SSWT Internet Marketing Forum

I have a serious question I'd like to throw out for some real discussion.
One thing that I find annoying is website pages that are never ending, that go on and on and on. Scroll for five minutes and you are still not at the end. I would much rather see the same information organized into two or three web pages that I could click and read the parts I want to. To me it looks more proffesional, and it much more user friendly. No matter how exciting the text is I get tired of scrolling after a while.

My thought is that I don't go onto a webpage to read a book....
...However a lot of legimate business site, that are making money, some listed here, are done just that way. Is this my personal opinion? Does it only look suspious and somewhat unproffesional to me?
Is there something I am missing?
Thanks for your responses,
Peter

Hi Peter,

I agree with you. I hate these "never ending" sales pages. There is a lot of debate over which produce better results....long-medium-short sales pages. For me, it all comes down to what you are selling and the value. I really don't need to read 15 testimonials, see 5 screen shots of the earnings, be told if I don't buy by midnight, the price will increase (when that same message has been on the sales page for weeks), and have "reviewed" 3 times what I am getting if I click the button at the bottom. Most of it is hype anyway.

As far as putting all this on two, three or more pages, there are those who adamantly teach that the more "clicking" a viewer has to do, the less sales you will make. I guess that is just one reason for these insanely long pages.

Jim

Oh! - I have to chime in on this one...

I've tested short, medium and long letters and I've seen first hand where the long letter format definitely has a higher conversion. Having said that, I think some of these marketers have gotten carried away thinking if 10 pages works well, 20 pages will work even better - which is ridiculous!

The letter length has to match the price point - I don't think a $17 ebook needs a 40 page sales letter. I've often wondered if some of these sales letters are actually longer than the ebook their pitching

My favorite "bulk up" tactic on the sales page is having a 10 page section of "testimonials" from all the other internet marketer gurus saying how great product X is. A month later, you'll see another letter with all the same guys saying the exact same thing about a completely different product. It's like this creepy incestuous club where everybody signed a pact, "If you pitch mine, I'll pitch yours..." The minute I see that tactic in a letter, I bolt - represents a total loss of credibility to me.

Honestly, have Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale even been alive long enough to have read and reviewed all the products they give testimonials for? I think both of these guys know their stuff and have created some quality products, but I think it's a shame to see them prostitute themselves like that. In their defense, I think once you get in the "inner circle" of internet marketers, it's really hard to say "no" to a testimonial request - you'll want these same folks promoting your stuff one day - vicious cycle...

Good post, Kirk. I enjoed reading your views.

Jim

Thanks for your responses. I liked your comment about the page being longer than the ebook it is promoting. Personally if I am going to spend any ammount of money I am going to stomp around the site a while. I'm not going to make a snap descision, if it is a large ammount I'm going to wait a day and then come back and see if it still sounds like it is worth it. However, I know you are all hoping most people are as sensible as I am.

Pete