Tweet

Got website visitors 5 Steps to Get Them to Subscribe

Guest post by: Terri Zwierzynski

Article Overview: Building a list of potential clients who are interested in what you have to offer is the only way you are going to make money from your online efforts!

Got website visitors 5 Steps to Get Them to Subscribe

You've put a lot of investment into your website, and perhaps even more into various marketing activities to drive traffic to your site. And it's working -- your traffic numbers are up. You are halfway there -- now you need to turn those visitors into subscribers. Building a list of potential clients who are interested in what you have to offer is the only way you are going to make money from your online efforts!
The secret? Put yourself in your visitor's shoes. Here are five steps that helped me increase my own visitor/subscriber conversion rate from 2.61% to 4.44% in just eight months:
1. Get the right visitors. Seems basic, but it's one of the most important ingredients to building a responsive list; it's also the most time-intensive task. Extra effort spent on this step will also pay off handsomely.

It all comes down to making an emotional connection in your copywriting. If you have ads, links on other people's sites, articles posted on article directories, etc., does your message convince readers that you understand what they are looking for (or trying to eliminate) and have answers for them? When they then get to your website, does that connection strengthen and grow, if they are the right prospect?

If you write articles or place ads promising info on how to avoid foreclosure, for instance, when they get to your site don't immediately try to sell them a new mortgage (they'll likely click away) -- instead, share your own foreclosure story and how you overcame it (they may want to know more!) In your copy, use the language your ideal prospect is familiar with -- no jargon, talk to them at their level, use the kind of words and phrases they are likely to search for.

This is a very simplistic explanation of this topic. If you don't know much about keywords and copywriting -- get help with this step.
2. Now that a visitor has found your site and stayed more than 2 seconds...it it clear to them what you want them to do next? Too many choices = confusion = click away! If your goal is to get subscribers (hint), then your home page should funnel them toward that goal. Don't send them to your "about", "coaching services", or "products" pages -- first-time visitors are unlikely to buy right off anyway (although it's ok to have navigation that lets them get to those pages if they want to). Instead, make it clear that the ONE action you want them to take is to SUBSCRIBE!
3. They've read your copy and are interested in subscribing. Is it easy to figure out how to do so? Your form should be easy to find on the page -- even having it in a couple of places will work well. Put the form right on the page; don't make them click to get to the form (many won't bother!) Use a graphic, colors, large print, but not too busy. If visitors are likely to land on pages other than your home page (you should assume they might), put a subscription form on EVERY page of your website. On the left, near the top of the page, is a good location.
4. WIIFT? (what's in it for them) If you aren't giving away something in exchange for their email address, why should they subscribe? Not very many folks really want another monthly newsletter or weekly tips; however, if you offer a valuable freebie, they might be willing to try it out! Be upfront about what they are getting: the format/length of the freebie, frequency of your newsletter, what type of info they should expect. A link to a sample recent newsletter (that opens in a new page, so they won't lose the page they are on) is a nice touch.
5. Why should they trust you? No one wants more spam...so you need to assure them that their information is safe with you. Include a short statement about your privacy policy, and assure them that they can unsubscribe anytime. I also recommend asking for minimum info -- email address, and first name so you can personalize their emails. Every additional piece of info you want will decrease their likelihood of subscribing.
The above steps will make it clear to your visitor/potential subscriber that you have THEIR interests at heart. That's the beginning of the emotional connection that will build your list, and ultimately, increase your income!

Related Articles
  How to Increase Your Sales by Keeping Your Visitors Coming Back to Your Site
  Building your opt-in mailing list is cheaper than in sending direct mails.
  Website Statistics: Facts and Fallacies
  The Foundation of Website Design
  ••••••> Top SEO Tips: Internal Link Popularity for SEO

Article Tags: choices, confusion, conversion rate, copywriting, eight months, emotional connection, five steps, how to avoid foreclosure, intensive task, jargon, marketing, new mortgage, phrases, place ads, shoes, simplistic explanation, step 2, subscriber, subscribers, traffic numbers



Related Forum Posts
Content is KING - If you are looking to get higher rankings in search engines as well as more visitors to your website always ensure your website contains a lot of useful and interesting content. The best way to do this is to write extensively about 1 topic on a webpage while ensuring it contains as many relevant words (to the main topic) as possible. Search engines typically favour larger webpages with more content (and inbound links) and will index as many webpages as it can find throughout your website therefore allowing more channels of access to potential website visitors. It can also take a while to write many in depth webpages but if you have a weekly plan of creating 2 new webpages a week for 10 weeks you will see the benefits (search engine rankings, increased visitors) within 12 - 15 weeks.
Re: Google Custom Search: Let Visitors Search YOUR Site Only - for sure, it is a free tool because it leans visitors to use their searching engine. Is it really useful on your website? Is it a research bar working just inside in your website?
4 Ideas for Viral Marketing - 1. Purchase the branding rights to a viral E-book. Allow people to give away your free E-book to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet. 2. If you have the ability to set up a forum or other bulletin board, you really have a great tool. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own website. Some people don't have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board. 3. Write an E-book. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free E-book if, in exchange, they give away the E-book to their web visitors or E-zine subscribers. 4. Write articles that pertain to your product or service. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their E-zine, newsletter, magazine or E-books. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.
Re: Clarity Trumps Persuasion - It makes sense. 7 seconds to get your message across to visitors to your website. If people contact you and tell you they don't know what you are offering on your website - take them seriously! Marketing Experiments certainly deliver good quality. I'd consider taking one of their courses.
Re: Google's algorithm - Great discussion guys - I've been watching this one closely as it directly impacts my website. My site started down about 20% in visitors and page views. More recently we're down 10% in visitors and we're actually up 10% in page views. So we have slightly fewer people coming but we're getting record page views. I'm at a loss to explain it. We've had a very consistent # of pages / visit over the past few years and all of a sudden it's shot up. If I figure it out I'll let you know! I'm open to any suggestions for digging into analytics!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How Many Buckets Do You Need for Retirement?

Anger Solutions at Work: Why Customers Get Angry

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.