by Brian Konradt

Too many sales letters are shaped into paper airplanes and flown into trash cans because freelancers write sales letters that sell their services. These freelancers have never listened to quietly- whispered secret that says their sales letters should sell solutions, not services, to yield best results.

Solutions are jewels; they shimmer in sales pieces.

Prospects will peruse your sales letter if they discover you have a solution (or solutions) to their existing or future problem or problems.

To write a "solution-savvy" sales letter follow copywriter’s adage: write "client-centered" copy. Zero in on prospect, his business, his needs, his problems. Then pitch yourself as freelancer who can fulfill his needs and solve his problems. Crown your claims with clients whom you’ve worked for and specific results you’ve achieved on solving similar problems.

Here are four softly-whispered secrets to write a solution-savvy sales letter:

• SECRET #1: FOCUS ON THE CLIENT’S NEED OR PROBLEM. As a freelancer writing for this client’s business and industry, you should know type of needs and problems client faces regularly — or could face in future. Zero in on a specific need or problem that is hurting client’s profitability or productivity. (Note: prospects are more motivated to contact you if you pitch yourself as a freelancer who has a solution to a present problem, rather than a future or potential problem).

• SECRET #2: FOCUS ON THE BENEFITS OF SOLVING THE PROBLEM OR MEETING THE NEED. Tell prospect what he and his business can gain if his problem is solved. Usually, it means an increase in profitability or productivity. Maybe both. Also stress possible consequences of not taking action now to solve this problem.

This article isn’t about how to achieve a high ranking. That topic has been done to death over past few months. We all know basics now… Submit your site to major search engines, scatter a generous helping of right keyword phrases throughout your site in real sentences, then get a lot of other relevant sites link to your site. That’s it.

This article is about what tools to use to make your job easier.

1) Choosing Keyword Phrases (costs approx USD$7.50 per day)

To decide what keyword phrases to use, subscribe to www.wordtracker.com for a day and do some analysis. Simply enter a keyword and WordTracker tells you how often people have searched for that keyword in last month or two, how many competitor sites are using that keyword, and how many searches it expects in next 24hrs.

2) Measuring Keyword Density (FREE)

To measure density of keyword phrases on your page, go to http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php and type in domain and keyword phrase you want to analyse. It’ll give you a percentage for all important parts of your page, including copy, title, meta keywords, meta description, etc. The higher density better.

3) Check How Search-Engine-Friendly Your Site Is (FREE)

Search engines send out spiders (or robots) to investigate your site. These tools allow you to see your site from spider’s point of view. - http://optimiser.123promotion.co.uk - enter your URL and a keyword phrase and it gives you a great summary of things you could improve. - http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one ool.search-engine-viewer.htm - enter your URL and it gives you a summary of things you could improve. - http://www.gritechnologies.com ools/spider.go? - Poodle tells you how many links spider will see and investigate.

4) Check How Many of Your Pages are Indexed (FREE)

Go to just about any search engine and type site:www.yourdomain.com. The search engine will then tell you how many of your pages it has indexed.

5) Monitor Your Position in Google (FREE)