Let’s look at another one of the most common mistakes people make with their website. Most people confuse content with sales material and end up thinking it’s all the same thing. Eeehhh! Wrong. Remember when I told you that 95% of all websites on the internet are just one big sales letter? Or a cluster of small sales letters? Well I want to make sure you understand that if a website is just one big sales letter, that means it has no content. Then what is content?

Content is the kind of information you pay money for. For example, an ebook that you buy for $19.95 is pure content. A newsletter or ezine usually contains at least two articles surrounded by a bunch of ads. The two articles would be the content and the ads would be the sales portion. A members only website that you paid $29.95 to get in to is most likely pure content inside. But on the website that sold you a membership to that site was probably pure sales letter right on their front home page that sold you on the idea of giving them $29.95 to get in. Unless of course these were marketers that read this course. In which case they would have given you lots of free articles and marketing tips before trying to sell you their $29.95 membership. And this would mean they have an excellent conversion rate.

And keep in mind, your FAQ page and Testimonials page are not “Content.” These two pages are simply sales tools to help you make the sale. Remember, content is information that you would normally pay for. Or content is sometimes provided as a free bonus, but if you look closely you’re usually still paying for it in some small way.

You’ll know when you have “True Content” on you website, because you’ll feel like you should be charging for it. You’ll know “Content” when you see it because it usually helps your reader more than it does you. That’s content! You’ll know content when you see it because you’ll feel very generous for giving it away free. You don’t usually get a generous feeling for showing people your “Contact Us” page or your “About Us” page because those pages are not “True Content.”

Of course, you need those pages to be on your website so I’m not criticizing them, but just don’t mistake those pages for content. Like I said, content is written to honestly help the visitors at your website more than it will help you. It’s a donation of high quality information that can’t be found anywhere else and your readers, prospects, and customers will love you for it and always come back to your website for years to come.

With my own websites, I use a 20/80 rule. That means I like at least 80% of my website to be helpful advice that teaches people how to make more money free of charge. Again, things like “How To” articles and information that educates your readers about your industry at no charge is considered content. And I recommend you make 80% of your website pure content. And then that last 20% can be an aggressive sales letter that ties into all that free information you just gave your readers for free.

That 80% helpful content is what just caused your reader to be excited about reading your 20% sales letter. And it’s not often that you can get a reader to actually be excited about reading your sales letters. That’s a marketers dream! By using this “Education First” technique, you’ll be able to get that kind of excitement and enthusiasm from most of your readers.

And if you already have a website up and running, you’re probably realizing that your site is definitely lacking free content. But don’t worry! Down below in the next paragraph I’m going to show you how to get more content to add to your site so your sales and conversion rate can finally be where they should be.