1. The transmission of information does not equal  the creation of understanding.
2. More time does not usually create better decisions.
3. The message you are preaching is not nearly as persuasive as the message you are living.

Back in my radio days, one of the shows I was in charge of was a morning radio team.

And this particular morning team had a regular feature where a couple of psychotherapists woud come on each week.

When I say a “couple”, I mean it. They were actually a COUPLE, and they were both actually THERAPISTS (can you imagine the dinner table conversations?).

Anyhow, I knew this couple only as characters on this particular morning show. “Judith and Jim” was how I knew them. And I knew only their voices.

Fast forward a few years later.

I had left the radio business, and was at an Internet Marketing seminar.

During one of the presentations, I noticed this couple sitting near the front, and I noticed  they were asking lots of questions. And their voices sounded familiar. And their names were… Judith and Jim.

We connected for the first time in person, and we’ve been friends ever since. (Okay, so it was “funny” as in “coincidence” and not funny as in “LOL”).

To continue my story…

I discovered that Jim and Judith ventured into online marketing just four years ago. Along the way, they had to overcome their technical deficiencies and learn to make friends with their computer. Even more so, they had to, in their own words, “open our minds to an entirely new way of being in the world, a whole new and very different mindset-a marketing/business mindset”.

But there was a problem. As they attended lots of marketing conferences, they felt something was wrong.

According to Judith and Jim, “We always felt a sense of displacement, a feeling of not belonging, of somehow being outsiders.”

As they connected with people at those same  conferences they learned that others had the same complaint. And they noticed a pattern: All those who voiced this kind of discomfort were service providers, care-givers, change agents of some kind, men and women who had dedicated their lives to helping others-heart-to-heart.

“It became clear that there was a segment of the Internet marketplace that was not being served,” says Judith.

Jim chimes in, “That segment is peopled by soft sell marketers-all of us who are care-givers and life-change artists as distinct from accumulation artists whose focus is money first and foremost.”

And now these two friends of mine have written a book on the subject of soft sell marketing for service providers… and for people who don’t like hard-sell approaches. I recommend you get a copy of The Heart of Marketing.

Where is this money – and how do you get it?

Most businesses have many hidden opportunities for discovering “windfall profits” – but I want to focus on just one of those opportunities in this article.

That “opportunity pocket” is: marketing and advertising.

In my experience, almost every business – whether it be retail, service, professional practice, or “business to business” in its nature – is unconsciously letting profits slip away.

Your biggest opportunity most likely lies hidden inside your underperforming sales copy (copy that isn’t selling as many units/contracts/ memberships as it potentially could be).

If you want to make more sales without spending a single dime in additional ad costs, this article might be the most important document you read this year…

Make Piles of Money With “Upside Leverage”

“Upside Leverage” is a concept I learned from marketing genius Jay Abraham.

We all know what leverage is: using other people’s money to build your business, or other people’s efforts (through delegation, for instance) to increase your own productivity.

“Leverage” involves using one asset (the lever) to increase the value or power of another. The only problem with using “leverage” is the potential downside: if you use financial leverage to borrow money for a business project, the project could possibly fail, and you would be forced to pay back the money. If you use the leverage of delegation in order to make yourself more productive, there’s a chance the person you’re relying on might let you down.

“Upside” leverage is leverage that involves little or no potential downside.

It’s my belief that underperforming sales copy is the most potentially profitable of all forms of “upside leverage”.

Please read that sentence again, because it’s too easy to let the profound meaning it contains slip past you:

Underperforming sales copy is the most potentially profitable of all forms of “upside leverage”.

Think of it this way: any ad or promotion costs the same whether it performs well or not, right? If you spend $100 on an ad, and you get $500 in business as a result, you made a 5-1 return on your investment. That’s a good return. You did what you set out to do, you made a profit.

But… what if you could take that same ad, and change it in some way that made it 10 times more effective?

What if now it returned $5,000?

You spent the same $100 for the ad… but you got back $5,000.

Instead of a 5-1 return, now you’re getting 50-1! That, my marketing friend, is “upside leverage”!

Change Your Copy, Change Your Income

There is so much bad copy on the web, it’s almost laughably easy to be better than most of your competitors.

Why is that?

I believe there are a number of reasons, but here are a few of the common ones:

1. Some people just don’t realize their copy is bad. They wrote it themselves, or their brother or their niece wrote it. They think it’s wonderful – but in reality it stinks like a dead skunk.

2. Others don’t realize how important their sales copy is. This is a naive belief, and it astounds me that so many people hold it – but they do. Some people seem to think that as long at the copy has “just the facts”, that’ll be good enough. It never is.

3. Some people are just cheap. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business, buy furniture, hire staff, provide benefits, etc., but when it comes to the one piece of communication that might actually cause someone to buy from them – they don’t want to pay for it. They “delegate” this crucial task. Big mistake.

Are you making any of these mistakes? If you are, this is your wake-up call.

Take advantage of the potential “upside leverage” that exists in every ad or promotion. Make sure you ads are performing – that they are making you sales every day. And that they are making you more sales this week than they did last week, etc.

You do this through constant improvement and testing/tracking.

You also do it by either hiring a copywriter, or investing in educational materials that will teach you how to write your own copy. Either one can work – it’s up to you. If you love to write, and you think you have a knack for it, then by all means get a good home-study course on copywriting and do it yourself.

Don’t put it off – do it right now. Otherwise, you’re throwing money away that rightfully belongs to you.

How do you do that?

The Point: There is a “magic trick” that will allow you to always know what to sell from your website.

The Resource: AskDatabase

3 Ways To Decide What To Sell Online

1. Ask your customers what they want to buy.

2. Look for things you’re passionate about and springboard from there.

3. What are you good at — what’s easy for you but difficult for others?
Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

I fly Southwest frequently. Not only are they economical, they’re almost always on time and their employees are unusual in the air travel industry; they’re not bitter refugees of the Air Travel Wars. They haven’t had their souls crushed by corporate greed and bureaucratic stupidity.

In other words, they’re nice people.

So now I get quality air travel, nice people performing the service, and wi-fi too. Life is good.

New Year.

New possibilities. Many resolutions being made today by lots of folks — and as we all know, many of them will be broken before the calendar changes to February.

However… that’s no excuse for not attempting to change your results and circumstances in the new year. For me, resolutions represent hope and aspiration. I applaud everyone making resolutions; and I challenge you to stick with them! Change can happen, and does; it is possible for you to stick with your resolutions. The real question is: will you?

Here are mine — a simple list, but high-leverage…

Ray’s 2008 New Year’s Resolutions 

1. Love God.
2. Love others.
3. Create value.
4. Simplify.
5. Create happiness.
6. Clean up messes.
7. Be here now.

How about you? What are yours? Post them below — or post a link to your own blog entry.

He really is offering some discounts on his products that are just… well… crazy. But hey, don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of him.

]]> http://rayedwards.com/stu-mclarens-pre-wedding-video/feed/ 4 http://rayedwards.com/myspace-or-yours-marketing-101/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=myspace-or-yours-marketing-101 http://rayedwards.com/myspace-or-yours-marketing-101/#comments Fri, 28 Sep 2007 08:11:01 +0000 Ray Edwards http://rayedwards.com/blogging/myspace-or-yours-marketing-101/ The Story: One of copywriting’s oldest maxims points out one of marketer’s biggest failures.

The Point: It’s not your website. It’s theirs (if you want to succeed).

The Resource: YouTube

How To Make It About The User:

1. Know your users.
2. Know your users.
3. Know your users.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: While there’s a lot of debate about Britney’s musical talent, career choices, and parenting potential, nobody can argue that she doesn’t know how to get our attention.

You can learn a lot from a diva.

The Resource: Attention Age Doctrine

Keys To Capturing Your Prospect’s Attention:

1. Be relevant to their lives.
2. Give them more of what they want.
3. Don’t betray their expectations.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: Sometimes it’s more important to emulate what people do than to listen to what they say. Study what Tony does to drive the revenue stream at his company.

The Resource: Tony Robbins

3 Simple Selling Tips From Tony Robbins:

1. Sell people what they want; give them what they need.
2. Create a subculture with its own language.
3. Engage the power of commitment and consistency.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: To dramatically increase your sales, offer a preponderance of proof.

You should use several different types of proof in your selling process.

The Resource: Answers

3 Quick Ways to Prove Your Marketing Claims:

1. Customer testimonials.
2. Third-party endorsements.
3. Case Studies.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

You can’t “manage” time.

The Point: To get past the feeling of overwhelm, you need to overcome procrastination and manage your activities.

Doing so will clear up “space” in your day to get things done.

The Resource: Sedona Method

5 Ways To Feel More In Control Of Your World:

1. Let go of needing to control everything, do everything, know everything.
2. Check email only twice daily.
3. Check voicemail (or return calls) only once daily.
4. Have a Sabbath (day off) each week.
5. Focus on the 20% of activities that yield 80% of your results.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

His name is Ben Settle, and if you don’t know about Ben you should. He has one of the best copwriting blogs on the ‘net.

Anyway, the interview was supposed to be a one-hour interview. It ended up being well over 2 hours.

After listening to the finished product, I realized it was pretty darned good (Ben is a great interviewer).

Here’s some of what we covered in the interview:

• Why studying successful ads can actually hurt your copywriting!
• How to use an ordinary copyright notice to instantly banish “writers block.”
• A free piece of software that can realistically nab you well over an 80% opt-in rate on your squeeze pages!
• What to do if you’re starting from scratch online and need to make a lot of money—fast!
• How to set up profitable online joint ventures—even if you live in a cave with no friends, contacts or business connections whatsoever.
• A little-known way to build a hyper-responsive email list without turning on your computer!
• How to use dopey little ad “jingles” to drive thousands of qualified leads to your websites.
• An almost unknown way to make a TON of money from your email list… without sending them any emails!
• How to make more profits from your sites by purposely getting a lower opt-in rate.
• A secret trick (even an “SEO dummy” can use) to almost instantly get top google rankings on any key words you choose!
• How to use video on your sites for little or no money and without any big learning curves.
• A little-used “loophole” in the Warrior Forum that lets you quickly add a few thousand cash-in-hand subscribers to your email list—without spending even one thin dime.
• Why your telephone is your #1 most profitable “tool” for making money online!
• The secret of getting world-class marketers (with gigantic lists of buyers) to joint venture with you—even if your list is puny and they have no idea who you are.

Grab your copy of the interview by clicking here.

The Point: There are at least 2 good ways anyone can take payments (via credit cards) without having a Merchant Account… and one way that makes getting a Merchant Account easy for 99% of people.

The Resource: The best Merchant Account for online Marketers.

3 Solutions To Your Payment Problem:

1. Clickbank.
2. Paypal.
3. PowerPay.
Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: For a quick boost in the results your copy brings, bone up on these books.

The Resource: SFS Bookstore

3 Books on Copywriting… And One Other:

1. The Robert Collier Letter Book, Robert Collier
2. Scientific Advertising, Claude Hopkins
3. Reason Why Advertising, John E. Kennedy
4. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: The secret of slaughtering your competition is to be 2mm better… in at least 3 categories that matter to customers.

The Resource: 21 Fundamentals of Online Success

5 “2mm Differences” That Matter:

1. Look and feel.
2. Followup Marketing.
3. Testing and Tracking.
4. Adwords Campaigns.
5. Backend Sales.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Story: If you sell to narrowly focused niches, you’ll make more money.

The Point: A lot of people say “niche marketing” is dead; nothing could be further from the truth.

The Resource: “5k In 30 Days”

5 steps to your niche market empire fast and easy:

1. Locate a product.
2. Set up your sales page and testing software.
3. Link payment pages to Clickbank or Paypal.
4. Use Adwords to drive traffic.
5. Repeat.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: There are proven methods for increasing your opt-in conversions; all it takes is a small amount of work.

The Resource: www.WebCopyWritingExplained.com <– Copywriting Videos

Here are three tactics you can use to get more opt-ins:

1. Make a stronger offer.
2. Use a bigger, “responsive” HTML button
3. Keep all distractions off your opt-in page.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: Use these tested methods to dissolve writer’s block instantly.

The Resource: The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

What we call “writer’s block” is merely resistance to writing. Three ways you can dissolve this resistance:

1. Sit down and write. Anything.
2. Use one of the 3 ways to change your state… focus, physiology, or language.
3. Write about why you’re not writing.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

To see a model that’s getting up to 80% opt-ins, take this quiz.

After you take the quiz, you’ll get a video that will show you how to build opt-in pages that average between 60-80% conversion from visitor to subscriber.

You’ll even get a download link to a free beta of the software that creates these opt-in pages for you. Seriously. No “upsell”. No “one time offer”.

I’m going to be testing the software on my own pages, and I will update you with the results.

For now, I recommend you give it a try yourself: get the software here.

So how do we put Seth’s ideas to work in our own businesses?

Why are some businesses remarkable and others are not?

A story about my friend Felix will help you understand how to make your business or service stand out — even in a field where there are many choices all offering much the same service.

Felix is a cab driver.

When I travel to the many Internet Marketing Seminars I attend each year, I often have Felix pick me up from my front doorstep and deliver me to the airport.

That’s because I’m forced to take early flights (from Spokane, you must connect to a major airport to get anywhere), and my wife is usually not thrilled about taking me to the airport at 4:00 in the morning.

Felix owns and operates a single taxi cab in Spokane, and he does it with spectacular success.

What makes him different from all of the other taxi cab operators? I like to think it’s three factors which I denote by the initials PSA.

P is for Personality. Felix’s service is personality-driven by his irascible, talkative, and friendly style.

S is for Service. Felix is service-oriented. He never says no, his cab is immaculately clean and in top physical condition, and there are always candies in the dish on the dashboard.

A is for adaptable. Felix is always adaptable, even if he cannot supply my ride to the airport, he’s the first one to suggest another cab driver who will be able to get me to my destination on time. Integrating these parts of the Felix Factor into your own marketing for your company can make a world of difference.

So What Do You Do With This Information?

Ask yourself how you can you make your product or service more personal, more service-focused, and more adaptable to the needs of your customer, and you just might find you’ve learned some valuable lessons from a small-town taxi driver named Felix.

Bret Ridgway, the founder and CEO of Speaker Fulfillment Services, has a great article on his blog about integrating Paypal and 1ShoppingCart.

It’s a simplified set of step-by-step instructions.

If you’re interested in taking payments via Paypal, and you use 1ShoppingCart (or any of its many private label versions like Marketer’s Choice, Website Automator, and 1AutomationWiz), you will find this article very helpful.

Seth Godin: “Often, more effort goes into circumventing a system then it would take to just do a great job in the first place…”. This makes me think about an experience I had at McDonald’s (yes, sometimes I eat there. I can’t be the only one.) Recently I noticed that the folks who run the drive thru window at my local McDonald’s have strategically placed a sign in the window so that, when they slide it open, it blocks the timer that shows how long you have been waiting. How’s that for circumventing the system? I never thought about that timer… until they tried to hide it from me.

Roberta Rosenberg: “After 25 years of writing copy, I must admit I get a little pissed-off (okay, maybe a lot) when my hard-learned, hard-earned craft gets lumped in and categorized as yet one more bogus ‘get-rich-quick, anyone-can-do-this’ enterprise…

Bob Bly’s ‘Copywriter’s Handbook’. This really is the gold standard that gives the best overall explanation of what copywriting is all about. It covers not only direct response copywriting which, is primarily what this blog is devoted to, but all sorts of copywriting. Whether it’s for radio, brochures, or even business cards I think you’ll really get a lot of value out of Bob’s book.

Dan Kennedy’s ‘The Ultimate Sales Letter’. He’s one of the deans of copywriting… and this book is pure gold. Dan lays out a good basic system for writing copy in this brief and highly-readable book.

Claude Hopkins, ‘Scientific Advertising’. This is one of the classics of direct marketing advertising, especially for copywriters. It’s a little bit tougher read just because it was written not long after the turn of the previous century, so the language seems a bit archaic and a bit more formal than what we’re accustomed to, but the principles stand clear and true as ever.

Eugene Schwartz’s Breakthrough Advertising. Not the kind of “light and easy” read you find in the business and marketing books of today, this volume will yield wealth to those who study it. Gene managed to squeeze the most “content per paragraph” into his work I think I have ever seen. Read it and see if you don’t agree. Yes, some of the examples and copy seem dated, but like Hopkins work the principles remain true.

That ought to keep you busy for a few days!

1. It’s good for business. It wasn’t always this way. When I started blogging it was more about self-expression. It didn’t take long for me to realize blogging was building my business, too. I get a steady flow of new business from people who say something like, “Well, I started reading your blog and finally decided I would call you.”
2. Self-expression. Once upon a time, I was a radio DJ. Highly-rated, successful, and loving it. Being on the radio was my own personal megaphone. It was my way of being heard. Now I get that same satisfaction from blogging. You can too. Now everyone’s a DJ!
3. Building a relationship with my readers. There’s nothing like a blog to build a relationship with your readers. My blog is the source of most of the conversations I have with my readers. Why? I have some theories, but the fact is they don’t matter. It just works.
4. Marketing. I know there are many who say you can’t “monetize” a blog. Really? My own blog has brought me… well, let’s call it “a substantial amount” of revenue. And I don’t even use Adsense (as of this writing). One of the very best Internet Marketers is a guy name Dave Winer. And you’d never categorize him as a marketer… but last year he made over 7 figures using his blog as the primary marketing medium. Even as as I write this, he’s in the beginnings of a “product launch”, though most of his readers probably don’t realize it.
5. Research and testing. The quickest way I know to test a new idea, get some feedback, or get an answer is… make an appropriate post on my blog.

Okay, those are my 5 reasons for blogging. And now, I tag:

• Ben Settle
• JP Maroney
• Stu McLaren
• Jeff Mills
• Alice Seba

I don’t believe in “writer’s block”. You shouldn’t either. I think it’s a myth. Worse, I think it’s an excuse for just not doing your job.

I’m not saying that it isn’t sometimes difficult to sit down and start writing. It often is difficult, for one reason or another.

However, the same could be said of a plumber, a carpenter or even a doctor. Have you ever heard of a surgeon saying, “I just can’t do this surgery today. I’ve got surgeon’s block.”?

Of course not.

But there are undoubtedly days where even surgeons don’t feel like doing their job. Maybe they’re distracted, they’re tired, or they have other things on their minds. But there is no such thing as “surgeon’s block”… or “writer’s block”.

What should you do on days when you just don’t feel like writing anything?

I’ve found the quickest cure is to decide: there’s no such thing as writer’s block… and just start writing.

Write anything. Start with the easy stuff.

Write the contact information that’s going to go on your sales letter or website.

Write the copyright information.

Write filler text such as “Insert Brilliant Headline Goes Here”.

Write the details of what you’re offering. I’m talking about the simple stuff you don’t have to think in order to write.

What’s the price? What’s the address of your company? Where do customers send the checks?

Just start writing.

Once you’ve loosened up a bit, start writing some bullet points. Write as many bullets as you possibly can, remembering to keep each of them focused on benefits of the product (not just features of the product).

You can just write pages of bullets and eventually you’ll get into the flow of writing.

Most of the time, you’ll disover you can use a lot of the bullets you’ve written as thought starters for headlines, for sub-heads, for section heads, etc. Heck, maybe you’ll even use them as bullets.

And guess what?

Now you’ve “broken through your writer’s block”.

Don’t you already know the answer? Templates are not a substitute for good copywriting. However…

They are a great tool, if you keep three key points in mind.

Three Keys to Making Effective Use of Copywriting Templates

1. Recognize the templates for what they are. Templates are not a “fill in the blanks” substitute for writing copy. The most obvious reason is the likelihood that others are using the exact same templates. Do you want your salesletter to read word-for-word like your competitors? Of course not!

Here’s what templates are: a proven example of copy that works. When you are using a proven template (like Dr. Kilstein’s Steal This Book! or David Gafinkel’s Copywriting Templates (perhaps not available anymore – sorry if the link is dead), you have winning copy to model. So there are definitely things to be learned from them. Study and mimic the rhythm, cadence, style and structure of a template and use that as a guide when you’re writing your copy. It’s much easier than staring down a blank page, but not the same as “fill in the blanks”.

2. Don’t use the template as a crutch. I think everybody who has used copywriting teimplates has fallen into this trap – at least I know I did in the early days of my copywriting career. Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying you should reinvent the wheel every time we write. We should study and learn from successful campaigns of the past. That does not mean we should take a template, do a “search & replace” to put our product name in the letter and call that good. I know of at least one fairly well-known copywriter who does just that (no, I won’t say who it is. You can figure it out if you try hard enough.)

There is another danger in copying too much from a template; our prospects, the people we are writing our copy to, are getting bored with our copy. They see the same headlines, the same deck copy and the same approach over and over and over. Often what’s really needed is a fresh approach.

I’m not saying reinvent the wheel.

I’m not saying don’t study the great masters of copywriting.

What I am saying is don’t let your templates become a crutch.

3. Study what’s already being done in your field. No, you’re no looking for more templates! I’m recommending you study what’s being done by other marketers in your niche so that you know (a) what’s working and (b) how to avoid looking like a copycat! I alluded to this earlier: what if your direct competitor is using the exact same template as you? Then you’re going to look like an unethical copycat. Or even worse, you’re going to look like a thief.

If you keep these points in mind, copywriting templates can be an incredible resource that accelerates your pathway to profits.

That’s my opinion – what’s yours? Please share your thoughts by adding a comment below!

I agree with most of what Michel has to say in that report.

Want to see some very short sales copy for a $1,250 seminar that is converting like crazy? Then take a look at this. It breaks all the so-called rules. But don’t try this on your own, kids. There are some very important reasons why this is working, and they are not all obvious.

That being said…them that hath an eye, let them see.

Seth Godin was looking for someone to take over the Z List lens. I volunteered.

I want to do my best to make this lens as good as it can possibly be — so your input is valuable. Take a look, add your own site, vote. Thanks!

Click here to see The Z List on Squidoo.

At first it was heartbreaking.

Watching him bump into things, and then seeing him withdraw, sit still for long periods of time…

It made me wonder what he must be thinking.

If it was even worth still being around, when he had once been so fiercely independent.

He’s always been a cute little guy, but also kind of grouchy and self-centered.

He’s about 99 in people years, but that hasn’t slowed him down too much.

Until he went 100% blind over the last few months.

Then our vet said something that really stuck with me: “You know, Ray, Scooter’s not feeling sorry for himslef. Dogs don’t do self-pity.”

Guess what?

The minute we realized that, Scooter’s attitude improved 100%!

Was he listening?

No.

But Lynn (my wife) and I started treating him as if we didn’t pity him — we just started loving him more.

And because of his “helpless” state, he was more open to receiving our help.

We started working with Scooter, teaching him new commands, helping him learn his way around again, and taking him for walks.

He still has his moments, but he’s adjusting.

Most of the time you’d never know he was blind.

And now he seems the happiest I’ve ever seen him. He’s not grouchy.

He’s not self-centered.

He’s more affectionate, more loving, and more playful than ever.

Why is that?

I think it’s because his blindness opened him up to accepting the love and the help of those who care for him, instead of trying to do everything himself.

And this is why I’m telling you about my blind dog…

No, I’m not physically blind. And I am of course more grateful than ever for the gift of sight. When I say “I too am a blind dog”, I’m speaking metaphorically.

You see, I’m trying to be more like Scooter – to take that same approach to my life and my business as I contemplate a new year.

The “same approach” meaning: learning, like Scooter has, to be open to the wisdom, the love, and the knowledge of those around me.

Those wonderful, intelligent, sage beings who are part of my life.

Like you, for instance.

(In the latter part of this post, I’m going to ask you to take a few moments and share your opinion and wisdom with me.)

But what I hope you’ll take from this story about my bling dog is this: don’t wait for some tragedy to make you open to others.

Go ahead and open yourself up to the people in your life who can help you. The people who WANT to help you.

Let them in.

Live with the same joy that Scooter does — by moving from “fierce independence” to “joyful INTER-dependence”.

Now here’s the part where I ask for your thoughts. If you want the full story you can keep reading. Or you can skip the rest of the post and just…

Give Your Opinion. <--- Click That To Take The Survey

I recently conducted a survey of my readers about what you need most to learn about, and how you would prefer to learn it.

I gave away a free “Q&A” teleseminar for those who chose to participate.

And I promised I would share the results of the survey with you…

Here’s what we discovered together:

1. What do you most want to learn about?

- 50% of you said you want to learn “how to write your own copy”. This was by far the biggest reauest.

- The next biggest response was 39.4% who want to learn how to make money from home online.

Add them together: 89.4% of subscribers to this newsletter want to learn how to make money from home, online, by writing their own copy.

2. How to you like to receive information?

- 68.2% prefer email.

- 45.5% prefer video.

- 26.5% prefer teleseminar.

3. As far as getting email from me…

- 62.9% prefer a weekly newsletter (the other responses were all less than 1/3 of this one!).

I’ll start publishing a new weekly newsletter the first week in January. This will be 100% content, dirven by your feedback and requests, with no selling anything in the newsletter.

4. 77.3% of you have invested in either a live seminar or telesemsinar.

5. 90.4 % of you would be interested in online coaching about how to make money with your website by writing your own copy!

You’re going to get what you want.

I’m creating an online course that will teach you how to make money from home, online, by writing your own copy.

So yes, this us part of a sneaky “launch”.

Hmmm.

I guess now the “cat’s out of the bag”.

Oh well.

It’s not so sneaky after all. I hope you’re okay with that…

So… can I enlist your help one more time?

So that I am absolutely sure that I am teaching what you truly need and want to learn, will you answer just a few quick questions for me?

I need you opinion on one more survey — about the SPECIFICS of what will be in the course.

Just click here to take the survey.

There’s no obligation on your part.

It’s just you giving your opinions.

And you get to create the details of the course with me.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=87122591528

Take 2 minutes, fill out the survey, and I’ll give you exclusive access to a live “Q&A” telephone call with me…

There’s no obligation, and nothing for sale…

1. Focusing On You, Not Your Customer. In the context of an ad, your prospects don’t care about you. They care about themselves, and whether your product can help solve their problem(s). Look for and eliminate phrases like: ‘our friendly staff’, ’20 years in business’, ‘for all your [INSERT PRODUCT HERE] needs’. Those are about you. Use phrases that speak to the solution to your prospect’s most pressing problems.

2. Using Cliche Language. Cliches are like wallpaper, nobody notices them unless they’re so bad they can’t be ignored. Some cliches to look for: ‘giant blow out’, ‘explode your sales’, ‘save like never before’, ‘savings throughout the store’… There are too many advertising cliches to list here. You probably recognize them when you hear them. Get them out of your copy.

3. Speaking Inappropriately. No, this doesn’t mean correcting your grammar – unless your intended audience is English Teachers. Speaking inappropriately means using language patterns that cause your audience to disagree with you on some minor subject. Once that happens, it will be much more difficult to get their agreement on a more important topic (such as buying your product). For example, if you are selling to English Teachers and you use poor grammar in your copy, it will be much harder to make the sale (even if the sale has nothing to do with grammar). Why? Because you have lost credibility with your audience – you are not ‘speaking their language’.

His mother and I were not thrilled to hear this news, but Sean is a mature, level-headed young man. He’s also an adult and we couldn’t stop him (our favorite parenting tool, absolute authority, expired when Sean became 18).

So without warning I developed a keen interest in all things South American. And you know what I learned?

The world is a personal place.

We often don’t care about people and locations because they don’t seem to have any personal bearing on our lives. All it takes is an announcement from one’s child to change all that.

We’ll be paying attention to the news from South America for the next 3 weeks. And if you’re a praying person, perhaps you’ll remember Sean Edwards in your prayers, asking for a safe trip for him and his friends.

We’ll call him Drew (not his real name). Drew seemed tentative, nervous, and naive. I immediately classified him in my mind as someone who was not a client for me. I fully expected to scare him away with my requirements for my clients, the intricacy of the process and what I expected in the way of information to write his copy…and if none of that worked, I was certain my price would end the conversation.

Turns out I was wrong.

Drew was curious as could be about the process, excited about gathering the required information I would need, and didn’t blink when I quoted him a price for his project (it was in the five figure range). He immediately sent payment and we set off to work.

What did I learn? Only the same old lesson I need to revisit from time to time: don’t pre-judge people, and be open to what life brings your way. You never know who the next big client will be, what the next big opportunity might look like…and you just might be surprised when you find out.

Yesterday, while I was at my office writing, they escaped from our back yard. My wife called me, in tears, to tell me they were gone and she couldn’t find them. I dashed home without a second thought to help search the neighborhood.

Within 2 hours we had combed the entire neighborhood twice, talked to neighbors, distributed flyers, and taken out an ad in the paper.

At the end of 4 hours, my son found the dogs at a vet clinic about a mile from our house. One of the vets had seen the dogs wandering a dangerous, busy highway and taken them to the clinic for safe keeping until they were claimed.

Here’s the moral: first, if you’re a pet owner…make sure your pet is wearing their ID tags at all times.

You never know when they might escape, and had our dogs been wearing their collars we would have been spared several hours of anxiety. Second, consider getting the implanted ID chips available from most veterinarians. You can bet we’re getting them ASAP.

If you don’t understand why this was so upsetting to us, then you’ve never given your heart to a dog.

Eliminate all the adverbs.

What’s an adverb?

It’s a word – often ending in the letters “ly” – that modifies a verb (or even adjectives or adverbial phrases). Examples of adverbs: quickly, instantly, amazingly, powerfully.

If you find the above passage puzzling, don’t worry about it; just go through your copy and try to eliminate as many of those “ly” words as you can. Here’s an example:

“Quickly and easily motivate clients to buy stuff.”

~ becomes ~

“Motivate clients to buy stuff.”

Now you may be tempted to ask: “But Ray, I want them to know it happens quickly and easily!”

No problem. Just be specific.

“Motivate clients to buy stuff starting the minute you install the software, without any extra effort on your part.”

You may need to do a bit of rewriting to make the copy flow without the adverbs, but your language will be stronger and more persuasive for the effort.

Dictionary.com defines “hype” as: “an ingenious or questionable claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect.”

One of the additional definitions is: “a swindle, deception, or trick”.

I rather think the second one is what we have in mind when we say a copy is full of hype.

There is a place for the kind of hype that is “an ingenious…claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect”.

There is not a place in a respectable copywriter’s toolbox for the kind of hype that is “questionable” or that uses “deception or tricks”.

The most reliable test for whether your copy is filled with the “bad” kind of hype is simple: is the claim being made in the copy true? If so, and if you can prove that it’s true, then it’s not the “bad” kind of hype.

What’s more, if your copy is presented to the true prospects for your product or service, it won’t be perceived as hype.

Here are three ways to grow your list:

1. Pay per click advertising: Take out a Google Adwords ad that leads subscribers to a landing page. On that landing page, offer visitors something of value in exchange for their name and email address. The trick is, this is harder to do that it once was, for a variety of reasons. The biggest key: make the “something of value” a TRUE value. Just putting up a page that says “sign up for my newsletter” will not produce many subscribers.
2. E-zine ads. Buy ads in e-zines that are mailed to people who are likely to be interested in your offer. Test the results carefully; while this method can bring you subscribers, it can also be a quick way to lose money.
3. Do “swaps” with other e-zine owners. You run their ad in your ezine, and vice versa. Often you can do this at no cost, and gain subscribers in the bargain.

I am doing a teleseminar next Tuesday night with the person who may be the very best list-builder in the “Internet Marketing World”…if you want to join us for the call, register at:

http://whatrayuses.com/myfirstlist

I’ve found that I get much better results if I use some “jump starters”–they keep me focused, and get me started on the right track with a copy project.

Here are 3 “tricks” I use–maybe they’ll work for you, too:

1. Write the benefit bullets. Don’t worry about writing body copy just yet. Just start banging out all the benefits of owning the product. This will be more extensive list than the one in the order box (which is our next “jump-starter”).
2. Write the order box copy. This is the part of the copy where you clearly spell out the price of your offer, and the bullet points of all the main benefits of owning the product. Select the MAIN benefits (the one with the most “persuasion power” for the order box.
3. Write 10 possible headlines for your copy. Don’t worry if they’re not “good enough”. You can even use some of the bullets you’ve written as starting points. Use a headline “swipe file” to spark ideas. Just get 10 headlines written.

Once you’ve finished the 3 “jump-starters” above, you will have written quite a bit of copy. It will be focused on the benefits of owning the product. You’ll be off to a good start on your copy project.

How can you write effective headlines if you’re not a professional copywriter? Simple – use “template” headlines as starting point.

I’ve provided 3 template headlines below. Fill in the blanks as appropriate for your product offer. You may need to do some re-wording to make the headline work for your product–but you’ll be off to a good start.

TEMPLATE HEADLINE:
Give Me (amount of time) And I’ll Give You (benefit of product)

EXAMPLE:
Give Me 3 Minutes, And I’ll Show You How to Write 3 Killer Headlines

EXAMPLE:
If You Can Send And Receive Email, Then You Can Make Money With My Email Marketing Course

EXAMPLE:
Who Else Wants To Double Your Sales — And Triple Your Time Off?

I am frequently asked, “Ray, how do I get started with testing?” Here are 3 simple ways you can start testing today – without complex math, expensive software, or arcane technology.

1. Test your current headline against a new one. Don’t worry about getting software or other tools just yet. Simply run one headline for a while — then run the other headline for an equal amount of time. If you can run equal amounts of traffic past both headlines, you will have at least a general idea which one works best.
2. Test your current price against a higher one. That’s right — I said higher. If the higher price loses the test, THEN test a lower price. It may surprise you that higher prices often bring more orders! So, this week track your numbers at your current price — and next week test a higher one.
3. If you use graphics on your page, test the page without a header graphic. Often, the page without the header will produce more results. The theory is that the graphic distracts from the copy, possibly causing your prospect to bypass reading the headline. But don’ t accept the theory – test it yourself. It is true that to do mathematically reliable tests, you will need some kind of software to track the results.

If you’re not doing any testing at all, start with these 3 simple tests. You may end up increasing your profits!

“I just don’t think I can make a living online,” said Jack.

I was on the phone with Jack because he’s one of my subscribers. He sent me an email saying his back was to the wall.

He had been trying and trying to make this “online business thing” work, and had spent thousands of dollars over the last year or so.

He had only made about $200 to show for all his efforts.

Jack was ready to give up.

“Jack,” I said, “if you’re willing to listen, I think I can help.”

“I’m ready to try anything,” he said.

I smiled.

“And that is your first problem,” I answered…

Which leads me to the reason for writing this article.

Maybe you’re not in Jack’s situation. Maybe you’re not desperate.

But I know that a lot of people are asking the same questions as Jack. Among those questions:

• Can I really make a living online and quit my day job?
• If I put in all this effort and work, will I make money?
• Am I being ripped off by people who sell me all this “make money” stuff on the Internet?
• Are there secrets being held back that I don’t know about?

My best answer is the same one I gave to Jack (not his real name, by the way): yes, you can make a living online…and yes, you are probably wasting some money right now.

The good news is, if you’d start taking the right actions, you could turn it all around in just a day or two.

Here’s what I mean:

Most people struggling to build an online business are too busy buying the latest “system” or “course” or “software” or “service”…too busy BUYING stuff to ever MAKE any money.

For these people, their primary online “business” activity consists of evaluating their next purchase!

Think about it.

How much time do you spend reading salesletters, or reviews of products, courses, and seminars?

How much time do you spend reading and posting in online forums, discussing the merits of this or that new program?

And once you buy that new “thing” – whatever it is – how far do you get with it?

Do you have any big courses sitting on a shelf that you haven’t finished yet? Haven’t watched all the DVDs or listened to all the audios?

Have you any courses that you DID watch all the stuff, and got all excited by it…but didn’t follow through with all the STEPS?

Be honest.

It’s just you and me here.

My guess is that this line of thinking leaves you a bit uncomfortable.

Don’t worry – I think we’re all at least a little bit “guilty” of this syndrome.

But there is a solution – and I’m going to offer you three steps that may help you finally get your business “off the ground”.

The same three suggestions I offered to Jack.

Action Step 1: Set an Achievable Short-Term Goal

We spend too much time trying to figure out how to achieve some huge goal, like “make $10,000 a month”.

Set a more achievable, short-range goal.

For instance, why not just shoot for $500?

Once you make $500 online, you can work on increasing it, right?

The power in this is simple: once you MAKE that $500, you have a lot more BELIEF that you can do it again…and again…and again.

And there is REAL power in that belief.

And if $500 seems out of reach for you, then just set a goal you CAN believe in. Even if it’s only $100.

On the other hand, there are those reading this letter who are already making $10,000 or $20,000 per month…you’ll need a bigger goal, but the principle is the same no matter where you are.

Action Step 2: Pick a Tactic For Achieving That Goal

Notice I didn’t say pick a “Strategy”.

That’s because if you’re struggling to get your business off the ground, “Strategy” may be too big for you to tackle right now.

What you need is one effective “tactic”: a specific set of actions you can take to achieve your objective.

For instance, if you want to build a list of subscribers, one tactic to use is: post in forums to drive traffic to your “squeeze page” (a forced opt-in page used to get subscribers). Make your posts helpful and informative, and put the link to your “squeeze page” in the signature block.

If you work at the above tactic diligently, you WILL start seeing subsribers signing up for your list within a few short days.

There are many other tactics you might choose, I only offer this one as an example.

There a lots of tactics that do in fact work.

Your problem is likely not a lack of good ideas for tactics. It’s that you have too many good ideas and can’t focus on any one of them! Which leads us to…

Action Step 3: Stick With It Until You Achieve The Goal

Too often, I see people get started with a tactic they’re excited about – only to watch them give up on it too early.

Stay with your tactic.

Notice what works.

Notice what doesn’t.

Adjust your approach accordingly – but stick it out until you’ve made your $500 (or whatever your goal was).

Until that time, keep blinders on.

Ignore all the other offers, emails, and attractive “tactics of the week” that come along.

Just focus on YOUR chosen tactic until you have that $500!

And Then What Do You Do?

Once you’ve achieved your goal, you’ll be faced with a decision: what do you do next?

Do you keep at it, employ the same tactic for the next $500? Maybe.

That choice will be up to you, and is beyond the scope of this article.

But keep this in mind: what you will have learned from this exercise is vital.

You will have proven to yourself that:

1. You can make money with your online business.
2. You can achieve a goal you set for yourself.
3. And you know at least one tactic for doing it.

Don’t you think the next step will seem just a little bit easier now?

I hope that if you, like Jack, have been wondering whether you can “really” make it in your online business, you will take this message to heart and at least give my suggestions a shot.

And if you do, I hope you’ll let me know about your success story!

It doesn’t have to take long. In fact, it can be done in as little as one weekend.

Have a great weekend.

People paid big bucks to be here, it’s a small group…and you’d be surprised at how many “gurus” are in the room.

Mike Filsaime is here.

So is Carl Galletti.

Rick Buttz. Len Thurmond.

Tip of the iceburg.

Why am I telling you this? Two reasons:

1. If you want to be successful, you must never stop learning. No matter how successful you already are.
2. Attending seminars and conferences “works”. You learn things that can help you make money. But it’s up to you to do something with what you learn.

Information alone does not create profit – profit is only created when you take action.

A common theme we’re discussing here at the conference is how all of us have tons of information and software — but we’re not using it.

Yet when the “new thing” comes out, we all rush to buy it.

Problem is, we still haven’t used the last “new thing” we bought! Think about it…

How many conferences have you attended in the last year? How many pages of notes did you take? How many information products did you buy? How’s all that working out for you?

Did you take action on all the stuff you made notes about?

Did you implement the strategies and tactics you learned in the information products you bought?

Did you even open the information products you bought?

It’s okay – we’re all “guilty”, to some extent.

But here’s my “bonus tip” and “mini-action plan” for the weekend:

Take stock of all your notes, information products, and memberships.

Set aside a small amount of time each day for the next couple of weeks.

Each day, pick one set of notes… one information product… or one membership site…

And go to work.

Implement just one step, strategy, or tactic.

Just one.

Just get started.

I predict that if you do this, you’ll experience quick, profitable growth in your business.

I hope you’ll share your results with me here on the blog (just comment below).
Have a great weekend!

Dear Hilton Hotels,

I realize that a human will probably not read this.

And I also realize that if a human does read this, I’ll likely get a “canned” response.

But…I hold out hope that a real person will actually read and respond.

I travel quite a bit.

I’m a Hilton Honors member, but I don’t stay at Hiltons very often…and here’s an example of why:

This weekend I’m staying at the Hilton Long Island/Huntington, 598 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 117475002.

First of all, I object to having to pay $10 per day for internet access. I only pay $50 per month for an 8-megabit connection at my home (much faster than the mediocre connection at your hotel).

That’s $1.66 per day, if you’re paying attention.

Secondly, if you’re going to extort $10 per day out of me then don’t require me to ALSO obtain a PIN number each day.

Come on, people!

I have to go to the front desk, and get a PIN code…for the “privilege” of being ripped off for $10 per day?!

Talk about adding insult to injury!

And the icing on the cake: when I asked the young lady at the front desk, and asked her if I still had to pay the internet access fee as a Hilton Honors guest, I was told, “It doesn’t matter that you’re a Hilton Honors member.”

That’s a quote.

Verbatim.

So, far from feeling “honored”, I feel ripped off.

And Hilton’s response?

“It doesn’t matter that you’re a Hilton Honors member.”

Read all about it on my blog…

http://rayedwards.com

-Ray

PS – Warm my heart. I don’t want my money back…I want you to change your policy. Be enlightened. Really “honor” your guests. Will you?

If I get a response from Hilton, I’ll let you know. Fair is fair. Maybe they’ll do the right thing.

I welcome your comments below.

Right. Me too.

Well, let me save you some money and time. Forget the gurus for a moment.

Here is the real, true, ‘Master Secret of Success’:

Just get started!

Don’t laugh.

The problem most business people, entrepreneurs, and companies have is that they spend far too much time coming up with new buzzwords and management systems — and almost zero time just getting down to the work that needs to be done.

For the individual or entrepreneur, I offer this tactic that will help you ‘get started’ on something that will generate new revenue…

Think carefully about your answer to this question: If you could only do one thing to generate revenue immediately, what would that one thing be?

I really want you to think about this.

If it was a “must” – for instance, if it meant being able to pay the mortgage on your house this month – what one thing
would you do right now? Some possible examples:

• Write a letter and mail it.
• Make a phone call.
• Send an email.
• Drive to see a prospect in person.
• Complete and deliver a proposal.

Okay, do you have your “one thing”? Great. Write it down. Then…

JUST GET STARTED!

When it’s done, do the whole exercise over again.

I know that right about now you’re thinking, ‘Ray, this is the most elementary, simple, stupid thing I’ve heard all week.’

That’s okay. Try it anyway – and after you have tried it, I’d love to hear from you with your success story.

And remember, you heard the Master Key To Success right here. In case you forgot already, it’s this:

Just get started!

The Holy Grail of online marketing is getting the prospect’s email address (so you can start building a permission-based marketing relationship with them).

In the not-too-distant past, you could generate leads online simply by offering a free newsletter or special report. This doesn’t work so well anymore. Why?

The reason is simple: there’s too much ‘junk’ being offered, and prospects are wise to this. People just won’t give up their email address for a junky ‘special report’ like they used to.

So what’s a marketer to do? Here are three ways to break through skepticism and get your prospects to give you their email address:

1. Offer Superior Premiums

Offering a superior premium will help you “cut through the clutter”, but to be effective your premium must be clearly superior.

Commonplace and boring: “Special Reports” and “Free Tele-Seminars”.

Better: software that performs a specific task, a free telephone consultation (make it clear this is not a sales pitch), or a free membership website.

2. Use Video Testimonials

There’s a reason infommercial producers make their 30-minute ads over 70% testimonials: testimonials overcome skepticism.

These days, it’s cheap and easy to make video testimonials for your website. Get your best customers singing your praises on video, and put these snippets on your website. Lots of them.

3. Use The “Reciprocity Sequence Method”

You’ve no doubt heard of the ‘Reciprocity’ principal:
If I give you a gift, you feel compelled to reciprocate.

The trouble is, your prospects often have heard of it too, rendering it somehwat less effective.

I use a technique I call the “Reciprocity Sequence Method”… which is simply giving your prospects a series of gifts so that the “Reciprocity Impulse” becomes almost overwhelming.

It sounds elementary, but few people do it. And it’s very powerful.

Think about how you can ‘stack’ a sequence of 3-5 gifts in a short period of time, and THEN make an offer to your prospect.

Key points to remember: keep the sequence confined to a short time period, make the gifts relevant to (and an enhancement of) your core offer, and make the offer immediately after giving the final gift.

While it’s true that skepticism is at a higher level than ever, it’s also true that breaking through is easy when you know how.

What do you think? Have you run into increased skepticism in your marketing – and if so, how have you successfully over come it? Post your comments below!

We’re ready to roll.

http://copywritingsuccesstips.com/

This will only interest you if you make your living as a copywriter (or aspire to).

Unadvertised bonus: when you sign up, you will get access to a free tele-seminar in which I will lay out every step to starting and succeeding in your copywriting business.

No bull. No hype. Nothing for sale (the call is the product that will be sold — but if you act quickly, you get it for free).
http://copywritingsuccesstips.com/

Sign up now…you will only get access to the tele-seminar if you are on the list when it happens. Period.

http://copywritingsuccesstips.com/

1. I moved the site to a new, dedicated server. There were just too many problems with the server being overcome with traffic at the site “old” home.
2. I have settled on a new system for managing the content on my website.
3. Some of the material from the previous version of this site will be returning in the coming days and weeks; some will not. The forum, for example, will not be returning.

So, please pardon my virtual dust. The move was for your benefit: you should find the site more reliable, and files should load more quickly for you now. For those who are interested, my new host is HostGator.

It’s a full seminar put on by Inc. Magazine and the link above will take you to a place (once you register) where you can watch the whole thing for free.

One of the presentations I especially like was Bernie Marcus (Co-founder of Home Depot). His story of how and why he started Home Depot was inspiring but what was more intriguing was the advice he gave for entrepreneurs in today’s marketplace.

You’ll also be able to watch a presentation delivered by President Bill Clinton.

To get the video, just click here.

http://www.mystickies.com/

Allows you to put stickies on the Web itself. I swear, it’s weird and I can’t explain it any better. Here’s what they say at their website:

“MyStickies allows you to place little yellow squares of digital paper anywhere and everywhere you feel like in the whole wide web. Along with the ability to put sticky notes on webpages mystickies offers a powerful interface to browse, search, sort, edit and generally have a wonderfull time with your sticky notes from any computer that has internet access.”

Try it out. You’ll see.

Incredibly Useful Site #2: WikiPedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

My favorite research tool, this is an open-source encyclopedia. You have to work with it for a bit to really appreciate the power of its nuances and its ethic (and yes, it has an ethic). I use WikiPedia a LOT. I bet you will too.

Incredibly Useful Site #3: Changing Minds

http://changingminds.org/

As marketers, we are in the business of changing minds. That’s what we do. There is a lot of information at this site about the subject of… well… changing minds. I don’t necessarily endorse everything here, I merely point to it.

Incredibly Useful BONUS Site: FirstPage HTML Editor

http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage3.shtml

This is a free, WYSIWYG web editor that many people swear by. I don’t use it, so I can’t tell you whether it’s any good or not…but a lot of people seem to like it. From their site: “Five years and 3,000,000+ downloads since the first release, Evrsoft brings you First Page 2006, the highly anticipated HTML editing software. Evrsoft First Page 2006 gives you unsurpassed freedom to create and edit web documents with absolute code control.”

That’s me and Stu McLaren (brilliant event Stu! Bravo!)