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Want to increase your sales and rankings at the same time? If so, you should consider giving the sales pages of your website a tune-up.

Maybe you don’t have a sales page on your website. Or maybe your sales page needs some work. An incomplete or non-existent sales page is going to hurt your sales. Period.

Websites that neglect to write strong sales pages for their products or services leave customers confused, wanting more, or unsure of what to do next.

I’m going to give you the full breakdown of how to create a killer sales page that’s designed to convert customers, drive sales, and improve the user-experience of your website. It’s a win-win-WIN.

Let’s get to it!

What Is a Sales Page (And Why Should You Have One)?

A sales page is an individual page on your website for each product or service your business offers.

The point of this page is to connect with a potential customer, address everything they would want to know about the product or service you offer, remove any doubts they may have, and guide them to a sale.

A sales page has the potential to dramatically increase your conversions and rankings, but if it’s not done effectively it could hurt your business. Here are the most common mistakes I see with sales pages:

1. There is no designated page on the website that discusses the service or product
2. All of the services or products have been lumped together onto one page
3. They’ve tried to optimize the sales page for all of the keywords related to the products/services which causes the page to cannibalize itself

If done right, here’s how a killer sales page will help you.

Improved SEO

If you create an individual sales page for each product or service you offer, it will increase your ranking ability.

When you have an individual page for each service, Google will be able to index and rank each page when a customer searches for that service.

Google rankings have a direct impact on your page visits. So the higher you rank, the more visitors you’ll get to your website.

Customer Satisfaction

An individual page for your service or product will also improve the user’s experience on your website.

A page for each service makes it easier to navigate your website. Users like information right at their fingertips, so if anything is difficult to find or confusing to operate they’ll jump right off the page.

If you make it simple and easy, they’ll stay on the page longer–giving you a better chance of achieving a sale.

Now that you know why it’s useful, let’s get into how to create one.

Sales Page Template

A killer sales page highlights the following sections:

1. A Headline
2. An Overview
3. Benefits/Features
4. How it Works
5. Testimonials
6. Pricing
7. A Guarantee
8. CTA (Call to Action)

That said, each product or service can vary significantly, so some sections may not be applicable to you. It is up to you to determine which of these sections you’ll need for your sales page.

Let’s break these sections down step-by-step.

1. Grab Attention & Make An Impression With A Bold Headline

It’s not enough to get a customer to land on your website. The biggest challenge you’ll face is getting them to stay there (and better yet, buy your product or service).

The problem is that the average person spends around 10 seconds on a web page. Those first 10 seconds are meant to assess the page’s validity and usefulness to them. Users are hardwired to bounce from web page to web page because they know most web pages are useless.

If you don’t grab the attention of your customer within the first 10 seconds, they will be long gone before you can say the words “20% OFF!”

That’s where a powerful headline comes in.

Hook Them in With a Catchy Headline

Your headline should be a brief statement of the service or product you offer, and should be catchy enough to grab the interest of the customer.

If a website says “Dog Boarding in St. Pete, FL” and another says “The Most Trusted Dog Boarding Facility in St. Pete FL” which one is the customer more likely to click on? Probably the second one.

If you are creating a local service page, be sure to include the city or region in your headline as well.

Finally, make sure your headline contains your targeted keyword and is formatted with the <h1> tag.

Include a Subhead

Now you’ll need to expand on your headline and answer the question “What benefit will my customer receive?”

Customers are looking for solutions to their problems. If your customer doesn’t know how you’re going to help them right from the beginning, you’ll lose their business.

Keep your subhead short, sweet, and to the point. No more than two sentences. And then format it with the <p> tag.

2. Provide Them With a Quick Overview

When people land on a web page, they are looking to access information quickly and easily. Make sure your page is set up to help someone skim for information.

Your page will need an overview after the headline. This gives the customer a general idea of what they can expect from the page and whether or not it will be useful to them.

Create a Section Headline for the Overview

This should be a compelling headline that encompasses the main problem or solution.

If my page headline is “The Most Trusted Dog Boarding Facility in St. Pete FL” then my Overview Headline might be “Leave Your Dog With People You Can Trust”.

What’s my problem? I don’t want to leave my dog with some sketchy stranger (a valid concern).

What’s the solution? I need to choose a dog-boarding facility with trusted professionals.

Your section headline should use an <h2> tag.

Briefly Describe the Problem and the Solution

Now you need to identify the problem and offer a solution to introduce your product or service.

If my headline is “Leave Your Dog With People You Can Trust” my description might sound something like this:

Address the problem. Acknowledge the solution. Offer the service to help.

Finish Strong With a CTA

Don’t know what a CTA is? Pay attention, because you’re going to need this.

A CTA is a Call to Action. It gets the customer to do something. Do you want your customer to call you? To fill out an online form? To book an appointment?

Give them the tool to do it!

If a customer has to spend more than a couple of seconds combing through your website to find the right link, you’ll risk losing them to a competitor.

People want quick access to what they need. So make their life as easy as possible to keep them on the page.

End your Overview with a CTA like this:

[Call Us Today: 888-988-8909]

-or-

[Schedule a Free Consultation Now]

And then link your CTA accordingly.

3. Let Them Know Why Your Product or Service Is The Best

Odds are you’ve got a lot of competitors out there, and your customer will undoubtedly be weighing their options.

Why should they choose your service/product over the X amount of options out there?

You need to highlight the reasons your service is THE BEST hands down. How do you do that? By spotlighting the benefits or features of your service.

Add a Compelling Benefit or Feature Headline

Don’t get lazy here. This is your selling point. If the customer sees a section that just says “Benefits” they’ll likely keep scrolling.

Be specific and make it POP!

Try something like:

• “Fast and Reliable Service”
• “Data-Driven Strategy”

The customer should read the headline and instantly want to know more.

Don’t forget to format your headline with an <h2> tag.

Highlight the Feature or Benefit With a Quick Description

One of the biggest mistakes you can make here is drone on and on and on about why your product or service is soooo great.

Nobody is going to read a huge wall of text. It’s an eye-sore. And as previously mentioned, no one wants their time wasted.

Your description should get straight to the point about why you’re their best option.

Keep your sentences short and straightforward and add bullet points when you can. This should be as easy to read as possible.

Here’s an example:

See what I mean? Quick. Easy to read. Attention to the highlights. Done.

4. Walk Them Through Your Process

Now that the customer knows what they’re buying, you’ll want to show them the process.

If they don’t know where to start or what to expect, they might jump to a different site. So break down the process and make it fool-proof.

Create a Headline for Your Process

This Headline doesn’t need to be complicated. You can use “Our Process” or “How it Works” to start it off.

You want the customer to know exactly what this section is about.

This will use the <h2> tag.

Breakdown Your Process Steps

The worst thing you can do here is confuse or overwhelm your customer. You want them to feel like this process is going to be a walk in the park!

If your process shows a ton of complicated steps, they’re going to run in the other direction to find someone who makes it easy.

Use the <h3> tag to format your process steps, and then break down the step in a sentence or two.

It’s easier than it seems. Here’s a visual:

Sounds easy, right? Now the customer feels good getting started.

5. Give The Buyer Confidence With Social Proof

The customer will be looking for proof that they can trust YOU, so now’s your chance to convince them with some testimonials.

If you have any positive feedback from previous customers, show it off. If you don’t, you can include a snippet about your business that will help establish trust.

You want them to think, “If other people like it, I probably will too!”

Start With a Trust-Building Headline

Yeah, you could say “Customer Testimonials” but where’s the fun in that? Your headline has just as much potential to build trust as the actual proof does.

Kick it up a notch with “We Are Your Best Choice for Your Pet.”

And then add that <h2> tag.

Show off a Little

Now you can share your testimonials. If you have a lot–kudos to you–try to narrow it down to your top two or three.

A good rule of thumb is to choose testimonials that highlight the benefits or features you talked about earlier on in the page.

Remember to get the point across quickly and efficiently. Too much text and the customer will stop reading.

6. Clearly Address Pricing

If the customer has made it this far into your sales page, they’re going to be wondering about the cost.

If you don’t address the pricing upfront, or if you tiptoe around it because you’re worried about spooking the customer, you might lose the customer.

Instead, build trust with them by staying honest and direct with the pricing section.

Add a Pricing Headline

Now is not the time to get fancy. Call the pricing section what it is. “Pricing” “Packages and Pricing” or another headline that clearly introduces the pricing.

You can even pose the exact question the customer will ask, like “How Much Does It Cost To XYZ?”

Format it with the <h2> tag and you’re set.

Give a Price Breakdown

Clearly show the pricing for the service or product, or address how the pricing is calculated and where to find it.

If the pricing requires a quote or contact to the business–explain it while being as straightforward as possible.

Here’s an example:

Simple, yet informative.

7. Risk-Reversal With A Guarantee

If your company has a Guarantee, this is a great way to start wrapping up your page.

If the customer has doubts, a guarantee will help put their mind at ease. The fewer the doubts the customer has, the easier it will be to secure their business.

A Guarantee should look like this:

If you do not have a guarantee, go ahead and skip this part (or consider creating one!).

8. Finish Off Strong With A Final CTA

Wrap your page up with a killer CTA. This is the final move to lock in your customer.

Create Your Final Headline

This is the last thing the customer sees. Finish it off with a powerful headline that compels the customer to do something.

Be sure to format it with the <h2> tag.

Sum It Up

In one to two sentences, sum up your page and give them the next step to take action.

Your final CTA can look like this:

And you’re done!

Conclusion

Our sales page guide is one of many you’ll find online–but we can assure you that this template will boost sales and convince customers to buy your service or product.

If you want help creating a killer sales page for your website, you’re going to love our HOTH Web Copy product.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. We love hearing from you!

As digital marketers, we have all been there — stuck on what to do next and trying to reinvent the wheel. We know what it is like to run out of ideas, to try every strategy, to test every new feature until we get to that point where we have done it all. And then what?

What if I tell you that in order to come out on top, you don’t need to reinvent things? What if you can try something new while barely changing the way you do things now? What I am talking about is keeping in place all the strategies you know work, along with all the content you know sells, and then simply translating them into the second-most spoken language in the United States.

Español.

Why should we focus on Spanish over all other languages?

This is a very fair question as there are hundreds of languages spoken in households all across the United States. Over 20% of Americans are bilingual and this segment of the population has more than doubled in the last 30 years. Additionally, the percentage of languages spoken at home is on the rise, from Spanish to Tagalog.

With so many language options to choose from, the reason I am focusing on Spanish is because, besides English, it is the most commonly-spoken language in the United States.

And since we are on the subject of bilingual speakers, I have a myth to bust. Most marketers believe that bilingual strategies will only be effective in major metropolitan areas. For this reason, it is not uncommon to see billboard and public transit ads in other languages posted in New York City or Los Angeles. However, these same billboard and public transit ads are not utilized outside major cities and, furthermore, are rarely used in digital marketing. But when you look at the map of the United States and evaluate the number who speak a foreign language at home, you can find pockets of speakers in every state. In fact, the state with the largest percentage increase of foreign language speakers at home was Nevada with a 1,088% increase since 1980. 

The Hispanic population is made up of 60.5 million people which comprises nearly 20% of the country’s population. The United States has more Spanish speakers than every country other than Mexico. Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population; for every two people added to the population, one is Hispanic.

Hispanics represent 20 different nationalities, but the U.S. population has a large percentage coming from Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

The Hispanic consumer is very important to the U.S. economy because they control $1.5 trillion in buying power. This is up 212% from the last decade! Not only that, their consumption of products and services has increased by 42% in the same time period. Additionally, studies show that 66% of U.S. Hispanics pay attention to online ads and — more importantly — 93% take action after seeing the ads online, rendering them an incredible asset to the world of digital marketing. 

The real question we need to be asking ourselves is, if they represent such a significant portion of our online population, why is no one talking to them online? They represent a significant portion of the population, they have money, and they have a big desire to spend it. 

Why should digital marketers invest in Spanish?

 

Let’s dig into how to actually implement the strategy (that is not technically a strategy).

Setting up a campaign correctly

Like with any experiment, we need to follow the scientific method and separate our variables. These campaigns should be treated as a test and each language should be tested out separately. The test budget I recommend is 20-30% of what you would normally spend in a campaign. In terms of their setup, there are a few nuances we want to watch out for when considering bilingual campaigns. In the language setting, I like to add the language I am testing, as well as the main language of the country; in this case, English.

Another important thing to consider when setting up ad scheduling, is time zones. Google Ads and Bing Ads treat this feature very differently. In Google, we are looking at the time zone in which the account is created and, in Bing, the time zone of the end user. If you are testing bilingual and international campaigns, make sure you are not scheduling them during times your target audience is sleeping.

The rest is quite easy because you have already done the heavy lifting and testing. You will keep the structure the same and begin by simply selecting a few of your best-performing ad groups, or 30-50 of the top-performing keywords.

Translation

Translating ads is costly unless you can do it yourself. I know that not everyone has the knowledge or confidence to do it on their own, so I usually recommend a free tool like Google Translate. Even as a native speaker, I use this tool to double check my own work.

Free tools like Google Translate do a great job, but can be very time-consuming if a large amount of keywords or ad copy translation is needed. One of my favorite hacks in Google Sheets is using the Google Translate function. GoogleTranslate allows you to, in seconds, translate everything efficiently.

I always suggest having a native Spanish speaker double check your work if possible because, like all languages, the meaning and words can vary greatly, depending where you are from. 

I attended the Women in Search and Digital Marketing Speak My Language Conference and learned that the word we use in the United States for pants is not the same everywhere else. If you were to use that same word in the United Kingdom, you would instead be referring to underpants.If you are a clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, this is vital information. You could be bidding on a word with incorrect intent, missing out on all the good clicks by not using the proper term — trousers. That is just one example of the importance of using the correct verbiage in a multilingual country. Within the Spanish language, 20 countries are represented, and so a term as simple as bus may be completely different elsewhere, depending on your country of origin.

Even if you do not have a Spanish coworker or friend to assist you, there are some noteworthy places to ask for help. Twitter and Reddit have large communities with people from all over the world to help translate or double check your work.

Important Ad Copy Considerations

Crafting the correct ad copy is important when reaching any audience, but crafting the perfect message in a language that may not be your own is a Herculean task. Thankfully, the Spanish speakers in the United States are an easy audience to work with. Though they are used to consuming their online media in English, the majority are at home speaking purely Spanish, or at least bilingually, with low expectations in regards to the quality of the online content. Fifty-two percent are using English browser settings, not as a preference, but because they have no other choice. 

When viewing ads, 88% of Hispanics will pay attention regardless of language when it includes an aspect of their culture. Obviously, the best practice here is to translate your ads 100%, but I also believe it is ok to translate 50% or even to not translate at all. The goal we are trying to achieve here is to show searchers quality information the first time they try looking for it. In the SERP, it is ok to have an English ad pointing to a Spanish keyword, because you will most likely be one of the few trying to fight for that space and make it to the top. It is better to have a well-written English ad than a Spanish ad with mistakes.

Mobile 

Hispanics spend two more hours per week using their smartphones than all other demographics in the United States. Having a mobile plan is key to reach this audience. In fact, 68% of Hispanics who are searching on Google do it on a mobile device. Bidding higher on mobile, crafting mobile-specific ads, and creating Call-Only Campaigns could prove very successful as a bilingual mobile strategy.

YouTube

Advertising on YouTube is an essential part of reaching the Hispanic audience of the United States. Why? Because according to Neilsen, more Hispanics watch YouTube than any other cable network. When creating video content, we have good news — there is no need to translate these ads (which is a much more complex endeavor than text translation). Sixty percent of Hispanics watch content in English the majority of the time. Don’t forget to award yourself bonus points for including aspects of Hispanic culture to videos targeted to this audience!

What I find is interesting is how 75% of Hispanics use YouTube to learn about new products and to make informed purchasing decisions.

As you can see, Spanish PPC is a powerful way to connect with new users without having to break your formula or the bank. It also has another huge benefit — it opens the door to making searching online accessible for all. By simply translating or including elements of a different culture into keywords and ads, we are extending an open invitation for people to feel comfortable and catered to when searching online.