How many times have you heard people say – “the money is in the list”.  The more potential clients who get your e-mails, facebook postings and tweets — the more sales you’ll make.   So, the trick is, how do you get people to sign up to receive (read, and take action) on your messages when their e-mail boxes are full to the bursting point?  The trick is a well designed opt-in box.  The opt in box is the little box usually at the top (or on the right side) of a website asking people to leave their name and address. In many ways, this is the most important part of your website.

Mistake #1 Location is Everything

The opt-in box is not your whole site — but it needs to be accessible and visible “on top of the fold” (in the area of your website that people can see without scrolling).   Conventional wisdom says that the opt-in box is most effective at the top or on the top right of your site.  You can also have more than one opt-in box.   You can also consider putting the opt-in box at the bottom of each blog post.

Mistake #2 Not Solving A Problem for Your Client

Your clients will hire you to solve problems for them. They will gladly give their e-mail address to you in exchange for a solution (or even a good diagnosis) of their problem.  I see many e-mail boxes asking people to “sign up for my news updates” — well, that isn’t very enticing to someone who doesn’t know you yet.  A little better is sign up and get a free audio or e-book — at least there is a little bit of honey to draw in the reader.  The very best opt-in boxes offer information that can instantly make a difference in your clients business.  For example, “Increase your e-mail list by 25%  – sign up here for your free audio (Value $25).   You want your “bribe” to be short, easily digestible and useful.  You also want to give them a taste of your best advice – so they’ll want more.

Mistake #3  Not Experimenting Enough

The tiniest tweak can often make the biggest difference.  Small changes in copy can change response rates by up to 250%.   In a copywriting class I took, the teacher gave an example of how the headline “Puts Music In Your Life”  outdrew “Put Music In your Life” by 250%.   How do you know which tiny changes will make a difference.  You test… one small change at a time.   Most mailing list companies offer a way to create simple split tests with your opt-in box.  If your e-mail company doesn’t offer this service, google also has a free service where it serves up different versions of your site to conduct split tests.   Not testing (or making huge changes to opt-in box) is the biggest mistake I see people making with their opt-in boxes.  It is also the one thing I see successful internet marketers doing consistently.

So, where  should you start in creating a more effective opt-in box?  I would go through these three mistakes in order.  First, make sure that your opt-in box is visible (if clients can see it – the other two suggestions won’t help you ).  Then, make sure that your offer is solving a problem for your client.  Finally, test, test and re-test, keep tightening your results to create the most effective opt-in box possible.

I guess I’m an ice cream daredevil.  When I go to the ice cream parlor, I never ask for a pink spoon taste.  I just go ahead and order what seems good — if it isn’t absolutely scrumptious — it is a risk I’m willing to take (besides I don’t really need to be eating ice cream anyway!!)

Buying an ice cream cone don’t require a huge upfront investment of time or money.  Investing in your business is usually a bigger commitment.  How do you know which product or service is the right fit for you?  On the flip side, how to you convince your customers that you are a wise investment.  Enter the pink spoon.  The pink spoon is a simply delicious taste of your services that you give away for free to potential customers.

The concept of the pink spoon is not new in the online marketing community.  Most websites with a mailing list offer you a “free report and newsletter cock full of invaluable tips (worth $97!).    That’s great — and sometimes enough to give people a taste.   But, people have widely differing learning styles and preferences for taking in information.  For example, I actually hate videos — I usually have them play in a different tab in my computer and just listen.  Some people really hate to read.  What if you offered your pink spoon in a variety of flavors (like video and transcript)  to allow you to connect with potential clients with differing learning styles.   My pink spoon  - a video on coming up with your USP offers a video and worksheet exercises.  The exercises can be used by themselves and you can get a lot from the video without working through the exercises.

Some other easy ways of increasing the number of flavors available to your “taste testers”:

Add interactivity.  In my experience, one of the best ways to build up a strong list is to hold a monthly free teleseminar and promote it like crazy.  My clients hesitate on this because they believe that having free teleseminars devalues their paid events. I have found the opposite is true.  Clients with regular free event build up an engaged following that is willing to pay more for their offerings.  Other ways to add interactivity are specifically continuing conversation from your teleseminars using social media  (see this video on how one guru uses his facebook wall to build community).

Record your content These days it is very easy to create audio content. know you better. Potential clients love to hear your voice and get to  One of the easiest ways is to just record your blog posts into audio segments.  AudioAcrobat makes recording audio as simple as picking up the phone and talking (you can also record your teleseminars to use as a freebie later).  If you have an iphone AudioBoo makes it dead simple to make quick recordings and distribute them via Twitter.  Video recording is also easy enough.  You can record your webinar or use Jing to record quick videos from your computer screen or a Kodak zi8 to record quick “talking head” videos”.

Have something to read Sometimes, when I am in stealth mode (watching TV with my family while working on the computer) – I don’t really appreciate audio and video.  It is easy enough to create something to read. You can have your last teleseminar transcribed (not as expensive as you would think), or you can create companion worksheets that give much of the same information – possibly with the addition of some do at home exercises.

What is your current pink spoon?  How can you increase the number of “flavors” it comes in?  Chime in below and let me know.