Capture Page Wizardry! How to Create a High Converting Capture Page

How to Create a High Converting Capture Page

When it comes to online marketing, there is NOTHING more important than building a list. This is done mainly by driving traffic to a capture page and collecting email addresses. We can get into the how and why of that another day, but for now, let's focus on the first and most important element of online marketing and list building.

In this blog post, I am going to teach you how to create a high converting capture page that will be both visually appealing and compel your visitors to fill out the form. For those of you that are new to the internet marketing space, a capture page is also known as a ‘squeeze page' or ‘landing' page. These terms will be used interchangeably throughout this article.

A capture page is the first contact visitors have with you and your offer (many are web hosted so you can build a capture page on a mac or a capture page on a pc (not machine specific when webhosted). It gives them an opportunity to learn more about whatever it is you're promoting by entering some information about themselves, including and especially their email address.

*note: don't use a free lead capture page unless you intend to throw away those leads (speed, tracking, functionality is missing in these free lead capture page software packages out there)

But how do you get them to actually fill out the form once they’ve landed on your capture page? Getting them to “opt-in”, or fill out the form, has a lot to do with the design and content of your capture page… how it looks, what it says, what it doesn’t say, and more.

Here's a quick infographic about the anatomy of a perfect capture page…

That's a great guide, and it has some good suggestions. Don't feel compelled to have ALL of them all the time. Let's talk about some specifics in more detail about some absolute MUSTs when it comes to creating a high converting capture page…

The first element in building a capture page that people will respond to is originality. You want to stand out from the crowd. Be unique. Don’t just make a carbon copy of another capture page you’ve seen. And certainly don't use someone else's capture page, even if it’s provided for you by the company! Never promote the thing directly.

You can use templates but what you should be doing is working off templates to build your own style and direction. You can get a TON of free lead capture page templates free as a customer of Leadpages.

You want people to be interested and intrigued when they land on your page. You DO NOT want them to react by saying “Oh, this again…” It’s easy for that to happen if you don’t ‘change the wrapper’; otherwise they will assume they’ve already seen what you’re promoting or selling, and they’re gone.

We want to capture as much traffic as possible. The goal for your capture page is an opt-in rate of 40%, 50% or higher! That means at LEAST 4 out of 10 people that land on your page will fill out the form and “opt in”. The more, the better, obviously. That starts with having a unique capture page.

First, let's talk about content. What should your capture page SAY?

There are 3 main components when it comes to creating a high converting capture page.

1) The Lead Magnet

The first component of a high converting capture page is the Lead Magnet. This is a piece of content that contains value. It should solve a specific problem in your marketplace, and you offer it in exchange for an opt-in (so knowing your target market is a good idea.) Basically you’re offering to give them something, or give them access to something, that will benefit them in exchange for their email address.

Some examples of lead magnets:

– A PDF report
– A webinar
– A video
– A teleseminar
– A piece of software
– A cheat sheet
– A product sample

You provide a FREE piece of content that they will get value from and, in return, they give you their email address.

Here is a great example of a lead magnet…

Simple enough, right? It addresses a problem, provides a solution, and offers them a free gift (e-book) as the lead magnet in exchange for their information.

Keep in mind; you will use different strategies for different target audiences. You want your lead magnets to appeal to different types of people. That's why it's important to know your market and make sure there is a message to market match on the page you're driving traffic to.
 

2) The Hook

The second component of a high converting capture page is the Hook. This is the BIG PROMISE, usually found in the headline [see the example above]. It should cover the benefit they will receive once they enter their email. It must be very specific, focus on ONE thing and one thing only, and speak directly to the market’s end result.

In the example above, the “hook” is the promise to help them build their email list faster.

Some other examples of a good ‘hook':

Lose Weight Fast!

Learn the Secret to $10,000 in 30 Days!

Create Winning Proposals Starting Right Now!

Kick Your Business into High Gear with these 3 Proven Tools!

Can you see how they would “hook” their target market into wanting to know more?

 

3) Call to Action

The third component of a high converting capture page is the Call to Action. This is where you will literally tell your visitors what to do next. It should be very direct, and mentioned at least 2-3 times on the capture page.

You can't assume that people will take whatever action you want just because it's there. By TELLING them what to do next, the conversions actually go up significantly! People need to be led, so tell them what you want them to do. Always lead them to the next step with a strong call to action.

A good call to action (CTA) consists of a few separate, but integral, components.

1) Some kind of simple statement that basically eliminates any risk. Terms like “free trial” tend to put people at ease. Whatever action you want them to take, they need to know they're under no obligation to buy or commit once they enter their email or click the button.

2) It should contain some direct instructions. You have to tell people what to do next. It could be something as simple as “Click the button below”, “Enter Your Email Address”, or “Click Like”… Short, sweet, and to the point.

3) A certain amount of urgency is always helpful. You want them to take action right away. Don’t give people an option to wait and think about it. So things like “This offer won't last” or “For only the next 3 days…” gives people some extra motivation to take action before they miss out. People HATE missing out on stuff.

Believe it or not, having unusual looking arrows can often help increase capture page conversions.

See?
Some other examples of effective calls to action:

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So the content of your capture page should include a lead magnet, a hook, and a call to action. Every time. Hopefully all of this is making sense.
Now that we've talked about the content of your capture page, let's talk about how it should LOOK.

There are several schools of thought when it comes to capture page design. But what I have found to be most effective is a clean, relatively simple capture page that's visually appealing, but does not distract from the message.

I've seen capture pages with really cool background videos on them, and I spend most, if not all, of my time focusing on the cool background video, and none on the message they're trying so hard to deliver. Like we talked about above, those 3 components are vital in your conversions. So if people are focused on anything but your message, conversions go down.

See how awesome that is? lol

It's beautiful, clean and simple. No distracting videos, no retina-burning colors or images… nothing to take away from the powerful message or the call to action found right in the middle of the page.

THIS is the kind of landing page that gets good conversions. It has all 3 components we talked about, and it's presented on an attractive and professional looking page that took less than 10 minutes to make.

Now, there's something VERY IMPORTANT you need to notice on that page. And you’ll find this on all of my squeeze pages. When you're putting your capture page together, there is a CRUCIAL line of text that should be included every single time. Here it is:

“Information will be sent to the email address provided above”.

 

This simple statement assures that you will get more real email addresses and will also increase your open rates later. This is SO important; I can't stress it enough.

Short intro videos on a capture page can also be effective. These videos can be YOU talking (as long as it’s a quality video that’s well produced), a pre-produced video provided by your company, or an animated video that was created in a tool like VideoMakerFX.  If you haven’t checked it out already, it's a great tool to create simple, fun videos.

Here’s an example of a capture page with an intro video:

These videos should be SHORT! Less than 5 minutes is ideal. Remember, people have a short attention span. The capture page has ONE purpose… to capture a lead! NOT to sell! It’s simply to collect their information and THEN forward them on to a sales page. That’s where the selling will take place.

In my opinion and experience, both text and video capture pages work well, as long as what we've gone over so far is adhered to.

One more feature to consider: As you've probably noticed, there is a psychology behind everything we do when creating capture pages. That even includes choosing the right colors. Check this out:

Again, you'll want to design your capture page depending on your offer, your target market, etc.
So, we've pretty well covered the WHAT when it comes to creating a high converting capture page. Now comes the WHERE and HOW…

There is a TON of landing page software out there that is inexpensive and easy to use. And when I say easy to use, you don’t have to be a techie to follow the step-by-step instructions. Many of them are like “landing pages for dummies”, seriously. If I can do this, anyone can.

Some examples of easy to use landing page software (capture page software):

– Easy Landing Page Pro (can host on your own server/domain) FREE
– Lead Pages.net
– ClickFunnels 2.0
– Megaphone
– Kajabi (entire platform builder; capture pages, entire funnel)

Personally, I use a WordPress plug-in called Authority Pro 3. It's an easy to use application that has allowed me to created pages like these:

But all of those landing page choices work. It's really personal preference as to what you ultimately use. If you're familiar with WordPress, I recommend Authority Pro 3. Check it out here.

Capture Page + Autoresponders are like Woman And Nice Shoes

If you don't already have one, you'll need an auto-responder connected to your capture page. That's the only way to build an email list. The auto-responder is where all of those emails are stored. If you don't already have an auto-responder set up, here are a couple of options I both use and recommend…

AWEBER

GET RESPONSE

I'm not going to do an auto-responder training in this article, but here's one quick tip: make sure you create a new list for every different thing you offer/promote. If you don't understand that, just shoot me a message and I'll be happy to explain 😉
So look, here's the bottom line: Anyone can create a high converting capture page using this article as a guide. Any of the software options listed will work for you; just make sure you include the 3 components discussed above. Find the capture page software you feel is right or best for you and apply what you learned today!

Keep in mind, not every capture page you create will convert well. Sometimes they just flop. So I encourage you to always test your stuff! You should split test capture page  (2 or 3 pages) all the time. If you run something that doesn't convert well, change it up! Take down the pages that aren't converting and replace them with something new.

And do NOT go crazy with traffic until you've optimized your different pages, hooks, etc. Then ramp the traffic up when you have a winner! I don't want to get into traffic sources today, but I'll give you one good one. Blogging. Google loves blogs and it's a terrific way to generate organic traffic and drive them to your beautiful new capture pages. To learn more about starting your own blog on a high authority domain, click here!

I hope you got some value out of this article. Go implement what you've learned, and start creating your own high converting capture pages!

And if you want to pair a high converting OFFER with your new capture page, check this out! This is the system I used to break free from the 60-hour work weeks in my practice. So if you want to learn how to work less and make more, check it out!

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To your success!