Yesterday, the question was raised on Twitter by @photojack about the relevance of squeeze pages for photographers. It’s a great question, but before we answer it, we need to back up for a minute and talk about photography websites in general.

Over the last few months, I’ve reviewed literally thousands of photography websites and I’ve found that 99% of them are the same – static portfolios with no marketing message, no calls to action, and no lead capture. Photographers in general are missing out big time! Only a small percentage of photographers have figured out that an effective website has nothing to do with the portfolio. Yeah, I know that may be painful for many of you, but its just the truth.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s address another aspect of marketing online – the squeeze page or landing page. These pages are appropriately named because they effectively “squeeze” people into the call to action. A squeeze page by definition is a page designed for lead capture. People are usually driven to the page by some sort of advertising or marketing activity. The squeeze page is not part of the main site. A good squeeze page with have no distractions from the call to action. In other words, there is no menu, there is nothing to do other than the call to action (usually to fill out a form or buy something). The only options are fill out the form (or buy) or leave the page. You increase conversions by decreasing options.

So, why in the world would a photographer create a squeeze page?

The answer is simple. Because the photographer wants more leads in order to make more money. Now that we’ve established why you might use a squeeze page, let’s talk about how to make an effective squeeze page.

There are really two important keys to effective squeeze pages (and any other marketing activity).

1. Message to Market Match – Make sure your marketing message is tailored specifically for the audience your targeting.  For example, don’t try and sell fine art to a soon to be bride.  You’ll do much better selling her wedding photography services.  So, when you’re advertising, have a clear, specific message that “talks to” your prospect.  Your advertisement should drive prospects to your squeeze page where the message is the same.  Keeping the message in the ad and the squeeze page consistent is crucial.  If the person responded to the ad by going to the squeeze page, don’t change the message on the squeeze page.  They already expressed interest by going to the squeeze page.  Give them what they already said they want.  Having a consistent message that speaks to your prospects pain, desire, or need is crucial
2. Offer A Valuable Solution -  Second, you need to offer something on that squeeze page that is valuable and ties into the message that the prospect responded to.  This is where most photographers get stuck.  The majority of examples of squeeze pages out there would not work for photographers.  Or so, you think.  In most cases, squeeze pages offer ebooks, free reports, videos, and other good content in exchange for contact information.  Providing value that hints toward a solution to the pain or desire that the message was tailored to is what will cause a squeeze page to be successful.

Other important points:

• Make sure the content on the squeeze page, and especially the form, are “above the fold” – above the point at which you have to scroll down to see them.
• Test your ads and squeeze pages.  Google Website Optimizer is a great free tool that makes testing your squeeze pages really easy.  You should be able to continually improve your squeeze page’s effectiveness and therefore increasing your ROI on your marketing/advertising spend.
• Don’t get too creative.  Its called “direct response marketing” because its supposed to be direct.  The more direct the better.  Tell people exactly what you want them to do – “Fill out the form below to get access to…”

Now, you’re ready to go create some squeeze pages, but you need to know what to offer.  Below are some ideas, but you really should come up with something that is tailored for your business and for your prospects.

Free Report – Offer a free report on a topic relevant to your prospects
eBook – If you’re a good writer, or you can get someone to write for you, ebooks can be every effective, especially if your product/service requires a fair amount of education.
High Quality Portfolio – For some photographers, it may make sense to offer access to a high quality portfolio.
Desktop Wallpapers – A good way to get your photos “out there” is to offer them as desktop wallpapers.  Ask people to fill out a form before they can download.
Coupons – Self explanatory.  Again, appropriate for some types of photographers and not others.
Offers – Give your visitors access to special offers if they fill out a form.
Membership Site – Usually you have to register to join a membership site.  If you have one, collect those signups as leads.  Make sure you tell them you’re going to market to them once they sign up.  You need to set expectations.
Contest/Drawing – A chance at winning something is often enough to get some people to give you their contact info.
Newsletter – Don’t do this one unless you’re committed to producing a regularly distributed newsletter.
Coffee Table Book of your Pictures – This could get pricey, but if your visitors are targeted, and your return on investment high enough, it would make sense.
Audio/Interview/Podcast – MP3′s are so easily created and consumed these days – they can be great lead gen tools.
Secret Images Porfolio – The fact that they’re secret makes people want to see them even more.
Video – Video of what?  Whatever you know about that your prospect wants.
Quotes – Some photogs quote each job before agreeing to do them.  So let people fill out a form to request a quote.  Now you have leads.

There are a million others.  These are just the few that came to mind right away.

Now go create some great squeeze pages.  You’ll start building a lead base that you may have thought was impossible.  If you want more of this kind of good stuff, just sign up to get on the Over[Exposure] early-bird list.

========= UPDATE ===========

After I posted this, @PicSeshu asked about tools to make squeeze pages.  Great question!

There really are two different tools you need to use:

1. You need a way to create the page itself.  You can definitely use a content management system (CMS) like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, or just straight HTML.  All of those tools allow you to setup a different skin/theme/template from the main site (no navigation, etc).  Unless you’re an HTML wiz or you have someone doing that stuff for you, I’d highly recommend using a CMS.  CMS’s give you an HTML editor (similar to using MS WORD) that anyone can use to add content to a page.  You want to reduce the resistance to creating new squeeze pages if you want to be successful with them.
2. The next thing you need is a way to capture the traffic/leads and follow up with them.  Basic systems like Aweber and ConstantContact will allow you to put a webform on your page and do basic follow-up, but Infusionsoft is really the marketing automation king.  Of course, you can always put up a basic form that emails you the info of the person that filled it out.  The problem with that is you’ll end up doing a bunch of manual grunt work to stick that data into a database or spreadsheet and then follow up.  Chances are, you won’t follow up well and eventually you’ll stop doing it.  Its just too hard.  Automation is a beautiful thing.

Hope that helps.

-Tyler