Sales page writing is an art, but before you write your sales page you need to know the three steps to successful online marketing:
1. Getting people to your blog or website.
2. Keeping them there.
3. Converting them into subscribers or paying clients on your sales page.
Maybe not. It's human nature to want to rush straight to step three and sell stuff on a sales page but you have to take care of steps one and two first.
Even if you have a million unique visitors to your blog each month, it's no use unless they stick around. If visitors leave too soon they'll never see your sales page.
And if people don't stick around and then subscribe to your mailing list or buy your products, your blog or website is failing.
I'd prefer to have less visitors and a higher conversion rate on my sales page than millions of site visitors who never come back or buy anything.
Keeping Site Visitors On Your Blog
Let's assume that you have people visiting your website. So far so good. But now your challenge it to keep them there and build their trust so they subscribe or buy your products whether they visit your sales page or not.
If you want people to stick around you have to have a professional, user-friendly website, not just a long, carefully worded sales page.
No one has time to trawl through endless text to find out what they're looking for.
So you need to know exactly who your ideal client is and what they're looking for, then show them straight away that you have the solution to their problems and you're a trustworthy provider.
If you're confident you're doing that then you're ready to move on to step three.
Converting Blog Visitors into Customers Doesn't Just Happen on a Sales Page
To increase blog or website conversion rates you need to know:
1. Which pages on your website or blog are the most popular – and that they probably aren't your sales page.
2. What information people are looking for.
These two things are linked because once you know which pages are the most visited pages on your website you can tweak those pages to let new visitors instantly know they're in the right place. Then you can turn them into sales pages.
Which Page on Your Blog is Most Visited?
Apart from the home page, the about page is one of the most popular pages on both my blogs, not the sales pages for my blogging book or blog design packages.
It makes sense. Anyone who gets to your website and thinks you have the information they need will want to check your credentials. They want to know that you're a true expert, an established business owner and a trustworthy person before they think about buying your products and check out the sales page.
Of course your about page can reassure your readers that you're credible but don't just use your about page to talk about yourself. Use it to talk about your readers and to create a sales page they'll enjoy reading.
How to Turn Your About Page into a Sales Page
Optimise your about page for conversions by rewriting it to show new readers:
1. Who you help – So they know they're in the right place.
2. What benefits you offer them – So they want to stick around to get those benefits.
3. What they need to do next – So they take action and change from being casual visitors into active subscribers or customers.
Here are some examples to give you an idea of what you need to write.
1. Who you help
For example, if you know busy parents visit your website because they want insurance advice make that clear on your about page.
Speak to your audience directly and appeal to their needs with an opening line on your about page like:
We help busy parents get the best insurance advice for their home, car and family.
2. What benefits you offer
Follow up with the benefits you offer them:
We'll give you:
- Weekly tips on the dos and don't of choosing an insurance company and policy.
- Clear advice on how to pick the right policy for you.
- Case-studies of other families like yours.
3. What they need to do next
This is where you quietly create a sales page.
End with a call to action telling your readers exactly what you want them to do such as:
“To save money and make sure you've got the right protection get our free weekly newsletter.
Click here to sign up now.”
You can even embed the sign up form into your about page.
Give them reasons why they should act now such as:
“We'll send you a 10 point check list to help you get started and answer all your questions.”
And use social proof such as testimonials like the one below to convince them to join the crowd.
“Your advice saved me hundreds of dollars. Thank you so much!”
Annabel Candy, Australia
That's how you can turn your about page into your most powerful sales page yet.
So when is a sales page not a sales page?
A sales page not a sales page when it's an about page.
No one likes to be sold to so people will avoid your sales page unless they're already on the verge of buying.
Use your about page as your secret weapon to sell your business and your products to new visitors.
It's one of the most visited pages on your blog so use it wisely. Make your about page your best selling sales page ever.
Take Action to Improve Your About Page and Make it a Sales Page Too
Have a careful look at your about page and experiment with changing the images and words to improve the conversion rate and turn it into a successful sales page.
Now have a look at your site statisitics to see which are the other most popular pages on your blog. Usually it will be those pages that rank well with the search engines and the main sections of your blog linked to from the top navigation bar. Make sure those pages are also optimised for conversion and act as soft sales pages.
Which pages on your blog can you turn into sales pages?