Landing Page Makeover Clinic #3: HelenGraves.com

Landing Page Makeover Clinic #3: HelenGraves.com

Reader Comments (18)

  1. I have a question for anyone – do these long copy pages still work to draw in lots of people?

    Whenever I come upon such a page I either scroll super fast through or just exit immediately – they are quite off-putting.

    Is there a better way to sell such products online?

  2. The fast answer is, “it depends” on the complexity of the product/service being promoted, if you’re going for a sale or a lead, and the target market’s general preferences.

    I’ll be writing a post about this very thing this week on Copywriting Maven, but I’ll say this now – for those who are ready to buy, they may not need as much information as those who are still gathering info. For the former, a mere skim of the heads and subheads and they know whether or not the product’s for them. For the latter, they’ll require more information before they can proceed.

    A longish landing page done right can easily accommodate both kinds of prospects.

  3. These sorts of pages are still around for a reason — a lot of users still respond to them.

    A lot of us here are power users and wouldn’t give them the time of day but you’d be surprised just how successful a good sales letter can be.

  4. Jeremy, there are alternatives to the long copy sales letter, but there’s really no alternative to giving all the necessary information. When it comes to info product sales, people want a lot of information.

    Roberta mentioned one tactic that I like — giving away the first chapter or two for free. A good information product, whether text, audio or video, will begin by “selling” you on continuing to consume the information (take a look at the beginning of any good business book, for example).

    So, in essence, you can deliver the same information in the form of content. People who swear they will never read long copy read it all the time… it’s just in a different format. Then you send them to a shorter landing page that reiterates the benefits of buying, offers testimonials and gives the guarantee and ordering mechanism.

  5. Long Copy Sales letters are only effective if one structures it in such a way that every sentence pre-sells the next sentence to the reader, so that he is compelled to read on.

    Most people don’t take the time to read through the entire letter and that’s where the P.S. and bulleted points come in handy.

    What I tend to do is to print out the sales copy and read it at the comfort of my bed. I always enjoy studying an effective sales copy!

  6. Does anyone else find it ironic that she is a “marketer” and trying to sell a marketing self-help cd… but she needs help marketing it?

    So basically its an ineffective product as it is. Awesome!

  7. No surprise to me, Chris. Marketers like myself are happy to reach out to other marketers for advise, ideas, and fresh perspective. I find copywriters, in particular, eager to help others. (When I write big, complex packages, I have a few writers I call on for review/editing duty.)

  8. Why not give a free sample on the website? Give me an audio clip, give me a couple of pages from the workbook, give me a video lecture from Helen.

    Also, I don’t really know what you are trying to sell until midway through the letter. I see the picture at the top of the page, but are those DVD’s are they CD’s? Tell me more earlier, before you make me read half of your ad.

  9. Jay is right. Something a little more interesting and not as much text to get the point accross to the potential customer as soon as possible. Audio or video clips would be a great idea.

  10. I had my landing page sales letter looked at by John Carlton. I had a clip of my audio and he said to take it off because it doesn’t do justice to the whole package. I am still a little unsure about this! He also said not to use an extract of the ebook that goes with my (insomnia) audio program.

  11. In general… from a consumer standpoint I get totally TURNED OFF by the long long long pages full of marketing speak as if you have to be led and strung along — actually somewhat insulting.

    If you’ve got something to SELL then tell me what it is, how it benefits me, and let’s get on with the program. I must admit I’ve seen several of these pages across the web and they look like they were shot out of the STANDARD MKT. FORM LETTER web page machine from somewhere.

  12. I did not think people were still putting the form so far below the fold. It is nice that she has information on the landing page but the problem is the amount of information. If people can’t find the form in a few seconds they usually just click out of the site. I know I would of clicked out of it if I could not find the form. The best thing IMHO is to cut out 80% of the content and have an informative blurb. Then the form works for me.

  13. I thought that these super-long landing pages were outdated and scared people away. I would never personally fill out a form that was Begging me for my sign up.

    I agree with Jeremy.

  14. Nothing ever truly goes away, Darrell, but as you’ll see my recommendations always include an emphasis on testing. Long-form landing pages or short form squeeze pages? Testing is the key to determining what works and doesn’t for your products/services and markets.

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