WDTalk

As you search the Internet for squeeze page strategies, remember that the rules (Google algorithms) were changed recently, and many once successful one page squeeze pages fell by the wayside. But before I get ahead of myself, what exactly are squeeze pages?

By definition – Once upon a time, squeeze pages were defined as a single web page with the sole purpose of capturing information for follow-up marketing. The ultimate goal of the page was to obtain the visitor’s email address. Why? To build a list of highly targeted prospects (seems fairly simple).

Times have changed – To avoid penalties and drops in SERPS (search engine results pages), squeeze pages are now being designed across multiple pages, each with relevant content. The goal however remains the same – to build a list that affords you the opportunity to present visitors with multiple sales messages over time, develop relationships, and cross-sell other products.

Conversion Strategies – will vary depending on your goal. The best conversion strategies focus on benefits and solutions. These can be either short or long term. Success stories work well, as do freebies – but we need to backtrack again. With the onslaught of spam, convincing anyone to give up their email address means your sales copy has to be compelling and you have to convey trust.

The Trust Factor – is huge, and I contend it’s the most important element of your site. Prospects buy from sales reps, businesses and organizations they know, like and TRUST. So how can you demonstrate trust online?

• Add Your Picture
• Add Your Signature
• Proofread your copy for spelling and grammatical structure
• Have a Privacy Policy
• Use Color Psychology

Successful Squeeze Pages – often use a short video and opt in form at the very top of the home page for visitors who want to sign up immediately, followed by content that essentially explains benefits and solutions in greater detail – with another opt in form at the bottom.

Center Your Pages – Pages that are left or right aligned don’t work well with larger PC monitors, and often look out of place due to the large amount of space left to one side.

Use Ample White Space – Resist loading up your pages with everything imaginable. Focus is important. Use white space to guide visitors as they navigate your site. Clutter simply invites confusion.

Consistency – This reverts back to short term versus long term memory retention and branding principles. Try to use the same terminology in your prompts and menus.

KISS – We’ve all see the term. Keeping it simple works. Highlight the key products or services you offer on your home page, then provide more in-depth information about them deeper in your site. Don’t try to squeeze everything onto one page that scrolls forever.

Embrace all five senses – reach out to your visitors in a way that they’ll best understand what you have to offer. Use a mix of graphics and short blocks of text to capture their attention.

Employ analytics – to determine how visitors reach your site, how long they stay & if they return. If your site has a high bounce rate, perhaps the search query doesn’t match well with your content, or the content may need to be revamped.

Enhance Credibility and Trust – Add an About Us page. In a era where we’re being warned to avoid certain websites, as they may infect your computer with all sorts of malware, it’s important to convey credibility at first glance. Let’s face it – the design of your site directly relates to the perception of your professionalism.

Color and Layout – speaks volumes about your business. Color themes are perceived differently in global markets, so it’s vitally important to understand your target audience. What works for car dealerships doesn’t necessarily work for furniture retailers. Research your competition – emulate success.

Online Store? Increase your conversions with options, discount codes and freebies. I know if I’m comparing products and one vendor offers an immediate rebate, I’ll opt for that every day over the option to mail in some coupon and wait for weeks to get a check back.

Updated Dec 27 2011

Web design is about perception (by the visitor) - so user-centric designs lead to more successful & profitable websites. The key here is to approach your design from your visitor’s point of view. How do you see them interacting with your site?

Just as in personal encounters – first impressions are killer. Load up your home page with clutter and you’ll lose your visitor faster than …. well, faster than my dog can woof down a hot dog.

Ponder this – what do you do when you stumble across a site that has long blocks of unbroken text on the home page? Most visitors simply glance at new pages, then maybe scan some text. They’re searching for something, so if they find that SOMETHING or even something vaguely similar, more often than not, they’ll skip everything else on that page and click through.

What are your visitors thinking? Basically, users’ habits on the Web aren’t that different from customers’ habits in a store. Once they find something of interest and click through, if the new page doesn’t immediate match up to their expectations, what do they do? HIT THE BACK BUTTON !! Why? Surfers have become accustomed to instant gratification, and if not on your site, certainly on your competition’s website.

Once you’ve captured their attention – what factors motivate visitors to convert? Converting to me could be giving up their email address, going to livechat to speak to an operator, filling in a quote request or actually calling via telephone for more info. Of course, ordering online works well also. Here, I believe great content out-trumps visual design. As far back as I can remember (in sales), solutions and NOT products or services carry the day. If your solution eases some pain & is reasonable, the odds increase exponentially that visitors will buy.

Have you ever heard the term - “Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak”? Buying means making a decision, and that decision making process begins with a need to ease some pain, then logically progresses (in person) through stages of talking, thinking and actions toward closing the sale.

Online though, there are no body clues – no sales representative to nod their head up and down, looking for a yes response, cueing the prospect to follow suit. Online, compelling landing & checkout pages are vital to your success.

Buying anything is an emotional process – for some much more so than others, like me. Using the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell to evoke an emotion (tied to your offer) helps reinforce your solution in the eyes of your prospect.

Closing the sale – isn’t simply a yes or a no. It’s a logical progression from a search query to the point “Add to Cart. “ The term, “Always Be Closing,” applies to each and every page the prospect touches until the order is completed, and really should continue beyond that, with either a survey or recommendations for other products and services based on what they just purchased.

Giving your prospect too many choices – or making the navigation from Point “Search” to Point “Buy’ difficult, is just as bad.

Revised Nov 7, 2011

Colors affect your mood – mentally and physically, and this varies by geographic location and culture, and even time. When you’re designing your website, what mood are you looking to portray – a call to action, a sense of loyalty, something safe or very professional?

As designers – we need to understand both color theory and the psychology of color, especially with ecommerce applications. Red has always been perceived as a mood stimulus invoking aggression or a call-to-action, but it can also be perceived as STOP. In China, it symbolizes celebration and luck.

Orange is actually the preferred color – for increased click-through “ADD to Cart” or “Order Here” images. For an online business, combinations in shades of red, blue and brown work well. Blue lends a perception of loyalty, while brown provides overall balance. For professional sites, white is normally a great choice, but in eastern cultures, white symbolizes coldness and sterility.

One of my favorite colors – is purple (very exotic), but purple doesn’t fit everywhere. Why do Kings, Queens and even priests wear purple robes – because purple implies royalty and sophistication. One place it does fit is in sites about interior design, accentuating wealth.

Everyone Is Going Green – because it represents nature. Its cool quality soothes, calms and has great healing powers, which is why it’s often worn in operating rooms by surgeons. If your target audience is China or France, green is not a great choice for packaging solutions. In China, green hats mean a man’s wife is cheating on him. In India, green is the color of Islam.

I just stumbled upon an article at wpmu.org - that addresses the hidden dangers of searching for free WordPress themes. With over 25 million users, WordPress dominates the blogging stratosphere. While most web hosting providers have some form of quick install for WordPress, most do not offer themes beyond the default – so where do you look for a theme that best matches your business culture, mission, services and products (safely)?

Their recommendation:

• Theme Shaper
• ThemeLab
• Theme Hybrid
• Arras Theme
• Smashing Magazine

If you want to test your theme for hidden encrypted or static info, this article does recommend some tools

• Manual base64 decode

Useful Plugins

• Theme Authenticity Checker
• Exploit Scanner
• Theme Check

Think about this for a moment. When you stumble across two websites in the same niche and one has a mix of text and graphics and the other has straight text, which would leave the better impression – given all else was equal?

First impressions are made within the first few seconds
Countless studies have concluded that first impressions are made within the first few seconds of visiting a website. Impressions based on text take longer, simply because of the time it takes to read through the content. Impressions based on a mixture of graphics and text can project a broad range of perceptions within seconds. Those could include the size of your company, the scope of the products or services you offer, and whether your visitor should hang around to shop.

An example – if you include a picture of your brick & mortar business with a mailing address, would that convert to trust and stability? If you included a picture of yourself or your staff with short bio’s, would that convert to “know” in know, like and trust – the three key ingredients to selling anything online or offline?

Can graphics be used to make a connection with your visitors?
A graphic that conveys emotion automatically makes a connection with your visitor. That connection can be one of comfort, hunger, curiosity or any number of emotions. Just as the correct use of white space can lead visitors from point A to point Purchase, graphic optimization of your website has shown to increase conversion ratios – the stuff all ecommerce entrepreneurs love.

Color themes
I’m sure you’ve stumbled on sites just as I have, that blind you with their color themes. Even if you have the best content, products and pricing, visitors will likely leave before finding that out. Don’t underestimate the importance of a good color theme.

Eye Path
Just as it’s important to be found in the first ten results on search engine queries, it’s equally important to immediately lead visitors to your website, graphically, to your Value Proposition or Unique Selling Point. Eye path should intuitively lead visitors to your Call to Action.

Product Graphics
Generally, less text in graphics implies higher quality. Great designs can double or triple your page views, return visits, time on site, and conversion ratios.

Attention to detail
I’ve also seen some shopping carts recently, where the drop down menus don’t match the images. Attention to detail is important. And I don’t know about everyone else, but small thumbnails don’t cut the mustard, if I can’t click to enlarge the image – with some solution focused caption.

Image size in bytes
Site speed is so very important now, as visitors won’t hang around waiting for images to download. I closely relate this to the fast food industry. Just last week, I waited 15 minutes in line at a drive thru, then gave up and drove to the restaurant next to it. Thankfully, my wife was understanding. I was on a you fly – I buy mission. Not only will visitors move on, but Google may penalize you in their Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) – further adversely affecting your conversion ratios.

Bottom Line
Great graphics unarguably translate to improved sales. If you’re selling a recurring service, one lost sale can equate to a lifetime loss of thousands of dollars. The look and feel of your website is an investment in your company or organization. Professional graphic design is well worth the investment, in both branding and sales – and first impressions!