9:46 pm admin

It doesn’t matter if you’re using a landing page (aka “Squeeze Page”) or an opt-in box on the side of your website or blog, your copy is critical.

Ask any well-known, successful, copywriter, and they’ll likely tell you that the single most important part of the sales message (whether it’s an online salesletter or physical direct mail piece) is the offer.

Generally, you can spot the “offer” with some sort of dashed or dotted box that recaps the offer and tells the prospect what they’re going to get when they take the desired action.

This is the make or break point in all of your copy.

However, when it comes to an opt-in on a website, marketers and online business owners often throw something up as an afterthought and then wonder why nobody signs up for their list.

Your opt-in offer is the equivalent to that “order” box.

Here are 5 Tips for Improving Your Opt-in copy. Remember… this applies to a standalone landing page/squeeze page, an opt-in box on the side of your blog, or even a pop up window on your site.

• Determine What Your Market Wants
• Lead With Your Biggest Benefit
• Mention your Main Feature
• Sell the Opt-in, NOT the Product or Service on the Other Side
• Give Your Prospect Ownership

Determine What Your Market Really Wants
This is the biggest problem most online business owners have with their opt in process. They don’t actually do the market research to find out what their customers, and in this case, prospects, really want. This is going to be one of the single biggest factors that affects your opt-in rate. Give them what they want.

Note: Depending on your product, service, or niche, you may need a number of opt-in pages, squeeze pages, or landing pages. The more specific your offer is, the better it will convert, so if these means 2, 3, or even 10+ different opt-in offer, then create multiple offers. This will significantly increase your conversion rate.

Lead With Your Biggest Benefit
Determine what the biggest benefit your prospect will receive from your opt-in offer. People “buy” based on the benefit they’re going to receive. In this case, they’re buying your “opt-in” by giving you their name/email address rather than exchanging money. What is the single biggest thing they’re going to get when the download, watch, or otherwise consume your “bribe”? You must answer this question first and foremost.

Mention the Main Feature
Describe, in one sentence, the main feature of your opt-in. This may be combined with the benefit. For example, “In just 6 short minutes, this video will [insert the main benefit here]. Your giving them the main features of the bribe: video and 6 minutes.

Sell the Opt-In, Not the Product or Service On the Other Side
A big mistake online business owners and Internet marketers make when it comes to crafting their opt-in box is trying to pre-sell their main product. The entire purpose of your opt-in sales copy is to sell the opt-in “item-of-value”. Now, without question, your opt-in should, without a doubt, relate to your main product offer or service that you’re selling on the other side. It should be a seamless process from the opt-in offer to your product or service.

Give Your Prospect Ownership
Use words in both your headline and on your “action” button that gives your prospect ownership. For example, “Claim Your…” or “Send Me My Free ____ Right Now”.

The bottom line is this…

You want to take time to craft a compelling offer to entice prospects to sign up, or opt-in, to your list.

Once you’ve captured the lead, you can then begin to convert the lead by building trust, demonstrating value, and establishing a relationship.

Author: Heather Seitz

Attention Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, and Marketers: You may republish or syndicate this article without any charge. The only thing I ask is that you keep the newsletters, article, or blog post exactly as it was written and formatted, with no changes. You must also include full publication attribution and back links as indicated.

This information has been provided by http://www.EmailDelivered.com and written by Heather Seitz. To find out if your Opt-in Copy is converting, visit http://www.emaildelivered.com/email-delivered/is-your-opt-in-copy-converting/ . Don’t forget to sign up for the EmailDelivered Pulse newsletter for articles, tips, and recommended resources related to email marketing and email deliverability.

May 26, 2010