You can't make a sale unless your customer is emotionally and logically involved. They have to THINK your product or service is a good buy and they have to WANT to buy it.

A good LONG sales letter is the classic way to capture your customer's mind AND heart.

I'm talking about a web site page that has at least 900 words (about 3 pages worth of copy on a word processor.) Long letters also work well for sending through the mail or including in sales packages. They can be three pages, six, even twelve pages of copy.

Here's why long copy works. Only a very few of us buy things on a whim. More than 70 percent of people like to get more details and think about it before buying. The problem is most folks never get around to buying if they walk off to think about it. There are just too many other tasks competing for their attention. This is especially true for web sites where the customer has one zillion other sites they can buy from.

Long copy gets the interested customer even more interested. While they sit reading your engaging copy for one, three, even five minutes, they become logically and emotionally involved in your copy. While they are reading, they are getting more information and thinking about the purchase. This is EXACTLY what the majority of your customers need to make a purchase.

But how to you get a long sales letter? It's not as hard as it looks if you know how.

Start with a headline. Good headlines focus on one key goodie the customer gets when they buy for you. SAVE TIME...EARN CASH...LESS HASSLE...SPEND LESS--are all good benefits to start your headline with.

Follow your main headline with a second, smaller headline. This one can be a bit longer and give a few more key details about your offer. Your first and second headlines might look like this:

SAVE TIME WITH MONTY'S NEW MONKEY GREESER!

Nothing is more embarrassing than having a squeaky monkey. Monty's patented grease makes your monkey run smoother for years.

Ah, now think what you can do with a REAL product or service. Next, give a quick rundown of your features and the benefits they provide. A bulleted list is often best for this. Then give people a link or directions on how to buy. A good 17 percent don't care about getting more information. They just want to buy NOW. Don't make them hunt for your order info at the end of your copy.

Now on to reach those 70-plus percent who need more info and more time to think about buying. Here's where you start to lay on the sales pitch. Tell a short story about a typical customer who has the problem your product or service can solve. Tell how the problem gets worse, how the problem can practically ruin their live or business.

Then you present your product or service as the BIG SOLUTION. Tell why your product works. Give details, features, a few statistics that prove your points, and some comments from two or three satisfied customers.

Now come back to your story of the customer whose life was almost destroyed by the problem. Talk about what their life is like NOW that they have purchased your product or service.

Then bring home the sale. Tell the customer how to buy, where to find you, how to call you, and when they will get their stuff. If you can, include a satisfaction guarantee. If they don't like their purchase, you'll refund their money, do the service over, whatever you can afford to do to make customers feel more secure about buying.

Finally, put a time limit on your offer. It's only available to the first 50 customers, for 30 days, or while supplies last. Most of us are procrastinators by nature and need a time limit to motivate us to act. Your time limit makes this happen.

Do you recognize the sales letter formula I've just laid out? Of course you do. You've seen thousands of TV commercials and print ads that use the same technique. One famous TV critic likened it to a religious experience: the customer is experiencing Hell, then buys your product and is delivered into Heavenly Bliss.

It has been used by top marketers for decades because it works. Corey Rudl uses it in his legendary 25 page website letter and Jim Daniels uses it in his famous 52 page website letter. You can bet these guys make a VERY good living from their LONG letters.

If writing isn't your favorite thing to do, ranking right along with getting a tooth filled, let a pro write it for you. Jot down your ideas, then send them to a writer along with this article.

Keller Flynn writes LONG sales letters at DrNunley's http://WhizLetter.com Get your 900 word sizzling sales letter for print, email, or your web site for just $345. We'll have it in your hands within a few days. Reach Keller at mailto:keller@WhizLetter.com or 801-328-9006.