“My opt-in offer is awesome! It contains five e-books and two special reports. It’s a cornucopia of knowledge.  It’s loaded with value!  Yet, my opt-in rates are very low.  What gives?”

First of all: your cornucopia isn’t “awesome” – no, it sucks really bad.  

If your opt-in rates are low enough to concern you, then you’re not showing value to your visitor. The value won’t increase even if you add 25 more free e-books.

In short, your offer is too damn good for its own good. 

How Does Your Visitor Decide Whether
They Will Opt In To Your List?

A key practice for optimizing your website conversions and increasing your opt-in rates – whether your offer contains one special report or video, a cornucopia of your greatest hits, or something in between – is to put yourself in the customer’s seat.

Follow these steps EXACTLY.  Do NOT jump ahead or add things.  Just follow this process to the letter:

First, imagine yourself AS the kind of prospect you want knocking on the door.  Do not visit your webpage or landing page yet.  Write down your answers to these questions:

1. What problem do I need solved?
2. What benefit do I hope to gain, today?

Second, navigate to your webpage and place the opt-in offer in front of you. Do NOT opt in.  Just sit with it for a minute.  HERE is where the website conversion conversation is taking place between you and your visitor!

Now, from the webpage visitor’s perspective, answer these questions:

1. How does the language of just the opt-in offer in front of me, right now, answer the questions from above?
2. Am I gaining confidence, again just viewing the opt-in offer or landing page, that I will start seeing answers and benefits within a few seconds after I fill in and submit the opt-in form?
3. Do I feel, based on what I know so far, I’ll be able to consume this in an easy, systematic way that won’t take too long – even though I haven’t seen the actual gift yet?
4. Has my time, thus far, been wasted, or have I already learned something?

Note your answers.

Third, go to that friend or family member who annoys you with irrelevant questions about your business every time you see them, who gets all sad and says “I just want to know more about you!”  when you can’t help but show how annoying you find their endless “20 questions”.  You know who I’m talking about.  Now’s the time where their annoying inquisitiveness works in your favor.

Have them do the same thing you just did (answer the first 2 questions, view the page, don’t opt-in, but answer the other 4 questions based on just seeing the offer) and report back to you with their findings.

Based on their likely response, I pretty much guarantee you’ll wonder if they even bothered to visit your webpage and are just telling you something so you’ll take them to lunch like you promised.

Try this. I’d love to hear what you come up with. Leave a comment below or send me an e-mail.

Yes, you can.

- ARH

P.S. Our Video Website Conversion Critiques contain “here’s-exactly-how-to-fix-it” coaching, captured on video. You can forward it to your web designer and say “Here’s what we need to do to fix the opt-in box.”  Sound good?  Then click here!!

Their original question was, “What other aggregators do you know? I like a one-click approach.”  My response: You have your cake and eat it too.  Plus, my solution gets you benefits that go beyond social media.

- ARH

P.S. Leave a comment below and tell us what other tech tips you’d like us to provide.

I just think, how far things have evolved

- ARH

P.S. My coach at the time will remember my urgent need to speak with her, right away, as I needed just a few minutes of her time to sort this out even though our scheduled appointment was still a few days off.  This is also a benefit of our Weekly Brainstorming and Accountability Coaching – and part of the reason why members of this program have this level of access to me.  I know what it means to need it.

I’m excited and honored to announce that I’ve been selected as a speaker and guest expert for HappyInBusiness.com’s 3rd “Get It Done And Have Some Fun Day”, which will be held Wednesday, June 13.

That morning, I’ll be presenting “You’re Getting Lots Of Visitors To Your Website… So What?”

I’ll also be available during part of that day to answer YOUR individual questions – LIVE – about website conversions and internet marketing technology – the “twin pillars” of Help My Website Sell™.

Now, first…

There’s a preview call on May 22 (that’s this Tuesday coming up) ==> http://www.helpmywebsitesell.com/gidd/

Now, why should you care?

Well, let me give you four great reasons why you must find your reasons to attend Get It Done Day 3:

1) I’m there! (Yeah, I know that’s reason enough, but there’s more)…

2) Next to me on stage you’ll also learn from experts like:

• Roy Montero, The SEO Guy – you guys are constantly asking me about SEO even though my focus is on what happens AFTER the visitor makes it to your site… Roy is one of only two SEO authority figures I recommend and he taught me 85% of what I know;
• Rachael Henning of Sister Virtual, who’s really good at all that website maintenance stuff I don’t do anymore and whose philosophy about internet marketing technology is something I 100% endorse;
• Ely Delaney of Your Marketing University – a guy you definitely need to know, if you haven’t met him yet;
• Therese Skelly, Mindset Mentor and Business Catalyst, the founder of Get It Done Day, and one of the 5 people who get props in my autobiography for fundamentally helping me become successful as a businessman and entrepreneur;
• A number of other people, I don’t have the entire schedule in front of me but when I do I’ll share it!

3) It’s VIRTUAL – you don’t have to buy a plane ticket or hotel room (SUH-WEEEET!)

4) A percentage of all proceeds from the event go to Kiva.org, which combats poverty daily by making small loans to entrepreneurs and borrowers around the world.

The next step, is to get yourself on the preview call. It’s on May 22 (just a few days away) and here’s the link to get privileged access right now:

>>> http://www.helpmywebsitesell.com/gidd/

I’ll be dialed in to the preview call on Tuesday. Will you?

“See you” there!

Adam Hommey
Founder, Help My Website Sell™

P.S. You know, between all those Monday Marketing Moments and Tuesday Technology Tips, I don’t have time to rock out the promos of other people’s wares and events even if I wanted to. 97% of the time when people ask I say, “thanks, but…”

So when I endorse something, much less participate in it, you know it’s solid frickin’ GOLD.

You MUST give this a look. One more time:

>>> http://www.helpmywebsitesell.com/gidd/

I’ve got the freebie, the opt-in box (including the pop-up), the blog, and the info on products and services. I am making good progress with building my list, but have no conversions from the site. What should I do?

There are many things to do in this case, but for today, I’m going to focus on what I call Website Conversion Telephone Game.

Key premise: in this era where personal credibility and relationships matter more than they ever have, your chances of converting that prospect into a customer skyrocket the moment you get them on the phone.

Website Conversion Telephone Game
Can Make Or Break Sales And
Even Relationships…

Five quick examples:

Attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors offer, and strongly promote, free telephone consultations for this reason.  Here in Pittsburgh, personal injury attorney and legendary marketing pioneer Edgar Snyder runs constant ads urging the viewer to “call our offices, day or night” with “no obligation”, adding “there’s no fee unless we get money for you.”  This is a carefully scripted sequence that makes the phones ring.

The boredom and annoyance in my doctor’s office manager’s “No” when I called to ask if they have the numbing agent to put on my arm before inserting a hypodermic needle immediately led to me calling my insurance company and changing PCPs.  After 20 years with this doctor.  The office manager had ZERO telephone game and it cost her employer a patient, plus anyone else who hears as a result, “He’s a brilliant doctor, too bad his staff are idiots.”

Online retailers that sell items most people need to see for themselves (mattresses, hunting equipment and guns, building supplies) find that even though a prospect might abandon the shopping cart during the purchase, as long as they have that person’s phone number, the follow-up calls convert sales like crazy.

When I prospect hosting companies, certain software providers, and business solution providers, I’ll call them up to see how comfortable they make me feel that they a) know what they’re doing and are organized and b) will be concerned about me once I’m on board as a paying customer.

An information marketer, who is a client of ours, easily gets 20% – 30% upsell conversion into higher levels of service from folks who buy one of their $27 or $37 e-books.  How?  He or his assistant call them to make sure they got the product in good working order, answer questions, and let them customer know how else they can help.  They close a lot of upsells in the $200 – $300 range for quick-turnaround consults or mini-projects, and it adds up.

Getting Prospects On The
Phone With You

The primary website conversion goal of our website, HelpMyWebsiteSell.com is to get you on the phone with me.  Note the following:

• Our business manager’s phone number and direct extension are prominently displayed at the top of the right sidebar.
• Most of our services require interpersonal interaction and/or a certain level of customization for you.  No matter how much you know, like, and trust me, chances are you need to speak with me first.  Therefore, the call-to-action on almost all of the primary pages is to fill out a brief form that leads to a phone call.
• Our blog is subtly structured in a specific way to increase the chances someone will call or e-mail to ask questions.  I’m not talking about the comment fields; it’s something else within the layout.  The website conversion point, in this case, is outreach on the part of the visitor.

Here are some of strategies that can get YOUR  inquiry forms filled out more often:

• During promotions for our teleseminars, inquiries go up about 40-50% vs. other times.  We’re hosting a teleseminar this afternoon.  We did a big push to the list yesterday.  As a result, we received as many inquiries in one day as we normally receive in a week.
• 30% of the inquiries we have received so far in 2012 come from folks who I interacted with inside a discussion group on Facebook or LinkedIn® who decided they wanted to explore at the next level and contacted us on their own volition.
• When I appear as a guest expert on someone else’s teleseminar, I work my telephone game there, too.  After all, it’s a TELE-seminar.  I once received two inquiries on a call where only five people were registered (that’s a 40% conversion rate).
• Teleseminars also drive opt-ins.  As a result of promoting my teleseminar in November 2011 through social media, we increased our overall opt-in list by almost 200 subscribers (almost all of whom are still with us – I checked yesterday).  On another call (where I was someone else’s guest presenter) with only eight live participants, I converted 100% of the attendees onto my subscriber list, thus kick-starting the conversion conversation.
• Webinars build know/like/trust.  Jim Palmer, The Newsletter Guru, reports that nearly 10% of folks who join No Hassle Newsletters or No Hassle Social Media do so shortly after attending one of his Higher Profits Webinars and filling out that webinar’s Q&A form.

Bottom line: once you have all your conversion mechanisms in line, create opportunities to work your Website Conversion Telephone Game.

Yes, you can.

- ARH

P.S. I have a proven formula to help you use your follow-ups to get more people on the phone.  Through Business-Boosting Coaching And Consulting I can help you develop it.