Is There A Great Formula For A Sales Page?

I am getting clicks but my sales could be alot better. I know its due to the sales copy not being good enough. I want to make it better. Any great ideas for sales copy formulas that really work?

 

You may start by pointing us to your sales copy page so we can suggest around it. It might be design, lack of catchy headline, poor motivation action phrases, etc. etc.

 

Thank you. I want to avoid an infraction. It is stopherpesnow.com

 

Yes - I have one (and with respect, you need it, and it really works, and it's the only one you need): hire a professional copywriter.

Seriously, David: your copy (although admittedly not the worst I've ever seen by quite some margin) is very "home-made". Copywriting of this kind isn't something in which an amateur with a full-time, professional career, like yourself, can expect to acquire the requisite proficiency in less than years and without a lot of practice. There's absolutely no reason to expect your first attempt, even after reading 6 or 8 books on the subject, to be able to convert on anything like the same scale as something produced by a pro. And there's no point in pretending otherwise.

I can list ten things that are wrong with your copy all of which are reducing its conversions, but so can any reasonably experienced copywriter, and this really isn't an appropriate way to resolve your problem: you just need some professional sales copy written, I'm afraid. Perhaps not a great surprise here, really, I think?

(Being a writer myself, I just want to clarify really unambiguously that I'm afraid I'm not for hire at the moment, and emphatically not looking for work of any kind, and not promoting my own services in any way, here! I may be able to help you out with a recommendation or two, though, if that helps - but bear in mind that copywriting professionals of the kind you need are busy people and don't generally happen to have a sudden vacancy for a new project just in exactly the week that you want them - and any who do are almost certainly "copywriters" to avoid!).

 

Wow. Let me pause as I swallow hard. Thank you for your feedback. Yes, I know I need help. However, I do not have $5000 to hire a professional. That seems to be what most want to charge. I thought I could get some ideas where to start by starting this thread. Oh well. Then I guess all I can do is keep plugging along trying to learn as I go. Maybe in few years, as you say, I'll raise my conversions. If you could recommend some books, that would be great. Thank you.

 

Well drdavidnd, I will have to agree with you. It is partly your copy and the looks of your site. But, it isn't something you can't work on and improve.

First, unless I am way off base, there is NO way of stopping herpes from coming back for good. This leads to a credibility issue. If I had herpes, and for whatever reason came to your site, I would immediately click off after seeing that statement. No trust, just the same old BS you see all over the place selling these miracle cures.

The top fold of your web page should contain your main keyword/phrase and list BENEFITS. You want to convince me to stay on your page and read on, but you DO NOT want to really say "Read this entire letter". The red font area on top of your page is what you want to use to "connect" with the visitor. I don't know what keywords you are targeting other than herpes so it is really difficult to suggest what to put up there in that red font area. Having said that I would probably move the:

Follow my program and NEVER AGAIN will you have to:

+ Avoid new relationships
+ Avoid sex with your partner
+ Suffer the side effects of prescription drugs

up to the top fold. I would probably get rid of everything from the first phony testimonial in the green box, all the way up to the top. The contents of the top fold will be determined by the keywords/phrases you used to get me to that page.

I skimmed down to the bottom of the page and noticed there are several spelling/grammar errors that you should fix. And you really need to familiarize yourself with the new FTC guidelines. You will really get dinged on that.

There is way too much other stuff that needs to be done.

How bout trying this. Go look at other sites that are marketing the same thing. Pay attention to the layout of their sites. What is in the top fold on those sites. Take notes on what you liked and what you didn't etc. Then sit back and compare those sites to yours. Make some changes. Maybe you will find out that you don't need that HUGE graphic of that ebook where you currently have it.

Hope this helps. Don't worry about it too much. The more you write and evaluate other sites, the easier it gets.

 

Zeekstern, thank you so much. I am very grateful for your feedback. I will take a look at several others and go from there. I have also decided to see if I can try some local writers in my area to see if I can afford their help.

I do know what you mean about this disease not coming back. The problem is that conventional drug medicine has no other answer. As a natural doctor, there is an answer. And, all my testimonials are actual. Maybe I should reword it so does not seem phony. I agree that I'll probably never get it to a place on my own when a professional could get it to a place of selling better more easily.

I will begin with your suggestions and go from there. Can you also direct me to the new FTC guidelines that I may get dinged on?

 

I just found them.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

 

I think that with patience and guidance, you'd find a suitable professional who'd do the job needed here for $3,000, which you'd quickly recover if you can send traffic to the site or get affiliates. I offer you the observation that not doing so can be a false economy, because you clearly can't get serious professional affiliates (of the kind who will become an affiliate for a product only with a proven business plan to be able to make at least several hundred sales each) with this kind of home-made sales-page, which is how successful vendors pay for (and make profits on) their copywriting.

No problem there ...

It's really very difficult to do better than the "Gary Halbert recommended list":-

- "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins

- "The Robert Collier Letter Book" by Robert Collier

- "Tested Advertising Methods" by John Caples

- "How To Write A Good Advertisement" by Vic Schwab

- "The Gary Halbert Letter" (all back issues) by Gary Halbert

- "The Boron Letters" by Gary Halbert

- "Break-through Advertising" by Eugene M. Schwartz

- "7-Steps To Freedom" by Ben Suarez

And I'd also strongly recommend Joe Sugarman's books (especially "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word"), almost anything by Bob Bly, and "Web Copy That Sells" by Maria Veloso, which lays everything out in a logical sequence that even people without a lot of experience can generally appreciate. She also has a copywriting course available online at webcopywritinguniversity.com.

(Personally, I would stay away from anything by Joe Vitale, whose offerings I've always found very poor and disappointing by comparison with any of the above.)

And Zeekstern is certainly right that you have major credibility and compliance issues at the moment.

Good luck!

 

There best way to learn copy is to copy the sales letter of the greats like Gary or John Carlton by hand. By doing this over and over, you will learn the flow of copy, how to make a great headline, bullets, etc. If you are press for time outsource it. However, you will pay some money!!

 

Perhaps another idea, considering your lack of a significant budget, might be to reach a suitable agreement with a writer of intermediate experience who'd be prepared to carry out the work for less in order to gain further experience. Realistically, you'll most likely only get what you pay for so don't expect outstanding sales copy for $10. However, there will be writers available who will be able to give you a mutually beneficial price and as long as you're not hiring the services of a complete newcomer, you might find yourself with a writer who can be part of a long-term business relationship.

In the same way as a good webmaster has to learn their side of the game, copywriters also need to build up their own levels of experience. Saying that, I've seen some great sales copy from novice writers that I'd be more than happy to put my name to but it does tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Remember that investment is a key component to your success and if you can eventually find the funds to pay for a good writer, you'll recoup it in terms of traffic and sales conversions.

Good luck with your search.

 

-try to think of what your product can do to help solve their problem(when they come to your website, they are looking for something, and most probably they have a problem)

-try to eliminate their doubts or worries(like providing guarantees/moneyback etc)

-create a sense of urgency(it links to call-to-action, make them feel they should take the offer now)

-make the overall sound like a friend rather than a sales pitch, try to project 'sincere' and genuine to help solve their problem.

there's plenty more to look out for.. but overall these are more important..

 

Your are more than welcome.
There is no doubt that if someone has a good product to promote that a professional writer might be the best way to go, I think that there are other good alternatives available.

If you study the landing pages/sales pages of whatever it is you want to market, you can do well enough without the extra expense. Be careful when looking at other people to write your stuff. Not all "writers" can write a sales page/marketing page. But finding someone who can spell and has no problem with grammar, is really easy. That is not what you are looking for

 

I make all my sales pages in X Site

 

I don't agree with this part. I think that is what most writers of "home-made copy" do, and it's the reason why they (a) can't get professional affiliates (who can smell home-made copy a mile away) and (b) can't get a decent conversion-rate, because they're all copying what everyone else is doing assuming that this must have been tested and proven to work, not realising how far away from their copy (in many senses!) any such "testing" was. And they end up with some revolting concoction with a too-long headline in bright red lettering With Every Word Starting With A Capital Letter, followed by a deceptive/fraudulent line saying "As seen on Google, Yahoo, etc. etc.", followed by a series of non-FTC-compliant "testimonials", followed by credibility-losing claims about the product, eventually followed at the end by some sort of fake urgency/scarcity "call to action" which anyone with a braincell can see through. (And usually a pop-up of some kind, for good measure!). Because, basically, they have absolutely no idea what they're doing and no conception at all of how many sales all this crap costs them.

I agree with you there.

 

David, if you expect serious affiliates to come on board, remove the leaks on your sales page. ie. the affiliate link at the bottom of the page. I find it to be a big turn off and I imagine other affiliates would too. The goal should be conversions, nothing else! I would also remove the HUGE ebook cover, I find it makes the sales page look cheap.

 

Thank you!

 

Alexa, I always appreciate someone who cuts to the chase. Wow, awesome insight from a professional. You see through me. How about starting initially with someone I can afford, hopefully increasing sales? Then with increased sales, moving on to someone of higher caliber? I really realize now I need someone else on my team to make this product reach its potential.

 

Done. affiliate links, banner ads, and email address have been removed. Cover removed at the top. graphics removed at the top too. Thank you!

 

Unless I'm seeing something wrong, the website looks plain, amateurish and ugly. I would at least hire a good website designer and get a new professional design done.