The first "how to" tip I have for sales page writers is: Write a sales letter as if you are talking to one person, not a whole target market, a big group. Keep your letter fresh and easy to read by writing as if you are having a conversation with just one person. I've said more about this in an earlier Hub about Creating Sales Letters to Connect with Your Prospect.

One purpose of the contents of the sales letter you create is to establish a relationship with your prospective customer that is based on trust, especially trust on your prospect's part. Your prospective customer needs to grow to trust that you know what you are talking about (expertise) and that you say what you mean (directness) and mean what you say (honesty, genuineness).

Someone who gets your sales letter as a result of clicking on a pay per click ad at Yahoo or Google will need to read a sales letter that says a lot by way of introducing yourself and establishing your credibility. People who already know something about you, your Facebook friends, for instance, won't need as much information by way of introduction.

In a recent copywriting session with David Garfinkel presented by Marketing Merge Pro, David reminded us that our sales letters must always have this quality: message to market match. That means our letters always start with our customer and what our customer wants.

As a marketer in the health and wellness field, I've often found myself trying to present a new product that I know my customer needs. But it is so fruitless, as David pointed out, to try to sell people what we think they need, what they SHOULD want--but maybe don't want.

David's suggestion is a Win-Win: Sell people what they want. Give them what they want PLUS what they need.

I may think my customer needs to make changes in their nutrition or environment, for example "needs to take a high quality multivitamin" or "needs to use an immune system booster". My customer, on the other hand, may want to eliminate some pain (or fear) and improve their health.

How I write my conversation with them in the form of a sales letter has to address what they want, first and foremost. And I can give them what they want AND give them what they need.

In a sales letter, to address what your audience wants, you first have to find out through research.

1. Start by asking someone. One-on-one conversations are a great way to find out what someone really wants. Make sure you stick to finding out what they want--and leave out any advice about what they need (from your point of view).

A great questioning technique to get more information about what they want is this: Ask what they want then ask how their life will be different when they have what they want. Then ask again: "So, Kate, if you have what you want X, then you'll have Y. If you have Y, how will your life be different?" See how far this goes in your conversation and discover all the layers of what your prospect wants.

2. Take heed of requests, questions and complaints from customers. This information is golden. It holds lots of answers to the question: "What do they want?"

3. Look in public places. People express what they want all the time in forums, blogs and other social media. Pay attention. Ask questions.