Longer or Shorter Sales Page?

Banned 14 years ago

Sorry if I don't make sense it's rather late and my brain isn't functioning that well lol.
But I'm interested to see your opinions and perhaps optimize my sales pages to even better.

I am someone who likes writing a lot as you can tell from all my replies and post and it works against me in my sales most of the time.

I find it hard to summarize and make it short without not wanting to add another fact about it but if I do it makes it too lengthy so that is something I have to work on.

Thanks

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x3xsolxdierx3x

14 years ago

Apparently video sales pages are a new hot trend....A guy named Ryan Deiss seems to be a pioneer in that arena....haven't tried it yet myself, but I am contemplating it....

Originally Posted by humbledmarket

What sales page do you think works best.

I've tried both long and short and I personally find that the short one convert better for me.

I tried to go the story line method however I think people lose interest after seeing such a long thing I personally do that.

If you can make it really catching in the beginning that they grab their attention with some value then perhaps add a story so they are immediately attracted to the sales page and continue reading.

Then you give them something to read about.

I guess that is the perfect strategy but the problem is some times when people see all the text they immediately get turn off.

I need to learn how to immediately get their attention with the first couple lines so they will continue reading but until then I've learn to keep with shorter sales pitches.

What about you?

Thanks

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Semuel

14 years ago

I'm 100% agree with you, short is the Best and I've found that the best fonts to use in our headlines are
Georgia and Verdana and depending on the niche I will
either choose an off-black color (#151515) or a crimson
red (#cc0000) to draw as much attention to the headline
as possible....

Thanks

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Andyhenry

14 years ago

Long is the best....

Seriously - come on. Do you really expect an answer to this?

This is an age-old question.

The answer has always been (and I believe still is) - The best length for a sales page is........

As long as it needs to be.

If you start writing just to increase the size - it's too long.

If you haven't told your reader enough for them to make a decision - it's too short.

Also - it depends.....

On the niche and the product.

If you're buying a car (high ticket, many variables and options) you'll want more information than if you're buying a book (low cost, easy to get reviews and research the author).

I've sold stuff with nothing more than a paypal buy button and a title on the sales page - because I'd already pre-sold the product in an email or forum post etc.

I've run WSOs with about 5 lines and a buy button and sold hundreds of product.

So in summary - the answer to your question is - IT DEPENDS.....

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juansaldivar

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Long is the best....

Seriously - come on. Do you really expect an answer to this?

This is an age-old question.

The answer has always been (and I believe still is) - The best length for a sales page is........

As long as it needs to be.

If you start writing just to increase the size - it's too long.

If you haven't told your reader enough for them to make a decision - it's too short.

Also - it depends.....

On the niche and the product.

If you're buying a car (high ticket, many variables and options) you'll want more information than if you're buying a book (low cost, easy to get reviews and research the author).

I've sold stuff with nothing more than a paypal buy button and a title on the sales page - because I'd already pre-sold the product in an email or forum post etc.

I've run WSOs with about 5 lines and a buy button and sold hundreds of product.

So in summary - the answer to your question is - IT DEPENDS.....

Yep, that's copywriting 101, it should be as long as it takes to make the sale. So the right answer is always test and tweak.

Thanks

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Braveheart2009

14 years ago

I like shorter sales pages with lots of colour and high quality videos of proof of income and short 2 min clips rather than 10-15 min videos and huge web pages that hog your computer.

Thanks
1 reply

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humbledmarket

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x

Apparently video sales pages are a new hot trend....A guy named Ryan Deiss seems to be a pioneer in that arena....haven't tried it yet myself, but I am contemplating it....

Yeh I might consider video sales pages as well. I can understand why it would be better since I rather watch a video than read a 1000 word sales page.

Originally Posted by Semuel

I'm 100% agree with you, short is the Best and I've found that the best fonts to use in our headlines are
Georgia and Verdana and depending on the niche I will
either choose an off-black color (#151515) or a crimson
red (#cc0000) to draw as much attention to the headline
as possible....

Thanks that's what I noticed too. With my long sales page even with good content they don't convert well but those short to the point sales page convert better.

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Long is the best....

Seriously - come on. Do you really expect an answer to this?

This is an age-old question.

The answer has always been (and I believe still is) - The best length for a sales page is........

As long as it needs to be.

If you start writing just to increase the size - it's too long.

If you haven't told your reader enough for them to make a decision - it's too short.

Also - it depends.....

On the niche and the product.

If you're buying a car (high ticket, many variables and options) you'll want more information than if you're buying a book (low cost, easy to get reviews and research the author).

I've sold stuff with nothing more than a paypal buy button and a title on the sales page - because I'd already pre-sold the product in an email or forum post etc.

I've run WSOs with about 5 lines and a buy button and sold hundreds of product.

So in summary - the answer to your question is - IT DEPENDS.....

Hello,
Thanks for your input.
I don't intend to write more just for hte sake of making it longer. I add it because it's what came to my mind intended for the buyer to be catch on to with a story as I've read in some WSOs and guides.

However I soon realize that when the sales thread itself is too long some people jsut skip it completely.

Unless you got a very good catch phrase that get them on and interested reading in my opinion if it's long and you don't have that good couple lines to catch the interest many people will bounce off.

With the multiple WSOs out there I'm not surprise.

As you mentioned multiple buy now links through out the thread helps for those who are ready to make the decision.

I also notice an increase in conversions as soon as I included that compared to my other sales pages for the same product.

Originally Posted by Braveheart2009

I like shorter sales pages with lots of colour and high quality videos of proof of income and short 2 min clips rather than 10-15 min videos and huge web pages that hog your computer.

Thanks for your opinion, looks like many people are leaning towards video. I might create videos included into my sales page in the future.

Thanks
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Andyhenry 14 years ago

Originally Posted by humbledmarket

As you mentioned multiple buy now links through out the thread helps for those who are ready to make the decision.

Are you talking about forum threads? as in running WSOs?

They're different from normal sales pages.

WSO sales are also a factor of your interaction and reputation in the forum.

If I see you post about doing something unethical in the main forum - I'll never buy anything you sell, regardless of what the sales copy says.

Conversely, I buy a lot of WSOs just to help out the person selling them because I like their posts and want to support them taking action.

Those things don't apply to normal sales pages outside of forums where people are responding based on your pre-selling or just the sales page.

This is why many newbies to the forum fall over trying to sell stuff in the WSO section - they think it's easy money and if they make some hyped-up promises they'll sell lots of product - but in reality if they're new here they have to work twice as hard to sell because they have no reputation and credibility.
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filiks

14 years ago

depending on the niche you are, you can basically decides which salescopy you want to use either the short or the long its all a matter of choice

but what you must understand is that most visitors to your site are not really interested in how many times you failed before you discover the super way to make the money, nor are they interested in most of these long stories, although if you are good at carrying them along with such stories good for you

what the visitors to your site really want from your letter is to tell them the solutions to their problem i.e tell them the benefit they will get for using your product. they will gladly love it if you can cut the long and at times boring story and just go straight to what you have for them

but as i said earlier depending on how good you are with words and how good you can spin this words some will lazily sits to read everything you have to say.

though the old age position sways to the long letter but i'll rather stick with the short and precise letter. i also believes this convert more than the long sales copy

Thanks
1 reply

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humbledmarket

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by filiks

depending on the niche you are, you can basically decides which salescopy you want to use either the short or the long its all a matter of choice

but what you must understand is that most visitors to your site are not really interested in how many times you failed before you discover the super way to make the money, nor are they interested in most of these long stories, although if you are good at carrying them along with such stories good for you

what the visitors to your site really want from your letter is to tell them the solutions to their problem i.e tell them the benefit they will get for using your product. they will gladly love it if you can cut the long and at times boring story and just go straight to what you have for them

but as i said earlier depending on how good you are with words and how good you can spin this words some will lazily sits to read everything you have to say.

though the old age position sways to the long letter but i'll rather stick with the short and precise letter. i also believes this convert more than the long sales copy

Thanks yeh, I soon learn my lesson with lengthy sales page with stories. However if you can catch the attention of the reader in your first couple lines you might be able to get better conversions but it's difficult to find a couple lines to catch the readers attention in my opinion.

Personally when I see a length sales page I give it a max couple seconds before moving on. Unless it's something I want it's too long to give a read.

Whereas short sales page I can still read since it doesn't consume too much time.

This is just my opinion.

Thanks

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The Copy Nazi

Banned 14 years ago

Short. As in - one word. Like this - Death

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Big Al

14 years ago

Lots of people 'they prefer short sales letters'.

Bottom line is that it's all about 'results' and long sales letters have been proven to outperform short over and over again. The argument is always 'Who'd read something that long?'.

Well if they're not interested ... they wouldn't read it anyway even if it was short. And you can write a long sales letter to suit those who skim read or read every word.

You can get pdf copies of Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins for free online. It's only 40 odd pages long and really makes the logic behind a good sales letter clear. Better than anything else I've read ... why the headline is so important with really good analogies.

It really is very good.

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x3xsolxdierx3x

14 years ago

A friend had sent me this a few days ago. It may be worth looking at (not an affiliate link or anything like that)

Ryan Deiss' Video Sales Letter Formula

Has anyone tried implementing something like this?

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Andyhenry

14 years ago

Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x

A friend had sent me this a few days ago. It may be worth looking at (not an affiliate link or anything like that)

Ryan Deiss' Video Sales Letter Formula

Has anyone tried implementing something like this?

I have but I have found that it doesn't really make much difference.

What seems to make most of the difference is how the person was pre-sold before they get to your sales page.

It's popular to say video is the new way to do sales but in reality it's just another option and not always the best one.

You need to test this stuff for yourself in your niche.

I've seen many people/gurus tell it how it is and found my own results differ or even contradict what they say - especially when it comes to video. Using video does not automatically mean better conversions.