Top Five Lead Capture Tools & How They Work
by Titus Hoskins © Copyright 2005


Capturing leads is perhaps one of the most vital elements of 
your web site. Done properly it can increase sales, boost 
traffic and transform any site (including yours) into one of 
those fantastic Internet success stories we all read about.
Yet, many webmasters are unaware or ignore these crucial lead 
capture elements when designing their web sites.

'Lead capture' simply means capturing or obtaining the contact 
information (name and e-mail) of your site's visitors. You obtain 
permission to contact these subscribers at a later date to inform 
them about your site's updates, special events, or any other 
promotional material dealing with your site. Many marketers refer 
to this as building your 'opt-in list', visitors opt-in or give 
you permission to contact them. 

Any webmaster can build a loyal list of contacts, customers, or 
interested parties that will return again and again to your web 
site. So here are Five Lead Capture Tools along with a detailed 
explanation on how each one works:


1. Opt-in List - Perhaps, the most important lead capture tool that 
you can have on your site. It's simply an e-mail form that will capture 
the name and e-mail of your visitors. Most savvy marketers and 
webmasters put an e-mail capture form on each page of their site 
because visitors to your site don't always enter through the front 
door i.e. your home page. 

Offer some great incentive, a free ebook or resource to entice visitors to 
'opt-in' to your contact list. A pop-up with a list of free gifts works well, 
so does offering a sample of your ezine or newsletter. 

Most web hosts will supply you with the code for these e-mail capture 
forms - just place this code on all your pages. Some webmasters use
a more informal 'guest book' method but it's basically the same thing, 
you capture e-mails and get permission to inform people of special
events/updates relating to your site or product. See example of an 
e-mail capture page with pop-up here: 
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm 


2. Landing Pages. This tool is very similar to the technique described 
above, and is mainly used in affiliate marketing. Basically, a landing 
page is just that, a potential customer/visitor first lands on your 
landing page and is then directed to the affiliate page or product you're 
promoting.

Why do this?

To capture your visitor's contact information for further follow-up. 
It is commonly known that it takes up to six or seven e-mails before a 
potential customer buys a certain product. By using a landing page, you 
build a contact list for people interested in your product or promotion. 
You now have a targeted list of interested leads to promote your products to.

These landing pages can be very simple, a few sentences and an e-mail 
capture form. Some marketers make these landing pages more elaborate 
- offering special bonuses and offers if the potential buyer buys your 
featured product. See an example of this here:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/article-announcer.htm 


3. Articles - Recently, there have been an explosion of article writing 
on the web. One of the reasons, besides bringing in targeted traffic to 
your site, articles are great lead capture tools. People read your article, 
and they become more interested in your site or product. They are more
willing to give you their contact information - especially if you have 
written a well informed helpful article.

Simply adding your site's url or your subscribe e-mail address in the 
author's resource box at the end of your article will help you capture 
leads. (See below for example) Then place these articles in online article 
directories like ezinearticles.com or goarticles.com  - other webmasters will 
pick up your articles and place them in their ezine and on their sites. One 
of the most effective and underrated lead capture tools you can use. Just try it! 


4. Desktop Software - This is a software product that sits directly 
on the desktop of computer users. It can put you in direct contact with 
potential customers or interested parties. Many of these products are 
given away free to your site's visitors who download your product 
and install it on their desktops...free desktop calendars, wallpapers, 
personal planners, etc.

How does it capture leads?

These products usually have LIVE links to your web site, company
product and your contact e-mail information. Interested customers
will click thru to your sites or contact you directly about your
product or company. The best of these desktop programs are very
viral, friends and colleagues will pass them around - resulting in
more lead captures for your business or web site.

Here's a Free Desktop Calendar example:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/Free_Desktop_Calendar.htm 



5. RSS - Perhaps the least understood and the hardest to understand
lead capture tool. RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' and was 
first popularized by blogs because blogs use XML and RSS feeds 
to syndicate their content.  Don't come to us, we will deliver. People can 
view a site's contents through RSS readers or an RSS equipped browser 
without actually going to that site! 

How does it capture leads?

Many ways! Perhaps, the most simple, webmasters place an orange RSS icon
on their web pages - anyone visiting can add this RSS feed to their
RSS readers or aggregators. Then whenever this site is updated, the
contents is syndicated or sent to those who have subscribed to the 
feeds. Another popular way, webmasters place 'add to myYahoo' or 
'add to MyMSN' buttons on their sites and visitors can subscribe to 
these RSS feeds. This method of subscribing is also known as 
'Live Bookmarks'.

Popular RSS site feeds are picked up by other webmasters and placed
on their sites. Spreading these popular feeds all over the Internet,
and drawing back interested visitors who are looking for more 
information. In essence, capturing leads for your site.

With Microsoft announcing the next version of Windows will have
RSS, be prepared for a big explosion in RSS list building techniques.
Under the 'Creative Commons License', there is even greater potential
for lead capture programs and methods. Just make sure your site,
already has a blog and RSS feed(s) - you can put up a simple blog and
RSS feed within minutes for free with blogger.com which is owned
by Google. If you need help just try this simple guide:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/RSS/Lead_Capture_Page.htm 



Hope you were paying attention as you read this article on 
'lead capture tools' and noticed how the author has placed 
'five examples' in this article. These are actually lead capture 
tools the author (that would be me!) is using to build his contact 
list. Not to mention, this article in itself is a great 'lead 
capture tool' - it works for me and it can work for you too. 
Just place it on your site along with your e-mail capture form.

And watch those leads come in.


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To Put RSS On Your Site Within Minutes - Visit This Link:RSS and Blogging Guide
This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Get a Free Desktop Calendar & Planner compliments of the Author and DATEwise.
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