If
Your Web site Sales seems Dead - then Here's a surprise!
By John Alexander
How are your
online sales doing lately?
Have you read articles recently that talk about how the
old-fashioned online sales letter is dead?
The good
news is that sales copy is not dead at all so be
careful to which voices you listen to on the Web.
If your online sales are in a slump, don't just give up on
your Web based business just yet. These days if your current sales letter may feel like it
is dead, it may not currently be doing the job you intended,
but that don't mean you are beyond bringing it back to life in
a bigger and livelier fashion than ever before.
Sometimes
tiny little changes can make a big difference.
One of the
biggest problems that people have is understanding and dealing
with change.
The sales letter of years ago usually tended to be
a long-winded page that went on and on for ever. These
primarily worked in their day for specific audiences based on
the fact that there was loads of information. I remember
seeing one particular sales letter that was 9,000 words long.
What do you
do if your Web site sales are in a slump?
Here are 10 quick and easy tips to apply to any sales letter
that should help it along:
1.
The power of Surprise!
One
of the biggest things you can do is to re-write your copy in a
way that will "surprise" your visitors. Catching
your visitors by surprise (in a good way) separates you from
everyone else out there. It can be not only refreshing but often by
adding in a twist with a difference, it can be enough to improve
visitor response. Far too many people tend to spend their time
trying to re-create what their competition is doing. Better
yet, you lead the way and do something different than everyone
else is doing.
2.
Writing sales copy as opposed to writing dialogue.
Are
you really writing a sales letter or should you be writing
dialogue that "speaks to the reader" the way you
would speak to your friends? Consider writing more like the
broadcasters do "for voice." Read your Web copy that
you have right now. Is it loaded with marketing type hype and
multi-syllable corporate lingo?
If so, clean it up. You would
never talk this way to your friends, right? Next time you
listen to the radio, take note of how a professional
broadcaster will project personality into their spoken word.
It is more than just their voice, it is also in the way their
copy is written for voice.
3.
Spend time working on your headline.
How
well does your headline speak to the reader? What is it
saying? Is it talking about the services you offer or is it
actually describing the benefits of owning, possessing or using your
product or service? Far to many people are talking about
themselves rather than clearly dialoguing about those
benefits.
4. Using the power of
emotional content
When creating your
sales copy, another good thing to keep in mind is the power of
emotional content. Focus on the emotion you want your readers
to have as a result of their experience on your Web page.
Write towards delivering the right kind of emotion. Many
people make their buying decisions when they "feel
good" or "positive" about what they read.
5. Ramp up towards one
huge, killer benefit in your list.
As
you describe your benefits, build some momentum towards the
one major big benefit. Most people never have nearly enough
benefits in their list, but try and build up to the one MAJOR
deal that you think will be the topper and work it in as the
closing statement using natural dialogue.
Example: "Now once you download your e-book, flip
over to page 85 to discover how you can get 12 months of
support at no extra charge for 1 full year." This type of dialogue practically paints a picture in
your mind of you opening a book and literally getting the extra bonus
information by turning to a certain page.
6. Define your
benefits using something other than everyday, overused jargon.
For example instead of saying "free shipping" you
could do the following.....
Normal price $24.95
Special Sale $16.50
which includes delivery right to your
front door!
7. How well does the tone
of your sales copy read?
Ideally you want it to flow without
any stumbling points.
An easy way to check this is to read your copy
out loud.
8. Did you know that
people care about your opinion?
Write to your readers, but include your own
perspective. Did you know that people care about your opinion
and actually want your perspective on an issue or about a
product. Most good sales copy will offer something original
and something more than just the same old routine. Include
additional original information such as your own review of the
product or even a benefits matrix so the reader can compare
how your product measures up to similar other products on the
market.
9. Using Audio Testimonials
still works well.
The power of the spoken testimonial through audio often adds
an extra emotional element that the written testimonial can
not capture. Have you tried an audio streaming service like
Instantaudio.com to stream your testimonials?
It comes with a
Toll Free 1-800 number you can use to add testimonials to your
Web site at the click of a button. The service works great
even over slow connections and gives you an easy way to let
your customers leave their comments.
10. Getting started.
Similar to
my advice to new SEO students who are just building their SEO
skills, the same important advice applies here to working with
your sales copy. While you are reading these tips, why
not actually go to your sales copy page and actually get
started today.
Don't wait. Don't put it off until later but the sooner you
get started making some changes and testing those changes, the
sooner you can enjoy the benefits. One of the biggest errors
made today by some folks is not so much in the mechanics of
good writing. It seems the challenge for many is the simple
act of getting started right now, today.
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About John Alexander
John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search
Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his
partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first
comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of
an
e-book called Wordtracker
Magic and has
taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world
wide.
John's articles can be read in publications like REALTOR
Magazine, Search
Engine Guide, WEBpro
News and many others.
