subject: Get Customers Notice - By Doing Something Different [print this page] If you use the Web to try and sell products or services you will quickly find that, there are millions of others who are trying to do exactly the same thing.
Just about any niche you may choose, you are going to find that there are many site owners just like you - hawking the same basic product or services. How does one rise to the top and get the proper attention needed to stand out from the masses?
Do something different - and get your site noticed. No matter what kind of product or service your business offers - unless you are NOT doing what everybody else is doing - your site will become "lost in cyberspace" by simply being just another provider of that product or service.
People want value. When the way you present something is unique unto itself, it sets you apart, generates sincere, genuine interest, and adds value. When people perceive something as truly unique, they flock to it.
For them to "see" these attributes, and discover your differences you first have to get their attention. Grab their attention by being different.
How people view your product or service is paramount to their decision to actually do business with you. If they cannot find superior distinction between you and your competitor, how can they be persuaded?
What will urge them to favor you instead of them? You get the point. If there is no compulsion that makes them want to choose you, then you bear no outstanding quality of enough interest to make them want to buy.
Direct response copywriters call this your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition. Every good sales writer knows how to look for, find, and then highlight your USP. It is this very thing that keeps you from being "just like all the rest," of your kind.
What exactly do I mean by doing something different? Look at the sales page of your competitors. If they are making sales, then obviously the same basic elements will need to be presented in your sales page as well.
The elements that make a sales page work well will not change. It is the way these elements are presented that is changed. Your page will still convey benefits the customer will look for, as well as giving them a clear call to action.
It will still need to "show" and not tell them these benefits. Convey your benefits in a fashion that makes your sales page superior. Just as there are different ways to tell a similar story, use creative writing to craft a message that stands apart from the rest.
Start with a great headline that will direct them to want to read the rest of the body copy. Some of the best sales pages use the problem/solution format, and frame the solution as your product or service within the context of a great story.
This formula is proven to work, as it shows instead of "tells" visitors how the item being sold is of obvious benefit to them. This type of sales writing continually outperforms other types of sales copy by margins of ten to one, and is preferred by buyers and sellers alike.
As a general rule, most folks do not like the idea of being "sold." However, they do not mind when the "seller" is them (story based copy allows the readers to "sell themselves") people like to feel as though they are making up their own mind.
