You built your website to help you market your business, and ultimately want it to generate leads and sales. Your website content is designed to introduce your audience to you and your products and services, but your sales pages need to do the heavy lifting.
Use Your Voice
Of course, your audience wants to buy from you because they resonate with you and your product or service. On your sales page, as on the rest of your website, you need to use your own voice and be authentically you. No matter what you’re selling, you want them to be happy with what they receive. And if you present yourself as one person and they receive another after their payment, your customers will be sorely disappointed.
Open with a Bang
Your headline determines whether the reader continues on to read your sales page or clicks away to somewhere else. While crafting a quality headline is a topic that requires a full blog to itself, let’s talk a little about it here.
When crafting the headline for your sales page, focus on one powerful image or emotion that draws your reader in. Stir up an emotion in the reader that makes it impossible for her to not read on. Amy Porterfield does a great job of identifying six different lead styles that help to draw the reader in based on the type of product or service you’re offering.
[bctt tweet=”Your sales page: Use a headline that makes it impossible for your reader to NOT read more.” username=””]
Appeal to Emotions
People come to your website looking for answers. They know you’re an expert in your industry, or they’ve seen your ads on Facebook. They have a pain point they need a solution for and they need to know that you understand that.
The start of your sales page should dive straight into your reader’s emotions so she knows that you understand where she is coming from. She’ll get emotionally invested in your copy, prompting her to read on.
Tell a Story (and include yourself in it)
Your product or service solves a problem, so chances are you’ve been there too. Let your reader know this. Explain what you tried to help solve the problem, because they’ve likely tried it too. When your reader knows you’ve been there and understand what she’s going through, she feels comfortable that you can relate. Tell your story to draw your reader in more. Everyone loves a good story, especially when they can see themselves in it.
Illustrate the Problem
You’ve told your story, but now it’s time to really drive home the problem. Have you ever had a teacher tell you to “show, don’t tell” in your writing? That’s what you need to do here. Make it personal.
“There never seems to be enough time in the day.” While we can all relate to this, you’re simply stating the obvious. “As you try to finish up client projects that are due today, your 4-year-old wants dinner while your 10-year-old springs on you a school project that he needs help with. And your partner just called to say he’d be late getting home from work.” Ever had this happen? Or this, times 10? This is the perfect illustration for a business that solves time-related problems.
Establish the Solution
Before someone hires you, they need to know that you can solve their problem. So without giving away your expertise for free, show the reader that you can and you will solve their problem. Don’t walk them through step-by-step, but do explain where their end result is and how you’ll get them there. And, more importantly, how they’ll feel once their problem is solved. (Ahhh, relief!)
[bctt tweet=”Your sales pages should spotlight how you’re going to solve your clients’ problems.” username=””]
Show Your Value and Credibility
What makes you the expert? Now’s the chance to show your reader! Use case studies of clients you’ve worked with before to prove your point. Include testimonials from happy clients on your sales page. It’s not about your credentials and experience it’s about what you can do for them.
Dispel Objections
Everyone has objections to moving forward, whether it’s pricing, time, difficulty level, what-have-you. It’s your job as the salesperson to make those objections less important to the potential buyer. So speak to those objections right on your sales page. No time? Your product or service might save time. Too difficult? You’re there to walk them through the solution step by step. Don’t let your audience’s excuses turn them away from clicking “Buy Now.”
Include the Call to Action
Your reader has made it to the bottom of your sales page. Now what? You need to tell her what to do! Include a very obvious call to action in multiple places throughout your sales page—not just at the bottom. Link to a payment option. Send the reader to your calendar to schedule an appointment. Give her an option to choose a style or quantity, if you sell a physical product. You need to tell her what to do so it’s abundantly clear and she takes action.
While your entire website is designed to be a marketing machine—a multi-page sales “brochure” of sorts, it’s your offerings pages that will drive your visitors to make a purchase. So set up those sales pages for success!
