Copywriting
002: Sell Anything Using the Magic of Copywriting
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.
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Is It Evil to Have an Upsell?
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!
How to Make Your Words Sell: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
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.
Speed Copywriting Explained (Assemble a Web Page That Gets People to Buy From You In the Next Few Minutes)
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...
Curiosity Actually Increases Your Conversions! Here’s How…
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 No Relationship 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?
Package Selling: Can I Buy This Car With No Tires?
One thing you are going to notice over and over again when you put out information products, when you offer your services - and more, is that the average person loves to save a couple of pennies, even if they have to bend over backwards to do it.
It is totally fine for your customers to do that when they going to Wal-Mart, but you should train them not to have that mentality with you. If somebody can't afford what you have to offer, or it is not the right fit, they simply shouldn't buy it!
When it comes to selling your product online, you need to be up-front and clear about what you are giving them; don't be afraid to say "No", and to market more.
Car with No Steering Wheel?
Let's say you went to a car dealership and you were going to buy a car; looked at the car and you said, "I like it but I already have my own steering wheel. Can you sell me the car without a steering wheel?" Or "I already have a stereo. Can you sell me the car without the stereo?" They would almost always tell you "No!"
But it aggravates me when I offer membership training that includes a membership plug-in and people ask, "Can you offer me the training without the plug-in and make it cheaper?"
A few years ago, when I didn't make as much money, I might have tried to negotiate with them. But nowadays it is a lot easier to simply say, "It is all a package deal." I don't try to sneak in any charges; I don't try to say that they pay once but accidentally get re-billed over and over. I am very clear about the monthly recurring - but they can't pick and choose what they want. The offer is "Take it or leave it!"
And it is totally okay to throw in extra features that you already offer, because many of these people who try to negotiate the price down don't look at everything you have to offer; they are only looking at the price. For example, if someone is trying to get my training without the plug-in, I remind them that after all the payments have been made, they are in for LIFE!
Lump Sum?
On the other hand, here is an offer I get every now and then: I get people asking me, "Can I simply pay you some lump sum fee and get access for life right now?" And what they are usually looking for is a way to cut the price because they are paying it all up-front.
As much as I would like to be the "Nice Guy", this gets back to the price training and customer training. I want my customers to get used to paying me month after month, and not buying the whole thing out - so I say "No."
Never be afraid to say "No." It's okay if this person who is asking you is not a perfect fit. This definitely does not apply to everyone. And this definitely does not apply to you. But I have found that if someone is trying to negotiate the price down with me, they are the kind of person who always is trying to find some extra reason for why they shouldn't do something.
For example, they are not buying because the price is too high. That is one roadblock they have put into place. Then, when this type of person finally gets in, they put in more roadblocks for why they can't watch the videos, why they can't take action on the things I've talked on, and why the things they have read about and been taught are not exactly the way they have implemented them.
I don't want that kind of person in my membership sites. I want the kind of people who are willing to try something once without trying to be fancy or reinvent the system until they have tried it. People like me! If someone is trying to remove the packaging or trying to buy your membership all up-front, don't be afraid to say "No."
So what do you do and say? How do you overcome these kinds of price objections or nickel and dime strategies? It's simple! You market more. You create a better sales letter. You split test. You add more follow-ups. You remind people more. You are more confident on your Webinars. And you price your OTHER products at the same level as the thing you really want them to buy.
You want to train people to pay you more. You don't want to be the "Bargain Basement marketer"; you want to be the marketer that actually gets people to do things.
What This Means for Your Offers
So when somebody asks you, "Can I buy this car with no tires?" (And by "car" I mean can they buy into your "Membership site with only half of the components for half the price") tell them "No!"
You made an offer. Everything in your membership site is totally necessary. So they have to pay the full price - and they get the whole thing.
Just remember, the average person loves to save a couple of pennies. But you need to retrain them so that they will actually get something out of your marketing!
This is just as much a favor for them as to you. Be clear about what you are offering, don't have forced continuity, don't fall into the trap of selling "life-time access", don't be afraid to say "No"; and market more, sell more - and price more.
The Ideal Clickthru Rate for Your Squeeze Pages, Sales Letters and Blog Posts
When creating your forced optin pages or e-commerce sales letters, or even blog posts... how do you know if it's fully optimized? How do you know whether or not you are throwing away e-mail subscribers, sales, blog commenters, and fans without even realizing? I want to tell you what kind of conversion rate you should expect when testing out your pages using Google Website Optimizer or Google Analytics.
A forced e-mail optin page, or squeeze page, is a web page where the only thing a person can do is subscribe to your e-mail list or leave. I like to put these in front of my sales letters, so people need to commit to a small action (subscribing to my list for more information)... that way I can follow up with them even if they don't buy.
But Most People Overcomplicate This Process!
Your forced optin page should only contain one headline, three bullet points, and instructions about what to do next. (Opt-in to your list.) If you do this correctly, you should expect 50 percent, or half, of your targeted visitors, to subscribe... all while your competition overthinks the process and only gets a 10 to 20 percent conversion rate.
After they have opted in, even if you are mailing them a free gift in exchange for signing up, send them to an offer page (or sales letter) where they can buy something from you. Similar to the forced optin page, this should be a site where all they can do is either buy or leave. There are no other links in this long, one-page web site. Even if you don't think you are any good at convincing someone to buy from you... tell them a quick story, your argument for why your solution is best... and a set of bullet points telling them why they should get it now, and what benefits they will receive once they get their hands on it.
If I experience a 1 to 5 percent conversion rate, I'm happy. Even if you experience a little bit less than this, you can split test your web site and even get it critiqued by a professional copywriter at a fraction of the cost that it would take to get it done from scratch. The copy will actually come out better because you know your product better than anyone else.
That covers forced optin pages and sales letters, but what about other kinds of web sites such as blogs? What kind of conversion rate can you expect from alternate sources of traffic such as Twitter or article sites? The answer is that you shouldn't care. Your time is better spent optimizing your squeeze page or sales letter than worrying about your free traffic sources. They are tough to measure, and after all, it's all "extra" traffic.
Those are the results you should expect from your well-optimized web pages: 50 percent conversion on your squeeze page and 1 percent conversion on your sales letter. As for your traffic sources, worry about your own sites.
What's your conversion rate? Do you even know (it's ok if you don't) ... just post your answer in a comment below.
The Future Has A Lot Less Buttons And Levers: Choices Are Bad
I hope you are noticing this: The more successful solutions out there reduce the number of choices.
I first noticed this a couple of years ago when I bought a special box that attaches to my TV called a NetFlix Roku. What this box does is it connects to my Netflix service over Wi-Fi and streams movies and TV shows to my TV.
Sounds complicated, right? But it's not! The funny thing about this remote is that it has only got nine buttons: It has got a Home button, an Enter button, four arrows (like left, right, up, down), a Play and Pause button, Rewind and Fast-Forward. That's it!
There is no Channel Changing button, there is no Volume button, no Mute button. Not even an On/Off button.
That's Right!
The Roku device remains On for as long as it is plugged in! It is one of my favorite devices to use because I can literally use it within seconds of taking it out of the box.
Here is something else to think about: Video cameras. For a long time I resisted buying video cameras. It is so difficult to decide which one to get. I didn't want to get a video camera that used tape, even digital tape, and I wasn't sure if I should get a camera made by Sony, Kodak or some other manufacturer.
But I did buy the Flip camera years ago. The great thing about the flip is that it really only has one Big Red Button. Much like the Roku remote, it has a couple of extra buttons, such as Pause and Play (that's one button), the Trash button, and buttons to navigate between videos and zoom in and out. But the button usually almost always used is that Big Red Record Button.
You want to record new video? Take it out, hit the Big Red Button - it records. You want to stop? Hit the Big Red Button again.
That is compared to other cameras which are better in quality and have better features, but the problem is they have too many features. For example, with the Kodak Zi8, I almost bought it because it has an external microphone. But everyone I have seen record with it has to navigate through different menus to choose what quality they want to record with, and other settings, before they can record it.
I don't care about that! I want to just hit one button and it records.
Think about the iPhone: again, almost no buttons. It has got a Lock button, volume controls, a Silent button and a Home button. That's it. No buttons for dialing or going through different menus. That is all handled in the touch screen.
If you don't have a touch screen phone, I would recommend you borrow someone's iPhone and try to do a conference call. It is amazing how it can generate new menus and give you new buttons to push when there were none there previously.
Same deal with the iPad, Droid, Kindle and other touch screen devices with almost no buttons. It is super simple and super intuitive to use - and requires almost no documentation.
Think about WordPress: I think what makes WordPress special is that it simplifies everything. You can literally set it up in a few seconds and write your first blog post in a few minutes. The interface for writing new posts and activating plugins is far simpler than any other blogging platform I have ever seen.
And the blogs that are the most accessible are the ones that remove features. They might remove things like the dates, or the ability to leave comments on posts, just to make it easier to get to the information.
Now that I have told you how much I like the Roku, the flip, the iPhone and WordPress, it's your turn!
What Are You Doing To Remove The Buttons?
Do you offer two Order buttons on your sales letter: maybe a way to fully buy your product and another offer as a payment plan?
What would happen if you split tested, only showing one of those buttons? Would it make it easier for people to join your program?
When someone logs into your membership site, is it clear what they should look at first? In other words, are your posts listed in chronological order? And do you have some kind of welcome message or welcome video when someone first joins?
When I read your report, am I going to find clear, step-by-step instructions about what to read first and where to go from there?
And, most importantly, what should I do when I'm done? So tell me, how are you removing multiple choices and multiple calls to action that don't matter?
What are YOU doing to remove the buttons? Comment below.
How To Use Google Website Optimizer To Make More Money In The Next Five Minutes
Are you split testing yet? Split testing is the internet marketing equivalent of flossing -- but it doesn't have to be anymore!
Marketers usually lie and tell people they split test, but if we are lucky, they do it once a month, and not on a daily basis. Like both things, the irony is that it only takes a few seconds and it saves a lot of frustration later.
Do you ever wonder if you might have a better headline than the one you are using now? Do you ever wake up at night wondering if you should charge less or more than what you are charging now? What if that extra bonus on your sales letter is reducing your sales? Should you use long or short copy or even a video sales letter instead of a written one?
You can all these questions for your particular niche, your audience, and your offer by split testing. Once you split test, nobody can argue with you. Because Google Website Optimizer, like most of Google's services, run on their server and not yours, it is pretty easy to set up. You just have to copy and paste a few lines of code onto your web page.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yTjj9MnzRYI am going to give you the basic steps of setting up your own split tests right here.
Step 1: Create Two Versions Of The Same Page
You first need to decide what you are going to split test. I start with the headline. Here is something interesting, I once increased conversions by 19.6% just by adding quotes around my headline. What does this mean? It means for every $100 dollars that I made from that site. By having quotes around the headline, I would instead make $119 dollars. For every $1,000 dollars I made on that site. Instead by having quotes around the headline, I would make $1,196 dollars. You can see how that adds up over time.
The most aggravating thing about split testing is you don't always know exactly why a certain change makes a difference. Maybe having quotes around my headline makes it look more official and gets them to read longer. I'm not sure. I do know from testing that it works.
If you don't know what to split test, enter quotes around the headline, remove a couple of words from the headline, or remove or add a sub-headline. Just make a quick change, don't over think it. Spend about 10 seconds making a slightly different version of your sales letter.
Now you should save that new sales letter as index2.php. It means that your normal sales letter is named index.php. You alternate sales letter is called index2.php. Once you get Google optimizer set up, it is going to send half your traffic to index.php, the other half to index2.php to figure out which one gets you more sales.
Step 2: Create Campaign
The next step is to create your Google Website Optimizer Campaign. If you have an AdWords account, you can simply log in, go to the reporting tab and click on website optimizer. If you don't use AdWords, just go to Google and search for Google Website Optimizer and you will find a page to sign up. It's free and it's easy.
Once you are logged in, you should see a link that says Create Experiment. You are going to click that link and create an A/B Experiment. GWO allows you to either run AB test, which is what we are doing where you compare two versions of a page versus multivariate, which requires a lot more traffic which we are not going to use.
Click on A/B Experiment, go to the next step and then create an experiment name. Most people skip this step, name is something stupid like split test 1. Name it the name of your site, plus whether it is a sales letter or squeeze page. For example, Action Pop Up Sales Letter would be the name of my Google Website Optimizer experiment.
The next step is to identify the pages you want to test. You are only comparing two versions of a page, so you are going to put in the URL to your original page. For example, www.actionpopup.com/index.php and then you are going to name and give the URL for your alternate page, for your variation page. For example, "Subheadline" that way you know what the difference is between your original and alternate sales letter. You are going to add the page variation URL, for example www.actionpopup.com/index2.php.
Finally, you are going to give them the URL for your conversion page, for example www.actionpopup.com/thankyou.php. This way the service knows what your two test pages are and what is your download page, click continue.
Copy and paste the tracking code from this service. Website Optimizer is going to give you four pieces of code. It will tell you exactly which pages to place it on. For the original page, that index.php file. It's going to give you a control code to place at the top of the page.
What this is going to do is decide if your visitors should be viewing index.php or index2.php. It will make sure that an equal amount of traffic will be sent to both pages.
Next it is going to give you two pieces of tracking code, one code to place at the bottom of index.php and one to place at the bottom of index2.php. Even though this code looks scary, it is just a hit counter. It is going to figure out how many people viewed your index.php file and how many viewed you index2.php file.
Finally it is going to give you conversion code which you place on your download page. This is another hit counter that will only count if someone gets to your download page.
Step 3: Let It Run
Can you see how all the pieces are working together now? When somebody comes to your site, first it is going to decide to send them to index.php or index2.php. Let's pretend they got sent to index2.php, it's then going to load the tracking code and say "ah ha" they viewed index2.php. Then the person might leave or they might buy. If they do buy, they will end up on your download page and then website optimizer will make a note of that, and notice that index2.php happens to make this particular sale.
Let it run until the end. This service will keep track of which page is winning and will run a statistical formula to decide when it is time to stop split testing.
If one of your pages, either index.php or index2.php got a lot more sales than the other, it will decide the clear winner. For example, your index2.php page with the quotes on the headline might be the winner, and now you know you have improved your conversion rate and have more money.
Delete index.php and replace index.php with index2.php since it is now the clear winner. You are not done. Now it is time to start the process all over again and split test the next thing you want to test. Maybe another change to the headline, a logo, bigger buy button, whatever you want, stop guessing and start split testing with Google Website Optimizer today.
Are you split testing yet? If not, what's your deadline for your next split test to go live? Comment below please...
6 Ways to Drip Content Automatically
The biggest benefit you can give to yourself as a business owner is to remove yourself from the equation. That means automate as much of yourself as possible ahead of time so your daily tasks do not become chores.
You might be surprised at all the ways you can pre-schedule your content and your marketing ahead of time and I'm going to explain six ways to do that right now.
1. Blog Drip
When someone says the phrase "drip content" to me, the first thing that comes to mind and the first thing that should come to mind to you is dripping out content on your WordPress blog.
WordPress is the #1 blogging platform and my favorite feature about it has always been that you can schedule content ahead of time with no additional plugins needed. When you're writing a blog post, you can choose to submit it right now or you can change the date on it so it appears as if it was written a long time ago, but you can also change the date to a date in the future – for example, date it to be next week or next month.
That post will remain in a scheduled state until the next week or next month and it will automatically be published for you on a timer. You can set not just the date but the time of day so you know exactly when that next post is coming out.
I highly recommend that instead of sitting and writing out your blog's next week's worth of content, write 4 or 5 short posts and schedule them one month apart. That way, you have the next several months of blog posts already scheduled. And guess what else, if you're using WordPress to run your membership site, you're dripping out content inside your paid membership site as well.
2. Autoresponder Drip
The next easy way to drip content is with your email autoresponder.
You might not have notice it yet but your autoresponder gives you the ability to pre-schedule posts in the same way as your blog. You can write an email that will be sent to your list and set it to tomorrow's date or next week's date, which means that you can write your next month or your next week's worth of autoresponder emails and not have to do anything for that amount of time. You could go on vacation for the next week, schedule your next week's worth of emails and now your business will run even though you are not present.
When you are launching a product, one email simply won't cut it. You need to give people multiple reasons to go check out your offer. You need to give people multiple email reminders getting them to look at your webpage. When you're running a webinar, you should send several emails leading up to the webinar to make sure everyone is on the call.
When you make a blog post, you should send traffic to that blog post and even send reminder emails, which means you can schedule your blog post and schedule your autoresponder emails for that blog post.
3. Sales Letter Drip
If you know a programmer for about $5, you can get content on your sales letter dripped out. There's a little thing called "if else" statements.
That means if you want to slowly increase the price of your product – say increase it by $10 once a week for 5 weeks, you can at a special bit of PHP code that will replace your order button with a new one at a higher price every few days. You can run seasonal specials. For example, every month you could rotate in a different bonus for your offer to give different people a reason to get in.
4. Squeeze Page Drip
You can apply the same "if else" technology that you use on your sales letter to your squeeze page as well and you can use it to do the same things – rotate a monthly or weekly offer, and this can be a different headline, a different bonus or even an entire page swapped out for another.
You can switch out one of your opt-in forms after 2 months for a different one and have the first opt-in form send people to a page where they are supposed to re-tweet one of your free audios, but after 2 months, now direct them to a page where it sends them to your blog, which is now filled up with content.
More often than not, if I have a hard deadline for something, if I know I'm going to increase the price, change the headline, change a redirect, I will set it on this timer instead of doing it manually because otherwise I know I might forget.
5. Social Media
Now that you've dripped out your blog post, install a WordPress plugin such as Twitter Tools to leave a Twitter post or a tweet everytime you make a new blog post.
Also, if I know I'm going to be tweeting about something for the next week or two, I will use a scheduling service such as SocialOomph (formerly TweetLater) to write tweets but set a publication date on them, which means I can write 10 or 20 tweets a time which will be posted once a day or once a week.
If you don't know what kind of scheduled tweets you should put out there, just use 30-day reminders. If you're posting about a blog post today, schedule another tweet in 30 days, reminding people about that old blog post.
6. Traffic Drip
Even third-party services allow you to drip out your content, even if your content appears on other people's sites.
The Traffic Geyser service allows you to upload up to 90 videos at once and determine when they will be scheduled. (I wish Tube Mogul did too.) When I was using this service for videos, I would record 90 videos at once, upload 90 videos and set the publication date for each and everyone - meaning that I could leave it alone for 3 months and it would send out a new video to the video sites once per day.
EzineArticles even has a premium option which means you can schedule all your articles and determine what date they will be published. Meaning, you can use the same strategy, write or outsource 90 articles, upload and schedule them all and the next 3 months' worth of traffic building are now automatic.
I hope that one of those 6 ways to drip content automatically opened your eyes and made you realized that doing things on a consistent basis doesn't always involve you and doesn't always have to be a chore.
So, which one do you like the best? The blog drip, autoresponder, sales letter, squeeze page, social media, or traffic drip? Post below, letting me know. Thank you.
