Lead capture pages or often known as splash pages and squeeze pages are one page websites designed with one purpose in mind. The focus of a squeeze page is to collect the name and email address of your visitors who may be interested in gathering more information from you on your selected niche topic. In order to entice your visitors to sign up to your email list and have the possibility to gain more sales in the future, you need to offer them something free that will benefit them or that’s they can’t get anywhere else.  Many people use ebooks or software that can be easily downloaded, and others offer an ecourse to teach a specific subject that will show how to make money or solve a problem.

These three steps will help you get your lead capture page set up and ready to build your list of email subscribers.

1. Develop the Lead Capture Page – There are several ways you can set up your page. Many networking marketing businesses use lead pages as an introduction to their business. They will have their header on the top, some pictures, introduction, bullet points, highlights and anything else they feel will help get people interested and encourage them to sign up to learn more and eventually join them in their business efforts.

If you are running a niche business, you could simply have a photo of the freebie that you are offering, list the benefits of the product, and then an autoresponder box where the visitor can fill in their name and email address for their free gift. If it is an ecourse or newsletter you are offering, you will want to tell your subscribers what you plan to teach them that will help them.

If you do not have any technical know-how, this doesn’t mean you can’t still build professional lead capture pages. There are some free services online like the Instant Squeeze Page Generator* that is a simple, fill in the blanks program. Each page is set up for you to either just click to choose the option you would like, or you can type your own information in the provided box. Once you have completed all eight steps, you are given a link to your finished page. You can then decide to leave it hosted on their website with a link back to them at the bottom of your page, or you can copy the code into an html editor, save it as an html page and upload it to host on your own server (this option may be for those with a little tech know-how, just not proficient with actual coding).

2. Give them the Good Stuff – When you get things set up, you may want to end up joining what is known as a giveaway event. This is where several marketers get together to offer freebies and build their list as a joint venture. If you do not have a free gift to offer, the Instant Squeeze Page Generator* membership will give you one as well.

Here is a quick screen shot of some of the layouts and possible formats you can choose for designing your lead capture pages.

Options for available gifts to choose:

If you don’t like the layout of something that you have chosen, you can simply click the back button to the step you want to change and select others until you get the look and feel you want.

3. Launch your New Page – After you have completed your lead capture pages, the next step to building your list is to let people know it is out there. You can add the link in signatures on forums, in groups, on your emails, and more. You can use free classifieds, article marketing or any other free or paid method of advertising that you find works.

Now get out there and start creating your own lead capture pages and build up your list which will help make you more money and grow your business!

As always, if you have any questions or need more clarification on anything you read, just post a comment and I will respond to you. I would love to see some of your completed lead capture pages for those of you wanting to share when you are done.

*affiliate link

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Thanks to my guest blogger today, Sue Painter – The Confident Marketer.  Sue has wonderful insights for growing your online business.  Enjoy!

I’ve just finished three days with Fabienne Fredrickson, where I’ve had the chance to talk with many entrepreneurs and solo professionals and hear about their businesses. One of things that hits me hard is that so many people told me they have either a very small database of potential clients (prospects) or, despite years in business, have no list at all. This is a major issue for entrepreneurs, one that will quickly hamper their success and make it a lot tougher to make much money. After hearing this so many times both at this workshop and over the past few years, I’ve wondered why this is such a common problem. I’ve wondered if entrepreneurs don’t realize why their list is truly the heart of their business.

If you have a business but no database (commonly called a list) of prospects, you are in heavy water. You have not created a program to pull customers toward what you have to offer, you don’t know who has been interested in your products or services up until now (because you have failed to gather their contact information into a database) and, worst of all, you have no way at all to reach out and touch those prospects over and over again, keeping them in your marketing system. Instead of having a golden egg that makes you money, you have a badly cracked egg.

• Prospects need and want to hear from you over and over again. Research shows that most people will not buy from you on the first contact (we’re talking contact by e-mail or Internet here). It takes an average of 6 to 9 contacts. Why is this? People want to feel like they know and trust you before they open up their wallets. You are probably just the same way. And, over the Internet, it’s harder to build that know and trust factor because you are not standing right there in person, face to face. (By the way, this is one reason that video works well in Internet marketing, but that’s a whole other blog post!)
• If you don’t have a system that automatically gathers up the first name and e-mail address of people who hit your website, you never even know who might have been interested in buying from you. You’ve paid to put up a website, but it isn’t supporting an automated marketing system. This is a sad thing! Don’t you want a good portion of your marketing to be automated? It sure does save time and money! And it helps you to pay for that website’s design and hosting, too.
• Every business prospers only to the extent that it keeps new customers coming in the door. Even businesses that are running at capacity and can’t currently take more customers still must be marketing, because customers come and go. Constantly building your list of prospects and keeping in touch with them so that they will remember you when they do need what you are offering is critical.

Sue Painter is the President and founder of The Confident Marketer.  She works with bright, driven individuals who have a burning desire to create financially successful work that aligns with their inner vision.   Sue is passionate about helping solopreneurs create work that is satisfying and financially successful.

Sue has identified niche markets and successfully led individuals and organizations to profitably meet those markets for over twenty years.  She is a former contributing writer for Massage Magazine, where she specialized in practice building, marketing, and business articles.  The previous Business Editor of Tradebank International’s monthly member newsletter, she has published dozens of articles focused on marketing, networking, and customer service.

Sue is a certified Book Yourself Solid coach, an expert author for ezinearticles.com, and an expert for both Solo-E.com and SelfGrowth.com.  She is a member of Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Mastermind Group and serves as one of Ali’s Platinum Mastermind Leaders.   Natural Awakenings Magazine recently honored Sue as one of the top ten “Women of Wellness” in her city.

It used to be, before the telephone, before cellphones, before the Internet, sending notes was the norm – we sent them out to invite people to events, thank them for gifts, send out our condolences and even just to say hello. Even when doing business, everyone from shopkeepers to oil barons sent out cards to begin relationship and seal deals. These days, with all the technology available to us, it’s almost accepted to send out a text message that says “Nice 2 meet U. C u soon.”

Sending out cards and notes may seem archaic, but they seem to be coming back in vogue, perhaps because people hardly get that personal touch anymore (think about it – compared to a decade ago, how many birthday or Christmas cards do you get a year?) Cards can also be used for business – and will definitely put on a lasting impression to your clients.

Have no idea how to begin? Here are some tips to get you started:

Have an updated contact list – having a list will make it easier for you to organize your campaign, but make sure your information is complete and updated. It would be pretty embarrassing if you were to send the wrong card to the wrong person or not have it reach your important client.

Select your message carefully – if you’re sending out holiday cards, read the message carefully to make sure you won’t offend anyone (assuming you’re sending out a lot of cards.) You wouldn’t want to risk sending out something which can make you look bad, when your intention was the opposite.

Use titles – You may be on first-name basis with your clients, but using their titles on the front of the cards shows respect and gives importance to their achievements, so make sure you include that “Dr.”, “Mr.,” “Esq.” etc. with their names.

Spell Check! –  OMG, this is a biggie! Make sure you read each and every line and make sure every word is spelled correctly, lest you make some embarrassing faux pas.

Send them on time – get your holiday cards out early, especially for businesses. They may be leaving work early to take time off. For thank you cards, try to send them no more than a week after, or they may forget what you are thanking them for!

Remember, building relationships is the core of any business and key to its success. Taking the time out to do simple tasks can cement your reputation with the right people. Don’t always have the time to do everything yourself? Get a little help and still have that personal touch with Send Out Cards and it only takes a few minutes to choose, write and send your card. Click on the link today to find out more.

Click Here – Send Out Cards if you are looking for any of the above!

Whether you have an Internet-based or a brick and mortar business, we all want more traffic or customers coming through our doors, right?   There is an online tool that can make a major impact on your marketing effort to bring those customers in.  It’s called Google Local Business.  It’s quick, easy and best of all – Free!

Here is a short video that explains everything about Google Local Business.

Isn’t that great?  Get your business set up on Google Local Business now and get ahead of your competitors!

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Does your network work for you?  Mine sure does!

I attended my monthly eWomenNetwork luncheon yesterday which is one of the highlights of my month.  I love seeing all my friends and re-connecting each month.  And I really enjoy meeting the guests who have dropped by to check out our group.

Plus the door prizes are great too! Take a look at what I won.  They’re called Cakesicles and they are Yummy!

eWomenNetwork is based on an Accelerated Networking concept where you have an opportunity to speak directly to at least 14 people about you and your business.  It’s fast-paced but very effective and in that short period you can learn a lot about the people at your table and how you can help them grow their business.

By attending these monthly meetings, along with other events throughout the month, you build a strong bold with other members and can easily refer them when someone needs their product or service.  The motto of eWomenNetwork is to “give first, share always.”  And this group of women (and a growing number of men) do exactly that.  As we gathered at the buffet line today, I spoke to several people who told me that they had referred me to someone at their table.  They were able to do this because, they knew me and the type of services I offered and we had a relationship as friends and members of eWomenNetwork.  So basically, my “network” was working for me through the entire room.  And that’s the power of networking!  When someone else can promote you or your business, that is true networking.

So is your network working for you?  If not, I strongly suggestion you find an eWomenNetwork chapter in your city and get connected. (and tell them I referred you!)

I love to network! Of course, I love being around people, so it makes it very easy for me to network. When you are just starting to grow your business, networking is crucial to your success. I know it was mine!

These are the top three ways I network to keep my business growing, meet new and interesting people and keep my sanity as a home-based business owner!

Join Local Networking Groups like:

• Business and Professional Groups
• Groups targeted to your niche
• Local Chamber
• BNI/REO or other organized referral exchange group
• eWomenNetwork Luncheons

Form your own Mastermind Group

• Invite others who are looking for connections, support and brainstorming opportunities
• Build from each other strengths
• Share each person’s business with your list and ask them to do the same
• Look for ways to work together as partners to grow your business, i.e., teleseminars, joint venture partnerships, affiliate partnerships, etc.

Social Neworking (This is my favorite!)

• Establish your profile on as many social media sites as you can effectively manage
• At least, start with Facebook and move to Twitter
• Give and share on these sites
• Don’t come out of the gate, asking for the sale
• Drive traffic back to your website through the many tools available using social media
• Have Fun!

These are just a few of the things I do to grow my business and it has been working pretty successfully. So give it a try!

If you know me, you know I love Facebook and work hard to keep up with all the new features and applications that can make this explosive social media site work for me and my clients. Last week, Facebook rolled out several new features and I’m going to share two of them with you.

Facebook had offered the ability to filter your friends by the city they lived in, but recently disabled this feature. However, as of last week, they have now re-instated it.

Click the Browse by: Drop Down Box to select to sort by city, workplace, high school or college

So basically, you can sort your friends by the city in which they live. Why would you need this? You might want to visit some of your Facebook friends if you are planning a trip to the city where they live or you might want to schedule meetings to introduce yourself and your business if you are in the same city. Or you could plan a conference and look for joint venture partners in the area you are hosting it.

The other feature that Facebook introduced last week (but is not available as of this post) was a feature similar to a Twitter ID using the @ symbol. Now you can type the @ symbol and a list of your friends will drop down so that you can “tag” them in your status update. It’s similar to tagging of a photo, but without the photo! You can tag groups, Pages, events and more.

The @ symbol will provide a dropdown box in which to select the name of the person you are tagging. The symbol will not show in the post when it’s live.

Once you have tagged a friend, page or event, the tag will turn blue and be clickable to the person’s information on Facebook based on their privacy settings. The person you tagged will receive a notification and a wall story and also, will be notified when someone comments on the tagged post.

These new Facebook features will add more opportunities to really target your marketing and enhance your communication with your friends, partners, clients and prospects. Keep watching Facebook for them to unveil the tag feature. It is planned to be rolled out to all users over the next few weeks.

I just spent the weekend with about 3000 girlfriends! Man, what a slumber party!

Here are some of my Knoxville girlfriends in OUR limo on our way to dinner.

It was the 9th Annual eWomenNetwork International Conference in Dallas and to say I had a great time is quite an understatement. This event was loaded with incredible speakers, trainers and thought leaders who freely shared their expertise and their road to success with us.

From sessions on finance to personal growth, social media and publishing to how to change your Brain to succeed; these breakout sessions were worth thousands of dollars if attended separately. However, it was a girlfriend’s weekend and it was all given freely. New friendships were made and existing ones were made stronger.

Not to brag (too much!) but one of the highlights of my weekend was the unveiling of the eWomenNetwork Facebook Fan Page that I developed and will be managing for eWomenNetwork! Yea! How exciting! The intention is to have this Fan Page as an outlet for eWomenNetwork members, as well as potential members, to have a voice directly to Founder, Sandra Yancey and President, Kym Yancey. They will both be commenting on the site and will answer questions as they come up.

As with most conferences there was an exhibit area where vendors gave away samples and promotional items. They were all great. I stopped by the Best Buy/Geek Squad booth looking to charge my cell phone because I had left my charger at home. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a charger to fit my phone (which is one reason I’m getting a new one), but they asked me to drop my card in for the 42″ Plasma TV they were giving away. So I said, OK, but I never win anything.

After I got off the plane and was driving home, I checked my voice mail and heard a message from the Geek Squad that I had WON the TV! Now that was too cool!

So overall my weekend was Great! I gained many new friends, some awesome ideas on maximizing my business and a new TV. Can’t get any better than that!

Have you ever wanted to run a business from home? A lot of entrepreneurs are now relying on the power of the Internet to market their products or services. Home-based businesses are gaining more and more. Maybe it’s time for you to consider becoming an Online Business Entrepreneur.

As baby boomers juggle taking care of their children and their parents many of them are forced to leave their jobs just so they can manage their family responsibilities. When this happens families struggle to meet their financial obligations with only one income.But the good news is that when you’re at home and taking care of your family, you can run an online business!

There are a lot of home-based business opportunities online. Look for business opportunities that you are already skilled in, or take a leap of faith and start a business that you are truly passionate about. Search out training opportunities to assist you in beginning your new business. If you have the qualities of an entrepreneur, an Internet home-based business will be the answer to your needs.

You can quickly become an entrepreneur with just a computer, an Internet connection and a desire to succeed. However, be sure that the business is legitimate to avoid any problems in the future, by getting all the appropriate licenses and permits for your area.

Tomorrow I’ll share one of the easiest options for starting an Internet home-based business.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Prior to starting my Online Business Management company, I owned a Professional Organizing Service, called Completely Organized. I have always had a knack for sorting, stacking, and putting like things together, so it came quite easy for me to share my natural gifts with others through a business. The unfortunate part was that this was prior to Social Networking and my market was local, and they weren’t ready to pay someone to get them organized.

But I still have those skills and I use them in my business today. Now I have to be honest. I’m not always good at doing them, I know what to do and I talk a good game, but sometimes I just don’t manage to stay as organized as I would like. So in honor of “Organize Your Home Office Day”, here are a few things that will keep you organized and start and end each day with a clean desk.

• Start your day by reviewing your To-Do List (more about this further down)
• Tackle your priority tasks first
• Set times throughout the day to check email and respond. Close it down when you have finished
• Make phone calls in bundles (except for urgent calls)
• When working on projects, let the calls go to voice mail and return them when finished with the project
• Keep current files in a stack-file on your desk or nearby for easy retrieval
• When working with documents make a decision to only handle once – file, follow-up, or shred
• Keep all your tools handy, but tucked away, not on your desktop
• At the end of the day, review your To-Do list again. Congratulate yourself on your successes and progress. Start a new one with the top three priorities of the next day. These are the three things, that will make the biggest impact on your business if you didn’t get them completed.

Well, that’s my list. Hope you found something useful to help you get more organized. What are some of the things you do daily to stay organized?