what are the MUST haves in a sales page

A buy now button.

And maybe a P.S. if you feel up to it.

... you might want to have a look at this thread by Rick Duris:

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...-formulas.html

It'll get you on the right track.

Hey Preston,

You absolutely need a benefit-rich headline, sub-head and opening paragraph. Next, make sure you have a strong hook (1 huge reason it benefits them to purchase your info product), close (why they must by NOW).

Additional conversion boosters include: money back guarantee, trust signs, belcher button, video sales letter.

Deffo a gripping sub-heading and 'money-back guarantee' splurb!

In addition to what the others said, you need to have a hungry crowd. It won't matter how great your sales page or offer if you're presenting it to people who don't acknowledge that they have the problem you solve. In addition to acknowledging that they have the problem, they must be willing to do something about it and have few (or ideally no) perceived options other than yours.

A great offer will never sell to the wrong crowd, but a mediocre offer with a mediocre sales page will sell to hungry buyers. Of course, this is where all the work is so very few people are willing to invest their efforts here.

An effective headline, and subheadlines.

Reasons for people to do business with you. Emotional, urgent reasons.

A way that makes it easy to buy from you.

Testimonials.

It converts well for most if you both have a video and a text in a sales letter. This converts much higher than having just a text sales page in some markets, as long as your video is structured well. Although I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of video sales copy but it seems that a lot of people are.

Make sure the headline is a butt kicking headline and that the paragraphs are short and end with ........ before leading to the next paragraph.

Here is a formula you must use. It's called the P.A.S. formula (problem, agitate, solution).

P stands for problem (example: Are you tired of being broke?)

A stand for agitate (example: Most people stay broke because they fail to use what I am about to show you)

S stand for solution (example: You are about to learn how to stop being broke with the incredible money making secrets I will reveal to you today)

These are just generic examples to get you to understand the concept of P.A.S.

I hope this helps. Take Care.

"How To Order" is the most important whether it's a buy now button or something else. Without it, nothing actually can happen.

Now you're talking about conversions (I'm assuming sales).

Lots of copy advice and formulae for you to glean. They're successful to boot. Will they work for you? You'll never know till you test.

Headline - Ted Nicholas, Caples, Ogilvy swear by it and can provide empirical data supporting their millions in tests rendering the headline is the most important ... but ...

The 2 most mailed letters in history didn't have a headline (One of which is the highest grossing DM piece ever).

Guarantee - Guarantees increase response. It has been proven ... but ...

I've seen extremely successful sales letters that go out of the way to explain that there is no guarantee - Usually resulting in a better quality of customer and better long term ROI.

Testimonials add proof elements to your copy ... but ...

They usually work as interruptions and sometimes affect believability negatively. They also attract potential legal hassles with alphabet agencies. I've seen extremely successful sales letters without ANY testimonials. There ARE situations where you CAN'T or ARE NOT PERMITTED to provide testimonials.

A smooth flowing sales page that goes from the beginning to end like a "slippery slide" a la Joe Sugarman ... but ...

There is an extremely successful product that makes users click many pages before even getting to the buy now button. It's the bumpiest sales letter ever, yet it converts like crazy.

and ... many other "recipes" and "formulae".

Yes, there is a structure to a sales process. Yes, it helps to follow it. But, don't follow dogma blindly. You may come up with something better.

Every one is raving about VSLs, but they happen to be the most abandoned pages on the internet right now.

Remember this: Copy is a sales multiplier, not a sales maker. You need to have other pieces in place for copy to do it's magic. Mediocre copy with everything else in place will always outperform stellar copy with missing or poorly done components (Example: sending a piece to dud list).

Another piece of dogma from the "big dogs" of direct marketing - Your success depends on 40% list, 40% offer and 20% copy. Copy is less significant even according to them.

The one things nobody will debate is - Testing will reveal everything.

The sales page should in the first place contain a clear pictorial representation of your product. The description of the product should then follow up the image. After description tell some of the benefits of this product. Lastly remember to provide a clear and easily locatable buy-button with its price just next to it.

A great headline and a video sales page with minimal text. I also think some testimonials for social proof helps too.

A Call to ACTION!

The perfect sales page should have an image of the product for visitors to acquaint themselves with it. Give a brief description of this product. This also builds confidence on prospective buyers visiting your website. Next you have to make sure your website visitors are provided with a buy-button. It should in a position where it can be easily located. The button itself should be made clear. Next to it put the be price of the product.

What are the MUSTS for a sales page?

Two things.

1. A sales page must have whatever it needs to have in order to get the sale.

2. The sales page must have whatever it needs to NOT HAVE in order to get the sale.

----

I'll address the second one first, since that one is the most intriguing.

Most people on this part of the forum are familiar with ClickBank. A couple years back, Internet marketing related ClickBank offers experienced a true breakthrough.

The breakthrough came when they didn't tell you what the product was. Instead, they focused on the benefits... The unstated needs and desires of the prospect... The story and personality behind the product... The offer... And why the prospect needed to buy now.

----

Now let me address the first thing, what you need to say. I like to write what I call "take off the gloves" copy.

In school, I was picked on and bullied. I was an easy target. I was thin and frail.

On my first day as a freshman in high school, it started all up again. I decided that enough was enough and I wasn't going to live life as I had in grade school being afraid of the bigger kids.

At lunch on the first day, I sat down to eat and one kid I didn't know started to pick up on me. I told him "If you want to beat me up, today is the perfect day. Meet me behind Oak Foods (the local convenience store) right after school and you can kick the sh*t outta me if you want."

I made a real big deal about this so that everybody heard. (Except the teachers.)

3:30 came. And there was a crowd behind Oak Foods. I was surprised. The other kid, the bully, showed up and we circled each other.

I stared him down for the longest time. Without warning or hesitation, I kicked that guy in the nuts. And I kicked him so hard. I kicked him as hard as I could.

He went down and didn't get back up. And I walked away.

Did I fight dirty? Maybe, maybe not. But I got the result I was looking for. No one ever bothered me again.

So as a copywriter, unless someone says I can't say something, I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say whatever I need to say or not say, to get the sale.

I've talked about this mindset with other copywriter friends. They refer to it as "bringing a gun to a knife fight" copywriting.

How does this all translate to business?

I have another friend who is experiencing major financial troubles at present. So much so, he was out canvassing business owners door-to-door on Christmas Eve. I was impressed.

But I was even more impressed when I saw him the next day. He showed me a check he picked up from a new customer he closed for $7500.

I have another friend who's a sales manager for an IT company. He's not afraid to tell his sales guys "Don't come back without a purchase order." He's not kidding.

So what do you need to write (or not write) in order to get the sale? Not only that, what you need to write in order to get the sale NOW?

- Rick Duris

A product or service WORTH selling...

A product or service that has a HUNGRY audience...

A product or service that offers a LEGITIMATE solution...

The copy writes itself if you've got these aspects covered.

Well, not really...

...But you get the point.

Wait, you get it, don't you?

I can just picture, having heard Rick's soft-spoken voice, him doing a little smack talk before he enters the ring.

Marc