After many months of procrastination, I finally got around
to adding a hover ad to my website. A hover ad is a type
of pop-up ad that appears in your browser window from the
side or top of the screen, or may just slowly float in
front of the page you're viewing, or may suddenly pop in
and bounce up and down for a bit. What differentiates a
hover ad from traditional pop-up ads is that it's not
blockable by pop-up blockers built into web browsers.
The hover ad is incredibly effective because it brings your
primary call to action to visitor's attention right away
and asks that they respond to that call to action.
Consequently, you'll experience a great increase in the
number of signups to your list as a result of using this
technology. In the time I've been using a hover ad, my
opt-in rates have doubled over using the traditional opt-in
form embedded on my site.
There are a number of software/services offering the hover
ad popup technology. I use the one that is included as a
part of my service with my email broadcast provider,
aWeber.com.
Here are 11 features of a hover-ad that will help you
double (or perhaps triple or quadruple) the opt-ins to your
website:
1. Descriptive page title. Let you visitor know what they
will be receiving by creating a descriptive page title.
2. Close window option. If you don't offer your visitor
the option to close the hover ad, you risk annoying them,
which may result in a hasty exit from your website.
3. Graphic image. Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Embed a graphic image of what you're offering so that your
visitor can "see" what they're getting.
4. Compelling headline. Headlines make visitors take
action. Provide a compelling benefit or result to your
visitor that makes them think, "I've got to get that!"
5. Description of offer. Visitors are leery of giving out
their email addresses. Provide a concise description what
they're receiving that makes them believe it's worth their
time to part with their name and email address.
6. Sense of urgency. Remind them that they can instantly
receive this information, which satisfies an Internet
browser's need for immediate gratification.
7. Value of offer. Place a dollar value of the
information you're giving away. There's little value in
"free", so make your offer worth something.
8. Privacy policy. Visitors want to know how you'll be
using their contact info. State your policy in a short,
concise sentence.
9. Field labels. Instead of simply leaving the boxes
beside your requested information fields (name and email
address) blank, fill that in with default text as yet
another reminder of the information that you're seeking.
10. Submit button. Don't simply request that the visitor
submit the info. Give them a call to action, such as "Send
my info today!"
11. Frequency and delay. Most hover ad software permits
you to time the entrance of your hover ad to the page as
well as control the frequency with which the ad appears. My
rule of thumb is not to surprise or bombard my visitors
with my hover ad, so I set the ad to appear slowly on the
screen, and to appear once every 10 days only so that my
visitors aren't bombarded again and again with the ad once
they've opted in.
Spend some time creating an effective hover ad to promote
your primary call to action. When you see your opt-ins
increase, you'll wonder why you didn't choose to use this
strategy sooner!
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Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals
learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their
expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To
claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing
Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com . Ask
Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .
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