What is OTO?

bytjmoore

879 followers

13 years ago

There are a number of phrases used in IM that can mystify and confound the novice. I hope to be able to explain as many of them as I can through these blog post as we go along. Today I will talk about OTO. But I will also need to talk about "Squeeze Pages", "Up-sell", and "Lists". So let's get started.

OTO simply stands for "One Time Offer". But before I get into the details of a OTO I think it would be easier to understand the process of getting the OTO.

You might remember in my last post I spoke of giving something away for FREE to make some money. For our example today we will use Wealthy Affiliate as our FREE product or service. With this we have two very specific goals in mind. The first is to get people to signup as a WA affiliate. We will make money when they come on board and when the buy products or upgrade. This is our biggest goal.

But we have another goal that will become very important to us for the future. That is a "List". The "List" is a list you build of people who opt into your email list. This list is used to email opportunities, products, newsletters, and so much more. There is a saying in the IM business that says, "The money is in the list". This is because when you email correctly to people on your list you will create sales which makes you money. So this list is important.

So how do you build a list? By giving something away for FREE!

So you advertise online through the same methods taught here on WA. Write articles, banner exchanges, solo ads, forum and blog comments, and more. You advertise that you are giving away a FREE membership to an Internet Marketing site. You can replace this with an eBook or some other freebie if you like. But we are advertising the WA to make more money.

So when they click on the link that would send them to the free whatever, where do you send them? To your "Squeeze Page".

A squeeze page is a single web page that prompts the user to enter their name and email address to receive a free product or information. This is how you "squeeze" their email out of them. The form on the squeeze page sends their name and email address to your autoresponder which collects and saves the information. I'll talk more about autoresponders at another time.

Once they click on the submit button, we need for two things to happen. First, their information is sent to your autoresponder. Second, they are redirected to your first up-sell OTO. Up-sell refers to the process of selling something on the users way to the product. A down-sell would be trying to sell the user something after they have canceled or are leaving a service.

You can sell anything you want in an up-sell or down-sell. This does not make it a OTO. A OTO is exactly what it stands for. It is a One-Time-Only event. So a user submits their name and email address, then are sent to a page that says, "WAIT!!! This is the ONLY time you will see this offer!" By the way, if your page says anything like this, then make sure this offer is unique to this one and only time. Please do not lie to people. You are only hurting yourself and the IM business as a whole.

The best thin to do in a OTO is to setup three different OTO's. If they skip one they get redirected to a second, then to a third. Make sure ALL of the offers have to do with the freebie you just gave away. This is a great way to make some instant cash. These can be your own products or an affiliate offer. The choice is yours.

It is important to note that when they have reached the end of the OTO's, no matter if they have purchased anything or not, they will NOT receive the freebie. Do not give them the freebie until they confirm their subscription.

Remember, the autoresponder and list thing we are after MUST comply with the CAN-SPAM (Anti-Spam) laws. One of these laws is that a subscriber should "double opt-in". This means the user first enters their name and email address (what they do at a squeeze page) then they must CONFIRM this. This is handled by the autoresponder you choose to use. The autoresponder receives the request from your squeeze page, then emails the user with a confirmation page with a link in it they must click on to confirm their subscription. Once they confirm they will receive your first automatic email. It is in THIS EMAIL you put the link to the freebie you offered.

Now, they have the free product you offered, you have their email address, and hopefully they bought something in the process. In any event, you win. I'll talk about autoresponders in more detail next time.

CYA next time! God bless!
TJ Moore