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Here’s a new sales page critique that I put together for one of my Copywriting Sweetie students. I thought it might be helpful for making tweaks to your own sales copy and Danielle, the site owner has kindly agreed to share.

This is a decently written letter, but it could use a boost in a couple areas, including:

Proof & Credibility: If you want people to trust your expertise, you need convey this directly to your prospects. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are, if your prospect doesn’t believe it, that makes it really tough to make the sale.

Concrete & Compelling Detail: The more benefit-oriented detail that you can give your readers, the easier it is for them to make a buying decision. This particular critique is for a membership site that has content that changes on a monthly basis, so the challenge of providing REAL DETAIL for your prospects becomes a challenge. I’ve included a few important suggestions for overcoming this obstacle.

Watch the Video or Read the Written Report

The critique comes in two formats, so you can digest it in a way that works best for you.

Watch the video online.

Download the written guide (PDF).

Need to Put Together Your Own Sales Copy, But Need Help?

If you need extra copywriting help, grab your access to the Copywriting Sweetie course + software. If you’d like more hands-on one-on-one help, sign up to be notified of the next IM Copy Makeover.

As you know by now, the Hot Summer Seminar Series is in full swing at Kelly’s place. Each week, there’s a new webinar/teleseminar on an Internet marketing-related topic…and the series is FREE (but you can purchase recordings & transcripts if you want).

Here was a quick Twittouncement from Kelly today:

To which I had to reply:

Lynn has over 10 years online marketing experience and not only that - she’s a great to teacher who LOVES to share. That’s why the topic for Lynn’s call is perfect - it’s all about Social Marketing and how you can schmooze your way into the hearts of your prospects and customers.

BUT IMPORTANT: Tonight’s call has been postponed until further notice…but it’s still coming. Just sign up now and Kelly will keep you up-to-date.

If you’re a regular reader here at the Sweetie blog, you’ll know that the 3rd Saturday of each month marks the arrival of the monthly Sweetie Saturday Report.

To Report Club Members: If you’re a member, this brand new report is already in your account. If you’re not a member yet, info on signing up comes in a bit.

This month’s topic is sure to please those who are looking to get more traffic and generate more sales without taking huge risks.

Introducing: Online Advertising: More Bang for Your Advertising Buck…this is your guide to turn paid advertising opportunities into PROFITS, instead of feeling like you’re gambling your money away.

This guide includes a written report plus full audio recording discussing:

Why only focusing on free methods of traffic generation is seriously limiting your business.

Why online advertising is so much easier and often more cost-effective than traditional offline advertising.

The two simple calculations that make it possible to take you from SPENDING money to MAKING money with your advertising.

Simple ways to track and improve your advertising efforts.

Where to send your advertising traffic for best response.

What types of advertising you can buy and tips for using them.

5 crucial things you must consider before purchasing any advertising.

Writing your ad text for maximum results.

At only 18 easy-to-digest pages (or listen to the audio if you prefer), it’s easy to whip through and start making smart decision with your paid advertising. And seriously, a few of those pages are just graphics, so that means you can go through the guide even faster. No sense in reading all day, when you can be DOING and generating more traffic that converts to sales.

This guide + audio is for YOU and as always, by purchasing a Sweetie Saturday awesome deal, you also receive resell rights (yep it also includes the graphics). This means you can sell it or add it to a paid product as a bonus. The only thing you can’t do is give it away for free or sell the rights to anyone else.

This offer is good ONLY until: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 10:30 PM PST and then I won’t sell this report to the general public again.

How to Order:

THIS OFFER IS EXPIRED…PLEASE SEE BELOW HOW YOU CAN STILL GET THE GUIDE BY JOINING THE SWEETIE SATURDAY REPORT CLUB.

By the way, this is the LAST month I will be offering these reports for individual sale to the public. Starting in July, the only way to get the monthly reports will be by joining the Sweetie Saturday Report Club. It’s hard work setting up my shopping cart up each month, so I’m going to make it easy on myself and my members to get the goods.

Get the Report for Only $9 by Joining the Club…

Click here to join the Sweetie Saturday Report Club for $9 per month and instantly receive a new Sweetie Saturday Report each month. You can cancel at any time.

Cool NEW Members-Only Perk: We’ve just added the Essential Biz Notes monthly supplement.

It is a personal letter from me including a variety of strategies and recommendations for all aspects of your online business. It’s been a whole lot of fun writing this month’s issue that includes help on having the confidence to make GREAT and growth-inspiring decisions for your online business.

In an online world where just about everything can be tested and tracked, I think it’s easy to forget that there are still human beings creating the data for all those wonderful calculations that allow us to increase our conversion rates and ROIs. Of course, I talked about this just a little while back in a post entitled Myth: It Comes Down to Conversions.

But I saw a comment on a forum today that made me want to revisit the subject.

The subject of Virtual Agents (you know those annoying pop-up scripts that pretend to a be real human giving you a last ditch offer before you leave a website?) reared its head again. The person who created the thread was complaining about how annoying they were and how he felt they were a bit dishonest. Others chimed in with similar opinions.

Others stated that it didn’t matter what we thought, but that if the Virtual Agents increased conversions, then they were worth looking at. I can accept that. Personally, it’s not always about the bottom line for me, but I can accept that my opinion shouldn’t guide what someone else should do with their business.

But the most curious comment came up. Here’s what one forum member said:

“Well I look at it like this…

If you’re annoyed by the Virtual Assistant then you were NOT going to buy anyway, right..? So for the times it does save a sale it’s completely worth it…

If a non-buyer gets upset then so-be-it… they won;t be back anyway, right?”

Honestly, it felt like a bit of regurgitation of advice I’d seen before where the context made more sense. But what the heck? If a potential customer is put off or offended by something in your sales process, they’re not serious?

Does that mean we have carte blanche to do what we want, insult our customers and they’ll still buy if they are serious about our product?

Of course not, but it seems to me that’s what this forum member was saying. There are so many reasons we lose sales and realistically, we have little to no control over most of them. But I think it’s a mistake to attempt put yourself in a safe place and justify the loss of every customer is based on the fact that they’re not serious.

Have you ever walked into a store, ready to buy something and left because a sales clerk was unhelpful or rude?

Or worse, have you ever convinced yourself that your own prospect wasn’t serious because they didn’t like something about your own order process?

Since the release of the sales page template and checklist was so well-received over the weekend, I thought you might also like this. It’s a sales page critique I recently did for a student.

And although, it’s specifically about her sales page, it covers a lot of suggestions that could be applied to your sales pages as well.

Watch the Video or Read the Written Report

The critique comes in two formats, so you can digest it in a way that works best for you.

Watch the video online.

Download the written guide (PDF).

If You Like This…Do This Next…

If you found this critique helpful and you’d like some extra help with your copywriting - PLUS get your own private full critique of your own sales copy, be sure to join me for the Internet Marketing Copywriting Makeover.

There are just a handful of spots left in this limited-enrollment one-on-one coaching program. Click here to learn more. PLUS the Early Bird Offer Ends Today!

It’s official…it’s now open for registration…

We’ve been gearing up for this 4-week intensive copywriting coaching program for a couple of weeks now. Here are the recent copywriting goodies given out on the blog:

Sales Letter Template & Handy Checklist

Making Headline Writing Easy Guide

EDITED TO ADD: Forgot to mention that I’ve got a sample in-depth sales page critique to share with you. I’ll post it on Wednesday morning, so keep an eye out.

Those are yours to grab, at no cost or any kind of obligation, but I’m here to let you know that if you need more help getting your website to sell while you do more important things - I’m your gal.

The Internet Marketing Copy Makeover is Accepting 12 Students Only

You’ll note that the registration cap for this coaching program is about 1/2 of what I usually accept. That’s because I am dedicating EVEN MORE time per student to ensure they get the most out of this opportunity. I’m including templates, checklists, copy-and-paste phrases and FULL and DETAILED critiques, so I need to ensure I have plenty of time to get all my students on the right track.

All the details are right here - and there is a $50 off Early Bird Discount if you get in by Wednesday. But please note - if we reach 12 students before then…I’ll have to shut it down early.

If you’re looking to hone your copywriting skills, here’s another cool must-have freebie. This time it’s a handy sales letter template and checklist to help you easily craft your next sales page.

Without a doubt, a sales letter is one of the most effective ways to sell a single product online (Have more than one product? Have more than one sales letter!). Even with all the talk about Web 2.0, relationship marketing - it often boils down to effectively connecting with your target audience, conveying the benefits of your product and giving them the confidence to buy.

Here’s What’s Included in This Saturday’s Freebie:

Part 1: HTML Template to Format Your Sales Letter: Take the guesswork out of what to place where. This template shows you exactly what to do.

You can change colors, images and anything else you want. This template is simply a guide for you to use for your business.

NOTE: The template is for your own business use and CAN be used to build pages for your clients. However, you cannot resell or rebrand the template for giveaway.

The template includes some images that you can use (bullets, check marks, guarantees, etc.) or you can have some of the images customized. View a demo of the template here.

Part 2: Sales Letter Checklist

Whether you use the template or not, this checklist will help you ensure that you have all the necessary components for all your sales pages.

It guides you through some of the common terminology and tips for making your letter a converting success.

How to Get Your Download

This download is completely free, no opt-in or sacrificing your soul to the devil required.

Click here for both goodies (Zip Folder - includes HTML page, images and PDF documents)

If you find this guide helpful, be sure to sign up for the priority notification list for the upcoming IM Copy Makeover - where you’ll have the opportunity to get step-by-step, one-on-one help to revamp and remodel your sales copy for better results.

I remember when I started my business in 2002, I was in search of a way to work solely online. At that time, everyone seemed to insist that while you could make some money online, you would have to supplement with some offline efforts. Since then, that has been proven wrong many, many times over by many people. You CAN make a full-time living online.

But still, many people insist that if you don’t include some offline efforts, you are leaving money on the table. Perhaps, it’s true…but we all have reasons for doing what we do.

Do you do any offline marketing? Please share.