A is for Advertising

Are you wondering if squeeze pages still work well to build your email list?

The “squeeze page”, or “forced opt-in”, offers a bribe (often a report, audio, or video) in exchange for the visitor’s contact information (most notably their email address).

This technique still works like magic — as long as you do it carefully, and offer a “bribe” that is truly appealing and valuable to your visitors.

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.

The worst thing you can do it use a squeeze page in front of the wrong kind of site.

These include sites that are portals, intended for branding, or blogs. These sites are used for very different reasons than are salesletter sites; so don’t put a squeeze page in front of them.

The squeeze page is a barrier.

It bars people from your website, and can possibly scare your customers away.

When you offer the right kind of bribe, however, you can get people to opt in through the squeeze page — building a valuable, targeted email list.

Online threats such as spam, scams, spyware, and viruses are a few reasons people are more resistant to giving you their email address.

The bottom line: squeeze pages work. I use them, and I think you should do. The key is to use them in the right situations.