Hard Sell and Soft Sell Techniques

30. Apr, 2010 0 Comments

Hard Sell and Soft Sell Techniques

Sales pages are an art to webmasters as they require a lot of split testing in order to nail down a successful formula for pushing a product. Many of these webmasters either hard sell or soft sell products and the methods which they do this is always unique as they typically have to fit the sit. Without getting caught up in the details as to how to craft a website around a squeeze page we will be looking at a successful strategy for ad placement.

Sales letters

The ability to write a decent sales letter is a craft in itself as the writer should not only be familiar with the product but also play devils advocate. A good review can setup customers to be pushed through funnels or they can trip them up. One tip which has gone a long way for writing is to take the mindset of a visitor; generally you will use a search engine to look for a product but do not want to be overly bombarded with all sorts of information. Gauge the type of visitors, the age group, and everything else which you believe will make up your ideal end buyer. Remember, value goes a long way it doesn’t end with the product, it involves all the angles which surround the product.

Carefully written articles that are unique and are created to be helpful will attract interest in many ways. First, don’t over hype the product; allow the visitor to scan through your article finding keywords and headings which add to educating them, not hard selling them right away. Think about it, how many sites have you turned away from when they all say “Buy now” with links all over the place. Ultimately give the impression that you have a well rounded understanding of the product but are not blatantly telling people that they have to buy it, they will make that decision on their own.

Ad Placement

Do not try and reinvent the wheel when it comes to ad placement. When the heatmap was first created it single handedly changed how advertising was done and the net, so if you have not familiarized yourself with them you need to learn now. One of the strategies to complimenting your sales letters is to use a global site banner that appears across all your web pages. Banners generally have a high click through rate (CTR) when they are placed at the top of sites and can be seen without scrolling. Google uses 728×90 or 468×60 image advertisements with good reason; they know they work. When you create a banner shoot for either of these sizes (preferably the larger one) with a link to your hard sell page.

Ad Design

Get the images that work for you and your site. Contact your affiliate manager and ask them for more images if the ones you are using are not converting. Usually they will allow you to use their own and change them a bit where you still hold to the main theme and do not infringe on any approved features of the ad. Spend time trying to get the colors down right for your site; no one should have to push ugly ads if they don’t convert. Remember those ads were created with a specific site in mind, not yours, so either build around those ads or build the ads around yours.