Issue 143 of the Excess Voice newsletter for online copywriters

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Excess Voice Newsletter
November 2007, Issue # 143

In this issue:

>> Intro: All about landing pages
>> Review: The 2008 Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa
>> Article: A Landing Page Tip - Anticipate the intentions of your visitors
>> Job Board: Post a Job + 2 New Jobs Posted
>> Survey: What habits or rituals do you use to get focused?
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Greetings,

We are coming close to the end of my long series of surveys about our daily productivity. Responses to the last few surveys clearly indicate that most of us have trouble maintaining a consistent level of focus from the beginning to the end of the day.

In this issue's survey I'm asking whether you have any special habits or rituals you use at the start of a job, or the day, to help you stay better focused. If you do, please share.

This issue's review and article are both on the topic of landing pages, and how to improve them.

Until next time,

Nick

Nick Usborne

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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REVIEW: The 2008 Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa

If you received my email last week, you'll already know about the new Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa.

I have now had time to have a thorough look through my review copy...and am glad I did.

The first edition, back in 2004, was excellent. But this edition goes into even more detail and addresses the many changes that have taken place in the world of online marketing over the last three years.

Yes, it costs a few hundred bucks.

But if that presents a problem with your boss or manager, try something like this:

"ROI? No problem. We just check out the best ideas from the 100+ landing page examples in the report and then...er...well, steal them. Not the pages. Just the ideas."

That's simply a blunt way of explaining what we'll all be doing with this handbook. We'll look for the best new ideas, and then apply them to our own landing pages.

You can read my review here:
http://www.excessvoice.com/landing-page.htm

Or go directly to the MarketingSherpa information and sales page here:
http://excessvoice-landingpages.marketingsherpa.com/

Previous Reviews:

#1. Robert Middleton's InfoGuru Marketing Manual

If you are a freelancer or solopreneur, you may fall into the large group who do a great job at what they do - but are not so gifted when it comes to promoting and marketing their own services. If this sounds like you, be sure to read this review.

Read my review...
http://www.excessvoice.com/middleton.htm

#2. Productivity Engineering - a hypnosis CD program to help you improve your work performance.

An excellent program I tried myself with considerable success.

Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/productivity.htm

#3. The Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey, Volume 2.

This is the second volume of this survey, fully up to date, and with a lot more information on what to charge for 40 different types of freelance copywriting work, how to find new assignments, and more.

Read my review...
http://www.excessvoice.com/copywriting-fees-survey.htm

#4. Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting

This is the only copywriting course I wholeheartedly recommend to any copywriter who wants to write copy that drives results.

Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/michael-masterson.htm

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ARTICLE: A Landing Page Tip - Anticipate the intentions of your visitors.

As many of us already know, if you are driving traffic to a landing page, with Pay Per Click ads for example, you would do well to match the headlines in both places.

In other words, if your Pay Per Click ad headline says something like, "Free Teleseminar Software" then you'll want to have a landing page headline that includes the phrase, "free teleseminar software".

A great deal of testing by many companies has shown that this approach raises landing page conversions significantly.

Plenty of online marketers have known this for some time. So what they do is optimize their PPC campaigns, finding the ad headlines that give them the most qualified traffic for the best price, and then set up a whole series of landing pages, each with a headline that matches its corresponding ad. Or they simply change the headline "on the fly" on one page.

This is all well and good, but often leaves you with landing page body text that doesn't quite match the headline.

And there's another problem that occurs when you optimize for a phrase instead of optimizing for the reader.

All too often, the landing page fails to address the intentions of the visitor.

How can you anticipate a visitor's intentions?

While you can't always discern a visitor's intentions when he or she clicks on a Pay Per Click ad, or on a link from a banner or an email, there are times when you can make a reasonable guess.

For instance, let's say I'm selling an essential oil diffuser kit from my site.

Like everyone else, I'll try to optimize my PPC ads and work with headlines that get me traffic and convert well.

Here are two PPC headlines I might discover work particularly well for me:

1. Free Shipping with Essential Oil Diffuser Kit

2. Review of Top Essential Oil Diffusers

Can we figure out the intentions of our visitors, depending on which ad version they click?

I think we can make a decent guess.

I think people who click the first ad are more or less ready to buy.

And I think people who click on the second version are more likely to be at the stage where they are still doing some research. They want to check out some reviews.

I'm not suggesting that either headline is a particularly good one. But I do think they illustrate that different headlines will attract visitors with varying intentions.

Now what happens at the landing page?

What is called for here is at least two totally different landing pages – one that closes the sale, and the other that informs the reader with product reviews.

Unfortunately, not many companies go this far. Perhaps it feels like too much work to write a series of different landing pages based on the reader's likely intentions.

Or perhaps there is just a communications lapse between the person working on the PPC ads and the copywriter who writes the landing page.

Concluding thoughts...

Sometimes, when we are optimizing our landing pages, we get too caught up with particular headline phrases and the technology that delivers them.

And we don't think enough about the likely intentions of our visitors.

Which is a pity, because once you identify your visitors' intentions, you can deliver exactly the information they are looking for, and convert more of them into customers or subscribers.

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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JOB BOARD

** Looking for an online copywriter or web content writer?

Post your job on the Excess Voice Job Board and reach over 15,000 copywriters a month.
http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/

** Looking for a copywriting job?

The latest job listings:

Copywriter Specialist @ Alzheimer's Association
http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/jobs/show/90440-copywriter-specialist

Investing Copywriter @ The Motley Fool
http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/jobs/show/92775-investing-copywriter

More copywriting jobs:
http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/

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SURVEY: What habits or rituals do you use to get focused?

Some writers have habits or rituals they go through in order to get themselves focused on a particular task, or the day's writing. Do you?

My habits/rituals are: .................

Comments:

(NOTE: Any comments and your name may be published in the next issue, or on the Excess Voice web site.)

Cut and paste your replies to me at mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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NICK USBORNE'S SERVICES:

Yes, I do more than write articles and publish newsletters.

Ask me to give a training seminar or webinar for your writers or web team.

http://www.nickusborne.com/speaking.htm

Ask me to write for your site, emails and newsletters.
http://www.nickusborne.com/copywriting.htm

Ask me to optimize your key offer pages...
http://www.nickusborne.com/consulting.htm

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