Write Your Direct Mail Sales Letters Like a Page on Google to Boost Response, Results and Business

You can lose a direct mail sale quicker than you think.

So your primary goal at the start of your sales letter is

to demonstrate relevance. You must prove, and

quickly, that what you have to say is relevant to your

reader. That's why I recommend you write your copy

as though it's appearing on page one of a Google

search results page.

Your customers think in terms of problems, not

products. That's why a teenager doesn't boot up

Google and type "Accutane." She types "acne" or "acne

medication" or "acne treatment." So think of the

keywords that a buyer types into Google when looking

for information about the problem that your product or

service solves.

Your sales letter needs to have those keyword

phrases, not the brand name of your product, at the

top of your letter. You don't demonstrate relevance by

promoting your brand. You demonstrate relevance by

showing prospects that you understand their problem.

And you do that by talking about their problem in the

same language that they use.

How do you know which keywords to us in your sales

letter to hook your readers? Visit Google. Type in the

top keywords associated with your product or service.

Click the Search button. Now pay attention to the hits

that appear on page one. These websites are ranked

in order of relevance. The most relevant sites appear

on page one, starting from the top.

Let me give you another example. My Dad has

Alzheimer's Disease. When I wanted to find

information about the disease, its symptoms and its

causes, I typed "Alzheimer's disease" into Google.

The first link on the first page of results was for the

Alzheimer's Association. Highly relevant, you'll agree,

and just what I was searching for. Then followed the

pages on Wikipedia that discuss the disease in detail,

and the page for the US Government site that does the

same.

Here are some of the keywords that appear in the

page titles and descriptions for the first two pages of

Google hits:

Alzheimer's disease

treatment

symptoms

tests/diagnosis

causes/risk factors

support and advocacy

dementia

If you want to sell me a book about Alzheimer's

through the mail, put these keywords throughout your

package, particularly in your outer envelope teaser

copy, letter overline, opening lines of your letter and

the PS. I might not buy what you're selling. But you can

be sure I'll read every word of your letter, just so long

as you prove that you're relevant in my life, and do so

quickly.