Long copy vs short copy - your comments?

Hypathetically, I have a virtual product.

Seems to me that the best way to build a site for this would be to create a small "mini-site" with long copy. However my experience is in bigger and more robust sites (ecommerce, brochure-type multi page sites, directories etc.)

There is much debate about whether long copy or short copy - perhaps because people who don't like it, don't end up using it. But internet marketers who swear by it's success would obviously never stray. So maybe a lot of the negative opinions aren't based on experience.

So back to my question ... does it not make sense to have a long-copy web site when there is only ONE product to sell? And if so, should I be worried about the people that "come to the site ... slide down to see how much ... laugh ... and leave".

I would think if they are genuinely interested they would actually READ the page (or listen to the MP3 if it's offered.)

OR is it pretty much always viewed as snake-oil?

Your thoughts / comments?

Why don't you just have a brief product description on one page along with a "learn more" link. If people click it, they can go to a page with all the information they'd care to know. Good for search engines and most people don't/won't have to suffer through it all.

Thank you for the suggestion.

If someone was to disagree, they would say "getting visitors to click is the hardest thing to do - so why bother asking them?"

This was actually said by an internet marketer who is very well-known and successful in the 7 figures.

I'm always ready to learn and to listen to others opinions. I thank you not only for reading my post, but for your reply.

Feel free to continue to comment ... I'm very interested in your opinions.

If it's a product - hard item, tangible, not an e-book, etc., then build a small site - put up as many pages as makes sense. Think of the likely questions a potential consumer would have, then get them answered, in detail.

To be honest, and this is base don a mix of personal experience and opinion, I feel the "long-copy" stuff (one long page with info on it) is low-rent.

If you're serious about selling your product, build a proper website to support the product.

Now, if you're selling an e-book, then those sorts of "sites" make more sense - after all, other then promising to share all kinds of info on listed points, it's just a collection of "testimonials" designed to hype the reader into the "herd" mentality and say "I want that success too!" so they drop their e-mail, etc at the bottom.

As for "a successful marketers saying why bother asking folks to click a link", well, here's why:

People like to be led through the process every time. If they're interested enough asking them to click the link to read more will verify their interest - after all, only those interested will click, so it becomes a sort of pre-screening test.

Now, go talk to some successful bloggers. Ask them if comments increase when they ask readers to comment...or when they just leave it up to readers to do so...

It is an ebook (PDF / video / audio).

In my mind, long copy makes logical sense. But I've only ever done bigger sites.

The "long copy" is not TOO TOO long. And I have a 2nd page where they will actually do the ordering.

Right now I'm giving away the PDF during the pre-launch phase, which I just posted yesterday, while I tweak my copy and sales pitch.

Am I serious about selling it?

Absolutely. But I'm used to selling mauch larger ticket items from sites that have hundreds of products to choose from.

This is why the questions.

Hey ... and you guys are such a wealth of knowledge, and always helpful when I ask *grin*

I personally don't like one long page and would prefer to have the option to click on areas of interest.

Having separate pages makes sense to me and gives me more control over the content I want to view (or not to view) as I am ready to receive it.

I see these cookie cutter style sites all over the net and quite frankly, I tend to shy away from them. Had a nasty experience with one of them a number of years ago . Waaaay too much hype in the first page. Then once you buy thier product, it really doesn't measure up to your expectations half the time.

Short copy spread out through a couple of pages makes alot more sense IMHO. So long as you have great ad copy that is fully informative (not purely sales pitch) then you'll certainly gain credibility and trust from your clients. Which means repeat business for you with any future products you may have, virtual or tangible .

A quarter to add onto my two cents would be this. If your clients are used to short copy then stick with that. Plus, mini-sites are not particularly favoured by the engines anymore (last time I checked) simply because they emmulate door-way pages. A few years ago I saw such a site appear from nowhere and made it up in the top five on Google. Stayed up there for quite some time, but several months later, it was dropped like a stone

The engines, especially Google, love to gather as much information as it can while it deep crawls your site. A couple more pages means more internal links which may somewhat improve your site's ranking. So the question is, are you going for the short term success by whipping up a one-page ad copy, milk as much out of it as possible in a short time then leave it to waste away OR long term success, dedicate enough time to usher your clients through a couple of pages, at thier own convinient pace and have them make thier own choice ?

Take your time, we're here all year

You might want to read "Call to Action" by the Eisenberg guys to get some idea as to what to do with your copy.

I'm not affiliated with them in any way but am reading it now. Some good perspectives in there.

Thanks. I'll look for that.

This is a difficult subject to master. You have those that LOVE this type of promotion and give great advice. They're the ones that have experienced success with it.

Then the opposite happens too. I had a few people harshly SLAM the entire concept "and me for doing it"!