The question comes up from time to time:
"How long an online sales letter should be?"
People new to direct marketing are a bit reluctant to send long letters for fear of "boring" their prospective customers. And that sounds like a valid point indeed in this day and age of soundbites, short YouTube clips and extreme programming.
However, there are a lot people making money by sending really long sales letters.
Here is one I've received from the "The Daily Reckoning" group, a subsidiary of Agora Publishing from Baltimore, MD.
The letter is for selling Steve Sarnoff's option trading newsletter and it is exactly 7825 words!
Seven thousand eight hundred twenty five words, including not one (P.S.), not two (P.P.S.) but THREE (P.P.P.S.) Post Scripts!!!
So if your message is good, if you have a lot to say to convince your prospects, if you need room to display your wares and advance logical arguments that use a lot of empirical data, feel free to write as long as you want.
More people than you might believe actually do read all that to make up their minds, especially in the financial newsletter sector.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
A Good Microsite
A microsite is a single-page web site devoted to selling a single product or service. It is a direct marketing tool that is very suitable for network marketing (signing up new members for a Multi Level Marketing downstream) as well.
Here is an example that is not perfect but still does many things right in terms of design and copy:
http://www.PublishingSeminar.com
This is a microsite selling a 2-day book marketing seminar in NYC.
I'll list some of the correct elements that makes this design above-the-average:
1) A specific and somewhat unusual offer up-front. (See the screenshot below.) They are promising to double or triple your annual income after this 2-day event during which they will introduce their SYSTEM. That's rather specific and a lot to promise, isn't it?
2) Photos of 4 authors follow the promise, thus personalizing the message. Now we are looking at four guys whose faces we can see, names we can read. This already feels like a REAL event.
3) Great BLUE subheaders divide the text into digestible chunks. We are explained not only who should attend but also who should NOT. This again "shows" how serious these people must be.
4) Prominent bullets with check marks itemizing important points in easy-to-read lines.
These bullets summarize some of the FEATURES and BENEFITS of the training bootcamp although it still (for understandable reasons) does not quite gieveaway the particular features of the Streamlined System itself. Since information is what they are selling, you have to buy it first in order to get the full set of features.
5) Then comes the first set of double registration buttons with OUR UNPRECEDENTED MONEY BACK GUARANTEE in between them. We now are aware that we are reading information about an event that we can register EASILY if we want to NOW.
6) Detailed BIOs of the speakers with their photos (again!), further building up the credentials of the main participants. This seminar would be nothing if we are not sold on the credentials of the presenters. So this is an emphasis that will never go to waste and should translate into a higher conversion rate.
The fact that these presenters have such impressive biographies is of course a giant plus. (Also: check out the easy-on-the-eye blue bullets.)
7) Following the excellent bios of the four presenters, we are hit with a very visible TESTIMONIALS section. Here is the PROOF of how others benefited from this seminar. BENEFITS follow the FEATURES (author bios used as a stand-in for the features of the promised Streamlined System). Observe the FULL NAMES and towns and states fafter the testimonials. We think... "these must be real people."
8) Then we are provided another chance to click and register with PRICE GUARANTEE. The friendly but convincing and insistent copy continues to chip away at our resistance.
9) Here comes the BONUSES if we register by May 12, 2007, followed by another registration button. Does your offer also come with a DEADLINE? Does it have a built-in URGENCY?
This is the FOURTH opportunity to register since we started reading the copy from the top. There will be TWO more such buttons by the time we reach the bottom of this microsite.
Always try to give something FREE to your readers as an immediate reward for taking action.
10) There is even hotel information there, just touched upon. But unfortunately the author says the information will be provided only AFTER we register. What a letdown...
That's one obvious negative of this site. I would never hold back such crucial information from the reader especially for those who would be travelling from far away locations to attend this event. Heck, I would even include information on how to travel to the exact location of the training workshop for those out-of-town travelers. Whenever possible, make it easy for people to join you, visit you, so that they will also "buy you."
The way it is done now, a lot of readers might be wondering "well, I think I can afford this workshop but New York City is a very expensive place and I don't know if I can afford a hotel in Midtown West Manhattan!"
If I were the owner of this microsite, I'd immediately change that "we'll share the info if you register" teaser with clear information on hotels and prices, or, remove that section altogether in order not to create any unnecessary question marks in the readers' minds. Anything that would make a reader hesitate would also drop the conversion rate.
Overall, a pretty good example of what a microsite should look like, with much to learn and emulate.
Last but not least -- check out the PS, which a MUST for any successful direct mail letter.
Did you know that most people simply scroll down to the bottom of sites like this and read the Post Script FIRST?
Do not hesitate to repeat your best offer and best benefits in the PS once again.
Here is an example that is not perfect but still does many things right in terms of design and copy:
http://www.PublishingSeminar.com
This is a microsite selling a 2-day book marketing seminar in NYC.
I'll list some of the correct elements that makes this design above-the-average:
1) A specific and somewhat unusual offer up-front. (See the screenshot below.) They are promising to double or triple your annual income after this 2-day event during which they will introduce their SYSTEM. That's rather specific and a lot to promise, isn't it?
2) Photos of 4 authors follow the promise, thus personalizing the message. Now we are looking at four guys whose faces we can see, names we can read. This already feels like a REAL event.
3) Great BLUE subheaders divide the text into digestible chunks. We are explained not only who should attend but also who should NOT. This again "shows" how serious these people must be.
4) Prominent bullets with check marks itemizing important points in easy-to-read lines.
These bullets summarize some of the FEATURES and BENEFITS of the training bootcamp although it still (for understandable reasons) does not quite gieveaway the particular features of the Streamlined System itself. Since information is what they are selling, you have to buy it first in order to get the full set of features.
5) Then comes the first set of double registration buttons with OUR UNPRECEDENTED MONEY BACK GUARANTEE in between them. We now are aware that we are reading information about an event that we can register EASILY if we want to NOW.
6) Detailed BIOs of the speakers with their photos (again!), further building up the credentials of the main participants. This seminar would be nothing if we are not sold on the credentials of the presenters. So this is an emphasis that will never go to waste and should translate into a higher conversion rate.
The fact that these presenters have such impressive biographies is of course a giant plus. (Also: check out the easy-on-the-eye blue bullets.)
7) Following the excellent bios of the four presenters, we are hit with a very visible TESTIMONIALS section. Here is the PROOF of how others benefited from this seminar. BENEFITS follow the FEATURES (author bios used as a stand-in for the features of the promised Streamlined System). Observe the FULL NAMES and towns and states fafter the testimonials. We think... "these must be real people."
8) Then we are provided another chance to click and register with PRICE GUARANTEE. The friendly but convincing and insistent copy continues to chip away at our resistance.
9) Here comes the BONUSES if we register by May 12, 2007, followed by another registration button. Does your offer also come with a DEADLINE? Does it have a built-in URGENCY?
This is the FOURTH opportunity to register since we started reading the copy from the top. There will be TWO more such buttons by the time we reach the bottom of this microsite.
Always try to give something FREE to your readers as an immediate reward for taking action.
10) There is even hotel information there, just touched upon. But unfortunately the author says the information will be provided only AFTER we register. What a letdown...
That's one obvious negative of this site. I would never hold back such crucial information from the reader especially for those who would be travelling from far away locations to attend this event. Heck, I would even include information on how to travel to the exact location of the training workshop for those out-of-town travelers. Whenever possible, make it easy for people to join you, visit you, so that they will also "buy you."
The way it is done now, a lot of readers might be wondering "well, I think I can afford this workshop but New York City is a very expensive place and I don't know if I can afford a hotel in Midtown West Manhattan!"
If I were the owner of this microsite, I'd immediately change that "we'll share the info if you register" teaser with clear information on hotels and prices, or, remove that section altogether in order not to create any unnecessary question marks in the readers' minds. Anything that would make a reader hesitate would also drop the conversion rate.
Overall, a pretty good example of what a microsite should look like, with much to learn and emulate.
Last but not least -- check out the PS, which a MUST for any successful direct mail letter.
Did you know that most people simply scroll down to the bottom of sites like this and read the Post Script FIRST?
Do not hesitate to repeat your best offer and best benefits in the PS once again.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Technical Editing
“These other outputs are useful when additional prompting of the user is achieved via stored messages or indicator lamps.”
BETTER: “These other outputs are useful to prompt the user via stored messages or indicator lamps.”
------------------------------------------------
“The confirm direction specification is used to set the significance of the sensor to transaction directionality.”
BETTER: “The Confirm Direction is used to specify the transaction directionality of the sensor.”
------------------------------------------------
“A barrier usually factors into the determination of whether the user has actually moved from one location to another.”
BETTER: “A barrier helps determine whether the user has actually moved from one location to another.”
(Eliminate convoluted phrases such as “factors into the determination of” whenever possible. Simplify, simplify, simplify.)
BETTER: “These other outputs are useful to prompt the user via stored messages or indicator lamps.”
------------------------------------------------
“The confirm direction specification is used to set the significance of the sensor to transaction directionality.”
BETTER: “The Confirm Direction is used to specify the transaction directionality of the sensor.”
------------------------------------------------
“A barrier usually factors into the determination of whether the user has actually moved from one location to another.”
BETTER: “A barrier helps determine whether the user has actually moved from one location to another.”
(Eliminate convoluted phrases such as “factors into the determination of” whenever possible. Simplify, simplify, simplify.)
Facts and Metaphors
“… Facts have a way of yielding to nuance like a jury to a trial lawyer. Under the right influence, they will go along with anything. But the metaphors remain… and continue to give useful service long after the facts have changed.
What's more, metaphors help people understand the world and its workings. As Norman Mailer recently put it, "There is much more truth in a metaphor than in a fact." But the trouble with metaphors is that no matter how true they may be when they are fresh and clever, when the multitudes pick them up, they almost immediately become worn out and false. For the whole truth is always complex to the point of being unknowable, even to the world's greatest geniuses.
The world never works the way people think it does. That is not to say that every idea about how the world works is wrong, but that often particular ideas about how it works will prove to be wrong if they are held in common. For only simple ideas can be held by large groups of people. Commonly held ideas are almost always dumbed down until they are practically lies… and often dangerous ones. Once vast numbers of people have come to believe the lie, they adjust their own behavior to bring themselves into sync with it, and thereby change the world itself. The world, then, no longer resembles the one that gave rise to the original insight. Soon, a person's situation is so at odds with the world as it really is that a crisis develops, and he or she must seek a new metaphor for explanation and guidance…”
By Bill Bonner
President, Agora Publishing
What's more, metaphors help people understand the world and its workings. As Norman Mailer recently put it, "There is much more truth in a metaphor than in a fact." But the trouble with metaphors is that no matter how true they may be when they are fresh and clever, when the multitudes pick them up, they almost immediately become worn out and false. For the whole truth is always complex to the point of being unknowable, even to the world's greatest geniuses.
The world never works the way people think it does. That is not to say that every idea about how the world works is wrong, but that often particular ideas about how it works will prove to be wrong if they are held in common. For only simple ideas can be held by large groups of people. Commonly held ideas are almost always dumbed down until they are practically lies… and often dangerous ones. Once vast numbers of people have come to believe the lie, they adjust their own behavior to bring themselves into sync with it, and thereby change the world itself. The world, then, no longer resembles the one that gave rise to the original insight. Soon, a person's situation is so at odds with the world as it really is that a crisis develops, and he or she must seek a new metaphor for explanation and guidance…”
By Bill Bonner
President, Agora Publishing
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Unparallel Construction
Here is a grammar rule that I like and try to follow: “In a compound sentence with multiple clauses, the clauses should be parallel in structure.”
It’s called the “Parallel Construction” rule and I try to adhere to it in my own writing because it increases comprehension.
Complicated sentences that do not have parallel clauses are usually hard to read and comprehend. Usually there is something “not quite right” with them even if you cannot always put a finger on it.
Here is a recent example from an Associated Press news story:
“Leaving cars burned and store windows smashed in Paris” is a clause that describes what was “left behind in Paris” by the protestors after they took it to the streets.
But the conjunctive clause that follows it “as well as unrest everywhere” sounds off because it violates the “parallel construction” principle.
A true re-construction of that phrase would read “as well as leaving unrest elsewhere” ! Perhaps now the problem is more clear because in English “leaving unrest” is not a grammatically acceptable phrase.
However, a condition can “lead to unrest” or a person can “cause unrest.”
Therefore, one way to correct this malformed sentence would be:
“PARIS, France (AP) -- France's defeated Socialists called for an end to post-election violence Tuesday after anti-Sarkozy protestors took to the streets for a second night, leaving cars burned and store windows smashed in Paris as well as causing unrest elsewhere.”
To me, this new sentence reads better and is easier to understand. Don’t you agree?
It’s called the “Parallel Construction” rule and I try to adhere to it in my own writing because it increases comprehension.
Complicated sentences that do not have parallel clauses are usually hard to read and comprehend. Usually there is something “not quite right” with them even if you cannot always put a finger on it.
Here is a recent example from an Associated Press news story:
“PARIS, France (AP) -- France's defeated Socialists called for an end to post-election violence Tuesday after anti-Sarkozy protestors took to the streets for a second night, leaving cars burned and store windows smashed in Paris as well as unrest elsewhere.”
“Leaving cars burned and store windows smashed in Paris” is a clause that describes what was “left behind in Paris” by the protestors after they took it to the streets.
But the conjunctive clause that follows it “as well as unrest everywhere” sounds off because it violates the “parallel construction” principle.
A true re-construction of that phrase would read “as well as leaving unrest elsewhere” ! Perhaps now the problem is more clear because in English “leaving unrest” is not a grammatically acceptable phrase.
However, a condition can “lead to unrest” or a person can “cause unrest.”
Therefore, one way to correct this malformed sentence would be:
“PARIS, France (AP) -- France's defeated Socialists called for an end to post-election violence Tuesday after anti-Sarkozy protestors took to the streets for a second night, leaving cars burned and store windows smashed in Paris as well as causing unrest elsewhere.”
To me, this new sentence reads better and is easier to understand. Don’t you agree?
Monday, May 7, 2007
Overcoming fear of success
An interesting post on the complex psychology of success...
"May 5, 2007 11:09 PM
I deeply want to be successful, yet I seem to fear success almost as much as I fear failure. Towards that end I often find myself doing things that are somewhat self sabataging. For instance, if a job pays well or requires a lot of responsiblity, I'm usually too scared or intimidated to apply for it. I only feel that I'm "worth" the jobs that offer less status and pay.
Another example of my fear of success is a nonprofit idea I had recently. I have gotten feedback from several very knowledgable people who said that it is an excellent idea and that I should put together a business plan and consider applying for some grants. However, I'm terrified to do so! In my family, I was always seen as the immature, unsuccessful one. How could I possibly start my own business?? Even if I did not go very far, I could treat the business plan as a learning opportunity--something to include in my portfolio to show other companies the ideas I have and the type of work I could do. But of course, this would lead to expectations that I would have to meet...and nothing terrifies me more. So my idea is sitting by the wayside.
I also struggle with difficulty defining my goals. I have many, many interests, and consequently find myself expending energy in multiple career directions. Since I never seem to focus on any one thing I pursue multiple endeavors without being particularly successful at any of them. I really believe that if I had better focus and more confidence I could achieve a lot more.
Does anyone have suggestions for overcoming a deeply ingrained fear of success?"
Click here to read the responses...
"May 5, 2007 11:09 PM
I deeply want to be successful, yet I seem to fear success almost as much as I fear failure. Towards that end I often find myself doing things that are somewhat self sabataging. For instance, if a job pays well or requires a lot of responsiblity, I'm usually too scared or intimidated to apply for it. I only feel that I'm "worth" the jobs that offer less status and pay.
Another example of my fear of success is a nonprofit idea I had recently. I have gotten feedback from several very knowledgable people who said that it is an excellent idea and that I should put together a business plan and consider applying for some grants. However, I'm terrified to do so! In my family, I was always seen as the immature, unsuccessful one. How could I possibly start my own business?? Even if I did not go very far, I could treat the business plan as a learning opportunity--something to include in my portfolio to show other companies the ideas I have and the type of work I could do. But of course, this would lead to expectations that I would have to meet...and nothing terrifies me more. So my idea is sitting by the wayside.
I also struggle with difficulty defining my goals. I have many, many interests, and consequently find myself expending energy in multiple career directions. Since I never seem to focus on any one thing I pursue multiple endeavors without being particularly successful at any of them. I really believe that if I had better focus and more confidence I could achieve a lot more.
Does anyone have suggestions for overcoming a deeply ingrained fear of success?"
Click here to read the responses...
Bootstrap Your Way to Startup Success
by Michael E. Gordon, PhD
Bootstrapping is the process of conserving financial resources to the extreme during a business’s startup phase. It means pulling yourself up by your bootstraps by doing most of the work yourself.
Because you want to go into any new business enterprise with your eyes wide open, let’s take a look at some of the pluses and minuses of bootstrapping...
Click for the rest of this article
Bootstrapping is the process of conserving financial resources to the extreme during a business’s startup phase. It means pulling yourself up by your bootstraps by doing most of the work yourself.
Because you want to go into any new business enterprise with your eyes wide open, let’s take a look at some of the pluses and minuses of bootstrapping...
Click for the rest of this article
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