List Building Tips - Novelty Pages

In this installment of List Building Tips, I want to discuss novelty pages. I know this isn't something that a lot of marketers think about, but believe it or not, novelty pages can actually build you quite a nice list if done correctly.

Okay, so what exactly is a novelty page? Well, it can be just about anything that isn't made strictly for the business of, um, doing business.

For example, you could put up a page of nothing but jokes but related to the niche that you're in. Then, at the bottom of the page, you could have a little message that reads something like this.

"Want to get some more great jokes about (fill in the niche) delivered straight to your email box? Fill in your name and email below and I'll send them to you along with some great offers that I think you'll be interested in."

Make it clear to the prospect that they may be receiving emails promoting products that you feel will be of benefit to them. You don't want to be accused of sending information that the prospect didn't ask for. As long as you're up front with everything, there should be no problems.

Another thing you can do is setup a page where the prospects go on a treasure hunt. They click on various links in order to find their way to the prize. Yes, this does take a bit of work to setup but it's a lot of fun and can really go viral, especially if you make the prize something worth going after.

Then, what you do, in order to get people to sign up to your list, is let them know that by doing so, they'll get important hints delivered directly to their email that will help them find the treasure. Of course, also let them know that you might also be sending them an occasional sales pitch. And of course if you want to sweeten the deal, let them know that they'll also get some kind of free e-course or e-book. Use your imagination.

Why do these novelty pages work? It's really very simple. They're not all about work. They're a break from the daily grind of having to run a business or worry about whatever ailment is bothering you. In short, they're entertainment. And people LOVE to be entertained. If it's done in an interesting way AND you actually give them something to shoot for, not only can these pages get lots of opt ins, but they can also go viral like mad if done correctly.

You want to make sure that you map everything out FIRST before you put up one page. If the system isn't complete BEFORE you put it online for the public, your prospects are going to be disappointed by the experience and they WON'T come back. This isn't like building a web site that you can do a piece at a time. Everything has to be in place right from the start. In the case of the treasure hunt game, this is absolutely critical.

Other ideas include puzzles, surveys, video pages and so on. Anything that's not the usual opt in or sales page and is more entertainment than business will work.

Try one. You might be pleasantly surprised by the results.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want more great list building tips? Check out my review of Paul Myers' Profit Plan VI at Profit Plan VI and pick up 162 ways to build a large and responsive list.

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List Building Tips - Thank You Pages

In this installment of List Building Tips, I want to discuss a tactic that a lot of people never even think about.

Thank you pages.

Don't scratch your head. I haven't gone daft or anything like that. I know it seems like we're putting the apple cart in front of the horse. After all, don't you get then on your list and THEN sell them your product? Well, in a lot of cases, yes. And if that's your model solely, then this probably isn't for you.

However, some businesses actually sell multiple products and their initial contact with their prospects isn't through any kind of a list. They're sent directly to a sales page and from there, they make their purchase and that's it. You probably never hear from them again.

But what if you had multiple products related to the one that was just purchased? Wouldn't you like to be able to legitimately follow up with these customers to let them know that you in fact DO have other products that they might be interested in?

Well, thank you pages are a great way to do this.

After the purchase goes through, on your thank you page in addition to actually thanking them for purchasing the product, you let them know that you have a newsletter that will give them information about your product (maybe how to best use it) plus information on other related products that they might be interested in. As long as there is a close enough relation to the other products, there is a very good chance that your customers WILL sign up for your list.

The key to making this work is design. Remember, the main focus of the thank you page is to thank them for their purchase and give them the link to download their product. You don't want to do ANYTHING that will interfere with that process.

At the top of that list is NEVER forcing them to sign up for your list in order to get their product. You're going to get quite a few complaints unless you make it perfectly clear on your sales letter that they will have to sign up to a list in order to receive their product. And if you do this, it's probably a great way to kill conversions.

You also don't want to start pitching your list BEFORE you actually thank them and give them their download link. The pitch comes AFTER all that. You make it an invite and you make sure that you let them know that it is completely optional and that they will still get their product even if they don't sign up.

So what you want to do is entice them to sign up. There are plenty of ways to do this.

One way is to offer them a freebie that compliments the product that they just bought. You can call it an unadvertised bonus JUST for signing up for your list.

Another way is to maybe give them a coupon code that will give them a discount on the next product of yours that they purchase, again, all for just signing up for your list.

You can offer 3 days of training in order to use your product correctly. Or you can offer them lifetime updates of your product just for signing up for your list.

These are all ethical "bribes" and can work very well in building your list.

And the best part of this list is that it's one that already has people who have bought from you. If they bought from you once and were satisfied with their purchase, don't you think it's likely they'll buy from you again?

So don't neglect your thank you page.

It can bring you more list members than you realize if done properly.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want more great list building tips? Check out my review of Paul Myers' Profit Plan VI at Profit Plan VI and pick up 162 ways to build a large and responsive list.

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List Building Tips - 404 Pages

In this next installment of list building tips, I'm going to cover an area that almost nobody takes advantage of - 404 pages. For those of you who don't know what they are, I'll explain them. For those of you who do and might be wondering how you could ever build a list off of a 404 page, you might just want to keep reading. I promise you that it WILL be a real eye opener.

Let's start off with exactly what a 404 page is for those of you who don't know. A 404 page is one that a visitor will see when they don't get the page of your domain that they're looking for. Now, there can be a number of reasons why this could happen, such as you deleting it without realizing it. Maybe you changed the permalink structure of a site. I could go on for days about what causes 404 errors but the bottom line is this. A visitor tried to access a page on your site, couldn't, and was greeted by an ugly "page could not be found" error which causes them to just move on to something else.

That's a GREAT way to lose prospects.

Okay, so what CAN we do about 404 pages? Well, we can't completely avoid them popping up. Even if we've done nothing wrong and the visitor simply typed in the wrong URL of the page they were looking for (yes, it happens) they're still going to get those errors. However, what we CAN do is customize our 404 pages so that when a visitor DOES get one to pop up, they have the chance to do more than just go away.

How do we do this?

A simple message that says, "Sorry, the page you're looking for doesn't seem to be here. Maybe you'd like to sign up for my free newsletter below... " just might get somebody who would have normally just moved on to do something else, to sign up for your newsletter. It certainly can't hurt to try and what does it cost you? A few minutes of your time to design a page?

Yes, you SHOULD try to make the 404 page as eye catching as possible. Make it humorous even. After all, the visitor isn't finding what he's looking for and is therefore probably at least a little annoyed. A cute little graphic of maybe some guy scratching his head wondering where the page went to just might get a chuckle or two.

For those of you who don't know how to create and setup your hosting to handle a 404 page, it's really very simple.

Step One - Create the page and save it with an obvious name. Something like 404.html will do fine.

Step Two - Edit your,htaccess file by adding the following line:

ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

And that's it. That's all there is to it.

This way, if a visitor to your site doesn't get the page they're looking for, they at least get a page that might have some meaning to them and JUST might get you another list member.

Try it. You might JUST be surprised by the results.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want more great list building tips? Check out my review of Paul Myers' Profit Plan VI at Profit Plan VI and pick up 162 ways to build a large and responsive list.

View the original article here

6 Golden Nuggets Governing Opt-In Pages!

As is well known, to attract visitors and convert them into Customers, there must be an Opt-in page. What this means is that the opt-in page is a sine qua non in the very vital business of List building. As such we must conform to certain fundamental rules before maximum success can be achieved. These are what we call Golden Nuggets in the creation of an Opt-in page. Ignore them at your own peril.

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 1: KEEP IT SIMPLE

When preparing the opt-in page, the main objective is to convince people to join your list and the opt-in page is the vehicle to use. So the first rule is:

Keep it Simple and Short - to make it so, be guided to remove all elements on the page that are likely to distract a person away from clicking the "Join Here"Such things as Google ads, banners and affiliate links have no place on the page. You should rather stay focused and concentrate on the job at hand i.e. to let the person opt in.

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 2: VISIBILITY

Visibility means that visitors must see clearly what they are supposed to opt-in to. There should be no strain on their part at all.

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 3: APPEALING HEADLINE

Your opt-in page must be attractive and have an eye-catching headline. There is need to motivate the visitor to stay further on the page. Most people have the tendency to browse fast so if you cannot quickly grab their attention you lose them forever. There is no way they will look at your opt-in form.

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 4: BENEFITS

Before they look at the opt-in form most people consider "what is in it for me." That is to say, they consider fist the benefits they might derive from joining your list. So, let your bullet points detail the benefits that they will derive by joining your list. In addition, you must "ethically bribe" them with a quality Free gift to be able to attract them.

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 5: AVOID HYPE.

Most people online can smell hype miles away. Your offers should sound enticing without being "hypey."

OPT-IN PAGE GOLDEN RULE # 6: PRIVACY.

It is normal for people online to try to avoid being spammed. Therefore before they can opt-in to your list there must be some form of assurance. State categorically that you will not sell or rent their email addresses and that these email addresses are safe with you.

Now that you have been with me to this far, I will reveal to you this revolutionary, easy and pleasurable way of List Building

Anthony Kpodo is a Full Time Online Marketer. My interest is to reach out, and fulfil my Mission of educating people so that the complicated task of Traffic Generation and List Building will become a Joyful and Pleasnt Activity. As the #1 ingredient that determines how far your online business can reach is Traffic, Traffic and more of it, my Mission is only fulfilled if through my guidance you succeed! For further details, Visit me at: http://www.freeautolistbuilder.com/

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