Turning Your Website into a Gold Mine of New Leads: Part 1 - Mike Parrella
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Nov 04, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
Imagine this scenario… You walk into the computer store, scouting out the next cool gadget you’re going to buy. You come across some pretty nifty stuff - stuff you can definitely see added to your collection at home.
But you’re not ready to buy that day. So you read up on the product, note the price, take some mental notes, and head home.
Guess what? People do the same thing when they visit your website.
Most people who come to your website are “window shoppers.” They want what you’ve got - but they’re not ready to buy now.
Trouble is, most window shoppers get caught up in life. And they put that purchase on the back burner.
But imagine that you could contact them a few days or a week later, remind them of the powerful benefits of your program, and give them a call to action to sign up now?
How many window shoppers could you convert?
A lot, right? I mean, they’re interested in your program after all. They just forgot because life got a little hectic.
Well, here’s how to make them remember - and get them to buy:
In two words: e-mail marketing. With e-mail marketing you can send those powerful reminders right to your prospects’ inboxes. Once or twice a week you can give them a “hello” and remind them about why your program is going rock their worlds.
You can offer web specials and give powerful, free information that helps their lives - while positioning you as a total expert.
In a nutshell, here’s how you can get started now so you can begin converting those window shoppers into students today!
1. Get e-mail marketing software
There are companies that do one thing, and one thing alone: make e-mail marketing easy and simple.
The first thing to do is sign up with one of these companies. Their services usually start at around $19.99 a month - which isn’t bad considering you’ll be making a lot more off of it.
I recommend AWeber most highly. However, these are the most popular companies:
Once you sign up, everything you need to get started is right there on their website.
2. Set up an Opt-In Form on Your Website
The next step is to set up your lead capture. Any of the above companies will let you create an “opt-in” form. That’s basically a form that goes on your site, where people enter their names and e-mails (or just e-mails) in exchange for some sort of information.
Here’s an example of the Opt-In form from one of my kids’ Martial Arts sites. [This is a custom job that we do for schools, so you won’t be able to get one just like this from these companies.]
Once prospects enter their info - they’re in your system!
This leads us to Step 3…
3. Create a Powerful, FREE Offer
Now that your form is set up, it’s time to create an offer. The reason you want an offer is that you want to create the desire in your website visitors to enter their e-mail addresses.
The following are not good offers:
- Enter your e-mail now for a Free Introductory Offer
- Enter your e-mail now to receive our newsletter
These are the most popular offers - but they’re not effective!
For my kids’ Martial Arts website, the offer I use is a free report on building your child’s confidence. Because it’s parents who are coming to my site, I created a free report to help them solve a problem.
Your free offer should do this too: it should solve a problem that your target market is experiencing. And since you’re such an expert at what you do, it won’t be very hard to sit down and write a three- to five-page report.
Or, you can record a video… record an mp3… etc.
Just make sure your offer is something your target market really wants. I mean, make it so good they’d buy it. That’s how you get a lot of leads.
And finally...
4. Create follow-up e-mails
The next step is to go into your e-mail software and create follow-up e-mails. These are e-mails that your list of subscribers will automatically receive.
Here’s the cool thing: you can time your e-mails, too. So you can pre-write 20 e-mails - and set the timing so your list only receives one every week.
Something to think about: not every e-mail should be a pitch! In fact, some of my e-mails only have useful information that my target market wants to know.
Also, I write my e-mails personally. By this, I mean I write them as though I were writing to only one person. So I say “you” instead of “everyone”… or instead of “you guys.”
These are the kinds of e-mails I use in variation…
- Pure Pitch
- Pure content (bite-sized pieces of really good info that solve a problem for your target market)
- Content, followed by a pitch
Switch those around and you can’t go wrong!
Okay - so now you know the basics of capturing leads off of your website… and turning them into buyers. However, you may be thinking, “When will I have time for all of this???”
If so, check this out…
Because I know how much work it takes to run a school (hey, I run one myself!) I realize you might not have time to do all of this…
Or you just might not feel like it!
So, to help you even more, here’s what I’ve done…
I’ve created a system where I do all of this for you! Over these past two years, I’ve devoted thousands of hours of my time to mastering Internet marketing.
I have an e-mail marketing system that works - and I’ve hired professional writers to create powerful e-mails for my schools that convert window shoppers into buyers like crazy.
In fact my websites - the websites my company builds for hundreds of schools across the country – each get on average 17 to 31 signups every single month. And a good portion of those enrollments wind up signing up as a result of our e-mail marketing campaigns.
Now, it’s not available yet… however… it will be very soon, on November 18th...
However, when we open this thing up to the public, we’re only going to take on a limited number of school owners.
After all, it takes time to set up this system per person, and we want to make sure we don’t take on more than we can handle!
So, to get on the early bird list, and know about it first so you can hop on board as soon as we launch…
Just CLICK RIGHT HERE and enter your e-mail address. That’s it.
Then, before we make this available to anyone else, you’ll know first, and you’ll have the opportunity to sign up right away.
Want a little extra help? Then come to my FREE webinar next Thursday, Nov. 11th at 1 pm EST, E-mail Marketing Strategies: Tips to Convert Prospects into Students. I’ll talk about how to build an effective e-mail marketing campaign including how to write great content and avoid common e-mail marketing mistakes.
The first 100 schools to register will receive a free report, E-mail Marketing for Martial Arts Schools: Tips, Tricks, and Strategies That Will Send a Flood of New Students into Your School Practically Overnight! Be sure to register right away though. Due to the high demand for this topic, the webinar is limited to 150 seats. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
One last thing…
There’s a chance that you’re in a bad spot right now with your school. Or maybe you’re doing great, but could be doing better.
Just know this: no matter how bad things may seem, you can always turn them around!
A few years ago, I was an inch away from shutting down my school. Now I have almost 600 students and my school is busting at the seams! It was Internet marketing that made the difference for my biz. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.
Take a sec to comment below and let me know what you think of this article. Don’t forget to share this with your buddies via the links below, and be sure to stay tuned for Part 2 of this article coming soon!
Have a great one,
Michael Parrella
Michael Parrella has been one of the Martial Arts industry's top professionals for almost 20 years.
He is an expert in Internet marketing for Martial Arts schools. His own Long Island, New York location has enrolled over 500 people in the last 12 months, just from his websites.
Michael is also a published author and CEO of Full Contact Online Marketing, a Martial Arts Internet marketing and website design firm. They build 'recruitment-style' websites for schools, where prospects can enroll online for different memberships. His company's websites have also been able to produce extraordinary results for school owners all over the country.
