You've probably heard the term "marketing funnel" or similarily "marketing corridor". It's simply the path your prospect takes to finally buy your product. And what they both are in essence is conversion; everything that happens to make a prospect into a buyer.

On the Internet there are many variations on the funnel. That is to say, once a name and email address are captured, the path that brings the prospect to the "big offer" can take many forms.

This is crucial. Your copy may be awesome. Your offer may leave all competitors in the dust. And your means of driving traffic truly mind blowing. But if your funnel is too short, too long, too wide, too narrow etc. then your sales will be short of expectation.

What does that mean, too short, wide etc?

The shape of the funnel depends primarily on the price of your "big offer" (big offer being the thing you want to sell. Small offers are all the things along the way that you give away or sell for very cheap to prime your prospect for the big offer.)

High price = longer funnel; longer conversion process.

Bargain price = shorter funnel; shorter conversion process.

So, what does this funnel look like on the Internet?

The simplest funnel of all goes like this:

1. Drive traffic to your squeeze page

2. Make free offer in exchange for name and email address (squeeze)

3. Prospect checks his email Inbox and clicks the confirm link in the email you (Aweber) sent him and doing so takes him to your sales page where he sees your big offer.

4. If he doesn't buy he gets sent half a dozen or more emails that try to drive him back to the sales page to buy.

That's the simplest marketing funnel on the Internet I know.

Of course, this will not work for every product. Allowing your prospect to see your sales page this quick may be a big turn off and it's quite likely that he hasn't come to trust you enough to consider buying or even reading your big offer.

Gaining your prospects trust is key for the sale. And this is job of the freebie you gave him when he gave you his name and email address at the beginning. Often it's a free report.

Many entrepreneurs drop the ball here. They create a free report that is really lame - after all, it's free right! What do people expect! Your free report, or MP3, webinar etc. must BLOW THEM AWAY with how good it is.

You want them sitting there going, "WOW this is awesome - I'm SO GLAD I GOT A HOLD OF THIS!

Your prospect should admit that they would have paid $20 for this free report after reading it.

So, what effect does this have? Well, the next time (which would be in a day or two) your prospect gets an email from you - HE IS SURE TO OPEN IT AND CLICK ON WHATEVER LINK YOU HAVE FOR HIM!

Your first freebie was so darn good he is actually thirsty for your next offer.

What is your next offer? It might be your big offer. Like I said, it depends on your price. If you are selling something that is more expensive than your competition (all other things being equal)…then you'll need more time to convert / to show him that YOU are the one to buy from.

For illustration, let's say you need a longer funnel. So your next offer might be another freebie. Or maybe something under $20. The thing to understand here is that you are not trying to make money on small offers. In fact you are often taking a loss!

This $20 small offer should be clearly worth $50 or more. That makes it irresistible. And it must be irresistible to keep him going down the funnel toward your big offer.

Each time he takes a small offer from you he is more excited about what is coming next! This is crucial in order for him to snap up your big offer.

You might add an upsale to this next small offer. When he is checking out, you offer him something for $7 (remember: all these prices are relative and just used as an example…it depends on the price of your big offer).

If he goes for the $20 product + upsale…then he clearly trusts you and MAY be ready to see your big offer.

If he doesn't…then he needs more time to convert and you will send him another freebie.

Of course at the outset, you don't know if you have the correct funnel so you will have to modify it as you go and so see what brings in big response. Once you get it right, sit back and let the $ roll in.

Testimonials can boost your response as much as 40%. Here's the way to go about getting good testimonials that don't sound fake…because they're not! You can and should start doing this right away.

Let's say you have a new product so you don't have any testimonials, yet you want to start selling it! Kind of a chicken and egg scenario. Here's what to do.

Give your product to 20 (or more) people who fit your target market with a letter that goes something like this: "Dear Joe, I was wondering if you would like to try out my new product for free! All I ask is that you fill out the enclosed questionnaire once you've given it a go."

Note: you're asking Joe to fill out a questionnaire. You're not asking him for a testimonial. If you do you will likely get something that sounds fake, wooden, no good.

If it's a questionnaire he is more likely to give honest answers and wouldn't you know it - honesty just has a way of sounding true.

Questions you can ask on your questionnaire:

List three things you liked most about (product or service)?

In what ways did (product or service) save you time, money, or frustration?

Is there anything you like to see changed about (product or service)?

What is your favorite thing about (product or service)?

Notice how the third question does not generate material for testimonials. It does however give the user a chance to give their valuable opinion (it will make them feel special) which you can use to improve your product.

Once you have the questionnaire back, you can edit Joe's words. Compact the sentences you want to use and leave out the rest. Then, by law, you need to get Joe's permission to publish his words.

You write him and say, "Joe, thanks a lot for the feedback.  I was wondering if you'd mind if I used your words to promote (product or service)?  Enclosed you'll find a simple release that gives me permission to do this."

The release simply says: I hereby give (you) permission to use the following statements for promotional purposes.  Signed________  Date__________

Joe is most often flattered by the whole experience.  Be sure to enclose a small gift for Joe like a coffee coupon for two, with this request.  And don't forget to get a picture of Joe - preferably using your product!

I'm clicking around my site here (a semiologic wordpress…think 1970 Dodge Charger with Hemi Engine) and it looks kinda sparse, as in no pictures. All true. As you know, most people are impressed with visuals and that's why most ads use pictures and minimal text to sell.

So where does that leave me, the copywriter? Pictures churn our emotions much quicker than text, it's true. But certain emotions, particularly core emotions like greed, fear, insecurity, vanity, and envy are difficult to conjure with pictures. Only words can penetrate this deep. Perhaps this is why direct mail - essentially words - has sold more product than image based ads…since advertising was invented.

But why do we need to do this? Why do we need to inflame feelings of insecurity, for example? Because these are the emotions that make people take action (aka buy your product). Something that is merely interesting, cute, or descriptive is not enough to make someone reach for their wallet.

So selling a product with words is not about using words to describe a great product. It's about using words to inflame the emotions that trigger sales.

In fact, a general rule of thumb is to talk as little about the actual product as possible. This is especially true in consumer sales where the prospect could probably get along fine without your widget. Instead we talk about the things that the product will do for the prospect like how it will make them smarter, more handsome, richer, etc. to inflame these core emotions.

However, the combined power of text and visuals is unmatched. A sales letter should use visuals of every kind to speed the message to your prospect. But not too much! Keep the focus on the words and use the visuals to illustrate and provide relief from a barrage of words. (This is not univeral, however - some sales message are indeed best with only words…or just pictures.)

So in addition to persuasive call to action copy I also offer clients full design services for print or web. I can give you all the design within the letter (boxes, highlites, arrows, crossouts, photos etc.) as well as landing and squeeze page design that can incorporate video, audio, surveys, Aweber forms etc.

Dear Visitor,

On Elance I push my ability to write sales letters. A lot of the time clients post things like "Sales letter for xyz wanted" or perhaps "Landing page for abc needed." So I click through and have a look at the project details. On Elance there is every type of business owner behind these postings. Some with a lot of Internet marketing and direct mail experience and others doing it for the first time. Some work strictly online and others own bricks and mortar businesses and are looking to generate leads via direct mail.

Often, and I know this from other copywriters on Elance, we see postings from clients who are back to get their sales letters rewritten. In other words, the landing page or mailing is not converting and they are looking for better copy.

Interestingly, the actual problem is never mentioned. Indeed, it could be the copy - good copy is hard to come by. But it could also be the offer vs. the competition. And lastly it could be the list or the strategy to build the list. Other things can go wrong but if you've got these three things right, you should be doing fine.

To sell via direct response you must be willing to test. Testing is how and why direct response works as well as it does. If you're not testing - why are you using direct response?

Initial direct response promotions nearly always fail or fall short of expectation. Does that mean there is no money to be made? Of course not. Do some testing and some prospect surveys to find the answers. Make adjustments and go again.

It's a bit of work. It takes a bit of money. But then you see profits. Despite what you might hear or read there is no such thing as an instant passive income. i.e. put up a landing page with list capture and ppc = profits.

However, for those willing to invest a bit of time and money - the ROI can be fantastic.