How To Convert New Visitors From Guest Posting (Part 1)

The last three posts we’ve talked about guest posting and how it can help you build your online presence. The question then becomes what do you do when new visitors come to your website? How can you convert them from casual browsers into email subscribers?

I faced this very question after my big guest post for Dan Miller. Back then, I didn’t know anything, so sadly I didn’t add many of those visitors to my email list.

After doing some research I learned. If you’re going to be successful, and grow your online business, you have to convert new visitors. I had a half a million visitors to this website in 2012. Can you guess how many people I converted to my email list? 6,700 people.

That’s a horrible conversion rate, and if I had done better, my online business would have supported me a lot quicker. Even if you don’t get that many visitors, you have to do a good job of converting new people. Here are some tips.

A killer freebie

If you’ve been in this online world for a while, you understand the value of offering a free digital gift. When people give you their email address, you send them some content you created, and uploaded to an email service provider.

This is a great way to convert those people that aren’t sure. Here’s the thing, a lot of freebies on websites aren’t very good. I use to offer a manifesto on this website because it was popular back then.

These days it’s not enough to get people to convert. People are looking for good, and actionable content they can use to accomplish their goals. They don’t want to read a list of what I did and will do.

I have since offered a PDF that teaches people how to start and market a profitable online business. This PDF takes them from starting a WordPress website all the way to creating products and services.

Many new visitors have told me they love it and it’s added value. Your freebie should be better than most people’s paid content. It should catch people’s attention right away.

*Update* I like to batch my blog posts so I write these months in advance. Since writing this, I have updated my freebie again, if you are on my email list I’ll go into detail why. I now offer four killer guides that cover the major aspects of building an online business that supports your family.

Since the update, my opt in rate has increased 46% in four days! This freebie was so good, I had people unsubscribe, and resubscribe just to get the freebie. I’ll be sending these guides to my email list Saturday.

Your freebie should have a two-fold purpose: it should get people to sign up, and it should get them thinking about buying your paid stuff. People buy from someone they know, like, trust, and get value from. Your freebie is the beginning part of that process.

Take some extra time and really think about your freebie. One freebie that has blown me away is my friend Gene’s from Leaders in the Trenches. He gives away a seven-day boot camp that will help you create more predictable income with your business.

I’ve gone though the boot camp and can’t believe the content is free. He gives some killer nuggets, and by the end of it, you’re seriously thinking about hiring him. He has created something that will lead to countless sales in the future.

That’s what your freebie should do. If your freebie isn’t doing that right now, you should start working on a new one. I know my PDF online business series works, my manifesto didn’t.

Have a clean, non confusing website

You’ve seen them. Right? The websites where you just don’t know what to do because there’s too much going on. You want to click, and find out more, but you don’t know where to start!

The best way you can convert visitors is making their experience on your website smooth. Don’t have too many tabs, the fewer the better. Don’t have too much information.

Make it very obvious what you want a new visitor to do, and the number one thing should be getting them to sign up for your email list. Every page should be clean and straight to the point.

There are many great themes in WordPress that can help you keep it simple while having all the functionality you need. Try not to go over board with plugins that will slow your website down.

This concludes part one. We’ll dig a little deeper in the next post. You have 10 seconds when someone visits your website to make a good first impression. Making it a smooth experience for them will convert casual visitors.

What are you doing to convert new visitors?