Author: tapsac

CHAPTER 8

CREATING YOUR SQUEEZE PAGE

1. INTRODUCTION
2. OBJECTIVES

3. 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

4. CONCLUSION
5. SUMMARY
6. 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:

5. Which market am I targeting?
5. 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?

Today, the playing field for online marketing is far from being level. A small or medium-sized business has little or no budget for buying advertisement and pay-per-click promotion, they are often left behind larger firms with allocated budgets and marketing departments. They occasionally invest into a website, but see no benefit from it, and give up on getting customers from the web. In other cases, they get an email from a “SEO expert” firm telling them that their site needs programming. They pay a low price for improvement, but – as the changes are carried out using old software generating automatic, irrelevant links – this will not deliver results, either.

The alternative for small businesses to improve their website is to engage with a local marketing expert, knowing the rules and the goals and requirements of the business.

Hummingbird Search Engine Update is about Relevance

Hummingbird, the name – according to Google – refers to an algorithm that is fast and precise. This means that the more relevant the site is to search queries the higher it will rank in search engines. However, it is also important to note that the company considers user engagement and social media weight as one of the main ranking factors. This means that trying to rank for “buy a car” will not be possible, nor would be wise. Instead, providing product and service names, descriptions, to narrow the results and seem more relevant is the way forward for companies’ online marketing strategy.

How Small Businesses Can Benefit from Google Algorithm Updates

The Hummingbird update is good news for small and medium-sized businesses. Instead of relying on a software, they can create a sales funnel that is relevant to the needs and expectations of their local market and target their customers better. The online marketing and promotion playing field has just been levelled, and it is easier to rank on the first page with relevant and specific content than ever before. Companies relying on search engine optimization software and robots will lose out, and smaller players will get a chance to get more customers online.

Should Businesses Follow Rules when Creating Sales Funnels and Marketing Plans Online?

Every promotional email coming through a business owner’s inbox offering cheap search engine optimization will tell them that they are not obeying the rules. Often enough, however, these emails refer to rules that are no longer relevant, due to the recent updates of Google search algorithms. Instead of relying on Cookie-cutter options and robots, companies can now create their marketing strategy based on engaging with their target market on various levels: social media, press releases, blogging, video marketing, newsletters, and other methods. While most small and medium-sized business owners lack the knowledge and time to create a custom sales funnel for their offers, there are some marketing consultancy firms out there that can tailor campaigns to the needs of the user, instead of relying on cookie-cutter options or robots. Therefore, following the rules is not as important as engaging with customers online.