By Lucas Heijn

Most people have no idea how to compose a squeeze page that converts into sales. Rather, they throw together components that they’ve seen applied in other squeeze pages – but normally don’t put them together in the same fashion that the owner of the productive and converting squeeze page did.

One major problem is copy. And that’s fine. Not everyone is going to be an excellent writer – never mind a copywriter. But as someone selling a product or trying to build a list, it is important that you know your strengths and weaknesses – and that you either spend the time to overcome them or hire someone else to do it for you.

With copywriting, for example, it is all important to use a mix of persuasive sales points with compelling psychological triggers. Most people who create a sales page miss either one or both of those components.

For example, they may center so much on building hype that they don’t really explain what solution they are offering – and for whom they are providing it. If I don’t have a particular problem that your product solves, why would I purchase it? I wouldn’t.

Now, if they neglect to sprinkle in psychological triggers, such as “scientifically tested,” “guaranteed,” and “shocking,” no one will feel compelled to keep on reading, as the benefits will have a low or mediocre perceived value.

In addition to these two problems, some sales pages lack cohesiveness and focus. The copy looks unprofessional and it doesn’t slowly grind forwards, breaking down the web site’s visitor’s resistance to the sale – and persuading him or her to buy more and more at each sales trigger point.

In addition, if there aren’t numerous calls to action – another form of psychological trigger – then a possible visitor may never feel compelled adequately to pull out his or her credit card on the spot and make the purchase.

When writing your copy it is important to keep focused on your goal and that must always be to get your reader to act on your copy.

About the Author:

Lucas Heijn is CEO of LinksParadise a hosting company. LinksParadise specialize in hosting for small business. They supply a package that has been expressly designed with internet marketers in mind. They have a variety of hosting packages available to choose from www.my-web-host.com

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Internet Marketing started to look like being an expensive business to get into. What with all the tools and software I needed, plus all the online time, I began to think that I would need lots of money to make money.

I knew I needed to get an online ‘presence’, so I started to design my first website. I thought about a ‘niche’ that people would be spending money in. I thought about my own problems and what I do and where I go to get solutions.

After a lot of thought, I decided on helping people to ’stop smoking’. It is a huge market at the moment – I thought. There’s lots of support groups and information online, plus a lot of products to help people quit. I had an ‘aha’ moment and dived in.

Now, I have never designed a website before, so this was a pretty daunting process. I looked at quite a few other sites and decided to make mine an ‘information’ based website. I wrote an article, I listed alternative methods and techniques and put up some resources. Then I added some affiliate products. I even went to the extreme of creating a forum for people to discuss quitting smoking and share their experiences. Here’s the link to it if you want to take a look My Easyquit Site

As you will see, it is full of information, but…. tell me what you think of it.  When I have some feedback, I will continue with the story.

Thanks for listening

Shaz

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Ok, here goes –

This all started for me by seeing an ad in a business newsletter in my email box. It just jumped out at me – Make Money Online – by Txx Rxx Pxx (I won’t give away his actual name). I clicked on the add and started ready the splurge. It was convincing enough for me to take the plunge and buy the PDF that would take me step by step through the process of being successful on-line!

I started off by confirming my belief that I could do this as demanded in the PDF. Then I began following the steps one by one to get setup.

I learned a little bit about affiliate marketing, article writing, adsense and adwords. Not a lot of information about how to research markets or niche’s or list building – but I gave it a go.

Of course, every second paragraph had a ‘you must buy this NOW‘ if you are going to succeed link – which I dutifully followed and purchased.

This is what I ended up buying:

1. A Domain Name for Australia $122.63 USD ($140.00 AUD) (2 years)

2. Domain Hosting $166.80 USD (2 years)

3. XSitePro Software $197.00 USD

4. SEO Elite $167.00 USD

5. TxxRxxPxx PDF $ 69.20 USD ($79.00 AUD)

TOTAL OUTLAY (day one) $722.63 USD or $825.00 AUD

Now I am not saying that what I purchased wasn’t worth the money. BUT – I discovered some time later that a lot of what I purchased just wasn’t necessary – at least not in the beginning.

SO…. Txx Rxx Pxx put together a very clever package that got a lot of money out of me!!

I figured if he could do this, then so could I – right???? WRONG!!!!! At least not yet anyhow!

My next step was to come up with something to sell. I spent the rest of that week searching for affiliate products that I could put together into an all in one website on a particular topic.

There – I have documented my first week in becoming a successful internet marketer – think I might make it? I was positive I could do it and still am.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Have you been so convinced by a sales pitch that you will follow EVERYTHING you are told to do by the so called ‘guru’? I’d love to hear your story if you care to share. We can all learn from each others mistakes if we do.

Thanks for listening so far

Shaz

Well – Hello, Howdy and How are you going?

I am creating this blog to record everything I do in my attempt to become successful at internet marketing. I guess whether you are interested or not will depend on if you are trying to become successful as well. (I stress the word ‘trying’ here.)

My journey so far isn’t that long. It began in September of this year (2007) and is progressing step by step toward… well, something anyway!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Sharon F. and I am just an ordinary person (female), retired but with a business background. I have 4 grown children, who are each successful people in their own fields. I am into a lot of types of crafts and gardening. I live with my husband on a 5 acre property in Queensland Australia. For those of you who don’t know, Queensland is a huge state and a very desirable place to live due to it’s wonderful climate.

At the moment my husband and I have a pretty reasonable income from a consulting company that we own. Hubby is doing the consulting and I do the admin. Due to the nature of the business, work could run out any time – it is not ‘forever after’ type work. (Plus we are not getting any younger).

So….. if you are willing to follow along with me, I will document here everything I have, am and am going to do with this internet marketing ‘thing’.

Please feel free to comment on my posts – add your thoughts and subscribe to this blog to add your own story if you wish.

This is a real life journey, step by step, of what I do on a day to day basis. I am sure I will receive criticism and hopefully advice as well, that everyone can learn from.

Cheers,

Shaz

P.S. If you are interested in any of the free stuff I talk about using here, let me know and I will add a download for it. Anything I have ‘collected’ over the months that is available – some free, some not, I am willing to offer here.
SO POST A COMMENT AND REQUEST IT!