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If you have joined Squidoo to promote and sell products, one skill that you are going to need is the ability to write an effective sales document.  As an affiliate marketer, every lens you write should be designed to attract a customer that is willing to buy your product or service and / or to gain their email address so you can follow up and market to them later.You are, in fact, writing a Sales Letter on your lens even if it is over several modules.  The content of that Sales Letter is incredibly important and should exhibit a level of friendliness, whilst still being direct and to the point.

Many business people struggle with writing an effective sales letter and realize that if the sales copy doesn’t speak to their target audience, in a way that the target audience will appreciate and understand – they are wasting their time. Not only should your sales letter speak to your lens visitor in a way that they can relate to, it must also address the reader’s main interest – generally a problem they are experiencing that requires a direct solution, or specific training or another need that requires filling.

You can use these six tips for keeping your potential customers, your readers, very interested and convert readers into buyers:

#1…Understand What Your Potential Clients Are Looking For

It is imperative that you know why your visitors will buy your products or services. Your visitors really aren’t interest in your product or service – you would be wrong – your visitors are are only interested in what your product or service will do for them. When writing your sales letter, you need to stress the benefits your potential clients will get if they buy your product.

There is an emotional component to all sales and it is that emotional component that prompts buying. The emotional component is the bit that contains the “WIIFM” or “What’s In It For Me?” Provide the answer to that question with the benefits of your product or service and you will make sales.

#2…Your Headline Counts

The first thing your visitors see when they land on your lens is the headline. The headline must grab the reader and makes them want to read more.

Your lens headline is the most important part of your entire sales letter. It’s worthwhile spending time on the headline when creating your lens.

#3…Be Direct And Focus On The Benefits

Your sales copy, or lens content, shouldn’t ramble – it should be direct and specifically focused on the benefits of owning your product or taking your service. There is no Golden Rule about the length of sales letters, it should be as long as it needs to be. Some lenses will be one page and some will be several pages long.  As long as you stress your benefits and make your copy as long as it needs to be to make your points (WIIFM).

#4…Keep Sentences And Paragraphs, Short And Sweet

Readers tend to skim through endless paragraphs of text and the look of your page is important to your conversion and as such, you should keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

Large blocks of text get skipped by scanning eyes. Use bullet points and subheads to direct and focus your reader’s attention and put a space or two between paragraphs to make your page easy to read.

Formatted text boxes will attract attention for special information or calls to action.

#5…Add A ‘PS’ After The Signature (maybe…)

Many successful Internet marketers believe that including a PS or two at the end of your sales letter, after your signature at the end, will increase your conversion rates dramatically. This may, or may not be true – it would depend on your target audience. Test your lens with a PS (a module right at the end) and without – see what results are achieved.

#6…Add Several Calls To Actions

Often, when writing a sales page, we can forget to add several calls to action. A Call To Action literally tells your reader what to do – graciously and politely. The Call To Action is generally a request to actually buy the product or service. If you review any sales page, or lens, that coverts well, you will usually find two or three opportunities to purchase the product on the sales page, complete with a statement of urgency and the ‘buy now’ link.

Once you have led the reader through your benefits and listed the bonuses available after they buy the product, you have to tell them what to do next.

These six tips are a great but your best training tools can be found on the sales pages and lenses of any of the very successful businesses. Review lots of sales pages and lenses, note things like colors, placement of the “Buy Now” button / links and the general layout of the page. Find pages that appeal to your target audience and duplicate what already works.

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