One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten about writing sales pages is to think about them in terms of having a conversation with someone.
Whether you have a tiny list or thousands of people on it, you can still give all your sales communications – whether it's a long sales letter, sales copy for an ad, or short sales copy for the products page of your website – the feeling of being personal if you write it as if you were talking to your ideal client or a friend.
Here's what I mean:
1. Tell A Story
One of the most effective ways for you to write sales pages that convert (meaning people take the action you want them to take) is by relating in some way to your reader.
If you've been where they are at now, telling your story can go a long way in engaging your reader, building your credibility, and providing a feeling of comfort to your reader that you know what you're talking about.
2. Ask Questions
To introduce your story, you might ask a series of questions that your reader would answer "yes" to. When your reader says "yes, that's me" you've hooked them right away and enticed them to read further.
For example, on the back of my business card (which is a sales tool in that I use it to entice people to sign up for my ezine), I ask, "Are you sick of struggling to attract enough clients for your business?" and "Are you really good at what you do, but marketing yourself effectively eludes you?"
You could do the same on your sales pages. For example, at the beginning of my sales letter for my How to Write Sales Pages that Sell teleseminar, I ask, "Do you currently have sales pages online, but they aren't converting, meaning you're not making many (or any!) sales from them?" and "Are you planning on launching a product or service in the next 90 days and know you need to write the sales page for it, but have no idea how to go about it?"
3. Touch On The Pain
A very effective way of bringing your reader along in your sales page is to touch on the pain of the problem about which you are offering the solution.
For example, a few years ago, our neighbor's two dogs barked incessantly, often waking my daughter from her nap, and making it difficult for me to focus when I was working. We tried everything, including talking to the neighbors a number of times, calling the dog warden even more often (unfortunately the neighbor is friendly with the dog warden), chasing the outdoor cats away when it's them that they are barking at, and even trying to just tolerate it.
But when it became apparent that the dog warden was not going to be effective and since we live in a very small village where the mayor is also our neighbor and it didn't seem like we were going to be able to have this issue resolved via the proper channels, I started searching for other solutions.
What I found was a humane dog training device, and the reason I was willing to plunk down almost $100 for it was this one sentence on its sales page:
"Have you tried EVERYTHING to silence the nuisance barking of your neighbor's dog?"
Sold!
4. Focus On The Top and the Bottom
The two most-read parts of your sales pages are the headline and the PS. There are certain very effective ways that you can utilize these two components, and one of them is to use them to relate to your reader in some way.
I've seen sales pages without a headline – just the title of the product they are selling, and I've seen many sales pages without a PS at the end.
Not have compelling copy in your headline and a gentle nudge in a PS can really hurt your sales. Make sure you focus on these two areas of your sales page with the utmost of care.
5. Offer A Strong Guarantee
Most of us are skeptical to some degree and often ask the question, "yes, but will it work for me?" Remove that doubt by offering a strong guarantee.
Research proves that the longer the guarantee, the better. And even better is making it clear that your buyer can get a refund without having to give a reason for requesting it. Offer a minimum of a 90 day guarantee and a no-questions-asked refund policy, and you'll make more sales and get less returns, even if it seems counter-intuitive.
A final note: writing sales copy is a skill that anyone can master, given a little practice and guidance. There are loads of good sales pages online that you can model. To get you started, just think of the ones that really spoke to you and from which you made a purchase. Think about what it was that made you enter your credit card number and reflect that in your own sales copy.
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
I've been coaching my Platinum clients on ways to build their list a lot lately because they understand that the more you increase your list, the more you increase your in^come.
There are many ways to build your list, with authenticity and integrity, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorite and most effective ways to do so.
One of the quickest ways to draw attention to your business is by conducting interviews of people in your niche whose name is familiar to your target market.
This is one of the fastest and easiest ways to add loads of targeted subscribers to your email list, and it can be a lot of fun, too!
You can interview them over the phone and record it, offering the audio as a way to entice people to sign up for your list (and you can ask if your interviewee would be willing to do the same – most will). Or you could do a written interview via email and offer the written transcript as a bonus to those who sign up for your Free Taste.
Here's the steps to how you do this:
1. Make a list of 10 well-known people in your niche who you could potentially interview.
To find them, search your inbox to see whose lists that apply to your niche that you're on, look on websites in your niche, Google for others you don't know about yet, ask your lists for recommendations and referrals, look in your industry magazines, books within your niche, and go to Amazon.com, search for and create a short list of authors who would be interesting to interview for your market.
2. Once you have your initial list, Google the name of each person.
See if they have a website and if they do, visit it and see if they have a list – you'll know if they do if they offer a Free Taste! Put a star beside the names of the people who have both a website and a Free Taste.
3. Compose an email (which you can use over and over) that invites each person to be interviewed by you on the topic you choose.
Obviously it needs to be a topic that your target audience is interested in learning more about. What you want to make obvious to the potential interviewee is that you are offering to give them free publicity.
The names with the stars beside them are the first people you should contact via email. Then work your way steadily down the list.
Remember, as you build your stash of interviews with leaders in you niche, you are becoming well-known as well. Don't be surprised if you in turn get invited to be interviewed by someone else using just this technique, which again, benefits you and your list.
And if you continuously implement this strategy (say one interview a month or a quarter), it will build momentum, and could eventually build a nice package of future products for you to offer!
Would love to hear what you think about this strategy. Please leave your comments below!
Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/
As I've been coaching clients lately who are eager to move away from the exhausting 3 or 4 calls a month model of coaching their own clients, but are still working out the details of how to move smoothly over to the platinum-style format I've taught them, there is a nice fill-in option.
It's the virtual VIP Day and it's my new love. 🙂
Not only are VIP days easy to put into place, they also create additional revenue which will give you the financial freedom to decide when you can move more fully into the platinum-style format.
A virtual VIP day is just like being in a private in-person retreat with you, except you meet over the telephone, or via video call – which is my favorite way to do VIP days – where you focus on your client's outcomes.
This format means you don't have to find a location to meet, make travel and lodging arrangements for your client, and it typically is easier to get a VIP day on both your calendars than an in-person meeting.
I’m coaching my Platinum clients on how to offer this super-simple and super-lucrative in^come stream and delighting in the successes they're experiencing already.
Here are my favorite tips for adding VIP days into your business model, quickly and easily:
Tip #1: Plan Your Time
A good time frame for a VIP day is from four to five hours. During that time, you'll be delivering content, coaching, consulting, and giving the client exercises to work through periodically. Plan to take a few short breaks as well, to stretch, use the restroom, or get some nourishment.
Tip #2: Plan Your Content
The beauty of the VIP day is that you can offer a specifically designed program of your own, or let the client tell you the specific outcomes they'd like.
For example, I offer VIP days on the topics of "Creating Your Signature System and Profit Pyramid", "Branding with Archtypes" and "How to Charge What You're Worth and Get it".
Or perhaps your client is intent on completing their marketing and launch calendar during their VIP day, or developing a detailed promo campaign for a specific launch. You can design your VIP day around those outcomes instead.
Just be sure that there is a concrete focus for your VIP day so your clients are sure to walk away delighted – and happy to share their experience with others.
Tip #3: Plan Your Worksheets
I'm a worksheet fanatic, and I've found that my clients appreciate them as well. Include worksheets for each exercise you do with your client during your VIP day, even if it's a simple 1-page document with your branded header at the top and one question for them to answer. This nicely increases the value of their experience.
Tip #4: Plan Your Payments
Knowing that everyone appreciates a payment plan, be sure to offer one for your VIP days. But remember to make certain that your fee is paid in full BEFORE the VIP day to keep the transaction nice and clean for everyone.
So if you want to make the move from the traditional coaching model and are still working on putting your platinum-style program together, adding virtual VIP days are a great way to go in the meantime.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about adding this in^come stream to your current business model. Please leave your comments below.
(c) 2010 Alicia Forest
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
Did you take some time recently to think about and perhaps even write down your resolutions for 2010?
To be honest, I'm not exactly a fan of resolutions – really, what's so different about January 1 that's going to make a dramatic difference in whether or not you keep your resolutions? If you just have a list of things you'd like to accomplish, well, the answer is 'not much'. But if you have a PLAN to go along with your list, well, that can make ALL the difference.
What I've done for the past several years, as part of a much larger strategic planning process, is create what I call the Four Pillars. It includes just 4 goals that I want to achieve in my business within the next year. I review the previous year's goals before setting down the next set for the upcoming year, and what I've found from doing this process over and over is this: I've reached AT LEAST those 4 goals within the year (and usually quite a few more). How? Because those were the ones I created a plan around to achieve.
So even though 4 goals may not seem like a lot, if it's 4 more than you usually reach, wouldn't that feel great? 🙂
This year, instead of creating resolutions for your business, try the following steps to create your own Four Pillars Plan:
1. Create your 1 year vision
One of my favorite exercises is creating a vivid vision of what I want my life to look like over the next year. I include anything and everything I can think of, letting my imagination run wild while my fingers try to keep up with my mind as I write.
If you've done this or a similar exercise before, review what you've written previously. Acknowledge the progress you've made, but don't get stuck on the goals you didn't reach either. Move forward with your new or revised goals for the future.
2. Choose a theme
Usually from the 1-year vision exercise, a theme will emerge about what seems most right to focus on over the next year. It may be finances, relationship-building, or a specific piece of my marketing efforts that I want to implement or increase.
3. Choose 4 goals to focus on within that theme
Choose one goal that follows the overarching theme of your year to work on each quarter. For example, if your theme is 'increase market reach', your first quarter goal may be to get exposure in a media outlet you haven't tapped yet. Your second quarter goal may be to develop 3 new strategic alliances.
4. Break down each Quarterly Goal into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks
Now that you know what you want to focus on each quarter, figure out what you need to do each month, week, and day of that quarter to reach your goal. Then write down those tasks in your planner.
This step is huge – and it's also the step that most people skip. But I promise if you set aside the time to do this, you will reap the rewards. Doing this will almost effortlessly PULL you forward towards reaching your goals.
5. Get support
As entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to want to go-it-alone. But nothing will increase the likelihood of actually reaching your goals more quickly and easily than if you have someone else holding you accountable.
Buddy up with a colleague, or hire a coach, to keep you on track and moving forward. Check in once a week or two to ensure forward progress. And don't forget to celebrate your victories, whether they be big or small, along the way.
I know this sounds simple, but for some reason, we have a tendency to make everything much more difficult than it needs to be. If you follow the 5 steps I've given you, when this time comes next year, you'll be astounded that you actually reached, at the very least, your 4 goals of your Four Pillars Plan.
So what are your Four Pillars for the new year? Please share your comments below!
(c) 2009 Alicia Forest
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
I've been spending a lot of time lately getting ready for 2010 – planning, organizing, strategizing, visioning, and more. There are many transitions and transformations on the horizon for me and my business, and much to do to prepare for them, so I'm making space and opening the flow.
In Part 1 of this article, I shared 3 ways you can make space in your business (read it here). Now here are 3 ways I'm opening the flow in my business that you can do too:
1. Escape Email Overwhelm
The number one distraction to moving your business forward by leaps instead of baby steps is email. So here's my system for handling email overload. If you can practice this 80% of the time, you'll be way ahead of the game.
a. Delete: scan and delete junk emails first
b. Move: move any emails into an appropriate folder – and create a rule to make that happen automatically
c. Delegate: delegate any emails that should be responded to by someone else
d. Respond: respond to any emails that only YOU can respond to
The goal is to only have emails in your inbox that require action from you!
2. Track your money
One of the easiest ways to open the flow of money in your business is to start tracking exactly how much comes in on a daily basis. I give each of my Platinum clients a money tracking sheet that makes it super-simple for them to implement this tip, but you can create your own very easily.
Just create a simple form that lists the days of the month, with your monthly money goal listed as well. Each day fill in the amount of money that came into your business, and don't forget to include affiliate payments and any other sources of revenue as well.
Just by paying attention to what's coming in will open the flow to more, and before you know it, all the days of the month will be filled in with a number!
3. Don't overbook
When putting together your master plan for 2010, make sure you don't overbook yourself. If you do, you won't leave space for other opportunites to show up that you likely aren't aware of yet.
When I completed my own master plan for 2010, and then just recently with one of my Private Platinum clients, it was complete, but not overbooked. There was time off, as well as space for other exciting possiblilities to come up.
How are you making space and opening the flow for the new year? I'd love to know – please leave your comments below.
(c) 2009 Alicia Forest
About the author: Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com
Happy Holidays!
I know this time of year is filled with thoughts of holiday parties and getting all your shopping done asap, but you don't want to miss this…
For 3 days only, I'm giving you 50% 0FF three fantastic programs I've produced over the past 4 years.
This is my holiday gift to you, as my way of saying thank you for being a Creating Client Abundance subscriber and for being part of the Client Abundance community!
So, if you want to receive your special link to receive 50% these best-selling products, be sure to sign up for my list to the left <<— (if you're already on my list, you'll receive your special link on Wednesday, December 16th automatically!).
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1. 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success Systemâ„¢
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2. 42 Easy & Essential Ways to Build Your List with Authenticity & Integrity
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3. Online Business Basics Bundle
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Remember, the sale starts on Wednesday, December 16th, so be on the lookout for your special link or be sure to register to the left <<– to get yours, ok?
Cheers,
~ A
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