If you're not willing to put in at least 90 days of multi-media advertising, then stay in bed! If you think your offer is great, then tell people about it every way you can. Then later, if you WANT to stay in bed in a few months from now, you'll be able to because your business will be on auto-pilot. Everyone is NOT on the internet, you need to reach people where they live, at their postal address by direct mail, print publications, or even while they're at the laundromat. Don't just think that everyone will join your offer because you tell them it's good...you need to maintain a high level of enthusiasm, keep your personal goals at the front of your mind, and don't drop the ball in midplay. Don't just think about getting sign-ups, go out there and remember you are competing with thousands of other people, thousands of other businesses, and you need to be able to create a downpour of information that will scatter the rest of them like stray cats in a thunderstorm. Only 20% of internet advertisers make an effort to do offline advertising, and only 20% of mail-order advertisers do anything online. So it's well within your best interest to cross over, DO BOTH!
I posted the first part of the below information in someone else's forum this morning as a reply to their company's lead-capture page. Then I thought, why not put the entire picture here of a full-throttle multi-media advertising campaign? Don't assume that it's expensive, your small few dollar investment in different media can bring you multiples in profits, then you should reinvest the majority of that, at least 75% into more advertising.
Your company could test a variety of different pages to see which one(s) bring in the most response. If people are ultimately going to spend money, they want as much information as possible. Also you need to tell the prospect as many benefits and details as you can to get them to think seriously about your offer on a continual basis until they make a decision. You need a multi-pronged approach and follow-up from the company AND salesperson if possible.
The company I'm with, Lotto Magic, has 3 different sites, the basic corporate site does not have a lead capture but it offers many pages of information and company contact info: http://www.flalottomagic.net/?=V5188
This one does have a lead capture and several testimonials on the front page: http://www.freelottomagic.com/?sponsor=V5188 I also get notified when people were there so I can follow up with them personally.
This has a 7-minute audio presentation that people have to enter their email to be able to listen, then it follows up immediately with an email afterwards: http://www.lottopaysme.com?/V5188
I also created my own forum thread with lots more details on income projections, etc: http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/575431.aspx
OKAY...THERE'S STILL MORE:
PHONE: Lotto Magic will also mail their detailed 16-page booklet to everyone who calls the toll-free number with your ID number, try it: 1-877-526-6957 mention ID # V5188. This saves you the costs of postage and printing. Your ID number will be in the booklets that are sent out for you to all prospects who call. They can sign up and mail it or fax it into the company.
PRINT PUBLICATIONS: This is not as expensive as you may think, and your ad will be sent to thousands of interested prospects, directly into their mailboxes. Magazines are kept for a long time, read more than once, and usually seen by more than one person. Remember, it takes more than a month for your ad to be published, so hopefully you're in a business that you'll still be interested in by next month. It may take as many as 3 viewings of your ad for it to sink into peoples's heads, so don't just advertise one time in one magazine and then give up. Try several different publications that you can afford, or just try one publication and run your ad in 3 consecutive issues. Sometimes publishers give discounts if you make advance payment for several runs, it doesn't hurt to ask. I put the links to the last 2 issues of Shore To Shore at the end of this post, which is postal mailed to 5,000 people monthly and also published online. The entire issue may take a few minutes to load, there are approximately 100 pages per issue. The ad rates are on page 2. For the past 2 months, I've used a 3x8 ad which cost $20, and if it brings me one Team Captain, then I've already earned back my advertising cost PLUS $5. If it brings me a lot of people who send me their own offers, then I can add them to my mailing list and send them lots of information on a repeat basis. I also put a link the The Mailbox, they postal mail to 5,000 monthly and are also online, right now they have tornado cleanup problems so they left all ads from last month online until further notice. That classified ad only cost me $3.
DIRECT MAIL: You can either send out mailings to a list, or do reverse mailings to people who send you their offers. Postcards are big business, but including a personal letter, testimonials, and as much contact info as possible is well worth using a 39-cent stamp. The additional 15 cent expense for mailing an envelope full of information may be the difference between making a sign-up or at least getting a positive response...or not getting one. Many postcards just have the address of the company on them, if you insist on using postcards to keep your costs down to 24 cents per mailing, then at least get a rubber-stamp with your name & address, or put your own return-address label somewhere on the postcard you have a great chance of receiving mail from lots of people, then you can send them more info in the future.
WORD OF MOUTH: If you're enthusiastic and have an offer that other people would be interested in, then tell them about it. Also find out if you can leave some business cards at local businesses, or tack your card or ads to bulletin boards around town. People do look at them, especially try places where people will be sitting around for a long time, such as laundromats and bowling alleys.
LINKS TO PRINT PUBLICATIONS: Shore To Shore has LOTS of pages, these pdf files take a couple minutes to load.
My ad in this issue is a horizontal 3x8 at the bottom of page 26 with the headline THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS: Last month's issue of Shore To Shore: http://www.xlbworld.com/STS/STS63.pdf
In this issue, I have a vertical 3x8 with the headline WHAT'S THIS BENEFITS CLUB... on page 32 in the previous issue of Shore To Shore: http://www.xlbworld.com/STS/STS62.pdf
The Mailbox online: http://www.bodymindspiritnews.com/mailbox.html (my ad is more than halfway down the page with the headline EVERYONE'S HERE BUT YOU!)
(see pictures of the tornado cleanup at http://www.bodymindspiritnews.com )
When you think you're important online, just remember there are mail-order publishers who work 18 hours a day and have 5,000 people sending them advertising orders every month, plus they answer questions about their own business offers, AND they are cordial while doing it all!