Hey all,

You’ve probably heard that one of the most important things you can do as a blogger or marketer is to build your list, right?

Did you know your list gives you ANOTHER excellent benefit besides mere sales?

You see, it all started at 3:30am this morning.  Over the weekend, I had spent quite a lot of time hacking up a cleaner version of my Income Fitness Sales page.

You can see it for yourself:

• Big Huge Mile Long Humongous Copy That’s Bigger Than Ahnold’s Chin
• Elegant Shorter Copy that Takes Readers on a Tour

And during the wee hours of the morning, I was dotting the t’s and crossing the i’s and …. managed to completely hose up my WordPress installation. 

EEEK!

You can read about that over at my Delightful Morning of Hell post in my Income Fitness Journal (which, btw, is free to join – you can make one yourself!) – it should be most amusing indeed. 

Anywhos!  After fixing everything by sacrificing 4 cups of coffee to the gods, I asked some marketers what page they preferred.  Almost to a one, it was the longer copy!

Jeepers, thought I…I know it’s believed that longer copy coverts better, but you have to ask yourself – if’s that true, why don’t traditional retail products do the same thing? 

I researched the sales pages for software, websites, housewares, etc….and in just about all the instances, the sales copy was short and sweet and effective.

So….I decided to try it out meself!

And here’s where my list came in.

After finishing up everything, I polled my list and asked THEM, what do YOU prefer?

I’d say that so far, 75% prefer the shorter copy, 25% prefer the longer one (it’s only been 20 minutes since I sent out that email, so who knows…we’ll have to see tomorrow).

And the comments I received were very thoughtful indeed….it’s the stuff marketers dream to receive (valid feedback from potential customers).

Now, we’ll see what actually converts better in the long run, but right now, I am extremely grateful indeed to my wonderful readers who helped me out when I needed it the most.

Let’s now apply this to you!

If you have your own newsletter/list/etc., do NOT just send out…."Jeepers!  Here’s the latest product promo I’m offering!"

Take the time to offer useful heads-up posts, links to free resources your readers can use, timely tips for them to create their own solutions and the like.

Show your quality and build the trust.

And when it comes time for you to get help above and beyond what’s considered normal…I’ll bet your readers will come through for you too.  And that…..is simple irreplaceable, indeed.

Enjoy,

Barbara Ling