[H730]How Business Use Twitter

This is true of all websites out there. The only semi-sure way to get people to come back to your site is to have their email address so that you can keep the lines of communications going and invite (coerce?) them to come back and visit, maybe even buy something.

"How can I get their email address", you ask? Easy, make them an offer they can't refuse—literally! This is what industry insiders call a compelling offer. Yes, you could just ASK for the email. If you provide an excellent service, and you have prospects that are also adoring fans, they may give you the email address with nothing in exchange expected. Good luck with that.

We non-guru powers have to give them something of value in exchange, of course. People like keeping their info private and they are uncomfortable with giving that personal info to others...especially if they don't yet know, like, nor trust you.

You need to have something to capture their information with before you can give them a compelling offer. You can call this a capture form. A capture form is 2 or 3 three lines (depending on whether you're confident enough to ask for their phone number). This form is obtained from an auto responder service that usually cost about $20 per month. There are free services out there, but they usually require that you purchase leads from them as a package deal.

HOLD IT! What the heck is this auto responder thing you keep talking about?

Well, we're getting to that. Basically, it's a premade set of email messages that you write and set up in advance to end up in your prospect's email box at certain intervals. I don't know if that definition will help the newbies out there. Just understand that's it can be an internet marketer's best friend. By the time I'm done explaining it, hopefully it will be clear. Be patient.

First you need a capture page:

A capture/landing page is a website usually with only 1 page designed specifically to convince someone that it's a good idea to put their email address, name, and even phone number into the slot in exchange for a compelling offer—a free report, eBook, video tutorial, etc. Something that's of value to the prospect.

Here are three of the most common questions asked by visitors who receive your invitation to visit their website.

(By the way, I have a favorite service for as many capture pages and different auto responders as you need. That information will be provided in the author box beow.)

Question #1 Am I at the correct place?

The info you give out on your communication (video, blog post, etc) piece needs to match what you sell on the landing page. Visually, this means that if you feature a photo of an iPod on your video you should feature that same photo on your landing page. If your compelling offer is for an interest rate of prime plus 1.8 percent, then your landing page needs to match that.

Question #2 Where is the one thing I'm looking for?

Your landing page is not so much a webpage as a response device. So if you have invited your article reader to download a funky new cell phone ringtone from your site, make that ringtone simple to find on your page and easy to download.

If you're offering a free white paper, show a picture of it and instructions on how to get it.

If you're offering a discount that visitors receive by entering a discount code found on your info communication, make the place where they enter that code on your landing page impossible to miss.

Question #3 Are these people that I can trust?

Trust is the deal breaker online (and offline). Buyers who decide they cannot trust you won't buy. So if your information wins their trust but your landing page loses it, you lose the sale - and the customer. Which means you must avoid the things that create suspicion, and employ the tactics that increase trust online.

Avoid landing page mistakes that arouse suspicion:

1. No office address

2. No phone number

3. Testimonials by people who only have initials

4. Extravagant claims

Use landing page elements that create trust:

1. Better Business Bureau logo and link to the online profile of the BBB member

2. eTrust logo

3. Name, address, phone number and email address of principals in the company

4. Toll-free customer service phone number

5. Endorsements from trusted third parties, such as The Wall Street Journal or Lloyds of London. Even a RAG is better than nothing...

Don't forget that your landing page is part 2 of the sales pitch. You'll convert more visitors into buyers when you give them what they expect to find, make the process easy and quick, and avoid the tactics used by spammers and scammers.

Of course,if you already have a website of your own, you don't have to use a capture page. You can just copy the code from your auto responder service for the capture form and embed it into your website code. But remember! A capture page is for those of you that have a replicated site that is used by a lot of other people in order to differentiate yourself from the others.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dan Dimit