The Pacific Path to Being Specific
So let’s get pacific!
Writing the sales copy for your web page can be a daunting thing, but when you are a pacific away from your specific intentions, it is your readers that will not be able to make the leap.
When you are specific about what you have and what you want your readers to do, big things can happen.
- The search engines will find you when someone searching is as specific as you.
- Your readers will not have any questions about what you have and what they need to do to get it.
- Painting a very specific picture in a readers mind, usually makes them think of a friend that needs to see your message.
- There is no need to stuff keywords into your copy, keywords will naturally be there.
There seems to be an embarrassment to sell anything. I’m not sure when or where that happened, but selling is nothing more than a barter. In order to barter, you first need to explain all the benefits that your item can offer. Next, you need to inform the audience exactly what you are willing to receive, in return for all those benefits. In today’s society the barter is usually put in terms of currency.
When a professional SEO expert looks at sales copy on a web site, they look for these key pieces.
- Who will benefit from what you have to offer. It should be clear who your audience is.
- The offer. The most important part of any sales copy…the offer! If the offer is not strong and confident the rest of the page won’t matter.
- The direction Tell the reader exactly what you expect them to do…click on a button, fill out a form, or send you a million dollars. It doesn’t matter what the action is, just make sure you tell the reader the action.
- No apologies. Don’t apologize for giving a reader an opportunity. The reader may choose to move on, but never apologize for you offer.
The most important part of sales copy, be specific about what you want.
You might find when you are specific you paint a picture in a readers mind that reminds them of someone. The reader may just be inclined to forward your information on to that person.
Sales Copy with a Split Personality.
Always split test your sales copy. This is simply when you take two, or more, different approaches and have people land on different pages randomly. See which copy converts better.
This is especially true if you are using Google AdWords, or other search engine marketing techniques.
Split test your offer as well. Adding a special bonus, or changing the price even.
Never assume you know which headline, or offer, will convert.
Speaking of Conversions
The ultimate proof that your sales copy works is always in the conversion rate. So, how do you know what your conversion rate is?
First you need to have good analytics on your web site, there are some products out there that will even be able to tell you the conversion rate. If you are like most, and don’t have that, it is just a matter of simple math.
First take the number of sales that you have made over a given period of time. Divide that by the total visitors to your sales page for a given time period. Finally, multiply the answer by 100 to give you the percentage of visitors that converted to sales.
If you are not happy with the number you see, make small changes and split test again. Repeat this process until you are happy with the number.
Small sales copy changes, can make big conversion rate changes.
Be aware that by changes, it can go either way, so when you do something that causes conversions to go down, at least you know of one more thing that just didn’t work.
The Sales Offer
Are you motivated to create better copy on your web site?
Then let’s get started!
Today only, January 12th, I’m offering a free sales copy critique. This is not a rewrite, but I will offer advise. Yes, you read that right, this is a $200 value, yours free for following these simple steps.
- Click on the “Contact” tab.
- Fill in the form with your contact information.
- In the “Message” area mention that you are, “Motivated to create better copy!”
- Click on the Submit button.
On the off chance that you miss this offer, please follow the same steps above and in the “Message” area, “I’m a bum, I missed the date, could you please still look at my copy?” or something like that.
Who knows, maybe I will be feeling generous that day.
The Rocky Shore of Sales Copy
Yes, writing sales copy can be difficult, especially when you get caught up in the “sales” part.
Test, re-write, test, re-write, test, re-write, test…do you get the point?
Sales copy is not born overnight, it evolves. When something isn’t working, change it. When something is working, perfect it.
Have fun writing. Once you start seeing results, there will be no stopping you!
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Great question, Jan!
Sales copy is a rather generic term referring to any written text that is designed to sell something.
Sales copy can mean the writing on brochures or flyers, direct mail pieces, a magazine or newspaper advertisement, or in this case the words on the sales page of a web site.
The same rules apply no matter what application you are using the sales copy for.
The offer in a sales letter can pertain to a product or a service.
I hope this helps explain what the term ’sales copy’ means. I’m always here, if you have any more questions. As you can see this particular article can pertain to far more than just your web site!
OK all the help I can get. sales copy?