How a 5-Minute Change to your Online Copy can Increase your Sales as Much as 400%

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by Bob Serling

To celebrate the release of my new program, "Power Copywriting For The Internet", this issue will focus on improving the quality of your online copy.

Assuming that you, (1) have a quality product or service; and (2) know the best ways to contact prospects who are truly interested in what you offer, improving the copy you use to make your sales proposition is your fastest route to greater sales and profits.

Fortunately, improving your copy is fairly easy to do. There are many things you could potentially do, but in this issue, I'll concentrate on a simple technique that's been proven to increase sales by as much as 400%. This simple, yet extremely powerful technique is...

BECOME AN EXPERT AT WRITING HEADLINES

Would you be willing to invest 20 minutes to increase your sales by 50% to 400%? Increases like these are possible simply by putting in a little time to improve your headline.

Thousands of tests have proven that one headline can outpull another headline by as much as 400%. These same tests proved that having a headline - any headline at all - always beats the same copy without a headline.

Why then, would you possibly create a page of web copy WITHOUT a headline? Beats me, but if you take a look at a random sampling of 10 web sites, you'll find that at least 3 of the 10 have no headline whatsoever! So if your web site lacks a headline and you'd like to make a lot more sales, spend a few minutes creating an testing headlines today.

THE BEST WAY TO CREATE A POWERFUL HEADLINE

There are dozens of ways to create powerful headlines - enough to fill a book on this one topic alone. But here's the easiest, fastest, most reliable way to create a winning headline.

Find out either the biggest problem your customers have or the most important goal they want to achieve. Then build your headline around solving that problem or providing a way for your customers to achieve their goal.

Any time you can show your customer precisely what's in it for them, you'll always put yourself head and shoulders above your competition.

Here's an example of a problem headline, taken from one of my own web sites, http://www.SellYourServices.com

Do you need more clients for your service business?
Would you like to get paid more for your services?

This "stacked" headline focuses on the two greatest problems that plague service professionals: they don't have enough clients to fill all of their billable hours, and they're underpaid for their services. The vast majority of service professionals who have a sincere interest in improving their profits, will jump to find out what this is all about.

Now, here's an example of a goal oriented headline. It's taken from the web site of publicity expert Paul Hartunian, http://www.prprofits.com

How A $7 Investment Can Make You A Celebrity And Boost Your Profits By 367% Or More

That's a powerful juxtaposition - a substantial increase in profits for an insignificant investment. Just about any business owner or entrepreneur who has the slightest interest in using publicity to promote their business will be drawn in by this simple, direct headline.

HOW TO INEXPENSIVELY TEST HEADLINES

There are many ways to test headlines, but here are two of my favorites.

The first method depends on having a list of existing customers or prospects who have opted in to your list and won't be offended by receiving email from you. Here's how this method works. Set up two separate versions of the same web page offering your product or service. Each page will have its own URL, but all copy will be the same with the exception of the headline.

Split your list in half and send the first half an email with one headline that directs them to your first URL. Send the remaining half an email with your other headline directing people to your second URL. Whichever URL makes the most sales has the winning headline.

For example, here are two headlines I tested for my professional services course:

HEADLINE 1:

Do you need more clients for your service business?
Would you like to get paid more for your services?

Then visit http://www.SellYourServices.com/more1 to discover a proven, guaranteed way to grow your client roster.

HEADLINE 2:

Are you great at providing your service

...But you still aren't making as much money as you should be?

Then visit http://www.SellYourServices.com/more2 to discover a proven, guaranteed way to grow your client roster.

This is an actual test I conducted, among many, to determine the best headline for selling my professional services course. The two headlines you see above outpulled all other headlines I tested by a margin of over 2 to 1. Then, the first headline outpulled the second in multiple tests. So that's the headline I now use to promote that product.

Had I never tested a number of different headlines, I'd be leaving more than half of all potential sales on the table. That would truly be a shame when this method of testing headlines is so easy and so inexpensive to use.

METHOD TWO - TEST SMALL CLASSIFIED ADS

What do you do if you don't have an in-house email list you can use to test your headlines? Fortunately, there's a readily available solution.

Classified ads in offline publications, such as industry trade journals or newsletters, are an excellent medium for testing headlines. They're a mediocre way to sell a lot of your products or services, but an excellent way to test headlines.

For example, if I wanted to test the two headlines you just saw above with CPAs, there are dozens of trade journals to choose from. Just go to your library and ask the reference librarian for "The Standard Guide To Periodicals".

Once I'd selected the trade journal with the best rates for reaching as many qualified prospects as possible, I'd simply test both ads in the same issue of that trade journal and have each ad point to a unique URL - exactly like the examples above.

For this type of test, since the prospects don't necessarily know me, my company, or my products, I'm looking for which headline drives more traffic to my site, not for sales made. The fact is, I'll get far more traffic than sales. But this will tell me which headline has the strongest appeal.

CONCLUSION

As you've just seen, creating powerful headlines, then testing to see which headline outpulls all others, is very easy to do. Tests have proven that one headline can outperform others by as much as 400%. And in my own recent testing, I realized a sales increase of over 100% just by putting in 20 minutes of time creating and testing different headlines.

With substantial increases like this available for such a small amount of time and effort, I strongly recommend you give this technique a try. You too could be quickly producing greater sales and profits.

Tools For Improving Your Business

IT'S HOT OFF THE PRESS... If weak copy is damaging your online sales, here's how to get the results you really want. My new course is packed with real life examples that show how my clients have increased their profits from 38% to as much as 917% using my proven copywriting formula specifically designed for Internet copy. Plus, there's even more proven-in-the-trenches advice from 5 of the most successful online copywriters/marketers around: Declan Dunn, Dr. Audri Lanford, Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders, and Joe Vitale.

If you'd like to discover how turn weak, ineffective web copy into powerful, compelling copy that converts the maximum number of prospects into paying customers, you can get all the details at: http://www.bobserling.com/icopy

TIRED OF LOSING MONEY OR SETTLING FOR BARELY MAKING A PROFIT WITH YOUR WEB MARKETING? Here's the solution.

I've developed a web site that focuses on selling directly from your site, not giving the farm away for free and hoping someone eventually buys from you. This site dramatically outperforms my more conventional give-it-away-for-free site.

In addition, a client of mine has added two unique twists to my model and brings in sales of $3,500 a day. That comes to $1,277,500 a year. Recently, I conducted a limited-attendance teleconference call that lays out step-by-step details on how to create a direct sales site for any product or service. Every word was captured on audio tape. You can get all the details on these tapes by going to my web page: http://www.bobserling.com/direct