"Many
of your online efforts are about generating traffic.
Your
Landing Page Is What
Converts Traffic into Responses
whether
it's orders, sales leads, inquiries,
or opt-ins to your mailing list."
Conversion
rate optimization should be your ultimate goal.
Search engine optimization is
just one way
to drive visitor traffic to your site.
Conversion rate optimization is
the only way to generate the most response
from the traffic to your site during any online promotional launch.
Dear Online Marketer,
You need a web page that sells your product to your site visitors...
or you might want a page to generate
inquiries or collect names and contact information to build your opt-in mailing list.
Whatever your purpose, every detail needs to be
optimized towards generating the desired response from your
readers. Your ultimate
goal is to
convert as many of the visitors to your site into responses as
possible.
What's the dollar value of each
response?
If you pay for your traffic, (as in cost per click for
PPC* listings) wouldn't you want to minimize the cost of each
response? If you operate an affiliate program, wouldn't your
affiliates better position their links to your site if you're making
them money, which in turn will make both of you more money?
*pay per click
A Marketing Communications Writer, or Copywriter
would be Best Qualified to Develop your Web Pages.
Advantages of copywriting-based web page
design include:
Your web page text, or copy, will be tailored to
your marketing and traffic generation methods. Traffic
coming to your site from ezine ads and email marketing messages
require a different writing approach than traffic from search
engine listings and pay per click ads and links on directory
sites.
Your landing page will easily enter the
conversation in the minds your readers when they arrive at your page and
allow them to become engaged in the ideas that ultimately lead to
your offer and call to action.
Special care will be taken not to leave a
potential customer with unanswered questions about what you are
selling them. You and I both understand that questions lead
to doubts. Your prospect would then hesitate to place an
order.
You'll be working with a professional who
understands that your purpose is not to impress or dazzle your
visitors, but to lead them to take a specific action perceived by
the reader to offer benefits or be something of value.
Your web page will be developed with attention to
detail
directed towards optimal conversion rates. These details
include:
not making your main body copy text too wide (or
lines of text too long) that nearly span the entire width of your
computer screen. This forces head and eyeball turning.
Your reader soon gets tired of reading the page.
Laying out all elements in a neat and orderly manner to make your
page easy to read and follow the presentation from headline to the
prompt to take action.
Making sure the header graphic best complements
the headline without competing
with the headline for attention.
seeing that images, photographs and audiovisuals
are positioned to illustrate concepts brought forth in the main body
copy and where they are relevant.
appropriate background colors and text
backgrounds, (main text is usually white and a light color for
sidebars and text boxes.)
which quotes, testimonials and anecdotes are best
placed inline with the main text and which are better placed in
the side bar or on a click-up window.
working with you to see that the offer and
guarantee are clearly spelled out.
Remember: A confused mind always says no.
making sure that all components load quickly and
that all links work.
knows what to avoid adding to a landing page.
Never
put things like these on your web pages.
Most readers find them annoying if not
downright irritating. What are they? Click
here for answer.
Crunched Headlines -
a common landing page design mistake.
The importance of a good headline cannot be overemphasized.
Your headline is what gets the reader attention. You have only five seconds to get a
reader
to decide whether or not to read your page.
A lot of web page designers and copywriters don't seem to realize this.
Many landing page headlines look like just one big blur of
large bold text bunched into a rectangle, hence the term 'crunched'.
A Typical Example of a Crunched Headline
Here's an example of a really crunched headline
exactly as it appears on the original landing page selling a program to churn out job application cover letters.
"In
Only 3½ Minutes, You Can Quickly And Easily Crank Out A Killer
Cover Letter That Is Guaranteed To Have Your Phone Ringing Off
The Hook With Hot Job Interviews And Top Job Offers... Without
Writing One Word!"
Does this headline really grab you by the lapels, despite its
bold hypey message?
Notice how the 'units of thought' that make up the headline are fractured
across the headline's eight lines.
Here's the optimized version. Notice I removed 'That
Is' from the original headline.
"In
Only 3½ Minutes, You Can Quickly And Easily
Crank
Out A Killer Cover Letter Guaranteed
To Have Your Phone Ringing Off The Hook
With Hot Job Interviews And Top Job Offers... Without
Writing One Word!"
From the example above you can clearly see that...
The Layout of a Headline is as Important as its
Words.
Proper Headline Layout starts with
placing each unit of thought on a separate line,
and then making the big idea stand out with larger, bolder text.
Notice also how I used a slightly darker shade of red for the pre and
post head portions, making the big idea stand out even more. It
also makes the headline appear shorter.
A Few
More Examples of Crunched Headlines and how they can be made
more effective simply by applying proper layout.
Master marketer Ted Nicholas once
said "If you know how to write good headlines, you're just seventeen words away from generating all the wealth you
desire." He found headlines longer than twenty words did not do
very well.
Important
If you're marketing an event like a seminar, conference or live coaching program...
...it would be best to request
copywriting services at least six weeks in advance of when the event is
scheduled.
You'll have your page on the net in
time for attendees to make travel arrangements and for you to make
arrangements for renting a function room in a hotel, invite key note
speakers, videographers, catering, etc.
What's Included With
Your Landing Page
Besides an effective sales letter from headline to
postscript, your landing page is developed with many typical web page
features. These include:
inserting photographs and any graphics or audiovisuals you provide at no
additional page-length charge (Make sure the insertion code for
audiovisuals is correct.)
adding a sidebar, if you need one to display banners, quotes and
anecdotes.
link or button to whatever order page or shopping cart you are using
html capture forms for inquiry requests and list building pages
JavaScript form verification to make sure the required form fields
are filled in the case of opt-in and inquiry generating pages.
click-up windows and/or slideover panels. Slideover panels
are sometimes used for opt-in forms since they are not blocked by
popup blockers.
adding any text components you provide such as testimonials and
quotes at no additional page-length charge
Download pages for soft goods sales such as ebooks and free gifts
associated with your opt-in mailing list building system.
assistance with your Pay Per Click advertising, including
writing your AdWords™ ad* and compiling the list of keywords.
*AdWords is a trademark
of Google, Inc. Other P.P.C. advertising media may have
different
rules and ad line character-length
constraints.
Preferred
Provider of Complete Web Site Design Services
If you need something
more than just a simple landing page... maybe you need a complete
web site with home page and links to multiple pages, and you need
a professional looking web site but also need well written copy,
I work closely with Blue
Bonnet Design, a comprehensive professional web site design and
development service. They provide services like professional
graphics and logo design, database driven web sites, company web
sites of multiple pages, e-commerce solutions like shopping carts,
setting up autoresponders, etc.
I'll work on
delivering you first class copy, Blue Bonnet will handle the
rest.
You might already have
an autoresponder account to not only build your list, but also to
send a series of follow-up sales messages.
If not, or you merely
want to collect reader survey data, your capture page order can
include a server script, linked from the capture form. When
your reader fills in the blanks of the forms and submits the data,
the server-side program will write the data to a text file on your
hosting server.
At this time, server
scripts are available only in PHP, which runs on Linux or any
other form of UNIX, currently the most common Internet server
platform.
Details upon request. Please use the
form at the bottom of the page.
Having your landing page developed by a copywriter
is your best assurance of optimal response rate
from well targeted traffic.
Besides savings in lead time and service fees, you will
receive a superior product in terms of an effective selling device - a
landing page developed by a professional Internet copywriter dedicated to the art of salesmanship
in print.
If you insist your web page has a particular look and feel, you can always have a
template page developed first. Then choose a copywriter who
regularly uses a web page editor like MS Front Page as a typewriter.
Most web
designers don’t have the first clue about how to convert
traffic!
Just
think about it…
Over 99% of
all web sites today are designed by programmers or graphic artists — NOT
marketers. Most of these guys have never earned a dime
selling anything online except their overpriced (and under performing)
web design services.
Doing business with the right web page developer could be the best business decision you'll make.
Use the form below to
request an estimate
and, if necessary, a telephone consultation.
You will receive an request for estimate form. This is a
Word document containing questions about what you are marketing
online. Questions about the product itself, its market, and your
marketing plans and methods. You can type the answers right onto the document itself
and email it back to me as an attached file.
Fees for service are established on an individual
basis.
After you submit your initial inquiry, you can download
a zip file containing the request for estimate form together with the
two free reports described below.
Free Telephone
Consultation
If you need a telephone
consultation, please include your phone number, including area code and
best time to call when you return your completed estimate form.
To your success,
Francis M. Ardi
P.S. Using two separate providers (copywriter and web page
designer) leaves much to chance. Why risk employing a web page
designer who might not be familiar with the selling process?
Someone who does not pay attention to detail keeping in mind that the
purpose of your web page is to generate a response?
Free Critique of your Web Site Details on the right column of this page
On
submitting your inquiry, in addition to the request for estimate
form,
you will receive these two free
reports.
1. What To Look For in Writing Samples.
Be more
confident in choosing a copywriter to prepare your promotional
materials. This 20 page report provides an
outline of what to look for in their writing samples.
2. How to
Choose the Right Web Site Format
Become more familiar with the different
kinds of e-commerce web sites and know how to choose which is best
for your particular business with this 13 page report.
From "Company Web
Sites" which provide information about a company, and the
so-called "Micro Sites" consisting of a landing page
and an order form that sell a single product. There are
also catalog sites to sell multiple products
like vitamins or music CDs. You'll better understand the
exact purpose for building a Web site.
You'll also receive a questionnaire where you can supply me with
specific details on your promotion by typing answers to
questions right onto the word document and email it back to me.
Schedule of fees for copywriting services is
included.
To inquire about copywriting or landing page development,
or to request a free critique of
your sales literature, Please Use the Inquiry Form
Below.
Please indicate what you are
inquiring about or interested in.*
Also include any specific requests, inquiries
and/or comments.
If you need writing samples, please
state your request
in the text area above.
Please enter the four characters shown at right
into the small space at end of this line.*
* Required
information
I shall personally be in touch
with you as soon as possible.
Privacy Policy - Any information you
provide will be used exclusively by Francis M. Ardi. Your
name and information will not be
sold, rented or otherwise distributed to any third party
or other organization.
"On
average, five times as many people read the headline as those that
read the body copy.
If you haven't done some selling in your headline, you've wasted
80% of your client's money."
David Ogilvy
“If you can come up with a good headline and lead, you're
almost sure to have a good ad.
But even the greatest copywriter can't save an ad with a
poor headline.”
John Caples
"80% of the success of a sales letter is determined by the headline and
lead."
Michael
Masterson
"Need
To See
Writing
Samples?"
Here Are Some
Examples of
Landing Pages
from My Portfolio
These are typical pages I've developed for the purpose
of selling a single
product. They are simple and don't have any fancy graphics or
whiz-bang widgets and gizmos. These pages are linked from email solo
ads and space ads and banners on other web pages
Each Link opens a new browser window.
Self-Promotion
Basics
by Ilise Benun
a three part
audio series available as downloadable mp3 files on how you can best
promote yourself as a freelance professional.
an audio
series based on Dr. Mark Hyman's best selling book of the same title
about the truth on what it takes to lose weight and keep it off.
Download purchase mp3.
Ask me to critique your web site or sales
letter, and I will certainly comment on whether it could leave a potential
customer with unanswered questions.
Another detail commonly
overlooked is that many web pages leave the reader with unanswered
questions.
Questions turn into doubts, and doubts
added up will kill the sale.
Remember:
"A confused
mind always says no."
When I critique a web page, I carefully look for anything missing or unclear that might
cause the prospect to hesitate. I'll make suggestions on how you can
improve your offer, or better explain your guarantee and bonuses, where
applicable
Please use the form below to request your
critique.
Include
the URL of your web page or if it is not online, please reply to the
email that will be automatically sent to you after you submit your
inquiry with any Word or web documents you want critiqued as an attached
file. If you have multiple documents, please bundle them in a zip
file.
