Last week I did an experiment. I wanted to see how many websites offered lead magnets for a new niche market I am interested in pursuing.
I noticed several things, but one stood out to me more than anything else – and that is the point of this blog post today.
Before we continue, let’s take a moment to go over something you should be familiar with already – just as a quick refresher.
Of course, you already know how important it is to stand out from the crowd. You want to build your list by generating new leads that eventually go inside your pipeline or sales funnel.
You’ve also heard that a good lead magnet can be one of the best and quickest ways to build your list. Lead magnets have been around for a long time and used in many different ways.
And for good reason – They Work!
For example, as a digital marketer, or affiliate marketer, you yourself have seen many lead magnets like free reports or ebooks. In order to access it, you have to submit your name and email address.
Sounds like a pretty familiar process, right?
Another example that you may not have even realized is also a lead magnet would be the free food samples you get when you walk around the food court in a shopping mall.
You may not be giving them any details, like an email or phone number, but that’s not the point of this type of magnet. A free sample of the new spicy chicken bites may get you to walk over to that restaurant and place an order. That free sample was their lead magnet to get you to spend money with them. Chances are, you’ll end up ordering more than just those spicy chicken bites, and to top it off, you may come back again another time or tell your friends.
I’m sure you’re familiar with both strategies and don’t get me wrong, those strategies work exceptionally well, but what I want you to discover today is something a bit different.
Something that can and will allow you to set yourself apart in a fantastic new way that you haven’t considered before.
Going back to my little experiment, one of the many things I noticed was that most landing pages were trying to do pretty much the same exact thing as every other website in the niche.
First, some of the sites were offering content in the form of a simple blog post, like this one; and then on the sidebar, they’d ask if you want to join their newsletter. I would venture to guess that if this was the only way they’re trying to build their email list, they’re getting abysmal results. Even if their site received over a million visitors a month, they would only get a fraction of a fraction of those visitors to sign up.
SIDE NOTE: If this is something you’re currently doing and you have not been using an actual CTA or “Call-to-Action,” your results are also going to be abysmal as well. You need a CTA that tells/asks a person to join your newsletter at the end of your post or a CTA that is explicitly used to send them to a link to purchase something…
If this is news for you, this little change could make a world of a difference to your business, but that isn’t what this post is about. For this post, I’m assuming that you’re trying to build a list with a free lead magnet, or at least that you want to start using a lead magnet to build your list.
So let’s continue. Another thing I saw in my research was that many of the sites in this niche were offering a free report or ebook as their lead magnet. This, of course, makes sense (really pay attention here), but…
Approximately 90% of the reports were the same damn thing!!!
Yes, they may have been created by a different person or business, but they were the same information packaged in a different box for the most part.
Nothing stood out. Not one lead magnet offer made me think, “I should really get this report from this guy because his information looks different.”
Once I opted in for one of them, I could care less about any of the others. It was the same information.
To make it even worse, some of them were the same report. A PLR report that they picked up and tried using to get me to give them my email.
Sorry, nope, not happening.
I will admit that I did like the ebook/report I got as the lead magnet, but in the niche, I was interested in, it didn’t matter to me to get it again from a different site. I already had the info I needed.
If this doesn’t make sense to you, or you’re thinking: “but maybe the way they teach me is different than the other guy,” let me clarify.
Imagine you were looking into information about “how to start playing the piano.”
You start searching for information online and notice that almost every site offers a free guide that shows you how to play the C-chord.
How many guides would you need to teach you the same exact chord? Once you know it’s this:
Do you really need or want to give your email address to a dozen other sites for that information? No! It’s not required!
So again, it’s all about setting yourself apart.
Now, before you start getting frustrated and think that you’ve wasted your time creating the perfect lead magnet only to find that now I’m telling you it’s worthless, let me stop you right there.
If you’ve already developed or at least started developing a lead magnet…. continue! Don’t stop!
You should be testing out multiple lead magnets, and always continuing to build your list.
However, I want to show you a different type of lead magnet that you have not considered.
That lead magnet is a checklist.
Too simple? Too easy?
That’s precisely the point. You could probably create a checklist for almost anything in just a few short hours and be ready to have it used as a lead magnet offer the same day.
The thing is, most people are not offering this as a lead magnet, so it’ll quickly set you apart.
Think about the example I just used regarding the piano.
I don’t need a dozen reports showing me how to play the same C-chord, but what about a checklist of the top 4 chords I need to learn to play hundreds of songs.
Think about it, instead of another free report showing me “How I build blogs that now earn me over $10K a month,” or “How to build a youtube channel that gets more subscribers,” or “How to rank on page one of Google.”
Why not think of something a bit different, something that is more actionable.
You see, those three examples are great lead magnets. Some of you may opt-in if you saw them as the lead magnet, but how many times would you opt-in for a similar offer?
But what if there was something a bit different about them – something that made them stand out even more.
For example, instead of …
How to Rank on Page One of Google
Wouldn’t this seem a lot more enticing:
The 7 Step Checklist That Ensures Every Article You Write Shows Up On Page 1 of Google
Or
The 10 Step Checklist That Has Been Proven to Earn Me $2K a Month From Any New Blog I Create.
Or
Don’t Start Your Youtube Channel Until You Have These 13 Questions Answered or You’re Doomed to Fail!
Do you see what I mean? How much more appealing does this make your lead magnet!
It’s not just about a more clever headline. The actual offer, the lead magnet is much more enticing and actionable to your potential leads.
If a person sees this as the lead magnet, it starts to make the person think: “hmmm, I don’t know if I do everything I can be doing to accomplish that goal. I wonder what they’re doing that I’m not?”
The best part is, a checklist is a page or two at most and can easily be created as a simple document or graphic if you want to “pretty it up.”
You don’t have to create or write a ton of content. You just need your steps.
Step 1: Wake Up
Step 2: Get Dressed
Step 3: Eat Breakfast
Step 4: Brush Teeth
Step 5: Make sure you have your wallet/purse
Step 6: Grab Keys for Car
Step 7: Lock Door
Step 8: etc.…
Obviously that’s just an example of a simple, straightforward checklist, but one thing I want you to notice, this checklist includes steps that you may do in a different order. In order to accomplish them all, however, you still need to complete them all before you leave the house in the morning, right?
The point is, it’s simple, it’s useful, and it’s actionable.
Most people that do end up opting in for a free report or ebook hardly ever go through it. I’ll admit it. I sometimes just scan through it looking to see if there is anything groundbreaking and then forget I even downloaded it.
But a checklist…well, that’s a bit different. You can consume it very fast, mentally checking off what you’ve done and what you still need to do. Sometimes you’ll find things that you never even thought of doing that needs to be done.
The best part is, you can take a current lead magnet you have or have been working on and try to create a checklist of the pieces needed to accomplish the same goal.
If you created a small report on how to start a blog that teaches people a few little tricks to get a blog up within seven days, why not have a checklist of the xx amount of things you need to start a blog.
For example:
Step 1: Dmain Name
Step 2: Web hosting
Step 3: WordPress Installed
Step 4: WordPress Theme
Step 5: WordPress Plugins
Etc.
Do you see how quick and easy it would be to create a checklist for a different lead magnet?
Now spend some time digging around that brain of yours, your expertise in your niche, and figure out how to make a kick-ass checklist as your lead magnet.
Think about all the necessary things required to accomplish a goal, the same purpose your report or ebook presented to the potential lead. Drill that information down into an easy to understand, but actionable list and you can start generating leads in a new and unique way that sets you apart.
Think about all the PLR products you may already have access to that can easily be summarized into an actual list instead of trying to recreate the entire product in your own words.
Think about the things you’ve learned during all your training, all the webinars you’ve attended, in all the products you’ve purchased, etc.
Before you know it, you’ll be flooded with new ideas for these checklists. You will have several, if not dozens, of new ways to get leads into your sales funnel.
Once you have all these new leads coming in, you’re now going to want to discover the best ways to earn income from them.
You may already have an idea of how to monetize them, but did you know there are also dozens of monetization methods you may not have even thought of yet?
Ways that full-time marketers use to create multiple streams of income from those same leads.
Imagine knowing how you can take one of these leads, and instead of making $1 or $2 from them, you can make $10, $20 even up to $30-$40 from each and every lead you have!
All you need to do is learn from those that already do this daily. Someone that can show you even more opportunities to monetize your knowledge and these new leads.
After all, you’re not doing this to build a list of emails – you’re creating your lead magnets so you can SELL to this list of emails.
We can arm you with all the tools you need to build a highly responsive and profitable subscriber list.
Imagine if you could learn EXACTLY what to do from a pair of Internet Marketing Millionaires that have been doing this full time since 2007.
It would be a complete Unfair Advantage for you!
Well, guess what… it’s available, it’s affordable, and you can learn all about it here.
From weekly webinars, to products, and training that show you everything, you could ever need to know about building a successful online business.
That’s YOUR Unfair Advantage
7 replies to "A CLEVER LEAD MAGNET HOOK"
I have seen checklists being mentioned quite a lot recently for use as lead magnets but I’m not so sure that I would sign up for one. I would have to be convinced that it was exactly what I wanted and useful. It’s one thing creating a lead magnet and setting up an optin page but getting cost effective traffic to it is another. That’s the hard part.
Thanks for your comment Sandy. I think you’re putting the cart before the horse when it comes to traffic. A magnet is for picking up metal. It only works when you put IT in front of a bunch of metal that you want to pick up. Its kind of pointless to drive the metal to the magnet, or drive the fish to the hook.
People that struggle with traffic usually struggle because they are looking for it AFTER the fact. You see, its a lot easier to create a lead magnet for the traffic than it is to create traffic for a lead magnet. The key to making any lead funnel or landing page effective is to tailor it to the audience.
Find or assemble a group of people that have a need (B.B.C.), create a checklist with the exact steps that help them accomplish a goal, and resolve that need. Pit the checklist in front of them as a lead magnet. Sit back and watch them opt-in like crazy!
Great article, thank you Omar.
Awesome article.. Going to work on this soon.
Free Training, Free consultations are also great lead magnets. The most important thing is that you’re giving value first and building trust. I will say Omar & Melinda are pros in this game.
thank you Omar…..
Actionable!
Much Easier!
Works Even Better!
I can already imagine the type of results I’d get from applying this