"Dan, I need your help. The copy on my website sucks. It must.
Nobody is buying my product..." Or ordering "my ebook"... Or
signing up for "my course"... Or booking "my services."
People tell me all the time that their websites "doesn't
convert."
(Not sure what "conversion" is? It's that "magical"
transformation that turns a site visitor into a product/service
buyer)
If you're a website owner who's unhappy with the business your
Internet presence is generating, I wouldn't be surprised if you
think your copy is the culprit, too. A lot of people think that
if there's a problem with conversion that the sales copy must be
at fault.
This is WRONG THINKING...and potentially fatal to your website's
success.
Don’t misunderstand me... My business is copywriting. It's my
bread and butter. (Also my caviar and champagne!) I come from a
traditional sales and marketing background where the emphasis is
on "words that sell."
The world's most brilliant sales letter for the world's most
incredible product won't necessarily generate the through-the-
roof results you might expect. The truth is that turning a casual
site visitor into a "here's my credit card take whatever you
want" buyer takes MUCH MORE than just effective copywriting.
Converting prospects into clients and customers takes more than a
super headline... More than a list of "what's in it for you"...
More than an ironclad guarantee and more than a page of
testimonials from celebrities and authorities.
This isn't a war that will be won with words. You need
more...much more.
If you think of your website as a high-powered sports car, your
sales letter is the engine. But as any racer on the NASCAR
circuit will tell you, without the right fuel and other essential
components, an engine can't run smoothly and a car will never be
first to the checkered flag.
I don’t care if you have the most powerful "engine" in the
world...the greatest sales letter ever written. If you're not
taking advantage of technology and leveraging human psychology in
your sales and marketing efforts, you're simply out of the race.
I usually wear my copywriter's "hat" when I do the rant and load
you up with lots of ideas for creating great sales messages. The
how's and why's...the do's and don'ts... the nuts and bolts.
But this time around, I don't want to focus on the engine.
Instead, we're going to make a "pit stop" to look under the hood
of "killer" websites and talk about everything that's working to
power their success.
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Conversion Secret #1 - Less Can Be More (Why the QUALITY of Your
Traffic is More Important than the Quantity)
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The number of people that visit your website is meaningless if
they don't buy anything when they're there. You can have ten
thousand people hitting your site a month, but if they're looking
for camping equipment and you're selling baby strollers, you're
not going to convert a single visitor.
And if you're paying per click, this will kill you. Your
marketing dollars are going up in smoke.
On the other hand, you can have less traffic, but if they’re
targeted, you’ll have a very high conversion rate. If your baby
stroller site has a banner ad at a baby formula store, chances
are the people who click through will be more likely to buy from
you.
Here's something you MUST keep in mind: "more likely to buy"
doesn't mean that they will buy. That’s why tracking your traffic
is so important. You have to know exactly where your traffic is
coming from.
Are they from Per-Pay-Click? Are they from affiliates? Are they
from offline marketing? What percentage is from what promotion?
Unless you know the answers, you can't build on your success.
You can't improve something you can't measure.” W. Edwards
Deming, management expert.
A steady flow of QUALITY traffic and information about where it
comes from will affect your conversion rate just as much as the
quality of your sales message.
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Conversion Secret #2 – Don't Let A Good Answer Get Away (Exit
Poll)
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No one expects a 100% conversion rate, of course. You may dream
about it, but, depending on what you’re selling, if you're
getting a 2-3% conversion, that's pretty damn good.
Okay, you're not converting 97% of the people that come to your
site... But does that mean that their visit has to go into the
"lost cause" column? No way!
If you paid to have those people visit, you can't just let them
get away! You need to get some kind of return on your investment.
Why not do an exit pop-up survey, asking them why they’re not
buying?
Want to really get a visitor's attention. Use an audio pop-up.
When people leave your site you can have a pop-up with an audio
portion like this:
“Wait, before you go, could you please help me out? I'm not
trying to sell you anything, I just need some information. Could
you tell me the single biggest reason that you’re not giving us a
try today? What’s the ONE reason that’s stopping you from
purchasing (my product name)? Just fill out the box below and
click on the submit button. Your opinion matters to me..”
Boom! You've just created your own "consumer feedback forum" and
you haven't spent a penny on some high-priced focus groups. Once
you get a bunch of responses to your exit poll, you'll be able to
identify patterns in what people say. Use what you learn to make
the changes that you know for certain will bump up your
conversion rate.
Success and failure shouldn't be based on guesswork or
assumptions. It doesn't matter what you think is the reason
people aren't buying. It doesn't matter what I think is the
reason people aren't buying.
The only thing that matters is what your customers think...that's
the "pulse" of the marketplace and the lifeblood of your future
business. And with an exit survey, your customers will tell you
what you need to do in order to convince them to buy your
product!
People consider me a marketing wizard because I'm so good at
market research. Well, I may be a "wizard," but I'm not a genius,
and I certainly didn't earn my Ph.D in marketing. That's because
you don't have to be marketing genius to get your finger on the
pulse of your industry.
Here's the secret: I am not the marketing wizard. You’re not the
marketing wizard. Your CUSTOMER is the marketing wizard.
All you have to do to learn the "mysteries" of more sales is ASK
your customers... And make sure you ask the people who decided
not to be your customers, too.
Just ask and they’ll tell you. Then take what you've learned,
incorporate it into your sales message, and watch the "no sales"
turn into "sales" so fast that you'll get a speeding ticket for
all that fast-moving, fast-buying traffic!
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Conversion Secret #3 – Take a Tip from the Tortoise (slow and
steady wins the race)
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Far too many Internet marketers try to close the sale with one
step. Are you one of them?
Do you run an ad in some ezines, post a couple of Pay-Per-Click
ads, then sit back, relax and wait to enjoy "the show"? Do you
assume that people will notice the ad, read the ad, get excited
by the ad, go to your site, read your sales pitch, pull out their
credit cards and buy from you?
Do you expect to accomplish all that with ONE STEP? Give me a
break. What are you thinking?
That's like you’re trying to have sex on the first date.
You might get away with it. (You might get some sales and be
profitable) But chances are, without a little coaxing from you at
every step in the process, you'll be going home alone.
Take it slow, will ya?
Show some class. Have some manners. Get to know each other. Share
some stories. Make a connection. Develop a relationship before
you try to close the “deal”. People buy from people they trust.
So you’ll make a lot more sales if you take the time to develop a
solid relationship.
How do you convince website visitors that you're one of the
"white hats"? Start building that relationship. One way is by
giving more than you get.
Give them a free report. Give them a free mini-course. Give them
a free ebook. Give them a free chapter. (Are you getting the idea
that "free" may be the most important word in relationship-
building on the Internet?)
Bribe them and get them to give you their name and email so that
you can follow up with them using an autoresponder. And don't
forget to make it simple.
One easy-to-use option is a hover ad that drops down on your
visitor’s screen when they visit your site, inviting them to
"opt-in" to your free offer. Why a hover ad? Testing shows hover
ad gets more attention than traditional pop-ups.
A more advanced way...and to some a less "savory," but extremely
effective way...to capture contact information is to make your
home page an opt-in request.
Basically, a visitor can't get to the rest of your site without
providing contact information. You qualify them before you let
them read your sales pitch! That’s pretty brilliant if you ask
me!
The opt-in doesn’t have to be fancy. And it definitely shouldn't
be very long. Just a killer headline and some equally killer
benefits. That’ll do it.
A good example of this kind of approach in action can be found
here: http://www.extremewebcopymakeover.com
Don't blow it! When you follow up with them, you don’t just want
to pitch them. You want to deliver value in your autoresponder
messages. Educate them. Teach them something. Then just have a
little plug at the end.
Remember I said that people buy from people they trust. If you're
constantly selling things, then you're a salesperson...and your
motives are immediately suspect.
But if you're constantly giving things away, sharing ideas,
giving more than you're getting, you're a valuable resource...a
good friend...a trusted advisor. (There's the secret password --
trust!)
And the beauty is...what you give away doesn't have to cost you a
penny.
Let’s say you’re selling an ebook, you can actually take the
first 3 chapters of your ebook and turn them into a series of
autoresonder messages. This is a great way to give them a taste
of what you’re selling and to prove that you're the "real deal."
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Conversion Secret #4 – Hear Ye, Hear Ye (Audio on the Internet)
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When I talk about copywriting, I often talk about how important
it is to engage the reader's senses. Make them see with word
pictures... Make them feel with hot-button language. The more
senses that are involved, the more likely it is that your
prospect will be sold.
Using audio on your site is a sense-sation.
With audio, you appeal to a completely different sense than the
average site. The web is full of visual appeal, but with audio,
you suddenly connect with a visitors ears with a whole new
component -- a verbal component.
Your spoken words will strike an emotional chord with visitors
and connects on a "human" level in an otherwise electronic world.
And here's something that every website needs: excitement.
Because it's rare, audio is unusual and attention-getting. It's
brand new, instead of the "same old, same old."
(This won't be true forever, of course, but for now, you can take
advantage of audio's scarcity.)
Your audio features don’t have to be limited to you. You can also
use audio testimonials. Instead of just having a written
testimonial, why not offer a "listen to what this satisfied
customer" opportunities and add audio testimonials to your sales
page.
Don't let your fear of the unknown or a fear of failure hold you
back. You don’t have to be a techie to utilize and implement
these technologies. If you've got the will, I'll show you the
way:
This is a list of website conversion tools that I use and
recommend to my clients so that they can add "bells and whistles"
quickly, easily, and inexpensively.
http://www.danlokrecommends.com
Okay, now my secrets are your secrets. The same tricks and
techniques that I've used to achieve astronomical traffic
conversion levels are now at your disposal.
They've been tested and refined and re-tested. They've worked for
me...and they've worked for my clients (who, by the way, paid me
a fortune to implement them on their behalf).
I know they'll work for you. Let me know when they do. I'd like
to add your success story to an upcoming issue of the Rant.
Stay Lok-ed and loaded for success,
Dan Lok
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