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Here’s some articles from a past issue of Gears so you can see what awesome information you will be getting:
March 2009 – Sales Pages:
Are You Writing in Your Own Voice?
One recommendation you may have heard is to “model” other sales pages – check out the sales page of a great marketer (especially someone whom you’ve bought from, or who targets the same audience) and copy not the words, but the overall format of the page: where to tell the story, where to add graphics/audio/videos, how to add testimonials, how to describe the “investment” price, and how to format the signup box. But if you just model that other person’s sales page, you must lose the one factor that will convert your leads into customers — your voice.
My first sales pages were very similar to Ali Brown’s high-coverting, proven sales pages for her products and seminars (most of which I’ve bought!). Of course, the graphics and words were all mine, but the rhythm was hers. It did not “feel” like my blog, my eZine, or my radio show. There was nothing wrong with the formatting, or graphics, or layout of the page … but it felt very different than my other communications with my prospects and clients. It did not feel like me.
A few years later, after studying copywriting (and reading a zillion sales letters), when I sat down to write the sales letter for The Money Tree System I did not review or model anyone else’s letter. I just wrote a letter that was very similar to what I would say to someone with the problem that’s solved by my product. Since I knew the “parts” of a sales letter, nothing got let out … and I could always go and add any missing “parts” (testimonials, addressing objections) after the fact.
So as you are sitting down to write your next sales letter, I recommend to first just write a letter you would write to someone who has the problem that’s solved by your product or service — as if you are writing your “story” just to that one person, representative of your target audience. You can always add in headers, testimonials, graphics, and the fancy stuff after the fact … but start with your story and your voice.
~Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, JD
www.TheWealthSpa.com
Stylin’ Sales Page Tips:
Think Outside The Box! I mean that literally 
as most sales pages are set up as a long box of content, centered on the browser screen. There are things you can do outside of that box to boost your visibility. First off, make the background around your box of content pleasing to the eye – you can choose a background color that makes your content “pop” or add a graphic (such as you logo) watermarked on the background. Repetition of your brand is always good. Don’t make the mistake of having your background color be too bold – an obnoxious bright red may make people uneasy and leave the site.
Adding your site navigation menu along the bottom of the page can help increase your traffic as well – if someone is leery about signing up for your offer they may want to investigate who you are a bit more, and adding your site navigation gives them a way to see who you are and what you do.
Add bookmarking links above the content. I recently had a client ask me to add bookmarking links to her page – an idea I had not thought of before! After a bit of research, I found that adding links to diggit, reddit, twitter, facebook (the list goes on) is a very easy way to give people the option to spread the word about your product or offer. Most bookmarking sites have the link code available on their site so all you have to do is copy and paste it into your code!
Say “no!” to clipart! Be mindful of the graphics you add to your sales page. The days of Power Point stick figures are over. With all of the stock photography and stock graphics sites out there, you can add very professional looking images to your sales page with little to no cost to you. People can tell the difference between clipart from Word and professionally designed graphics. In addition to content-driven graphics, if you are selling (or offering for free) an eBook or Audio program, having a 3D graphic custom made to fit that product helps the visitor visualize what they are going to get by signing up.
Personalize! Adding your image, signature or video to the sales page helps the visitor feel connected to you and helps to build the relationship. Show your visitors the results you got from your system or product by adding pictures of you enjoying the benefits (like an image of your vacation house or you having a great time doing something resulting from using this product)
Match their investment to yours. This is especially true for sales pages where you are selling a product (rather then building a list and offering a freebie) – if you have a basic, content rich sales page with little customization, no graphics and no personalization you can give the impression to your visitors that this product is not worth your own time and money!! If it looks like you only spent 15 minutes creating your sales page, there is a good chance people will not be willing to invest hundreds of $$ to your product.
Be mindful of your content. You may have spent hours developing great copy to sell your product, but if you do not format the content correctly, chances are no one will have the patience to read through all of it. Use an easy to read font (like Veranda or Tahoma), don’t let your paragraphs go too long (break up paragraphs into 2-3 sentence statements), use headers and subheaders, & bullet points.
Is your current sales page set up to perform? Get a free sales page analysis by emailing victoria@lynnraedesigns.com and submitting your sales page. We will review your design and content and let you know what areas you can work on to improve your conversion rates!
~Victoria Potts Keale
www.LynnRaeDesigns.com