automatic pilot, with a built-in testimonial request. Ask your readers, customers, subscribers, and prospects to offer their opinions. Ask more than once, using the autoresponder, then send them to your ATM too!

These techniques will help you get a flood of automated testimonials. I use these tips, and they work. Give them a try, and start your own flood today!

Today’s subject deals with list-building. I get many questions from people who want to know how to build a list quickly to improve their business.

Building a list is easier than you think.

The fact is the techniques of list-building are really quite simple.

These three tactics will help you to build your list quickly:

Use a “squeeze page”. I find that, while everyone seems to know about the effectiveness of a squeeze page, few are actually doing it, or if they are, they’re not using a true squeeze page. You must admit, it takes a little bit of backbone to say, “You don’t get to see anything until you give me your e-mail address!” I promise you, though, use a squeeze page and you’ll get subscribers, and you’ll build your list. If you look at my squeeze page at www.rayedwardscopy.com, you’ll see that I don’t even offer an ethical bribe to get people to opt-in, yet my conversion rate for this page is about 38%.

Do “ad swaps” with other list owners. Look for people with ads in their e-zines, contact them and say, “Hey, I have an e-zine, too! How about we trade ads?” Then, you run an ad for their list and they run an ad for your list. Or, if they don’t offer ads (or you don’t offer ads), simply contact them and say, “I would like to promote your email newsletter to my subscribers, would you do the same for me?” In your e-mail newsletter, then, you just write a little paragraph that says, “I’ve discovered a great newsletter that I think you’d enjoy. Here’s the link.” This, by the way, is one of the best and fastest ways to build your list. I know, I know, it’s too easy. But, it works.

Look for opt-ins through forum postings. You can post good content to forums. Many forums will allow you to add text to your signature line. Try something simple, like “To get my ‘Seven Tips on List Building’, click here”. That link leads readers directly to your opt-in page. Make sure you have a decent ethical bribe to offer - a special report, audio clip, video clip, a .pdf, even free software. Don’t subscribe to any forums? Now may be the time to start! All you need is twenty minutes a day. Use that time to check out ten forums, add quality posts, answer any questions, and include your signature line link. This really works - I get new subscribers every day from this method, and I don’t even have time to post to forums anymore.

Today’s resource is www.MyFirstListOnline.com. Find great information and free list-building tips at this site.

In a previous article, I discussed using audio to get more testimonials on your site. There are other great reasons to use audio, as well. Audio is a “secret weapon” that can boost your conversions. If you do it right, it will increase your sales.

Adding audio to your website is easy. All you need is an hour to add audio to three important parts of your website. Then sit back and watch your conversions soar.

The best audio tool that I have found is the Audio Generator at this site: http://newaudiomarketing.com. It’s easy to use and very powerful. You don’t just have to add audio to three areas of your site - most people end up adding even more audio once they find out how easy it really is!

Try adding audio to the following areas for better conversions:

Squeeze Page. You can just reiterate the copy on your squeeze page. It might sound something like this: “Hi, this is Ray Edwards and welcome to my site. I’d love to tell you more about my copywriting services and how I can boost your conversions, reduce the amount of refunds you get, and help you build your business empire. To find out how I can do all that and more, just put in your name and e-mail address below and click the submit button.” Granted that is a crude example I just made up, but it gives you an idea of how it should sound. Make it autoplay on your squeeze page. I know some people think autoplay is annoying, but is this about annoying a few people, or selling a whole lot more of your stuff to a whole bunch of people? I’ve tested this on my clients’ sites - like Alex Mandossian, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Jeff Walker - and in almost every case, autoplay gets higher opt-in rates.

Sales Page (in the Guarantee!). Most sales pages have a press-to-play audio button at the top of the page. From the latest test data that I’ve seen, you will get a bigger boost in conversions if you add the audio button in your guarantee section of your sales letter. People feel more reassured to hear you speak the guarantee in your voice.

Your order page. Sounds crazy? It’s not. I recommend autoplay on this page too. When people click the “Buy” button to get to the order page, include a brief audio clip: “Congratulations on making a great decision. Don’t forget, you get all these benefits when you act right now. Simply fill out your name and billing information. Make sure you double-check your credit card information for accuracy, then click the submit button.” An audio feed here gives you more completed orders.