By Sandi Hunter
1. You are promoting a website and not a Landing Page, also known as a Squeeze page.
To generate leads you need an eye-popping landing page. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You promote your landing page, people LAND on it, see your offer and provide you with their contact info so they can get more details on what you offer. Your standard website simply can’t accomplish this effectively, usually websites are too busy, to generic, too "professional." In contrast a landing page SCREAMS benefit! It tells readers what they will get (SOMETHING AWESOME) but they must act now! Landing pages are FILLED with benefits, short punchy copy that gets attention. Landing pages include a limited time offer, they include a form that needs to be completed in order to get the offer. Guess what you are doing with that lead form? YES! You are generating a LEAD, and getting the follow up info you need to provide the requested material/product, then follow up, and build your house list for sending future offers to that person. Did you catch that last part about list building? I slipped that in an the end, but it is IMPORTANT. A Landing Page must ALWAYS ALWAYS give readers the option to SUBSCRIBE to your newsletter/or future offers. You’ve worked hard to generate that lead so do your best to offer them the chance to receive future offers or mailings from you.
2. Your promotional copy is boring.
In case you haven’t noticed you’ve got oodles of competition out there. The web is filled with gizmos and gadgets. Your copy needs to get noticed or it will die a quick death in the email trash folder. Whether your offer is an email offer, or a landing page, or an online post, you have got to lead with a powerful headline, and follow that up with copy that keeps people reading. Most affiliate companies provide you with excellent copy or banners for promotion. Don’t try to rewrite something better if that is not your strong suit, use what they provide, copy, paste send. Simplify.
3. You haven’t made an offer.
If you want to get leads you MUST, MUST, MUST make an offer. Whatever your pitch is REWARD the person reading it for taking action – NOW – TODAY – in the next 24 hours! Instill excitement and a sense of urgency. You’ve got a great product or offer right? You don’t want people clicking off any moving on to something else. You want and MUST get people to read and RESPOND to your offer. Give them reasons to do so. Don’t know what to offer? Check for online products and affiliates that include Private Label and resell rights, if they do you can use those as leverage in your offers. By adding these you can convert a luke-warm offer into one that is HOT, HOT, HOT.
4. You aren’t marketing in the right places to the right people.
A lot of people new to online marketing make the mistake of spending money on advertising or leads that never produce results. Taking shortcuts and buying mass leads or mass lists simply doesn’t work. I am going to say that again. If you think you will generate QUALITY leads by buying mass lists, visitors, subscribers or hits, stop right now. Sorry to tell you the harsh truth, but building an online business means finding the best places to advertise that target YOUR market. Hint: Google is NOT the place to start if you have a small budget. In the business opportunity market you will want to look at Safelist marketing, Traffic Exchanges, Solo Ads, Ad Swaps, and email marketing providers like Aweber and GetResponse. Your budget for online promotion doesn’t have to be huge but you will get the best results with paid ads at reputable sources. Do your homework.
5. You are so busy copy, pasting and promoting you have forgotten one of the most important rules in business.
Personality can make all the difference. Connecting with people is the key to making sales. In your zest to build your online business, don’t forget to be a REAL PERSON. Include your name, email address, skype number, facebook etc on your ad copy to provide people with assurance that you are more than a promoter, you are an online business owner. Anything you can do to stand out and separate yourself from all the other offers out there helps.
About the Author: Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Get a free Associate membership and learn how to earn at home at http://www.Worldprofit.com Worldprofit offers a LIVE interactive Home Business Bootcamp every week that teaches people all over the world how to earn at home.