So many online entrepreneurs search high and low for an effective,
affordable online advertising tool. They may spend loads
of time and money on website development, search engine optimization,
email marketing, ezine and classified advertisements, viral
marketing campaigns, pay-per-click campaigns and other forms
of paid advertising. These online advertising tools may generate
vast amounts of traffic, but if the website visitors aren't
converted to buyers, all of the time and money spent getting
them there is wasted.
Thus, website operators simply must give adequate attention
to the one online advertising tool that will transform targeted
prospects into paying customers. Conversion rates are vital
to the success of a website. The one and only online advertising
tool that will do that is your sales copy.
By tracking your website performance using conversion rates
(the percentage of buyers vs. the total number of visitors)
will clue you in as to whether or not your sales copy is
doing its job as an online advertising tool. If your conversion
rate isn't pretty good, chances are that your sales strategy,
and relatively your sales copy, needs to be improved.
Other factors that can cause inadequate conversion rates
are the speed at which your website loads and broken links.
People are impatient and they won't usually wait too long
for a site to load up and if they click on links that go
nowhere, they will likely leave the site without a second
thought. If these factors are not issues for your website,
your sales copy is probably the culprit, the online advertising
tool that isn't doing its job.
The biggest mistake website operators make that causes sales
copy to be ineffective as an online advertising tool is using
traditional, brick and mortar advertising techniques in developing
their sales copy. Traditional advertisements, like direct
mail, radio ads, or newspaper advertisements are designed
to get shoppers into a retail store. From there, a salesperson
takes up the selling process and closes the sales.
On the internet, your advertising through search engines,
directories, email and other sources takes care of getting
the visitors to your website, your "retail store" on the
web. Once they get there, they don't meet a salesperson like
they do in a brick and mortar store. Your sales copy IS your
salesperson. So, in practice, the sales copy isn't an online
advertising tool at all. Rather, it becomes an online sales
tool.
The part of your copywriting that acts as an online advertising
tool for the purpose of driving traffic to your site includes
the copy for your actual advertisements and your website
page titles and descriptions. The rest of your copywriting
should be sales oriented. Without your website copy acting
as a sales tool, your use of the best online advertising
tools on the net to attract traffic to your website will
be fruitless.
There are two basic types of sales copy that can be used
to establish your credibility and to convey your unique selling
proposition. The most effective is long sales copy that takes
your website visitors through the entire selling process,
just like a salesperson would, from product or service introduction
to conveying benefits, establishing credibility, countering
objections and closing the sale. Short sales copy may be
practical if you have a catalog-style website, but as an
online selling tool, it just doesn't usually do the trick.
The secret to success in the online marketplace is to use
an online advertising tool to get visitors to your site and
then to dazzle them with results-oriented sales copy that
will close the sale. Your sales copy is much more than advertising.
Without effective sales copy, no online advertising tool
will achieve the results you desire for a profitable online
business.
Copyright Christopher J. Enders. Internet marketing doesn't
have to be a "hit and miss", "learn from your mistakes" mission.
There are people out there who have mastered the art and
are willing to share their successful strategies. For some
of the most comprehensive internet marketing strategies available
today, visit
http://BiznessTips.com.
