How to Create Your First One-Page
Sales Web Site
Most one-page web sites (also called one-page sales letter
web sites or mini web sites) have only one purpose -- to sell a
product. My conversion to the one-page web site strategy has been a
reluctant one, as I hate reading all the sales copy. However, the facts
don't lie -- one page web sites written like a lengthy sales letter are
one of the most effective ways to sell you product online. Most people
don't actually read anything online. Instead, they scan a page, seeking
out info that is bold, in a larger font size, in a different color, or
in a bulleted format. Consequently, Internet marketers have discovered
that the most important information about your product needs to catch
the reader's eyes as they scan the page.
Here's what you need to get started:
1. A niched product for an easily identifiable target market.
One-page web sites work best if you have a product for a very specific
niche market, like an ebook on how to teach a parrot to talk, an ecourse
on how to start your own bead jewelry making business, or a set of CDs
on how to teach yourself to play the piano. You need to be able to
identify and describe your target market, from determining what the
target market needs and what they'll pay for (as well as how much they
will pay) to what publications they read, what groups/associations do
they belong to, and where they hang out both on- and offline. Make sure
you know something about your target market before proceeding to the
next step.
2. A domain name. The domain name for your one-page site
should mirror or closely resemble your product name, or a prominent
feature of your product. So, for example, if you are a hypnotherapist
and you have a podcast that you're selling on how to use self-hypnosis
to lose weight, then you'd want to try and get a domain name like
LoseWeightFast.com. Try and get the .com version of your domain name if
possible, but if that's not available, seek out the hyphenated version
of the .com domain name.
If you have an existing web site, your domain name can be forwarded and
masked to an internal page of your website so that it appears like a
separate website without having to pay for additional hosting.
UltranetDomains.com is
where I purchase all of my domains, and they offer domain forwarding and
masking as a part of their domain registration service.
If you don't currently have a web site, you need to determine what your
online business needs will be in the next few months to determine what
type of hosting and website services you might need.
3. A give-away. You have two goals for your one-page web
site: get the contact info from your visitors and convert them into
paying customers. The best way to obtain contact info from a visitor is
to create a related information product (ebook, electronic tips booklet,
special report, podcast or other audio file, ecourse, video, etc.) in
which the content is so compelling that the visitor gladly parts with
his/her name and primary email address to obtain the free giveaway. You
can also create a special offer, say a trial period for $1, and offer
access only to those who will give you their contact info. By giving
you their contact information, they have become a warm lead and you can
start to develop a relationship with them.
4. Your product. There are any number of products you
can create to sell online. The ones that are easiest to create and
require little investment (other than your time to create them) and are
available by an electronic download include an ebook or special report,
a podcast (audio recording of an interview or telelcass), or an ecourse.
Of these, you probably have almost everything you need to create an
ebook. I recommend that you format in ebook in a word processing
program, like Microsoft Word. You'll then want to format it into a
locked PDF document so that it's more difficult to illegally copy. I
also encourage you to use a PDF program that allows you to create
clickable links in your document so that your buyers can easily click on
web sites from your ebook. I prefer the Adobe Acrobat program to create
PDF documents, as Adobe PDF has both of these features, but there are a
number of low-cost or free programs available that will permit you to
convert basic word processing files to PDF format.
To make your product more appealing, you need to have a cover created.
This cover can actually serve as the cover of the virtual product, and
you can use it as an icon in emails and in your shopping cart as a
visual representation of your product. There are a number of graphic
artists who create ebook and other product covers, and there are several
pieces of software you can purchase to create your own. I've never been
too happy with the results from software, so I hire Heather Colman of
CustomDesignCovers.com,
who does an incredible job.
5. A merchant account. In order to collect payments, you
need to be able to take credit card payments online. I use and highly
recommend
Practice Pay Solutions, a company that works with many
coaches, consultants and speakers. Your merchant account company needs
to offer a "virtual terminal", which lets you enter and process
transactions online and interfaces with your shopping cart program. The
most commonly used virtual terminal is that provided by Authorize.net.
If you don't want to invest in a merchant account, you can begin by
using third-party processors like PayPal
or ClickBank, but they offer less
flexibility than a full merchant service.
6. Shopping cart software. Ultimately, your shopping
cart software will be a workhorse for you and enable you to automate
many functions of your online business. The cart that I highly
recommend is
KickStartCart.com, which offers a great deal of flexibility in how
you list and bundle products, gives buyers a 24-hour download URL for
downloading your electronic product, has built-in autoresponders so you
can automatically follow up with your buyers, and an email broadcast
function so that you can send out special notices to the customers or
prospects on your list.
7. A squeeze page. A squeeze page offers the visitor
access to some piece of information in exchange for the visitor parting
with his name and primary email address. The information has been
"squeezed" out of the visitor, hence the name of the page. On this page
you'll want to have an attractive graphic, compelling headline, a short
list of benefits that the visitor will receive if the visitor gives you
his contact info immediately, and a form for the visitor to fill out to
receive the information.
8. The sales letter page. This is the primary sales page
of your one-page web site, containing a long sales letter with benefits
of your product and testimonials of others who've used the product,
There's a formula for writing an effective one-page sales letter site,
and I use a program called
Instant
Sales Letter Generator that helps me by asking me a series of
questions that will enable me to create the copy for the page. The
formula for a one-page sales letter web site is generally an
attention-getting headline, a strong opening statement, body of the
letter that outlines the features and benefits of what you're offering,
the actual offer itself, and then asking for the sale. Most pages are
constructed very similarly. If you look at any of the web sites of the
major Internet marketers, you'll find this style used again and again.
9. Follow-up autoresponders. The ability to continue to
reach out and "touch" your prospective customers is key in developing a
relationship with them so that they move from a prospective customer to
a purchasing customer. I usually create a series of 6-10 or so
autoresponders that are sent out over the 3 weeks following a purchase
to check in with the purchaser, or to interest the purchaser in another
item. The
shopping cart service I use has autoresponders built in. Other
reliable autoresponder services include
Aweber.com and GetResponse.com.
10.. Traffic to the site. Because your site is only one
page, it will be virtually ignored in the organic search engine ranking
process. There's simply not enough content to warrant a high ranking on
any keyword you might choose. The easiest way to drive traffic to a
one-page web site is to purchase keywords, or pay-per-click
advertising. Google's Adwords,
and Yahoo's Search
Marketing (formerly Overture) are two of the best-known
pay-per-click advertisers. Google is probably the easiest with which to
start.
Completing a one page web site won't happen overnight. However, with a
bit of research, great copywriting, and a marketing plan in place, a
one-page web site can easily become a profit center for your business.
(c) 2009 Donna Gunter
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Internet Marketing Automation
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous
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results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by
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