Are You a Writer Without a Lead Magnet?

By Rohi Shetty

If you want to be a successful online entrepreneur, and not just a hack, you need a website. If you want to convert casual visitors to your website into clients, you have to persuade them to subscribe to your email list. To do that, you have to offer them an incentive for permission to let you into their email inbox. That incentive is called a lead magnet.

What’s a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is a free checklist, report, e-book or course that you offer to your prospects in exchange for their email address or other contact information. Your lead magnet has to be valuable enough for them to offer their email address. Lead magnets are also called opt-in offers, opt-in bribes, freebies, and ethical bribes.

LEAD MAGNET

VISITORS==>==>SUBSCRIBERS==>ENGAGEMENT==>CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS

Once the people who visit your site subscribe to your email list, you can stay in touch with them through email so they get to know, like, and trust you. You can then offer your products and services, which they are likely to buy.

Here’s the bad news!
Nobody is interested in your free newsletter. You have to offer something much more valuable to get them to sign up for your email newsletter. If you don’t have anything to offer as your lead magnet, you need to create it first. Schedule a time slot for it right away. I’ll wait. Done? Great!

Here’s the exact blueprint to create your first lead magnet

1. List the broad topics for your lead magnet and then choose one topic.
For example, if you are a health writer, you could choose to write about weight-loss.

2. Define the focus of your lead magnet
Decide whether you want to write about:
a) Delight: something they want or
b) Pain: a problem they want to get rid of

3. Write your revised headline
a) What is the problem you will focus on?
b) What is the promise to your prospects?
c) Who is your target audience?
d) What is your solution/roadmap to take your prospect from problem to promise?

For example, The Foolproof System to Lose Five Pounds Fast Without Dieting for Busy Entrepreneurs

4. Test your headline
a) When your prospects look at your headline, will they immediately know what they will get from your lead magnet?
b) Does it offer immediate relief for a symptom (instead of a solution for a problem they don’t realize they have)?
c) Is this a problem they want to get rid of so much that they would happily pay for it?
d) Does your lead magnet focus on either the very first step or the most painful part of a particular problem?
e) Is your lead magnet the specific solution to eliminate a specific problem?
f) Can your prospects implement your solution within 15–30 minutes?
g) Is it an immediate fix or do they have to wait to see results after implementing your solution?

Reference: Fast 50 Optin Litmus Test Workbook by Alp Turan

Awesome Free Resource (until 17 August 2017)

Alp Turan is a lawyer-turned-marketing strategist whose opt-in pages consistently convert at 70%. He has put together an incredible collection of 1,500 lead magnet ideas for 25 different niches. You can use it to find the perfect lead magnet for your business.

Once you sign up, you’ll get a welcome email with:
(a) Access to the first 250 ideas of his Opt-in Idea Bank.
(b) The Opt-in Litmus Test Workbook, which walks you through seven litmus tests for your lead magnet to convert above 50%. Test your idea and see whether it will fly or flop BEFORE you create it.
(c) Your unique link. Once five of your friends sign up through this link before 17 August 2017, you’ll get the remaining 1250 lead magnet ideas.

After 17 August 2017, the Opt-in Idea Bank will be sold as a paid product for $197. However, as a founding member, you will gain access to the premium version completely free of charge.

Join the conversation
Have you created your lead magnet yet?
Paste the link in the comments below so that we can check it out.

(2 August 2017)

Rohi Shetty is a doctor, health writer, and editor for hire. Check out his Kindle books at Amazon and connect with him on LinkedIn and his new Facebook Page. His latest passion is building Facebook Messenger chatbots.

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