There's an interesting discussion going on at a student copywriting forum concerning the type of web site copywriters should use to market themselves.

On the one hand, we have the somewhat "conservative" or traditional style, such as the one used by Bob Bly at www.bly.com.

On the other, we have the long sales letter format, such as that used by Harlan Kilstein at www.overnight-copy.com.

What say you guys?

Perhaps a "hybrid" of the two?

Bonnie,

Doesn't the answer mainly depend on what style of copywriting you yourself favor?

If you mainly write for corporate clients (or intend to), then selling yourself with a direct-response-style sales letter site would be extremely foolhardy.

If you mainly write direct-response-style sales letters, like Harlan Kilstein and many others who frequent this forum, then your own site should be a sample of that work.

I'm not sure how else this question could be rationally answered.

Marcia Yudkin

I agree with Marcia. It depends on who you are trying to sell to.

John

Hi Marcia,

That's what I was thinking too, but...

In the other forum, a person posted her "traditional" style web site for critique. Someone asked why she chose that style over the long sales letter style used by Harlan and others.

Her response was along the lines of what you said... that her prospective clients are more conservative, corporate clients and Harlan's are DM/Internet entreprenuers... and she's using the type of site that will appeal to her specific audience.

Harlan's response was that she was wrong in her assumptions (about his target clients as well as the best type of site to use for HER prospects). He says sales letter sites appeal more effectively to ALL prospective clients.

I've been guilty of making similar assumptions. I guess I'm wondering if this has been tested by anyone.

I was just fielding similar questions from some new copywriters who were soliciting my publishing company. (I'm always interested in working with motivated individuals serving the B2B executive market.)

I'd like to think I'm smart, but in fact am very simple. Simple says test, and test, then test one more time. When marketing my own services I test first then do what works until something beats it.

A prospective client might receive: (in series)

• a letter of introduction with tip sheet,
  a long-form sales letter about a specific service,
  a short response request for special report,
  a postcard about new product available,
  copy of news coverage in tear sheet form,
  ...

A website is just one way to pick up clients and often is only looked at after receiving some other collateral. As long as it's profitable to mail, fax, e-mail, or call, I keep doing it. It's laborious to track so many concurrent campaigns, but it's worth it.

For my websites, I use both sales letter and conversion landing pages. Some sites have just a sales letter, others will have the corporate look with separate landing pages. I've found you need a little bit of everything.

It's it okay to have both.

Best,

Justin

I'm saying this as a "student" (though no longer a "perpetual" one...Thanks Dr. Kilstein!)...

It seems that a "hybrid" would be exactly the wrong approach to take. "Be hot or cold, but don't be lukewarm!"

I think the previous posts point the way out of this dilemna...
Marcia's advice to know your audience and Justin's exhortation to use multiple forms of outreach coupled with a fanatical devotion to testing are the approaches we plan to use.

Recently, I've found myself differentiating sharply between what I think of as "Bowerman/Bly" and "Carlton/Kilstein" approaches (since these are the folks I've most recently been swiping from.) Our current website is heavily patterned after "B/B" (and B2B) type writing, but we are developing a "C/K" sales letter that we'll use separately.

Comments on this strategy?

And thanks Bonnie, your question has helped me to focus on some issues!

I'm sorry, but that is a completely insane statement.

Prospective clients judge your site as a sample of what you would do for them. They are not just either persuaded or not persuaded by your copy.

Here's an analogy. Suppose there are two main kinds of hairstyles popular today: "big hair" styles and "urban sophisticated" styles. Potential clients who walk into the salon and see the stylists wearing "big hair" hairdos are not going to feel confident asking for an "urban sophisticated" hairdo from that salon, and vice versa. They'll feel they are in the wrong place and will walk right out.

Perhaps what Harlan said, or meant, is that there are people in the corporate world who will become clients of people who use sales letter type sites - because that's the kind of site they want, not a corporate site. That's probably true. It may even be true that there are more people in the corporate world who want a sales letter site than who want a corporate-type site. It may also be true that if you're selling, let's say, a seminar or an information product to the corporate world, that they will be more likely to buy from a sales letter site. I'm open to finding out what tests have shown about any of that.

What I'm disagreeing with is the notion that the sales letter type of site will do a better job of persuading someone who wants a corporate-type site than will a sales letter type site. That is something I would not waste even a penny or a minute testing, any more than I would experiment trying to draw in sophisticated New Yorkers to a salon populated by stylists wearing "big hair" do's.

Marcia Yudkin

Here's another perspective:

A lot of long-copy sales letter type copy is selling a product or course in a one-step sale. The assumption seems to be that you need to sell it in one shot, or else the reader will either throw the letter in the bin, or move onto another website. Hence the need to put in all the details, benefits, stories, hooks etc. in one gargantuan piece.

Selling services seems to be different. I've noticed that even people who use long copy to sell their products use much shorter copy to sell their services. Apart from anything else, it's probably more important to initiate a dialogue and create a relationship than it is to try to sell off the page.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Jane

I've been testing both via google ads...my 'corporate look' site drew very little. My sales letter did OK. What I did was combine them. Oh yeah, it's lukewarm. Some people might say that by trying to be everything, I've become nothing...never committing to one side. But the site is converting. And I'm getting a variety of customers.

Interesting...So if properly presented, "Big Urban Sophisticated Hair" can work!

Do you think you're "trying to be everything"; or have you perhaps done a good job of defining your USP?