Tag: sales letter landing pages

Mequoda and WPR partner with a performance-based revenue-share relationship to grow subscription business
As one of the world’s most authoritative sources on world politics and international relations, World Politics Review (WPR) has been successful at penetrating the corporate, government and educational markets. Now, they are partnering with Mequoda Systems to aggressively grow their individual subscriber business.
Publisher Hampton Stephens

As it’s always been, Google’s main focus publicly is the ads you buy via Adwords. And, as always, Mequoda knows that the exact same concepts apply to free organic search campaigns.

If you read our white papers and posts, or you’ve attended a Mequoda Intensive, you already know how much value we place on organic search. It’s the core of the Mequoda Method, and while anyone can buy ads, that kind of marketing just isn’t as high on our priority list as organic search is.

A magazine sales letter full of content and detail works best for selling premium information products online. No matter how hard we try to make winners out of short sales letters (after all, they’re much less work!) we still see A/B split after A/B split show that longer magazine sales letters work best.

The first thing you need to have to create great landing pages is a basic understanding of the seven types of landing pages used by Internet marketing professionals. With that in mind, we think your odds of increasing landing page conversion rates will definitely improve.

My publisher friend is a fervent believer in creating A/B splits for his landing pages, focusing specifically on the titles of his paid handbooks. The graphic design of each cover is identical in color, typeface and size. His sales letter landing pages use the exact same persuasive editorial copy except for the title of the book.

Make sure your landing pages answer this question for your users: “what’s in it for me?”

First Class Flyer is a great product with a great value proposition, which is a great foundation for creating a sales letter landing page with impressive conversion rates.

A new client recently asked me how many hours it would take to create a first-class sales letter landing page for his subscription website and newsletter. Having done this a few times, I answered that it would take 50 to 100 hours of copywriter time to create a great landing page.

Landing page templates with legitimate comments from users will help persuade others into downloading a freemium or purchasing a product

Are you giving yourself credit by offering testimonials?

If someone writes you, or leaves a comment on your blog talking about how great your content or products are, you are receiving a testimonial.

Insight on creating sales letter landing pages from our Landing Page Handbook

Download a FREE digital copy of our Landing Page Handbook now

With all the content present on the Internet today, it’s important to create landing pages that are designed with irresistible offers that intrigue visitors.

If you operate a commercial website, the goal of your website’s architecture should be intended to get the visitor to take action. This action could range from buying a product or service, or simply getting the visitor to sign up for a free email newsletter. Either outcome will mark the beginning of a sustainable relationship that publishers and marketers should nurture.

The sole purpose of a dedicated landing page is to get that order.

Dedicated landing pages are designed to receive targeted website traffic and convert users into buyers or subscribers. They may attract organic traffic, but are dedicated to converting traffic, regardless of the source.

Generally traffic arrives at dedicated landing pages via links from sources the publisher controls, such as PPC (pay-per-click), affiliate advertising, or paid advertising.

To date, the Mequoda research team has identified six unique variations on the dedicated and hybrid landing pages:

Guidelines and Examples of Blockbuster SEO Copywriting for Digital Books and Reports

The best practices in writing the title of a report or white paper require the copywriter to focus on two primary objectives.

1. Use the targeted keywords to optimize for organic search the report title and any rapid conversion landing pages (RCLPs) or sales letter landing pages (SLLPs) that promote the report.

You may have more landing pages than you think

I was recently speaking to a friend about online publishing. He is a content producer and was curious about the options for organic marketing and search engine optimization.

After about ten minutes of conversing he began discussing his website. A very important lesson popped into my mind around this time.

He was talking about his landing page. Yes, “landing page” in singular form. I allowed him to finish his thought then chimed in.

Attract more customers with keyword-rich copy, GUARANTEED!

An important part of SEO copywriting is researching keywords and phrases for all of your copy, whether it’s your website, email newsletters, sales letter landing pages or rapid conversion landing pages. This includes optimizing your headline, subhead, summaries and, of course, the copy itself.

If you sell “pet supplies” and optimize only for that keyword phrase, you’ll miss everyone searching for “dog food” or “cat litter.” Don’t just think “automobile accessories.” Think “fuzzy dice” and “seat covers.” Think like the customer thinks.

Our Internet Marketing Strategy focuses on multiple ways to maximize revenues by using the Internet as a major source of traffic and revenue. By including a variety of business-building tools, such as social media, link-building campaigns and online advertising, you will drive website traffic and increase revenue.

We’re all about free advertising but the fact is, paid media works. And sometimes it’s easier to buy website traffic than to rely on free media. A further advantage of buying traffic is that the publisher can pretty much control where and when the traffic will land on the site.

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how to keep visitors on your website and how to create successful sales letter landing pages

(Nationwide)—There is money to be made online. A key factor in doing so is getting visitors to stay on the website long enough to understand what information or products you provide.

Below are five tips that should be kept in mind while creating sales letter landing pages and working to keep visitors on the website:

Follow these simple landing page guidelines to start converting visitors into buyers more quickly and effectively

The easiest way to get a customer to complete a transaction on your landing page is to create a great looking landing page with an irresistible offer that is easy to complete.

As a general rule, commercial websites should use the “real estate” of their landing pages conservatively. Whether your strategic objective is to get the visitor to sign up for a free email newsletter, buy a product or start a trial paid subscription, your landing page needs to be tightly focused on a single intention—getting the reader to take action.

Catch up on the Mequoda Daily’s blog posts for this past week…

Putting all the elements together to satisfy both the reader and Google

In our Gold Member Mequoda SEO copywriting workshops we’re sometimes asked how we create rapid conversion landing pages and sales letter landing pages that both tell engaging stories and combine our targeted keyword phrases for search engine optimization.

The answer is the same as the punch line to that old joke. “Hey taxi driver, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Reply: “Practice, practice, practice.”

For me, practice usually translates to “find a good model and then copy, copy, copy.” After all, it is called copywriting, isn’t it?

Catch up on the Mequoda Daily’s blog posts for this past week…

This free Landing Page Handbook offers insight on creating sales letter landing pages that sell

If not, can you write, design and create sales letter landing pages that convert visitors into email subscribers or buyers?

Action, action, action!

I can’t say it enough… Sales letter landing pages are about getting your reader to take action.

If you focus the content of your sales letter landing page on a topic and the single intention of convincing the reader to convert, then you’re starting in a strong place.

Our free Landing Page Handbook: Creating Sales Letter Landing Pages that Sell contains 12 best practices for creating landing pages that sell, be it a paid product or a free one.

Business Management Daily has a strong online presence with a user-friendly website

Free Landing Page Handbook Released

Ways to enhance your Mequoda System

Mequoda unlocks archived landing page reviews

We are happy to announce the release of more free content. Yes, now everyone will have access to content formerly part of the members only Mequoda Library.

One of the most popular topics searched at Mequoda.com is “Landing Page Templates”. In particular, our landing page reviews have become timeless guidelines for creating successful landing pages. Over the last five years, the Mequoda Research team has reviewed over 40 sales letter landing pages using the 12 essential elements set out in the Mequoda Sales Letter Landing Page Scorecard.

Marketplace landing pages are the gateways to sales

A landing page is any webpage where a willing buyer and seller can start a transaction. It’s the first page on your website where a visitor enters the ordering process.

A dedicated landing page is an indispensable part of your online marketing campaign. It is dedicated to converting traffic. It’s only reason for being, is to get that order.

Glossary Index landing pages capture user’s interest with specific terminology

A landing page is the first page a user sees when entering your site, and a user can enter and “land” almost anywhere. Therefore, every page on your website is a potential landing page, even the glossary index.

The glossary index landing page, as the name suggests, is a glossary on a website that lists dictionary-like definitions of words, phrases or concepts.

Learn how to create sales letter landing pages that sell when you download our FREE Landing Page Handbook.

Sales Letter Landing Pages are traditional direct response sales letters that are used to maximize the conversion rate for a paid, usually credit-card-required offer for a paid information product. These same letters are often used in email and postal direct marketing programs.

The key to creating successful sales letter landing pages is writing keyword-rich copy that Google ranks highly

Uploading a sales letter landing page to a website without regard to search engine optimization is a sure way to not be found. No matter how great the content, if Internet users can’t find it, it does not exist for them.

How to keep smart shoppers happy and provide them with a thorough, yet user-friendly online shopping experience. Normally, we don’t recommend shopping carts to our users, because we see the highest conversion rate on sales letter landing pages. However, we realize that many publishers have too large of an inventory and feel that shopping carts work for them. That’s why today we’re talking about shopping cart optimization.

Paid media programs balance your Internet marketing system

While patience is a required virtue for earned media programs, paid media programs offer the Mequoda Marketing System operator the opportunity for quick results with a reasonable ROI (return on investment). Each of these programs involves finding and buying traffic by spending money to buy advertising, leads or lists.

The same high quality copywriting and design elements can be used for online, email and postal mail sales pitches.

Multiplatform publishing in the 21st century means offering users many products on many platforms, and using the Internet to recycle, reuse and republish information in many different formats.

This involves taking the same information and turning it into any format a user could possibly want—from e-books to streaming video to email newsletters. Publishers not only save on material costs, but the same information is being cheaply repackaged and sold in a multitude of formats to maximize customer satisfaction and revenue.

Sales letter landing pages pre-date the Internet in that they resemble traditional direct response sales letters.

A sales letter landing page is a conversion landing page. Its objective is to convert the casual visitor into a paid customer.

Sales letter landing pages are traditional direct response sales letters designed to maximize the conversion rate for a paid product. Often, the very same sales letter landing page, with minor but significant modifications, can be used in both email and postal direct marketing programs.

Glossary and directory landing pages succeed when they provide users the information they seek—either a definition or a link to an article or product.

A glossary landing page, as the name suggests, is a glossary on a website that lists dictionary-like definitions of words, phrases or concepts.

Glossary landing pages attract traffic and include conversion architecture that urges users to subscribe or engage in some other transaction. Like the article landing page, the objective of the glossary landing page is to capture the user’s interest in the editorial content and lead him to a transaction.

You’ll write strong, engaging headlines when you use proven power words

The ideal headline for your sales letter landing page, print ad or email promotion is a statement of your product’s unique selling proposition or the promise that it’s going to satisfy a need or solve a problem.

The headline is an advertisement for an advertisement. It must grab the reader’s attention with such force that she can’t resist reading the next sentence.

A membership website is a user driven, content-based website satellite that generates the majority of its revenues from user access fees. This website business model is similar to a book club, professional association or user group that accepts little or no advertising, relying primarily on user support.

Mequoda views Internet Hubs as one of the most important website archetypes available to a publisher. Without a well-designed, well-marketed Internet Hub, an online publisher is forced to rely on other websites and other media to drive targeted website traffic.

What is a landing page?

Some say “it’s the first page someone sees on your site”. Others say “it’s a webpage viewed after clicking a link in an email.”

We’ve also heard it referred to as “a specific page a visitor reaches after clicking a search engine listing” or “a location a user is directed to or ends up at after clicking on a link or typing in a command.”

All of these definitions are true.

Every good wordsmith approaches the task of writing a little differently. Some writers start with an outline or by making copious notes. Others write numerous disparate paragraphs at non-stop speed and then revisit their first draft, cutting and pasting to arrange them in a “logical” order. Still others agonize over the lead or headline and feel compelled to get them perfect before they can write a single second sentence.

In our NicheADay.com Landing Page Review we examined an information product designed for opportunity-seekers. That’s a large and ever-changing market niche comprised of would-be business owners.

These are people who are dissatisfied with their jobs, or have recently become unemployed, and suddenly decide to go into business for themselves. They may suddenly embrace the “American Dream” of being self-employed and start what they hope will become a profitable business. They even call themselves entrepreneurs. One of my mentors, Michael Gerber, calls that “having an entrepreneurial seizure.”

With the demand for information about illness and health, it’s not surprising that many physicians and traditional publishers have teamed up to begin online newsletters that address these issues. Many of these publications are highly specialized and focus on a single topic or ailment.

Others take a shotgun approach and attempt to address the public’s infolust across a wide spectrum of disease prevention, physical ailments and medical remedies. The wider editorial focus that targets a greater number of potential subscribers at a relatively lower price point has a different revenue model from the smaller niche, higher price newsletter. And it creates a special problem for the newsletter marketer and copywriter.

What both types of CEOs have in common is the need for someone to execute their Internet marketing strategy on a day-to-day basis. Enter the Internet Marketing System General Manager and Publisher of your Mequoda Internet Hub.

EarlyToRise.com Pays Homage to Benjamin Franklin by Making its Owners Wealthy. Twenty-first Century Publishers Take Note: There is Wisdom in Adopting this Business Model

Financial independence has many rewards beyond the monetary. Or so I would like to believe. In the case of Michael Masterson, who prior to reaching age 40 sold a $135 million business and retired, one of the rewards is a bully pulpit on which to pontificate about anything and everything to anyone who will listen. Or more precisely, anyone who is willing to subscribe to his free email newsletter and read it.

What criteria would four of America’s most successful copywriters use to create better sales letter landing pages? And how would 26 landing pages from a variety of large and small publishers and authors hold up under their intense scrutiny?

Over the past 12 months, John Clausen, Peter A. Schaible, Robert W. Bly and Peter J. Fogel have used a list of 12 guidelines designed to increase landing page conversion rates to critique 26 successful (and a few not-so-successful) sales letter landing pages for a variety of books, magazines and newsletters for Mequoda’s Creating Landing Pages That Sell.

Discover how one publisher was able to increase landing page conversion rates 23 and 27 percent by re-purposing his direct mail sales letter copy.

After 11 years of website design testing, I’m still amazed at the long list of simple website design changes that can increase click-through rates overnight. With a simple advertising design change, one publisher I know recently doubled his information product sales by implementing a design change to increase click-through rates.

My brother-in-law, Randy, is always amazed at the website design elements I test when creating new sales letter landing pages. He thinks, that after running the test once or twice or a 100 times, I should just know the answer. When I’m trying to increase landing page conversion rates, there are times when I conclude that I know fewer absolute answers the more landing page tests I run.

he Mequoda Landing Page Scorecard™ encourages you to score your own landing page using each of the 12 Mequoda Best Practice Guidelines, add them together and arrive at a cumulative score. The goal is to emphasize the importance of effective landing pages that sell. Your landing page should achieve respectable scores in all areas, rather than over-emphasizing a single area or two, or omitting other areas completely.