Affiliate Classroom Blog

Hi Anik

Don’t you realise you’re being a heretic?

For many years marketers have been asserting that longer sales copy usually sells better, and this has been shown time and time again in testing.

However I wonder if, in this Internet age, we are seeing so many online sales pitches that we don’t bother with anything that looks as though it will take too long to read. Personally I won’t read a long blog.

Probably all of us should be testing this for ourselves, as what works for one type of business probably won’t work for another. My impression is that you need to ‘give’ the potential customer some useful information first before you can expect to sell anything. You obviously follow this principle, and it certainly seems to be successful

A long time ago marketing was easy. If you wanted to sell more of something then you reduced by price by 10% and put up a Sale sign. Largely because online business offers so many ways to market products and services it is difficult to select the methods which will be most suitable. So see what works for you.

Geoffrey Ponder
www.Networking-Knowledge.com
Business Marketing by establishing Personal Relationships

Thanks, Anik! It’s about time! I’ve been wondering for awhile if I was the only one who was getting sick and tired of having to scroll down, like, forever to find out what it would cost me!

I’m a 51-year-old newbie and I’m already tired of these tedious million-page sales letters! Look people, I know you are trying to sell me something, so stop with the pitch already! There are only three things I want to know: What is it? What can I do with it if I get it? How much is it? That’s all I need to know to make up my mind if I want to buy it or not! If I have to work to find out, later! Perhaps I have missed out on a few things I could’ve used, but I sure wasn’t going to waste any more of my precious time searching for a price.

I know how I feel and I know my potential customers feel the same way. If any of my sites go beyond ten pages, somebody slap me! I must be selling the wrong product to the wrong people if I can’t convince them they need this in ten pages or less!

I’ve been in face-to-face sales my entire life. I’ve developed a gut instinct of knowing when to shut my mouth and let them mull over what I said. And I’ve been very successful because of that.

So, yeah, all of you guys (and gals) out there hawking your products, you should seriously give some thought to this. Do you want to stand out in the flood of long sales letters? Then get to the point and stop yapping on and on and on!

What is it? What can I do with it if I get it? How much will it cost me?

Maybe I’m weird, the bonuses have never really factored into my purchasing decision. I’ve either got them or it’s just more of the same bs everyone else is giving away for free that I’ve already passed on, so it’s worthless to me. How many copies of Million Dollar Emails does a guy need?

And don’t be afraid to show the price! Why are more and more of these guys making me click on the order link and go to the credit card info page before I can find out how much it is? Note to all of you who are doing this: It’s a trick that is not working! You are not getting my money! Are you that ashamed of the price that you have to hide it? I shouldn’t have to work to get an answer to a very simple question: How much?

So, yeah. Short copy. Inspire me, don’t bore me. You want to impress someone? Make your site stand out by it’s being short and to the point.

And, of course, test. Depending on the product, maybe ten pages converts better than five. Maybe five pages converts better than fifteen. Testing is the only way you’ll find out.

Again, Anik, thanks for bringing it up. It’s like a breath of fresh air!

Long sales letetrs suck. I don’t bother to read all of what’s in them. i scroll down to the meat and potatoes part — i.e., how much are they hitting me for? Of course, i will get the gist of the thing before I even begin to think of ordering. But I noticed the pattern years ago! I actually have found myself laughing out loud as I notice how very similar these sales letter formats are. I can almost predict what;s in them and where. Yeah, someone told me the marketers do that because “It’s effective.” Huh? I say it can be just as effective (if not more so) if the seller keeps it shorter. I wonder where the thing started in the first place and then everybody else became a copy cat. As a former teacher of English, I am amused. I would flubkj most of the sellers for lack of imagination and originbality!