Best Practices for Building Author Squeeze Pages

Best Practices for Building Author Squeeze Pages image

Your author’s website is the hub of your online presence. And that’s great. But your website is also a marketing tool which is designed to sell your books.

To do that, you need to create a landing page—specifically, you need a squeeze page.

So what are landing pages?

Landing pages are simply those pages where you aim to get your website visitors to land on so that they take a specific action. This action can be to buy your book, sign up for your mailing list, or to opt-in for a free offer.

When you get a website visitor to sign up for something, you are converting a visitor into a lead, also known as a prospect or a potential buyer. This person has signed up with you, because he is interested in you and what you have to offer. This interest is expressed by sharing contact information.

The most important aspect of a landing page is a call-to-action.

So what is a call-to-action?

HubSpot has a great definition, which is: “A call-to-action (usually abbreviated as CTA) is an image or line of text that prompts your visitors, leads, and customers to take action. It is, quite literally, a “call” to take an “action.”

If you want to know more about calls-to-action, then be sure to read this post which also has some fantastic examples, and even a CTA starter pack to download ( now that in itself is a great offer and call-to-action).

A squeeze page is simply a landing page that asks your visitor to sign up for your email list or email newsletter, and this is the #1 most important page every author should have on their website so you can build direct connections with your fans, readers, and potential readers through email and email marketing.

Types of Landing Pages

There are many types of landing pages on a website:

  • Your homepage where you aim may be to get subscribers
  • You book page where your goal is to get sales
  • Your product pages where you sell products or services
  • Your app page where you try to get visitors to download your app
    Your squeeze page where the aim is to get email addresses from visitors with a free offer

The goal of a landing page is not always to capture email addresses, and while other types of landing pages may help you capture emails, a squeeze page does the job far better than any other type of landing page.

What is a Squeeze Page?

A Squeeze page is explicitly designed to capture emails from potential subscribers. Email addresses of your visitors are one of those valuable assets which help you build your subscriber base so that you can sell more.

For visitors to willingly give their email address to you, you need to offer them something they can’t refuse.

In a squeeze page, visitors have no other option but to opt-in or leave your site. Essentially, you are “squeezing” them to sign up for the offer.

A squeeze page tells your website visitor what is on offer and how he can get that offer (by giving you their email address).

Best Practices for Author Squeeze Pages

Let’s take a look at some best practices for creating squeeze pages with high conversion rates:

No Distractions

A squeeze page is direct, to the point, and devoid of any other options. This means that your squeeze page must have as few hyperlinks as possible so that the potential subscriber has no other options other than to sign up or leave the page.

Remove any content from the page that distracts from the offer.

Keep all the essential elements of your opt-in above the fold such as your offer, video, bullet points, and opt-in form.

Social Proof

Social proof like testimonials and reviews are a great way to get people to sign up. Add these on your squeeze page if you can.

Video

Adding video to your squeeze page is another excellent option. You can explain more about your offer, product, or service in a video and it cuts out on content-bloat. This way you create a cleaner and less distracting squeeze page. Besides, most people love watching videos.

Good Headline

Make the content on your squeeze page easily scannable and digestible. Visitors to your squeeze page must understand in the first few seconds what this page is about, what you are offering them, and most importantly how the offer will help them.

Write a great, clear headline that immediately explains what they’re going to get.

Use bullet points to make content stand out or clarify the benefits of what you’re offering.

Color

Use color to attract attention to essential elements of your page. But pay attention to color combinations, contrast, and whitespace. Color psychology also plays a crucial role in getting people to take action.

Make sure you choose the right color for your CTA buttons and that your entire squeeze page (and website) is branded for your specific market.

In other words, if you’re selling romance books, your website should feel romantic—and not like a vampire zombie is about to leap off the screen and attack you.

Make Your Offer Easy and Simple

Make the offer irresistible but don’t make it too time-consuming or overwhelming. It’s not about offering potential subscribers a 50-page PDF because you think that you need to give something substantial for it to be valuable. If you are providing a 50-page download, then make sure it is relevant and irresistible to them.

Realize that your subscribers will have to spend time to get what you’re offering and then read, watch, or go through the material—so don’t overwhelm them right off the bat. Think of your free offer as a small appetizer before the main meal.

Use Simple Forms

Create a form which is easy to fill out. Only require the visitor to fill out their email address, not their name, phone number, or any additional information, because all that extra information will decrease your conversions.

Remember filling out a lengthy form is a big turn off, so stick to the only necessary form field: email.

Great Image

Your squeeze page should have at least one great image that resonates with your brand. Visuals make the offer exciting and visitors can see what they are going to get.

If you’re offering them a chapter of your book, then show an image of the cover design or if the offer is a video tutorial then show an introductory video.

You don’t need lots of images—just one good one will do the job.

Deliver What You Promise

Squeeze pages must immediately deliver on the offer once visitors fill the form and submit it. Generally, tools used to design squeeze pages will automatically send an email to your subscriber with the offer. This is known as an autoresponder email.

But before they receive this email, subscribers are first directed to a thank you page where they should be able to get what you promised (unless you’re sending that in the autoresponder email, in which case the Thank You Page should tell them to check their email).

Either way, you need to send your subscriber the information they signed up for in their email, or on the Thank You Page (or both).

Add a Special One-Time Offer (OTO)

You can use your Thank You Page to offer something special at a discount to your new subscribers. If you’re selling coaching, online courses, or other products or services, consider recording a quick video to explain how they can buy from you right there on the Thank You Page at a special one-time discount.

Types of Offers for a Squeeze Page

Consider one of the following types of offers, and pick the one that makes the most sense to you.

Don’t worry about “getting it right” when you build your first squeeze page; just get it done. You can always tweak and improve it later on.

For Fiction Authors

  • Give away a free sample of your book so that subscribers are enticed to buy it after reading the sample.
  • Offer an entire eBook or short story free to your subscribers. You can subsequently ask them for reviews (either directly on Amazon or otherwise) which will boost sales when you decide to sell this ebook.
  • Offer your email newsletter. Simply ask readers to subscribe to your newsletter to get updates on your work, upcoming books, and special promotions.

For Nonfiction Authors

For nonfiction authors, you can try any of the above offers that work for fiction authors. You can also try one of these options:

  • Give away a free video like a video tutorial, video training, or interview.
  • Offer a free email course. People are always looking to learn more these days, and a free email course is enticing. The course is offered in small digestible chunks over a few weeks. The recurring emails help to build a positive relationship with your subscriber, and they get to know you better with each email. You can include video in each email and even provide worksheets.
  • Free templates and cheat sheets make good offers too. For example, you can create a template for writing a book outline or make a checklist for a story plan.
  • Create free worksheets so that subscribers can learn and create something while working on it. The worksheets will guide them to achieve their goal. For example, create a character creation worksheet to help subscribers get to know the character’s personalities for their book, and to understand what the characters want and how they will overcome challenges.
  • You can also offer free audio training by creating a series of podcasts that subscribers can listen to while they go about their daily routine. You can schedule your tutorials so that they receive one a day in their inbox with a link to download.
  • Consider offering a free webinar to teach something valuable or to impart important information. Webinars can be time-consuming, but when done right you can get a ton of engagement. It also gives subscribers an opportunity to see what you have to say and get a glimpse of your personality. Webinars ultimately lead subscribers further down the sales funnel by offering to sell them other relevant products like a paid course or a book.
  • A quiz is a fun way to get people to subscribe. People love quizzes especially if it reveals something about themselves by the end of it. For example, create a quiz style personality test based on the characters in your book.
  • A challenge is another option for a free offer. You can create a 7-day challenge, a 21–day challenge or a 30-day challenge which spurs subscribers into action as they go on to learn essential skills through the challenge. For example, if you are a marketing pro and an author you can create a 30-day link-building challenge.

Tools to Create Squeeze Pages

Luckily, you don’t have to design and strategize over your squeeze pages. There are many tools that you can use to create your squeeze pages.

Take a look at this detailed post on the best squeeze page building software.

If you’re on a tight budget and looking for a free option, I recommend you use Mailchimp and WordPress.

Best Author Squeeze Pages

Now, let’s take a look at some great examples of squeeze pages used by authors to grow their email list. Check them out and get inspired.

Tim Ferris

Tim Ferris is the best-selling nonfiction author of The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans, and Tribe of Mentors. He also runs a popular podcast called The Tim Ferris Show, and his blog is ranked #1 in the Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs list. Tim also builds his email list through various CTA’s on his page including a pop-up opt-in and a squeeze page is shown below:

Best Author Squeeze Pages - Tim Ferris image

Jesse Cannone

Jesse Cannone is the is the co-founder and visionary CEO of The Healthy Back Institute®, the world-leading source of natural back pain solutions. He is also the author, The 7-Day Back Pain Cure, which he offers free to his subscribers. So far he has given away more than 1 million free books.

This is the squeeze page for his book:

The Healthy Back Institute image

Robert Holden

Robert Holden is the author of Happiness NOW!, Shift Happens!, Authentic Success, Be Happy, Loveability, Holy Shift! 365 Daily Meditations from A Course in Miracles and Life Loves You, co-written with Louise Hay.

As soon as you visit his website you will encounter his squeeze page:

Best Author Squeeze Pages - Robert Holden image

Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin is the author of several books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home.

Her squeeze page is a quiz which identifies your personality. See below:

Best Author Squeeze Pages - Gretchen Rubin image

Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort is the author of two international bestselling memoirs, The Wolf of Wall Street and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, which has been published in over forty countries and translated into eighteen languages.

This is his squeeze page pop-up form:

Best Author Squeeze Pages - Jordan Belfort image

Wrapping up

You can grow your email list by creating landing pages or using squeeze pages. But with a squeeze page, you are focusing exclusively on getting an email address from your potential subscriber.

You can create all kinds of squeeze pages; all you need is some creativity and inspiration. Check out squeeze pages created by authors in your genre to see what’s working for them and get inspired to create your own great squeeze page.

Be sure to incorporate all the best practices listed in this post and soon you’ll have a squeeze page that works.

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