Archive for Content Marketing – Page 22

Phony Testimonials and Dumb Social Proof

How do you get good client testimonials for your sales copy, for example, content for a landing page, when you don’t have a lot of previous clients?

There’s no doubt that social proof is one of the key ways people decide to buy or try your products or services.

I get asked about this by some of my consulting clients who are starting a new business or product launch. Nothing can back fire and destroy trust and credibility more quickly than phony testimonials, as well as vague or anonymous comments.

I’ve been working with an old client who’s been working hard to master blogging so he can have a strong online presence. He’s just about ready to start offering products and services for sale.

He’s got a solid reputation as an expert in his field, but up until now, he’s been working for someone else. He doesn’t feel comfortable using testimonials or positive comments acquired when he was a part of a team effort.

I don’t blame him. Not only will he not feel authentic and sincere, but depending on what the old clients say, it might not ring true for his new company, products or services. Readers can smell a phony testimonial a mile away from the computer screen.

There are a couple key persuasion triggers to remember when composing sales content: Read More→

Is the Social Web Changing How We Write?
How to Write Like You Talk

This week’s guest post is by Barb Sawyers, Sticky Communications who recently published a great ebook on how you can write better for the web.

Hello, Patsi’s readers. I’m Barb Sawyers, a blogger who shares her interest in encouraging people to write like they talk.

Patsi was telling me how some of you don’t find writing for the web to be as natural or fun as talking. Sometimes you don’t think you’re connecting with your readers.

Seeing as we’ve all been talking since we were toddlers, and go back to what sounds right when we’re not certain, you’d think writing like you talk would be easier.

But something happened at school and at work that turned the pleasure of communication into hard labor, for both writers and readers.

Then along came the Internet, blogs, Twitter and Facebook: Overnight, it seems, our online social lives and writing was pulled back into conversational mode.

But how do you reverse years of conditioning about what writing should be? Read More→

Blog Content: Are you personal… or all business?

Do you stay on track with your blog content and business goals, or do you share personal stories and events that are peripheral?

I got an interesting comment on a post I did beginning of June and I can’t stop thinking about it. The post was about staying on target with your business goals when you create content for your blog. Don’t Jerk Readers Around: 5 Tips for Staying on Track.

First Eileen said she didn’t agree with my premise that you might be jerking readers around if you’re not staying on track with your content:

“I’m not sure I agree with this. My blog niche is arts and crafts. Most of my favorite other artsy blogs do this routinely. One day they blog about what happening at home. The next they may share a tutorial or run a contest or review a book.”

Then Keenan said, “I agree with Eileen. Although you don’t want to be completely all over the map, changing up your subject matter is critical.

“Blogs represent people. They create connections to their readers through their personalities. When a blog stays on topic all the time, it begins to feel white-washed like any on or off-line newspaper or magazine.

“Personality plays a huge role in a blog. Blogging about those things that are part of the authors passions, likes, dislikes, opinions etc. allows followers to connect with the blog. It’s what makes blogging different than reading commercial news. Read More→

Business Results from Online Content Marketing?

Please vote: What has been your experience using the Web to promote your business?

Your Business and the Web: Getting Better?

How has your business been affected by the Web? Have you felt the difference like a Tsunami or a soft summer drizzle? I’m curious.

I know it’s completely changed my life and the way I work. Both the quantity and quality of my business are vastly improved in terms of marketing ease, deliverability and profits.

Yikes, …I feel an urge to create a new poll coming on! But hang on, I need to clarify my ideas first…

I know people who are still doing business without the Web, saying things like,

  • “My clients don’t spend time surfing the Internet.”
  • “I get all my customers from referrals.”
  • “I’ve got a local business, I use Yellow Pages.”

Others may have put up a crappy 1-4 page website and then wondered why it doesn’t bring in leads. And these people are all smart professionals, they’re not idiots, they’re all busy and profitable.  They’re just not web-savvy.

There are those who started a blog because they heard that would bring in business. And they want to know why they aren’t on the first page of searches.

So, no, the Web hasn’t changed the way most people do business. Just some of us. I know there are many who feel it’s just too overwhelming to learn, especially now with all the social media chatter. To them, it’s not a Tsunami but a giant sink hole of wasted time and energy. Read More→

Why Use a WP Sales Page Template?

Have you tried to create a landing page using WordPress? I have. And I know others have too. You can waste a lot of time and still not get a professional looking page that works to get people to buy or sign up.

Last Thursday, I interviewed Suzanne Bird-Harris, a programmer who developed the WP Sales Page template.

Now Suzanne is pretty tech-savvy and she’s also an expert in WordPress. So when she says this is next to impossible to create a good-looking sales page in WordPress without using a sales page template, I believe her. In fact, I tried to do this once myself, so I know.

I ended up paying someone to create a web page for me, in html. But since WP is so easy to use, I knew there must be a better way.

There is. If you’d like to know how to use a landing page template within your WP blogging platform, I suggest you read this page here, describing how the WP Sales Page template works: WP Sales Page… and yes, it’s an affiliate link because I love this product. It saves me time and energy.

Here are a few notes we discussed during the interview webcast… Read More→

Sales & Landing Pages Using WordPress: Learn How

If  you want to learn about formatting sales and landing pages using WordPress, please register for the free Webinar I’m hosting Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET.

I’m interviewing Suzanne Bird-Harris, developer of the WP Sales Page wizard. We’ll show you how to easily publish pages using your WordPress platform. The class is on the phone and on the Internet, your choice.

Can’t make the call? I’ll send you the audio file, plus any notes, but you’ll need to register:

Name
Email

Want to learn more about this great $37 product that makes landing pages easy to format and publish? Here’s Suzanne’s product page (affiliate link): WordPress Sales Page information.

There are a few drawbacks to using WP, if you are using it for product pages, affiliate product landing pages or email squeeze pages: Read More→

8 Ways to Use a WordPress Sales Page

Do you know how many ways a sales page can be used? I woke up thinking about this… because maybe you don’t think a “sales page” is something you need except once in a while for a product launch, when you’re trying to sell something.

Some people call them landing pages, or squeeze pages. I think the term was meant to squeeze your email address out of you, how weird is that? So let’s be clear about what kind of circus animal we’re going to be training to sit up and do tricks on our free teleseminar this Thursday.

Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET I’m interviewing Suzanne Bird-Harris on how to use a WordPress platform to create great sales pages. We’ll talk about format styles, different ways to use a page, and key elements that work to build trust. If you can’t attend, you will be sent the audio file and access to our power point presentation, if you register. You can register here:

Name
Email

Here’s my definition of the sales page beast: an attractive, compelling page published on the Internet that is optimized for search engines and designed to persuade a defined group of readers to take one specific action. Read More→

Create WordPress Sales Pages: Learn how this week

Do you need to create professional looking sales or landing pages? Want to save yourself the hassles? You can learn to do this using your WordPress platform.

There are very few drawbacks to using WordPress as your primary web platform. When you do encounter a problem, it’s easy to find a solution. I’ve found that most of the time, there’s a savvy expert out there who’s already created a whiz-bang plugin, or a product to do exactly what you want. Suzanne Bird-Harris is a perfect example.

Here’s what happened to me a few months ago. I had a teleclass I was doing with Michael Martine teaching The Ultimate Traffic Formula, how to get maximum results from your blogging efforts.

First thing I tried to do was create a registration page using my WordPress site on this blog. In the past, I used Dreamweaver to create web pages, but it gets complicated coding in HTML, and adding graphics is time-consuming. Read More→

Rant: The Problem with Formatting Sales Pages..

Even when you’re giving something away, for FREE, you’ve got to write good “sales” copy that spurs people into action. In today’s info-crammed world, that means you’ve got to grab busy peoples’ attention, and get them to click, and get them so excited that they take the time to type in their email address in exchange for your offer.

Unless you’re Naomi Dunsford of IttzBiz and know how to skillfully weave obscenities into headlines or emails, what cha gonna do? There are Internet gurus who’ve made millions teaching us lowly common folk with Ph.D.s how to sell socks to centipedes.

Entire Web fortunes have been made. Bare with me, I’m just getting started with this rant…

You think you’ve written a fairly decent sales letter, you’ve got all your benefits, your “AIDA“… (you’ve remembered to grab Attention, gain their Interest, spark Desires, address objections and ask for Action – with a sense of urgency, of course  – but you’re far from done.

The fun is just beginning. Now you’ve got to format your sales letter landing page, with a dynamite headline, cool graphics, arrows, ORDER NOW! buttons, subheadings, testimonials, bonuses…

Ay, ay, Chihuahua! (as we say down here in my home town of Ajijic, Mexico.)

Creating Great Sales Pages Read More→