1. Use conversational copy. Talk to your readers. How do you talk? When you speak do you use contractions? Do you use colloquialisms? Write like you talk and you’ll make a better connection with your readers.

2. Use active words. Do you want to compel your readers to act or command them to act? Do you want your readers to benefit from your product or do you want it to change their life? Words have power. Find specific active verbs to paint your copy, to make it exciting and lively.

3. Make your copy benefit oriented. Honestly, your readers don’t care if your lawnmower has a push button start. What they care about is that the lawnmower starts easily. Your owners don’t care if your lawnmower has a tight turning radius. They want to know that mowing around their rose bush is easy and doesn’t require a 30-point turn. Sell benefits not features.

4. Use common language. Make sure that you use words that people know. Absolutely do not, even if you’re writing for rocket scientists, use tech speak or jargon. Not only is jargon boring but also you’ll lose your audience if they don’t know what you’re talking about. Do use words that people are familiar with and can connect to.

5. Use emotions. We all want to feel smarter, richer, happier, thinner, more respected and so on. Use these emotions and emotional needs to connect with your reader. For example, “Do you feel paralyzed every time you have to go shopping? Do you hate trying on clothes? Does stepping in front of that three way mirror strike fear inside you?”

Compelling web copy has many business building benefits. It will keep your visitors glued to your site. It will bring visitors back to your site. It will generate traffic and increase your search engine ranking. Compelling copy also sells!

It’s not something you’ve heard before.

It will make you a TON of extra cash.

But before I can tell you this astounding secret to more sales, I need to give you some background.  Don’t worry, it’s a good story and you’ll find it entertaining.

Back in 1979 I was looking for a summer job to help me save up for college.  Construction jobs were the best—they paid $5 and sometimes more an hour—but it was back-breaking labor.  McDonald’s was always looking for burger jockeys, but that meant working evenings and weekends, the times I wanted to be out playing.

A friend of mine called and told me he had gotten a job selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, and that he had made $100 his very first day.

Let’s see…no back breaking labor, no hair net, my time is my own and $100 per day instead of $100 per week.  I thought I’d give selling a try.

I went down to Electrolux and signed up.  By that afternoon I had my VW Rabbit Hatchback loaded down with everything from spare bags to the floor scrubber attachment and I was tooling down US 41 to Bicknell, Indiana poised to earn my first $100.

My sales manager, Al,  had told me it was virtually impossible to demonstrate the vacuum three times without selling at least one, and I made $100 in commission for each one sold.

I just knew this was going to be a piece of cake.

Day one:  3 demonstrations, no sales.
Day two:  3 demonstrations, no sales.
Day Three:  4 demonstrations, no sales.

At this point I was discouraged.  I hadn’t made ANY sales, but I had spent $20 on 98 cent gas (it was ’79), and another $15 at McDonald’s on lunches.

I decided to quit and went to turn in my equipment.  Obviously I was no salesman.

That was the moment that changed everything…

Instead of simply letting me quit, Al asked me to do a demonstration for him, right in his office.  I went through my spiel and started my first “trial close.”  That’s when he stopped me.

“You’re selling Hoovers.”

“No,” I strongly replied, “I am trying to sell an Electrolux.”

“But after your demonstration they’re going to go out and buy a Hoover.”

Al went on to explain that when someone feels and sees a pressing need they figure out the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to meet that need.  An Electrolux cost about $650.00, a Hoover cost about $50.

He knew that when a presentation isn’t done properly the prospect simply thanks the salesman for his time then promptly goes to Sears and picks up an el-cheapo.

Man, Hoover must have loved me.

“You have to destroy the old method” Al went on.

He explained that as a part of your presentation you have to make sure to show the prospect that any solution other than the one you are offering won’t solve his problem.  You do this by looking at his current solution—his own vacuum—and showing why it wasn’t doing the job.   Then you demonstrate that none of his other options will work either—they are too expensive, too ineffective or both.

Did this help?  All I can say is I never went more than two demonstrations again without a sale.

Here’s how you can apply this to an online sales letter.

Once you have demonstrated the need, take a paragraph or two to demonstrate why the current solution won’t work.  Take another paragraph to demonstrate why your competitor’s solutions won’t work.

In just one or two paragraphs you can double your closing percentage.  And stop selling Hoovers.

You’ve tried changing the main headline, and it helped, but you are still only converting 1 sale for every 1,000 visits or so.

Before you give up, you need to read this article.  You will discover the instant, easy method to make your copy compelling—and how your copy can be improved in the next 10 minutes.

Here’s your key:  Make your headlines a complete sales message by themselves.

Here’s what you need to know…

When a prospect hits your sales page he’s not likely to read the entire thing—at least not at first.  He will read your main headline and then scan down the page looking at each of your sub-headlines.  He won’t read hardly anything else until he is “convinced” to do further reading by the headlines you provide him.

You need to make sure your headlines, when placed “end to end” convey a complete sales message.  They need to include the problem your product solves, why your product solves that problem better than any other product available, why your product will save (no cost) them money, why you are making them such an amazing offer and a call to action.

This single change can make your page a winner rather than a wiener.