I’m afraid, some of you will not get to the end of this article. According to The Statistic Brain Research Institute, our attention span has shortened to just 8 seconds and is less than that of a goldfish.
Then why would you read this article about ‘big content’ and its creation?
Because of the valuable information you can get here and because of the strategy that will help you create long-form content that sells! Not to mention, a Pew Research Center study recently busted the myth about our goldfish-like attention spans. It revealed that smartphone users had spent 123 seconds, on average, reading long-form articles. That’s over 2 minutes of uninterrupted attention!
(Source: Pew Research Center)
Could this also be true when it comes to sales content? Well, it depends.
So, when do you need long-form sales pages?
Sales pages on your website are created to convince people to buy products or services. Short pages work the best in the case that customers are already familiar with the brand. They’re also great for products that are low-risk investments.
But there are lots of cases when longer sales pages drive more engagement and convert better! These cases are:
- When your offer comes at a high price. You will hardly read through the average toaster page. Most likely you’ll check out its features, price and a couple of reviews. Everything is different when it comes to offers that are more costly.
- When your audience has never heard about your product. New brands should convince customers that they offer a valuable product they will not find anywhere else. They also have to establish themselves as trusted sellers.
- When your offer needs a detailed explanation. If you offer something entirely new or complicated, you have to explain why people need it and how they will win from it.
- When your offer is high-commitment. It’s the same as with a high price. Users should know what it takes to use your product or service. You should explain what issues it solves and how it solves them.
(Source: Copyhackers)
How to organize long-form sales pages
Longer pages require more attention to their structure and the quality of the content. If there’s one thing you should understand about long-form sales pages, it’s this: only the well-built ones drive sales and convert. If a long sales page is poorly designed, it will only frustrate customers and turn them off your product.
Let’s start with structure and content.
Identify your audience’s level of awareness
Learn who your customers are to understand their goals and issues. That way, you can include details that will attract and keep their attention while reading. Who they are and what are their goals? Are these customers new or returning?
Try to narrow your focus and create a dedicated page that solves the issue for a particular audience. For example, if your page sells vacation tours to Niagara Falls, you can create a page that is aimed only at newlyweds. Focus on the benefits that’ll speak to this particular group of customers.
Tell people more about your product
No one will buy your product for no reason. You have to convince people why they should buy your product instead of the one from your competitors. And the higher the price, the more effort you should put into helping people understand why they should purchase from you.
Your sales page is not the place for bragging about your product. In most cases, people don’t care about its dazzling features or cool characteristics. They care only about how it helps to solve their issues. Remember to show the product benefits from a user’s perspective.
Add an FAQ section with answers to the most popular questions about the product. If you’re an established brand already, you can ask your potential customers. Encourage them to leave their feature requests on your social media page. Monitor the comments they leave about your brand on review sites like G2 Crowd or Capterra.
Choose the right keywords
Sales pages you see on websites are most often created in conjunction with paid campaigns. I guess, you don’t want to waste your money on a bunch of random keywords. You have to focus only on targeted keywords that have a good potential for attracting a highly-motivated audience.
Focus on branded keywords and long-tail ones. Always keep the users’ search intent in mind – it will help you attract the right customers at the right time. Try to piggyback on your competitors using their branded keywords. You can do so by checking out your competitor’s keywords in a keyword tool and filtering to see the suggestions that include their brand + the words ‘better,’ ‘cheaper,’ ‘similar,’ ‘alternative,’ etc. Here’s how I did it in Ahrefs:
Competitive keywords usually have lower search volume and may seem not attractive at first glance. But, by optimizing for hyper-specific keywords, you will get extremely targeted traffic from customers who are looking for a solution. You will intercept such customers before they actually purchase from your competitors!
Structure your page to incentivize action
Content structure is the next thing you should focus on when creating your long-form sales pages. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. But the proper placement of headings/subheadings, bullet lists, call-to-actions, and text blocks helps to organize your content and keep the visitors engaged. You should structure your page in a way that encourages visitors to scroll down to learn more.
Make your headline should stand out with the help of a proper font choice. It should be large and legible. Subheadings should guide the customer through the copy. CTAs should be prominent on the page. And there should be plenty of them. Don’t hesitate to use traditional CTA wording like ‘Buy Now,’ ‘Sign Up,’ ‘Watch Video,’ etc. Customers are familiar with these CTAs and are primed to click on them.
(Source: Bonfire.com)
Add social proof from current customers
People instinctively trust offers that already proved to be good for others. Modern customers trust their relatives and friends more than advertisements and stars who promote products. Latest researches claim that about 70% of buyers seek for reviews and opinions from others before buying the product.
(Source: Sickdaybox.com)
You can help those users by placing a Testimonials section on your page. But avoid putting blatant comments that bring no value, like ‘Wow! Cool thing!’ or ‘I came, I saw, I bought it.’ Choose reviews that prove the usefulness of your product to others. Add testimonials that mention the practical use of the product and how it helped to solve a customer’s issue.
Now, it’s time to act
Long-form sales pages, like any other big content, require a lot of work, in-depth research and time and effort from your side. Of course, there’s a lot more than just content on your sales page. You should also pay attention to:
- The landing page design
- Proper visuals (images, product photos, videos)
- Readability and whitespace
- Responsiveness and the loading speed of the page
Just remember, there is no ‘proper’ length for the content on the page. Test often to find out what brings you maximum conversions!
About the author
Helen is a content marketer at Ahrefs. She explores new things every day to impress her readers with catchy stories. Apart from all that marketing stuff, Helen loves listening to rock music, reading and traveling. A lot! Follow Helen on Twitter.
