On Really, Really Long eBook Sales Pages
December 18, 2007 – 5:12 amSeth Godin linked to our ebook site today–thanks for the link love, Seth! In his post, he also links to Aaron Wall’s SEO book, and remarks on the two different styles of sites:
Apparently, many ebook authors believe you need to write pages that are 56 inches long, filled with claims, promises and fake book covers. (and sometimes, as you’ll see below, this works quite well). I’m not sure that this, by itself, is the future of the medium, though. I think it belongs to people who find a following, curate information for them, build a permission asset and then write a tremendous ebook at a fair price.
Funnily enough, in doing research for marketing our book, I checked out a bunch of these single-page, really-long sites. From my personal site:
It’s a particular (and peculiar) kind of website. Really just one very long page, it features a single, centered column, few images, and many bold offers, claims and testimonials. It pretty much defies every major web design trend of this millennium. To the sophisticated web surfer, it looks profoundly tacky.
Against the experts’ better judgment, we obviously didn’t go that way. I know it’s a common (and therefore probably proven) practice, but it just felt too tacky.
Will we sell fewer books? Probably. Will I be able to look my fellow geeks in the eye? Definitely.
Tags: ebook, marketing strategy, page layout, sales, style
5 Responses to “On Really, Really Long eBook Sales Pages”
That decision is what makes people like you and Seth different from all of the other used-car salesmen type internet marketers.
I could never write a site that looked like that - it’s too formulaic and it betrays a total lack of respect for customer’s intelligence.
Thanks for sticking to your beliefs!
By Ray Grieselhuber on Dec 18, 2007
I rewrote Aaron’s sales page to its current state, and that’s because it was much more offensive before.
I personally don’t use the long page copy approach for my own projects, opting instead for an more educational approach via white papers and reports. And if you read one of Seth’s books, it’s really a 200 page sales letter for his ideas.
Long copy works, especially for ebooks and other information products. Aaron makes over $1,000 a day from that “lack of respect for the customer’s intelligence.”
If “looking your fellow geeks in the eye” pays your mortgage, more power to you. Otherwise, maybe you shouldn’t be giving marketing advice?
By Brian Clark on Dec 20, 2007
Brian: Thanks for that. As I’ve indicated, the long copy format obviously works, because lots of people do it. Importantly, we’re not giving marketing advice on how to write ebook sales copy. I wouldn’t claim to be an expert in that, as you certainly have the right to do.
If my first and only goal with the book was making money, then we’d probably go with that format. But this project is also about marketing ourselves, and increasing our online profile.
Our potential clients are usually sophisticated web users, and so would probably find the long copy format tacky. I know this because I showed a bunch of long format pages to the geeky professionals who usually hire us. Their response was uniformly negative.
We’ll definitely sell fewer copies than Aaron regardless (he is, after all, an SEO expert), but we also won’t turn off any potential clients. Plus, conveniently, we currently don’t have a mortgage.
By Darren Barefoot on Dec 21, 2007
>>Plus, conveniently, we currently don’t have a mortgage.
Fair enough.
I understand what you’re saying about the people you are reaching compared to Aaron’s audience. I always tell people that you have to know your audience first and foremost.
But again, “long copy” is just enough information to get the most sales. It doesn’t have to be tacky at all. Geeks and engineers read free white papers all the time… using stories, metaphors and benefits in those documents makes them more effective, and you can leave the big red headlines, yellow highlighting and outrageous hype out.
The reason providing more information (long copy) works better with most information products is because you have to overcome every possible objection the prospective buyer might have. You’re not getting the benefit of sitting with that prospect in person and addressing objections as they come up, so your writing must anticipate and eliminate most common objections. It’s really hard to do that with short copy.
Anyway, hope this helps. Sorry if I came across a bit harsh in my initial comment.
By Brian Clark on Dec 21, 2007
Darren,
It’s good to see someone else who facing the same dilemma as me. I’ve been working on an eCommerce optimization ebook for several months now, the whole time debating whether or not to use the traditional lengthy ebook sales page. I’m still not quite sure what I’ll do, but like you, I’m almost willing to get less sales, and not damage my existing brand because of gimmicky sales tactics.
I’m trying to think long term. Do I want to lose blog readers because I’m coming across as too commercial?
Thanks for the insightful post.
Justin
By Justin Palmer on Jan 12, 2008