Does Your Squeeze Page Try Too Hard?

The other day I talked about landing pages and three things that every landing page should consider. I've gotten a lot of great feedback on those tips and some positive responses from people who are already seeing differences. So, today I want to delve into a very special kind of landing page that too often gets tossed together entirely wrong.

A squeeze page is a pretty simple concept when you come down to it. Boil down all the theories and marketing tools and a squeeze page does one thing and one thing only. It provides a valuable answer to your prospects in exchange for their email address and name.

It doesn't sell them anything.

It doesn't send them to a vendor site.

It simply finds a way to swap information you have for information you want. But, time and time again I see squeeze pages that try way too hard. Seriously guys, if you're trying to gather email addresses, it's a lot easier than you're making it.

What Your Readers Want

Every reader has something they need out of you. They typed it into a search engine or clicked on a link to find it and your job is to provide that need for them. The more urgent the need, more they are willing to give up for an answer. That's how sales work in general. You seek out those urgent solution seekers and offer a product they can use.

A squeeze page does much the same thing, but it works slightly differently. It needs to take someone that may not have quite as urgent of a need and convince them to give over an email address for a solution. The key here is that they get your solution for free.

Providing Real Value

So, to really drive their interest in the trade you need to create value in your squeeze page that they can appreciate. What are they getting out of you that they can use immediately? To start with, you should offer a free report with a handful of useful pieces of information. Lists of tips, how to guides, or tutorials are all great freebies to give away.

In addition, your squeeze page can be loaded down with tons of great info-centric articles that help them trust you. It's like a free sample. They get a taste of what you know and what you have to offer and immediately have a good idea of whether your free guide is going to satiate their appetite for information. Most of the time, the answer is yes with most squeeze pages like this boasting opt-in rates as high as 40%.

The key, which you should always remember, is to keep it simple and not try to sell anything. Don't even mention that you might someday pitch a product. Just offer a solution and in future emails, after the free report and a few good newsletters, you can start promoting your offer.

Sounds complicated, but it doesn't get any simpler. It's the classic squeeze page and there are guys and gals out there making fortunes doing this and this alone.