Component #1: Stage of the Selling Process
(A.I.D.A.)
Attention: what's in this for me, why should I give you 30 seconds of my time? (usually a shocking statement, bold claim, promise, or newsworthy statement)
Interest: who are you, why should I listen, how does it relate to me?
Desire: what is your offer, what does it do, why would I want it?
Action: what do you want me to do right now to get it?
A very common mistake I see with sales letters (or with teaching of any kind) is that someone's got this in the wrong order. They're trying to sell something before they've demonstrated the importance of it, or they haven't captured my attention before they began talking to me. Some of them don't have a very clear call to action!
The point is, just look at your webinar presentation and sales letter and make sure that the ENTIRE presentation as a whole follows AIDA. Starts with attention, moves to interest, then desire, then finally action -- the pitch! Every piece of the webinar itself (intro, teaching, and pitching) should follow AIDA on its own and every slide should also follow AIDA -- even if the "attention" part is the headline of your slide, and the "action" is just to continue listening, watching, and participating in that webinar.
Now that we know the order we're going to proceed in, let's look at what tools we're going to use to do the job -- they are pretty interchangeable...
Component #2: Persuasion Tool
(Robert Cialdini "6 Keys of Influence")
I've seen many people try to explain their "system" for selling and persuading, but only explain one small piece. For example, has anyone tried to be your best friend in order to get you to buy from them (likeability)? It didn't always work, did it? On the other hand, if someone presented a trial offer (reciprocity) it made you buy... but not always, right?
These are the six tools you always use to get what you want, whether you realize it or not:
Authority: demonstrate higher value, you've got what I want, you know what you're talking about and I should listen to you
Likeability: we have common ground, we connect on several levels
Reciprocity: you've done something for me (either a literal gift or taught valuable information) so I want to return the favor
Commitment & Consistency: I've already agreed with you 20 times in a row, or I've sat through your 1-hour webinar, I want to keep following you
Social Proof: others see value in what you have so I do too
Scarcity: if I don't act on this right away, I will miss out in some way (won't be able to buy, will have to buy at a higher price, or won't get results if I wait)
I hope you seeing this list makes you realize why you sell to some people and not others. Honestly, some people will buy from you because they feel like they are you (likeability), because they feel the need to give back to you (reciprocity), because others like you (social proof), or just because you lit a fire under their butt to get them to buy right away (scarcity)...
And the way this REALLY makes sense to me is that authority, likeability, and reciprocity are the high-level strategies you'd use over time to sell high-ticket items. You play on your audience's need for certainty, love, and contribution.
While commitment & consistency, social proof, and scarcity are the cheap "gimmicks" that work great for low-ticket impulse buy sales. Think about it. Bucket brigades, hand raising, and multiple facts in a row (commitment and consistency) will give you a boost. Social proof (testimonials) will give you a boost. Deciding to only offer 100 copies or raise the price on Wednesday, will give you a boost!
The point of these six keys of influence: you need to have SOME of each of the six keys. Even if you don't have testimonials are your social proof, have case studies or explain to me how SOMEONE uses your product.
BUT! I think you're going to realize that the next time you create (or dissect) one of your own headlines, the effective ones uses one of these 6 keys as its MAIN driving force, probably with a 2nd a 3rd. For example, look at this headline:
"43 Smart Marketers Create 94 Information Products In Just A Few Short Weeks, Each In A Single Take, Starting With Almost Zero Training! You Too Can Create Your Own Online Show, Event, or E-Class Just Like Two Guys Who Have Logged 545 Webinars (Totaling 1050 Hours)"
You could look at that and say it's a SOCIAL PROOF headline. Look at what these people did and you can do it too. I would say the secondary tool we used here was AUTHORITY, check out how well we train our students and how many webinars we ourselves have run. Finally, a 3rd tool that's just barely in there is LIKEABILITY -- we run online shows, events, and e-classes and would like you to do it as well.
Component #3: Underlying Need
(Anthony Robbins "6 Human Needs")
Here's where it gets super cool... if we know where we are in our selling process, we know what our end goal is at this point in time (get them to start reading, or to align with us, or listen to our offer, or buy now). That was component #1. Any of those 6 keys of influence will do it... but how do we know WHICH tool to use???
Ahhh... the answer is to know who you're selling to -- what are their needs? If you think about WHY someone buys your course on Facebook traffic, it's might be because they want to help as many people as possible with their training (contribution) or because they want everyone to know about them (significance)...
I've looked at every which way people try to simplify human needs but motivational speaker Tony Robbins was the only one I've found to break it down in a way that I can always remember...
Certainty: we need stability in our lives and to maintain what we have
Variety: we need new adventures and excitement
Significance: we need others to recognize how great we are
Love: we need to connect with other human beings
Growth: we need today to be better than it was 5 years ago
Contribution: we need to contribute to the greater good
Once again, how does this relate? To make a huge generalization, I would argue that most older men desire CERTAINTY the most. They want to be able to pay their bills and not have to worry. Their #2 need is VARIETY -- can't have the same exact day as yesterday. And #3 for them is SIGNIFICANCE. They still need love, growth, and contribution, but they see those things coming almost automatically as a result of meeting those other three needs. (Picture the ultimate "alpha male" -- William Shatner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump -- they want certainty, variety and significance ABOVE ALL ELSE!)
Likewise, I would argue that MOST older women value those bottom three items the most... love, growth, and contribution. Do you think Oprah cares if she has $2 billion vs. $3 billion? NOT knowing her personally, I would say that Oprah belives in connecting with people (love), bettering herself as a person (growth), and helping others improve their lives as well (contribution) -- and that any certainty (money), variety (her business), and significance (fame) comes as an automatic result of that and therefore isn't so important.
Customer Avatar
You're going to have some Trumps as your subscribers, some Oprahs and everyone in between but once you get to know enough of your ideal customers you're going to discover your "ideal prospect" (Frank Kern and Eben Pagan call this your customer avatar) -- one imaginary person in your mind that adequately represents your ideal subscriber.
You'll figure out their name, age, appearance, what they do, what their income is, what they buy and THEN when you create a sales letter, or write a headline, you're just writing to that single person. And because you know what motivates them (their #1, #2, and #3 ranking needs), which tool you'll use to match those needs (which of the 6 Cialdini keys) -- then all you need to do is figure out which order to use them in! (which is Attention, Desire, Interest, and Action)
Bringing It All Together...
If you look at it correctly, this table will solve all your problems:
[table id=1 /]
Let me show you how to use it. Let's say your customer avatar is a slightly selfish person who values Variety, Significance, and Growth above all else. Let's also say you were selling a low ticket product so you're going to use Commitment & Consistency, Social Proof, and Scarcity to sell your product.
Now, we've decided that it would make the most sense if we opened with Social Proof, used Commitment & Consistency to keep them reading, and ended with Scarcity to really push them to buy right now.
Here's what we have so far:
Attention: Variety + Social Proof
Interest: Significance + Commitment & Consistency
Desire: ???
Action: Growth + Scarcity
We want to begin, build and end strong so I've listed our avatar's top three human needs in order as Attention, Interest, and Action, respectively. By the time someone is in the "Desire" stage, we're already explaining our offer to them, so we can put the remaining weakest pieces in there.
How does this all come together? Let's consult our chart... for the headline (Action phase) we're going to start with a before and after statement, such as...
"If You're Not Using These Video Sales Tactics In Every Website and Sales Letter You Create, You Might as Well Throw $10 in the Trash Every Time Someone Visits Your Landing Page!
On the Other Hand, Apply This Easy 6-Step Formula and You'll Notice an Increase in Traffic, Higher Customer Response, and More Sales... Which Means More Money For You!"
Now for the "interest" step... significance + commitment & consistency = limited slots.
Jeffrey Traister covers Digital Marketing Automation in this Marketer of the Day episode. Businesses can increase profits by combining content, automation, mobile, social media, and ecommerce strategies with a stronger focus on customer lifetime value. Jeffrey identifies content marketing and marketing automation as essential because they nurture leads, establish trust, and accelerate sales conversion. He outlines five campaign types: opt-in, sales conversion, retention, upsell, and downsell campaigns. Retention deserves special attention because keeping existing customers and encouraging repeat purchases costs less than continually acquiring new leads.
Jeff Traister, Your Marketing Superhero, provides digital direct response marketing services, strategy, persuasive copywriting, marketing automation consulting, social media marketing management, WordPress web design and content plus video post-production to companies & industries worldwide.
social media marketing: interacting with leads to start selling
e-commerce: B2B & manufacturers
Types of Digital Marketing Campaigns
lead generation (opt-in, free report)
sales conversion (persuade with a sales letter)
trust building (whitepaper, success stories)
retention campaign (get established clients to buy more)
upsells and downsells (cart abandonment, lesser-quantity offers)
Jeff Traister develops direct response marketing strategies for start-up ventures, new product launches and market share expansion. These strategies involve digital media, automation and e-commerce.
Quotes:
“Content marketing is important because the customer life cycle varies from product to product, company to company. Some prospects that enter a company's funnel may not buy right away. So what do you do with that contact? You don't give up.” - Jeffrey Traister
“If you start advertising, that means you're starting to spend money. As soon as you spend money, you need a way to convert that contact, that lead, into a customer.” - Jeffrey Traister
“One of the great things with automation is that we're able to ask questions to gather information about the audience. By doing that, the audience member will have a greater appreciation of the relationship with you.” - Jeffrey Traister
Takeaways:
01:13 Digital marketing requires a multi-channel approach, focusing on content marketing, marketing automation, mobile strategies, social media engagement, and e-commerce expansion.
14:20 Prioritize content marketing across multiple channels to establish trust and credibility with potential customers.
17:08 Focus on nurturing existing customers to maximize business profits, as retention is cheaper and more effective than constantly acquiring new leads.
19:19 Build a complete sales funnel before investing in traffic, ensuring you have a strategic way to convert prospects into customers.
22:50 Use dedicated landing pages with lead magnets instead of sending cold traffic directly to sales pages or homepages.
26:46 Implement marketing automation to ask questions and gather audience information, creating more meaningful customer relationships.
Perry Marshall covers 80/20 Business Strategy in this Marketer of the Day episode. Perry Marshall explains how the 80/20 principle helps entrepreneurs focus on the small number of activities, customers, and strengths that create most of their results. He emphasizes that another 80/20 exists inside every 80/20, meaning roughly 4% of efforts can produce about 64% of outcomes. Instead of trying to improve every weakness, entrepreneurs can often gain more by investing further in the narrow strengths already producing results. Marshall also recommends validating ideas quickly by asking customers to pay before spending heavily on development. Because many experiments will fail, he advocates identifying failures fast and paying close attention to the few ideas that gain real traction. The same logic applies to customers, where quiet, profitable buyers deserve more attention while costly low-value accounts may need to be released.
Perry Marshall is one of the world's most expensive and sought-after business consultants. Clients seek his ability to integrate engineering, sales, art and psychology. He launched two movements in modern marketing. His Google AdWords books laid the foundations for the $100 billion Pay Per Click industry, and techniques he pioneered are standard best practices. He wrote the world’s best selling book on web advertising, Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords.
More recently, he's turned "80/20" into a verb. 80/20 is not just a fact about your business, it's action you take on your business. 80/20 is the central lever for every great strategy. His book 80/20 Sales & Marketing is mandatory in many growing companies. His books are course material in several business schools.
Quotes:
“Marketing always aligns with existing trends and natural forces in the marketplace. Anything effective in marketing works because it harmonizes with these larger forces, and you're simply directing or steering them slightly.” – Perry Marshall
“There are certain kinds of salespeople and sales modalities. If you put the wrong person in the wrong modality, you're just pounding a square peg into a round hole, which frustrates everybody.” - Perry Marshall
“The world is increasingly chaotic, making it harder to predict the future based on the past. It's becoming more difficult to foresee which product will go viral tomorrow based on what went viral today.” - Perry Marshall
Takeaways:
04:40 Fail fast and seek early customer validation by asking people to pay for your product before fully developing it.
14:01 Focus on the 20% of your skills and customers that generate 80% of your business results.
20:42 Stop trying to improve weak areas and instead concentrate on your natural strengths and talents.
35:45 Pay close attention to your reliable, low-maintenance customers who consistently generate steady business.
41:43 Recognize that business success often comes through incremental steps and experimental approaches, not overnight miracles.
Nick Usborne is an expert in copywriting and web writing. He has written copy for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Citibank, Apple, Chrysler, MSN.com, New York Times, WebEx, the U.S. Navy, and others. He attributes his success to “conversational copywriting,” and he’s here today to share his approach to help you write persuasive and effective copy for clients.
Quotes:
“Whatever your business online, it's the words that do the heavy lifting when it comes to making those sales for you. You can’t sell stuff without words online.” – Nick Usborne
“If you want a relationship, your whole approach, your mindset, the emotions you bring to it, the language, you use the tone of voice, you use your body language, everything changes.” - Nick Usborne
“Any kind of heart-based business where you actually care about your audience, and you want a long-term relationship with that buyer, then you absolutely need to mark it in the way that you are, so that they get a sense of who you are, and they trust you before they buy.” - Nick Usborne
Takeaways:
05:57 Speak to customers like trusted friends, using natural, conversational language that builds long-term relationships.
10:05 Create marketing that sounds consistent from start to finish, avoiding sudden shifts in tone or pushy language.
25:35 Prioritize respect and care for your customers over aggressive sales tactics.
30:32 Mirror your audience's emotional language by researching reviews and understanding their true concerns and feelings.
32:05 Read your copy out loud to ensure it sounds authentic, smooth, and genuinely conversational.
Doberman Dan covers Direct Response Copywriting in this Marketer of the Day episode. Doberman Dan explains how direct response copywriting, persistence, and smart customer economics can turn repeated failures into profitable businesses. After nine years of business failures, he built successful ventures in bodybuilding, nutritional supplements, information products, and other markets. His strongest advantage is an inability to quit, even when projects fail repeatedly or promising campaigns collapse. Effective copy still depends on understanding a market's deepest desires, fears, and hot buttons rather than producing clever or elegant writing. He sees artificial intelligence and customer data becoming increasingly important for understanding prospects and delivering more relevant marketing. His biggest business mistake was abandoning an offer producing roughly a 1.3 media efficiency ratio because he expected immediate front-end profits.
Doberman Dan is a 33-year serial entrepreneur, A-list copywriter and three-time international best selling author. In his spare time he’s also a professional musician and composer.
He has started numerous info product businesses and four different nutritional supplement businesses. He is regularly hired to write sales copy for some of the most successful direct response marketers and publishers in the country. Dan has been publishing The Doberman Dan Letter since 2011 and has many of the most successful online marketers in the world as subscribers.
Quotes:
“The only superpower that I have is the inability to quit when something isn't working, even if it takes years of pushing through it.” – Doberman Dan
“The basics of the sales message have stayed the same. You just have to figure out the market's biggest hot buttons and biggest fears and speak to that.” - Doberman Dan
“You don't make your money acquiring a customer. You make your money on the back end, and if you can just acquire a customer at break-even, you should have a hallelujah breakdown about that.” - Doberman Dan
Takeaways:
09:34 Persistence through repeated failures is often the key to entrepreneurial success.
12:45 Direct response copywriting remains effective, but its visual presentation has dramatically changed over time.
18:50 Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming marketing by enabling hyper-targeted customer insights.
21:35 Understanding a market's deepest fears and desires is more important than crafting elegant writing.
28:27 Breaking even on initial customer acquisition can be more valuable than seeking immediate profits.
Kevin Donlin covers Productivity Marketing in this Marketer of the Day episode. Kevin Donlin explains how simple visual tools can help business owners focus on the few marketing actions that produce dramatically better results. His One Thing Scorecard uses a 3-by-5 card, seven boxes, and a daily checkmark to build momentum around proven activities. The method combines Dan Kennedy's daily marketing discipline with Jerry Seinfeld's "don't break the chain" approach. Donlin's 16x Pathfinder applies the 80/20 principle by contrasting high-value work with low-value activities such as excessive email, news, and social media.
Kevin Donlin returns to the Marketer of the Day for the 500th episode!
He's been involved in marketing since 1994, when he sold one of the first ebooks online, payable by check and you had to mail it to a post office box. That was e-commerce in 1994! From 1995 to 1998, he was Webmaster for FedEx.com, where he worked with the pioneers of online marketing. Since 1998, he’s been a copywriter and marketing advisor for clients big and small, delivering sales gains of more than $1 million on multiple occasions with web pages, email promotions, sales letters, and print ads.
He's been interviewed by ABC-TV in Detroit, Fox and NBC News in Minneapolis, CBS Radio in Los Angeles and New York, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fortune magazine, Entrepreneur magazine, and too many others to list here. He’s the author or co-author of 5 books, including his latest book, Marketing Multipliers.
For this return appearance, Kevin shares a few simple but powerful techniques that are working very well for him lately. One is "The One Thing 3x5 Scorecard" where he lists the 3 to 5 go-to activities he can perform in his business, from calling a prospect on the phone to mailing a letter or book. There's the Pocket Seinfeld calendar, and the 16X Pathfinder method to replace the bulk with the select few that makes a difference -- 80/20 -- and strategically abandon what isn't working.
Quotes:
“If you look at your calendar and how you use your time, 80% of it is largely wasted. It's only producing a small number of outputs.” – Kevin Donlin
“The most successful people are typically in the zone all day. It's like being at a seminar or your favorite destination city. You're not thinking about news or politics; you're just in the moment.” – Kevin Donlin
“90% of news is bad news. 90% of politics is outrage and anger. If you're looking at or thinking about that stuff, it's dragging you in the opposite direction of your goals.” – Kevin Donlin
Takeaways:
06:52 Creating a simple daily tracking system can boost your marketing productivity and keep you focused on key business-growing activities.
07:41 Visual tracking methods, like using sticky notes or scorecards, can help entrepreneurs stay accountable and motivated.
13:49 Most people waste significant time on low-value tasks that produce minimal results, and identifying these can dramatically improve business performance.
21:21 Replacing time-consuming, unproductive activities with high-impact tasks can potentially increase your effectiveness by 16 times.
26:26 Eliminating distractions like news, social media, and constant email checking can free up mental space for strategic business growth.
Resources
Marketing Multipliers (Membership Site, reply to initial email with "Robert Plank 500th episode")
Ryan Stewman, CEO and Founder of Hardcore Closer and Break Free Academy, is a 4x best-selling Author, Motivational Speaker, Sales Coach, Podcast Host, Blogger and all around Entrepreneur. He’s also a regular contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Addicted2Success, Good Men Project, Lighter Side of Real Estate, Huffington Post, and more. It doesn't matter if you are selling cars, homes, financial services or consulting, Ryan’s sales mastery can help you generate higher quality leads, increase your closing ratios, and show you how to charge premium fees for the items you sell.
Quotes:
“We know that technology moves fast. Moore's Law says that every year, technology doubles in capability.'” – Ryan Stewman
“A lot of people—especially smart people who listen to podcasts like this—overcomplicate things, right? We think it has to be smart in order to work, but meanwhile, the masses don't think that way.” – Ryan Stewman
“We're not going to be replaced by robots. We're just going to sell the robots.” – Ryan Stewman
Takeaways:
05:24 Modern businesses must continuously adapt their marketing approach to match changing technological capabilities.
10:39 Technology and digital sales strategies are now critical for business survival, not just an optional add-on.
18:23 Successful sales aren't about complex strategies, but about understanding the customer's core desire and simplifying your message.
21:53 Every communication should include a clear call-to-action that gives potential customers a direct path to engage with your business.
24:47 Video content is a powerful, underutilized tool for connecting with potential customers and building your brand.
relationally (how prospects relate to you, i.e. have they bought or tweeted you)
psychologically (what keeps them up at night)
demographics (gender, age, location)
Research for Alyson consists of checking out industry news articles, social media (especially the comments section) and sites like RipOffReport to get a handle on peoples' problems, frustrations, fears, and beliefs. Then, her five step copywriting process is as follows:
get attention (headline, pre-head, sub-head)
identify the problem
introduce a solution
explain how to get it
don't let them walk away without it
Alyson also talks about common copywriting mistakes, such as using the word "I" within the first three paragraphs of a sales letter.
Quotes:
“They don't care about you as the copywriter, product creator, or business owner at all. They care about themselves—their fears, their aspirations, and what you can do for them.” – Alyson Lex
“I want my clients to be successful. So if they have someone who is more of an expert than I am in something like web design, then it doesn't serve my client for me to hold on just because I think it should be a certain way.” – Alyson Lex
“I like to learn principles rather than shiny techniques, because at the base, those principles stay the same. They just adapt to the technology and the trend.” – Alyson Lex
Takeaways:
04:08 Effective copywriting starts with deep research into your target audience's psychological, social, and relational experiences.
11:20 The language you use in sales copy should mirror exactly how your customers speak, not industry jargon or technical terms.
24:02 Sales copy principles remain constant, even as design trends and graphic styles change over time.
29:05 The first few paragraphs of any sales letter should focus entirely on the customer's problems, not on the writer's experiences.
34:23 Entrepreneurs can overcome writer's block by following a structured copywriting formula and conducting thorough audience research.
Dave Rogenmoser is the co-founder of Proof, a simple pixel you can place on your website that displays social proof to your visitors.
This notification appears in the bottom corner to show the first names and cities (with photos) of people who have recently purchased. Use it for social proof of any kind, such as email opt-ins or webinar signups.
You can also display your "proof" directly on your checkout page or on the front page of your site. Dave hopes that adding that proof pixel to your site will become part of your checklist when setting up a new web property.
Quotes:
“Social proof is like a shortcut—a cheat code—to getting a higher-converting lead magnet or sales page.” – Dave Rogenmoser
“When in doubt, adding social proof makes everything else easier in your funnel and marketing.” – Dave Rogenmoser
“I'm a lot more excited about conversion than I am about social proof; it's just that social proof is an incredibly easy way to increase conversion.” – Dave Rogenmoser
Takeaways:
03:12 Adding social proof can dramatically increase website conversion rates with minimal effort.
06:28 Real-time customer activity notifications create instant credibility and trust for potential buyers.
09:29 Social proof works across multiple website elements, from order forms to lead magnets and webinar registrations.
16:19 The most effective social proof shows recent, authentic customer interactions with location and profile details.
19:19 Entrepreneurs should view social proof as an easy "cheat code" for improving marketing performance.
Gabe Arnold from CopywriterToday.net wants to write your emails, blog posts, and press releases, so that you don't have to. Listen in as he tells you how content marketing can help your business, and how he discovered (and grew) this "service-as-a-service" model that provides unlimited content to monthly buyers.
Quotes:
“If you can commoditize your product or service, you can reach the masses. And when you can reach the masses, you have a business that can scale and is far more profitable and stable than doing one-off consulting or project-based work.” – Gabe Arnold
“You have to be able to jump in and do whatever it takes. You need to get your hands dirty and do everything to truly understand what's going on.” – Gabe Arnold
“The people who have been most successful with us came in with the mindset of taking the first few weeks to a month to get everything synced up and get everyone on the same page.” – Gabe Arnold
Takeaways:
07:58 Getting your hands dirty and understanding every detail of your business is crucial for long-term success.
14:31 Launch quickly and simply, then refine based on customer feedback rather than getting stuck in over-complicated planning.
18:57 Create an automated hiring process that filters candidates through practical tests, ensuring only top-tier talent joins your team.
24:50 Build a content service that offers flexibility across different business sizes, from small businesses to large agencies.
27:35 Expect a 90-day learning curve when starting with a new service, focusing on clear communication and feedback.
Kevin Donlin from MarketingMultipliers.com has been an online copywriter and direct response master for over 23 years. Copywriting is salesmanship multiplied, and Kevin has tons of amazing advice about how to write copy (and web pages), that get attention and sell. Sell with a credible deadline, don't devalue your offers, and use clear (simple) wording.
Quotes:
“If you never quit, you will succeed. It's as simple as that. The people who quit are the ones who fail.” – Kevin Donlin
“There's no penalty for clarity. If you think so—if that concept offends you—you're going to struggle in your marketing.” – Kevin Donlin
“The cure for writer's block is research. If you run into writer's block, it's because you didn't do your research.” – Kevin Donlin
Takeaways:
07:12 Research and time are critical ingredients in producing high-quality marketing copy and business strategies.
13:26 Simplicity in marketing communication trumps complexity, making your message clear and easy to understand.
37:21 Consistent daily actions and never giving up are the true paths to building a successful business.
40:01 Creating multiple versions of marketing materials, especially headlines, increases the chances of finding truly compelling content.
44:53 Support from peers and accountability groups can significantly accelerate entrepreneurial growth and overcome challenges.
Larry Becht from The Expert Media Group has a lot to say about ClickFunnels, his preferred tool of choice for setting up landing pages and funnels, especially since it now includes "Backpack" for running an affiliate program and "Actionetics" for tracking your visitors. Larry specializes done-for-you website setup and you'll want to hear his thoughts about hiring a professional to setup your pages quickly.
If you want to grow your business, the easiest way to do that (the low hanging fruit) is to increase your conversions. Mike Caldwell, the Marketing Medic, tell us how you're leaving money on the table with your business and what you should do to make more sales with your websites.
Quote of the Day: "The fears we don't face become our limits." -- Robin Sharma Thought of the Day: Don't have "just" a traffic or AdSense or guitar course.
add a buy button even if you don't have time for anything else
offer: create a package or solution, not just a "product" (4 modules + 3 bonuses, what else can you throw in to make it complete?)
hook: what's the one thing that tells people, I need it now? (that takes 10 seconds to explain)
basic copywriting: benefits (what you can do with it) instead of "just" features (what it is), Attention-Interest-Desire-Action ordering
deadline: close the offer (take a risk)
countdown clock
explain reasons not to wait
followup: send multiple emails or make multiple posts explaining why they should buy now
waiting list: don't "just" close an offer, add an optin form so they can sign up for updates when you re-open
multiple levels of urgency: bump the price, remove a bonus, remove the payment plan
price training: stick to your guns with the deadline. Train your customers to take your deadlines seriously.
evergreen content: re-market your pitch webinars, podcast episodes, PDF reports and blog posts for re-launching later
If you feel like there are holes in your internet marketing knowledge, that maybe you're trying to learn college calculus but can't add two plus two, then this is the podcast episode for you!
Many marketers are obsessed with split testing, funnels, and setting up 1-click upsells, but they don't even have a buy button on a sales page.
Can I walk you through what I tell someone if they're struggling, can't get a sales page figured out, and just need a quick web page online?
The first thing is that you should have a copy of Paper Template (just $7 dollars) installed on WordPress, because you can easily click and create anything you want. But now what do you write on that web page where you want people to enter their email to subscribe? What magic words do you place on a web page where you want people to click and pay you money?
Marketer of the Week: Robert Puddy
I created a couple of products and launched a couple of services with Robert Puddy back in the day. His big thing then was creating traffic exchanges to bring in lots and lots of hungry traffic.
His biggest site is Launch Formula Marketing (now Login Frequency Marketing). Puddy monetizes unsubscribes from his list (link them to SpamAssassin with your affiliate link), even lost password pagees (Roboform). Make them login to your site every day, for example, to watch a webinar.
Wise Words This Week
When we get overwhelmed, we often use multitasking to get back on track. It often causes more problems than it solves. Usually when you split your attention, you’re giving half the effort and producing half the results. The solution is to develop "single-handling" activities. --- S.J. Scott
Copywriting Shortcut
AIDA/WWHW: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Why, What, How-To, What-If. Keep it stoppable stupid, look with fresh eyes, bottlenecks
Who Else Wants To... (this headline is my squeeze page starter)
Imagine... (starter for emails)
What Would Happen If... (starter for webinars)
Quick Question... (starter for sales letters)
PHASE I: Minimum Viable Product
Headline: Who Else Wants To?
Ten bullet points: why should I get this?
Price and buy button
WWHW re-ordering
PHASE II: Fundamentals
Button, stack, headline (in that order)
Product breakdown (individual modules)
Problem agitate solve (story)
Four objections (no need, I don't believe you)
PHASE III: Persuasion
Four stages of awareness
Cialdini 6 elements
Typos and numbers not adding up
PHASE IV: Window Dressing
Case studies and testimonials
Graphics
Jump links
Resources
Paper Template (This is the WordPress plugin I use on all my sites for sales letters, optin pages, webinar replay pages, and more.)
Fast Food Copywriting (Here's how I churn out attention-grabbing, high-converting sales pages in just a few minutes on-demand.)
Speed Copy (The complete course on how to make a full-time income with money-making web pages)
Welcome back to the Robert Plank Show, tune in today to discover:
What it means to "sell what you sell" (sell one thing for $97 as opposed to a maze of $17, $27, and $37 upsells), separate the "forest from the trees" (stop throwing out what's working just to build yourself back up to what you have now), and reduce that clutter (if you haven't used an item in 1-5 years, do you still need it?)
Why the knowledge taught in "Think & Grow Rich" (visualize), "4 Hour Work Week" (80/20), "Good to Great" (one thing), and "The E-Myth" (checklist) keep showing up over and over again
Why I re-did my blog post as the plain WordPress 2012 theme (and I'm happier with it than my previous "custom blog theme"
How all you need to have is an ugly website, then send traffic to it, then build a list and keep promoting to that list
Welcome our brand new sponsor Membership Cube who will show you how to get all your paid (and free) content up and running, how to get your copywriting (sales letter) done in a flash, then add all the upsells, dashboard, etc. that you want
Here are the questions I asked you in today's call -- but keep the answers to yourself!
Do you email every day?
Is all your content (i.e. podcasts or videos) "one take content?"
Do you have a payment button online where I can buy from you today?
Are you completing four daily tasks every day?
Do you publish one "piece" of content per week? (podcast, YouTube, pitch webinar, or webinar class) FACEBOOK does not count.
There are four very simple tweaks that you need to make in the way you present your products and webinars if you haven't applied these already...
Look, let's think for a second about the "top 10 percent" of your subscriber list. They're going to buy everything you put out. It doesn't matter if you do a bad job of explaining it, or you don't promote it very often, even the price point doesn't matter THAT MUCH -- they're buying, mostly because they have the budget, they're the perfect fit for your products... and SOMEWHAT because of you and your personality. They trust you.
Then there's the "bottom 10 percent" of your list. I hate to use such derogatory terms but let's just say this is the crowd that either can't afford your product, doesn't want your product. They're never going to buy no matter what you do. Once again, I hope that doesn't offend anyone but there is a minority of people on your list who will NEVER buy anything from you in a million years.
That's fine. But the bulk of our subscribers are that middle 80 percent, the ones who buy sometimes but not always, THEY are the reason you run things like webinars.
Or add time based scarcity to "push them over the edge", mail a few more times, test and tweak headlines on your sales letter.
Heck, do you know why webinars are so important to the business that Lance and I run? Because most people don't click on an email under the 2nd or 3rd one... and if it's a sales letter or a training video, they might read half or watch half, and ALMOST buy... but not quite.
Why doesn't that middle 80% want to buy from you?
It's not about the price. Most people can scrape together a few hundred or a few thousand bucks if something's that important. People have credit cards.
After careful observation of the people on our webinars and on my list... the #1 reason people don't buy is because... wait for it... they're afraid of change AND on some deep level, they know they won't take action on what they buy.
Here's what you can do about that:
Multiplier #1: Add Something to Your Offer to Make It "Too Good to Pass Up"
Most marketers are lazy and can't think of anything other than reduce the price or add a deadline. Or even worse, a "crazy guarantee" (that's all been done to death and is nothing special)...
What if you partnered with some other business in your niche and arranged things so that if someone buys your product, they get someone else's product for free? Or you hired a programmer to whip up some kind of software or must-have tool to make it easier for someone to apply your training?
You could throw in a done-for-you or 1-on-1 call as a bonus, and if you get too bogged down with fulfilling it, remove it in the future.
Multiplier #2: Align and Sympathize with Their Problem
We're dealing with a tricky situation here. The problems that most people have... whether we're talking about lack of money, too much weight, general unhappiness, is the result of some underlying psychological issue.
Even worse: you can't explain to this 80% what their problem is, why they have this problem or how to solve it. They don't want to hear it! Either they agree with you, and they have to admit they've been doing things the wrong way, and now they're a victim OR you're insulting them.
More likely: they'll aggressively DENY they have this underlying psychological problem, they might not even want to admit it to themselves, and now you're really losing credibility.
If there's one common thread I've seen when it comes to copywriting, pitching, psychology, or even mindset and self-help it's this... if you've got a selling argument to make, you'll lose people if you flat out tell them they're wrong or that things need to change.
How about this... what if you turned it around on yourself and instead of telling people why THEY are dieting wrong or making money online in the wrong way... you shared the mistakes YOU made when trying to get a handle on your mindset, when you were trying to lose weight, when you personally were trying to make money online?
Be careful though... if all you do is tell me how much you suck, why am I going to listen to you? That's why you tell a "before-and-after" story. I was just like you and I had this, this, and this problem. I did that, that, and that didn't work. Can you relate? That's when I discovered... this big breakthrough. And do what I say here to get my same results.
Speaking of big breakthroughs... the most obvious way to make more money online is the thing most marketers either don't think to do, or they're aware of it and they are simply too afraid to do it.
Send some more emails to your subscribers. Mail to the same sales letter, webinar replay, webinar registration every day for a week. It works!
Even if you came out with a product months ago or last year, and it's still online, isn't it true that you still have access to people that want it, but haven't bought? That middle 80 percent!
Multiplier #4: Break-In New Material to See What REALLY Triggers Them to Buy
A few things happen when you market consistently. One is that you'll get bored of your presentations and feel the need to "mix things up."
A few examples. After presenting Backup Creator a few times, I realized that what really lit our audience up on a webinar wasn't showing us backing a site up, blowing the site away and restoring... but cloning a site for an offline business. So why run a really involved pitch webinar with all these case studies when I can center it around explaining Backup Creator and then using it in this scenario?
Have you heard of Paper Template, our WordPress plugin that allows you to run WordPress as a sales letter? I "could have" tried to compare myself to other WordPress themes, I could have shown how to make an optin page and a sales letter...
But what really seemed to perk people up was creating a FUNNEL. Here's an optin bribe, here's a point and click sales letter, here's a download page, all working together.
It's like being a comedian who has lots of "jokes" and tests them out on the road to see what works well and what doesn't.
At the end of the day, we all really need to sharpen our axes and see if we can make more sales by testing out that new material and seeing what they really want... for example...
They don't care about how hard you worked or how much stuff you have inside your membership site
They don't want to learn, read, or watch... but they do want to "discover" or get this result instantly delivered to them
They don't REALLY want to make all that money or lose all that weight so much as they want to be able to show their spouse or they brother in law how wrong they were to doubt them!
You need to keep these four breakthroughs in mind if you want to make more money this week and this month:
Multiplier #1: Add Something to Your Offer to Make It "Too Good to Pass Up"
Multiplier #2: Align and Sympathize with Their Problem
Multiplier #4: Break-In New Material to See What REALLY Triggers Them to Buy
Which was your favorite? Are you using some or all four of these multiplier? Which do you need to do more? Please leave a quick comment below telling me.
Product launches have been on my mind the last couple of weeks, not just because Lance and I run a 1-hour webinar launch just about every week, but we have recently come off of a "tear" of lots of NEW product launches (as opposed to us running webinars to promote existing ones)...
Our Product University live event
Updating our Webinar Crusher course to version 5
Updating Setup a Fan Page to version 2
Updating Newbie Crusher to Income Machine
Plus of course re-launching those old classes that we created initially as live webinar courses, then repackaged into home study courses – including a member's dashboard, transcripts, affiliate program, evergreen webinar replay, post-sale autoresponder sequence, all the usual "product" stuff.
And when I see other internet marketers try to do the same for their business, they fail to think and act in strategic terms. They incorrectly focus on the MECHANICS they think they need, like creating a blog post with 2000 Facebook comments. Making 4 pre-launch videos. Creating a report (or whitepaper) about the product they're about to create.
These are things that DON'T make the difference
between a successful and unsuccessful product launch!
Things No One Cares About
How much time you spent creating your product
How many pages, megabytes, or minutes of video you have
A too-big 3 to 5 hour webinar
A too-long launch sequence of videos that takes 4 weeks
How great, smart, or rich you are
Wordplay, hypnotic language, the confusion close
"Tricks" That Get People to Buy (Sometimes)
Time running out
Offer closing
Price increasing
Limited seats
Disappearing bonus
Price (high or low)
What Actually Works
What they'll know
What they'll GET and HAVE
Cost of NOT doing it
Repeat success or exponential success
Speed
Ease of use
Power and effectiveness
Hungry crowd
Compelling magic super-offer that combines logic (and proof) plus emotion
The Answer You've Needed All Along
Here's how to think "strategically" about your product sales and launches.
I keep scouring books, courses, and the internet for something better than WWHW, Eugene Schwartz, and Robert Cialdini but I haven't found it yet.
Basic sales copy tells us to structure a sales argument in this way:
Attention (promise)
Interest (problem)
Desire (solution)
Action (buy it now)
High school English class told us to structure our writing like this:
Why (why is this important)
What (what am I going to discover)
How-To (how do I do this thing)
What-If (what are the possibilities once I take this action).
Eugene Schwartz tells us there are five levels of marketplace sophistication: novelty, enlargement, uniqueness, sophistication, and abandonment. But if you think about it, you can combine #3 and #4 so it's just...
Novelty (something is new to the marketplace)
Enlargement (bigger claims)
Sophistication (faster and better)
Abandonment (too complex and back to the original)
Robert Cialdini tells us there are six social weapons of influence to get what we want. Let's organize this as well...
You use Authority (why people should listen to you) in the Attention phase of sales copy
Liking (why you are similar) and Reciprocity (I'll give you something, like free information, now you owe me in return) introducing a Problem
Desire, which is where we explain our solution, uses Consistency (get people to agree with you every step of the way), and Social Proof (how have others used it)
In the final phase, Action, where we want people to buy, we use Scarcity the most (buy this now or else something bad will happen).
AIDA, WWHW, Eugene Schwartz, Robert Cialdini,
all just different ways of saying the same thing.
What's a "Strategic" Product Launch?
It's where your email sequence, videos, sales letter, pitch webinar, everything all matches up to a consistent message and MOST people think they have to flood the marketplace with information, list 53 different components potential buyers need to have. Nope, you just need to walk them through the FOUR STEPS.
The only way I've found to do it, that works every time, is to list out the ALTERNATIVES people might take (but you make fun of them) so that the only logical and emotional course of action is to buy from you.
Let's take our Webinar Crusher product for example...
Alternative #1: Don't run webinars. Alternative #2: Run webinars from free services. Alternative #3: Run evergreen webinars.
Alternative #4: Run webinars using our Webinar Crusher system.
At each point along the way we make fun of each alternative and point out its disadvantages to the extreme. There actually is a method to this madness:
Alternative #1: Not Doing It ("Novelty" or "Attention” or "Why Is It Important")
Alternative #2: The "Too-Big" Solution ("Enlargement" or "Interest" or "What Do I Do")
Alternative #3: The "Too-Complex" Solution ("Sophistication" or "Desire" or "How Do I Do It")
Alternative #4: Your Solution ("Abandonment" or "Action" or "What-If I Use Your Solution")
Just by listing these four things, we've structured most of our sales letter, the webinar pitch, the email launch sequence, everything. We didn't brain-dump a laundry list of alternatives that sent people elsewhere. We didn't jump in with our solution right off the bat. We've LOGICALLY listed out the possible avenues while EMOTIONALLY exhausting people with the pain and frustration of those other guys without specifically calling them out.
Too many times, I see people in an uninteresting niche, with a boring product and offer, or the wrong positioning, just trying to make it work. For some reason they think that more traffic, more subscribers, more affiliates will help... a slick sales pitch, fancy videos, or amazing sales letter graphics will help. They won't.
What will help? Having the right offer, in front of the right crowd, and presenting it in this (4-step) process.
Please comment below: Do you think that 4-step sequence will make it easier for you to come up with sales copy, webinar presentations, email sequences, and more?
Go ahead right now and check out the reason why I was able to quit my job, create a full time income and shortcut months into minutes by clicking the record button, showing a few things on my screen, clicking the "Save" button and turning it into money.
How to create a video sales letter (plus the 3 things most video sales letters leave out)
Technical details (the software and hardware I use for everything from small tutorials to full blown products)
How to even turn scary things like "presenting webinars" into a total breeze and repeat the formula over and over again
How to personally connect with your best customers, clients, prospects, mentors, joint venture partners, and more!
Listen right now and leave a quick comment letting me know what you thought of this week's show. Comments will be closed after 50 comments, the transcript will be posted after 10 comments (although it may take a few days for the transcriber to deliver it for me).
You're going to want to listen to this podcast right away because it explains everything you need to know about saying (and doing) the right things to make money right away and start making money immediately...
it's ok to be a sales person and there's a way easier approach to what you're doing now
how to use "speed copy" to crank out any sales letter in minutes
how to craft an irresistible offer
PRODUCTIVITY TIP OF THE DAY: 4 daily tasks
Contact me at robert@robertplank.com to be on the show (or have me on your show)
The "newbie crusher" system to get your business online right away
The "100 articles in a day" system enjoy creating unlimited content
What to sell and what to give away?
AIDA (the everything formula)
The secret to killer headlines that get people tripping over themselves to buy
How to craft an irresistible offer
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: who are you talking to?
Please listen to it right now, subscribe on iTunes and 5-star rate it and of course let me know what you think.
You know what an upsell is, right? You buy thing #1 from me, I offer you thing #2 that's related but NOT required for thing #1 to work...
Lance and I released our "Backup Creator" WordPress plugin 6 months ago -- click a button, it backs up WordPress. Click a different button, it restores WordPress somewhere else... and it's now protecting over 20,000 WordPress sites!
Some people bought "Backup Creator" for $7, some for $17, $27, $37, and $47
We promised 1 years of bug fixes and "updates" but not "upgrades" (new features) -- important difference
We recently released a "Backup Creator Ultimate" version that includes auto backup, FTP backup, FTP restore, and a few other things
Anyone who buys today for $47 doesn't have a choice between the old "Backup Creator" and "Backup Creator Ultimate" -- they get Ultimate
Anyone who already paid $47 for "Backup Creator" gets Ultimate for free
Anyone who already paid $37 upgrades to Ultimate for $10, anyone who paid $27 can upgrade for $20, etc.
Most of our customers were thrilled that we released a new version with new features. Only a couple of people had complaints.
I want to share those few complaints with you and put this out in the open just to make sure we are "doing the right thing!"
Here's what's been said:
"If I upgrade now for $40, and pay $47 total, I lose my $7 early bird discount. I'd be no better off than anyone else"
"Many of us who Beta Tested your software spent quite a bit of time chasing down problems and reinstalling updates on all our blogs. I think you now have a wonderful product and will make a lot of money. I would suggest you reward all those who helped you get there."
"I have been getting all these emails telling me how great the update to back up creator was going to be when the only update was that you wanted more money from us........... Sorry guys IMHO you blew this"
Those are actual unedited quotations. I thought long and hard about airing this kind of "dirty laundry" in public but I really want to know what YOU think.
I'm honestly not upset, or bitter in ANY way... just asking you personally, did we do the right thing releasing a new version, or should we have stuck to our "original" version that only backed up and restored, and did nothing else? Please post your response below...
Edit: From now on we will be sure to be 100% clear with the updates policy, and if we do offer an upgrade path for our software in the future, we will make it a "flat rate" or find some way to make sure those early birds keep their early bird discount. Thanks again for that discussion!
Is it okay if I share with you the ONE formula that appears everywhere, again and again... and if you keep it in your back pocket every time you assemble a sales letter, create a blog post, make a product, send an email, and even deal with everyday relationships, you'll always win?
If I share this formula with you, will you check and make sure your web pages pass the test so you can convert as many people as possible?
I hope you've heard of this formula, and it's this: attention, interest, desire, action...
Every time you put out any piece of writing, video, or even live presentation -- run it through this filter. Here's what I mean...
Get someone's attention using a shocking statement or headline
Build interest by agitating your problem or setting up a question
Setup the desire for your solution by revealing it and explaining it
Tell people what to do now by telling them to take action
If you've even given (or read) a course, presentation, sales letter, or any other message that was missing an opening, seemed to "linger" too much on a problem, jump into a solution without addressing it, or had everything right except the end -- it was probably neglecting one or all of the above steps.
And I want to multiply your conversion rates by making sure you follow these simple rules. You can get as creative as you want as long as you follow this four step formula. Check it out...
ATTENTION:
Sales Letter Headline or Blog Post Title
When I write blog posts, I like to split the title into two parts: what I'm talking about (the feature), and the result of it (the benefit)... just look at my last few blog post titles here:
Specialized Knowledge: How to Make $50 (or More) Every 5 Minutes, All Day Long, By Clicking a Few Buttons (Just Like I Did at Age 17)
Speed Copywriting Explained (Assemble a Web Page That Gets People to Buy From You In the Next Few Minutes)
It's Simple, So It Must Not Work: How You Too Can Make Several Thousand Dollars in a Weekend
Website Backup: Keep Your Site Safe, Instantly Clone Your Blog, and Get Things Done Anywhere
The Accordion Method (And Now You Never Run Out of Content Ever Again)
Now I have blog post titles that are both short, and long!
With sales letters, it's even simpler. The headline isn't necessarily the title of the web page we're on, it's just the HEADER that gets us to continue reading...
Think about the first thing you want to say to your visitor to keep them alert, on your web page, and hungry for more. Whatever you say should answer "most" of these questions:
What's in it for me? (promises a clear benefit)
What's my problem or solution? (without giving away your product yet)
Why should I even listen to you? (get attention either with a question, challenge, or shocking statement)
Is this newsworthy? (something new and unique that's worth reading about)
Do I have a reason to continue reading? (does it lead to another thought?)
Yes, I'm saying that your headline should contain all of these items...
More often than not I'll have that headline big, red, centered, bolded, and in quotes at the top of that web page, but what's more important than the formatting is that the WORDS are impossible to ignore. For example:
"How I Made an Extra $101,934.10 In 80 Days From 4 Low Ticket Products (With Zero Traffic and a Tiny List) Using One Very Special Piece of Affiliate Software..."
Backup, Clone, Protect... WordPress Plugin Makes It Simple For You To Backup, Restore And Protect Your WordPress Blogs And Sites Anytime You Want With Just A Few Easy Clicks...
"How Would You Like My Instant Formula For Creating High-Impact, Persuasive, Converting Sales Letters in the Next Few Minutes?"
"If You're Feeling Completely Overloaded, Unorganized and Feel Like You're Always Running Out of Time..." You Need to Get a Grip on (and Control of) Your Time Management Skills!
And I'll usually add a subheadline that COMPLETES the thought that the headline first created. Why? Because it gets people reading further down, and then further, until the next thing you know, they've read the whole sales letter all the way down to the buy button.
INTEREST:
Problem or Big Picture
You've got my attention, but I'm not ready to buy your product yet. And even if I was, I need to know you can actually UNDERSTAND and SOLVE my problem... which is why you need to tell me what problem I'm having and how can you really help me solve it...
I need to stress here that we're not introducing your product yet. I see too many sales letters start off with, "I want you to buy my product right now." You're jumping the gun.
This is the STORYTELLING section. Introduce the problem so that I have to find out how it ends -- with the introduction of your product.
You should probably answer these questions:
Who are you and why are you qualified to help me?
What exactly is my problem and what's the "difficult" solution?
What do I need to know and what issues did I not even consider yet?
Why are you better than anyone else?
Check out the deck copy for "Membership Cube" to see what I mean...
For the last several years internet marketers have told you how easy it is to setup your membership site and get a flood of people paying you every month for your services, your expertise, and your information. But there are just a few problems...
It's Not As Easy As "They" Say It Is... These Are The Same People That Told You "All You Need Is a Website"
Where will you get the content for this membership site?
How will you get people into it, and keep them from dropping out?
What software will you use for the membership, and what plugins?
What the heck will you do next?
How Did That Work Out For You? I Can Tell You From My Own Personal Experience: Membership Sites Are The Best Thing To Ever Happen To Me!
It IS possible to profit from a membership site as long as you make the right decisions. But don't worry, we've already made the tough decisions for you in our simple step by step system.
I'm confident in those steps because these are the same steps Lance and I have implemented to create 20 membership sites -- 19 of those sites were created in the past 12 months. And guess what, they've all made money: some as little as $2,000 and some well over $100,000.
Do you see what we're doing? We're educating our prospect about why membership sites are so valuable and differentiating from the competition (especially membership software that doesn't come without training) and saying, you need to listen to us.
One reason I really like telling a story in copy is that it doesn't feel like an ad. But far too many copywriters get stuck on the story, the whole sales letter is one long story, and people still don't know what they're buying. That's why you need to get to the third stage WELL BEFORE the halfway point in your copy...
DESIRE:
Solution or Exact Offer
At this point, you'll reveal YOUR product in that sales letter, meaning a huge headline with the name of the course or item, and a graphical representation, it's just that simple. If I can't easily tell that you're selling an ebook, or video course, or membership site, or physical seminar, or physical item -- in under a minute just by scrolling through -- then you need to make it clearer.
In the "interest" stage you've already done the clever storytelling... now you need to tell me what it is you want me to buy:
What's the exact name of your product and what's in it?
What's in each module, why is each module important and why is it given in the order you show it?
What bonuses are you giving me?
What is each component worth on its own? (dollar value)
What is the total value of this product you're about to give me? (total up the dollar values)
What actual price is it going to cost today? (much lower than the total value)
You'll want to end the "desire" stage by listing everything people get in a two-column table... first column, the name of the module they're getting; second column, the price tag on it.
It may seem tedious to total up each $197 or $297 price tag on your individual modules to get a total of $2,217.00, but believe me, it'll look way more impressive when you then DROP the price to $97 or $47 or $27. Very few people do this on sales letters, but they need to!!!
It's super important that you lay out the ENTIRE offer in the "desire" section. Yes, even the bonuses. Lay out the ENTIRE offer before you ask for the sale, including bonuses.
Have you ever noticed that on some sales letters, you scroll to the bottom, then scroll back up to look at something, then back down? That's not good and when I do that, I notice it's usually because someone got my attention, laid out the story, the entire offer, even showed the guarantee and asked for the sale -- and THEN introduced bonuses! Big mistake.
Now people know we relate to their problem and have the credibility to solve it, we've revealed that product and explained our offer -- and at the end, listed everything in the package and revealed the price... what's left? People will know to order on their own, right?
Wrong! Every time I specifically tell people reading a blog post, sales letter, or email optin form -- to fill out the form, conversion rates go up. We can never make it OBVIOUS enough...
ACTION:
Why To Buy (or Comment) Now
This is probably the most cookie-cutter part of any sales letter, but it's still important. You need to tell me:
What's your guarantee? (30 days or 60 days? Can I get my money back for any reason?)
What price are you charging? (state it again, make it as simple and clear as possible)
How do I order? (i.e., "click on the button and pay $97 to JumpX LLC")
What are the technical requirements to run your product? (i.e., Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, WordPress)
How soon until I receive your product after downloading? (i.e., instant delivery)
In an optin form we're asking for their name and email address, in a blog post we're asking for a comment (easy to get if you ask a question at the end of your blog post), and on a sales letter we're asking for people to buy.
The Entire Formula Revealed
I know that was a lot to take in, but here's the whole AIDA formula laid out for you:
A1: What's in it for me? (promises a clear benefit)
A2: What's my problem or solution? (without giving away your product yet)
A3: Why should I even listen to you? (get attention either with a question, challenge, or shocking statement)
A4: Is this newsworthy? (something new and unique that's worth reading about)
A5: Do I have a reason to continue reading? (does it lead to another thought?)
I1: Who are you and why are you qualified to help me?
I2: What exactly is my problem and what's the "difficult" solution?
I3: What do I need to know and what issues did I not even consider yet?
I4: Why are you better than anyone else?
D1: What's the exact name of your product and what's in it?
D2: What's in each module, why is each module important and why is it given in the order you show it?
D3: What bonuses are you giving me?
D4: What is each component worth on its own? (dollar value)
D5: What is the total value of this product you're about to give me? (total up the dollar values)
D6: What actual price is it going to cost today? (much lower than the total value)
A1: What's your guarantee? (30 days or 60 days? Can I get my money back for any reason?)
A2: What price are you charging? (state it again, make it as simple and clear as possible)
A3: How do I order? (i.e., "click on the button and pay $97 to JumpX LLC")
A4: What are the technical requirements to run your product? (i.e., Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, WordPress)
A5: How soon until I receive your product after downloading? (i.e., instant delivery)
I hope that pushes you in the right direction with your...
Sales Letters: Attention-grabbing headline, interesting story, desirable offer, and order button as the call-to-action
Webinar Pitches: Start with a big promise (attention), demonstrate something live on the call (interest), explain your offer (desire), and tell them where to buy (action)
Email Marketing: Send an "attention" email hinting at a problem, an "interest" email agitating that problem, a "desire" email introducing your solution and URL, an "action" email with just your URL... and repeat the process
Information Products: Start each chapter of your report with a bold claim (attention), give them the big picture (interest), explain the step by step process (desire), and end with an assignment (action)
So what's the verdict, does your sales letter pass this 20-point checklist? (It's okay if it doesn't yet.) What's the URL to it? Go ahead and respond with your answer below.
Most people I know hate writing of any kind. And even the ones I know who LIKE writing... usually hate copywriting.
When I'm talking about copywriting today, I mean putting a web page online that gets people to buy...
It tells people about your report, book, video course or membership site in an exciting way.
"You mean I can't just say anything I want? I have to be careful about what I write? I have to write in a way that grabs my readers and doesn't let go? Sounds like a lot of work..."
Not really, when you have a formula. When you have a step by step system to follow you can do this quickly, almost without thinking, which means you knock it out in just a few minutes while you're still excited about it.
This is really important: I prefer knock out an article, sales letter, graphic, or web page in 5 minutes... make it completely shippable... and look at it later. You can take a break, clear your head, look at it with fresh eyes and put another 5 minutes into it. You can get sales and make tiny adjustments to make it sell better.
That "sounds" great, but how do you do it? Let me show you how I came up with this idea of speed copywriting...
The best skill you could ever have is writing bullet points. You turn a feature (what something is aka the boring part) into a benefit (what it does aka the outcome) and that's a bullet point.
Take your strongest bullet points and those are your headlines. Take your longest bullet points and those are your sentences. You DON'T have to make it any more complicated than that!
Here's one brand new way I thought of to think of benefits... I have many ways but this is something I thought of on a recent coaching call, on the fly. Anyone can do this.
Step #1: List what the feature is (table of contents)
Step #2: Add a second sentence at the end of that table of contents... this sentence MUST begin with the word "Imagine..."
Step #3: Delete the first sentence and the word "Imagine" so you're left with the benefit
Here we go... let's pretend we have a course teaching WordPress and it contains the following videos...
Video #1: How to install WordPress using Fantastico
Video #2: How to install your theme
Video #3: Which plugins to install
Video #4: How to add content
Now let's add a second sentence to each of those. Each sentence will begin with the word "imagine" which does several things: it continues our original thought, makes the statement a little more vague, emotional, and most importantly focuses on the outcome...
Video #1: How to install WordPress using Fantastico: Imagine in just a couple of clicks and just a few seconds you now have your entire WordPress blog installed... it's easy when you know how and now you can fire your webmaster or tech guy forever...
Video #2: How to install your theme: Imagine never needing a graphics designer or webmaster even again... just choose from thousands of professionally designed designs for your blog so you get a website that looks exactly the way you want it...
Video #3: Which plugins to install: Imagine having a blog that automatically submits your content to search engines, links to affiliate products to make you money, builds you a list of email subscribers, and more... in just a few clicks, for free...
Video #4: How to add content: Imagine being able to add a new "post" to your website from any computer or telephone, or even watch others build your web presence for you... that means written articles, audios, and videos that all bring people to your website, and keep them there, every single day...
Easy, right? I just added four sentences... and now we have our four bullet points:
In just a couple of clicks and just a few seconds you now have your entire WordPress blog installed... it's easy when you know how and now you can fire your webmaster or tech guy forever...
Never needing a graphics designer or webmaster even again... just choose from thousands of professionally designed designs for your blog so you get a website that looks exactly the way you want it...
You can have a blog that automatically submits your content to search engines, links to affiliate products to make you money, builds you a list of email subscribers, and more... in just a few clicks, for free...
Add a new "post" to your website from any computer or telephone, or even watch others build your web presence for you... that means written articles, audios, and videos that all bring people to your website, and keep them there, every single day...
Now, if you setup a simple web page with a basic headline, these bullet points, a screenshot or two, and a buy button, that would be a pretty kickass sales letter, right?
Want to know the easiest way to get more of your e-mails read, and to get more blog comments?
Is it to say less in your e-mails? And less in your blog posts?
I wanted to finally know the truth, I did what any programmer would do... I took the word count of 100-plus of my blog posts and the comment count of 100-plus of my blog posts.
(My blog posts are an average of 539 words and I get an average of 28 comments per post... cool, right?)
I dumped the whole thing into an Excel spreadsheet and calculated the correlation between the length of a blog post and the number of comments it gets.
I was dead-set on telling you that shorter blog posts get you more comments, but guess what happened?
I Was Wrong... and The Answer Really Surprised Me!
Excel is supposed to give me a number between -1 and +1. -1 means a negative correlation. That would mean shorter blog posts get more comments. +1 would be a negative correlation, meaning LONGER blog posts get you more comments.
But the correlation was: -0.050037583
Almost NoRelationship Between
Length of a Blog Post and Number of Comments!
There is no difference between a short blog post (my shortest is 40 to 100 words) and a long blog post (my longest is 1000 to 1300 words)...they get the same number of comments!
If you're a boring blogger, it doesn't matter if your post is short or long. You'll still get the same number of comments. And if you're exciting, whether you're short or long, you'll get the same number of comments.
It's about the content, not the length.
That Means Size Doesn't Matter... Or Does It?
So does that mean you shouldn't care whether your posts or short or long? It means your posts should always be short. Here's why...
Scenario #1 - One Long Post: Let's say it takes you an hour to write a 1000 word blog post. You could post it once and get 10 comments and be done.
Scenario #2 - Three Short Posts: Or you could split it into three blog posts, post there 333 word blog posts and get 10 comments once, 10 comments the next time, and 10 comments on the third part for a total of 30 comments.
So if you're trying to maximize the number of comments on your blog, why WOULDN'T you write short blog posts? Since it makes no difference?
And on top of all that, it's easier to "tease"... arouse curiosity...by saying less. When you try to get curiosity by saying MORE... it becomes more and more like an episode of "Lost" which to me is just too much work.
Keep It Simple....
Say less in your blog posts (keep it at 500 words or less) and say less in your e-mails leading up to your blog posts to get them to click.
I'll leave you with the template for Lance's BEST converting e-mail message ever. It's fill-in-the-blank and it's such a short and vague message it'll make your head spin...
This is what me and Lance joke about as the "What's That About?" e-mail template. Just replace anything inside (parentheses) with your own words related to your product and your niche.
Why (insert technique here) is the worst way to (get the result you want).
What (number) other techniques work much better?
What are other keys to (desired result)?
(Guess)?
What's that all about?
Discover the secrets...
(url)
Go there now...
That's right. A simple 39-word e-mail converted better than a year's worth of longer e-mails. Crazy, isn't it?
As usual, I need 50 comments to continue blogging... and after I get 100 comments... I will CLOSE all future comments to this thread. Looking forward to your comments below!
Question:
What's Your Weirdest Curiosity Technique That's
Gotten You Clicks, Optins and Sales?
Or what technique from an e-mail guru has sucked you into either clicking on an e-mail link, opting in or buying? What single line has aroused your curiosity more than anything else?
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About Robert & The Podcast
The Marketer of the Day Podcast interviews entrepreneurs who have been through “the struggle.”
They’ve experienced the headaches of repeat failure, trial-and-error, scaling, delegating, course-correcting, and getting their online businesses to succeed beyond their wildest dreams… and want to help you get to where you need to go.
I wanted to finally know the truth, I did what any programmer would do... I took the word count of 100-plus of my blog posts and the comment count of 100-plus of my blog posts.
