Monetize Your Real Estate

I talked just recently about virtual real estate – your own articles and ways you can use them. Now I’d like to talk about real estate again, but a different kind of real estate. This is the real estate on some of your real estate.

What I mean is… your 404 error pages, your download pages, your first autoresponder message after a sale, and your last page of your product. They’re all prime real estate. It’s like putting hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place in your Monopoly game. It’s great to have the land, but they will make you more money if they’re properly monetized.

404 Error Page
This is the page someone arrives at when they’re trying to get to a page on your website that doesn’t exist. Whether you know it or not, you probably have lots of traffic landing on your 404 error page. Just check your stats. On some of my websites, it’s the 2nd most popular page!

Create a page on your website that will become your 404 page. Tell the reader it’s your 404 page they’ve reached in error, and put one of your products on it or even an affiliate product that you really like. I’ve even used the space to ask people if they wanted to sign up for my free newsletter and put an AWeber opt-in box on there. Then upload it in the proper spot on your hosting cpanel.

If you have lots of websites and can’t remember if you’ve spread the love on your 404 pages, try this: www.yoursite.com/111.htm.  Plug each of your websites in there and your 404 page will pop up.

Download Page After Opt-In
When someone has signed up for your opt-in offer, you can put a promotion on your download page that thanks them for completing the double opt-in process and gives them their download link. Make the promo short and sweet and put it right above the download link. If it’s not going to be short, put a blurb at the top saying that the download link is at the bottom of the page.

Download Page After a Sale
Same as above, only more effective because we’re talking about buyers who have just bought from you, not freebie seekers. Make it a special discount for your buyers only and I think you’ll be pleased with your conversion rates.

Think about what else your buyer might need that would be a good accompaniment to your original product. Pick something that goes together with the product they just bought or is at least in the same field. For example, if someone just bought your ebook on basic knitting stitches, wouldn’t they be interested in buying your ebook on knitting patterns?

First Autoresponder Message
When someone opts in to your list, whether through buying your product or to get your free offer, an email can be sent right away, automatically, from your autoresponder. You can use this space to thank them for being there, give them the download link again in case they missed it, offer your email address in case of problems, point out a short promo to be helpful, or tell them what’s coming up. This promo needs to be done with finesse; and not a hard sell or they’ll be opting out in minutes. Perhaps really soft – your signature with your appropriate links and a sentence about each?

At The End Of Your Products
This one is probably more obvious to you, but when someone is reading your ebook and comes to the end, give them something to click on. Don’t leave them hanging; do them a favor and give them a link to click when they’re ready to leave your page. Why not make that click go to another sales page that fits right in with what they’ve just learned? A short pre-sell is all that’s needed at the end of your ebook before you send them off.

You may not choose to promote on these pages in the ways I’ve suggested; only you know your audience and the type of product you’re cross promoting, but at least consider it. Yes, I agree that it may not work in every situation, but consider yourself informed now. No more leaving money on the table unknowingly.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to double check all my real estate spaces to make sure I’m using them to their full potential.

Peggy

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2. Showing a New Product to the World
3. Internet Marketing… What Do I Need To Know?