How to Build the Best Squeeze Page

The best way to ensure maximum conversions is to offer something of VALUE to your opt-ins. Yes, we want to "bribe" them into giving us their information. This is what's called an "ethical bribe" - it's legitimate and honest. Both parties gain something out of the exchange.

So, what would you like to offer? The sky's the limit. You could offer:

• Free Reports


• eBooks


• Videos


• Podcasts


• Interviews


• WP Themes


• WP Plugins


• Special Discounts


• And More!

The key to your bribe is ensuring it's RELEVANT to the traffic. So, a free WordPress theme would not be a good bribe if you're targeting Blogger users. However, a free report on "How to Use Blogger" would be perfect!

If you don't have the time to create your freebie, you can outsource it either by hiring a writer at Elance or by utilizing PLR (Private Label Rights) content. Two of my favorite PLR resources are All Private Label Content and PLR.me.

What you need to remember when creating your ethical bribe is the quality needs to be high. You're not just using your freebie as bait to get opt-ins. You want your email subscribers to STAY subscribers, which means you need to offer valuable and relevant information to them. So, whatever you decide to give away, make sure it's something you would be pleased with if you became your own subscriber.

I ALWAYS sketch out the designs of my websites. It helps me get a quick visual of the layout and allows me to make changes easily. So, rather than going straight to your computer, take out a sheet of paper and draw out the layout of your squeeze page. Decide where you want your opt-in box to appear, how you want your headline and benefits presented and brainstorm color schemes. Here are some design points to keep in mind...

A squeeze page is extremely simple. It focuses on demanding opt-ins, so distractions, such as links to other websites or other call-to-actions, are elements not found within their structure.

The basic structure goes like this:

• POWERFUL Headline


• List of BENEFITS


• Ethical BRIBE


• OPT-IN Form


• Privacy Policy

Common additional design features include:

• All Content Visible ABOVE THE FOLD


• Image of your Ethical Bribe


• Intro VIDEO


• Into AUDIO


• BIG Opt-In BUTTON


• ARROWS and Eye-Catching Graphics

Do you want to replace the benefits area with a video? Perhaps you would like to add a logo above the headline or a picture of your ethical bribe. Decide on these elements as you sketch your layout.

There are a number of rules you can break when it comes to creating a squeeze page, but to ensure maximum success, try to avoid the following:

• More Than One Call-To-Action


• Outbound Links


• Too Much Content


• Request for Payment (just ask for info)

Remember, simple is best for a squeeze page. If your design requires more than one sheet of paper - your content might need to be shortened. We want everything to be on the first fold of our website if possible.

For inspiration, visit a squeeze page you recently opted into and study it. Why did it catch your eye? What made you enter your information?

Now that we have a rough sketch of our squeeze page, it's time to add some content to it! Let's prepare our headline and list of benefits.

Keep these points in mind when writing your headline:

• Make it relevant to your visitors.


• Use emotion, humor or controversial text to grab the attention of your visitors.


• Keep it simple and to the point.


• Use your keywords.


• Include a benefit in your headline.


• Talk directly to your visitors.

For fantastic ideas on how to write killer headlines, check out Copyblogger's 9 Proven Headline Formulas That Sell Like Crazy post.

Whether you're going to present the benefits of opting in through text, video or audio, the rules are the same. One of the biggest mistakes online marketers make is confusing benefits with features. I recently wrote an entire article on this topic titled Features vs. Benefits: How to Properly Sell Your Products or Content, but I will summarize the most important point here...

Don't just list the features of your opt-in and ethical bribe - explain to your visitors how each feature BENEFITS them. Try to touch their emotional nerve. CONVINCE them opting in to your email list is something they must do today! Explain how it will help them in some way.

Big sign up buttons, arrows and eye-catching eBook cover graphics are often used to increase the conversion rate of a squeeze page. There are a number of resources available to purchase cool images from, including iStockPhoto. But, if you're looking for specific squeeze page graphics, you may want to check out the following websites%u2026

Ultimate Squeeze Page Vector Pack
Flexibility Theme offers over 250 high quality squeeze page images! You can edit them in Photoshop or use as is. This kit contains everything you need to liven up your squeeze page including headers, buttons, graphics and even the html of a squeeze page!

CoverActionPro
This is definitely the coolest (and most expensive) eBook cover creator resources I've found. It does require Photoshop as each graphic is created through Photoshop Actions. It comes with eBook covers, business cards, brochures and more! This is the software I used to create my free report image at the top of my blog.

Photoshop Action Scripts
This is a cheaper version of the above resource as it comes with less graphic options, but if you need an eBook cover, it's perfect! Again, it requires Photoshop.

Since a squeeze page doesn't have a lot of content on it, you will only need basic/shared hosting (unless you plan on receiving millions of visitors every month).

One of the best places to grab cheap domains and hosting is TMDHosting. They offer monthly shared hosting as low as $4.99/mo and throw in a free domain registration! Plus, TMD is one of the best WordPress hosts available (WordPress is the platform I highly recommend for publishing your Squeeze Page).

WordPress is one of the most powerful and easy website publishing tools available. It's absolutely free to download and use and only takes moments to install. With it, you can easily publish a website or blog without ANY html or css experience!

TMDHosting can actually install WordPress for you absolutely free! Just send them a support ticket or purchase their specific WordPress hosting packages.

It's time to refer back to our sketch. Now that we have WordPress installed, we can easily turn our sketch into reality!

Did you know there are thousands of WordPress themes you can download that will easily transform your website into any design you want? This is another major benefit to using WordPress.

There are even squeeze page themes you can install! One in particular was created by the fabulous theme developers, Unique Blog Designs. In November 2009, they launched a powerhouse WordPress theme called Squeeze Theme. It has been designed specifically for Squeeze Page WordPress websites, takes minutes to install and will drastically lesson the time needed for designing your site.

Whether you want to add videos, audio or an eBook to your squeeze page, Squeeze Theme makes it happen in less than 5 minutes! Just take a look at their own squeeze page...

Pretty cool, huh? So, find a theme that will work for you and upload it to your WordPress.

Now, go ahead and customize the colors, layout and graphics of your squeeze page.

We can't forget about our email list, right? How are you going to manage your opt-ins? How will they receive your ethical bribe? How will you add the opt-in form to your squeeze page?

You can easily accomplish all of these tasks and more by utilizing AWeber - the most popular email management solution online. I can't tell you how many Internet marketers use it (I do). AWeber allows you to easily manage an email list and offers you the ability to set up a sequence of emails that are sent automatically to your subscribers. It also GIVES you the code you need to add an opt-in form to your website! How much simpler could this be?

The most important thing we need to do with our autoresponder is to ensure the welcome email that goes out to our subscribers includes a link to your ethical bribe. This is pretty easy to do...

1. Go to your "Media" section with WordPress and upload your free report, podcast, video, etc.


2. Copy the link WordPress gives you for the location of your ethical bribe.


3. Create your welcome email in AWeber and insert the link to your ethical bribe.


4. TEST!

Nice and easy!

You now have a functioning killer squeeze page! Now, start driving traffic to it through PPC, search engines or blogs. Oh, and don't forget to change the copy every once in a while to see if you can increase your conversion rate!