Your primary goal for a prospect in reading your sales letter is for her to make a purchase. Right? In order for her to whip out the ‘ol credit card and buy, she’s going to need to make it through your sales letter.

One of the major problems in sales letters is they get boring along the way. Unless your sales letter is well crafted (most aren’t – but yours will be because you’re reading this ) the attention span of the reader tends to drift after about 30-45 seconds.

But wouldn’t you like to know how to keep leads interested until they read the sales letter in its entirety? Here’s how you can do it…

You just found out one of the tactics that I love to use to refocus the reader’s attention to what I am saying. It’s known as a “subheadline.”

You see, headlines aren’t solely reserved for the beginning of your sales letter. They can be used effectively throughout the sales letter. In fact, I recommend that you use them.

A subheadline does several important things…

• It pulls back the attention of a reader who is about to drift away.
• It introduces a new idea or train of thought.
• It works as a stand alone major benefit of your product.
• It solves more of the reader’s problems and answers more of her questions.
• It basically does whatever you want it to do.

I love to use subheadlines about 3 times per sales letter (more or less as needed — just don’t go overboard). You want the subheadline to accomplish similar goals as your main headline. A subheadline should be written in such a way that it grabs the attention of “browsers.” Some readers will quickly skim through your sales letter — you want them to stop and take a closer look when they come to your subheadlines.

I like to do a couple of things with subheadlines that effectively re-grabs the attention of reader…

3.7.1 Ask a question. That’s what I did in the above example. “But wouldn’t you like to know how to keep leads interested until they read the sales letter in its entirety?” A subheadline is a great place to ask the reader a question. Interaction = involvement = interest = I’ve still got a shot at making the sale. ) And whatever question you ask, follow up by leading them into the next paragraph…

Here’s how you can do it…

Learn more…

Find out all the details…

Let me show you…

You will after reading this…

3.7.2 Make an “If” statement. Another great way to use subheadlines is to make an “if” statement. “If” you’re willing to do this, then here is what will happen. It lets the reader know that THEY determine the outcome. They are in charge. Results are based upon their response. Here are a few examples…

If you’re willing to invest 5 minutes of your time, then I’ll show you exactly how to pull in 500 new subscribers each month…

If you can follow simple instructions, then there is no reason why you can’t do this…

If you can write a shopping list, then you can create your own information product to sell online…

Up next, Part 8: But wait! There’s more. There is ALWAYS MORE!. Ginsu knives beware!

I’ve never been to McDonald’s or any fast food place (or even a restaurant for that matter) where they didn’t ask me “What else do you want?” It comes in various forms, of course…

• Would you like fries with that?
• Would you like a drink with your order?
• Are you saving room for dessert?
• Would you care for some appetizers to begin with?

Basically, what they are asking is, “What else do you want?” Ad copy isn’t much different, only you provide the answers to the question before the reader even asks.

In other words, your ad copy spells out clearly what the reader wants…

…and then promises to deliver it.

In your ad copy you want to explore as many of the things people want that can be obtained from your product. Actually sit down and write out a list of as many different things your leads would like to receive as it relates to your product. Let me give you an example. Here is a short list of things that you might think your prospects would want from an information product about newsletters…

• All of the information that they will need in order to launch and profit from an Internet newsletter.
• Answers to all of the questions they have about publishing an Internet newsletter.
• Not a lot of fluff, just the information they need.
• Specific instructions for beginners and little known advanced tactics for seasoned veterans.

Knowing that your product DOES in fact deliver those things, it is easy to write a few lines of copy addressing those very wants…

In Profit Pulling Newsletters, I cover everything you need to know to rake in profits from your very own ezine. In fact, I compiled a list of the 25 most frequently asked questions about publishing an ezine…
…and I answered every single one of them! That’s right, in Profit Pulling Newsletters you’ll discover the answers to those burning questions that everyone wants to know. Everything is covered in these 80 pages of nothing but the facts…

Do you see how easy it is to deliver in your ad copy exactly what your reader is wanting? All you need to do is THINK like your website visitor. Get into his mind.

You can even set up a survey or poll with a free prize and let them TELL you what they want in a product before you even begin writing the ad copy! Or, visit some forums and ask questions. Contact your friends and associates online. Ask your mentor. Read the popular ezines in your target field — there are lots of ways to find out what your visitors are looking for.

There are a few questions that I like to ask in order to think about what your visitor is probably wanting that you can use yourself in developing ideas for your own ad copy…

• What are some intangibles that are important to my prospect? Possible answers: Step-by-step instructions, answers to her questions, personalized assistance, input from “experts,” scientifically proven results, sympathy for his situation, someone who’s been in her shoes, etc.
• What are some problems that my visitor is facing, and how will my product solve them? HINT: Use your ad copy to PRESENT a problem the reader has and then offer a solution. Here is an example…
  

  One of the biggest problems that most eBusiness owners face is generating traffic to their website. It seems like everyone has “ideas” — but these “ideas” don’t seem to be producing results. Have they worked for you?
  Finally, someone is going to show YOU some tactics that really produce. Here are thirteen easy ways you can attract more visitors to your website…

• What might happen to the prospect if her problems remain unsolved? Spell it out…
  

  I’ve seen way too many people develop a great product, put up a perfect website and sales letter, and then watch it just sit there because they didn’t know how to attract visitors. They invest all of their time and money into opening their cyber-doors only to realize that they have no customers walking in. And so they quit in failure.
  But that’s not going to happen to you! Because you WILL generate traffic to your website. Here’s how…

Explore the mind of your visitors. What do they want? Do they want fries? How about dessert? An appetizer? Something to drink?

Let them know that they’ll get exactly what they are looking for when they order your product.

Up next, Part 7: Bringing back the reader. (When interest fades, use sub-headlines)

Here is where you grab your 9MM handgun and start unloading your clips. You fire your big gun of bullets. In other words, you begin to immediately launch into a list of BENEFITS to the reader. Remember, we left off with “which category are you in?” question. Here’s what might follow…

See what happened? We listed the 6 of the most important benefits to the reader in a “bulleted” list. You’ve got them in your sights now, so fire away with your best shots. Give them the best stuff, the most important benefits to them. You want to answer that age old question,

“What’s in it for me?”

Make sure you focus on the BENEFITS to the reader and not the FEATURES of your product. No one cares about your grass seed, they just care about their lawn. They don’t care if you have the top selling course in the world, they just care about how it will help them. No one cares about hearing of your awards and accolades, they want to know how they can

(a) eliminate pain, or
(b) increase pleasure

Here’s your chance to tell them. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER try to sell the lead your product. I know that may sound contradictory – since you are wanting to sell the product. In your ad copy you NEVER want to try to sell the lead your product. Instead, you want to sell them the END RESULT of using your product. Remember, we make purchases for those two reasons (eliminate pain, increase pleasure). What is the END RESULT going to be? What can they expect to achieve in using your product or service? Will they lose X pounds? Will they earn X dollars? Will they become more popular? What can they expect?

How will they benefit?

Give them a *reasonable* expectation as to what your product will produce in their lives. Word to the wise: don’t hype. Nothing blows it quicker than to say something that is completely unbelievable. After all, would you keep reading if someone wrote, “Lose 75 pounds overnight?” Or “Retire as a millionaire by the end of day?” C’mon, we’re emotional creatures, but we’re not stupid. Don’t make outrageous claims, but do point out the benefits of using your product or service.

Got it?

Up next, Part 6: What else do they want? (Upsells, add ons, and extras)

This is where the fun begins! When a fish bites into your hook, what do you do? You start reeling it in! When a prospect bites into your sales letter, you do the same thing. You’ve got their attention, now use it. Don’t get in a position like the dog who finally caught the car he was chasing and didn’t know what to do next.

You’ve got your prospect’s attention, now use it. Use their own curiosity to pull them in, but now that you’ve got their focus on your letter, make it PERSONAL by using an “interest builder.”

You want to make the reader know that you are talking to them personally. And you do this by making sure they understand that they are INVOLVED in your sales letter. Let me give you example. Remember this?

This might be followed up by this:

Now, we have INVOLVEMENT. We have the reader interacting with the sales letter. We have him asking questions to himself, “Which of these two categories am I in?” And, we also probably have him answering the question to himself, “That’s me in Category…”

The purpose of this INVOLVEMENT is to let the reader know “You’re included.” “This is for you.” “What I am about to share is specifically for the situation that YOU are in.” “This is going to be what you are looking for.”

The more involved you can get the reader, the better chances of a sale you will have. Now, they are thinking about our offer. They have a personal stake in it now. They belong.

Notice that there are no exceptions to the categories that I have chosen here. You must fall into one or the other. This isn’t a coincidence — it’s by design. You want to set up some universal classifications here. Something that every single person can fit into. That way, each person that reads it knows that this is for them. No one is left out.

You want interaction. You want the person pondering what you are saying. In this case, we wanted them to either be thinking, “You know, that’s me. I’m clueless. I know I need a newsletter, but I don’t have any idea of how to start.” or “I already have the best darn newsletter in the business…but I sure would like to earn more sales with it!”

Bottom line, I don’t care which category you’re in…just listen up to what’s next, because it’s for you. Guaranteed. That’s where you want to leave them…

…knowing that the very next thing you say is specifically written with them in mind.

Which brings us to Part 5: What’s in it for them? (Benefits)

The purpose of a headline is to grab your readers’ attention and get him to read your sales page. Of course, this is essential. However, you will need to keep your reader’s attention throughout your sales page. You want to present your offer in its best light by providing compelling benefits to your visitors; if they leave before you’re done, you’ve lost the sale.

So today we will talk about keeping your readers’ attention. How do we do this?

We create curiosity. Here’s how.

It happens without fail. If there is one thing that you can count on happening over and over and over again, it is this simple fact…

…the average person’s curiosity will get the best of them.

One of the things that will, at a minimum, get your readers into the actual meat of your sales letter is to suck them in with a hypnotic first sentence. You just read a great example (in my opinion ) of how this is done. Go back and re-read the opening sentence of this “basid”…

…”It happens without fail.”

Voila. From the very first sentence, I had your attention. If not for long, for at least a few seconds, you were going to read on. Why?

Because you wanted to know WHAT “happens without fail.” You wanted to find out what the “one thing that you can count on happening over and over again” is. So, you kept reading. Right?

I could have played that along as far as I wanted to, and within reason, you would have kept reading until I finally revealed what it was that I referred to in that opening sentence.

The power of curiosity is very compelling. People want to know. It is almost hypnotic, like waving a watch before someone’s eyes and saying, “Look at the watch go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.” If you can use some kind of hypnotic opening sentence and/or opening paragraph to make the reader think, “I’ve got to find out what this is all about,” then you’ve got them glued to your sales letter for basically as long as you want.

(Provided you keep them interested once you’ve piqued their interest!)

With well-written supporting paragraphs, you’ll have them reading until the very end.

Consider using these kinds of opening sentences that draw people deeper into your hypnotic trance…

• “I bet you would have never guessed it either.”
• “I just couldn’t believe that it really happened.”
• “No one could have predicted this.”
• “All of the experts finally agreed on something.”
• “99% of them were wrong when I asked this simple question.”
• “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
• “You’ve been lied to and now the truth is coming out.”
• “Are you making this mistake in your business?”

Here is an example paragraph:

Opinions online are as varied as the noses on our faces…we’ve all got one. And opinions on how to succeed online are even more varied than that. But, if there is ONE OPINION that virtually EVERY NETREPRENEUR AGREES on it is this: You’ve got to have your own email mailing list in order to achieve maximum success online. There is just no way around that. You simply must have one.

This opening works well because it not only got the reader involved and wondering “what is the ONE OPINION that EVERYONE agrees on,” but it also emphasized a point that sets up the offer: “You’ve got to have your own email mailing list in order to achieve maximum success online. There is just no way around that. You simply must have one.”

Now, the stage is set. Not only does the reader know what everyone agrees on, they are now faced with the reality that they need one themselves!

And one such offer is ready for them (yours).
All you need is a simple “look at the watch go back and forth” opening sentence to pull them in.

Anything at all that triggers that psychological response to find out more.

Human beings are curious by nature. All you’ve got to do is trigger that curiosity with a well-placed sentence. It doesn’t have to be a paragraph. No fancy words or flowery phrases. It doesn’t have to rhyme.

It just has to say, “Wouldn’t you like to know this?”

I can guarantee you that if you can master this essential, you’ll at least have readers diving a bit deeper into your sales letters.
And once they go deeper, it’s time to “reel ‘em” in.

Next up: Build Interest

Remember, the idea of any landing page, especially a sales page, is to get browsers (i.e., visitors) to take an action. In the case of a sales page, this action would be to buy the product or service you are promoting on your sales page. If you have a landing page, aka a “squeeze page,” you are seeking to turn browsers into list subscribers.

The ideas I’m about to present work for any type of “action page.” That is to say, they work on all pages where your intent is to entice browsers to take your desired action(s).

With all that said, let’s jump to the most important component of any sales page:

The Headline

I call it the “I’ve Got To Find Out More” Headline because that’s what you want your headline to do.  You want to present a 1-2 sentence headline that makes the reader want to find out more about what you are offering.  You want to generate enough interest to that he actually LOOKS FORWARD to reading your sales letter.

You want to build anticipation.

Here’s an example:

“How to Launch Your Own Opt-In Mailing List and Milk It For Everything It’s Worth!”

Again, this headline conveys a lot of information…

• You immediately know the nature of the offer itself — we’re going to be talking about mailing lists
• You immediately know that there is a promise that will show YOU the way to build a mailing list. The “how to” lets you know that you can expect to find out information on “how to” do it.
• You immediately know that you will be shown how to get the maximum profit out of your mailing list — which is something near and dear to all of our hearts.

Now, this headline is very specific, very targeted and it pushes the emotion button — which is exactly what we want here.  You wouldn’t even be at the website if you weren’t interested in mailing lists, so reinforcing the content is a great thing to do because it lets you know that you’re in the right place and you’re going to find what you came looking for.

The main thing you want to do with your headline is to stir up a desire to find out more. Focus in on one quick benefit, possibly even a “summary” benefit, which is what we did in the example.  There will be many benefits later in the sales letter, but the “summary” benefit is “you are going to learn to make a lot of money by starting your own mailing list.”  It is a “mini” presentation of the offer itself.  Use your headline to refer to your offer in some way.

Another way that you might also want to use your headline is to offer some free information.  For example, if your offer is on creating your own information product, then you might use the headline,

“5 Free Sources For The Hottest New Product Ideas That Everyone Is Asking For”

Then, you merely blend these 5 free sources into your sales letter itself.  That way, you are providing quality free information as you weave in your ad copy for your offer.  The word “FREE” in your headline is a powerful tool.

There is no more powerful word than “free.”

Use it wisely and it will be a huge benefit to you.

Next up: Part 3 — Hypnotize, Mesmerize, and Simonize! (Or something to that effect)

I can tell you that I’ve been in both places (no traffic AND a ton of traffic with no sales) and it’s the latter situation that totally sucks!

The key is getting targeted traffic to your sales page. Once you get targeted traffic (ready, willing, and able buyers), you still have to persuade them to buy your products and/or services. That’s what this series is about: Your Sales Page.

It takes special talent to convert “browsers” to “buyers.” Below is a simple 11-step process to help you with the task.

Step1:  The “May I Have Your Attention, Please” Box

The first thing we want to do is get the reader’s attention focused in on a major benefit of your offer.  Have you ever heard someone begin talking on a loud speaker, “Ladies and Gentleman, may I have your attention, please?”  That’s exactly what we hope to accomplish as soon as the visitor arrives at your website.

We want to get their attention.  Now, traditionally, this would be done with a headline.  But, I like to do things a bit differently than everybody else, so this is what I do: Instead of using the headline first, I use what I call the ‘”May I Have Your Attention, Please’ box”. Others may call it the “pre-header.” Whatever you call it, call it effective!

Take a look at an example:

This is really a glorified headline.  It is a headline on steroids.  Because it is highlighted in a box, it grabs much more attention.  And when it grabs your attention what are a few things that leap out at you?

Immediately you see the “3 *Exclusive* Free Bonuses” and the “You Won’t Find Anywhere Else Online!”  Notice the reason you saw those two things so clearly:  The first is highlighted by using a different ink color and the second stands out because it is underlined.  Two easy things to do that really grab the reader’s attention…

…and they take less than 5 seconds to create.

You might also have even subconsciously soaked up the “order today.”  In this “attention” box, you’ll notice several things…

• You become aware that you’ve got some bonuses awaiting you.  If nothing else, you’ll probably be interested in at least seeing what they are – since they are exclusive.
• You’ll become aware that you are about to find something that you can’t find anywhere else.  There is something at THIS website that is unique and different and nobody else has it.
• A subtle seed gets planted that you need to order today.  Before you even get to the offer, you’ve been presented a call to action.

I have done extensive testing on sales with and without this “attention” box.  I’ve found that they  outpull the sales letters that did not have the box almost 2:1.  How else can you DOUBLE your sales in less than 30 seconds of work?

I highly recommend that you use one of these boxes as the FIRST point of contact with the reader when they arrive at your website.  Here are just a few ideas of how you can use this “attention” box…

• Hit them with a powerful and significant benefit.
• Make some attention-grabbing promise.
• Offer some kind of freebie or discount.
• Refer to a deadline.
• Mention your bonuses
• Include a testimonial from a well known “guru” in your field.

Whatever you do, use this section to convey to the reader that there is a reason to stick around.  The web moves at the speed of sound, so you don’t have long.  Make a strong immediate impression and let them know that it will be worth their while to take a closer look.

Next up: The Headline, of course!