Keyword density is always expressed as a percentage of
the total word content on a particular web page.

If you have 100 words on your web page (not including
HMTL code used for writing the web page), and you use
a certain keyword for five times in the content. The
keyword density on that page is got by simply dividing
the total number of keywords, by the total number of
words that appear on your web page. So here it is 5
divided by 100 = .05. Because keyword density is a
percentage of the total word count on the page,
multiply the above by 100, that is 0.05 x 100 = 5%

The accepted standard for a keyword density is between
3% and 5%, to get recognized by the search engines and
you should never exceed it.

This rule applies to every page on your site. It also
applies to not just to one keyword but also a set of
keywords that relates to a different product or
service. The keyword density should always be between
3% and 5%.

Simple steps to check the density:

* Copy and paste the content from an individual web
page into a word-processing software program like Word
or Word Perfect. * Go to the ‘Edit’ menu and click
‘Select All’. Now go to the ‘Tools’ menu and select
‘Word Count’. Write down the total number of words in
the page. * Now select the ‘Find’ function on the
‘Edit’ menu. Go to the ‘Replace’ tab and type in the
keyword you want to find. ‘Replace’ that word with the
same word, so you don’t change the text. * When you
complete the replace function, the system will provide
a count of the words you replaced. That gives the
number of times you have used the keyword in that
page. * Using the total word count for the page and
the total number of keywords you can now calculate the
keyword density.

Tools such as OffterMatica, Inceptor and Visual Sciences make A/B split testing easy.  But whether you utilize this software or setup different urls on your own to direct traffic to your site, you need to know the following ten tips in order to run effective tests and verify the validity of your results:

1. Decide the sample size and time frame you need to get accurate results.  This often takes 10,000 visits and 50-100 orders over a minimum of two weeks.

2. Remember that a relationship exists between ads and landing pages.  In other words, your best ad and best landing page may actually yield a lower conversion rate than your best ad and second best landing page (or vice versa).  That’s why it’s important to track the source of your traffic as well as the conversion rates during the testing.

3. Your assumptions could hinder your results, so approach the tests with an open, objective mind.  Something you may assume won’t work could actually turn out to be the key to maximizing your profits.  But you’ll never know if you don’t put your assumptions aside and test it anyway.

4. Many of the changes you make will have no impact and could even have a negative impact.  That’s because not every element affects sales, so you have to run a variety of tests to find which elements matter most to your visitors.

5. Establish a control page for every test you run.  Your control is your current best version of your sales page.  That page remains your control until another page clearly beats it in a test.  Once a new page outperforms the old control, that new page becomes your control to test against.

6. It’s important to set goals for each test so you know what your standards are.  Are you trying to get a 10%, 20% or 30% higher conversion rate on your sales pages or 10% more subscribers when testing your squeeze pages?

7. When testing squeeze pages, it’s more difficult to increase your conversion rates because the rates are naturally much higher on squeeze pages than on sales pages.

8. You can test a radical new design against your control.  If that page outperforms, then you have a new control.

9. Once you test a headline and determine a winner, continue to test other headlines against the winner.  By repeatedly testing the elements that are most critical to the sales process, you continually improve your conversion rates.

10. Some critical elements to test include:  headline, sub-head, body copy, graphics, offer, guarantee, order forms, etc.

The greatest appeal of the A/B split test is that it is simple and quick to launch.  It also allows you to focus on precisely which elements contribute to your conversion rates, and which don’t.

What are you waiting for?  Start testing your site today!

Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name

You test your headlines, your subheads, your body copy, your guarantees, your offers, your prices, your order forms, your background color, your font style and every other element that contributes to the entire online selling process.

Writing one sales letter and running with it—even if you think it is the most brilliant sales letter in the world—is unwise.  Because that leaves you with no way of knowing what might convert better.

The only way to know that what you are doing is working is to test, test, test.  You find out by trying different options and tracking what gets the best response.

And here’s the thing:  testing is simple.  Most people are just too lazy to do it!

The most simple type of test to conduct is an A/B split test where only one element is tested at a time, like price.

For example, let’s say you are currently selling a product for $39.  And you want to know how raising your price would affect your conversion rates.  So you run an A/B test.

You keep your control page active at yourwebpage.com then set up a new url, perhaps something like yourwebpage.com/test.  On this new page, you duplicate everything on your control page and change only one thing:  the price.  Instead of $39, you charge $49.

Now you set up your traffic generation sources to direct half your traffic to your control page and half your traffic to the test page for a period of two weeks.

At the end of the two weeks, you compare the results:  your control had a 1% conversion rate, but your test page had a 1.5% conversion rate.  That’s a 50% improvement!  Your customers are actually willing to spend more money on your product than you thought.

But you would have missed out on all that money if you had never conducted the test.  Now you know, though, so your $49 price point becomes your control, and you test again.  This time you change the headline to see which one is more effective.

And you keep testing different elements to figure out how to optimize your sales page.  Or your squeeze page.  You can test different headlines and “bribes” to determine which brings in the highest number of subscribers.

Running a sequential test is also an option.  With a sequential test, you keep the same url and track the results for a certain time period.  Then you change the element, like the price, and track the results for the same length of time.

The results of a sequential test may not be as accurate, especially if a holiday or other special event occurred during either test period, but a sequential test is certainly better than not testing at all.

Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name

But that’s not the case considering the foundation of your entire letter is the form that comes at the end.  If you just throw something together here, you’ll lose the sale you’ve worked so hard to gain.

And just because your order device comes at the end doesn’t mean it’s the last thing your prospect reads.  As a matter of fact, it’s often the first.

He’s read your headline and is interested in what you have to say.  So to see if reading your sales letter is worth his time, he scrolls down to the end to read your offer.

Since he’s reading your order device first, you better be sure to include the essential elements of your sales message:

• The Big Promise:  the major benefit your product provides presented in an urgent statement to get the prospect to act now.

• The Benefits:  ways your product or service will improve your prospect’s life.

• The Offer:  everything your prospect will get in return for giving you money.

• The Guarantee:  the reason your prospect has nothing to risk or lose by trying your product.

• Purchase Options:  show both the sale price and the regular price to show what a great deal the prospect is getting and how much he is saving by buying now.

• Payment Options:  what forms of payment you accept (Paypal, credit cards, phone orders, etc.).

It only takes a few lines to summarize these points in your order device.  Just remember to make ordering as easy as possible.

One of the most important things to do is ask your prospect to respond right away.  Without asking and implying a sense of urgency in the process, the prospect may think he can leave your site and come back some other time and not miss out on anything.

And the chances that he will come back are slim to none.

After establishing a sense of urgency, it’s time to ask your prospect to make a buying decision.  You reinforce this decision by restating the main benefits and showing the prospect all the ways his life will be better once he commits to purchasing your product.

Once you revisit the emotional aspects of your sales message, you need to once again tap into the rational decision to buy by reintroducing your guarantee and reminding your prospect he is not risking his money.  If he doesn’t like what he gets, he can get his money back.

To maximize effectiveness, design the order form to be simple, easy-to-read and easy to follow.

Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name

If you’re in the middle of reading an advertisement, then a friend calls up and tells you how great that the competitor’s product is, which product would you be more likely to buy?

The one the friend told you about, right?  Why?  Social proof.

Testimonials offer social proof that your product is as great as you say it is.  Social proof is a powerful motivator to convert prospects into customers.  You can say how great you are all you want, but if someone else says it for you, you gain instant credibility.  That equals sales.

Basically, testimonials are praiseworthy statements about you or your products from satisfied customers.  When you use these statements in your sales letters, they help your prospect rationalize his decision to buy because an unbiased source has approved the validity of your claims and verified that your benefits are real.

The number one rule of testimonials is this:  they must be true and provided to you by real people.  Making them up is both unethical and illegal.  It’s also unnecessary.  Most customers are more than willing to provide feedback about your product or service.  You, however, have to take the first step and ASK!

Solicit your customer’s feedback by creating a questionnaire and then making it available to them to fill out online.  Some questions to consider asking include:

• Why did you buy your (product name here)?  By asking why he bought “his” product, you suggest ownership, thereby increasing the odds of receiving a positive response.

• What three things do you like most about (product) and why?  Now the customer has to think about specific features of the product.

• How do you feel your (product) has benefited you or improved your life?  This forces the customer to be even more specific as well as explain his feelings.

• Would you like to see any aspect of your (product) changed?  This question shows your customer you do care about his feedback, alerts you to any problems you may not have been aware of and gives you a chance to improve your product.

• May we include your comments in our marketing materials?  You always need to get permission from customers before including any direct quotes in your promotions.

Once you have testimonials, you need to use them properly within your sales pages in order to maximize their impact.

First of all, you must be as specific as possible.  The more specific the testimonial, the greater the credibility it provides.

Second, use only one benefit in each testimonial.  Too many distract from the power of the benefits and dilute the message.

Third, keep the testimonial believable.  Don’t rewrite it to sound more professional.  Use the words your customers used to be true to their own voice.  Adding their picture, full name and hometown also adds to their credibility as real customers who have experienced real benefits from your products.

Fourth, target the testimonials to your audience.  Use only relevant feedback, and certainly don’t include anything that might be offensive.

Finally, try to include at least two or three testimonials for each benefit you describe in your sales letter.  But keep in mind that it’s best to have a few great testimonials rather than lots of mediocre ones.  That helps your prospect trust you.

When he trusts you, he is ready to take that leap of faith and buy your product.  But his head is screaming at him to WAIT.  His head is telling him that taking a chance on you is a huge risk.  After all, he’s worked hard for his money.

Why should he trade his valuable money for something that might turn out to be completely and utterly useless?

Plus he is buying from you online.  He can’t just take his receipt back to a store and expect to get his money back if he doesn’t like what he bought.  Clicking that “Buy Now” button and giving you his credit card information is a huge risk.

Thus the purpose of the guarantee.  With a guarantee, you reverse that risk.  You let the prospect know that YOU are the one risking everything.

If he doesn’t like your product, you have to give him his money back.  That costs you time, money and the humiliation of having to make the exchange.

When your prospect has nothing to lose, he is able to rationalize his purchase and commit to that buying decision.

To make your guarantee as solid as possible, include a hassle-free, money-back option after the prospect has had an adequate amount of time to test the product (i.e. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or even a year).  And the longer the time-period of the guarantee, the fewer returns you will have.

Will some people ask for their money back after trying your product for 30, 60 or 90 days?  Yes.  That means you lose money, right?  Not really because you’ll make far more sales with a guarantee than you will without a guarantee.

So to increase your conversion rate, include great quotes and a solid guarantee.

Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name

Remember to keep the conversation focused on your prospect.  YOU is the most powerful word you can use within your copy.  You are not writing about you; you are writing for your customer.  You are talking with your customer.

Use the power of an intriguing headline to enter the conversation your customer is already having in his mind.  What is he thinking?  What is he scared of?  What does he want?

The two greatest motivators are the fear of pain and the promise of pleasure.  Avoiding pain is the greater of the two.  If you have something that can help him avoid pain, let him know!

Once you have his attention, quickly introduce yourself as an expert so you can establish that all-important aspect of credibility.  If he doesn’t know who you are up front, he will remain skeptical as he reads.  It’s difficult to persuade skeptical readers to buy anything.  Without trust, you can have no sales.

Continue your “conversation” with a big promise and a vivid mental picture of how he is going to benefit from your product.  Be specific.  The more specific you are, the more credible you are.  Details equal trust.

If your reader had a chance to talk back to you, what objections would your reader have?  List them all and provide solutions for each.

You also want to include all the benefits your product provides.  Notice I said benefits, not features.

Features are important, but benefits play to the emotions of your readers.  Benefits show the reader what your product can do for him.

For instance, the feature of a drill would be it’s speed, but the benefit would be the hole it can drill in the wall.  The customer wants the hole.  That’s why he’s buying the drill.

Once your customer is emotionally ready to purchase your product, restate the benefits and explain how much value he gets from buying your product.

Now, ask for the sale.  Ask your prospect to buy what you are selling, and sweeten the deal by adding some free bonuses.

Finally, include a guarantee that will show your prospect he has to risk nothing.  Without a solid guarantee, the conversation that once seemed so promising is doomed to end with your customer abandoning your site for fear of losing his money.  All you have to do is calm his fears by offering him his money back if he is not happy with your product.  If you have a good product, you should stand behind it with a great guarantee.

Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name