MODULE 1 CHAPTER 8 CREATING YOUR SQUEEZE PAGE
  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. OBJECTIVES
  1. MAIN CONTENT
3.1 The Game and the Uses 3.2 Types of Squeeze Page 3.3 It is a Useful Trap 3.4 Types of Offer 3.5 Call to Action 3.6 The Practicals 3.7 The Process
  1. CONCLUSION
  2. SUMMARY
  3. ASSIGNMENT
1.0 INTRODUCTION A squeeze page is a web page with a form, where you collect email addresses (and possibly names) of your prospects for further interactions with them in your attempt to lure and convince them to do business with you in the near or distant future. There are two possible aspects to a squeeze page: - The theory of what it should be and - The practice of actually setting it up online. In a good show of brevity I will touch both aspects in this discussion. 2.0 OBJECTIVES - To highlight the importance of a squeeze page to any web-based business - To encourage learners to practice the process of setting up his/her squeeze page - To provide resources that can ease the learning process and shorten the learning curve. 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 The Game and the Uses If you have been online for any length of time, you can remember visiting a website and after a while a software appear from seemingly nowhere asking you for your Name and Email so that they can send a gift to your email box. That page was a squeeze page on display! It is called a squeeze page for two reasons:
  1. It is use to get (squeeze) the customers' details (names and emails) through the sales funnel to the landing page.
  2. It is also use to get (squeeze) the prospects' email addresses out of them for future marketing activities
More often than not the experience can be quite annoying, but the prospects are pacified with a carefully preselected and matching gifts that will perfectly tranquilize all his/her annoyances while at the same time satisfying his curiosity for free information (or sometimes free products/services are used as bait gifts) about certain niche of his interest. 3.2 Types of Squeeze Page There are three most popular types of squeeze page namely:
  1. Static squeeze page - the most common, static and beginners' friendly, in terms of cost, seen on most websites
  2. Pop up squeeze page - a bit pricey, and the
  3. Splash squeeze page - a highly professional software
There are all plug-ins that are used to collect people's emails for marketing purposes and the format of choice all depends on you and the money at your disposal as well as the speed you want to build up your list. If you are using WordPress CMS to run your website, there are many of these plugins that are free to use. Even if you are not using WordPress, most of them can still be adaptable to other content management software like Wix, Joomla and Google Blogger. Squeeze page is such an important tool in the management of your website and no serious, professional, and experienced site owner will ever make the mistake of ignoring its use. Next time you visit a website, look around to see if it has this curious marketing tool. If not, leave the website as soon as possible. Reason: the site is owned by an Amateur - may not have much to offer than buy, buy, buy... Some website even go to the extent of adding a timer and a counter to encourage their prospects to sign up as quickly as possible; and in view of the overwhelming statistics on such webpages, this easily robs the visitors of any resistance. 3.3 It is a Useful Trap Before setting up the squeeze page, you might have prepared the offer and store it up somewhere so that your client can be REDIRECTED to them as soon as they finish the signup process. It is this offers that you advertise on your squeeze (sign-up) page that will act as a subtle bait to induce your prospects to be willing to give out his email/name and in so doing, you successfully trap their addresses for further business deals and subsequent follow up. Generally, the content of the squeeze page must not be too many to avoid distractions, simple and minimally bulleted points is recommended. Remember to always add a sense of urgency and possibly scarcity and your (so to say) trap will become very magnetic and effective. 3.4 Types of Offer You can use any of the items listed below as an offer to encourage your prospects to sign up. It all depends on you and the type of online business that you are promoting. But it is noteworthy that your offer must match your business model otherwise your unsubscribe rate will hit the roof. It is also a good idea to setup your offer so that they can ONLY get it through their emails and not as a video or downloads which they can easily access elsewhere. This way, you will look more professional, successful and less scammy. The common type of offers are:
  1. Newsletter
  2. Sample product
  3. Email course
  4. eBook
  5. Video Course, etc.
The last three have the highest signup rates though it all depends on your target niche markets. From my experience on some of my websites, I also advocate adding any of the social squeeze page and at least a video to increase your signups. This opinion may be disputed by some web masters, but as cited above, I support the idea for obvious reasons. 3.5 Call to Action Again I say, always include a very specific but social call to action on your squeeze page Examples:
  1. Send Me My Free Tips is better than Submit your Name and Email
  2. Sign Me Up is better than Sign Up Here
  3. Get Instant Access is better than Join Here
  4. Give Me Access is better than Subscribe Here
3.6 The Practicals I am now going to talk about the practical aspect of setting up your squeeze page and targeting. It is important to mention here that Targeting is more critical than any other thing else. Suffice it to say that before you even begin the process of setting up your squeeze page you should ask and answer the following question for yourself:
  1. Which market am I targeting?
  2. Who are my anticipated audience?
When I am targeting Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Bloggers who want to take their business online, I know my audience are mostly newbies - young school leavers, WASCE, Diplomas, HNDs, Graduates, Retirees, 5 years before Retirement, Underemployed Employees, BYO Boss aspirants, and Unemployed. The best offers for them are eBooks and ecourses, etc. I target different group of audience when I am selling a Software. 3.7 The Process As for the setup, it is the simplest thing to do especially when you decide on the particular list builder (autoresponder) that you intend to use. There are plethora of information on their sites to help you do this like in a bliss. You must also first decide as a learner whether you intend to start with a paid version or a free version to learn the robes. The most popular ones are Aweber, MailChimp, etc. as mentioned in the previous courses. Their courses on set up are easy to follow. 4.0 CONCLUSION With modern software squeeze page can be set up by anybody who is not a Techie. Only acquire the resources, stoop down and learn the step by step process. 5.0 SUMMARY In this lesson we covered the importance of a squeeze page to any online business venture. We also emphasized the fact that anyone who wants to set up his/her online business in such a way that will guarantee profitability in the shortest possible time, should place one signup form at least on the home page of his website. 6.0 ASSIGNMENT THE PRACTICE: Sign up with any autoresponder of your choice and get a code. Use that code on your website to create a squeeze page. What is the difference between A SQUEEZE PAGE and an AUTORESPONDER?