I Don’t Need No Stinking Lead Capture Page

 No Responses »
May 292013
 

Contact Page vs Lead Capture Page – Aren’t They The Same Thing?

NO! A Contact Page is a Contact Page and a Lead Capture Page is a Lead Capture Page – DUH :)

arrogantWhat is a Contact Form? It is a form on your website that the visitor can fill out IF they have a question for you or want to talk to you. After they fill out the contact form, the onus is on you to respond to their inquiry.

That is fine as business is all about building relationships to get your prospects to know, like, and trust you, right? So your website visitor takes a look around your website and sees something they have a question about. They complete your form and you get back to them – this is all a good thing. You can decide when creating whatever form you are going to use, what fields you want them to fill out. In other words, you can customize your form.

HOWEVER, what if someone comes to your site and DOESN’T fill out your contact form? Will you know they were there? What if they didn’t have a question, or they found your site not clear enough, or your contact form was not easily accessible (things you CAN control)? How will you follow-up with them to see how you can help them if you don’t even know they were there? The answer is simple – you can’t!

Here is The Difference Between a Contact Form and Lead Capture Form

lead capture formFirst of all, you are going to strategically place your lead capture form on your website where they CAN’T miss it. Yes, you can and should also do that with your contact form. But herein lies the difference. You WANT your website visitors to leave their contact information so you CAN follow up with them in a series of well-thought out and well-written auto-responders. Auto-responders are a series of emails sent out over a period of time (YOU decide the time between emails) that continue to provide value to your potential clients/customers who are now on your “list” because they have opted in to your list by completing your lead capture form. Your auto-responder campaign is ATTACHED TO your lead capture form so this process takes place behind the scenes and is activated by an “opt-in”.

Now why would you expect someone to just GIVE you their contact information? You shouldn’t unless you give them a reason to. You will give them something they need or want and in turn, they will give you their contact information. Value for value.

There are certain things to keep in mind when creating your lead capture form. First and foremost, is make sure it is seen above the fold and prominently displayed on your website. You also have a few different options. You can use the actual embed form code or you can create a banner that leads to a lead capture form where you are still collecting contact information. You might want to try a combination and see which works best.

You want to ask as few questions as possible when filling out the required fields of your survey/lead capture form. The less a website visitor is asked to do, the more likely they will do it. I always like to make the phone number field mandatory as I want a way to follow-up with my leads. If they aren’t willing to give me their phone number, changes are they would not be a valuable lead for me.

Example of A Lead Capture Banner

Name:
Email Address:

Example of A Lead Capture Image

Learn More About Video Marketing

Value for Contact Information

What can you give your prospects that they will perceive as valuable? Some say the e-Book is over-used, I, however, maintain that the quality and content of the e-Book will determine its value. If the content is relevant to your target and it is helpful, then it is still valuable. Where do you get an e-Book? Well there are plenty of places to purchase or get FREE e-Books but chances are that others are using the same e-Books. The BEST way to get your hands on an e-Book? Create your own. That’s right! Sound like a daunting task? Well, it isn’t and we will be back soon with a tutorial on exactly how you can create your own e-Book. For now, consider this. You are an expert on something. You have knowledge in your head that you can share with your target market. The process will consist of your taking that valuable content out of your brain and putting it into a format that you can share. Start thinking about what you have of value that you can share with your target and stay tuned for our tutorial…

Built-in Value to Exchange for Contact Info

There are other ways to offer value and the Free Lead System Forever from Priceless Possibilities is one of them!

How Does This System Trade Value For Contact Information?

The process is really quite simple. You give someone their OWN Free Lead System Forever for their contact information. They fill out YOUR form and in turn get the SAME Sales Funnel (that starts with your lead capture form that they JUST filled out to get THEIR Free Lead System) to turn around and start collecting their own leads. IF they have gotten a FREE Lead System from you – then there is the proof in the pudding that the process works, right?

What Exactly DO You Get With Your Free Lead System Forever?

See How to Make a Lead Capture Page in 60 Seconds

create lc page in 60 seconds

Get Your Own Free Lead System Today! Try It! You WILL Like It!

 

Benefits of Video Marketing For Local Business

 6 Responses »
Mar 272013
 

Are You Including Video Marketing in Your Local Business Marketing Mix?

VloggingOver 3 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every single day. Consumers who view an online video are 85% more likely to make a product purchase (source: internetretailer). What are you waiting for?

Benefits of Video Marketing

• It’s Inexpensive: Creating your video doesn’t require any fancy equipment and many of us already have what we need to get started. Getting your video online is free through many services or costs very little to host on your own website.

• It’s Targeted: In the “olden days”, the only place you could really get your video seen by thousands, or even millions, was by advertising on TV which can be VERY expensive. In addition, inevitably you are paying to have your commercial shown to people who aren’t likely to ever become your customers.

With video marketing, you can laser target your videos to reach a specific audience and market to that audience, so that your message gets in front of the right people. And luckily, even though people outside your market may view your videos, it doesn’t have to cost you a penny to have them see it.

• It’s Trackable: Online marketing is much easier to track than traditional media venues with the availability of detailed analytics and tracking,  from how many times your videos are viewed, to how many people ordered your product or service because of a video, you have these statistics at your fingertips 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

• Visibility in Local Search: One important thing to realize that is that today’s customer is Internet and tech savvy. Just because they’re in your local area it doesn’t mean they know how to find you. People no longer look in the Yellow pages when searching for something – they “Google” it. They’re searching online, looking for reviews and recommendations before they visit your store or office.

If they can’t find you online, then they aren’t going to walk through your door. Video helps you get in front of a local audience that is already looking for a business like yours.

• Increases Website Traffic: Video marketing can be a great source of extra traffic to your website. No, you’re probably not going to see millions of visitors every day and you may not become a YouTube sensation, but you can certainly grow your targeted traffic and turn many of those visitors into paying customers and clients.

• Keep Visitors on Your Site Longer: Having a video on your website increases the length a visitor stays on your website, especially if your video is engaging and compelling.

• Establish Yourself as an Expert: People want to do business with people who know what they’re doing. Online video provides you with the opportunity to show that you’re knowledgeable in your area of expertise.

Whether you’re a cosmetic dentist demonstrating a certain procedure or a lawyer advising fathers on how to get fair access to their children, informative videos show you to be a professional that potential customers can turn to.

• Increased Credibility: Not only do people look for businesses that know what they’re doing, they want to feel like they can trust them and that, in some way, they know them. Video helps create a more meaningful connection to viewers to a much greater extent than text or images alone.

• Increase Loyalty from Existing Customers: As a business owner, you already know that it’s easier to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to acquire a new customer. Our regulars are our bread and butter. There’s no doubt about that. Of course, it’s important to keep growing your clientele, but it’s crucial that you stay in the mind of customers who have purchased from you before. Video is a great way to do that.

Whether it’s providing helpful how-to information or sending a video message of thanks, there is so much potential to tap into with your video camera.

Need Some Help With Your Local Business Video Marketing?

We have options starting as low as $45. Get more details HERE!

Local Niche Market Videos New Horizons 123

 

Starting Out The New Year With More Fun Freebies

 11 Responses »
Jan 052012
 

Happy New Year!

I searched through Youtube to find just the “right” video to share with my family, friends, and followers but couldn’t find something that hit the “spot”. Then I came up with the brilliant LOL idea of creating my own. DUH – I do love to “say it with video” :)

Happy New Year 2012


As you know, I love that four letter word “F-R-E-E” and like to share the wealth. So without further ado, here are some of the valuable FREE tools I have recently found.

Text And Image HTML Link Generator

This is probably very elementary for many, but if you are like me, and not very comfortable with BASIC HTML – this is a great tool :) . “We created this simple link generator to help generate HTML links in a simple way using text or images. We included in this generator the title tag for text links and the alt tag for image links so you can create good SEO link for your web page. With this image and text link generator we want to help you create optimized links.” They are true to their word. Check it out HERE.

New Strategy For Finding Facebook Clients

“Learn about this new strategy for finding potential Facebook clients for your business. Isaac A Wardell shows you how a recent change to Facebook allows you to be able to find new potential Facebook clients easier than ever before!“  This is a neat new way to find clients. Watch what Isaac says:

Have You Ever Wondered How People Get Those Cute Flashy Banner Ads?

Wonder no more – here is another FREE tool: Now you can make your own banner ads with AdDesigner.

Have You Heard About Prezi?

I have only created one Prezi and the jury is still out as to whether or not I will do more. Not because of the platform but because I am not quite sure I got the “hang” of using it to its fullest potential. Of course my 19 year old daughter said, “Mom, this is so easy” LOL. “Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.”You can see my “attempt” here: A Modern Day Samson and Delilah. I ended up modifying it somewhat and incorporating it into another video about the MyVideoTalk tools for small business owners. I will be writing a post about that next but in the meantime, feel free to watch it here: Video Marketing For Small Business. You can try your hand at your own Prezi HERE!

Photoscape

Photoscape is a fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos. Access it HERE!

Do You Scoop?

“Scoop is a powerful, intuitive news information aggregator that helps you conquer information overload and increase your efficiency. In a few minutes a day, you are briefed via the Internet on the highest priority issues on your personal – and changing – information agenda and can share key info with your superiors, colleagues and customers.” I have been using Scoop for a little while and am really liking it. You can start your own Scoops Here!

Welcome to 2012. Are You Ready to Include Video in Your Marketing Mix?


Do you have any free neat tools to share? If so, please share the wealth here!

 

Viral Marketing Strategy

 9 Responses »
Dec 202011
 

What is Viral Marketing?

viral marketing
Viral Marketing is a method of marketing where you leverage “Word Of Mouth” advertising to drive large blocks of new prospects to seek out and purchase your products and services.

With the thousands of Viral Marketing tools and applications available on the Internet today, you have the ability to draw thousands of new prospects to your website on a regular basis that will help you Grow Sales, Increase Profits and Attract and Retain more Customers Faster, More Frequently and at a much Lower Cost than ever before.

Contact Dave Kalstrom at Outbound Excellence for more about Viral Marketing. Want a video like this for your message? Contact Julie Weishaar at New Horizons 123 Production.

 

 

Calling all Gifted Writers

 17 Responses »
Nov 262011
 

Are You Looking For More Exposure and Recognition?

The Article Niche ProjectBuild brand and name recognition by becoming part of The Article Niche Project Community. Build your brand with theirs by becoming a verified commentator.

As a verified commentator, you can become known and respected in your field, enjoy huge exposure nationally and internationally, get help from, share ideas with, and mentor others.

It’s Easy to Apply! But Yes, You Do Have to be Approved :)

First complete the Application. Once your application is approved:

You Will Get Specific Article Statistics

Article Niche Project StatsGet Your Article in a Professional PDF Format

PDF Your Article

The Ability to Participate in Their “Hire an Author” Program

Your Own Personal Article RSS Feed

Author Chat

Chat online with authors who are logged in to their account. Exchanges ideas, offer suggestions, corroborate on articles, all in real time!

Greater Exposure Translates Into Greater Brand Recognition

The Article Niche is a writing resource, and every article submission is reviewed by a HUMAN in-house editorial team ensuring integrity of the articles in the database. “Ezine Publishers have come to recognize that only high quality articles are approved at the Article Niche Project“.

Build Your Brand as Part of the Article Niche Project Community

Become a Verified Commentator and Reap the Rewards by Leaving Your Brand with Your Expert Comment

Are you an Ostrich?

 12 Responses »
Nov 112011
 

Don’t Plan First … Regret Later

ostrichIt might seem like a good idea to just dive right into something because it looks good, sounds good, and you might assume that all the pieces will just fall into place. In some cases, this approach might work – IF you are lucky. However, when it comes to business, and especially when using the Internet, chances are you are going to find yourself all over the map with NO idea which way to turn.

Planning Is Key to Your Online Business Success

Proper keyword research is one of the most important elements of building a profitable online business. Doing your keyword research due diligence will help you make sure you are getting the right message to the right people at the right time – while they are searching for your offerings. There are many free tools out there to help you select the right keywords – Google Adwords Keyword Tool is a great resource. Many business owners don’t realize the subtle differences in results from how keywords are arranged in a phrase.

Take for example, the keyword phrase “Video Marketing Services”.  Look at the difference below at the number of searches for “video marketing services” compared to the number of searches for “video marketing”:

video marketing

Even subtle variations in spacing and the use of quotes – or not – can make a huge difference in the number of searches and the competition of that keyword phrase. If you are targeting the wrong keywords or are not targeting the most optimal ones for your niche, you will either get the wrong results or not as good a result as if you were targeting the right keywords.

As a rule, if you are using keywords that are highly competitive or too generic, you are going to find that you are a teeny tiny fish is a HUGE pond and will likely get lost in the crowd.

The Internet is HUGE! Your competition is fierce (unless you are in a HIGHLY targeted niche market), so it is in your best business interest to be sure you are targeting the right market, with a compelling message that tells your target market…

Who You Are and Why They Should Care!

SBI! Traffic Test

Tag You’re It!

 40 Responses »
Oct 192011
 

Your Tagline is The Power of Your Brand

creative business tag lines

Brands have power if created and promoted consistently and honestly.

Branding is a powerful message that speaks to your customers and potential customers.

Brands humanize and personalize your company offering.
A solid branding strategy is important for any small business and should be the integral part of your marketing strategy. Not convinced?

Let’s do a quick word association quiz. What is the first name that comes to mind when you read the following?

  • Have it your way.
  • Can you hear me now?
  • Where’s the beef?
  • When you are having more than one
  • Try it you’ll like it
  • Tastes as good as it smells
  • Don’t leave home without it
  • Reach out and touch someone
  • The king of beer
  • Does she or doesn’t she?
  • It keeps going and going and going…
  • Good to the last drop
  • Snap Crackle Pop!
  • Finger licking good
  • You deserve a break today
  • When it rains it pours
  • All the news that’s fit to print
  • Breakfast of champions
  • Let your fingers do the walking

Join Our Facebook Contest: What is Your Tagline?

The Winner is the person who receives the most points. Can’t get any easier than that! What do you win?

What is the Prize?

A video created especially for you and your needs by New Horizons 123 Production valued at $499. It can be a virtual business card, a business profile video, a blog post, a product how-to,  a marketing message, an advertisement, or anything else you want to “Say With Video”.

What are the Details?

Why not head on over to Facebook and find out? Click on the link below and we will see you over on Facebook!

Say it With Video/New Horizons 123 Production TAGLINE CONTEST


Dental Practices Can’t Upsell – Can They?

 13 Responses »
Apr 092011
 

DentistsNot all Dental Practices are created equal and not all provide the same services. When most people think of going to the dentist, they think about getting their teeth cleaned, cavities filled, and when one is a little older, crowns and root canals come to mind as well. These are the basic preventative and restorative dental services that are usually covered by dental insurance. Then there are tooth extractions and gum surgeries which some dental offices do within their practice and some don’t requiring the patient to visit a specialist often recommended by their “regular” dentist.

Cosmetic dental services such as teeth whitening, veneers, and smile makeovers, are becoming very popular, often cost a pretty penny, and are usually not covered by dental insurance companies. I am not a dentist and have not checked into the prices of these kinds of cosmetic dentistry services, but if I were to venture a guess, I would assume they are quite costly and bring in nice revenue for the dentist providing the services.

Those dental practices that provide preventative, restorative, and cosmetic dental services have an opportunity to upsell the cosmetic services – an opportunity they might not even be aware of. Consider the following scenario:

Janice just moved into town and becomes friends with Alice next door. Alice recommends Doctor Smith for Janice and her family to use for their family dental needs because she really likes Doctor Smith. Janice takes her family to visit Doctor Smith and everyone is happy. One day Alice meets Janice in the supermarket and is pleased to show off her new veneers. Janice is impressed and decides she wants to get veneers too so she asks Alice where she got hers. Alice tells her that Doctor Armstrong in the next town over does a great job and is reasonably priced. Janice visits Doctor Armstrong, gets her veneers and everyone is happy, except Doctor Smith when he sees Janice and Alice at their next annual dental checkup.

You see, Doctor Smith also provides veneer services so why would two of his patients go elsewhere to get their veneers? Both Janice and Alice were surprised to hear that Doctor Smith provided these cosmetic dental services too. Doctor Smith explains that this information is readily available on his website. The problem of course is that neither Janice nor Alice had ever visited Doctor Smith’s website. Why should they have? Janice didn’t have a need because she chose Doctor Smith based on a personal recommendation from Alice and Alice chose Doctor Smith based on a personal recommendation from her sister-in-law.

Doctor Smith’s fatal flaw was that he assumed his current patients knew about all the services his dental practice provided. This assumption caused him to lose at least two, more than likely much more, sales. He did not realize that he had the option to upsell his services to current patients. It has been said that it costs 5 times as much to get a new customer (or in this case a patient) than it does to upsell a current one. This is especially true in this type of scenario where people learn to trust their dentists and develop a personal relationship with them. The dentists have a captive audience and a loyal patient-base to reach out to.

Doctor Smith would be doing himself a favor by sending out periodic email newsletters containing valuable information to his patients where he can also highlight some of his other services to make them aware of all of his offerings. Not everyone likes to receive emails but that issue is solved quickly because Doctor Smith will need to comply with the legal requirements of providing an opt-out clause. Assuming that current clients or patients know what all your offerings are because they are listed on your website can be the cause of many lost sales.

Published in Technorati

Did You Eat Your Frog This Morning?

 12 Responses »
Jan 092011
 

procrastinationHUH?

Small business owners have very long daily to-do lists. How many of us leave the most difficult or time-consuming task to the end of the day? How many times does that task make it to the next day's to-do list? This is called procrastination – something we all do at least some of the time.

There are many reasons for procrastinating and many reasons to try to avoid it – especially if it is something really important that we need to do.

Here comes the part about the frog……

Brian Tracy has a great video about eating a frog first thing in the morning because more than likely it will be the hardest thing you have on your to-do list for the day and the thing you will most likely procrastinate about and not do. He suggests that rather than procrastinate, get the most difficult thing done FIRST, and this way the rest of your day will be less stressful and more productive. 

What do you think? Do you think it would help you to get the most difficult task done first so that you can be more productive for the rest of the day?

Enjoy his great video by clicking on the image below:

procrastination

How to Remain Flexible and Exude Confidence at the Same Time

 3 Responses »
Jul 092010
 

As a small business owner, especially one is a consulting role, it is important that you show enough confidence in your abilities and expertise that your clients and prospective clients will perceive you as knowing what you are talking about. After all, if they don’t think you know more than they do, why should they hire you?

However, it is also important to remain flexible in how you deliver your services. Many consultants offer customized services to business owners. What works for one client might not be and usually isn’t the same approach that will work for another client.  Every client has specific needs that you as the consultant will need to understand completely and be able to create the best strategy for their specific situation.

In addition to being flexible, good consultants will be able to “read” their clients by actively listening to them and making sure they totally understand what their needs are as well as their individual “style” This is particularly true for website copyrighters. There are certain universally agreed upon “rules” of website copy but there are also some gray areas that are open to interpretation. It is pretty much agreed that you have just a few seconds to attract and retain a website visitor’s attention before they move onto the next website. It is therefore imperative that your copy grab their attention so that they will keep reading. It is also important to state who you are in the first few sentences of your copy because again, if someone has to search all over your site to find out what your company does – you will lose that visitor. No one wants to have to work hard to determine if your company’s offerings fulfill their need. Make it easy for them and clearly state close to the top of the page what your brand is.

One of the gray areas might involve how much detail a business owner wants to go into on his/her company website. Some small business owners have a difficult time honing in on their exact offerings and in keeping their content to a minimum. There is so much they want to say but the harsh reality is that even though they might want to “say” it, most people don’t want to read it. This is where the ability to “read” your client comes into play and where you need to show confidence while remaining flexible.

Explain to your client the reasons behind your suggested strategy and back it up with substantive and clearly understandable reasons. Show them that you know what you are talking about. Using the website copywriting consultant example again, your client might want to go into much more detail than you think is necessary or even advisable.  Be flexible and work with your client. A suggestion for a copywriting consultant whose client wants to go into a lot of detail is to offer an alternative. They can keep the main page content brief and include a “read more” option where they can use that detailed information for those who are interested in reading further. In my experience, this technique has been successful.

Remember, your client hired you because you have expertise that they don’t have.  Be sure to show your confidence to your clients but also remember to be flexible when and if the situation calls for it.

Article first published as How to Remain Flexible and Exude Confidence at the Same Time on Technorati.

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