Squeeze page or blog to build your list – which direction do you take?!

For more than a while now I’ve been pushing pretty much all my traffic to my squeeze pages.  Only to read some very cool blogs that really build authority by dishing out some quality content and tempting me to join their list.

Still … I rarely do.

If I visit a blog and love the post – it takes time to read it and more time to join their list, download their freebie, digest it – experience some information overload and … do nothing.  At least that’s the thought process that runs through my head as I finish reading.

On the other hand … day in, day out I get email after email promoting a variety of offers (or their friends new paid product for free – heard that one before?) and I opt-in.  You see there is something about the whole process of driving someone to a squeeze page that works a whole lot better.

I get pre-sold by the email, the squeeze page looks good – resonates with my inner needs and sells me on the video or free report they have.  I opt-in.

Sometimes I read the follow up emails – sometimes they just sit there in my inbox.  Either way … I’m on their list and they can potentially call on me at any time – if they hit the right nerve.

After a morning of surfing blogs, reading good, bad and indifferent posts I’ve been feeling like a spare part, like I’ve not been doing my ‘job’ right my letting my blog go dead or not trying to get a gazillion comments.

But I’ve just convinced myself that based on my own actions and what triggers me to join a list … that pushing people towards my squeeze pages is the thing to do to grow my list of prospects and turn them into buyers.  The blog … that’s my back-up plan, my reputation builder (eventually) and an additional tool.

It’s a weird (almost sad fact of life) that you can post hype on a squeeze page, truth on a blog and each and every time the squeeze page will win and build a bigger list and better business.

We’re funny creatures … here’s one of my squeeze pages:

http://www.affiliate-email-marketing.com/bb.html

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments!

Targetted Traffic at the Push of a Button

Quick tip – for years I put off building a list and stuck purely to having a website or pre-sell page.  I’d drive traffic to the site (usually using SEO or articles) and started to realise why I was always told I needed 100 hop links….

It’s because the average sales letter converts around 2 – 5%.  Getting 100 hops (recommended by the affiliate manager) was the surest way to motivate affilates and make sure they got some cash.

What does the average squeeze page (ie. designed to get people onto your list) convert at?  Since they are usually getting something for free (a pdf or newsletter) it’s much higher and typically around 10 – 20%.  Now – not only can your promote the same affiliate product, you can build a relationship to them and promote other products (including your own).

This was highlighted to me in a post by the (well paid) twenty-something Robert Plank.  He pretty much explains why you should build a list and the surest way to nurture it and NOT lose your subscribers.  In fact I think I do exactly what I’m not supposed to do by telling you about him – so our secret!

The hard work is without doubt at the beginning.  The time you are daunted by the technology, the pressures of creating quality content for your list and of course making money.  But think about it, if you created a product today – you’ve got a monster of a task getting thousands of people a) to that page and b) to convert to buyers.

If you’ve got a list of several thousand (and they’ve opted in so you know exactly what they’re interested in) and can share something that will help them – one email is all it takes and bang you got those 100 hops…. easy.

P.S.  Check out Robert Planks blog – one of his specialities is banging out quality sales copy super fast (it’s a simple systematic process you can follow) – even if you’re not interested – check out his free course for opting in for Fast Food Copywriting.  It’s day 2 or 3 where he shares a simple affiliate (or product creation) business plan that’s a no-brainer to follow.

7 No Brainer Tips to Making A Fortune Online Promoting Other People’s Products

There has to be a reason why so many affiliates fail whilst other go onto to make five & six figure incomes all from the comfort of their spare bedroom.  Heck some of us would be happy with a tidy four figures sum to help with the mortgage.  From my experience the reason for failure is nothing to do with affiliate marketing being hard, technically.  Far from it in fact.

The majority (the infamous 95%) who fail do so because they fail to start, sustain and build a relationship with a ever growing list of subscribers.  Too many affiliate marketers do what they’re told to do – instead of learning from watching – observing the massive money making models that every other afluent affiliate does.

Your money making machine (you know the one that works on autopilot) begins with a list – and the better you become the more you can make – even from the smallest of lists.

All you have to do is ready & apply these no-brainers to get the ball rolling:

1. Capture their details

Did you know that most sales copy has a conversion rate of 2%.  So if you’re sending traffic via that endless stream of articles to a pre-sell page, that sends them to a sales page that is hopefully coverting – how many articles do you need to write to get that one sale?

Instead of sending them to that sales page, why not capture their details, put them on YOUR list before prompting pre-selling them and sending them on their way to that lovely sales page.  Now you’ve got a business that, your subscibers become an asset you can lever to earn significantly more – regardless of your niche.

2. Be unique

I have to confess, I’m on a lot of email lists and they take up far too much of my time (know the feeling?).  One of my biggest pet hates are when I get lots of emails from a variety of people promoting the next big product launch.  I can just about handle it from the product creator – but come on guys…  I don’t need half a dozen emails all telling me about the latest secret!  If you’re going to all send me an email – at least make me smile or offer some value!

3. Speak from experience

One of the biggest problems for affiliate marketers is finishing a project and getting it done.  Partially due to a fear of failure (why if I pick this niche and it fails).  Well guess what… win, lose or break even – as soon as you start doing working – you gain experience.

That’s something no ebook can offer you and as soon as you have experience you can start to ‘be different’ – different to all those other affiliates pushing the same venture with the same pitch.  Maybe you’ve lost weight, or have a friend who did – maybe you’ve tried forex or have experience investing.  Win, lose or breakeven – experience counts.

The voice of someone who’s been in the trenches and done it – always stands out louder & clearer than the ‘fake it ’till you make it brigade’.  This is especially true of reviews for affiliate products (another good model that can benefit from having a list).

4. Offer a jaw dropping incentive to buy through your referral link

This is used by very few, good marketers (ie. the 6 figure salary variety : ) to great effect – one of the best I’ve ever seen involved a free copy of camtasia recording software (for all those YouTube videos etc) worth $299 – yep it was a high ticket product you had to buy but that’s one hell of reason to buy through this affiliate!  Can you imagine the affiliate commissions he must be making from the likes of having people like me on his … list?

It can be anything from a special report (if you can write 5 ezine articles you can write a special report), an audio, video or personal coaching on something that adds value and preferably complements the product being sold.  Make it unique to you and make it something people want.  I once promoted a product on kicking and added a special report on stretching for anyone who bought.

If you’re like me and struggle to come up with ideas or the information for the bonus material – fear not – there’s countless PLR material out there, making rebundle some useful articles on the subject (check terms & conditions) – be creative!

5. Make your life easier with recurring commissions

If you wanted to make $1000 per month, well that’s $33 per day.  You can promote products that pay $7 dollars and sell 5 per day to achieve your daily target or you can sell one product that will make you $33 – then put your feet up for the rest of the day.  Which of the two options do you think is the smartest way to hit your $1000 monthly target?  The $33 dollor commissions of course.  Lets go one better…

How about monthly, recurring commissions?  Imagine that you found a product that paid out $33 per month as long as the buyer was subscribed to that product?  In month one if you sold one membership per day you hit your $1000 monthly goal.  Do the same thing next month and (assuming the previous months subscribers were still paying) you’d double your income to $2000 with the same amount of work as month one.

After 12 months – if no one unsubscribed you’d have earned $78,000 after one year : ) That’s what affiliate marketing’s about!

6. Cross promote other products

If you’ve chosen your niche carefully, built a loyal list of followers and built a good relationship then you can continue to promote new products to them well into the future.  Related products, new releases and maybe your own product can all be promoted to your list for extra sales.  Good affiliate email marketers can generate money almost at will through the careful release of a single email that promotes a product their list will be interested.

Keep you list tightly focused around one niche makes promoting new products easier.  A tightly defined list will be more interested when you have something that they are almost guaranteed to be interested in – making your money making job much much easier.

7. Build relationships with other list owners and product creators

Too many marketers focus on information, knowledge is gold – well that’s true to an extent, however there comes a point when relationships are much more important and the doors start to open.  If you have a great list that responds well to offers you can start to cross promote your offers to the list of others and vice versa.

One of my favorite strategies is to negotiate discounts only for members of my list so that I’m not just taking from them – I’m giving back by pointing to something useful and saving them money on their purchase.  The bigger your list – the more power you will wield with Joint Venture (JV) partners.

It’s easy to see why this simple business model — traffic > opt in > affiliate product — with the ability to follow up indefinately is so successful, so lucrative – it’s just a shame so many ‘noobs’ fail to follow through with it.  I hate the saying “The money is in the list” or more accurately “The money is in the list you have a good relationship with” but it’s very true.

You’ll see this model time and time again – from affiliate marketer to product creator – creating your own assets that will give you a fantastic income and the lifestyle to match.

Remember:  start, sustain and strengthen relationships with a growing number of subscribers – for a fortune at your fingers tips.

Bonus Tip – Need a Helping Hand?

If you’re still scratching your head – the surf on over to Jimmy D Brown’s – “Affiliatenaire” where you can learn how to earn bank busting affiliate checks in 1 – 3 hours per week!  The easiest way to write your own checks even if you’ve no website, no list, no traffic and no experience (and maybe even tendancy to think too much : )

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