Opt-In Page Design

Objective: To see what a high-converting opt-in page looks like. What You’ll Accomplish: When you finish this lesson, you will have a bett...

Objective: To see what a high-converting opt-in page looks like.
What You’ll Accomplish: When you finish this lesson, you will have a better understanding of which design elements you absolutely need on your opt-in page.
Estimated Time of Completion: 15 minutes
Before You Begin: Have your web browser open for this exercise. Get a pen and paper or open a Word/text file to take notes.

Visual Elements

There are only a few design elements on all opt-in pages:

• Graphics
• Buttons and Arrows
• Badges and Seals

That’s it. Each of these should be directing the visitor’s eye to your FREE incentive and your opt-in box. Everything else is unnecessary and should be removed.

NEVER waste space on your opt-in page with a logo or banner that spans the top of the page. This takes away prime page “real estate” that could be used for your headline.

Your Inbox Blueprint account comes with FREE 90 day access to Sendlane. Send lane acts as both an optin page creator AND an autoresponder (which you will learn about in Step #4)
Both Sendlane and LeadPages are easy, plug and go opt-in page creation tools.
To sign up for a 90 day free Sendlane account just click on this button: Click here to Signup Now!
To sign up to use the Leadpages software click on this button: Click here to Signup Now!
To help you create the right design, here are a few examples of each type of design element…

Graphics

Strong visuals should capture the imagination of your customers and are especially effective if you can get them to visualize an end result.

There is a reason why weight loss and fitness programs feature good looking, in-shape models — it gets the customer to fantasize about what they could look like, if they joined your list.
In addition to photos, graphics can include be drawings, videos, or a combination of all of them.

IMPORTANT: Always include a graphic of your FREE incentive!

This is a great example of a visually intensive opt-in page with an appealing graphic of the FREE ebook:

Buttons and Arrows

The only button on the page should be the one in your opt-in box. Ideally it should include the word FREE.

Most of the buttons you see on opt-in pages are a dark yellow or gold color. This is NOT an accident!

In all of my tests over 10 years of email marketing, a bright yellow or gold button with the words FREE INSTANT ACCESS performs the best.

Gold buttons always get the most clicks, as opposed to blue or red buttons. Why? Who knows. But I’ve tested this over many years, and the yellow and gold buttons always outperform any other colors.
Arrows are also very important design elements, and should be used for only ONE purpose:

ARROWS should always point to the opt-in box. Always.

Here is an excellent example of using arrows to send the eye straight to the opt-in box. This page also uses FREE and a graphic of the incentive very, very nicely:

Badges and Seals

These work best when they include the word FREE.

This one even combines the FREE badge with an arrow that points to the opt-in box:

Another type of “badge” that adds a touch of credibility to your opt-in page is a “privacy lock graphic” like the one below. It should go next to a Privacy Statement in your opt-in box (you’ll find generic privacy statements which you can customize in the Resources Section):

Two Basic Designs: Visually Intensive or Benefits Intensive

Almost all opt-in pages are one of these two designs:
1. Visually intensive pages: Here the emphasis is on videos and pictures.
2. Benefits intensive pages: These have more text, with an explanation of what’s in it for the subscriber.
Which kind you choose depends on what works best for your niche.

Let me give you an example… Let’s say you have a newsletter on organic gardening. Pictures of healthy plants will definitely help, but they may not be enough to establish credibility. In order to show your customer that you are the real deal, you may want to get your hands dirty. A 60-second video of you in your gorgeous garden will persuade your audience that you really know about gardening. Even if it just shows you digging a hole and planting something!

Let me quickly run through these two types of opt-in pages with some examples. That way you can get an idea of what your page should look like.

1. Visually Intensive Opt-In Pages

A visually intensive opt-in page is very visual. The amount of text is limited, and a video or series of pictures grab the visitor’s attention, like in the Candy Crush example above. Here are some other visually intensive pages:

Having a high quality VIDEO can help to demonstrate professionalism. It can also establish you as being an expert.
Other strong visuals are PHOTOS to help customers to visualize an end result. A great example is the weight loss opt-in you saw earlier.

Those are images that get your visitor’s imaginations going, which is GREAT for you!

2. Benefits Intensive Opt-In Pages

Some niches, like marketing and business, may not lend themselves to a visual presentation. Often these pages focus on bullet points, testimonials, and short sections of text to make a case for subscribing:

Bullet points are usually the most prominent feature of a benefits-intensive page.  The examples above showcases the benefits of joining the list with four clear and concise bullets.
Here is another no-nonsense opt-in that offers compelling benefits. It includes several testimonials from happy subscribers, and there’s the word FREE in the button. This is the opt-in used by MarketingExperiments.com, a research firm that conducts sophisticated online testing (so you know they have tested the heck out of this opt-in!):

I’ll talk more about bullet points in the section on writing copy for your opt-in page. For now, just know that sometimes a small amount of compelling text can work just as well, or even better, than pictures.

Focal Points (where does your eye go?)

Finally, I want to talk about the focal points on every opt-in page. Our eyes are naturally drawn to certain parts of a web page because of how we’re conditioned. When creating your opt-in page, you want to take advantage of these natural tendencies to get as many subscribers as you can.
Just remember these three simple visual principles and you can’t go wrong:

• Keep the opt-in and all important elements ABOVE THE FOLD. “Above the fold” refers to the part of a web page you can see in the browser window without scrolling down.
• Put the opt-in box on the right. Because we read from left to right, our eye tends to drift towards the right. So always place the opt-in box to the RIGHT of any other design elements. The right hand side of the page has always tested the best for me.
• Go high contrast. An opt-in page is not the place for delicate, wispy fonts or an “artsy” look that consists of light gray lettering on a white background. For example, big, bold lettering that “pops” out against the background will outperform lightweight fonts without much contrast. So think: dark and brightly colored letters on light backgrounds, or pure white letters on very dark backgrounds.

What Should YOUR Page Look Like?

How do you know what sort of design elements will work best for YOUR opt-in page? There are only two ways:

• Study examples of pages in your niche.
• Test.

Testing is for later, after you’re up and running and getting traffic to you opt-in page. So I’ll talk about it later.

For now, remember that you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. Other marketers have already tested their opt-in pages. So keep it simple and learn from what’s already working.

Here’s where your knowledge of ClickBank and OfferVault can help you.

• Go to ClickBank and look at opt-in pages for the top products in your niche. Visit those websites and see if any of them offer a newsletter. Even if you don’t see the opt-in on the sales page, when you exit you will often be shown an opt-in form to get a free report or sample.
• For many ClickBank products, you will need to attempt to exit out of the page before you will see the opt-in. A popup will probably appear, asking whether they want to stay or leave. If you stay, you will probably see another offer. If you attempt to leave, you will either see a new offer or an opt-in page. You may not see an opt-in page until you attempt to leave several times. Annoying, I know! But this is what ClickBank vendors have been doing recently. And they do it because they have TESTED it and know it works.
• You can also sign up for the ClickBank vendor’s affiliate program. Once you have access to the affiliate tools, most vendors provide opt-in pages that can be customized.
• Look at the CPL offers on OfferVault. Lead capture pages are a bit different, but you better believe they have tested and tested to pick the right layout and graphics to get the highest response. You can learn a lot from looking at those CPL pages and seeing what design elements they all share.
• You can also use Google. Simply search for “free [YOUR NICHE] newsletter” or “free [YOUR NICHE] ezine.” You may need to drill down a few pages, but you should find some examples of both good and not so good opt-in pages. What do the ones that catch your eye have in common?

Recap

• All opt-in pages include the same basic graphical elements:
  • Graphics
  • Buttons and Arrows
  • Badges and Seals
• Opt-in pages are either visually intensive or benefits intensive.
• Use Sendlane or Leadpages.net to quickly create a professional-looking opt-in page that converts well.
• To take advantage of our natural focal points:
  • Keep all important elements above the fold
  • Put the opt-in box on the right
  • Use high contrast
• Study examples in your niche for common design features and model your page on the best examples.

EXERCISE

• Find at least 5 examples of opt-in pages in your chosen niche.
• Write down what their designs seem to have in common. You’ll probably find that most of them are quite similar. This is GOOD. You can use them as models.
• SIGN UP for these newsletters now. Yes, do this NOW because you’ll be able to see what products the list owners are promoting. That will save you time later.

THE WISE MARKETER KNOWS… All opt-in pages depend on just a few simple design elements. Study other opt-in pages in your niche, especially related CPL offers. They’ve tested and know what works. Then just model your page on proven designs!

NEXT: Having a nice looking opt-in is great… but you actually need to collect some data. What data should you collect? Check out the next lesson where I break it down for you!