Okay gentlemen – most of the women reading this will nod their heads in agreement when I say…

Commitment is good

Now before all the guys out there panic and start running – let me clarify what I’m talking about. In the world of marketing and business it is a good thing to get your prospects to commit.

The goal is to entice prospects to give you their contact information. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask for an email address.

Getting a visitor’s email is the single most important goal for your website

I keep talking about email capture again and again because it is THAT important to your social media and online marketing. When you get a prospect’s email, you get control and permission.

An email address gives you control of the marketing relationship. If you are relying on prospects to return to your website later on their own – you’re delusional.

In defense of prospects world-wide, it’s not their fault. They simply can’t keep up with the fire hose of information coming at them every day. Most people will welcome relevant and helpful emails targeted to meet their needs. Deep down, prospects want you to have control of the marketing relationship so they don’t have to think.

An email address also gives you permission to follow up. Each time a prospect subscribes to your email list – image them standing in a crowd raising their hand and saying… “I’m interested in your products and services.” They are giving you permission to market to them.

A few tips on getting emails from your prospects

• Be sure to have an email capture form on your website. The solution we use is Aweber. I’ve written a lot about using email opt in forms here and here.
• When using an email capture form – be clear on the value that you will provide in return for a prospect email address. Offer to give them a free report, video, download, coupon, etc.
• Many smart marketing professionals create print ads that send prospects to landing pages with email opt in forms on them. This is a great idea. The problem is – when prospects visit the web page many won’t enter their name into your email list. A better option is to provide an email address that prospects respond to that will automatically subscribe them to your list. This will result in 100% opt ins.

Imagine your business as a lead capture machine

Imagine the cycle of success you will create by inviting prospects to commit by giving you their email address – which in turn gives you permission and control in the marketing process.

With a solid email list you can alert people (who have already committed to you that they are interested) with new products and services.

Just think of the cost savings! By building an email list you are building a future database of potential customers.

Don’t forget that people value their emails. You can’t abuse the relationship with your prospect. Continually offer value in your emails. Look to improve the lives and businesses of your potential customers.

Today’s Action Step

Get signed up for an email service provider and place an email capture form on your website or blog. Make it enticing for prospects to give you their email address by giving away something free in return for the address.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership. He is a producer, author, speaker and social media marketing coach who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

*Photo By Pacopus

“Above the fold” is a term from the newspaper industry that refers to the content displayed on the top half of the newspaper after it is folded and placed on a shelf. This is prime real estate for the obvious reason that it is seen first by readers.

The same principle applies to online content. Let’s look at the Folk Media site that you are visiting right now. On our homepage we have content that is above the fold.

Everything that is above the gray area is seen by visitors first. Borrowing from the newspaper industry we call this “above the fold.” You’ll notice that we’ve placed our featured articles here, links to all the categories and (the most critical) our email sign up box.

Don’t make me think

Your visitors aren’t on your small business website to be entertained. They don’t want things cryptic and riddled.

Visitors are online searching for a solution. Hopefully your business provides that solution. So make sure you make it EASY for them to access your products, services and content.

Don’t make your customers think.

Imagine they are 5th graders and spell things out for them in the simplest terms.

“I’m not going to stoop to writing or designing my business website for a 5th grader!” I can hear you scream.

The truth is – the best communicators on the planet speak in simple folksy styles that appeal to even the youngest observers.

How to use the area “above the fold” effectively

Put your best stuff at the top of your homepage. Make sure you place your email opt in form here too. Here are the items that I feel are critical to your “above the fold” real estate.

• Your logo with a benefit driven, solutions focused slogan
• Your phone number
• Other critical social media platforms where customers can find you
• Your featured content and/or latest articles
• Blog category and page links for easy navigation around the site
• An opt in box for visitors to sign up for your email list

Today’s 10 minute action step: Find your “above the fold” space and evaluate

If you are not a designer here is a good way to brainstorm possible ideas for your homepage.

Print off 2 copies of your homepage. Take the first and lay it on your desk. Using a pair of scissors cut up all the elements of the second print off and play around with rearranging them on the first version. By doing this, you’ll see how space can be used and content can be organized.

If you are using a Wordpress blog,  look through some of the “done for you” designs that Woo Themes has created. There are many that have good above the fold designs. Some don’t – so looking through these is a great way to train your mind to think above the fold.

Now go take action.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

As my mentor Eben Pagan likes to say, “it’s not about communication, it’s about conversion.” You can communicate your brand all you want, but at the end of the day conversions are what matter.

Conversion should be your new goal

If you’d like to use social media to market your business, then you need to use social media to drive conversions. Yes, using Twitter and Facebook to brand your business can work over the long term. But your goal is to see some results now.

By placing emphasis on website conversions, you will make the right choices about what content you produce for social media sites, how you set up your profiles and even what links to include in your messaging.

A quick overview of conversion

Conversion simply refers to the number of online visitors who take the desired action you want them to take. So it’s important to identify what those “desired actions” are.

First, we have sales. This is a great conversion. Sales of products or services are measurable and always a good thing in business.

Second, we have lead capture. This is the process of capturing someone’s email address and name when they come to your website. Lead capture is not as intuitive for for most business owners – but in reality it can be even more powerful than trying to sell on the first visit.

I’m not suggesting you don’t have something for sale on your site, I’m simply suggesting that many potential customers are not ready to buy something on the first visit. But they would be willing to start a relationship with you.

Let’s look at it this way. If you met an attractive person at a party, would you ask them:  A) to marry you [the sale] or b) for a phone number [lead capture]?

It seems so simple when you are meeting someone in a romantic situation. But in business marketing and social media, common sense goes out the window for a lot of people.

Small business owners see Coke and Nike with billboards in Times Square and think they have to compete on that level.

Bull crap.

Change your mindset to focus on conversions first. There is a place for branding, but don’t start there.

How leads are captured

If lead capture is important, how do we do it?

There are three steps to capturing leads online using social media.

First, set up your website so it’s ready to capture leads.

Sounds simple right – but stay with me here.

I recommend capturing email addresses and names. For some industries (like real estate, insurance, or restaurants) it might make sense to get a physical address and phone number. But in most cases you will start by getting prospects and visitors to opt-in to an email list.

You will need to place an email capture form on your site and make it appealing to join your list.

I like to offer a valuable free product on my sites. It doesn’t have to cost you anything in materials. It could be an online training video or free PDF report packed with useful information.

Second – be sure all your social media sites point back to your website where you capture leads.

Again – obvious right? But wouldn’t you know it – most people don’t do this.

On your Twitter profile, place a link that routes back to your website. On LinkedIn include a link that drives traffic to your website. You get the idea.

Third – make a clear call to action in your social media profiles.

If you are a real estate agent, go ahead and say something like “to learn how I can sell your house in 30 days – download my free report [website address]”

Action step: Place a lead capture form on your business website

Start with your own site. Ninety-nine percent of people reading this article don’t have a lead capture form on their website. Take care of that today first.

Now go take action.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

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Why you need a solid plan to capture emails & leads

A few years ago it was far easier to get folks to subscribe to your email lists. A simple “sign up for our newsletter” could be placed on your site and it would attract people to give you their email address. But that soon changed as the volume of emails people were receiving multiplied. Add to this the massive increase in spam and other unwanted inbox messages and you can see why people guard their emails like gold.

You have to give people a compelling reason to subscribe

These days, you don’t have the luxury of slapping up a simple subscribe box. You need to give prospects and customers a good reason to subscribe. Not only does it need to be a good reason, but you have to sell the value of your newsletters.

What to write to get people to subscribe

It is important to create a compelling sign up form on your website. By choosing the right words, people will gladly give you their email address.

Write up reasons why someone should subscribe

List the benefits a prospect will get when they subscribe to your newsletter. Write out all the free advice and resources you are going to be giving them. Think about your email newsletter as a product that people are “buying” with their email address. What value are you going to be giving them? Make a big long list. You are going to use this document over so don’t scrimp on this.

How to write your subscription pitch

Be clear and value driven with you subscription appeal. The idea here is to take your massive list of benefits and create a very attractive “pitch” to draw in new subscribers.

Find the value hot buttons around pain

Identify a pain point that your newsletter solves. For example, if you have a fitness website and your newsletter helps people with meal choices and menus, make sure to spell out the problem of high cost complicated meal planning. Then write out the specific and actionable solution to this problem and how your newsletter solves it. Do this for each pain point you can identify.

Overwhelm the reader with value

Next, write out all the value that this newsletter will provide. Don’t be afraid to give away one or two of your best techniques or bits of advice to email subscribers. Make sure this content is worth actual money and GIVE it away for free. In doing this you are showing your future customers that you know what you’re talking about, you are willing to take the first s

Assure them you won’t abuse their email address

When I use my email to sign up for something online I am taking a huge risk that my address will be passed around to various companies I don’t want sending me information.

Be clear about how you are using a prospect’s email address. Use language like “we will never rent or sell your email address to a third party.”

Today’s 10 Minute Exercise: Write your subscription pitch

Choose the main problem you solve and make that the headline

Your headline should grab attention. Think carefully about the main problems you solve for your prospect. Make this the main headline.

For example, at Folk Media we say… “Learn the keys to marketing your business using social media, Twitter, podcasting and Facebook.”

Stack on the value

Be clear about what they can expect to learn or get from you.

We offer a free report “7 Ways To Use Online Media To Market Your Business” when someone gives us their email.

Brainstorm some pieces of valued content you can give away

• Ebooks
• Reports
• Audio files
• Videos
• Teleseminars
• Transcripts
• Blog posts
• Articles
• Software
• Worksheets
• Consulting calls
• Event tickets
• Private invitations
• Case studies

Your next step is to put all these elements together on your site and begin collecting emails from prospects. As you build your list your building a marketing tool for the future and will be able to help more and more people.

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Toolset Note: While there are many email service providers out there we use and recommend Aweber as our provider of choice. They are inexpensive, have great customer service and will help you build an effective email marketing list quickly.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

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*Photo by boff2