Hi there, I'm a young entrepreneur who's looking for small investors that are ready to invest and wait a little while before they start receiving dividends on their investments.
I'm no member to any special body or professional association, I'm just who I am - a young entrepreneur. I'm into soap production as well as recharge card voucher printing and I'm looking out for just the first 20 small investors who are ready to invest between N5 000 and N20 000. There shall be a 3 month waiting period during which there shall be no dividends paid and the investor is to leave his/her money in the program for at least a year.
This an investment opportunity to all nigerians that can send and receive money, for those outside the country that are interested, you can also call, I believe we can work something out. You are to call ONLY when you are sure that you can afford and able to bear the risk involved, if you have any doubt what so ever about this opportunity, don't bother to call, please save yours and my time, energy and resources on fruitless arguments. But if you believe in money working for you as you work for it, you believe in wealth creation the gradual and steady way, if you believe in starting small please call ASAP so that we can talk business. If you believe otherwise, if you think N5 000 is too much money to put to work for your future and that of your family, please PLEASE DON"T CALL!!! Thanks.
For more information on this opportunity please call any of my phone numbers or mail to the e-mail address given below, thanks for your time.
Phone no.: 08051748861 or 07037595859
e-mail: sheunkuul@fastmail.fm
"Opportunity is haughty goddess who wastes no time with those that are unprepared" - Arkad
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, December 20, 2008
One time effort,cash for life...interested?
All achievements they say,have their beginning with an idea and that it is not enough to get busy but to get busy with the right thing.The heading, no doubt, is sreaming and what its screaming about is a much needed stuff around.Be you employed or unemployed,literate or not, educated or not,to survive in this contemporary world of ours,you need an income.Getting a real good ceaseless flow of cash is everybody's wish.We are here to make this wish come through,how?Keep on reading.
You might have been hearing of clickbank,ebay and the likes which allows Americans,Canadians and Europeans to make money comfortably working from home with little or no considerations for people from the third world like Africa espcially Nigerians who are tagged the most corrupt beings in the world over!
This makes life very difficult for nigerians like myself who are trying to make money online.As such we have to settle for more tedious ways to make it online.But thank God for the owners of this lovely site online.They are nigerians who had deemed it fit to avail Nigerians the same opportunities that seems like the birthright of the West alone.
This site works like the clickbank where you can sell your digital products thereby making residual and leveraged income from a one time effort of yours. You can also get yourself a creditcard thats totally yours and a U.S. address for easy and safe delivery of whatever it is you might have purchased online,to cut long story short,with this site,you can join even ebay,clickbank and paypal with your creditcard and the U.S. address without need for anymore hassle.Believe me,all this stuffs and much more are available to you your membership to this site.You buy and sell online as though you are out there in the U.S.!
With the site in question,you can put a digital product up for sale and you'll get sellers who'll find buyers for them.These sellers are paid according to an agreed percentage between you and the site's admin who are responsible for getting those who do the selling on your behalf.So, anytime they make a sale,the profit is shared according to the agreed percentage, meaning that you get paid everytime the person sells a copy without you doing anything else other than putting up the product!
What we do in our own case is to help you achieve this aim very easily.This is why we tagged it ''One time effort,cash for life''.
We would get you on money making money grounds even if you don't have a digital product to sell.We would get you registered with this site,help you upgrade and put up the product on your behalf so that all you would be concerned with is to log in to your account and cashout your earnings.The site shall take care of paying those who sell for you.If you are interested in this opportunity, all you have to do is click here right now
You might just have enough to buy this package and might not be able to upgrade immediately,don't despair,there's still a way you can earn here,remember I talked of sellers,well these sellers aren't from heaven,they are humans like you and I and you can be one of them with a little difference,what difference could that be?
Well,its like this.You got to know about the program through me and since your success is mine 'cos if you fail in this one and I come around introducing you to another,its only natural that you'll not give it a second look no matter how genuine it might be.That by God's grace won't happen,to prevent that from happening,I'm ready to help you with the coolest tools to sell the products you choose to promote with the site easily!
So,you got enough to upgrade or not,you need this package to earn you money its just that those who can upgrade get to make only one effort and get paid for life without raising a finger to do anything else! So,what are you waiting for?
All achievements they say,have their beginning with an idea and that it is not enough to get busy but to get busy with the right thing.The heading, no doubt, is sreaming and what its screaming about is a much needed stuff around.Be you employed or unemployed,literate or not, educated or not,to survive in this contemporary world of ours,you need an income.Getting a real good ceaseless flow of cash is everybody's wish.We are here to make this wish come through,how?Keep on reading.
You might have been hearing of clickbank,ebay and the likes which allows Americans,Canadians and Europeans to make money comfortably working from home with little or no considerations for people from the third world like Africa espcially Nigerians who are tagged the most corrupt beings in the world over!
This makes life very difficult for nigerians like myself who are trying to make money online.As such we have to settle for more tedious ways to make it online.But thank God for the owners of this lovely site online.They are nigerians who had deemed it fit to avail Nigerians the same opportunities that seems like the birthright of the West alone.
This site works like the clickbank where you can sell your digital products thereby making residual and leveraged income from a one time effort of yours. You can also get yourself a creditcard thats totally yours and a U.S. address for easy and safe delivery of whatever it is you might have purchased online,to cut long story short,with this site,you can join even ebay,clickbank and paypal with your creditcard and the U.S. address without need for anymore hassle.Believe me,all this stuffs and much more are available to you your membership to this site.You buy and sell online as though you are out there in the U.S.!
With the site in question,you can put a digital product up for sale and you'll get sellers who'll find buyers for them.These sellers are paid according to an agreed percentage between you and the site's admin who are responsible for getting those who do the selling on your behalf.So, anytime they make a sale,the profit is shared according to the agreed percentage, meaning that you get paid everytime the person sells a copy without you doing anything else other than putting up the product!
What we do in our own case is to help you achieve this aim very easily.This is why we tagged it ''One time effort,cash for life''.
We would get you on money making money grounds even if you don't have a digital product to sell.We would get you registered with this site,help you upgrade and put up the product on your behalf so that all you would be concerned with is to log in to your account and cashout your earnings.The site shall take care of paying those who sell for you.If you are interested in this opportunity, all you have to do is click here right now
You might just have enough to buy this package and might not be able to upgrade immediately,don't despair,there's still a way you can earn here,remember I talked of sellers,well these sellers aren't from heaven,they are humans like you and I and you can be one of them with a little difference,what difference could that be?
Well,its like this.You got to know about the program through me and since your success is mine 'cos if you fail in this one and I come around introducing you to another,its only natural that you'll not give it a second look no matter how genuine it might be.That by God's grace won't happen,to prevent that from happening,I'm ready to help you with the coolest tools to sell the products you choose to promote with the site easily!
So,you got enough to upgrade or not,you need this package to earn you money its just that those who can upgrade get to make only one effort and get paid for life without raising a finger to do anything else! So,what are you waiting for?
Buy now!
Don't know if you need more info on this golden oportunity,before you buy into it,if you do,you can call on:
08051748861
07037595859 or you mail
sheunkuul@gmail.com
Don't know if you need more info on this golden oportunity,before you buy into it,if you do,you can call on:
08051748861
07037595859 or you mail
sheunkuul@gmail.com
REMEMBER!
With this package,you'll get
* A leveraged income from sales of info products even if you don't have one of your own
* A U.S. address for safe delivery of goods you purchase online
* Your very creditcard for your online transactions
* Addititional income from referals to the site(purely optional!)
* And much more...so please,
take action now
WARNING!
Please,I must state it very clearly here that this program ''is not a get rich quick'' program,your earnings come from the sales made from the product that is put up on your behalf and probably from referral commissions that you are most likely to make with the site,but thats not a criteria to making money here,its purely optional.
Since this opportunity is also open for international membership,if you are an international member you can pay via the cashcard with your interswitch ATM cards or pay via e-gold by clicking here and texting the batch number to any of the phone numbers above for confirmation.Try this and you shall never regret.
To your success,
regards
Abdurrahman,
+2348051748861,
+2347037595859,
http://www.jainx.bravehost.com/
* A U.S. address for safe delivery of goods you purchase online
* Your very creditcard for your online transactions
* Addititional income from referals to the site(purely optional!)
* And much more...so please,
take action now
WARNING!
Please,I must state it very clearly here that this program ''is not a get rich quick'' program,your earnings come from the sales made from the product that is put up on your behalf and probably from referral commissions that you are most likely to make with the site,but thats not a criteria to making money here,its purely optional.
Since this opportunity is also open for international membership,if you are an international member you can pay via the cashcard with your interswitch ATM cards or pay via e-gold by clicking here and texting the batch number to any of the phone numbers above for confirmation.Try this and you shall never regret.
To your success,
regards
Abdurrahman,
+2348051748861,
+2347037595859,
http://www.jainx.bravehost.com/
Monday, March 26, 2007
Powerful sales letter writing
Have you ever wondered how the pros – the big names of marketing (and I don't mean Joe Vitale or Jim Edwards big…I'm talking Bob Bly, John Carlton, Gary Bencivenga and Jay Abraham big) – wrote their smashing, award-winning sales letters?
Is it a coincidence that these pros (and almost everyone who has learned from them) are able to churn out hit after hit – literally clearing the house with every direct marketing package they produce?
And more importantly, what can you do to discover your own writing genius and put out just one kick-ass sales letter?
It doesn't take much, especially if you have…
A personal sales letter template based on the exact same process that master copywriters have consistently used to pull in millions of dollars for their clients from sales letter after sales letter!
This is a special edition of SEO Power Strategies, mainly because there is just so much to cover here that we're likely to go way over the usual lesson length – you're seriously advised to print this out and keep it with you to read at leisure through the day.
Sales Letter Writing 101.
Let's get one thing straight – successful sales letters often look the same. Not in tone or in substance, but in the underlying method of grabbing the reader's attention, drawing them in with juicy details and eventually, making an irresistible offer and closing the deal. It's quite a bit like blockbuster Hollywood movies that typically follow the same “good guy / bad guy / happy ending with hot dame” formula (with a few exceptions, of course).
The method, the formula, the technique – that's the crucial ingredient behind almost all successful sales letters. Once you can master these basics (and match them with the advice I gave you in the previous lesson), you'll already be heads and shoulders above 90% of online business owners today.
So, what are these “building blocks”?
A focused approach to a targeted audience (pre-writing preparation)
Grab their attention (using a combination of powerful headlines and sub-headings)
Hold their interest (by quickly reminding your reader why they are here (to solve a problem) and giving them teasers about the solution you are offering)
Make them trust you (this is the biggest hurdle for most budding copywriters – the challenge of building an interesting and emotionally-compelling story that can get through the BS filter readers have and make them trust you as an authority, as well as convince them that you have the right solution.
Prove your credibility (testimonials form a large part of this section, although if you are a well-known guru in your field, talking about your background by mentioning specific achievements (facts and figures) will work as well).
Make your offer (this is where you talk about the pricing, the main product, the bonuses, etc.)
Close the sale (The “Call To Action” must be urgent and clear – there's nothing worse than going through all the effort of writing a great sales letter than to have your reader leave at the end because you messed up the closing).
Quite a lot, isn't it?
Before I start though, here are a few points to remember:
When I say interesting, I'm not asking you to fabricate stories. If you don't have anything interesting to include in your story, do a reality check, put on your marketing hat and think about any specific experiences, news or local events related to your expertise / product that could be unusual or fascinating for your target audience (or even the general audience). There is always something you can use to build an interesting story.
Do NOT ignore the power of story-telling – it is the most powerful tool copywriters and marketers have in their arsenal. This is one skill that will only come through experience, but you can speedup the process by studying the experts. And speaking of experts…
Make it a point to review at least one best-selling sales letter before you sit down to write your own – for best results, read through several examples of good sales letters (and one or two bad ones) so you can get a feel of what you should be doing and shouldn't be doing. It's very easy to fall back into the habit of being lazy and sloppy in writing – by keeping an eye on quality work, you'll be motivating yourself to write better every single time.
In the previous lessons,I went on and on about building a tight focus in your writing. This is paramount for a good sales letter – not only do you have to bring targeted visitors to your site (for example, if you sell a resume writing software, you'd bring job hunters and people looking for resume writers towards your website), but you also have to address them personally. Talk to your audience; the sales letter is just a translation of your sales pitch into words. Make it count.
I've divided the whole process into three parts: getting the reader's attention, making them trust you and making them the offer. Everything is divided into sections, but that doesn't mean you have to “strictly” use every option in here. Adapt the template to your particular product or service, and make sure you review other sales letters before writing your own.
Part 1 – Get Their Attention
Get their Attention
Feeder / Pre-headline
Before you shake up the reader's attention by pitching your headline, here's a nice strategy to lead them to it – use a one-line feeder statement to build up your headline. This isn't necessary, and a lot of people don't use it while making outrageous profits, but the reasoning behind it is compelling – by giving readers a “leading” statement (perhaps by introducing the core need – discussed later), you make them more susceptible to your headline, which is all about providing the reader a cure for their problems.
Headline
The headline must be taut yet compelling; short and sweet, but at the same time it should make the reader sit up and take notice. As the first-half of the most important part of the sales letter – a powerful headline/sub-head combo will determine whether the readers moves beyond “Dear Reader” or not – the headline must be absolutely perfect, or as near as it gets. Take the biggest, most valuable benefits of your product, plug them in your headline (transform it into a question if you wish) and use proven, attention-grabbing words.
The lead/subhead
Now that you've got your reader's attention (through the headline), reel them in by giving them a promising 1-2 sentence “teaser”. The sub-head is an essential part of a sales letter – it gives the reader more details on the offer, outlines the promises / benefits of your product.
A “Before You Start” message
Not every sales letter uses this approach (Corey Rudl made this popular), but the point is to capture the attention of the reader who doesn't have much time. They might just click away from your website unless you quickly tell them what you are offering, and give them a way to come back / remember you. The quick summary will help the reader judge if your sales letter is worth his time, and if they find your offer interesting, they are bound to bookmark you and come back for more.
A personalized greeting
In a sales letter, you cannot do much more than say “hello dear reader”. But in some cases, it helps if you can “label” the reader – for example, if your product is designed to build traffic for websites, you could start your sales letter by saying: “Dear Frustrated Website Entrepreneur” or something similar. Another common technique is to introduce yourself (giving just your name is fine) and give the sales letter a timestamp – this isn't necessary, but it helps build the image that the sales letter is a personal item – from the author directly to the reader.
Hold Their Interest
Once you've enticed your reader into giving your sales letter more than a few seconds of attention, you have to “hook” them before they lose interest. This is where you lead up to the story by laying the groundwork (the reader's need/problem, and your position as giving them a solution).
Identify the burning need
Your readers have a problem; your product / service will solve that problem. It's that simple. Here, focus on talking to the reader (a member of your targeted audience) about their pain – caused by a need for a solution or by a problem they are facing (baldness, unemployment, lack of money, etc.) A big part of a sales letter is using bullet points and mini-lists – emphasize the burning need, cover it in bold and say it loud and clear.
Paint a vivid picture of pain
Once you've pointed out the need, focus on the pain it causes. Selling is about evoking an emotional response – put only those words on the sales letter that work towards getting that response (paint a picture using powerful, emotion-provoking words). Use a list of problems that it causes (but save the stories for later).
Paint a contrasting picture of pleasure
After emphasizing on the pain that the problem causes, focus on the pleasure / absence of pain that your product creates. Lists again, but the key here is to get the contrast right.
Till now, you've covered the first hurdle; getting your reader interested enough to read your sales letter and listen to your offer. But right now, they still have their BS filter on active, and to get to their emotional core, you have to turn that off first. To do that, you have to…
Part 2 – Make Them Trust You
Once you have their attention and you've successfully convinced them that you are going to solve their problem by the end of the sales letter…
Build credibility
Tell the readers why you are uniquely qualified to help them – this part is very, very important, even if you keep it short. If you don't have anything substantial to skate your claim on as an expert, then move on to the next bit, but even a newbie in the online business world has some form of credibility based on their life experiences. So think hard; you can't short-sell the readers by putting up credentials that your readers can better (i.e. your background is nothing to boast about), but by not building on your background you're losing a bit on the credibility quotient.
The Story
Selling is, amongst other things, about tapping the emotional wells of your prospects. If you do it right, they will be happy to buy from you. But to tap into those positive emotions effectively, you have to bypass the BS filter most people have when they come face to face with a sales pitch.
The key to do this, of course, is by telling them a compelling, authentic and uniquely relevant story. You don't have to have the knack of Steinbeck or Kafka, but if you can piece together something that:
The reader can relate to
Proves to the reader how your solution solves the problem
Helps the reader trust you more / builds your credibility
You've got it made.
Before revealing the product, tell your readers how it provided a real-world solution to someone's needs – yours or someone else's. The litmus test of a good story (and signs that your sales letter will do well) is the story pulls in the reader so well that by the end of it, the reader has forgotten they were reading a sales pitch! If you can make the reader forget that you are selling them a product even for an instant, they will immediately lose their bias and trust you that much more. And once that bond of trust is formed, it's in your power to make or break the deal.
Summarize the benefits of your product
While I've said summarize, this should be an opportunity to drive across in the plus points of the product hard – at this stage you have the reader's trust (if you've done the story part right). Strike while the iron's hot – this is your best chance to make the sale. Use bullet points, bold text (sparingly) and above all, words that sell.
Testimonials
People don't buy rationally – their financial actions are usually based on emotional decisions, which are later rationalized. In all this, the two biggest factors you can use to your advantage are that people love recommendations and that people trust experts. In this case, if you are quoting an expert's opinion on your product, that expert must be well-known in your industry (or an industry which your target market will be most familiar with). The ‘expert' opinion gives you a credibility that you have the right knowledge and that you can back up what you are claiming with results. Testimonials from users and other business owners are important as well, as they give you a different sort of credibility: that you are not out to scam them, and that your product works for other people ‘just like your reader'. The key to a good testimonial is to include as much information about the person writing it as is allowed by them. At a bare minimum, you should include their name and website address (always good advertising), or their name and email address, if they agree to provide it. Some skeptics might want the assurance of being able to call fellow customers to check up on your business, especially if the price you are charging is high. Some marketers prefer inundating the sales letter with testimonials – it's an ‘in-your-face' method of showing the reader that there are SO many satisfied customers that the investment becomes a no-brainer, as long as you are convinced that you have that particular need or problem this product addresses.
Part 3 – Make Them An Offer They Can't Refuse
By this time, the prospect should be emotionally tuned-in to your message, rid of her BS filter and ready for you to make the offer. If you've done everything right, your reader will actually be thinking about how much they can afford to pay for your product – notice that this bypasses the whole “do I need to buy this?” syndrome. They've already made the decision; you just have to convince them that the price is right.
Restate the benefits
If you wish (and if you have the sales material and certainly if your product is high-priced), sell the benefits of your product a bit more (and this time summarize the best aspects). This section is optional, but it builds up nicely, maintains a constant flow and reminds the reader what they are getting.
Build up the Bonuses
A bonus has become a must in online businesses. If you are selling software, web templates, information products or even services, bonuses are getting more and more outrageous. The good part is that if you can position the bonuses to fully complement your product, then you'll provide the right incentive for the reader to invest. A common mistake information product marketers make is to reuse the bonuses in other promotions – that's a fine tactic, but it short-changes the readers who paid hard cash for them. Don't do this to your customers – if you are giving them a bonus, make it highly relevant to the main product, and make sure it's not given away for free anywhere else.
Build up to the Price
Cue in to emotional triggers by asking the reader to put a price tag on the satisfaction / benefits they would receive on solving their particular problems. Make this part count, but keep it short.
Sell The Price
It's common to quote a higher price and then say that you're offering a lower price ‘just because you feel like you should give back to the community'. This tactic is good, but latest strategies go a step further. Follow the same pricing routine as before, but position it as a testing phase – i.e. the price will definitely riseafter the testing phase is over. Your goal is to convince the reader to act immediately, to buy now – one of the best ways to do that is to convince them that if they wait, the next time they come by they'll have to pay more. And of course, follow up on the promise – increase the price to your ‘next threshold' after a few weeks or so.
Risk Reversal
The “110%, better than your money back” guarantee is well known in direct marketing. To make it absolutely safe for your potential customers, allow them a “no-questions asked money-back guarantee”. Of course, they get to keep the product and the bonuses. In case of hard goods (books in print, course material, DVDs, CDs, etc.), you'd do well to ask for them back before giving refunds. While this is more a question of how you conduct your business, having a risk reversal guarantee that assures the potential customer that you are taking all the risk of the transaction will make them that much more ready to buy.
Sign-off
The new trend in sales letters is to ‘sign' the letter to make it more personal – it's just an optional perk, but during tests this simple tactic has increased sales, plus it takes a few minutes to put in, so go ahead and do this as well.
The PS (postscript)
Use multiple P.S. messages to remind the reader of the offer – the problem it solves, the bonuses, the time limit before the price is raised, etc. These aren't absolutely necessary, but they help in giving the reader the most important points that they should keep in mind (according to you) as they make the purchase.
Is it a coincidence that these pros (and almost everyone who has learned from them) are able to churn out hit after hit – literally clearing the house with every direct marketing package they produce?
And more importantly, what can you do to discover your own writing genius and put out just one kick-ass sales letter?
It doesn't take much, especially if you have…
A personal sales letter template based on the exact same process that master copywriters have consistently used to pull in millions of dollars for their clients from sales letter after sales letter!
This is a special edition of SEO Power Strategies, mainly because there is just so much to cover here that we're likely to go way over the usual lesson length – you're seriously advised to print this out and keep it with you to read at leisure through the day.
Sales Letter Writing 101.
Let's get one thing straight – successful sales letters often look the same. Not in tone or in substance, but in the underlying method of grabbing the reader's attention, drawing them in with juicy details and eventually, making an irresistible offer and closing the deal. It's quite a bit like blockbuster Hollywood movies that typically follow the same “good guy / bad guy / happy ending with hot dame” formula (with a few exceptions, of course).
The method, the formula, the technique – that's the crucial ingredient behind almost all successful sales letters. Once you can master these basics (and match them with the advice I gave you in the previous lesson), you'll already be heads and shoulders above 90% of online business owners today.
So, what are these “building blocks”?
A focused approach to a targeted audience (pre-writing preparation)
Grab their attention (using a combination of powerful headlines and sub-headings)
Hold their interest (by quickly reminding your reader why they are here (to solve a problem) and giving them teasers about the solution you are offering)
Make them trust you (this is the biggest hurdle for most budding copywriters – the challenge of building an interesting and emotionally-compelling story that can get through the BS filter readers have and make them trust you as an authority, as well as convince them that you have the right solution.
Prove your credibility (testimonials form a large part of this section, although if you are a well-known guru in your field, talking about your background by mentioning specific achievements (facts and figures) will work as well).
Make your offer (this is where you talk about the pricing, the main product, the bonuses, etc.)
Close the sale (The “Call To Action” must be urgent and clear – there's nothing worse than going through all the effort of writing a great sales letter than to have your reader leave at the end because you messed up the closing).
Quite a lot, isn't it?
Before I start though, here are a few points to remember:
When I say interesting, I'm not asking you to fabricate stories. If you don't have anything interesting to include in your story, do a reality check, put on your marketing hat and think about any specific experiences, news or local events related to your expertise / product that could be unusual or fascinating for your target audience (or even the general audience). There is always something you can use to build an interesting story.
Do NOT ignore the power of story-telling – it is the most powerful tool copywriters and marketers have in their arsenal. This is one skill that will only come through experience, but you can speedup the process by studying the experts. And speaking of experts…
Make it a point to review at least one best-selling sales letter before you sit down to write your own – for best results, read through several examples of good sales letters (and one or two bad ones) so you can get a feel of what you should be doing and shouldn't be doing. It's very easy to fall back into the habit of being lazy and sloppy in writing – by keeping an eye on quality work, you'll be motivating yourself to write better every single time.
In the previous lessons,I went on and on about building a tight focus in your writing. This is paramount for a good sales letter – not only do you have to bring targeted visitors to your site (for example, if you sell a resume writing software, you'd bring job hunters and people looking for resume writers towards your website), but you also have to address them personally. Talk to your audience; the sales letter is just a translation of your sales pitch into words. Make it count.
I've divided the whole process into three parts: getting the reader's attention, making them trust you and making them the offer. Everything is divided into sections, but that doesn't mean you have to “strictly” use every option in here. Adapt the template to your particular product or service, and make sure you review other sales letters before writing your own.
Part 1 – Get Their Attention
Get their Attention
Feeder / Pre-headline
Before you shake up the reader's attention by pitching your headline, here's a nice strategy to lead them to it – use a one-line feeder statement to build up your headline. This isn't necessary, and a lot of people don't use it while making outrageous profits, but the reasoning behind it is compelling – by giving readers a “leading” statement (perhaps by introducing the core need – discussed later), you make them more susceptible to your headline, which is all about providing the reader a cure for their problems.
Headline
The headline must be taut yet compelling; short and sweet, but at the same time it should make the reader sit up and take notice. As the first-half of the most important part of the sales letter – a powerful headline/sub-head combo will determine whether the readers moves beyond “Dear Reader” or not – the headline must be absolutely perfect, or as near as it gets. Take the biggest, most valuable benefits of your product, plug them in your headline (transform it into a question if you wish) and use proven, attention-grabbing words.
The lead/subhead
Now that you've got your reader's attention (through the headline), reel them in by giving them a promising 1-2 sentence “teaser”. The sub-head is an essential part of a sales letter – it gives the reader more details on the offer, outlines the promises / benefits of your product.
A “Before You Start” message
Not every sales letter uses this approach (Corey Rudl made this popular), but the point is to capture the attention of the reader who doesn't have much time. They might just click away from your website unless you quickly tell them what you are offering, and give them a way to come back / remember you. The quick summary will help the reader judge if your sales letter is worth his time, and if they find your offer interesting, they are bound to bookmark you and come back for more.
A personalized greeting
In a sales letter, you cannot do much more than say “hello dear reader”. But in some cases, it helps if you can “label” the reader – for example, if your product is designed to build traffic for websites, you could start your sales letter by saying: “Dear Frustrated Website Entrepreneur” or something similar. Another common technique is to introduce yourself (giving just your name is fine) and give the sales letter a timestamp – this isn't necessary, but it helps build the image that the sales letter is a personal item – from the author directly to the reader.
Hold Their Interest
Once you've enticed your reader into giving your sales letter more than a few seconds of attention, you have to “hook” them before they lose interest. This is where you lead up to the story by laying the groundwork (the reader's need/problem, and your position as giving them a solution).
Identify the burning need
Your readers have a problem; your product / service will solve that problem. It's that simple. Here, focus on talking to the reader (a member of your targeted audience) about their pain – caused by a need for a solution or by a problem they are facing (baldness, unemployment, lack of money, etc.) A big part of a sales letter is using bullet points and mini-lists – emphasize the burning need, cover it in bold and say it loud and clear.
Paint a vivid picture of pain
Once you've pointed out the need, focus on the pain it causes. Selling is about evoking an emotional response – put only those words on the sales letter that work towards getting that response (paint a picture using powerful, emotion-provoking words). Use a list of problems that it causes (but save the stories for later).
Paint a contrasting picture of pleasure
After emphasizing on the pain that the problem causes, focus on the pleasure / absence of pain that your product creates. Lists again, but the key here is to get the contrast right.
Till now, you've covered the first hurdle; getting your reader interested enough to read your sales letter and listen to your offer. But right now, they still have their BS filter on active, and to get to their emotional core, you have to turn that off first. To do that, you have to…
Part 2 – Make Them Trust You
Once you have their attention and you've successfully convinced them that you are going to solve their problem by the end of the sales letter…
Build credibility
Tell the readers why you are uniquely qualified to help them – this part is very, very important, even if you keep it short. If you don't have anything substantial to skate your claim on as an expert, then move on to the next bit, but even a newbie in the online business world has some form of credibility based on their life experiences. So think hard; you can't short-sell the readers by putting up credentials that your readers can better (i.e. your background is nothing to boast about), but by not building on your background you're losing a bit on the credibility quotient.
The Story
Selling is, amongst other things, about tapping the emotional wells of your prospects. If you do it right, they will be happy to buy from you. But to tap into those positive emotions effectively, you have to bypass the BS filter most people have when they come face to face with a sales pitch.
The key to do this, of course, is by telling them a compelling, authentic and uniquely relevant story. You don't have to have the knack of Steinbeck or Kafka, but if you can piece together something that:
The reader can relate to
Proves to the reader how your solution solves the problem
Helps the reader trust you more / builds your credibility
You've got it made.
Before revealing the product, tell your readers how it provided a real-world solution to someone's needs – yours or someone else's. The litmus test of a good story (and signs that your sales letter will do well) is the story pulls in the reader so well that by the end of it, the reader has forgotten they were reading a sales pitch! If you can make the reader forget that you are selling them a product even for an instant, they will immediately lose their bias and trust you that much more. And once that bond of trust is formed, it's in your power to make or break the deal.
Summarize the benefits of your product
While I've said summarize, this should be an opportunity to drive across in the plus points of the product hard – at this stage you have the reader's trust (if you've done the story part right). Strike while the iron's hot – this is your best chance to make the sale. Use bullet points, bold text (sparingly) and above all, words that sell.
Testimonials
People don't buy rationally – their financial actions are usually based on emotional decisions, which are later rationalized. In all this, the two biggest factors you can use to your advantage are that people love recommendations and that people trust experts. In this case, if you are quoting an expert's opinion on your product, that expert must be well-known in your industry (or an industry which your target market will be most familiar with). The ‘expert' opinion gives you a credibility that you have the right knowledge and that you can back up what you are claiming with results. Testimonials from users and other business owners are important as well, as they give you a different sort of credibility: that you are not out to scam them, and that your product works for other people ‘just like your reader'. The key to a good testimonial is to include as much information about the person writing it as is allowed by them. At a bare minimum, you should include their name and website address (always good advertising), or their name and email address, if they agree to provide it. Some skeptics might want the assurance of being able to call fellow customers to check up on your business, especially if the price you are charging is high. Some marketers prefer inundating the sales letter with testimonials – it's an ‘in-your-face' method of showing the reader that there are SO many satisfied customers that the investment becomes a no-brainer, as long as you are convinced that you have that particular need or problem this product addresses.
Part 3 – Make Them An Offer They Can't Refuse
By this time, the prospect should be emotionally tuned-in to your message, rid of her BS filter and ready for you to make the offer. If you've done everything right, your reader will actually be thinking about how much they can afford to pay for your product – notice that this bypasses the whole “do I need to buy this?” syndrome. They've already made the decision; you just have to convince them that the price is right.
Restate the benefits
If you wish (and if you have the sales material and certainly if your product is high-priced), sell the benefits of your product a bit more (and this time summarize the best aspects). This section is optional, but it builds up nicely, maintains a constant flow and reminds the reader what they are getting.
Build up the Bonuses
A bonus has become a must in online businesses. If you are selling software, web templates, information products or even services, bonuses are getting more and more outrageous. The good part is that if you can position the bonuses to fully complement your product, then you'll provide the right incentive for the reader to invest. A common mistake information product marketers make is to reuse the bonuses in other promotions – that's a fine tactic, but it short-changes the readers who paid hard cash for them. Don't do this to your customers – if you are giving them a bonus, make it highly relevant to the main product, and make sure it's not given away for free anywhere else.
Build up to the Price
Cue in to emotional triggers by asking the reader to put a price tag on the satisfaction / benefits they would receive on solving their particular problems. Make this part count, but keep it short.
Sell The Price
It's common to quote a higher price and then say that you're offering a lower price ‘just because you feel like you should give back to the community'. This tactic is good, but latest strategies go a step further. Follow the same pricing routine as before, but position it as a testing phase – i.e. the price will definitely riseafter the testing phase is over. Your goal is to convince the reader to act immediately, to buy now – one of the best ways to do that is to convince them that if they wait, the next time they come by they'll have to pay more. And of course, follow up on the promise – increase the price to your ‘next threshold' after a few weeks or so.
Risk Reversal
The “110%, better than your money back” guarantee is well known in direct marketing. To make it absolutely safe for your potential customers, allow them a “no-questions asked money-back guarantee”. Of course, they get to keep the product and the bonuses. In case of hard goods (books in print, course material, DVDs, CDs, etc.), you'd do well to ask for them back before giving refunds. While this is more a question of how you conduct your business, having a risk reversal guarantee that assures the potential customer that you are taking all the risk of the transaction will make them that much more ready to buy.
Sign-off
The new trend in sales letters is to ‘sign' the letter to make it more personal – it's just an optional perk, but during tests this simple tactic has increased sales, plus it takes a few minutes to put in, so go ahead and do this as well.
The PS (postscript)
Use multiple P.S. messages to remind the reader of the offer – the problem it solves, the bonuses, the time limit before the price is raised, etc. These aren't absolutely necessary, but they help in giving the reader the most important points that they should keep in mind (according to you) as they make the purchase.
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