I always decline on the rare occasion I'm asked to work on someone's sales page–for exactly the reasons you and Kimberly give. Clients EXPECT them to be long-winded, overhyped, and ridiculous. I just can't in good conscience charge someone to produce something that I as a consumer WILL NOT read. Ick.

The thing that bugs me about sales pages is that it's too hard to find the price of the product or service that's being sold. I realize that's kind of the point – to get the reader so hyped up about the thing that they're willing to pay almost any price. But for me, I'd rather know a little sooner than the last 200 words of a 3,000-word sales page.

The length matters less to me if the writing is really good. I'll admit I've been tempted to buy products and services that were WAY out of my price range simply because the sales page was so persuasive. So much depends on the individual reader that I think it's definitely worth testing several types/styles of pages to see which convert the best. Maybe the "gurus" have done that and that's what works for their audience, I really don't know. Hopefully that will help you have a successful landing page for the things you're planning!

Long sales pitches always remind me of what my dad said about one of my friends who would (and still does!) try anything to impress strangers: If you have to work that hard at making an impression, you can't be very impressive.

Kim, that's sad. The idea is to make your message stand out, not blend in. I love that you saw that. And I agree — repetition can work, but it has to be used intelligently. Never insult the audience.

A lot of people feel that online sales pages need to be as long as the traditional direct mail pages and like you I disagree. People don't consume information on the web the same as print. They skim content and scan for key points.

I've noticed many of those very long sales letters will contain repetitive information throughout. Repetition can be an effective sales tactic, but it shouldn't be too obvious.