SUB-Ingredient:

Sales Page Writing

Training Videos - Requires Adobe Flash Player How to Make your intro pages even more powerful How to Highlight Text in HTML How to Make JavaScript pop-ups that Always work How and why to use Non-Breaking Spaces How to use a Strikethrough to text How to Space out your Bulleted Lists How to Create Sub-Lists How to apply Advanced formatting to buttons How to Underline Text in HTML & CSS How to Add borders to Graphics How to add a Checkbox to your pages How to add formatting to your checkboxes How to Add and Use Radio Buttons How to Format your Radio Buttons How to make "Modal" Pop-Ups (pop-afters) How to Format your Table Borders How to Help get visitors to start reading your text A simple way to Increase your sales How to Structure a Strong Guarantee How to Make your Text Easier to read How to Grab the Attention of Skimmers An Easy way to Prove what you say How to make it easy for your visitors to order How Headlines & sub-headings help your sales How to Avoid confusing your visitor with too many choices How to Find the right Tone of Voice for your visitors

Products to Download Sales Page Analyzer

Training Documents (PDF) - Requires Adobe Reader The Buy Impulse 500 Great Headlines

Love them or hate them, nothing sells a person on your product or opt-in like a mini-sales site does. It’s statistically proven, and better yet, they’ve been evolving and improving steadily for a decade now (eons in ‘internet-time’) to be the most effective sales tool this planet has ever known.

Hard to believe, I know, but true. Here’s the part that freaks me out: The LONGER a mini-site sales page is, the BETTER it converts!

Surely there’s an upper limit to this madness, and of course it is highly-dependant on your sales copy’s quality, but when vendors split-test their mini-sites’ main pages, (the index page sales column) the most usual outcome is that the longest version works the best.

I’ve also heard it said that you shouldn’t ad in any extra filler, and only say what needs to be said to lead them where they need to go. At the same time however, you’ve got to fully explain each point. Use bullet-points, Johnson boxes, testimonials, and of course any appropriate pictures you need to make each point and drive it home.

Obviously, it does take a little skill to write these things. No newbie marketer has ever waltzed right up to one and written a winning sales page without being at least a bit apprehensive, simply because this is the equivalent of being a car salesman and walking out to a prospective customer to try to sell him the most expensive car on the lot… It can appear stressful, but it doesn’t have to be, nor is it really hard at all. There are just some tricks to it that once learned the rest is easy.

Even if it still seems too difficult, what should you do? Run away and hide? Give up on your dreams of a home biz just because you can’t write a single page?

Hire that page writing out!

There are loads of websites like elance.com, rent-a-coder.com, and writerlance.comthat have plenty of writers just sitting around waiting for you to hire them for this very purpose… Cheaper than you think, too.

Assuming that you’ll try to tackle your own writing, (afterall, no one knows your product like you do) here’s how I go about writing a sales page.

First, I open up a blank document, (using pen & paper is fine too) & make a list of Features. –Don’t confuse these with benefits, these are part of the product that makes it unique and better than other products out there.

Second, I make a list of Benefits. –Not to be confused with features, benefits are what this product can ultimately bring to your customers. They’re your product’s product, and ultimately the very most basic benefit you’re selling is financial success or happiness. –It all comes down to one of those to base benefits, although at this point you should focus on a list of more immediate benefits, like what the customer will have in six months if he/she buys your product now and uses it as instructed.

Example: If you’re selling software that is a new kind of link-building facilitator, the benefit is how popular their website will be in X number of weeks.

Third, I write a bit about how to use it, stressing ease of use. (eBooks usually won’t need that part)

Fourth, I gather as many testimonials as possible. These can be from JV partners who you’ve let try it out, from a test group, from past customers, whatever isn’t a lie. Including pictures is better for credibility, but the best thing you can add to a testimonial is a domain name to attribute to the person… People actually check these to see if these people exist!

Fifth, I try to gather some sort of proof that it has the results I will claim it has. For instance, if the product generates sales for me, I show a picture of a bank receipt or paypal account snapshot. If it generates traffic, I show my website hit counter or AdSense data in a screenshot instead. (Check your server and AdSense terms of service first to see exactly what can and can’t be shown.)  

Sixth, I have an e-Cover created. You know, those little pictures of the front of a book or packaging that don’t really exist but were obviously made to fool people into thinking that it does exist somewhere? These things are critical for any kind of information product because people just can’t stop judging a book by it’s cover. They simply have to have a point to focus on, so you have no choice but to make one yourself or get one made. (There are many software suites that help you do make these easily, but the best-looking ones must be hired out to a pro graphics guy.)

Seventh, write a great headline. Your headline must grab the attention of a reader who might be interested in the benefits your product provides. Think of this as the most important thing on the page, to be constantly reviewed and edited for perfection. If you are writing a product on how to train a horse, for example, the following headline might be what you want to go with:

“How to train your horse so that he learns the right way the first time, every time, guaranteed.” 

Many professional sales copy writers scribble down a dozen to fifty different headlines and pick the best one before posting it on their site. Don’t worry though, it probably won’t take that much for your project, and you’ll notice that it gets easier once you have written a few.
 
And finally, I gather as many screenshots, audios, or videos showing the usage of the product as I can. Personalizing these as much as possible without sounding corny or unprofessional is critical.

Now, take your catchy headline for the page and post it in a huge font (H1, big, strong, and bold) at the top of a single-column page, around 800 pixels wide.

You can take your audio or video and put that near the top somewhere, but make sure that the eCover is prominently displayed somewhere near the headline with a product name under it.

Next, start off the dialog to the user in your standard (usually unbolded Arial) font always talking in first-person perspective. (Directly to them, like you and the reader were the only two people in a room.) Make it sound friendly, like they are an old buddy of yours, never too formal.

One great way to open is by describing the problem that the product is a solution to. Go in depth about how bad it feels to not get enough traffic or not make enough money, or whatever else the problem may be.

Then list the BENEFITS of your product, one per line, with a bullet point beside them each. The use of graphics for bullet points is becoming standard now. –Draw attention to every benefit as much as possible, and even bold or highlight the most important ones.

Then go back to some more dialog, and explain how it works. Perhaps this would be a great place for the explanation of how to use it, stressing the ease of use.

Cram in all the other steps after that, saving the features for the last thing before your sales button or opt-in form.  

If you’re asking for money, ensure that you have both a stellar guarantee (100% of thier money back in 60 days is the SMALLEST guarantee I’d dare offer. Some people offer 400% money back within a full year!) and can take multiple forms of payment. They want to see the little visa and Mastercard symbols as well as a securely encrypted order form page. 

And after the form, don’t forget the P.S.(s)

Don’t ask me why, but most of the people read all the way to the bottom of the page. So if all they see after the Most Wanted Response is your site menu, they’ve stopped thinking about the points you made before and it leaves them time to speculate. However, if you include a P.S. or three to re-enforce your main selling points, then you’ve kept it fresh and important in their minds. 

Now, after you’ve got everything down in order, revise, revise, and revise. Get all the typos, spelling mistakes, and possible crude or ugly language out of there. Format everything to look it’s best and be lined up properly. Ensure that the flow is not awkward, and then highlight or bold anything that needs to stand out.

Still having problems with the flow? Try using more Johnson’s boxes. They’re not just for testimonials anymore!

Once you’re sure that everything that needs to be said has been said, and the whole thing flows without any awkwardness from beginning to end, then you’re finally ready.

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