This week the guys at mystoryhub let us know about a new service that is detailed here … http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php
A quick word of advice/clarification … I think (pls correct me if I’m wrong as I wasn’t on the call), I think this is a service offering to set up a hub site. Now this is fine, if you want someone to set up a good looking personally branded website.
But (and this is a big “but”) if you’re after a Google Adwords-friendly landing page to beat Google slaps, I don’t know if this is the answer. You’ll have to clarify it with the guys at MyStory Hub.
My big concern, when I checked out the http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php
offer is that it didn’t mention that they can or will design any “landing pages” for us.
Now, here, everyone needs to understand there is a huge difference between a landing page (squeeze page, capture page, opt-in page) and a “branded personal website or blog”.
The examples at http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php are “branded personal websites/blogs”. Tanya and my branded personal website is http://cameronandtanya.com. On the other hand, an example of one of our Landing pages is http://turnkeymarketingonline.com. Huge difference in form and function.
A landing page is set up with the sole purpose of capturing a lead’s name and email address (and possibly phone number). You can have dozens of these doing their job all over the internet.
A branding page (personal website) on the other hand serves a totally different purpose (in terms of our sales process). This is where people go — after they have become a lead. You direct them there, once you have established contact with them to get to …
- know you
- like you
- build rapport with you
- and trust you.
It’s like inviting people to your Home, after you made initial contact with them in a business sense (after they’ve been to your landing page).
So, your prospects will generally (99% of the time) become a lead from your landing page, not from your branded website/mystory hub/Wordpress blog.
It can be confusing. But it is dangerous (if that’s the right word) to imagine that you can have a personal branding page that ALSO functions as a landing page (lead capture page). The two have to be considered as serving two completely separate functions. One capture, the other rapport.
I would have liked to see the mystoryhub offer include a Google Adwords-friendly landing page design, with the form and everything. You’ll want to check this out with them.
Yes, you can certainly include a landing page within your personal website. But the landing page’s purpose and navigation should be isolated from the rest of the site. Otherwise people will get there, get distracted and start wandering around, instead of focussing and giving you their name and email address in return for the promise of “what’s on the other side”. You see, if there is no “other side” because the other side is already conveniently laid-out for them in your navigation bar, then there will be no reason for them to provide their name and address.
So I’d be asking the guys at mystoryhub if they can incorporate a Google Adwords-friendly landing page
for you.
You will want them to basically copy the general wording and layout from one of the landing pages from the back office. But change the design and change the names of the graphics and maybe include a pic of yourself and a sentence to introduce you (to make it Google Adwords-friendly). You will want them to bring across a “form” (the bit where the person fills in their name and email address) and they will need to link that back to aWeber and then back in to CCPro back office for you so you can track your leads.
I’ve just been through this today. Quite involved (sheesh). Good luck.
At the end of the day when approaching the thought of planning a landing page that’s not hosted by CCPro don’t be thinking you can incorporate one with, for instance, a personal blog site Home Page for instance. I just don’t think it will work. Too distracting. A traditional welcome page with a “For More Information” Form, is not a Lead Capture page, not an effective one anyway.
Yes, it is still a good idea to have a lead capture form on your Home Page and wherever else you might want one, but it’s not going to get many leads for you.
Of course there’s always an exception. Michael Forces blog (see picture below) at http://securebusinessmodel.com is the exception in this case. Michael has designed this whole site like a personal blog site.
But it’s not a “blog site that acts as a landing page”.
It is, rather, a landing page that looks like a blog site. Or, to be more accurate, a series of landing pages that, together, look like a blog site. Very cool. You go from one page to the next and unwittingly you are being confronted by one “landing page” after another. Ingenious. Each page makes you want to join Michael to see what’s on the other side. He gives a lot of info, but he’s careful about what he doesn’t tell so that there is still the offer of something incredible “on the other side”. Every page has an opt-in Form. You have to fill in the form to see a “Private Business Overview”. Every page has pics of Michael and Dalila enjoying the lifestyle made possible by “whatever it is on the other side”. Every page has great headlines. Every page follows a similar rythm and feel.
I hope this makes sense. Please understand you don’t have to worry about Google Adwords-Friendly landing pages unless you are doing Google Adwords advertising to get your leads.
