Kill Your Squeeze Page
YUP. That’s what I wrote alright.
Kill your squeeze page. It’s deadly.
I know, I know. You probably heard at some seminar how a squeeze page can skyrocket your e-mail list. True, it can. But if improperly used, it kills your opportunities to get search engine rankings and media coverage.
Want to know why?
Want to know what’s a “squeeze page?”
Then dive into my April article for Entrepreneur magazine, called "Squeeze Play." (Okay, okay, you don’t have to kill it…completely. Read on to find out why. Squeeze pages, do you love ‘em or loathe ‘em?)
Squeeze Play
Offering your site visitors something for free can help grow your contact list--but be careful not to drive them away.
Growing your e-mail list is essential. The bigger your list, the more people you can communicate with over and over. Yet persuading people to opt in can be a challenge. A squeeze page, which offers something free in exchange for an e-mail address and possibly other contact information, has been heralded as the list-building magic bullet. But be careful--it can backfire.
Generally speaking, a squeeze page isn't part of your website. It's a stand-alone page that doesn't link anywhere else. Nor does it feature information other than your free offer. Eliminating distractions is smart. This keeps people focused and gets them to opt in.
It's often effective to use a squeeze page as a landing page for individual marketing campaigns. For example, you can buy an online ad, promote your free offer in it, then direct viewers to the associated squeeze page. Or you can write web articles and then link to a squeeze page from your byline (a short bio). Your options are limitless--that's the good news.
The bad news is that many business professionals are killing their publicity potential. They're using a squeeze page as the entry page to their website.
First, search engine spiders can't fill out forms, which means they can't get to your site's content. Don't block spiders from giving your site free rankings.
Second, journalists searching the web won't see your site, either. Most won't bother forking over their contact information hoping your free offer has something they might want to quote--they'll move on instead.
A squeeze page that acts as a gatekeeper to a website can also scare off potential customers. They might opt in if you or your company is a trusted name. However, with growing concerns over spam, spyware and viruses, people are leery about opting in to something that can harm them.
Although a squeeze page is a powerful list-building tool, when used to hide your compelling content from people until they opt in, you risk losing them. Carefully choose when and where to use one.
Entrepreneur
Kill your squeeze page. It’s deadly.
I know, I know. You probably heard at some seminar how a squeeze page can skyrocket your e-mail list. True, it can. But if improperly used, it kills your opportunities to get search engine rankings and media coverage.
Want to know why?
Want to know what’s a “squeeze page?”
Then dive into my April article for Entrepreneur magazine, called "Squeeze Play." (Okay, okay, you don’t have to kill it…completely. Read on to find out why. Squeeze pages, do you love ‘em or loathe ‘em?)
Squeeze Play
Offering your site visitors something for free can help grow your contact list--but be careful not to drive them away.
Growing your e-mail list is essential. The bigger your list, the more people you can communicate with over and over. Yet persuading people to opt in can be a challenge. A squeeze page, which offers something free in exchange for an e-mail address and possibly other contact information, has been heralded as the list-building magic bullet. But be careful--it can backfire.
Generally speaking, a squeeze page isn't part of your website. It's a stand-alone page that doesn't link anywhere else. Nor does it feature information other than your free offer. Eliminating distractions is smart. This keeps people focused and gets them to opt in.
It's often effective to use a squeeze page as a landing page for individual marketing campaigns. For example, you can buy an online ad, promote your free offer in it, then direct viewers to the associated squeeze page. Or you can write web articles and then link to a squeeze page from your byline (a short bio). Your options are limitless--that's the good news.
The bad news is that many business professionals are killing their publicity potential. They're using a squeeze page as the entry page to their website.
First, search engine spiders can't fill out forms, which means they can't get to your site's content. Don't block spiders from giving your site free rankings.
Second, journalists searching the web won't see your site, either. Most won't bother forking over their contact information hoping your free offer has something they might want to quote--they'll move on instead.
A squeeze page that acts as a gatekeeper to a website can also scare off potential customers. They might opt in if you or your company is a trusted name. However, with growing concerns over spam, spyware and viruses, people are leery about opting in to something that can harm them.
Although a squeeze page is a powerful list-building tool, when used to hide your compelling content from people until they opt in, you risk losing them. Carefully choose when and where to use one.
Entrepreneur
posted by Cat Seda at
7:19 PM
2 Comments:
Cat,
Your reasoning behind the advice to "kill your squeeze page" is rather instructive, and I agree with you to some extent.
In my opinion however, I believe that a squeeze page, or an opt-in box has its merits as well as limitations. Personally, because I do not believe in bribery of any form, I do not subscribe to the notion of giving freebies in order to collect names of potential Clients. Instead, I give freebies if I feel that the material will help the growth of my team members. If you have a good product/service to deliver, and you present this in a convincing manner that shows the true or perceived value, you wouldn't have to bundle your pre-sell pitch with a bunch of frivolities that usually end up not being used by the Client anyway.
A squeeze page is a good alternative to Pay per click (PPC) search engines method if you have time, you are on a tight budget and your website delivers original and search-engine-optimized content to its subscribers. Your point becomes even more relevant when squeeze pages are designed solely to list-build with no direct benefit to its subscribers. The constant bombardment of post sign-up subscribers with campaign stuff then reduces the relationship to mere 'noise' and eventual bulge in the unsubscribe list, which nobody ever talks about.
By
Anonymous, at 10:45 PM
Very good points, Catherine.
As with any Internet marketing tactic, there's an ethical approach to using squeeze pages, an unethical approach and then there's slimy spam.
By
Cat Seda, at 10:15 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home