Secrets of Effective Website Copy - IV

We have come to the final part of this series on creating effective websites copy.  In this last section I'll share another 13 secrets you may add to your online marketing arsenal.

1. Show how your product or service can save both time and money. Not all prospects are looking to save money. For many prospects, the time saved will be more valuable than the money they save from using your product.

2. In your copy remember 'to show, don't tell'. Make the reader experience the benefit of taking action now. Let the reader visualize the results of taking you up on your offer.  So write: "Imagine yourself on the white sandy beaches of Tahiti with your tropical punch next to you...", instead of "You can take a vacation."

3. Be bold and fearless. Make the reader sit up and take notice. Be as provocative as possible so that you will not be easily forgotten. If the reader can associate you with a certain emotional response then you are less likely to be forgotten.

4. Use a scanned copy of your signature in preferably blue ink. This works best according to test done in the direct marketing field.

5. Have another person read the letter in order to find errors that you may have missed. Also read the letter aloud to see how it sounds when spoken. Most people read aloud in their minds. If it doesn't sound good when spoken, then it will sound awkward when read.

6. Include answers to commonly asked questions about your product. Ask the questions yourself in the letter and then give the answers. This will clear up some misconceptions that readers may have about your product.

7. Add scarcity to your offer by making it limited in time or quantity. Limited quantity offers provide stronger motivation to buy since the prospect can never judge when all the product will be sold out. Limited time offers may still lead to a last minute decision to buy, hence procrastination and lost sales.

8. Do not place hyperlinks in your sales letter that could distract the reader away from your website. If you have to reference a link let it open in a new page that when closed will leave your web page still available behind. (Use the "target= _blank" HTML code.)

9. Keep the width of your letter body at about 600 pixels to avoid readers having to scroll across to read the copy. The entire width of your letter should be viewable in a 640 X 80 screen resolution.

10. Add some handwritten fonts to your letter to make it appear personable. This is a trick borrowed from direct marketers who sometimes make their letter appear worn and used with lots of notes. This has been shown to improve online sales response also.

11. Include 'involvement techniques' into your sales copy to get the reader's attention. Some involvement techniques can be asking questions, giving a quiz to be filled in or check boxes to choose an option.

12. Use graphics only if it supports the weight of your arguments. Graphics should not detract from your text which will do the persuading. 'Before' and 'after' pictures are especially important for weight loss and cosmetic products.

13. Test your sales letter and make adjustments and test until you are at the best possible conversion level. A sales letter is never 'finished' but always a work in progress. As you get more responses from your customers adjust your sales letter accordingly.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for your online success to implement these tactics.  These are some of the same secrets I use in my copywriting and consultation business to bump up my client's conversion.  You can just as well use these to do the same for your website.

After you have mastered these strategies, you'll begin to notice how many websites are breaking these 'rules'; it makes you want to cry sometimes.

So it's time to make your website one less victim of poor conversion.  I know you can!