Need a Website? HERE S A SHORTCUT TO MAKING A LANDING PAGE THAT WILL HELP YOU GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST mandy marksteiner 505-515-700 email@mandymarksteiner.com
Putting together a website is a lot of work. I get it. And sometimes it can seem like all that work is overkill. That s why I want to show you how to use LeadPages to put together a webpage that you can use to collect email addresses from people who are interested in hiring you. I ll also show you some of the LeadPages features so that you can put together a simple website. As an example, I will create a landing page for my brass quintet, The Brave New Brass. Like a lot of music groups out there...so far, we have a Facebook page. I ve tried to put together a full blown website but got a little bit discouraged because there isn t that much information to put out there just yet. I want to let people know that we re available, give them our contact information, and collect their contact information. That way, when we have a performance, we can let people know when and where we are playing. We can always add more information (and good stuff like recordings) later. The first step is to go to the LeadPages website. (If you re not signed up with LeadPages, you can get a free trial here.) In the upper left of the navigation bar select Leadpages and click on it. Then click Create New Leadpage.
Once you click on the Create New Leadpage button it will take you to a page with a library of drag and drop templates. These templates are the main reason that I m recommending you use LeadPages. They are all easy to use and optimized for conversions. Browse through the templates and find one that best fits what you are trying to accomplish. I am trying to have a straightforward website where I introduce my group and collect email addresses. (I plan to add more later and I ll show you how to use leadpages to build out a larger site.) I knew that I would be working with a photo of the group and a logo, so I was looking for a template that would accommodate those things. I picked this template As you can see, when I chose the template I was asked to name my Leadpage. I just named it BraveNewBrass. If I start to create more pages I can give them more specific names. The challenge is to replace all the images and text that is here, with my own images and text and have it make sense for my quintet. I will start by changing the background and putting a picture of the quintet in the left hand space on the page. See the blue settings icon under the Brave New Brass label? Click it to change the layout.
When you click the settings button, you will see a menu on the right-hand side. It had an image of the toddler in the kitchen as the background, I clicked on the color button and chose this shade of blue. I m hoping that it will look nice with the blue-sky background of our group photo. Next, I will try to put our group photo in that boxed area next to the headline. Click on the Widgets icon to get a menu of all the widgets that you can place in that space. Choose the image widget. Just grab it and drag it to the area on the page where you want the image to go.
When you click on the image area you will get a menu underneath. Click on the image icon (as shown on the image on the right) to upload your photo. This is the pop-up box that you see when you try to insert your own image. I ve already uploaded the image that I want the second one on the left. I click on the image that I want and then push the blue Insert button. When you choose your image, you have the option of adding a title and some Alt Text to your photo. Do it. Add a keyword-rich title and Alt Text. It will give you a little SEO boost.
Here is how it looks. I m starting to question my choice in background color. I might go for a black or gray because that will look nice with our logo. Next step is to change the headline. Before I change the headline, I wondered how our logo would look in the space above the headline where it says TOTS. So, I simply clicked on that image and got the same menu underneath that lets me swap out the image. I clicked on that and this time I uploaded our logo. Uploading a new image is straightforward. When you click on the upload button it opens up a window with all of your files and you can search for the one that you want.
Here is what the logo looked like. I m not crazy about that placement, so I might use it in a different area on the landing page, below the fold. I m going to delete the logo, put it in the next section and concentrate on what I m going to say about the quintet. I wrote a headline and a brief description of the group. The layout looked a little strange at first, and so I clicked around and found some empty blocks and deleted them. Now that we have the description of the group, I have to work on the orange button. The orange button is probably the most important element of the website, because we re using it to gather our audience and collect email addresses so that we can keep in touch with people who want to hear us play. Click the orange button to get the menu. Click on the link icon on the right to get the menu that will let you integrate the button with your email service.
I personally use Constant Contact. You can also use MailChimp or MyEmma, or Infusionsoft or any number of services. And if you don t currently use a contact management system and don t have a list yet, you don t have to worry. Because LeadPages has an email service built right in. It s called Drip. So if you don t use one of these platforms, just use the email service that s built right in. When you click the link button, you will get a menu that looks like this. Choose the item that says Leadbox. Because we re going to create a little pop-up box that will appear where people will give us their email addresses. *Note, I am going to say that you will get updates on our upcoming performances when you give the email address. But it is important to realize that it works a lot better if you have something to give in exchange for the email. For example, I have a friend who had a band and she was selling her CD s and trying to get people to hire her band. And when she asked for people s email addresses, she offered a free track from the CD. When you click on Leadbox you will get this menu. Go ahead and click on Create New Leadbox. This is what you see. We re just going to replace the generic images and words with stuff that makes sense for the Brave New Brass.
This looks like a good place to put the logo. Start by choosing where you want the data to go. You have some choices. Notify Me means that you will get an email with the new address, and you can add it to your system. First, I changed the headline to say Find out about our concerts because that is exactly what they can expect when they join the email list. Then I clicked on the picture of the key to get the menu beneath. Again, I clicked on the image icon so that I could choose from one of my pictures that I had on file. When you click on the part of the form where people can enter their email address, you get a new menu that looks like this. I m going to choose Constant Contact. I already use it, and I have a list set up for Brave New Brass. So, when people sign up on this landing page they will be added to that list automatically. But below Constant Contact you can see that there is the option of choosing a different email marketing service. Once I click on that Constant Contact button it shows me all of the lists that I have in my CC account. I already set it up, so I chose Brave New Brass. Once I chose that, all the email addresses that people type in will go to my list. Click Done and click the blue Next - Fields button.
This is where you can decide what information you want to collect from your visitors. You can collect their full names, street address, city, their phone number and even their fax number. I m going to just ask for their email address at this point. If I were sending something to them in the mail, I would ask for their address. And having that information would be very helpful. But for now, I m just planning to send emails to tell them when we will perform. I won t ask for extra information and I ll delete the fields for first name and cell number. When I m done I click the Next-Actions button, which controls what happens after the email addresses have been collected. You can send them to a Leadpages thank you page, you can create another leadpage to send them to (this might make sense if you want to sell them something at this point) you can send them to another web page or they can just stay on the page that you just made. If you ve created some kind of a Lead Magnet, this is the moment when you give it to them. You add the file for the lead magnet, and the subscriber will get an email with the file. I do not have a Lead Magnet for this group, so I am going to send them to the Leadpages thank you page.
Here is what the Leadbox looks like. I tried to make it as friendly and inviting as possible. I changed the blue to gray, added the logo at the bottom and linked to our Facebook page. This landing page is done! I know, I know. It s totally bare bones and sparse. But it is doing the main job that I want it to do.