Landing Pages - Lemon or Porsche?

Just because your sales page is converting doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Some time ago Volkswagen called in a world famous Italian body designer and they asked him what changes he would recommend in the design of the Volkswagen Beetle.

He studied it and studied it. Then he said, “Make the rear window larger.”

“That's all?”

“That's all.”

So they did. Starting with the '58 Beetle.

The Beetle was never changed to make it “different” - only to make it better.

Changes took place throughout the year. In the 1960 model, for instance, 19 functional changes were made - improvements in handling, in ride, in durability. But your eye wouldn't detect those subtle changes unless they were pointed out to you. A nice Volkswagen Beetle touch was that most of the new parts were interchangeable - they could be used on previous model dubs.

The Beetle approach to automobile design made sense. Stay with the core design but continually look for improvements.

What does this mean for your vehicle - your online campaign. How can you improve its performance? Perhaps all your page needs is a bigger “Buy Now” button. Or a different photo. Or a different font. Or a rewrite of the copy. Sometimes just a few subtle changes I make can turn your sales vehicle from a lemon into a turbo-charged Porsche.

If you want me to make like a famous Italian body designer you need to book my copywriting and concept services before the Fourth of July. Because after that my charges for a rewrite will rise - from the ridiculously cheap $97 it is now to at least $194 or more. And as I keep telling people - that's still a $206 rebate off my normal book rate of $400 to rewrite a page of copy. A true Warrior Forum Special Offer that's not available to civilians.

Hit that PayPal Button before it's too late.

Malkie's Last WSO at This Price

Footnote: I've lost count of the number of Volkswagens I've owned over the years. I had an original oval window '55 Beetle (full of rust), a split-screen '58 Kombi, a 1970 1500 German Beetle, a '72 Double-Cab Kombi Ute, a 2-door '76 Passat TS that went like the clappers. But I'm into Mercedes now. My hack is a '92 300E (best Benz they ever made) with only 96k on the clock.

Great Sales Page/Landing Page Copy Examples

I just wrote the copy and head for this guy's landing page. This should work a treat. Don't you just LOVE the photo? I found it online on a piece about Frontal Lobotomy. He's running this on a Forum so it doesn't need to look too slick - Internet marketers are used to yellow highlighting and red headlines. But I don't think they're quite used to my style. Or maybe even ready for it. They sometimes tend to take themselves deadly serious. Full of self-justification as to why they often mislead and plain out lie and deceive the customer. But don't try picking them up for it in a public Forum - they're liable to whinge and complain to the Forum mods and get you banned - like what's just happened to me at a certain internet marketing Forum that shall remain nameless - but you know who you are. I couldn't give a shit really. Had a Singaporean guy try to foist his badly-written Engrish PLR so-called articles onto unsuspecting Forum chumps. ;-)

And here's another version of it we'll split-test -

Here's the PayPal order button for WSO copy -

Give Me $97 to write your Landing Page and I can almost GUARANTEE you'll MAKE $1097 within 4 weeks

Look...when I say I can almost guarantee you'll make $1097 in 4 weeks...let me just qualify that.

It depends doesn't it. It depends on whether your product is something that people really want. It depends whether it's priced right. It depends whether you've promoted it properly. It depends whether people are satisfied with it and don't ask for a refund.

That's a lot of depends isn't it?

Depends. But from my end, I'm confident I can write you some copy that will reach out and grab the punters by the cojones and have them reaching for their credit card.

Inverted Pyramid

I can give it to you short and sweet – a bit like this page. Or I can ramble on a bit in a classic “Inverted Pyramid” style interspersed with “Buy Now” buttons.

What the frig is an “Inverted Pyramid” you ask? Well it's a time-proven technique whereby your readers get the gist of the story from the beginning – the “where”, “what”, “when” and “how”. Going straight for the jugular I call it.

People rarely read Web pages word by word anyway. They scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.

What Works Best?

* highlighted keywords (hyperlinks /typeface variations/different colors)
* meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
* bulleted lists
* one idea per paragraph
* the inverted pyramid style
* half the word count than conventional writing

Credibility

Credibility plays a BIG part too. We can all spot a dodgy site a mile off. Shitty graphics. Bad spelling. Typos. Grainy scanned pics. Piss-poor layout. Annoying pop-ups/popovers. All leave a bad impression. And don't even get me started on those popovers that say “Wait! Don't leave yet. We want to give you $20 off the Price if you order right now”. Do you employ those? Don't. I'll NEVER BUY anything off anyone who tries to pull that stunt on me.

About Me

Contact details need to be easy to find. Its ALWAYS good to have some kind of “About Me” or “About us” page. A Privacy Policy also – especially if you're collecting email addies. Don't be afraid to chuck in some hyperlinks to “Authority Sites” (http://www.Wikipedia.com is always a good one). Linking out shows that you're not afraid of losing your readers by sending them offsite. You're confident they'll click back.

Above all readers detest marketese – you know the kind of shit - "hottest ever", “price goes up at Midnight”, “Never repeated special offer”, “buy now or you'll miss out” and my personal favorite - “The web's #1 trusted site (for). They're all big No-Nos in my book. Don't try and bullshit me. I'm hip to it. I'm whizzing around the net all day long. Just give me the straight dope and give it to me quick. Supersize me later if you must. But right now I'm hungry and I wanna eat.

Anyway...you want me. You better get in Quick. This $99.97 Warrior Forum Special Offer expires at Midnight. I'm the hottest copywriter on the planet. This offer will never be repeated. I'm the Web's #1 trusted guy for Landing Page copy.

Turn a $97 investment into $1097 in 4 weeks or less! More or less Guaranteed.

Hit the button man. You'll be so glad you did.

Brilliant Landing Page Example

Oh this Landing Page I stumbled across is brilliant! Here's the heading -

"How I Bought a Brand New $1.2 Million Home Using ONLY Affiliate Commissions Earned While I Was Unemployed"

Pushes all the buttons doesn't it? And here's the graphic that goes with it -

Then he starts -

YUK! I already sound like so many "Internet marketing gurus" pitching their crappy information products. I'm not a guru and I'm not selling useless ebooks or videos. I'm just someone who couldn't get a "real job" and stumbled across something called affiliate programs. That was a few years ago, and the rest is history, as they say. Take a few minutes to read this, you'll learn how YOU can use affiliate programs to transform your financial situation, regardless of your background, education or income level. I'm proof.

Then there's more copy followed by a screenshot. No not his Clickbank earnings or PayPal account but an IRS Income Tax form showing earnings of $2.2 Mill. Wow. I haven't seen that one before. Here it is -

Isn't that a beauty? He follows with more sales copy before pulling a Double-Whammy with a screenshot of a letter from Google Adwords naming him "PPC Dick of The Year" or whatever it is. Certainly a cut above those Adwords Expert logos that they hand out with breakfast cereal. Check it out -

You gotta hand it to this guy. He knows how to write and design a killer landing page. He goes by the weird name of Tissa Godavitarne - maybe his parents were hippies? Or maybe he belongs to one of those Orange People sects? Who knows. Have a look at the Landing Page. Oh yeah...he's in cohoots with those assholes from PPC Classroom so that tells me everything.

Hmm...he spent $600,000 with Google Adwords in 2007 and all they gave him was a mini-fridge and a certificate? Stingey bastards.

King

Writing Landing Page Copy That Converts

Changing Your Landing Page Copy Can Often Double Your Conversion Rate

"How users read on the Web: they don't" was the title of a 1997 report by Web Expert Jakob Neilsen PH.D.. He found -

How Users Read on the Web

They don't.

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.)

As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using

• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
  
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
  
• bulleted lists
  
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
  
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing
  

We found that credibility is important for Web users, since it is unclear who is behind information on the Web and whether a page can be trusted. Credibility can be increased by high-quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links. Links to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites.

Users detested "marketese"; the promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims ("hottest ever") that currently is prevalent on the Web. Web users are busy: they want to get the straight facts. Also, credibility suffers when users clearly see that the site exaggerates.

The "inverted pyramid" style eh? Where readers can get the gist of the story from the beginning - 'Who,' 'when', 'where', 'what' and 'how' are addressed in the first paragraph. Hmmm...did I do it here?

Oh yeah...if you're ready to create your own home-based business (Scam Alert! Scam Alert!) have a look at The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords the best-selling Pay Per Click book by the Absolute Adwords Ninja Perry Marshall - Click the Button -

Jakob Nielsen has been called:

* "the king of usability" (Internet Magazine)
* "the guru of Web page usability" (The New York Times)
* "the next best thing to a true time machine" (USA Today)
* "the smartest person on the Web" (ZDNet AnchorDesk)
* "the world's leading expert on Web usability" (U.S. News & World Report)
* one of the top 10 minds in small business (FORTUNE Small Business)
* "the world's leading expert on user-friendly design" (Stuttgarter Zeitung, Germany)
* "knows more about what makes Web sites work than anyone else on the planet" (Chicago Tribune, March 6, 2000)
* "one of the world's foremost experts in Web usability" (Business Week)
* "the Web's usability czar" (WebReference.com)
* "the reigning guru of Web usability" (FORTUNE)
* "eminent Web usability guru" (CNN)
* "perhaps the best-known design and usability guru on the Internet" (Financial Times)
* "the usability Pope" (Wirtschaftswoche Magazine, Germany)
* "new-media pioneer" (Newsweek)

If you've read this far you can check out the full report Here at Useit.com