Creating A Web Page That Sells - A Look At Graphics and Copywriting

by: Nandang S Nugraha | Total views: 36 | Word Count: 1618 | View PDF | Print View

 by: Patrick Mahoney

This is a response to a client that we have been working
with, and a website they are building that will sell an eBook on "Hair
Styling Tips". We thought the information was important and relevant
enough to include in this months newsletter.

==CREATING A WEBSITE THAT SELLS==

The website that we'll be dealing with sells an eBook
based on hair styling tips, but these concepts should translate very
easily into any website that sells a product or service.

In this article, we touch on subjects such as:

The use of graphics on a web page

Copywriting insights

Web Page Headlines

Benefits, not features

And more.

Our hope and desire is that you find this article of
value, and that you find thoughts and ideas you can put to use in your
own online business.

Let us begin...

==COPYWRITING SUGGESTIONS==

Copywriting is probably one of the most mis-understood
elements of marketing, and I am not going to claim I know it all.
Website copywriting is more than just your typical "one-liners" that we
see so much in today's Internet marketing arena.

I've learned a couple of lessons over the past few years
that are usually pretty tough for people to get a-hold of, and most of
them I have learned from my beautiful wife Marsha.

My wife Marsha has been a hair stylist for over 22
years, and for more then 18 of those years has managed one of the
largest hair styling salons here in Ohio.

I've learned more about advertising from her then I ever
have from any Internet guru, although that's not to say we cannot learn
from them. "Internet guru's that is"

Here are our suggestions for the copywriting on your web page.

The first thing to understand is:

People/Customers only care about themselves.

At first, at least until the customer gets to know you a
little better, they are only concerned about one thing, and that is
"whats in it for me".

Think about these thoughts for a moment:

I want to feel better

I want to look better

I want people attracted to me

I want more money

I want to be accepted

And there are many more thoughts that run through our
minds as human beings everyday. They are all natural thoughts,
feelings, and emotions, and everybody has them, although some may not
admit to it.

Also, we must understand why people buy things. Do we as
shoppers buy what is needed in life, or do we buy what makes us feel
good, look better, feel happier, etc?

If we think about this for awhile, and think about it
with honesty, we will find that 98% of the time that we are buying
something, it's because we think that it will make us feel good, be
happier, or look better in some way.

With that being said, now we can ask ourselves what is
it about our copy that presents something to our customers that will
benefit them in some way?

If I am selling a book on "Tips for quick and easy hair
styling solutions", then I am going to put myself in my customers
shoes, and ask what is it that is going to catch my attention?

If I write something like the following:

Hello, my name is Marsha, and I've been a hair stylist
for more then 20 years now, and I guess you could say, I know a little
something when it comes to hair styling.

And I would continue on here with more about what I know, etc.

As a potential customer, would you really care to read anymore? Most likely not.

But, what if I were to write the following:

Give me just 5 minutes, and I'll show you 5 simple tips
you can use to have the most beautiful, full bodied hair you've ever
seen... And I'll teach you how to do it in as little as 7 minutes a
day.

or how about this one...

Imagine, you wake up in the morning, wash your hair, and
just 7 minutes later you've got the most full bodied, beautiful hair
you've ever seen... Warning, don't be surprised when you get more
attention at the office today.

And there are many more ideas, but the bottom line is,
what one of these would grab your attention, and make you want to read
more?

When writing anything on your website, always think "customer BENEFITS".

Again, we can help more in these areas if you want them,
but the greatest single gift we can give you to help convert visitors
to sales is to teach you to sell benefits, not features.

==WEBSITE GRAPHICS - SUGGESTIONS==

Graphics on websites are a heavily debated issue, although we feel very strongly that they shouldn't be, and here's why.

It all depends on what your selling or trying to sell.

Internet marketing information based products do not need
all of the graphical content as would a company trying to sell a new
video game for the Play Station, Game Boy, or any of the game boxes
available.

These types of customers want to see what they're buying before they shell out $50 or more for that "next big game".

Internet marketers are looking for usable information on
how to market their businesses online. They typically do not need the
graphic intensive website design that a game company would.

BUT, we also have to remember that just because we may
not classify ourselves as a "typical" Internet marketer, we are never
the less marketing our products on the Internet, whether or not they
are PC games, Internet marketing information products, or how to best
style your hair.

With that being said, what we need to find is a "middle" ground that will lend itself to our products and services.

Back to our hair style website idea, I would recommend
the following, which we feel will lend itself greatly to enhancing the
"over-all" effect, and would help increase sales of your product.

Suggestions:

1) Thinking back to our "Copywriting" insights, and the
natural human emotion of wanting to look better or feel that we are
"attractive", it would play in nicely to have a few pictures of very
attractive people peppered through-out the website or sales page.

We would suggest that these images would lend themselves
to the content at very precise moments, and help add "effect" to what
is being stated.

Example:

If your explaining how they will learn that they can have
better, more natural, full-bodied hair, then you might want to add a
small, but very clear image of a beautiful woman throwing her hair
back. This image would be of a woman with "full-bodied" hair, and of
medium length.

Focus on a picture that you, yourself may feel deeply
inside that "I'd sure love hair like that". You need to find that
"emotional" moment, and then use it to your copywriting's advantage.

2) It has been shown that by adding a 3D graphical image of your book or eBook can increase sales by as much as 300% and more.

It has been found that this gives the potential customers "subconscious" mind something to hold on to and feel.

"Touch"

Touch is something that we as marketers lack greatly on
the Internet, and we see no such abilities of this in our foreseeable
future.

The only option we have at this point are graphics, and images, along with sound.

We know that graphics and images, along with proper
copywriting skills can sell a lot of products. We know this to be fact
for the simple reason that we witness this type of content everyday,
all day through TV commercials.

How do we know this to be fact?

No one would spend the billions of dollars they do, each
year, creating TV commercials if they did not increase the sales of
their products.

Example:

Without mentioning a name, have you seen the TV
commercials where the women who wash their hair with a certain hair
care product, seem to be in Ecstasy?

OOohh, AAaahhh, Oh Yes, Yes, YES!!!

Sound familiar?

And do we honestly believe, that if those commercials did
not increase sales of that product, that this company would really
spend the millions of dollars a year they spend for them?

Of course not. Spending with no return on investment is the fast way to kill a company.

==FINAL THOUGHTS==

There are many more areas that will help create and
generate more sales from a website, and we have hardly scratched the
surface here.

But, you should be able to pull out the beginnings of a
very good start at creating a website that can generate revenue very
early on.

We must come to understand, that although there may be
ideas, and thoughts that seem foreign to us, and some may even feel
uncomfortable, if we want to create sales, we will have to over-come
some of those boundaries within ourselves.

==IN CLOSING==

Whatever you decide to do, one thing to remember is, it's
one thing to focus on benefits, and peoples emotions, but a completely
different thing to lie.

We never suggest lying to customers.

If a product cannot produce the results that the sales
page says it can, then the sales page needs to be changed to fit the
product.

If not, customers will not be happy, it can ruin a
business, and people who do it can get into more trouble then it has
ever been worth.

Focus on benefits in your sales copy, a website that is
fresh and new (not a look-alike), build brand awareness, and customer
service, and you will have the beginnings of a great website, and
online business.

About the Author

Patrick & Marsha Mahoney are successful online business owners, and entrepreneurs. They can build you a custom minisite design that creates your own look and feel, can develop brand awareness, and help produce higher sales of your products. Their website can be found at: http://www.internet-marketers-resources.com

This article is part of their "Profit Builders eNews" publication. You can join their newsletter at: http://www.internet-marketers-resources.com/newsletter.html

This article may be used as content on your website, newsletter, and ezine publications, so long as the resource box above stays intact with this article. You may how-ever, remove this statement.

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