Sale Pages and Gurus and Marketing Morals
April 24, 2008 · Print Post · Bookmark post
Recently there is a lot of talk about gurus and the way they market by means of super long sales pages. A lot of ideas have been going around about these sales pages. For example SCAM ALERT! Not a lot of people trust them. Is it because the people that know about marketing are marketers and know the benefits of a sales page? From an end user that does not know any better they may not think that.
I have several digital products and I promote by means of a sales letter method. Mine are not super long but it gets the idea straight to the point for the end user. There are also arguments that the gurus are all associated with sales pages, yet I am not one of them. There are assumptions these sales pages are all about deceptive marketing, which I do not think so. The reason I bring this up is because you may have read all around is Joel’s Adsense book for 9.95. I won’t go into detail about - but someone called him out and then he publicly apologized.
I have a question though - once you have a product how else can you really sell and talk about the product? How else can you grab users attention? How else can you show testimonials? There are other multiple ways, videos, blogging, podcasting, advertising, etc. But the main concept is how can you get the information about your product across to the end user?
I do agree though deceptive marketing via sales pages is wrong because I personally hate those. But I find benefits in sales pages. I do not directly dedicate a domain for every product but I think there are other benefits for bigger more exclusive products. Sales letters has proved to work and has proved to show a lot of power when selling, it is like having a sales person right there selling and grabbing the attention of the potential buyer.
Yes, a lot of the sales pages are incorporating digital interaction, video, and audio but the concept is still the same. The catchy headlines, introductions, problem, solution, testimonials, etc. When you look at a sales page a lot of people automatically think it is a scam, while others see it as a form of pre selling information.
How else would you describe a product without trying to add a selling technique to it? Gurus use this technique because it has proven to work. Again, I personally use it but I do not overload the sales letter with a lot of garbage. I tend to stay on topic and give the information straight forward.
There are a lot of sales letter that are pretty long for specific reasons, a lot of marketers call it deceptive marketing because a majority of people will probably not even see the specifics of an offer. For example a sales page with tons of testimonials and a looooooong description can cause the user to just scroll and scroll and scroll until they get to parts that stick out. That is one reason why highlighted text and bigger fonts stick out on specific parts of the sales page.
Are the guru marketers having morals when they create these super long pages or are they just using these techniques to make the income? A lot of marketers try to oversell the product than what it really is and when they do more affiliates try to promote it and then my inbox is filled with the same email for the same product. It is really just the hype that is being created around the product.
This brings back about an annoyance that killed me for several days, Pay Per Play Audio Ads. Everyone thought this idea was a very good idea. Everyone promoted it and then it died because it is obvious this form of advertising is just trash. The hype played a role and people just wanted to get a quick buck on a sign up. They really do not have any morals but just wanting to earn as much as possible. I personally do not think most of the internet marketers out there do not have any respect and just want to earn money online.
I was once there before and I did a lot of arbitrage websites to make a quick buck or so. As time passed and more experience I have learned the more I have respect for the internet marketing industry. Though I still believe some of the tactics are powerful used by the gurus does not mean all are scam. I think internet marketing is looked at from a newbie point of view and under estimate how marketing really is.






























April 24th, 2008 12:35 pm
Check out Chris Baggott, author of email marketing by the num8ers. He has a lot ot say in regards to email and blogging for business. Do a google on him and I think you be impressed. Tell him I sent you, he is a good friend. Good luck
April 24th, 2008 5:10 pm
This is what I think…
I will start with the joel case then go in general.
First, he did nothing illegal because every single information was there from day one. The whole problem was the way to deliver this information.
When you come across the sale page you expect to buy a book. Then you scroll down and you see a free gift area. Usually , you don’t expect to see an important note in a free gift area. In anybody head when it is free it is free. It like me doing a contest and giving you a car with a fine print telling you I only buy the fist month and you have to deal with the rest.( come on )
This is the way the sale page was build.(now he change it )
I read everything. Until there I was still thinking he was giving away a first month and then you will have to subscribe for the newsletter.( and it was an automatic opt in)
When I click the order button .. I saw that I would ordering two products.. The only ways to take it off was waiting for the newsletter and then opt out several days after ordering.
( people are saying that even after check out .. he was still trying to sell other product before you get the confirmation page.. I saw a lot of marketer doing that just make sure then can get every penny from the customer)
There is nothing to do about how long the sale page is. If you are buying for one product it is all good .. they can put as much testimonial as they want …
here the presentation was mixing two product in one ( every affiliates didn’t even know about the newsletter)
I do not see a mistake but a marketing strategy 101
I have no idea how the book is build but a good strategy will be to finish the book by saying Google Adsense change all the time so stay update keep in touch with my Adsense club (newsletter)
Again I have no idea how the newsletter is build but another strategy is giving a preview about what’s going to be the second edition (where he will get the 30$)
10$ is a publicity stunt because the whole deal is the newsletter!! ( this is where the real money can be done)
It is not really about if the product is a scam or not but the presentation.
Why he did an automatic opt in ? most of the people will want to see at least second and third edition before opt out.
If will ask in another e-mail to order the newsletter ( 90% won’t subscribe for many reason .. lazy feeling cheap that day etc…)
Is it legal ? yes is it ethical? Not .. as simple as that.
In a moral world.. You should be able to opt out on the order form….
All this remind me my ethical course.. how far you should go in marketing.
Yes sale pages work since day one like info commercial but where is the limit between a good marketing and a bad one.
That money justifies every thing.
I still thing a good straight and clear campaign is better.
A great example is the problogger book. No gimmick no 40 useless testimonial
He just give away the first chapter.. this is the most effective way to do it. Sample is by far the best promoting system.
Another great sale page I saw…where I think people should do more like this.
You sell product explain your product and give away a free video tutorial to show your product in action on your sales page…
This is straight marketing like the money back guaranteed format( where we all know only 5% of the people who don’t like the product use it )
Wow I talk a lot ahaha maybe time you put video comment like techcrunch (wink wink)
Ps: Have you read the book?
April 24th, 2008 7:40 pm
Yeah i heard abou the joel comm scam, i think he knew it would be misleading but he went for it anyway. I think it was a way for him to make back the lost profits from reducing the price of the book from $97 to $9.95. He had to account for it somehow…
May 2nd, 2008 2:40 am
The long sales page is a turnoff to most people. Try to get to the pont when sselling anything. Sales is like dating a hottie. You have the opening line, the hook and the close.