The Direct Sales Site

Also known as the one page sales letter site. The entire site is just a one page sales letter, although a very long one. In this site, you need the following content.

#1 A sales letter
#2 A product visual
#3 A payment gateway
#4 A pop up window
#5 Autoresponder messages


#1 A Sales Letter

There is a proven method in writing sales letters which is effective and make the sales. A good sales letter is like your top salesman who is able to constantly close the deal. We will have an in depth look into the various components of a killer sales and why they are there. (These revealed information are normally sold for tens if not hundreds of dollars. I hope nobody crucifies me for giving it to you free)

In fact, the process is precise enough there are softwares out there to help you churn out "Instant Sales Letters" which saves you time and figuring how to write the killer piece. The recommended readings serves as a source for further readings and is the perfect example of what a "one page sales letter site" looks like.

The sales letter can be broken down into the following 7 sections :

1. The Heading

Your heading is probably the most CRUCIAL part of your sales letter. In this busy world, time is precious plus with information overload, nobody actually takes the time to read everything unless it actually catches their attention long enough and then arouse enough interest for him to read further. THAT is the job of the headline. If your headline fails, then your whole sales letter and your whole site will be ignored.

You normally put your biggest benefits or promise into your headline. It can also be an impactful statement or question that arouses so much curiosity to its INTENDED TARGET. There is no point in selling meat to the vegetarian. Your product is meant for a specific target market and your headline can filter out those who are not within that market.

As long as your headline is able to suck the targeted audience into reading the body of the letter, its job is done and finish. How do you create good headlines ? Get a copy of the recommended books and go through the numerous time proven headlines written by who's who in the advertising industry. Alternatively, visit as many "one page sales letter" sites as possible, copy down their headlines and brainstorm your own. Brainstorm about 50 headlines for each site.

2. The Sub Heading

Your second best headline or promise can be sub heading. It's job is to further arouse curiosity or to build anticipation before the reader goes into the actual body of the letter. It's job is to further strengthen the claim made by the headline or to offer more benefits. As the font of the sub heading is normally bigger than the body, it catches more attention and draws the reader into the text.

3. The Features & Benefits

This section is where you explain the problems faced "before having your product". Drive the point in and make it gruesome. Make life unbearable without what you have to offer. Then explain the benefits of your products. How simple and nice life will be "after your product". Don't bore them with details and features of the products. Use benefits of the products rather than its features.

Justify why they have to have your product. Waste of time and money. Loss of future earnings and loss of opportunity. Draw a picture (with words, not graphics) of them having your product and how much they could earn or the satisfaction they will get. Put in a story, people love stories.

When they finish, they must feel that they have to have your product and cannot live without it. Or even if they do live, their life will be miserable without your product (let them keep that thought because if they don't buy now, you will be doing follow-up later).

4. The Testimonials

The testimonials are where you build your credibility. Show proven results of past purchasers (if any). Have a "famous' celebrity to endorse your product (if you know them). Distribute some free samples to well known authors, writers, newspaper editors and product reviewers. Ask them for their feedback and testimonial. Include only the "GOOD" ones in your sales letter (goes without saying). Worst of all, if you can't do that, ask your friends to write you a few honest ones. They may not be famous, but you can use the line "ordinary folks just like you and me".

Some people put testimonials right after the sub heading to immediately lower the level of apprehension of the reader. By lowering their guard, they are more open and will be more inclined to read your story and benefits. Some people put testimonials all over the sales letter. This is to constantly assure the reader that they are not the first, they are not guinea pigs and they are looking at a proven product.

5. The Guarantee

The guarantee is an absolute necessary to assure your prospects that the product is as good as you claim that you are willing to guarantee it. If you make a habit of exceeding your customers' expectations and normally gives more than what it's worth, the guarantee is only a formality. It gives your prospects an easier path to make up their mind, just in case what they bought is not what it appears to be.

Guarantee is now limited to 3 months due to recent credit card regulations. Prior to this, sellers give up to 1 or 2 years of guarantee, by which time most customers had forgotten about it.

From statistics, the amount of refunds are very minimal but it helps to convert sales from those who are iffy, still siting on the fence and just plain cannot make a decision. So the number of sales closed would far outweigh the number of refunds.

6. The Call to Action

There comes a point in time where you need to ask the prospects to makeup their mind to buy the product. Due to the various personalities of the prospects, some make up their mind faster whilst some are waiting for the cows to come home. So you need to cater for them by putting your call to action at various stages of the sales letter.

So, your "order now" button or link will have to be placed not only at the end of the letter but at various logical points which people may order. You do not want to bore those who are ready to buy by giving them more info, explanation or testimonials. The buying process here is an impulsive buy. When they want to buy, give it to them now. Otherwise, they may change their mind and you'll lose the sale.

For those who are slow in making their decision, you need to create some form of urgency in their decision making. Some softwares allow you to run a time script where you tell the prospect the offer is only good for the next 10 minutes with a "real clock" actually doing such a countdown. Some scripts allow you to offer a dateline, normally midnight of the same day, to create a sense of urgency. Some sellers offer a discount, or a free gift, or super bargain for ordering immediately. Those offers are supposedly not valid on another occasion.

The truth of the matter is, if they don't make a decision to buy now, the chances of them making the decision is much slimmer later on. You want to force them to make a decision, whether to buy or not. Do not give them links out of the page and allow them to wander around. Force the issue and get an ultimatum.

7. The Bonus Pile On

Greed is part of human nature that is constantly exploited for every conceivable venture. And because greed is such a strong emotion, normally the results are quite predictable (for the greedy). This is no different in the sale of any products. If the offer for your product doesn't seem so hot, throw in a free bonus and you will see that your prospect is visibly more interested. Throw in another bonus, and the deal which seems not interesting suddenly looks like a bargain too good to be true. Throw in an additional bonus, and you will have them reaching for their credit card.

It's immaterial whether the bonuses are useful to them when greed takes over. The bonuses can be additional products or accessories you throw in to sweeten the deal. It can be an additional form of service provided by you or you can even break your products up into several parts so that one part is paid for and the others are given as bonuses. It's despicable but that's what your customers want.

After piling on so many bonuses, make the final call for action. Ask them to click the order button. Tell them it is so easy to pay with their credit card and it's secured. And it's guaranteed. How can they refuse ?


#2 The Product Visual

Don't just use words in your sales letter. Give them a picture of what they will get. Give them something to dream about. Because an ebook exist in no more than bits and bytes on a computer, it's not easy to give a tangible impression to the product. Most people think visually and they need to visualize the "product" they are about to buy. It needs to be "tangible" before they will pay you for it.

If you are selling an ebook or software, create a visual of the "book" or the "software box". There are many softwares available that create book covers or software boxes, or report covers or even CD jewel boxes. You may also check out the softwares in the recommended section for this purpose.


#3 A Payment Gateway

In this model, make SURE that when the customer wants to pay for the purchase, you have already got a payment gateway in place. Please go to "Setup Site" if you don't know what a payment gateway is. A payment gateway allows the customer to pay YOU for the purchase of the product via a secured server. After paying, you will either direct them to a location where they can download your product immediately, or you will send them instructions on where to download, the password if any, via email.

#4 A Pop-up Window

What if for some reason, the prospect cannot make up his mind and decides to postpone the decision. He LEAVES without buying. What are the chances of him coming back to buy later ? Unlikely. But don't despair. He may buy if you can still keep in contact with him and persuade him further. How do you keep in contact with him ? He needs to give you his email address.

Is he likely to give you his email just like that ? Well, assuming he is still interested in your product but cannot make up his mind and you have offered to give him more information, sure. That's where your pop up window comes in. When he leaves without buying, it triggers a pop up window. It pops up and immediately catches his attention. You now need to offer him something that you will deliver to his email address. It can be more info, reports, lessons, free gift, whatever to get him to give you his name and email address for follow-up.

A word about pop-up windows. These are very effective to catch attention. However, of late, there has been an onslaught of such usage by all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. So much so that it has become a nuisance and an irritation. There are now softwares available to block such pop-up windows. If you wish to use pop-up windows, use it with a measure of taste and restraint.

Make the window and what is offered worthwhile for the prospect, otherwise, don't use it. Alternatively, you can assume the prospect may not buy and incorporate your opt-in box early in your sales letter. A free gift in the early stages of the sales letter will always go well with the prospect and even lower their guard further. Check out "Amazing Pop-Ups" for the features of such software.

#5 Autoresponder Messages

What is contained in the pop-up window is normally your autoresponder opt-in box. You are going to allow the autoresponder to automatically do the follow up for you by sending predefined messages in the time interval defined. If you have offered free reports in your pop-up window, that is what you will be sending them, free reports.

In those reports, say 5 of them, you will gently remind them of the benefits of your product. By gently, I mean you should offer more contents on the reports you mentioned than actually pitching your sale. The proportion should not exceed 40% sales pitch whilst 60% or more is content. You are not going to gain credibility or trust if they sense you are just pitching sales instead of sending them what you promised. So, its a fine line which has to be done with taste and restraint as well.

What should you write in your messages. Yanik has a very good book entitled "Autoresponder Magic" which shows you the exact sequence of some of the best messages available. Alternatively, when you visit all the recommended sites (which also serves as examples for this business model) , notice how the pop-up works and how they ask for your email. Sign up in their opt-in box. Collect the autoresponder messages in sequence and study them. Which one is good and which one is bad ? The good one makes you feel like you actually should buy the product and the bad ones makes you feel pitched and irritated. Copy the good ones for your own usage.

You can from time to time continue to contact the prospects by sending new product announcements, new offers, special discounts, articles etc. Keep in contact and they may buy from you one day. It is more expensive to get a new contact than keeping the current ones, so treasure it.

 

 

 

Recommended
readings :-

 

 

 

 

 

Push button salesletters
Push Button
Sales Letters

 

Amazing Formula
Amazing Formula
That Sells
Like Crazy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DynamiteCovers
Dynamite Covers

 

Clickbank
Clickbank

 

Amazing Pop Ups
Amazing Pop-Ups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Response

Get Response

 

 

Copyright 2002. All rights reserved.