Lately, Internet marketers have been telling me, “Ray, people don’t opt-in to squeeze pages nowadays. They just don’t opt-in like they used to”. Do remarks like this have you nodding in agreement?

Fear and paranoia, with a healthy dose of spam, has made it harder to get people to opt-in. At one time, it was so easy. All you had to do was add a form that said, “Sign up here to get e-mails”, and the world would flock to your site.

People would opt-in like crazy! E-mails, e-newsletters — everything was so new and exciting. My, how things have changed. Today, we are deluged with e-mails. People are constantly changing e-mail addresses. People have multiple e-mail addresses – heck, some people even have a fake e-mail address that they never check, just to deal with all the spam.

Cutting through the clutter is a challenge. How can you make sure you are getting real opt-ins from people who will actually read the e-mails you send out?

Well, yes. There are ways to increase your opt-in conversions. These simple tactics don’t take a lot of work, but they are very effective.

Try these three tactics to boost your opt-ins:

Make a stronger offer. We all know you have to give an ethical bribe to get people to opt-in – a special report, an audio, a video, a piece of software. If you just say, “Sign up to get my newsletter”, to the average reader that means, “Sign up so I can spam you.” You need to be more creative. Work harder to create a better premium to offer your subscribers. If you’re offering a special report, it better be a killer special report, and not the same old crap that everybody else is offering. You need to come up with a unique angle, it needs to be well-written. Same is true of audio, video or software – it needs to be well-done, it needs to be unique – something obtainable only through you, and it needs to address a need that is in line with the desires of your readers.

Use a bigger, “responsive” HTML button. Go to my website: www.RayEdwardsCopy.com and look at the button on the subscription form on my squeeze page. Notice that it’s larger than most buttons you see on subscription forms. Notice also, that when you hover your cursor over the button, the background changes color from red to green. That is a subtle, psychological hint that takes people from “Stop” to “Go!” Yeah, that’s a little sillybut, in my experience, it increases conversions. I can verify this through some colleagues of mine: Michel Fortin, Eric Graham – The Conversion Doctor and Armand Morin, as well. My recommendation is that you try this kind of button, too.

Keep distractions off your opt-in pages. Take another look at my opt-in page. Do you see how clean it looks? There are no distractions to take attention away from the opt-in option. Of course, there are legal disclaimers at the bottom (right where I need them), but they are very subtle. And when you click on them, those legal notices open in small pop-up windows – after all, I want them on this page, not heading off in another direction.

While these suggestions seem very simplistic, they really work. Try them for yourself, and watch your opt-in rates soar!

Should you use a “squeeze page” on your website, or have these pages lost their effectiveness?

A “squeeze page” is one that forces your site visitors to give you their name and email address in exchange for some kind of bribe… an audio training, a special report, or piece of software.

Making a free offer to your site visitors in exchange for their name and e-mail address is a great way to grow your e-mail list, but it has to be done carefully so that you don’t also drive away potential customers.

Here are some things to think about…

You know it’s important to grow your e-mail list. The bigger the list, the more people will see your offers, and the more money you will make.

The challenge in today’s internet marketing world is it’s harder than ever to convince people to opt in. A squeeze page is probably the best list building tool available, but you must be careful. Using a squeeze page the wrong way can hurt your business more than it helps.

It’s best to use a squeeze page on a site that is built to sell one product. For example, if you have a site that features a sales letter selling a particular product or service, placing a squeeze page in front of the information about that product or service is a good idea. This keeps readers from being distracted; it sifts and sorts potential buyers by level of seriousness; and it gives you a list of interested parties that you can go back and market to repeatedly.

One of the biggest mistakes I see being made online is putting a squeeze page in front of the wrong kinds of sites.

Don’t put a squeeze page in front of your portal site, your branding site, or your blog. Putting a squeeze page in front of those kinds of sites does not make sense. Those sites have a very different purpose than sites that are intended to sell one targeted product or promotion.

Remember that your squeeze page is a gate.

It keeps people out of your website and it can potentially scare off your customers.

If you have a strong enough offer, a video, an audio, or special report, you may be able to get people to opt in and build a very targeted list using a squeeze page.

The growing problems of spam, viruses and spyware have made people more reluctant than ever to give up their name and e-mail address.

Squeeze pages can definitely build your list fast. These pages are a powerful tool that I recommend to all of my clients; just be sure to use them in the appropriate situation.

What do you think? Are squeeze pages more or less effective than they once were? Post your comments below.

One of the biggest challenges in building your online business is to build a large e-mail list.

A list of prospects and buyers that you can use as a foundation for your online business.

It’s harder than ever to build e-mail lists online, as customers are more reluctant to opt in for free e-zines (or other mailing lists) than ever before.

What’s the best way to build an e-mail list? Rest assured, e-mail marketing is just as important now as it ever has been, and perhaps even moreso. So what do you do? My advice is to use offline marketing to build your online e-mail list. This is a tactic that is seldom employed by online marketers, and yet it is the most powerful way to build an e-mail list I know of. Why is this? Because people who move from an offline promotion to an online mailing list make up the most responsive e-mail list you will ever have.

Here are three ways you can use offline media to build your online mailing list.:

Radio

Radio is an overlooked but inexpensive and effective medium for building an online e-mail list. If you’re going to use radio, make sure your radio ad is a direct response style. The key to this kind of ad is that it simply directs people to a landing page (or squeeze page) that offers them something for free in return for their name and e-mail address. Even though the squeeze page technique is harder to implement in today’s online marketing world, with the people who move offline to online response rates are stellar.

Direct Mail

Using postcards, you can build an e-mail list very quickly using inexpensive direct mail promotions. Make sure that you buy quality, targeted lists to mail to. Also make sure that the copy you used in your direct mail is targeted, effective, and powerful.

Outdoor Advertising

If you can squeeze your opt in message into seven words or less, including the domain name, consider using outdoor advertising. Billboard companies frequently make killer, bargain-basement deals to fill up unused billboard space each month. Negotiate your deal toward the end of the month, and let them know that they are competing with other media for your business, and you should be able to get the best available rate.

Use these offline methods to build your online list and watch response rates rise.

Lately, Internet marketers have been telling me, “Ray, people don’t opt-in to squeeze pages nowadays. They just don’t opt-in like they used to”. Do remarks like this have you nodding in agreement?

Fear and paranoia, with a healthy dose of spam, has made it harder to get people to opt-in. At one time, it was so easy. All you had to do was add a form that said, “Sign up here to get e-mails”, and the world would flock to your site.

People would opt-in like crazy! E-mails, e-newsletters — everything was so new and exciting. My, how things have changed. Today, we are deluged with e-mails. People are constantly changing e-mail addresses. People have multiple e-mail addresses – heck, some people even have a fake e-mail address that they never check, just to deal with all the spam.

Cutting through the clutter is a challenge. How can you make sure you are getting real opt-ins from people who will actually read the e-mails you send out?

Well, yes. There are ways to increase your opt-in conversions. These simple tactics don’t take a lot of work, but they are very effective.

Try these three tactics to boost your opt-ins:

Make a stronger offer. We all know you have to give an ethical bribe to get people to opt-in – a special report, an audio, a video, a piece of software. If you just say, “Sign up to get my newsletter”, to the average reader that means, “Sign up so I can spam you.” You need to be more creative. Work harder to create a better premium to offer your subscribers. If you’re offering a special report, it better be a killer special report, and not the same old crap that everybody else is offering. You need to come up with a unique angle, it needs to be well-written. Same is true of audio, video or software – it needs to be well-done, it needs to be unique – something obtainable only through you, and it needs to address a need that is in line with the desires of your readers.

Use a bigger, “responsive” HTML button. Go to my website: www.RayEdwardsCopy.com and look at the button on the subscription form on my squeeze page. Notice that it’s larger than most buttons you see on subscription forms. Notice also, that when you hover your cursor over the button, the background changes color from red to green. That is a subtle, psychological hint that takes people from “Stop” to “Go!” Yeah, that’s a little sillybut, in my experience, it increases conversions. I can verify this through some colleagues of mine: Michel Fortin, Eric Graham – The Conversion Doctor and Armand Morin, as well. My recommendation is that you try this kind of button, too.

Keep distractions off your opt-in pages. Take another look at my opt-in page. Do you see how clean it looks? There are no distractions to take attention away from the opt-in option. Of course, there are legal disclaimers at the bottom (right where I need them), but they are very subtle. And when you click on them, those legal notices open in small pop-up windows – after all, I want them on this page, not heading off in another direction.

While these suggestions seem very simplistic, they really work. Try them for yourself, and watch your opt-in rates soar!

I get a lot of questions asking how to build a list and do it quickly.

Actually, it’s a lot easier to build a list than you might 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 for Ray Edwards Copywriting, 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.

Want more information about the quickest ways to build your list?

I recommend Tellman Knudson’s List-Building Club.

The Story: Let’s assume you’re writing your own copy (maybe you can’t afford to hire a professional, or you just love writing copy for your own products).

One of your first tasks as a copywriter is to break down the skepticism that your prospects (readers, site visitors, subscribers) are feeling, and get them to believe you – even just a little bit.

The Point: How do you break through that skepticism? Testimonials and proof elements.

The Resource: Any late-night infomercial

3 Ways To Use Testimonials or Proof:

1. Add more testimonials.
2. Show photographs (before and after).
3. Show evidence (pictures or screen grabs).

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

Recently I was interviewed by one of my copywriting buddies.

His name is Ben Settle, and if you don’t know about Ben you should. He has one of the best copwriting blogs on the ‘net.

Anyway, the interview was supposed to be a one-hour interview. It ended up being well over 2 hours.

After listening to the finished product, I realized it was pretty darned good (Ben is a great interviewer).

Here’s some of what we covered in the interview:

• Why studying successful ads can actually hurt your copywriting!
• How to use an ordinary copyright notice to instantly banish “writers block.”
• A free piece of software that can realistically nab you well over an 80% opt-in rate on your squeeze pages!
• What to do if you’re starting from scratch online and need to make a lot of money—fast!
• How to set up profitable online joint ventures—even if you live in a cave with no friends, contacts or business connections whatsoever.
• A little-known way to build a hyper-responsive email list without turning on your computer!
• How to use dopey little ad “jingles” to drive thousands of qualified leads to your websites.
• An almost unknown way to make a TON of money from your email list… without sending them any emails!
• How to make more profits from your sites by purposely getting a lower opt-in rate.
• A secret trick (even an “SEO dummy” can use) to almost instantly get top google rankings on any key words you choose!
• How to use video on your sites for little or no money and without any big learning curves.
• A little-used “loophole” in the Warrior Forum that lets you quickly add a few thousand cash-in-hand subscribers to your email list—without spending even one thin dime.
• Why your telephone is your #1 most profitable “tool” for making money online!
• The secret of getting world-class marketers (with gigantic lists of buyers) to joint venture with you—even if your list is puny and they have no idea who you are.

Grab your copy of the interview by clicking here.

The Story: It’s a lot easier to build a list than you might think.

The Point: The techniques of list-building are really quite simple; three techniques you can use today.

The Resource: www.MyFirstListOnline.com <– Free List-Building Tips

Here are three tactics you can use to build your list fast:

1. Use a “squeeze page”.
2. Do “ad swaps” with other list owners.
3. Use forum postings to get opt-ins.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The problem with opt-in pages is: everyone is copying the same old model.

To see a model that’s getting up to 80% opt-ins, take this quiz.

After you take the quiz, you’ll get a video that will show you how to build opt-in pages that average between 60-80% conversion from visitor to subscriber.

You’ll even get a download link to a free beta of the software that creates these opt-in pages for you. Seriously. No “upsell”. No “one time offer”.

I’m going to be testing the software on my own pages, and I will update you with the results.

For now, I recommend you give it a try yourself: get the software here.

One of the biggest challenges in building your online business is to build a large e-mail list. 

A list of prospects and buyers that you can use as a foundation for your online business. 

It’s harder than ever to build e-mail lists online, as customers are more reluctant to opt in for free e-zines (or other mailing lists) than ever before. 

What’s the best way to build an e-mail list?  Rest assured, e-mail marketing is just as important now as it ever has been, and perhaps even moreso.  So what do you do?  My advice is to use offline marketing to build your online e-mail list.  This is a tactic that is seldom employed by online marketers, and yet it is the most powerful way to build an e-mail list I know of.  Why is this?  Because people who move from an offline promotion to an online mailing list make up the most responsive e-mail list you will ever have.

Here are three ways you can use offline media to build your online mailing list.:

Radio

Radio is an overlooked but inexpensive and effective medium for building an online e-mail list.  If you’re going to use radio, make sure your radio ad is a direct response style. The key to this kind of ad is that it simply directs people to a landing page (or squeeze page) that offers them something for free in return for their name and e-mail address.  Even though the squeeze page technique is harder to implement in today’s online marketing world, with the people who move offline to online response rates are stellar.  

Direct Mail

Using postcards, you can build an e-mail list very quickly using inexpensive direct mail promotions.  Make sure that you buy quality, targeted lists to mail to. Also make sure that the copy you used in your direct mail is targeted, effective, and powerful.  

Outdoor Advertising

If you can squeeze your opt in message into seven words or less, including the domain name, consider using outdoor advertising.  Billboard companies frequently make killer, bargain-basement deals to fill up unused billboard space each month.  Negotiate your deal toward the end of the month, and let them know that they are competing with other media for your business, and you should be able to get the best available rate.

Use these offline methods to build your online list and watch response rates rise.