Month: January 2016

Categories
List Building

How To Use Video To Build Your List

Use Video To Increase Click-Through Rates and more…

More and more video is appearing online – both personal videos people share with friends and videos marketers are using to sell their products, build traffic to their websites, as products themselves, and to build their lists.

The infographic below tells the story…

When you talk about using video for list-building, most people immediately think of offering downloadable videos as bait to get people to opt-in – and that’s a very good use of video.  But there’s an even better way to use video for building your list – Video Squeeze Pages!

Watch This An Example Of An AWESOME Opt-In Video

The results from video opt-in pages are extremely encouraging – marketers are reporting much higher opt-in rates with video squeeze pages than the standard HTML pages that were there before. And that’s not really surprising if you think about life in the offline world.

It’s human nature that we prefer doing business with people we know, as opposed to big, faceless corporations. You like dealing with Bob the grocer, Mary the hairdresser, Donna the newspaper girl and Billy the pool boy. But what emotion is called up by thinking about the government, the banks, the telephone and cable companies or an oil company? Which of those two groups would you rather your money was going to?

The same will most likely prove to be the case online, based on the results being achieved from video. When you do a quick video inviting people to sign up and telling them about your offer or your incentive, they’re doing business with YOU – a real, live human being they can probably relate to, as opposed to a big faceless website.

You’ve been to a number of the huge websites – from corporate sites to the search engines. Feel any emotional attachments to them? Would you care if they disappeared tomorrow and were replaced by another? Would you even notice?

But if you frequent a marketer’s site, one that presents themselves in videos for you, the connection is stronger. Not as strong as if you’d met them in person, perhaps, but MUCH more so than a corporate site.

And THAT’S the reason emerging for the fact that video squeeze pages get better results. And like anything in the realm of marketing, better results means more profit – and that more and more people will be following suit until the market is saturated – if that level CAN be reached online.

9 ways you can use video to build your opt-in lists.

  1. Add annotations to YouTube videos.
  2. Include a pitch to join your list at the end of every video
  3. Add links to YouTube video descriptions.
  4. Use software to add opt-in forms to your videos.
  5. Use video on landing pages/squeeze pages.
  6. Use video in your feature box.
  7. Use video for the format of your lead magnet.
  8. Use video in your social media updates.
  9. In your emails.

See more about  9 ways to build an email list with video here.

Nearly every month  there is a new software developed that makes using video marketing easier. Even if you’re camera shy, there are many ways to use video in your presentations; such as PowerPoint Screen Capture videos, Whiteboard Explainer videos, and even static images to tell your story with platforms like Animoto.

A Beginners Guide To Video Marketing

Of course, you’ll never realize the benefits of using video to build you list unless you take action. The truth is, it’s easier than ever to create video content thanks to Smartphones. With technology that you use every day, you can create a video for an opt-in page in minutes.

In a future post, I’ll be showing you step-by-step how I create simple videos for opt-in pages using my cell phone.

So, let me know what you think in the comments below. If you’re using video to build your list, how? If not, what’s stopping you from getting started?

Categories
List Building

Build an Effective Opt-In List or Die as an Internet Marketer

How To Improve Your Opt-in List Building

If you have been an Internet Marketer for more than a few days, you have without a doubt already seen a ton of articles telling you about the value of building your opt-in list. What most of the ‘experts’ don’t tell you is that building an EFFECTIVE and profitable opt-in list takes time and effort.

You can have a very long opt-in list with hundreds of names and email addresses and still not be making any sales. There are opt-in lists and then there are EFFECTIVE opt-in lists.

Now don’t misunderstand what is being said here. You will never sell your front-end product or service to every single person that is on your opt-in list. That would be an Internet marketer’s dream come true but it just isn’t going to happen.

The first trick is, of course, getting an opt-in list. Turning it into an effective opt-in list comes second.

In order to get your website visitors to join your opt-in list, you will need to make it worth their while to do so. You will need to give them something that is related to the topic of your website and to the product or service that you are selling. It needs to have value to a potential customer – something that truly helps them.

In recent years this has come to known as a “Lead Magnet”. There are various other terms to describe your “free” offer such as “ethical bribe”, “freebie”, etc.

For example; if you are selling accounting software, you might give them free access to an e-book that gives them information about little-known business tax deductions in exchange for their name and e-mail address. You will capture names and email addresses of those who are the most likely to be interested in buying what you are selling and you are starting to build more than just an opt-in list – you are starting to build an effective opt-in list.

That brings me to the next area of debate which surrounds whether it is prudent to request your subscribers confirm their subscription to your list or not. For many years the standard practice was to utilize what is commonly referred to as a “double-optin”.

When a visitor joined your list, they would receive a message stating that they needed to click a link to confirm their joining your list. The benefit of the added step protected the list owner from potential “CAN-SPAM-ACT” violations if at some point in the future the subscriber made a claim that they were added to your list without their permission.

Nowadays, more and more marketers are not requiring this step. And probably for good reason as more of the public is aware to list building tactics and any kind of friction in the process tends to reduce optin rates.

Also, you will probably notice that fewer optin forms require a subscribers name and only ask for their email address.

Your own results may vary and only through testing (A/B Split Testing) will you determine the best course of action for you as you build your list.

In my own experience, I’ve come to rely more and more on testing as market conditions change. What worked a few months ago may not be as effective today.

Building a an effective opt-in list requires more than just great squeeze pages and an auto-responder service. You will need to learn what works with your target audience and then how to communicate with your subscribers to build trust and authority.

You turn that opt-in list into an effective opt-in list by regular communication. You stay in contact with those who did opt-in and you continue to provide them with related information and incentives to buy your front-end product or service or one or more of your back-end products. To keep them interested and keep your name in the front of their mind, be sure you keep in touch with your list at least weekly, if not more often.

There are those who will tell you that building an opt-in list is quick, easy and absolutely painless. Don’t you believe one word of it! Building opt-in lists that will actually produce sales take a lot of time, effort and energy. If you don’t believe me, go ask one of the top marketers how long it took them to build their massive lists. Every one of them will tell you that they spent years building up those opt-in lists.

Below you can download my guide that walks you step by step through the process. It’s free, just follow the instructions below.

[wpsharely id=”2576″]Click here to download your free guide! [/wpsharely]

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