In part one we skimmed over the basics of fishing for leads, and turning them into customers. Now let's break that down and get into a little more detail.

Bait & Presentation

Traffic isn't all that easy to get. You will have to either pay for, or work hard for traffic to your website. You don't want to waste it, do you? Of course not.

When a visitor hits your page, you don't want him to just look around and swim away, right? No. You want him to buy. However, that doesn't happen often enough on just one visit. So, you need a way to stay in touch with your visitor so you can pull them back from time to time. Getting him to opt in to your mailing list is a great way to keep in touch.

But how do you get someone to give up their contact information to you when they don't yet know and trust you?

Well, while your visitor is at your site... while the fish is in your pond - offer the right bait.

What type of fish are you after? ...and what do they eat?

You know your niche better than I do.

What are YOUR visitors interested in?
What are their biggest problems?
What keeps them awake at night?
What do the want the most?

Find the right bait, then present it in the right way and I guarantee they will bite.

Through a joint venture, a little search time, or some desktop publishing, locate or create a product that your visitors will bite on.

...and setup a lead capture page using this product as your bait.

Fishermen know what bait to use for different fish because of experience, their own or someone else's shared wisdom.

Take a look around. Someone else may be selling in your market. Who am I kidding? Someone else IS selling in your market. Find them. How are they fishing for new leads?

A little research will reveal what the fish are biting on at any given moment. Find or create something similar, then bait YOUR hook and start fishing.

Good baits - Nearly anything related & free.

Viral software, articles and ebooks
Prizes (contests)
Product samples
Valuable tips
etc...

The right bait STILL must be presented in the right way. Portal sites, link & banner farms - they have their place, but the best way to present you bait when fishing for leads is with a simple lead capture page.

You've seen them many times already, I'm sure of it. A basic page with few graphics, some well written copy, bullet points and a subscription form - and that's about all it takes. You may have to experiment a bit with your presentation, but once they start biting you know you're on the right track. At this point, make only minor changes (one at a time) and test, test, test.

When they do start biting, you better learn to set the hook with a subscription confirmation to ensure your email gets delivered ... and delivered only to those who actually want it.

Confirmation can and probably will lead to a few "big one that got away" stories, but your list will be better - more responsive.

On your 'thank you' page, remind your visitor to confirm their subscription. Nothing fancy, just a little something like this:

"In order for me to send your (bait) please remember to confirm your request.

The confirmation email should be in your inbox very soon. This step, though a bit inconvenient, protects us both from unwanted email issues.

Also - please white list my domain.com and email@mydomain.com to ensure receipt of the information you requested."

Set that hook - get on your reader's list of acceptable publishers, because you want your email to get through every time you send mail. You want ALL subscribers to receive ALL email. It's not likely that it's going to happen, but it's still a great target.

It's also a good idea to test your emails to ensure they won't be eaten by filters.

You can use software for this, or one of the many autoresponder services that have spam testing features built right in.

Now we've baited, presented and set the hook - and I am worn out.

Let's rest up a bit and land that biggin' in part three. Don't miss it.