3 Secrets for Writing Your Next Sales Page in Half the Time
I have a guest post today by one of my really smart friends who also happens to be one of my coaching clients.
I love learning from her as she's a rock star in the Copywriting and SEO world and her clients get results from her work.
So, I'll hand this post over to the awesomely amazing Karon Thackston.
3 Secrets for Writing Your Next Sales Page in Half the Time
By Karon Thackston
“I just sit staring at the blank screen like a deer in the headlights.”
“I get confused about everything that has to be included.”
“I end up with a stack of notes and have no idea how to use them.”
These are just a few of the responses I got after asking the question, “What’s so hard about writing a sales page?”
In other words… it takes a long time because there are lots of pieces to the puzzle.
There are, however, several ways to reduce your writing time by as much as half. Let me share 3 of my favorite secrets with you here.
1. Shrink Your Target Audience
Who does your target audience consist of? WAIT! Before you answer with something like “Everybody who…” or “Anybody that…,” we need to think about this.
Trying to communicate with anybody and everybody is not only a beginner’s approach to copywriting, but it can also actually weaken your overall marketing. Why? Because the broader your audience, the harder it will be to speak to prospects on their level.
Copywriting is actually just written communication. In order for you to connect effectively with others (we’ll use me as an example), you have to know something about them and they have to have an interest in what you’re providing.
Let’s say you want to write copy about your new ebook or your coaching program (or whatever it might be) that is enticing to me. Exactly what is it about your offer that will most appeal to me? If you and I have met for the first time via this blog post, you wouldn’t have a clue about what I want/need/like/dislike. That means you’d also only have a snowball’s chance at converting me into a customer until you did a little research about me.
Once you take some time to figure out who I am, what I do and how to reach me, your copywriting message starts to morph into a more compelling message. If you try to do this with “anybody” and “everybody,” you will fragment your sales page so badly that it won’t make sense to a single person.
The narrower you are about your audience, the better you can get to know them and the more persuasive your copy will be.
So… rather than starting to define your target customers as “Anybody who…” or “Everybody that…,” begin your description with “Only those people who…” Now you can concentrate on writing just to the most qualified people who visit your site and save yourself a ton o’ time!
2. Let Your Customers Tell You What to Write
I can’t put enough emphasis on just how vital it is to use your customers’ preferred language when you write. Yes, yes… you have to be authentic to yourself, but you should be creating web pages FOR your customers, not exclusively ABOUT you/your product/your service. Remember the old saying “It’s all about them”?
Instead of wasting a lot of time trying to figure out just what words/concepts strike a chord with your customers, go straight to the source.
Read your testimonials and take notes. Better yet… read your competitions’ testimonials! These are comments directly from your clients/customers. What do you see? Their exact words. If they say they like something (and you find it repeated several times), make a note: that’s something to include in your copy.
Visit forums associated with your industry. What praises and rants do you see in the threads? Jot them down… these are your prospects’ exact words, so pay close attention.
What you’ll end up with is a handy little list of phrases that you can use in your copy. When visitors read these statements, they will make an instant and powerful impact because (say it with me) they are your audience’s exact words.
Just imagine how fast the writing process will go with this by your side.
3. Make the “P” Word a Priority
Nobody likes this word: planning. But I’ll truthfully tell you that, without taking the proper steps up front, you are all but bound to struggle when you get to the writing phase. The magic truly happens before you ever pen a single word.
Sexy it ain’t, but the results certainly are! If you organize all your information, plan the purpose of your page, map out exactly what happens where, then – when you actually begin to write – you’ll be amazed at how painless and foolproof the process becomes.
By applying these 3 strategies to your next sales page, you’ll discover a time-saving approach that will reduce your stress and get you done significantly faster.
Want more help with that vital planning stage?
Now you can pick up the exact same guides and worksheets Karon uses when she writes copy for her clients. Get all the details about her new Copywriting Cheat Sheets (and save 34%!) when you download your copy today.
Of course, I can't be too serious in this post.
My husband saw the title and his guesses for the content were:
1. Write less words.
2. Write faster.
3. Outsource it.
Go figure. 😉 Even if you do it HIS way, the planning guides are a huge help.
Big hugs.
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
PS. I had Karon on my podcast awhile back. You can listen to or read her interview here: Karon Thackston Success Story.
Marcus Tate
April 1, 2014 at 10:10 pmReally good stuff – your first point, “Shrink Your Audience”, is another way of positing the ‘persona’ idea.
For all of our sites, we go through an excercise of creating a ‘reader profile’ – in marketing it’s often called a ‘persona’ – where we’ll flesh out a typical target reader.
Then going forward, we create our content specifically to appeal to that target reader profile.
While I don’t have any hard numbers, I’m pretty certain it accounts for the strong metrics we see in terms of engagement: low bounce rate, long on-page times, etc.
Marcus