One of my coaching students, Dave Martin, asked me to quickly critique a sales page he will be working on. The site is for "Gourmet Sweet Nuts" by Lady Betsy, which, according to David, are "Gawd-awful good!"

The problem is, this page sells the product directly but was originally intended as an introduction letter to candy stores and dealers. (That explains why it isn’t selling as well as it can.)

Just like trying to mix SEO with good sales copy, it’s a hard thing to do when your page has more than one goal. It requires skill. But in this particular case, it’s best to focus only on one core message. In fact, I always try to stick to the “rule of focus” in copy, which means…

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The most important part of your copy is not your headline, not your offer and certainly not your benefits. The most important part is your customer.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been critiquing some pretty good copy. Very well-written and compelling. But if the conversion rate is low (hence, the reason why I was hired to conduct a critique consultation), it’s because these salesletters do not target the right audience for the offer, or the author and the copy fail to connect with their readers.

Researching your customer in depth is vital to the success of your copy. It’s not only an important component of targeting and qualifying the best prospect for your offer, but also an effective way to discover new ideas, different angles, captivating storylines, unsought benefits, and appropriate length and language of your copy that will convert more.

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You may know this, but my free Copywriters Message Board was the target of hackers in recent weeks. Not once, but twice.

This free forum is where top and aspiring copywriters alike converge to discuss, critique and share tips on anything and everything about copywriting. Some members include Gary Halbert, John Carlton, John Reese, Armand Morin, Clayton Makepeace, as well as a ton of top copywriters, both known and not so well-known.

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