Arachne's Sister

If you have studied a bit about online marketing strategies, you may have come across the term “squeeze page” or “landing page” (which are essentially the same thing), but you might not be totally clear on what a squeeze page is or what it is supposed to do for your business. If you haven’t heard of a squeeze page, this information will clue you in to how valuable this tool is for your online business.

A squeeze page is a very simply designed webpage, either as the entry to your main website, or on its own stand-alone domain. The goal with a squeeze page is to get your visitors to fill out a lead generation opt-in form. This is accomplished by presenting your visitors with a very limited number of options for progressing after viewing the short content present on the page.

A basic squeeze page design has some of your branding (in terms of a banner, logo, photo, and other design elements which might coordinate with your main website design. There is a small amount of content (about 1 screen-full of text, or a short (3 minutes or less) audio or video) that introduces you, and the opportunity you are presenting with your opt-in form.

The main component of a squeeze page is a prominent opt-in form. Generally, you will be offering something of value to your visitor in exchange for filling out the form with their name and email address. This is to gather information you can use to contact this person about your business.

Hard Squeeze vs. Soft Squeeze

There are two flavors of squeeze page – hard and soft. A hard squeeze page allows your visitor to have only one option – opt-in. It is the only way they can progress to getting further information. If they don’t want to opt-in, exiting your page is the only alternative.

Because in certain circumstances you might want to highly encourage opt-in, but not block access to the rest of your website, you may prefer to use a soft squeeze page, which is set up exactly the same as a hard squeeze page, with the addition of a single link at the very bottom of the page along the lines of “Enter Site” which would take them past your squeeze page and to your website homepage.

Web Action Steps

• If you don’t have something valuable to offer your visitors, create that item (generally an informational product of some sort)
• Get an account with an Email Service Provider, and generate the form code for your squeeze page
• Have your web developer create your squeeze page and add it to your domain
• Start sending traffic to your squeeze page to collect leads

Having a squeeze page is a proven way to obtain more – and more qualified leads for your business. There is a bit more that goes into what exactly your free offer should be, and what is the best way for you to use a squeeze page in your business, but these are the basic steps. If you need help figuring out how a squeeze page can fit into your online business plan, and how to set it up, contact me today.

“What!?!” – You might be thinking. “I need more than ONE?” Well…maybe. It all depends on your business and what products and services you are planning to offer. You see, websites are like other types of media, different formats exist for different purposes. A company might publish a brochure, a newsletter, and a display ad for a magazine. Each would have a different type of content, and certainly a different layout, size, complexity, etc. Similarly, you might decide that you need a few different formats for your “online media”. I will explorer a few common formats for businesses.

The Company “Brochure” Site

www.MyCompany.com

I use the term “brochure” in quotes because having a “brochure website” in the modern online landscape is usually considered a bad thing. The word connotes a dull, lifeless site with perhaps 10 pages of marketing-speak which never changes. Yes this would be a “bad” thing (though better than no website at all, I assure you!), especially because it is so easy to add richness and value to your company website. I will use the term to distinguish this format from others discussed below.

This is the first type of site you should consider building for your company. A company website is your “main” website. It should be the “overview” of your business and present in an organized fashion information about the business and everything you offer. Common content includes: About, Contact, Services, Products, Testimonials/Case-Studies/Portfolio, News/Updates, Press/Media, Events, Articles, etc.

If you create multiple divisions of your business which cater to different target markets, you might want a different Brochure Site for each one. If your different divisions have the same target market, you may just need separate sections on your main site for each division.

No matter how many other sites you end up creating, generally, your Brochure Site will somehow mention or link to all the others.

Blog

www.MyCompany.com/blog OR www.MyBlog.com

Your blog might be on the same domain as your company site, or it might be completely separate, but either way it is a good idea to think about it as a separate website since it has a completely different format. A blog has certain features that you generally don’t see on other formats of websites. First of all, content is arranged chronologically as the primary organizational structure, like a diary. The other thing about blogs is that the nature of the content on a blog is in the format of essentially stand-alone posts. They generally stand alone because a blog usually offers additional ways to view the content – grouped into Categories or with Tags – which means you cannot know exactly how a visitor will be viewing the posts and in what order. These structures tend to define the graphical layout of a blog as distinct from the layout of your Brochure Site. Forcing your blog to conform to the exact layout of your Brochure Site will frequently limit the additional functionality a blog offers or at least make it awkward to access. Having a different (but coordinating) layout for your blog is normal.

Sales-Page Website

www.MyGreatProduct.com, www.MyOtherProduct.com, www.MyBigEvent.com

You may or may not be familiar with the Sales-Page Website which is popular with internet marketers and info-product publishers. The format tends to be very basic – the branding is limited to a banner and background color, and the rest of the generally one-page website is a white background with black text and colored headers and call-outs. The content tends to be a long-format letter, from the site owner, to the visitor, laying out the case for the visitor to complete a single desired action – which might be to sign up for a free product, or make a purchase of a product or service. The important thing about a Sales-Page Website is that it is essentially a single (albeit often very long) page. There might be some Privacy Policy or other “administrative” links at the bottom of the page, but the point of a Sales-Page is to give the visitor no other options than to read through the page to the bottom (where they will see the “Buy Now” button or sign-up form), or leave the site entirely. This is the essential design and function.

You might want to have some Sales-Page Websites for each product, service or event you are selling – and you would need to have a separate site for each. The single-minded focus of the format only allows for ONE main desired action per site. You don’t want your visitor to have more options which might lead him away from completing the desired action.

Generally, your Brochure Site could have links to your Sales-Page Websites, but your Sales-Page Websites would not have a link to your Brochure Site (until, perhaps, AFTER the desired action has been completed, on an order confirmation page, for example).

Membership Site

www.StuffForMyClients.com
A Membership Site can take some different formats, but essentially, offers useful content to your clients. The idea of a Membership Site is that you will be requiring visitors to register in order to view the content. You might have some content outside of the “protected” log-in required area, but the bulk of the “good stuff” is inside the protected area. You might choose to charge a monthly or annual fee for access, or you might require only giving up an email address. You might even have different levels of access to the content, with different prices, etc. Your Membership Site might also be exclusively for clients who have purchased a certain product or service you offer, as part of the product, as a support to the service, or as a bonus. There are many ways a Membership Site can fit into your client servicing and business plan.

This is a fairly advanced type of site to set up. You need to have a clear plan for its implementation, and be willing to continually refresh the content to make continued membership valuable.

Web Action Steps

• First, get your Company “Brochure” Site up and running. This serves as the jumping-off point for your other sites.
• Only start your business Blog once you are ready to commit to adding some content to it.
• Consider what you are currently offering your clients and whether additional sites would be a good part of your marketing & sales plan.
• If content is something you can offer your clients, explore how a Membership Site might be a viable additional revenue stream or value-added service.

Having multiple web properties as part of your business plan is a great idea for growth and marketing, however, you need to put first-things-first and have a comprehensive plan for how your sites will integrate with one another.

If you are not sure how all these types of sites should fit into your business plan, or if you need help building any of them, please contact me so I can help you.

After you have had your website up for awhile you might be thinking about changes you want to make – new content, new sections or features, additional functionality, maybe changes to the visual design… and the question might arise: Should I just add-on to my current site – or is it time to start fresh?

There are some easy ways to figure out the right answer. Consider the following issues in relation to your current website and where you are looking to go with it:

Content Changes and Updating Requirements
If your current site is more of a basic brochure that is never updated and you are looking to start adding new content to your site more frequently in the future, you should really have a Content Management System which would allow you to update the content on your site easily and without a web developer’s constant intervention. (For more about CMS Websites, check out “What the Heck is a 'Content Management System' and Why Should You Have One?”). If your current website is already built on a CMS, and adding additional content regularly is your main desired change, most likely you will be able to do that without a major overhaul. Your web developer might need to add a new section to hold your content (a blog or “news” section, for instance), but as long as your design doesn’t limit the addition of a new navigation item, you most likely won’t have to re-do your site to add the new section required.

If you don’t have a CMS backing your website yet, you might want to consider a redevelopment in order to get one. This will allow you to update your site in the future with much more ease and less expense. A flexible CMS will support extending your website in the future.

Another consideration which might indicate it’s time to upgrade to a CMS is if you are looking to add staff to help with the updating. A CMS can be used by anyone with basic web and computer skills, so your new assistant, intern, business partner, etc. won’t need to be an HTML expert in order to help with your site content.

Adding Substantial Functionality
It might be time to start making your website work a little harder in your business. If you are ready to implement new marketing and sales tools on your website, or integrate with outside services you use, a “band-aid” solution isn’t going to serve you and it is most likely time for a whole new-and-improved site. Some examples of this new functionality you might want to have integrated:

• Outside Blog
• E-commerce / Shopping Cart
• Email Marketing / Autoresponders / E-zine List Sign-up
• Multimedia (Audio/Video) Content
• Membership / Community / Forum
• Invoicing / Project Management / Private Client Portal
• Customer Service Chat
• Knowledgebase / Support Ticketing

Interested in a Facelift
Maybe your first website was low-budget and doesn’t make you proud. Perhaps you have changed your branding or market-targeting. Gotten a new logo? Changed your business focus? Frequently changes in how you want to market your business will result in the need for a “facelift” for your website. This might be purely visual – a fresh look. Or it might involve rearranging the way information is presented. If your site is built with a CMS, you might be able to create a new visual design and even rearrange your content without having to start from scratch. If you site is built with static HTML pages or in Flash without the benefit of a CMS, a new design will usually mean all new pages and a whole new site.

Not Getting the Results You Want
Finally, if your site isn’t getting you the results you want – enough new clients, enough search-engine traffic, enough sales, etc. you might look at how your site itself can be improved for this purpose. Flash-based websites, for example, don’t tend to be search-engine optimized, which results in less organic traffic. Some site designs can also be a usability problem for your visitors – if prospects are having a hard time finding information or products on your site, it can adversely effect your sales. You might also want to start emphasizing your call-to-action more, make it more obvious how your prospects can contact you or buy from you. You might want to put more FAQ-type (Frequently Asked Questions) information on your site in order to reduce common information requests. You may want to increase the product/service information on your site, add demos, case studies, more testimonials, etc. to give your visitors confidence in your business. All of these are excellent things to consider for your site, and which you want to implement will determine how much work your website will need done.

Web Action Steps

Consider each of these issues to determine your best course of action:

1. Are you interested in only small content changes?
2. Are you interested in updating your website content more frequently or regularly?
3. Are you adding staff who will be in charge of updating the website?
4. Are you interested in adding substantial new functionality to your site?
5. Are you changing the role of your website in your business? (Wanting to use it for payment processing, customer support, etc.)
6. Do you have external services you want to integrate your site with? (Blog, Shopping Cart, Email Marketing, etc.)
7. Does your website design match your current branding image?
8. Are you proud to send prospects to your website?
9. Is the usability of your website geared towards answering prospects questions and making sales?
10. Are your visitors able to easily find what they are looking for?
11. Is your site search-engine optimized?
12. Is your site converting visitors to buyers?
13. Are all your products and services represented on your website?
14. Are you happy with your site?

If the changes you want to make fit within the possible scope of your current site, the best thing to do is to make a clear, detailed list of all the changes at once and send it to your web developer. He or she should be able to give you a quote for all the changes, or, if your developer is working hourly, having all the changes to make at once will be much more cost effective for you than one change today, another change tomorrow. If it has become clear to you that you will need a new website, start thinking longer-term and what you will desire in your site now, in 6 months, and by next year. Put all your ideas on paper before talking to web developers so you – and they – will have a clear idea of how to build your site to last longer. This is a process I go through with all my clients, and I’d be happy to have you as one of them. Please contact me to set up an appointment. 

You probably know that you need to have an easy way to broadcast communications to your prospects and customers. But what might be less clear is how best to go about that. Right now you may be communicating using your regular email program, sending mass emails to your list with all your customers’ email addresses in the BCC field (or, GASP!, in the TO field) of a standard email message. If the limitations of this approach haven’t yet become clear to you, I promise they soon will. The real solution is to use a dedicated Email Service Provider to handle your broadcast messages.

What Is an Email Service Provider?

An Email Service Provider (ESP) is a company you pay a monthly fee to in order to handle sending broadcast emails and managing your list automatically. There are many different ESPs doing business, all offering different features and different pricing. Choosing the right one for your needs might seem tricky, but can be broken down into a few simple steps.

What Do You Need?

The first thing to consider is how you plan to use email marketing with your business and what features you will need. First, some definitions of the different features an ESP might be offering:

Broadcast – This is the most basic functionality which all ESPs should be offering (though it might be called something different) – the ability to craft an email message and send it to everyone on you list.

Autoresponder – If you would like for your subscribers to automatically receive a message or series of messages upon subscription to your list, this is what you are looking for. Some ESPs offer autoresponders, but check their description carefully, since some are more full-featured than others (allows for multiple separate messages in an autoresponder series, with even different time intervals between messages).

List Segmenting/Multiple Lists – If you plan to send separate targeted messages to subsets of your entire list, being able to easily query data in your system and break out groups of email addresses into separate lists for mailings is necessary. Also, if you plan to manage multiple campaingns in your account (a “prospects” list and a “customers” list, or an “e-zine” list, a list of people interested in “Product A”, or “Topic B”, etc.), you should make sure that capability exists and is easy to use.

Custom Data Fields – If you want to store more data about your subscribers than the standard Name/Address/Phone info, investigate the capabilities for custom data fields. Some ESPs might offer a limited quantity of custom fields, whereas others will make it unlimited. Be sure your ESP allows enough for your purposes.

Subscription Options – Your ESP should provide an easy way to generate the HTML form code to be placed on your website for your subscribers to sign up to your list. Some ESPs also provide other ways to subscribe including: importing a list of email addresses, sending an email to a custom email address, providing a hosted form which you can direct visitors to with a simple URL, etc. Discuss your needs with your web developer to be sure the ESP you are considering will fit your subscription needs.

Email Message Composition/Templates – If you aren’t very HTML savvy and plan to compose and send your messages on your own, you should make sure you are comfortable with the tools provided for email composition. If the ESP provides generic templates for you to choose from, you can get started quickly, and if you have the capability to store a custom template (provided by your web developer, for instance) or to customize the standard templates to match your website and branding, you will find that creating your messages is easy and the look will be professionally consistent. If you will have an assistant or web developer creating your messages for sending, have her take a look at the tools and make sure she will be comfortable using them.

Other Integrated Services – If your online plans include additional things, like a shopping cart or digital product delivery system, you might consider looking for an ESP that either includes those features, or clearly integrates with other systems. Requiring your ESP to offer additional services can dramatically limit your ESP choices, so make sure the one you are looking at provides the other features you desire.

How Much Will It Cost?

Different ESPs have different pricing models, so once you find a few with the features you require, check their pricing carefully. You might end up paying more to have a more full-featured ESP, but that will probably be worth it to you over the long-term.

Most ESPs charge a monthly or yearly rate for your service. For some the price varies according to how large your list is or how many messages you send each month. Others charge for more features and functionality.

When you are just starting out, it might be a good idea to sign up with an ESP that charges less for a smaller number of subscribers, the price increasing with your list size. Look ahead, though, and make sure that with your list building plans, you will not quickly “outgrow” the more affordable levels of service and wish you were with a different ESP in the near future.

You need to balance current needs with future growth when choosing the right ESP since switching ESPs is a pain you will want to avoid as much as possible.

Web Action Steps

• Think about your email marketing strategy, both short-term and long-term:

  • What features do you want to use immediately?

  • What features will you need in the future?
  • How large is your current list?
  • How large do you foresee your list growing within a year?
  • What are you willing to spend on your email marketing each month?
• Now research Email Service Providers looking for those that meet your criteria and will fit your budget.
• Sign up for a trial, if you can, to get a feel for their user interface and tools, and send a few test messages to yourself before committing to a service.
• As soon as you have decided and have your account set up, get your new sign-up form onto your website.

Signing up with the right Email Service Provider will make your email marketing go smoothly and grow with your business. If you are totally befuddled by the choices and need help, please contact me today.