COPY WRITING CRACKDOWN EBOOK BLOG POST 1
The Importance of Great Sales Copywriting
So, you’ve created a great new product but how do you tell the world about it. Amazing, but telling the world about it and getting them to actually listen can be the hardest part of the entire process. If you do not launch your product properly with great marketing, all your hard work will be for naught. You need to create the perfect sales pitch to get long term sales and to do that you need to write great sales pages.
Writing good sales copy for your products is super important. Sure you can outsource it to copywriters but that can be expensive and will not always convey 100 percent what you are looking for. Learning the skills on how to write great sales copy will be an invaluable skill that will give you an advantage in launching your new products.
Not only will your website have a great impact that will easily convert leads to sales but you will also be able to create excellent sales copy to email to affiliate programs and to create a great affiliate page. You will need your own sales page in a website form to really sell your product, then subsequently you will need an affiliate page to get your product being sold on other people’s websites. You need to market your product to your customers and to affiliate programs who will promote your product further and grow your customer base.
Most people think when they have a new product they can blast it out to their current mailing list. And while this can be a great way to promote your new product and generate conversions quickly, it does not provide for long term sales leads. You need to be thinking in the longer term and the way to generate a long term marketing plan is to be creative and create a page with great sales copy that will do all the work for you. This form of marketing will give you the maximum impact and promotion for your product.
Once your sales page is up you can leave it there to do all the heavy lifting for you. You will be able to see what is working and what is maybe not working for you and tweak it so that in the future all you do is sit back and watch as your product sells. Do not be afraid if you are new to sales copywriting. In this eBook you will learn the 12 steps to help you write killer sales copy to better convert all leads into sales.
What Exactly Is Sales Copywriting?
You keep hearing the words sales copywriting, but what exactly is it? Sales copywriting is the persuasive texts that will have your readers take a specific intended action. Being able to write good sales copy will mean your readers will do exactly what you want them to without them realizing they were persuaded to do so.
Any aspect of good sales copy includes being engaging, clear, concise, honest and persuasive without being pushy and aggressive. Today’s readers are easily able to call out insincere sales pitches and products. Any time the reader feels duped by a company they will forever keep it in the back of their mind on a no-buy list.
Sales copy needs to be genuine and seem like you are helping the customer fulfill a need without any sleazy sales talk. You want to engage your customers as if you were having an
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honest conversation with them about a great new product you found and how it will improve their lives. You need to be subtle without being aggressive. You want to suggest actions to your readers rather than tell them what to do. It needs to seem like it was their idea to purchase your product, not because you told them to do so.
The customer is always the focus of the sales copy, no matter what. It should always be written in the second person only using “you” and never “I” or “we”. This will make the reader feel like you are talking directly to them. When you talk about the product, do not just talk about the features of the product, talk about how those features will improve the life of the reader. This is a very important component of writing sales copy.
Why Do You Need To Learn To Be A Good Sales Copywriter?
This skill of being able to influence your readers without them realizing will be your greatest marketing tool. This is why good sales copywriting is extremely important and can be a difficult skill to master. Being pushy and aggressive will turn your readers away. Being obviously manipulative will push your readers away. Being dishonest will have your readers blacklist you. So you need to master the skill of being persuasive without being obvious about it.
You have your great new product and you want the world to know about it. Not only do you want your readers to buy the product but you will also want them to sign up for your mailing list. Having the write sales copy will have your readers doing both. You want to turn them into long term loyal customers so that when you launch your next product you already have their contact information from the mailing list.
Try to think like the customer when creating your sales page. What kind of information do you want to get on a sales page and how much do you want to know. How would you go about researching and purchasing any new product? It is likely that your customers will go through the same steps. You need to highlight how your product will benefit their daily lives. What do they get from it? How will it help them? The need a good reason to hand over their hard earned money to you.
You need to have great sales copywriting skills because it will sell your product. You will eliminate any hesitations your customers have about buying your product. You will convince them it is something they need in their everyday life because it will save them money, provide enjoyment, or somehow benefit them if they didn’t buy your product. You need to have confidence in your product and that should shine through in your sales page.
12 Steps to Creating Great Online Sales Copy
Now that you know what sales copywriting is and why it is an important skill for anyone to learn, whether you are new to sales copywriting or need to up your game, here are 12 important steps to follow to create the best online sales copy. You have your product and you need to promote it. Try to keep your sales page to one amazing product. By focusing on one product you can really engage with your reader and have them concentrate on the greatness of that product.
Step 1: The Killer Headline
A customer has landed on your sales page through whatever means. The first thing they will see is your headline. This headline needs to be amazing and get the reader’s attention enough so that they will not leave your site immediately. Having a great headline can greatly reduce your bounce rate and increase their time on your page.
Your killer headline needs to be direct and to the point. You need to reveal just enough so that the reader is enticed to read on. You have such a short amount of time to capture your reader and your headline will make or break whether they stay on your sales page or continue onto something else.
The headline is where you should pull out your power words. You need to command and captivate your audience. Focus your headline on the reader, make it talk directly to them. Be vivid and tell them exactly what it will be like to use your product or how it will benefit them. Use action words such as, find, discover, get, learn, top and join. Words such as these encourage and guide your readers to want to learn more about the product.
For example, see how the following headline evolves from being bad to killer with the addition of a few power words. Now this is a generalized example and your headline should be more unique and concisely related to your products best features.
Bad: Product X Will Save Your Day
Okay: Learn Why Product X Will Improve Your Day
Good: Top 5 Ways How Product X Will Save You Time and Money
Killer: Discover the Top 5 Ways Product X Will Stop You From Wasting Your Valuable Time and Money
With headlines there is an 80/20 rule, meaning that 8 out of 10 people will actually read your headline and a further 2 out of 10 people will go on to read the body text of your site. This shows why it is super important to create a killer headline. Make sure you spend a good amount of time to plan out your headline, do not just write it and be done.
Taking the time to really plan out and evolve your headline from being average to killer will make all the difference. You can use A/B testing to sample two different headlines for a specified period of time to see which is getting the better response. Once you know which headline is working best for converting to sales you can use it permanently because you know it works.
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Your headline can make or break your sales page so make sure you are putting in the time to make sure it’s perfect. The same goes for writing subject lines of emails and newsletters. You want the receiver to actually open your email and click on your products.
Step 2: Introduce Yourself
Introducing yourself is important because you need to sell yourself before you can really sell your product. People like to buy products from sellers they feel like they know and can trust. You need have add a small section to quickly introduce yourself. This section should be short and sweet and really show off who you are and your personality. With everything online people want to be able to make a human connection to sellers behind the product.
Create a little space about yourself below your headline so that your reader will know who you are. You want to be as transparent as possible about yourself, your company and your product. Putting a face behind the product is necessary to have a higher conversion rate.
Even though you are selling your product online, you want to treat the reader’s experience as if it were a store in the street. The headline is the stores sign outside and as soon as they choose to enter the store, the sales person would greet them and introduce themselves. It is an important step in online marketing to tell your reader who you are by introducing yourself to them.
Start off with a simple ‘hello’. You want to create a short little biography about yourself that shows the reader you are a genuine and trustworthy person. Indicate any expertise you have, business-related or not, so that the reader will see you are someone to trust. Add in any information about yourself that the reader can relate to. Maybe they are from the same state or are in the same demographic. Know your target audience and speak to them on their terms. Provide any credentials or awards that will show the reader can trust you right away.
Introducing yourself also helps to build your brand and reputation. By introducing yourself right away you are starting a conversation with your reader. You are directly communicating with them by telling them who you are. The more the reader wants to know about you, the more they will start to trust you and the products you are offering. If appropriate, invite your reader to connect with you on your social media platforms so they can get to know you even better. Keep your introduction upbeat, friendly and personal.
Step 3: Tell Your Story
Going hand-in-hand with your introduction, you need to tell your story. How did you end up with this amazing product that you are hoping to sell to them. You want to show your passion for your business and how it came about. Storytelling will be your most powerful technique in building a relationship with the reader. They need to feel connected.
Telling your brand’s story will keep your readers engaged and interested in what you have to say. You need to show what it is that you do what problems you can solve, how your product is unique and how it can benefit your reader.
Storytelling is a very important marketing tool and can greatly improve your sales copy. Readers can see through any lies you might tell and will catch inconsistencies in your writing. So be honest and tell them how your product came to life. Do not add any fluff to your story to make it sound more compelling. The reader will see right through it.
Tell your readers about a problem that you were having that you fixed by coming up with this great product that you intend to sell to them. The result to your problem is your product and you need to convey your story in a powerful way that shows the reader that they too can solve their same problem with your product.
You want to highlight the kind of customer that will benefit from working with your brand. You want to show that all your employees are behind your brand and they too embrace everything your brand stands for. Show your team is motivated and believes in the products your brand sells. By demonstrating that not only you stand strong behind your product, but you also have a team that is willing to stand by the product helps to build trust with your readers.
Do not tell the long version of your story. You want to be short and to the point and capture everything you need to say in a few sentences. You do not want to overload the customer with too much information directly on your main sales page. Reveal just enough that they want to learn more and can trust what you have to say.
Telling your brand’s story is not about your company. It is really about the customer and the value they will get out of engaging with your company and product. Remember that any good sales copywriting makes everything about the reader and what the value they will get, not the value the company will provide to them. It is a subtle difference, but an important one. Make your problem seem like it is their problem and you are speaking directly to them about their problem.
You want to touch people’s emotions with your story. You’ll need to explain not only the story but how you felt about having the problem and what you did about it. Telling them about your problem should have the reader think that’s exactly how they feel about the problem.
Step 4: Reveal The Discovery
This is the moment in your sales copy when you get to reveal the big discovery you made in searching for a solution to your problem you mentioned beforehand when you were telling your story. There needs to be a flow in your sales copy that follows through to the end. Here you can tie in what you found and why the solution to your problem was so amazing that you needed to share it with others.
The section can really go into detail about the product. Talk about how you came to discover of the product. You already talked about the need for discovering the product, but now you need to reveal how it was discovered. How come this product was the best solution to your original problem compared to others?
What is the product and why do they solve your problem so well. You get to describe the product and all its great features. Be sure to be succinct in your wording so that you do not overload the customer with too many words. Readers will glance over the entire sales page so you need to make sure you are highlighting the features and value that will be added to the reader in the clearest way possible. Always try to cut down the words as much as possible so your point goes across in the fewest words as possible. Using short paragraphs of one to three sentences will help the reader take in more information as they glance over your sales copy.
Here you will be excited to tell your customers about your great new product. Be concise and clear on what your product has to offer your reader. Highlight one main great feature in detail or a couple of features depending on the product. You will want to show the reader how this product will solve their problem as well. What need of theirs will it fulfill? How will the benefits of the product be delivered to them?
Simplify your product so that your message comes across clearly and it is easy to differentiate your product from others. Even if your product has several wonderful features, some will be primary features and other secondary. Be sure to highlight the primary features as much as possible. Be sure to list the secondary features as well with a quick sentence or point about what problem each feature solves. Do not miss out on any features, but do be sure to highlight a few main ones than list the others.
Be as clear as possible about what the product is and why it will add value to your reader. Here you need to reveal to them what’s in it for them. It doesn’t matter if you have the most amazing product in the world if you do not reveal it properly to the world. You want to create excitement about the product.
Step 5: Show Results
Here it is time to summarize and highlight all your biggest achievements were when you overcame your problem with the discovery of this product. You can reveal the results of the product by using numbers when possible to prove the validity of the products benefits. Display as many findings as possible without bogging your sales copy down.
When you were searching for a solution to your problem you would have found other products that could have equally been a solution. Now is your chance to show why the other products are not as good of a solution to your, and therefore the reader’s, problem. You can discuss the top similar products and their faults. You can really make your product shine here and use evidence as to why it is the best possible solution to the reader’s needs.
What was the biggest achievement in discovering this product? What was the greatest benefit? Reveal these results to your reader like you are revealing a big secret that you only want to tell specific people. Make the reader feel like that special person being selected to learn about this product that will add so much value to their lives.
Be sure to do this without turning into a sleazy sales marketer. This is where your reader will see you might be over selling your product. Pick the most amazing results of your discovery and hint at the discovery of even more amazing results that the reader will only truly understand by using the product themselves.
Be specific with the results, generalized comments sound like a marketer is talking to the reader and they won’t like that. Readers today are smart and know how to sniff out a marketer any day. If you use real numbers and real evidence rather than sweeping statements about the
product they will understand that this is a truly valuable product. Being specific sounds more like facts.
Also inform the reader about the manufacturing process of your product to show transparency and that they are getting a quality product. The more you can show off the quality of your product, the more likely they will be to take your offer. People look at quality from different perspectives, so use analogies for the quality that will speak to your reader.
Do not be afraid to reveal any possible downfalls in the results section. You can discuss the possible downfalls of the product and why they will not happen because of your proven results. Address any hesitations the reader might have here. They will appreciate that you are taking time to find the faults in their product and proving them wrong. People naturally are critical of everything and often look for the negatives in a new product rather than all the positives. Get onto their level and reveal that you have considered these negatives and have overcome them.
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