Direct Response Copywriter on Landing Page Conversion

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the last few months reading about landing page conversion—or conversion rate optimization (CRO) as it’s also known.

A chunk of my work is rewriting the copy for landing pages and the results are usually ‘triple digit’ good. One of the easiest, fastest, and least expensive ways to improve landing page conversion is to rewrite the copy.

It’s pretty simple:

1. Hire a direct response copywriter.
2. Let them do their thing.
3. Follow some graphical direct response techniques (black type on a white background.
4. Test the new page.

You’ll soon ditch the ‘old’ version of the landing page.

There’s actually not a huge amount written about landing pages. But I purchased a book the other day about the subject. I won’t reveal the title but the author has a degree in a computer related field.

I’ve been dipping into the book looking for the copywriting bits and while there’s very little about copywriting per se, big chunks of the book are about offers, testing, addressing an audience, getting people to take the next step, etc. This, my brothers and sisters, is DIRECT RESPONSE COPYWRITING.

You can approach the whole Internet thing from two angles.

1. The technical.
2. The marketing.

The book I just bought is insanely technical.

I’m sorry…BUT…for companies, the Internet is a marketing and sales tool. The successful companies see it thus THEN start to organize the technology. The key is using proven direct response techniques and using the technology as the platform.

The book I just bought obsesses over the platform. When you obsess over direct response copywriting and direct marketing you'll get better results.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Are You Asking Too Much of Your Prospect? Your Direct Response Copywriter on Preparation (Part 2).

What are you asking your reader (prospect) to do?

In my blog, I’ve written often about my local hardware store and I’m going there again. In the hardware store, you can buy anything from a bolt for five cents to a $4,500 Weber stainless steel grill.

A customer will happily buy a bolt during a single visit but getting them to buy the grill—when they’re only there for a bolt—is a big ask. Over time, it’s possible to convert the ‘bolt buyer’ into a grill buyer but it’s going to take a number of visits and some sales oomph on the part of the sales people.

Part of the preparation for writing copy is being realistic about the leap the copy will ask the prospect to make. It’s safest to err on the side of making the gap fairly narrow…UNLESS the copy can be long.

For example. If you’re in the business seminar business and you’re asking business owners to spend $3,500 to attend a seminar then you have two options on the sales page.

1. Ask the business owner to ‘opt in’ to receive some free information—then nurture the leads. Short copy on a squeeze page should do the trick.
2. Ask the business owner to book immediately and plop down $3,500.

If it’s the latter, then the copy needs to be long and the sales page/landing page must perform A LOT of selling and include every bell and every whistle…everything from a lot of offers and values to a TON of testimonials.

Short copy would likely NOT persuade a business owner to attend a conference for $3,500. In fact, it would be a waste of time and effort.

A big part of the preparation for the direct response copywriter is presenting realistic options to the reader. I don’t expect someone to hand me vast amounts of copy after a single visit to my website—although this happily happens periodically. I think it’s realistic to ask a reader to:

1. Contact me for a quote
2. Download some free information
3. Opt in to receive a free series about copywriting
4. Go to all the social media sites
5. Watch a short video.

I’ve been working recently on a sales page for a client that asks a highly defined niche to spend $129 for a ‘system’ and it’s a steep price. If the page isn’t converting, I’ve got two options.

1. Improve the page.
2. Provide an opt in option to build a database and nurture the leads.

For the quality of the information and the benefits—it’s a good price. But am I expecting the reader to buy the $4,500 grill in just a single visit?

We’ll see...and adjust accordingly.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Direct Response Copywriter on Preparation (Part 1)

I’m going to start a series about how I write copy and my approach to direct response copywriting. I want to start the series by going through what it takes to prepare to write—before I even type a word of copy.

Direct response copywriters will know about preparation and research but many people in marketing and advertising may find it surprising to discover what it takes to get, to use a shocking cliché, all those ducks in a row.

The first step is to understand the business model. Some of the questions I like to ask: 

• What is the company trying to achieve?
• What’s their basic business model?
• Are they changing the model?
• How does the company market the model?
• What are they doing right now?
• Is the sales copy for a special offer or ‘routine’ business?
• How will the direct response copy I’m going to write complement or augment the business model?

It doesn’t usually take me a long time to work out what the company is trying to achieve. But it helps. In fact, if a direct response copywriter doesn’t understand the business model, they will find it tough to maximize response. Remember, the direct response copywriter is trying to persuade the reader to take a specific action. How is that action going to help the company generate additional revenue?

Next: I'll discuss the action...and what's a realistic action to ask the reader to take.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Why I'm glad I wasn't a copywriter for Steve Jobs...or maybe that's a crazy thought...

I couldn’t find the original piece but, just after Steve Jobs died, there was a story I found about Steve Jobs and a copywriter. The copywriter wasn’t getting anywhere (as can happen) and so he asked Jobs to be more specific…to provide more direction.

Not exactly a bizarre request.

According to the story, Jobs replied: “I don’t know what I want—but when I see it, you’ll be the first to know.”

This makes the job of a copywriter, or any creative, or any professional, extremely difficult. It’s like telling a pilot to fly without a destination.

I’ve had people say “I don’t know what I want—but when I see it, you’ll be the first to know” to me. And I’ve had to part ways.

So…unless you have the unlimited copywriting budget plus you’re paying hourly plus don’t care how long something takes, providing direction is preferable.

If you’re ever stuck then I recommend you start with my direct response preflight checklist.

A simple creative brief that takes about 20 minutes to complete is also a huge help to the direct response copywriter. In fact, a clear creative brief is a thing of great beauty to me.

But maybe, if Steve Jobs was extremely patient, being the copywriter for Apple was the greatest gig on the planet.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Why this Direct Response Copywriter Loves Writing Direct Response Copy

I work with a number of agencies and clients around the world. They are, almost without exception, in the ‘direct marketing’ camp. They understand they need a copywriter who can execute direct response copywriting techniques; they understand the value of direct response copywriting.

Occasionally, I work with a local business owner who has never heard of direct marketing and thinks it’s something weird. If I like the business (and the owner/manager) and they’ve expressed an interest in ramping up their marketing, I’ll begin a conversation about their needs and goals and see if it leads to some work.

But first, I can’t call myself a copywriter—and certainly not a direct response copywriter. Very few people know what a direct response copywriter does. So…to a local business owner, I have to be one of the following:

• Email marketing expert.
• Marketing guru.
• Advertising mad man.

It’s all code for ‘direct response copywriter’ and I simply add some basic skills like setting up autoresponders and designing post cards. But, at my core, I’m still just a plain old direct response copywriter.

I just started working with a local client—a great local business that’s never used direct marketing before. I’ve been working with them for a few weeks. Here’s what we’ve done.

1. Created an irresistible offer.
2. Got people to opt in to the database when they’re in the business.
3. Used social media to drive people to opt in to the database.
4. Set up autoresponders and email blasts in MailChimp.
5. Provided another offer to get the people in the database to come into the business.
6. Wrote direct response copy to persuade people to take the next step—come into the business (with their friends) to take advantage of the offer...and spend real money!

Just the other night, the very first customer took us up on the offer. So…it’s working. The database is only about 10% of where it should be—but it takes time to build a real opt in email database. But...

The client has seen a result.

It’s exceptionally exciting when direct marketing works and it’s a big reason I’m in the business of direct response copywriting. 

If you’re a business owner, reduce your branding efforts to 2% of your marketing and learn everything you can about direct marketing and it helps if you fully understand what a direct response copywriter can achieve. If the simple email marketing tactic works for my local client (which I think it will) then the small business will gain at least $100,000 in new revenue...for an extremely small investment.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.