Advice for Sales Letter & Site

I disagree with the others, I do think there's a market for this. What they're saying is that there isn't a pre-established market for it. People like to go after markets that are already set up because it requires less work. This brings me to the biggest problem I have with what you've said so far:

You have to want to work if you want to make it. There is no way to get around working hard. People may want you to believe that they don't work at their success but they do. "Make money easy" is a selling point for certain products, it's not the reality of working for yourself.

When it comes to the copy, two things stand out to me:

1. It's too long.

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like it's too long. This is a pretty simple concept. It's basically tricks and strategies for making more in tips. That's pretty simply. The key to copywriting is keeping it as simple as possible. I know you've probably seen copy that's longer than Russian literature but that doesn't make it better. Condense it down to the most important and most powerful elements and get them to that "buy now" button before they change their mind.

2. You didn't start by connecting with them.

You start the copy by trying to sell to your reader. This will turn off a lot of people. The first step is to connect with them. Start with your own experience working for tips. Start by addressing their problem which, in this case, is not getting enough tips. Here's a quick example:

"If you're anything like me then you bust your ass for those tips. You're friendly, quick and hardworking. For a long time I couldn't understand why I never made as much in tips as some other people. I would see them getting huge tips on a small bill and wonder what I was doing wrong.

Then, one day, I figured it out. It was so simple I couldn't believe I didn't realize it before. Soon I was making so much money in tips that my pockets couldn't hold it all. I had to trade my tip money for larger bills at the register just so my pants weren't bulging out at the sides."

Also, is that picture really you? If not, I'd suggest you change it to something slightly more believable. That guy seems a little too "stock photo" to me. If, however, it is you then good for you, I guess lol

No problem. Yeah, "lack of competition" is the last reason to choose a market. It's actually the #1 reason to avoid it. Why? Because in a competitive market, people are already spending money. It's proven. Fertile soil.

Look... if your mission in life was to market this ebook... to help each and every waiter possible increase their income... I'd say knock yourself out. I'd never question anyone's mission. But if your goal is simply to make money - which there is absolutely nothing wrong with by the way - then you always want to start with the market. The market is exponentially more important than the copy or the product.

As far as conversion rates... in reality, that's not the way it works. Nothing should be expected. People throw out numbers with no real conception of what is realistic. 1% - even for targeted search traffic - is good. And this is far from easy to achieve. And that's assuming you are in a good market, with a good offer and good copy. 2% is very good. And anything beyond that is very difficult to achieve with any kind of significant volume. Most people don't respect the numbers because they've never achieved them yet they keep perpetuating myths. It's like the telephone game.

Bottom line is: you shouldn't "expect" anything, just because you read it somewhere. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are not going to pull 1% selling a get bigger tips ebook. Why? These people aren't that driven. Most of them probably think of serving as a short term gig, even if they've been doing it for years. And the ones who ARE motivated to achieve more aren't going to be buying an ebook like yours. They're going to be buying a bizopp that's going to show them how to instantly make $20k/mo so they can finally get the hell out of their j-o-b.

And... to top all of this off... you're facing major resistance because let's face it... deep down they believe they already know how to get bigger tips: Be nice and upsell. So you really have to have some strong, enticing copy to shake them out of that belief.

Now... as far as keywords... the biggest thing you need to understand is that all keywords are not created equal. You must use tracking, and when you do you'll see some keywords lead to conversions... and some (most) don't.

So let's say you're spending .50/click and you receive 100 clicks... that's $50 you just spent for zero sales. It doesn't matter how cheap the traffic is if it doesn't convert.

On the other hand, let's say you're selling... how about... wrinkle cream! And let's say you're spending $1/click, but out of 100 clicks... you generate 2 sales. So you have a cost per acquisition of $50. You with me? And here's the thing... certain keywords... like competitor/brand names for example... might even be a lot more than that... but they're worth it because they convert extremely well. They represent buyers.

So maybe when someone types in "lancome wrinkle cream" you're paying $2 for every click. But 1/15 people buy - that means your CPA is $30. That's a lot better than buying 100 clicks at .5 each when you will inevitably make zero sales, don't ya think?

You've gotten some decent advice here... but the problem is that none of it is really relative to you. Those products are made for entertainment purposes - not informational/educational purposes. Do you see the difference?

Maybe... "MAYBE"... you could get some sales... if you craft the offer jjjjust riiight. Something like a black book concept with a lower price point. "How I Started Pocketing An Avg of $64 More Per Day Using This One Weird Trick" lol... I don't know... maybe. But again, why would you want to do things the hard way?

I can guarantee you people have tried to sell the exact same kind of ebook and failed. That's why there are no ads. Not because no one has thought of it.

Of course, before I even wrote this post... I realize you're probably going to do it anyway I understand. We have to start somewhere. It's all a learning process. And you're right, you might get some good experience writing copy and selling a product. But to me, the learning process is a lot more enjoyable and rewarding when you're making sales.

Nevertheless, good luck! You seem like a sharp guy, I think you'll make it even if you do decide to voluntarily attend the school of hard knocks.

Keep us updated...

Well, I'd love to hear more thoughts on that too if you have some advice there, because my logic was to find a market that didn't have competition. Most of my friends thought this was a great idea, but none have experience with ebooks.

This market is about 50 cents per click through AdWords, so on a more competitive/expensive market, I'd need to either convert way higher than 1 to 3 percent of my visits into sales or charge a lot more, right?

Is there something basic I'm missing?

Naming resources? Already did - Amazon is your friend. I forgot this one. This was a highly successful blog before becoming a book - Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a...
Don't write for the Google spiders. Nobody's interested in those references. Write with "authority" and you don't need to prove a damn thing.

Get into your target's head. Start by reading those books - particularly Waiter Rant. Here - http://waiterrant.net/ That's all the resources you need. Immerse yourself in that brilliant blog.

And yeah - the pic just screamed "This is a stock photo" - your credibility goes down the gurgler with it.

As a former full-time restaurant server myself in a past life, I agree with Jeremy...

I just don't see the market here.

Servers are notoriously broke. They're more likely to be searching for a payday loan than tips on getting bigger tips.

Why not enter a market that has money to spend?

--- Ross