Most of us passively surf the Internet.  We click on links from emails and websites that we routinely visit and find new websites that we’re also interested in, but often we just scan the text and then click on to the next site on our web journey.  Also, all too often we never return to those sites because we don’t remember their names and after a day or so don’t even remember the visit!   If you have a site that wants to convert those surfers into visitors who come back then you need to get them to take an additional step before they move on to the next site so that you have them “tagged” and can get them back again!

The way to do this is by using active headlines – some kind of “call to action” so that the visitor is interested or intrigued enough to be knocked temporarily out of his passive surfing zone.  Have the words free laser hair removal with a live link like this nice and big. Or perhaps if you sell corporate events london, have a flash sequence with images of the event in order to catch peoples attanetion. You don’t want to hold him up, just slow him down long enough to provide you with an email address - so make sure there is 'join our mailing list' box linked in to some kind of email marketing software package that processes it for you automatically. Once you have this, then that part of the conversion process is complete – your accidental surfer is now a subscriber and the next part of your conversion system will pick him up.

So what kind of headlines will call this surfer to action?  Well you could offer a free report – something directly related to your subject area (it’s the subject area that will have brought the surfer there initially).  Perhaps it could be a headline “Click here to receive your FREE report on the Best 10 Tips on Catching the Biggest Trout this Season” or “Subscribe here and receive a free guide on choosing the best tent for your next adventure vacation” – depending on what your subject area is.  The reports don’t have to be long – they could be anything from a report of 2-3 pages (which should also give more information about your site and giving teasers about what they will find there), to an ebook of 50-200 pages.  You could produce these yourself, employ someone else to do them for you at a relatively low cost, or see if there is some kind of PLR content available (often a very low fee) that allows you to put your own information on the content and use it as a conversion tool.

Remember, although the report or ebook you’re offering should give good quality information, the main thing is to get the visitor to be interested enough to hand over their email information so bullet point what they will learn from the item you’re going to send them, make the process of signing up simple, and use active language that will move them to action. 

Happy Converting!