Having been in sales and marketing  jobs for many years, and now running an online business, I’ve noticed many major  flaws in the way that online marketers approach selling.

In this post I’ll be addressing this matter and discussing ways of improving website conversion, so you can make more money from your sites.

The most fundamental aspect of selling, that anyone involved in marketing  must understand, is that people do not buy things because of the ‘features’ that a product has. People buy things for what the product can do for them, otherwise known as the ‘benefits’.

I am amazed at the number of websites, articles and videos that I see across the web, where people are trying to make a sale, but they are trying to do so by selling on features. This is a huge mistake and something that must be avoided.

Just recently I watched  a video that someone had created, who was an affiliate of a software product. The product was great, no doubt about that, but the way the person made the video was not so great.

I watched for 9 mins as he systematically went through every single button and function the tool had.  At the end of the video I was bored, as I really didn’t care “How” the product worked, I wanted to know “What” the product could do for me.

I was interested in how this product would save me time, improve my efficiency, and ultimately make me more money. However these vital sales trigger points, were not discussed in the video….big mistake!!

People want to know how their life will be better, or how they will make more money if they buy your product. The ‘means’ for how your product will do that, is totally irrelevant, and if you focus on this your sales will suffer and improving website conversions will be tough work for you.

Whenever you write any piece of content, whether text or video for your internet marketing campaigns, make sure you list all the benefits that the product has, and be sure to check that they are not features.

Also do not assume that people will be able to work out what the benefits are, this is another HUGE mistake that I see many websites doing. It is your job to tell the potential customer what these benefits are. If you don’t then they probably won’t work it out, and you may well miss an opportunity to close the sale.

It’s easy to slip into selling on features, I often catch myself doing this too, and have to continuously remind myself that benefits sell and not features.

It doesn’t matter if you are selling as an affiliate or the product owner yourself, the same principles apply. The only difference is that as the affiliate you should be more subtle, and discuss the benefits, but in an unbiased way, as you need to build trust with the reader too.

The Hook

Another important aspect of selling online, whether text or video, is to make sure you provide a hook for the visitor to want to keep reading. The most obvious way is a benefits loaded headline. Also make sure that the first thing the visitor reads or hears, are strong benefits, otherwise they will lose interest and leave you site fast!

Call to Action

Although you might think the action you want a visitor to take once they have read your content or watched your video is obvious, it is often not, and this is another major pitfall that I see far to often.

You must make it very clear and tell the visitor what they now need to do. If you have a video on your site, that is selling a product, at the end of the video you need to have a strong close.

For example you might say “All you need to do is now is put your name and email in the box below and you will immediately get access to XZY so you can start …. LIST BENEFITS!

One more important thing, is to make sure you know what the benefits are for a potential buyer. If you’re not the target market for the product you are promoting, then don’t make the vital mistake of assuming that you know. Go to forums where the target market hang out and do your research.

The same principles apply to email marketing, and this is another place that I see people forgetting that benefits are the triggers for people.

If you want good open rates with your emails, then make sure the title of the email is loaded with benefits. You then want to continue in this manner in the email itself.

My closing thoughts are this, remember to sell on benefits, however just because you are selling on benefits doesn’t mean you need to be the pushy sales person. You can sell benefits in a subtle yet powerful manner. If you do this, you’ll make more money (benefit) and improving website conversion rates will be easy.

That’s all from me, happy benefits selling!

Matt Carter

In this post I will be discussing, perhaps the most important thing to get right in your internet marketing, which is writing copy for a website, and in particular writing product reviews.

You would be amazed out how many more sales you can make if you just pay attention to how you write your copy.

I find that a lot of people focus heavily on traffic generation, which is important, but they lack any clue about copy writing for niche sites, and end up making no money because of it. Below I will explain what works for me.

When I am researching a product that I know nothing about, the first thing I do is type into Google the exact keyword phrase I want to target for a particular page on my site. Then I open the top 3-5 pages in the Google results. The phrase is often a buyer keyword, such as “buy product” “product review” etc…

The reason I read the top 5 websites in Google for my phrase, is to find out what other people are writing in their copy, and I often note down common phrases that I see. My theory is that if Google are ranking these sites for this phrase, then I need to have similar words and phrases on my page.

Once  I have a good idea of the common words and phrases and also have a better understanding about the topic, I will then type into Google: “keyword prhase + forum”. What I am now doing is looking for what people are saying about this product on forums. I want real feedback, the good and the bad!

The reason I like to go to forums and have a look around, is that I can find out what the biggest issues are that people are facing, and what they really think about the product I am considering promoting. If I find all the reviews on forums to be terrible, I will not promote the product.

So now that I have done my research on the topic and keyword phrase, I now want to put together my own product review. The key things that I do when writing product reviews, is I try to avoid repeating things that the product sales letter has said.  Remember that if a person is searching on a review keyword, then they have already had a sales pitch and are on the search for some feedback about the product.

However I write things in a subtle way, where I am still pushing the reader towards to product, but I am not doing it so obviously. Often I see affiliate sites that just ram the product down the readers throat, and say it’s the best thing ever. Or even worse are these fictitious stories, where they say they have tried the product and worked like a miracle (not my style).

So what I do is include details about the product that are not as easy to find, and describe the benefits of the features I am describing. For example I might say this:

“Product XYZ yeast cure claims they can get rid of your yeast infection quickly with out using any nasty chemicals to do so, which is a bonus.”

I will also say things that I gathered from my research of user feedback on forums, and say: “From the extensive personal research I did into product XYZ, I found that most users claimed that it did actually make them feel more energetic and overall the product was very well received”

You could take it further and say things like: “The product seems to work great for most people, a few people, but not many, claimed the product took 8 weeks to work and not 6 like the company claim, but still that is decent”

When writing product reviews I will also mention reasons why you would want to use a product that does this in the first place. So if I stick with Yeast Cure, I would mention all the benefits of clearing yeast infections, so people are more encouraged to get going and start a it immediately, which should, if the rest of the copy is done well, mean they will grab the product you are reviewing.

When I finish the product review, it’s important to have a call to action, but again do not make this a sales pitch. What I do is write in a suggesting manner, for example: “If you are looking for a quality yeast infection product, I think product XYZ is a good choice, as the user feedback is very positive, and what’s more the company offer a money back guarantee anyway, which is what reputable companies do.”

So there you have it, writing product reviews isn’t hard to do, but you need to make sure you think it through and put yourself in the seat of the potential customer and write what they want to read, not just another sales pitch!

All the best

Matt

Today I want to share with you the number 1 reason that I see, that stops people making big commissions online, and that is

POOR COPY WRITING.

Whether you are an affiliate marketer, selling products on E-Bay, or even drop shipping products, it doesn’t matter as it’s all the same when it comes to persuading your website visitor to do what you want them to do when they arrive on your website.

So I have added this post as a guide to what I have experienced to be good copy writing that sells!

I see a lot of sales, squeeze, landing pages etc…with less than impressive copy and let me tell you that it drastically effects your conversions.

You can have the best product in the world but if your copy writing is lousy then no one will know it’s the best, and in turn people will NOT purchase off you.

In the realm of the internet, although video and audio is playing a much bigger role these days, copy writing is still essential and always will be.

For example, no one is going to want to watch your video or listen to your audio if your headline doesn’t do it’s job of persuading people to do so.

I haven’t got the time to go into all the aspects off copy writing but I will share some useful tips with you that I have found work.

Tip 1 : Features vs Benefits

The golden rule of copy writing is to always remember that benefits sell and NOT features. It is very easy to slip into the trap of telling your potential buyer all the great features that your product has. However this is where I see most people fall down.

You see you can still get the message across of what’s in your product and what your product does but you MUST explain this in a beneficial way.

Let’s take an example…If I am selling a ResaleXfactor  resale rights interview, I could say the following features that are in an interview:

-learn Google Adwords Now!
-Understand Link Building For SEO
-Find Out The Best Web 2.0 Sites On The Internet

Or I could say it this way

-Double Your Profits With Google Adwords Tricks
-Land On The Front Page Of Google With Expert Link Strategy
-Open The Flood Gates To FREE Traffic With Web 2.0 Secrets.

I have explained the same features in both examples but I have added the benefit of the feature in the second lot of examples.

Tip 2 : Headlines

The job of the headline is to catch the readers attention, and to do this super fast. Each word in the headline plays a crucial role, therefore there is no room for just throwing in filler text.

I have seen some good, bad and down right terrible headlines in my time, and some of them have been with big companies too…

The key to a good headline is that you must have a hook in it. By this I mean something that entices the reader to find out more about what you just told them.

By creating curiosity or connecting with the customer in some way they are more likely to read the rest of your copy, well maybe not all, as each section of the copy has to pull its weight.

Let’s take an example of weight loss:

“Discover How I Lost 112 Pounds In 4 weeks Without Dieting!”

An over weight person that has been struggling for years to lose weight might just want to find out how to accomplish this amazing feat.

Here’s another one:

“Who Else Wants To Earn $573 A Day On Autopilot?”

The words ‘who else’ in this example indicate to the reader that there has been successful customers before them. This subconsciously reassures the reader.

However you must be careful to be honest, and not over promise, because if the reader thinks “no way too good to be true…” then the headline backfires..

Here’s an extreme example:

“I Made 6 million Dollars In 24 hrs By Doing Nothing And You Can To”

Along with the hook make sure you remember the golden rule that benefits sell and not features.

Some of the worst headlines that I have seen online and offline is where the headline contains the companies details and name. No one really cares what your company is called and where your are based, what they do want to know is what you can do for them.

Here’s an example of a bad headline from an insurance company
(I will use xyz instead of actual company name)

“XYZ Insurance, Offers The Best Policies In Cleveland”

This headlines does not have a hook, and wastes words on useless information. This may work better as a tag line on a logo but NOT as a headline.

Tip 3 : Telling A Story

I have found this technique works best when writing sales copy. What you are trying to do here is teach the visitor to your website something that will benefit them and that they may not know already.

The best way to do this is describe a particular problem that is directly related to your niche, and then further stir up this problem, and finally deliver the solution, which of course ties directly into your products benefits.

Here’s an example for you…

Let’s say I am selling a product in the dating niche. The product may be an e-book on how to meet woman and date them.

The problem that you describe maybe how a person (male, and preferably a real person), has always struggled to get women to like him.

However then you agitate the story further by explaining that no matter what books he has read and advice he has listened to he still just can’t find a girl that likes him.

This guy may have been to courses and seminars for all I know, but still can’t figure out what he is doing wrong.

After many months, perhaps years of struggling and failing he finally discovered the solution, which is ….your product…that is of course if your products does work, honestly is always the best policy, that’s one of my own golden rules.

That’s all for now, in the next email I will discuss the concept of personality types, objection handling and power words.

Until next time,

Bye for now,

Matt