Best way to design and create a salesletter?

Steve888 · 12-30-2008, 10:02 PM

Can anyone recommend either a course or point me to some good templates to use for sales letters that I can import into my web authoring software?

I've figured out how to edit some simple templates and post those to my host for some quick squeeze pages and now I have decided it is time to find a quick way to design and publish sales letters and get all of those cool text boxes and icons and images that I've seen people use without having to outsource this.

Any thoughts?

440Music · 12-31-2008, 05:03 AM

Steve888,

If you are editing your own templates then you're half way there. You might want to look for Newsletter templates now that you understand the basics. One thing you should do when creating a sales letter is put in an image that is on your web site that is only visible in the sales letter. This way you can go to the log files for your web site and see how many times the image has been view. That information will tell you how many people looked at the letter.

Do a search of Newsletter templates

TBones

DavidO · 12-31-2008, 08:32 AM

Steve,

I've had good results, and learned a helluva lot, by using a design I like as a template and working from that. I started with simple designs and have moved up each time.

It's fairly easy to start modifying style sheets to change background color, images and other formatting.

If you see a cool textbox or other feature that you want to duplicate just download the site into your editor and find out how they did it. It's usually simpler than you expect once you see the tricks.

It sounds like you're already doing this to a certain extent. The next thing is to move up from templates to using sites you want to copy. I've never liked templates anyway because they never offer what I really want.

One word of caution: avoid sites using tables. Tables are near extinct in design terms. Concentrate on learning CSS.

I've found this to be a really good way to learn.

KathyK · 12-31-2008, 10:43 AM

Umm - if you are doing letters to be sent out in email, do NOT avoid tables unless you are doing a single column letter. Email readers are YEARS behind browsers in properly rendering HTML.

Gmail, for instance will happily remove everything except inline CSS. Outlook 2007 renders the html using WORD 2007 and Word 2007 is horrible at rendering HTML and CSS.

Best bet for a newsletters/sales letters, etc. to be done via email is to Keep it Simple.

If this is for a landing page type sales letter, ignore everything I just said.

aseltz · 12-31-2008, 01:37 PM

I recently posted a free Sales Page template on my blog:

- Free Sales Page Website TemplateInternet Marketing Insights

It's a nice clean looking design that is easy to customize and uses 100% CSS for layouts, so it's standards compliant - No Tables (not even for the testimonials box!)

Give it a look. It's a free download and there is no opt-in required.

Steve888 · 12-31-2008, 02:24 PM

Thanks very much for the swift and helpful replies guys! I appreciate the words of encouragement!

I apologize for not being more clear but what I am trying to do is to create a landing page type sales letter.

@ aseltz - thanks for the template and tips! Very cool and simple to use!

@ Davido - I will try what you suggest, I will try to use a smaller one to start and then work my way up to a longer one. Modifying style sheets is something I will have to look into I guess then. Good words of advice

@ 440music - thanks for being on the ball! This is the second post of mine where you've been the first to reply : )

Any other templates or tips are truly appreciated. Thanks guys!

12-30-2008, 10:02 PM	#1
Steve888 Warrior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Best way to design and create a salesletter? Can anyone recommend either a course or point me to some good templates to use for sales letters that I can import into my web authoring software? I've figured out how to edit some simple templates and post those to my host for some quick squeeze pages and now I have decided it is time to find a quick way to design and publish sales letters and get all of those cool text boxes and icons and images that I've seen people use without having to outsource this. Any thoughts?

12-31-2008, 05:03 AM	#2
440Music Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Chicago,IL USA Posts: 43 Thanks: 1 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Best way to design and create a salesletter? Steve888, If you are editing your own templates then you're half way there. You might want to look for Newsletter templates now that you understand the basics. One thing you should do when creating a sales letter is put in an image that is on your web site that is only visible in the sales letter. This way you can go to the log files for your web site and see how many times the image has been view. That information will tell you how many people looked at the letter. Do a search of Newsletter templates TBones
	440MUSIC.COM Internet Radio Join Our Affiliates Program

12-31-2008, 08:32 AM	#3
DavidO Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom, Spain Posts: 1,748 Thanks: 1 Thanked 45 Times in 38 Posts	Re: Best way to design and create a salesletter? Steve, I've had good results, and learned a helluva lot, by using a design I like as a template and working from that. I started with simple designs and have moved up each time. It's fairly easy to start modifying style sheets to change background color, images and other formatting. If you see a cool textbox or other feature that you want to duplicate just download the site into your editor and find out how they did it. It's usually simpler than you expect once you see the tricks. It sounds like you're already doing this to a certain extent. The next thing is to move up from templates to using sites you want to copy. I've never liked templates anyway because they never offer what I really want. One word of caution: avoid sites using tables. Tables are near extinct in design terms. Concentrate on learning CSS. I've found this to be a really good way to learn.

12-31-2008, 10:43 AM	#4
KathyK Warrior Nerd Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SW Florida Posts: 85 Thanks: 8 Thanked 11 Times in 10 Posts	Re: Best way to design and create a salesletter? Umm - if you are doing letters to be sent out in email, do NOT avoid tables unless you are doing a single column letter. Email readers are YEARS behind browsers in properly rendering HTML. Gmail, for instance will happily remove everything except inline CSS. Outlook 2007 renders the html using WORD 2007 and Word 2007 is horrible at rendering HTML and CSS. Best bet for a newsletters/sales letters, etc. to be done via email is to Keep it Simple. If this is for a landing page type sales letter, ignore everything I just said.
	Cheers, Kathy

12-31-2008, 01:37 PM	#5
aseltz The Go-To Guy! War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: New York, NY, USA. Posts: 309 Thanks: 37 Thanked 24 Times in 8 Posts Social Networking	Re: Best way to design and create a salesletter? I recently posted a free Sales Page template on my blog: - Free Sales Page Website TemplateInternet Marketing Insights It's a nice clean looking design that is easy to customize and uses 100% CSS for layouts, so it's standards compliant - No Tables (not even for the testimonials box!) Give it a look. It's a free download and there is no opt-in required.
	Andrew Seltz - The Go-To Guy! www.GoToGuyEnterprises.com ==>Add a Professional Sales Page to ANY Wordpress Theme in Under 5 Minutes<== ==>Download My Free Sales Page Template - No Optin Required<==

12-31-2008, 02:24 PM	#6
Steve888 Warrior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: , , . Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Best way to design and create a salesletter? Thanks very much for the swift and helpful replies guys! I appreciate the words of encouragement! I apologize for not being more clear but what I am trying to do is to create a landing page type sales letter. @ aseltz - thanks for the template and tips! Very cool and simple to use! @ Davido - I will try what you suggest, I will try to use a smaller one to start and then work my way up to a longer one. Modifying style sheets is something I will have to look into I guess then. Good words of advice @ 440music - thanks for being on the ball! This is the second post of mine where you've been the first to reply : ) Any other templates or tips are truly appreciated. Thanks guys!