One aspect that can help you to boost your sales is so big and so important that it needs its entire own chapter. That is your persuasive writing. This is what you’ll use to sell your individual items in their store listing but it’s also what you’ll use on a ‘sales page’ to promote items that are of a particular high value and that you really want to shift.

Catch Attention

The first and most important tip is to capture the attention of your readers as quickly as you can. This means you should use a bold statement, perhaps capitals and you should address the reader directly.

‘Now YOU Can Get the Body You Want’

Works much better than:

‘A quick workout for burning fat’

Asking a question is also a common and effective method, because it forces the reader to engage with the text by thinking about the answer. Hence:

‘Are you sick of feeling tired and unfit?’

The problem with this, is that it can seem a little too obvious as an ‘in your face’ marketing technique. An even better strategy then is to use a narrative structure for your opening. In other words, structure your text like a story. That way, people will want to know what happens next and the text will seem inherently much more interesting.

This is true because we are so used to reading stories. We have been listening to stories for centuries and as a result, they’re always an effective tool for getting people to listen. They’re also easier to make emotionally resonant.

A great opening then might be:

‘I was unhappy with my body and looking for answers. Little did I know the solution would lie in an ingredient found in most diets already…’

Use Headers and Enable Skimming

The reason this point is so important, is that most people are in a huge hurry – especially online. Attention spans are short and no one wants to wait around to read a huge ream of text that’s just trying to sell them something.

Another way around this issue is to make your text skimmable. A good way to do this, is to use lots of headings that use lengthy descriptions. Ideally, a visitor should be able to just read your headings and still understand the entire pitch.

Personal Interest

Addressing the reader directly is particularly useful because we have evolved to pay attention to things that we think concern us. At the same time though, you should also take this further by thinking of more ways that you can make your text personal. In particular, this means using a personal interest story – explaining how your product works by saying how it has helped someone else, or even you. This works much better because it means that the reader will be able to imagine how it is going to affect their life, and because they’ll be more likely to connect with what you’re offering on an emotional level.

Earlier in this book, we discussed the importance of the ‘value proposition’. This is something you should always keep in mind when selling. How do you make the product applicable to the reader? How do you give it emotional weight? Try to get them to imagine what life will be like once they have your product and this will make them want it more.

Addressing Concerns

When someone reads your text they are going to know you’re trying to persuade them and so be on the defensive. They’ll thus be thinking of all the reasons that what you’re saying probably isn’t true, but you can combat this by addressing each concern in your text. Try and second guess what the reader might be thinking and then explain why this needn’t be a concern. If it’s a CV you’re worried about, then try to give examples of the things your skills and experience are useful for and why you’re better than the other candidates.

This also means trying to come up with solutions to the most common ‘barriers to sale’. These are the psychological barriers that prevent people wanting to buy – such as the risk element. We’ve already seen one way you can get around that, by selling products from a trustworthy site and by selling cheaper items first.

Another tip is to make sure you have a full money back guarantee. This is something that people won’t often use but knowing it is there will help you make many more sales. You can also try to combat ‘buyers’ remorse’, which means taking away the feeling of guilt people get by spending money. Using the contrast technique is one way to account for this, another is to describe your product as an investment.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the best way to start building your dropshipping business is to start by selling a product from your site and then to experiment and grow from there. The exact strategies you use are going to depend hugely on the nature of your website, your audience and your goals. It’s up to you to find your way, to see what works and to tweak and evolve your business over time.

Hopefully, this guide has given you all the tools you need to get started. You should now have a strong idea of how a dropshipping business works and how to get started and you should now have a grasp on how to encourage products to grow, how to choose items that are likely to sell and how to find the right market and audience for what you’re selling.

Once you begin selling physical products to your audience, you’ll unlock the kinds of profits that you just can’t get as an affiliate. And all without taking any significant risks or spending much money at all…