This is a guest post by Jesus Ramirez from MarketingUnfolded.com.
A “squeeze page” (sometimes referred to as an “opt-in page”) is a one page website whose sole purpose in life is to capture the visitor’s contact information.
Capturing your visitor’s information is the best way to build your list. And the best way to make money online.
Increasing your conversion rates means to increase your revenue.
Unfortunately for you there is a lot of ways to easily screw the whole thing up, costing you money!
Here is a list of the top four things you can do to kill your conversion rates on your squeeze page:
1. Putting Your Opting Form Below The Fold
Most of your visitors spend most of their time above the fold (the viewable area in a page before the user has to scroll down).
This doesn’t mean that they won’t scroll down; it just means that most of their time is spent on the upper portion of your page.
So if this is where most people spend most of their time, and what ALL your visitors see, whether they scroll down or not, then why not have your opt-in form there?
Take advantage of this, and place your optin form and call to action above the fold, where all of your prospects are sure to see it. I can guarantee that it will increase the chances of getting them to take action.
2. Using a Sidebar on Your Squeeze Page
Most of bloggers and internet marketers use content management systems (CMS), such as WordPress to run their websites.
They also use a “page” on these CMS systems to create their squeeze pages. This usually means that they leave the side bar which appears on all their pages on their squeeze page. These sidebars often include advertisements, links to other pages, and even another optin form.
This can be very confusing and a distracting to your visitors. When it comes down to getting them to take action on your squeeze page, you must remove all distractions, and avoid confusion as much as possible.
This is why most landing pages (and sales letters) almost always have white backgrounds with black fonts, and not much else in terms of design, or distractions.
Always remember to disable your sidebars on squeeze pages, and to make them as “clean” and clutter free as possible.
3. Asking For Too Much
One of the best ways you can kill the conversion rates to your squeeze page is by asking for too much. If you are asking for an email, a name, a phone number, a Facebook like, and a tweet, then this will not only confuse your prospects but you are giving them more reasons to say “no” to you.
An effective squeeze page asks for one specific action, that is all. Squeeze pages that request multiple actions test very poorly, at least in my experience.
It is better to go for the email, and tell them about other ways they can communicate with you, or products they might be interested in, in follow up emails. After they have joined your list and after you’ve build some rapport with them.
Make sure that you’re call to action is very SPECIFIC and CLEAR.
If you want an email address, then you literally have to say “enter you email address below” or something to that effect.
Be over-specific, don’t assume that your visitor will know what you want them to do.
Trust me, they won’t.
4. Using Plain and Boring Headlines
Squeeze pages live or die by the quality of their headline. If you have a weak or unenticing headline, no one will read your page, no matter how great it is.
The copywriting legend Joseph Sugarman, in “The Adweek Copywriting Handbook
Every element must be so compelling that you find yourself falling down a slippery slide, unable to stop until you reach the end.
Your headline must be like the slipery slides copywriters use. It must make your readers want to read the first line. And your first line must want to make your readers read the second line. Right down your page, to your call to action.
Unlike some of the other things we’ve talked about, split-testing different headlines is extremely easy, fast, and requires no technical knowledge, just a bit of creativity.
All you have to do is keep testing different headlines until you find a winner.
Conclusion
The most important thing to remember is that you are only looking for one action; you need to make sure that there is nothing else getting in the way of your visitor and your desired action.
What other conversion rate killers can your think about? Use the comment form below to tell us that…
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Good tips! I like keeping a clean squeeze page so that my audience is focused, so you make a really great point about removing the side columns.
Richard,
Removing the side column is a must!
no need to confuse and distract people.
I think these are very common mistakes and easy to commit which usually people do with their “squeeze pages”. I think having your squeeze page clean with clear call to action is very effective. Don’t use any distraction on your squeeze page as people can skip your squeeze page very easily. Informative past and I don’t want to commit such mistakes.
Hey Aaron,
You got it right! Distractions make people skip over your squeeze page faster than you can say “Squeeze page!”
So true, they can skip our squeeze page faster than our prounoncing speed of this word.
🙂
That’s a nice post Ramirez. Sometimes asking too much can backfire and eventually turn away visitors. I have noticed this with free ebook download websites.
Some free eBook websites have a lot going on that people might not opt-in for the offer.
Keep it clean and ask for less!
A good Squeeze Page can really boost your conversion rates and increase you sales, thanks for pointing these mistakes that many internet marketers make…
Kotas,
You are welcome, and thanks for reading my post!
A good squeeze page must be short above the fold and must be simple and clear without any clutter. I totally agreed with your 3rd point, Asking of too much is not worthy and there are many chances for visitor to leave the site.
Hey Tessa,
Asking for too much up front is always a bad idea. keep it simple and you will increase your opt-in rates!
It’s nice to know I’m doing something right. I have my opt-in box both above the fold and another at the bottom. 🙂
Dean,
I’m glad to hear!
For me, a squeeze page needs to be really engaging. Maybe I’ve just grown jaded over the years of being exposed to thousands of squeeze pages, but those simple, long, 10,000 word pages just bore me to tears.
Michael,
Agreed, I’m also tired of those long squeeze pages!
Totally agree with the third point. Never ask for too much information or the kind of information that would make the customer feel suspicious about the intentions. I am always more comfortable with sites that only ask for the basics and leave the rest as optional.
-Jean
Jean,
That’s right, you have to remove all obstacles for people to sign up.
you have to make people feel comfortable.
Yes Jesus this post speaks right about how to create a good converting squeeze page. Getting the conversion that we are aiming for should not be distracted by unwanted graphics or ads in the sidebar and its a good option to remove the sidebar.
There are many free wordpress squeeze page plugins available that can get the job done for us.
Karun,
It just kills me to see squeeze pages with sidebars!
and you’re right, there are plenty of free solutions.
Very good points. I think that today a lot of people make the mistake of asking for too much. With all the fancy slide-ins, popups and plugins that ‘lock’ something to try to get more social exposure (have to tweet in order to download, etc…) it’s very easy to get caught up in trying to include way too much. ~David Walker
Hey David,
I just saw that “tweet to download” thing for the first time not too long ago, and it first I thought it was a cool idea, but then I realized that not many people have twitter, and the value of a tweet is way overrated. Especially when you compare it to an email address.