Importance of sales text, personal experiences.
 

What do you guys belive the importance of sales text is in generating what I assume we're all here for...sales?

I could imagine there may be a difference in saying stuff that hits the buttons for surfers and makes them pliable in your hands, as opposed to saying the same exact stuff they've heard at about 5 trillion porn sites already|shocking|

Have you ever experienced an increase or decrease based solely on text? or has too much emphasis been placed on its importance to no avail?

With freesites? So far, my sales have been right from the index, and main pages. Straight text links, and sparse, if any, graphics.

I think, never underestimate the power of good sales text, even with the emphasis of its importance being said again and again we are still in a world of graphic dazzling and flash bells and whistles , and those things are factorable, dont get me wrong, but in at least my experience, i find that compelling sales text makes a difference in ratio.
Its just one more tool to increase your odds of making the sale so it's worth it to go that extra mile and generate good text marketing skills (plus good text skills are in some ways a precursor to good seo skills as well) and if you need help with ideas just ask the sponsor you are promoting, a good sponsor that really knows their niche will be able to assist you in drafting text that describes the very pinnacle of what it is you are trying to sell, if that makes sense. And knowing what your target audience is after , understanding what it is about the niche that turns them on - well that's what they are wanting to see, and most often its not so described on a banner.

good point. I think alot of times affiliates blame the sponsor for their abysmal ratios, when it may be because they use the same tired old banners that 5000 other affiliates use.

For me, sales text is a way to get into the surfers head, and actually make them NEED what you're selling. when it becomes a need instead of just a desire, you won't have to spend hours selling this or that trial for 99 cents or pull teeth to get them to take out their wallet, because they've already justified the expense in their minds.

I know sales text is important, but to be honest I seem to get more sales from banner clicks. I think a mixture of both, or some catchy text over and under the banner works for me.

Personally I am moving away from using complicated ads on to using extremely simple high CTR ads - trying to get as high a proportion of the total traffic to the sponsor and then letting them convert it. I increasingly view my role as an affiliate to be generating and delivering large amounts of traffic rather than copywriting. However, the wording of your shorter text links can make a BIG difference to CTR - but I don't believe many people read long chunks of copy on adult sites.

One thing that I see missing quite often in sales text is an action verb.|huh
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Some people just ramble on, and never order the surfer to click the link to continue to the next step.

some interesting replies guys.

I like to think of "sales text" as any wording used to generate traffic for the sponsor or your site.

my approach would only be slightly modified if I was running a program, but not by much. People surf the net and look at porn to please their senses, when you create the detail of the sensations they seek in their minds your job is almost done.

My freesites are text-rich usually, with calls to action as well as other things. Can't say I'm happy with my ratios, but I am getting lots of clickthroughs...

Tigermom, have you noticed an increase in CTR or slaes in general from more text rich FS? as opposed to the few that may have been lacking?