Overcome lackluster copy and lack of product sales by using
the passion approach. Announcements, such as “Here’s my
product!” do not work. Sure, you put a picture up and maybe
a list of its features. What’s the promise? Where’s the benefits?
How will your potential buyer’s life be better by obtaining your
product? How does a picture or list of features compel your
prospective buyer to buy? The consequence? You miss many
sales.
Write compelling, emotional copy to inspire people to buy
your unique, wonderful creation. Use these powerful Online
Promotion techniques:
1. Include your signature box on every email you send out.
Your signature or resource box, usually 4-6 lines, is your
billboard to let people know who you are, the benefits they
will receive, and what expertise and products you have to
assist them. Without it or with a lackluster one of just your
name and contact information, you are guaranteed no action
that leads to connecting with you, better yet– sales.
Your signature box is more important than your article, email,
or ezine’s message. Be sure to put some thought and time into
it. Be willing to edit it at least 5 times. You want more than just
your name and contact information. Remember your resource
box is a call to action. Write it so your reader takes action–
either to send an email, phone you, or visit your Web site.
Once you get a reaction, it’s up to you to make the next
communication powerful and convincing. It’s a good idea to
have your sizzling headline and ad copy written out for phone
and email responses. Even if you don’t have a Web site, you
need to have compelling headlines and sales letters ready.
If you send an email, be sure you include more specific
benefits and the feature of your product they relate to. For
instance, “Quadruple your Web sales in less than one month
through submitting free articles to ezines.”
When potential buyers visit your Web site be sure your home
page has marketing pizzazz with benefit-driven headlines.
Click here
Include your signature or resource box at the bottom of each
article, business communication, and ezine you send out. Use
a separator such as ===== at the bottom of your message
just before your signature.
Signature Box Examples and Feedback.
Here’s one listed at the bottom of an article sent to opt-in
ezines:
Person’s name– retired from a 30-year sales career is now a
Sales Consultant. I recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled, “How to Build your Small Business Fast with
Free Articles,” and several other publications to help small
businesses grow and prosper. Form more information…
mailto: name@email host. Phone: xxx- xxx-xxx .Or Write:
Name and PO Box.
Book Coach’s Feedback:
It’s all about the author, and not about his customer. We don’t
care if he is retired, Just one line of his name followed by his
title “sales consultant” is enough. Always write with “you” in
mind (your customers).The second line could be the title of his
manual. I wonder is it e or print?
One benefit is “fast,” but I want more. Will he help me build
credibility? More customers? The feature is “free articles,”
which when added to the benefit is strong. It’s good he
included his audience in his manual title, so his customers are
targeted.
He includes information to stay in touch with him: an email
address, phone, and address. I’d say his next step is to get a
domain name or submit his manual to another book-selling
site. For that, he’ll need a compelling headline, sales letter,
and ordering information.
Author’s Tip: Feature one special offer in each signature box.
Include your Phone number so out-of-country people can talk
to you.
In my signature box I include the Web address:
to lead
readers to services or products related to the subject of the
article that I submit to opt-in ezines.
Last month I sent out an article on Online marketing with a
link to my home page “Discounts of the Month,” where I
offered two eBooks for the price of one. In another article
entitled “Teleclasses: Raise your Credibility and Profits,”
I included the words “teleclasses” and a link to my site where
they are offered.
Put more time into writing your signature box than all other
writing Send out a casual marketing survey to your friends and
business associates to vote from 1-10 on the most powerful of
those 4-6 lines. Ask them which of the phrases would compel
them to take action. Edit it 5 times until it’s as powerful as
Hoover Dam.
2. Use “Passion Copywriting” rather than the “plain” approach
on your Web site home page. Without this effort you will
waste all that Web planning and creating time. Even worse,
the money you paid to upload your information before you
gave it a marketing eye.
If you are like many professionals out there, you know your
subject, you are an expert speaker or coach in your field, are
even passionate about it. But, you may not know how to tell
people about your services and products to get them to buy
because…(you fill in the blank with your reasons).
Visiting many Web sites, I’ve noticed long, long paragraphs
and flat product descriptions. You have only 8 seconds
to capture your visitor’s attention. Make every word count.
Write dazzling home-page copy that gives your customers a
Reason to click onto your links leading to your products or
services. After they “click here,” display a short sales letter or
bulleted benefits and a choice to “buy now.” Before I learned
this ultimate powerful technique, my Web sales were flat.
Serving up plain, flat copy when your visitors want passion,
wastes all the effort and time you put into your product. Since
incorporating “passion copywriting,” my brand new Web site
sales jumped from $75 in August to over $2265 by December
22..
Consider how fast these sales increased in less than four
months. Just think what sales you can create when you use
these techniques. Remember, your visitors will always say,
“So what? Why should I buy this? What’s in it for me?”
Author’s Tip: Place the most important message in the top half
of your Web site home page. Make sure you use my “Passion
Copywriting” system.
On my home page I include two “Passion Copywriting”
benefit statements: “Quadruple your Web Sales in Just One
Month” and “Design Every Part of Your Book to Sell More
Copies” with links that lead them to the product benefits and
the “buy now” signal.
Preparation Tip: List all of your Product’s Benefits and
Features
Begin by putting yourself in your buyer’s shoes. For each
book, product or service, write as many benefits you can think
of. Benefits include helping people make more money,
develop more confidence, create better relationships, or learn
a particular skill.
List your product’s features such as tips, charts, number of
pages, and how-tos for each product or service.
Later, transform the benefit into a “passion” statement placed
in the top half of your Web site home page. Another example
is “Design Every Part of your Book For More Sales.”
Add a link that takes your visitor to the product page or order
form. This technique sells far more products than hard-to-read
onscreen information about you and your company. One of
the biggest mistakes of author’s Web sites is that long Table of
Contents. Who cares? Always think what’s in it for my
potential buyer?
Make all your copy short and punchy, and avoid large
graphics. Visitors get discouraged at the slow loading time
and may leave. Remember your Web site’s purpose! To sell
products and services! Are you making it easy for your
customers to buy?
Avoid large doses of red, which can overpower, even bring
suspicion to some of your visitors. Remember your visitors are
visual and emotional. Everything on your site should appeal to
their senses.
3. Sell more products and services with testimonials.
My ezine subscribers to “The Book Coach Says…” doubled
in one month when I added a short testimonial from author of
The Self-Publishing Manual and self-publishing guru, Dan
Poynter: “Book writing and marketing nuts and bolts–
Definitely worth your time.”
If you offer a service, include client testimonials. Place them in
your ezine and your Web site right before you list your
service.
When you send out a free article include a testimonial about
your free articles right above the article. Those rave reviews
may be just the thing to get people to read on, and even
download your article to share with other opt-in ezines with
thousands of members. They in turn may pass it on, check out
your ezine or Web site, and even buy a product or service
from you.
On your products ordering page, include a testimonial from
the “rich and famous” at the top.
The one time I would use a pop-up window that only pops up
once is on the product order page. Include one “click here for
more about the book.” Within that window, list 3-5 benefits
and a glowing testimonial from someone your visitor knows or
respects. Put this information at the top before the title and
price. For more information on “How to Get Testimonials
>From the Rich and Famous” see
.
4. Convince your Web visitors to return often.
You don’t win your visitors’ trust right away. It may take from
4-7 visits before they buy.
Upload new, original, and useful content often. On every page
put a notice: Bookmark our site. We update material weekly.
Then, follow up and put those free articles, book excerpts and
tips up. Blatant ads such as banners turn visitors off. Give
them original information they can’t find anywhere else, and
give it free. People want and expect free information on your
Web site.
Publish your own ezine. Target it to your specific audience.
Start with a monthly, then see if you can do it bi-weekly. If
you don’t stay in regular touch with your possible buyers they
will forget you and your products. People want to connect
Online to trust you as their savvy friend. If they like your eMag
they will recommend it to others. See “Why you Should Visit
my Web site” example here:
To bring back your visitors more often, host a discussion
group on your site where people can interact fully as you share
your knowledge and offer suggestions. This project will take
more of your time than others, may be worth it.
Include “useful links “as a navigational bar on your home page
where you post other related Web sites and a short
description. This adds value to your site because people like
the convenience of shopping for services and products-all on
one Web site-yours!
5. Make it easy for your customer to buy.
They aren’t psychics! They hate to go on a wild chase that
wastes their time. They want information and results instantly!
One new coaching client wanted me to go to Amazon.com
to view her book cover and title, read its table of contents,
and read the book reviews there. She told me to just click
“books” and it would take only two seconds.
In four minutes, I still hadn’t found her book. I felt frustrated
that I couldn’t find the book, and also, that it should have
been much easier. It boils down to: give explicit instructions
as though your visitor is brand new to the Internet.
If you are like me, and consider yourself a non-techie,
remember the times you tried to buy something Online, and
just couldn’t do the required steps, or found a broken link and
couldn’t complete the purchase? Don’t you wonder how many
other would-be customers lost their way and didn’t buy?.
If you want people to go to a Web site to buy your product,
put exact step-by-step directions into your email. Test your
directions, because you may have made an assumption and
left an important piece of the puzzle out.
If you are marketing a book on your site or another one
include in each email, just as you would in a post card, your
title, your full name, your ISBN # and publisher. In case the
first attempt doesn’t work, this information is necessary to
further search. If I had had this information, I could have found
the book in question on Amazon.
Check and correct all of your Web site links to make sure
none are broken. When a person is ready to buy your
product, make it easy for her to buy. Discouraged because
your telephone line is busy, your Web site doesn’t load fast or
even come up, or your particular instructions don’t get people
where they want to be fast, your visitors will leave and give
their time and money to another easier to navigate site.
You waste all of your time and money when you don’t keep
your potential customer or client in mind in all of your Online
correspondence. Start incorporating these tips today!
Judy Cullins c.2005 All Rights Reserved.
Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at
and over 185 free articles.
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Email her at
or
Phone: 619/466-0622 — Orders: 866/200-9743
