The days when you had to be a programmer or a “code monkey” to get your site built are long gone (no disrespect to programmers, whom I love dearly). Here are three sexy little tools that make building a website that sells a total snap (or at least a bit less onerous):

Marketer’s CMS. This neat little system uses WordPress as the foundation for website that sells, and is the first system I know of that makes doing so as easy as one–two–three. Watch the video.

Wishlist Member. This is an add-on system for WordPress (which means you can use it with Marketer’s CMS, above, for a complete solution) that enables your website to have password-protected membership levels. And you can charge foe these different levels. So, for instance, you could have most of your content available for free, but certain high-level content could be “for pay”. Wishlist handles taking your payments, setting people up with accounts including usernames and passwords, and checking to make sure your member’s accounts are paid up before allowing them to see premium content. This brief description doesn’t really do this software justice; again, to fully appreciate its value I suggest watching the video.

Google Sites. This is a drop-dead-simple website building system that allows you to build great websites in a flash. Highly recommended. Plus, a friend of mine built the templates that accompany this free tool-and they are awesome! Click here for Google Sites.

Now go build some websites!

Often that question is followed up with: “And who are the ‘Bad Guys’ I should avoid?”

I’m not in the business of judging who the so-called ‘bad guys’ are. But what I can do is recommend the people who have helped me. I was going to write up such a post, and then I realized I had already done so — back on January 1, 2009. As I went back and read it, I realized it needed very little editing… so I present the updated (only aesthetic updates, really) list of people I have been helped by.

When I originally wrote this, it was at the beginning of a New Year. I had been reflecting on who I owe my success to in the copywriting and internet marketing world. Because you know, none of us do this “internet business thing” on our own. I’m not an island. I’ve been helped by a number of people along the way. And I wanted to publicly thank and acknowledge a number of them.

Disclaimer: making a list like this always opens up the risk that I’ll leave someone out. If you have helped me, and I somehow forget to mention you, remind me privately and I’ll add your name to the list. Also, this list includes people who have strong points of view on some matters – in many cases, points of view that are in conflict. I think a diversity of opinions is a good thing, don’t you? I don’t agree with everything any one person says. But I do value and recommend them all. How do I reconcile their differing opinions or approaches? I take personal responsibility for making my own decisions, after having considered their advice.

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22)

Armand Morin. Armand is the guy who has taught me the most about Internet Marketing, and he pushed and prodded me to create my own info-products (I went from zero to over 20 in less than a year) and to get serious about my speaking career. Without a doubt, I recommend Armand’s Big Seminar and his Internet Marketing Newsletter.

Alex Mandossian. Alex taught me how to use Teleseminars to build my business (even though I was a copywriter at the time, my first year using Alex’s techniques easily made me over $100,000). He’s also a man of deep integrity.

Brad Callen. One of my top clients, I am actually involved in a site with Brad and his brother Matt. These guys have been with me as clients for a long time now, and have been a great encouragement to me.

Willie Crawford. One of the first friends I made in this business. Willie and I had some pretty amusing adventures together.

John Carlton. Possibly the world’s greatest living copywriter. I have learned so much from John, I can’t even begin to tell you. I attended a seminar once just so I could buy his “mother of all offers” where he sold a $5,000 box of his materials. Pay attention: I went to a seminar so that I could spend $5,000 with John. That ought to tell you something. I had the privilege of hanging out with John in Vegas recently, and it was the highlight of my trip.

Harlan Kilstein. Killer copywriter and Carlton’s top student, Harlan is also a master of hypnosis and NLP. Harlan taught me how to get paid what I’m worth as a copywriter. Seriously. After attending one of his seminars, I TRIPLED my fees. Thanks Harlan.

Matt Bacak. One of my top clients, Matt was one of the very first people to hire me to write copy. We met because I saw him sitting in the bar… with his laptop! I knew he was a kindred spirit. We’ve done some great things together (recently we did a $3.5 million promotion), and I’ve learned a lot from Matt. He’s also been a good friend.

Mike Litman. Mike was the first Internet Marketer to pay me for copy. He paid me a scandalously low amount of money. When he ordered 2 more sales letters from me, he coached me on raising my prices – on his project! His was the first IM event I ever attended, and it’s where I met my long-term friends (and now clients) Armand Morin and Matt Bacak.

Mike Stewart. Mike showed me “lifestyle business” at its best when he invited me to spend a couple of days at his lake place in Georgia. We played around on the lake, ate a lot of good food, and created a new video product (on copywriting) in his home studio (said product to be released soon).

Frank Kern. I’ve learned a lot from Frank, and he’s hired me more than once to write copy for him. Frank gave me my all-time favorite testimonial (it’s a bit off-color, so I won’t quote it here). It’s through Frank I first met John Carlton, Sarkis, Neil Strauss, and a bunch of other “fancy people”. And Frank recommended me to Tony Robbins for some copywriting work – so how could I not acknowledge Captain Kern?

Ed Dale. I actually met Frank Kern and Ed Dale at the same time. They had hired me to write copy for their Underachiever Conference before we ever actually met. What endeared me to Ed first was his love for all things Apple. Instant bonding. And Ed actually gave me the testimonial that ties with Frank’s for my all-time favorite. Since it doesn’t contain the “F Word” I’ll quote it in full: “Ray, I bless the day your copy met my bank account”.

Jeff Walker. The creator of the Product Launch Formula, Jeff taught me the art of Product Launches. I was one of the first customers for the original PLF, and ended up in Jeff’s high-end Platinum Coaching group. Jeff coached me through my first launch (of my own product). Jeff has made me… well, a lot of money. And he’s also a good friend. Jeff credits me with being the first person he’s ever actually paid to write copy for him. I can’t thank him enough for all the guidance, encouragement, and generosity he has shown me.

Jon Walker. Jon is Jeff’s brother. I actually got to know him before I got to know Jeff, and I count Jon as one of my very favorite people. He’s kind, diplomatic, and has a razor-sharp business mind. He is truly one of those “guys behind the scenes” who is responsible for some big stuff in the online world. Jon has given me some invaluable counsel, advice and insight on my own business, and he’s one of the people I love to bounce ideas around with.

Michel Fortin. One of the first people I got to know in the copywriting world, I owe Michel several debts of gratitude. I’ve learned a lot from him about copy, marketing, and online technology (Michel convinced me to migrate from Movable Type to WordPress, for instance… and was at least partially responsible for getting me hooked on Photoshop). He’s also helped me navigate through a couple of difficult situations, and has unselfishly helped me grow my business.

Sylvie Fortin. Sylvie is one of the most vibrant, determined and principled people I know. She has the courage to speak her mind even when it might be unpopular to do so. I am astounded by her willingness to share personal challenges publicly so that others may benefit. And her keen insight played a crucial role in rescuing me from total burn-out in 2008. Really. I love Sylvie Fortin for these reasons and more.

Craig Perrine. Smart, funny, intelligent, and willing to encourage me in my tendency to sit in the back of the room and cause trouble, Craig is a great friend and a smart marketer.

Kirt Christensen. One of the first people I bought an information product from, Kirt agreed to meet with me not knowing for sure whether I might be a stalker. We ended up become friends and business partners. Kirt helped me define my pursuit of the “ideal business”: working 20 hours a week and making $100,000 per month. That’s not too much to ask, right? (Still workin’ on it, FYI…)

Christina Hills. Christina is the CEO of “Shopping Cart Queen” – a company that educates online businesses on how to use their shopping cart software. They also teach a lot more stuff, including other software and systems. Christina was crucial to my first product launch coming off well, and she’s helped me in a pinch on more than one occasion.

Stu McLaren. Stu was one of my early clients. I wrote the copy for his Idea Incubator Seminar. I was so excited by it I decided to attend. Stu and I became friends, and through him I met Stephen Pierce, David Frey, Alex Mandossian, Jeff Walker and many others. Now Stu not only is a big-shot Internet Marketer but is now working with his wife Amy to change the world. Bravo!

Mike Filsaime . I met Mike before he was “famous”. We had a conversation outside the seminar room in Denver where Mike told me the story of this new product he was creating called “Butterfly Marketing”. We have remained friends over the years, and Mike recently had me work on the “7 Figure Code” launch with him (which was a blast). We’ve worked together on several other projects, too. I’m amazed by Mike’s willingness to work harder than just about anyone else I know, and his adaptability to changing trends and technologies.

Tom Beal. Tom and I were in a Mastermind Group together for a while, and when we met through that group I only had a vague idea that he worked with Mike Filsaime. Tom and I have laughed together, hung out in the back of many a seminar room, and worked together on a few projects. I count him as both a friend and a great marketing mind.

Joel Comm. Joel and I knew each other a while before we ever did any work together. Joel has been a true friend, and has done a lot to help me as a person and on a business level. Joel got me my publishing deal, invited me to be a guest expert on The Next Internet Millionaire, hired me to write copy, and has been a true supporter.

Andy Jenkins. You know him as the StomperNet guy – and so do I. I’ve written some copy for the Stomper guys (Andy and Brad Fallon). Andy has been encouraging, enthusiastic, and promoted me in places where it counted.

Rich Schefren. Controversial, smart, challenging, and able to wear you down. And that was just my first dinner with Rich! Rich is not only a client, he’s one of the people I’ve learned some of my most valuable business lessons from.

Brian Johnson. You may know him as Schefren’s right-hand guy. I know him as a trustworthy friend and tireless supporter. He’s also a guy who will be there to get the job done, even when other people have gone home.

Ryan Healy, Ben Settle, John Angel and Daniel Levis are all part of a secret mastermind group I belong to. The weird thing is we’re all copywriters. And it’s one of the most profitable and enjoyable groups I’m a member of. This group has been referred to as “The Five Horsemen of the Copywriting Apocalypse”.

Jeanette Cates. She’s organized, she’s diligent, and she’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever met. She’s also fun to hang around with.

Dave Bernstein. One of the first products I ever created, I created with Dave. He’s absolutely nuts about all things audio. And he is smart enough to live where it’s warm all year.

George Callens. George works with Armand to run a $25 million dollar a year company and makes it looks easy. He’s on top of things, he’s in charge, and he’s one of the most stunningly competent people I know. George has helped me sort through some important challenges in my business.

Chris & Jim Howard. I’ve been friends with Jim & Chris just about as long as anyone in this business. They are a continuous inspiration, and “go to” people when I need help or advice.

Dr Mike Woo-Ming. He’s a friend, he’s a client, and he’s an International Man of Mystery.Remember that time you rented that house in Vegas and we all hung out there? That was awesome.

Howie Schwartz. One of the smartest and funniest people I have ever met and someone I am proud to know and call friend.

Yanik Silver. Brilliant marketer, tireless entrepreneur, and peerless promoter. I love the Underground Seminar, and his YSS is brilliant. I’m also inspired by what he’s been doing with the Maverick Brand.

Dan Kennedy. What can I say about Dan that hasn’t been said? I think he mostly invented the info-product/coaching business. He’s a writer’s writer. He lives the life he chose to live. And he seems to be a true genius when it comes to this stuff.

Jason Moffatt. Jason and I are probably about a much alike as East and West – but I count him as a friend, a keen marketing mind, and one of the very best salesmen I have ever met.

Tracy Childers. Tracy and I have held a few late-night brainstorming sessions involving large quantities of what another friend of mine calls “barley pop”. Every time I talk to him, I get about two dozen new ideas. And Tracy is inspiring in his ability to get products created, and his integrity and kindness.

Marlon Sanders. The first marketing product I ever bought was “The Amazing Formula”. It blew me away. Since then I’ve had a chance to get to know Marlon as one of the funniest, most intelligent, and most interesting people I know. Plus, have you seen this guy’s hats?

David Frey. He’s the “gentle giant” of Internet Marketing, He’s been an encourager, a good teacher, and someone I’ve felt inspired by since we first met at Stu McLaren’s Idea Incubator.

Ken McArthur. One of my favorite clients, Ken has been another ardent supporter of mine. He’s someone who is universally loved by everyone who knows him. And he invited me to speak in Orlando in February (Orlando is always a great place to visit in February!).

Clayton Makepeace. One of my copywriting “heroes”, Clayton is one sharp guy. And Clayton is the guy about whom I have the strangest “how we met” story of all. Sorry, I’m not telling. Not today, anyway.

Mary Mazzullo. She took the pictures that make me look good. Of course, that ‘s what she does. She also got me into the mysterious “Club 33”. And she’s a true friend.

Bob Bly. The copywriter’s copywriter, a scholar, and a gentleman. Bob really got me started down this road, and one of the highlights of my career was being quoted on the cover of his “Secrets of a Freelance Writer”.

Mari Smith. First she was my student (in copywriting) and now she is my teacher (in Social Media Marketing). Thanks Mari!

Seth Godin. Some of the most intense learning I ever did, I did at Seth’s office. His books are amazing. His blog is legendary. He is generous. Thanks Seth!

This post grew as I was writing it.

The truth is, there are so many people I should thank I probably could never write it all down. So please, if you don’t see your name here, don’t take it personally. I love and appreciate you — and if you know me at all, I hope you know that’s true.

Bear with me, I have a couple more acknowledgments: my business could not exist without the support of my family (both near and far).

My wife and son are the two most important people on earth to me. I love you both with complete and reckless abandon.

Finally, and most importantly, I would be nothing if not for the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Every good thing I have (or ever will have) comes from Him.

“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 subscribers 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!

And as I was looking at that check, it made me think about how much fun this particular client is to work with — and I was reminded that I had an audio interview with this guy somewhere in my archives.

I found the interview, listened to it, and realized it’s just as relevant as it was the day we recorded it. So I’m giving it to you today.

This interview is a case study from one of my clients. I present it for inspiration and education only, and there is nothing for sale (not that there’s anything wrong with sellin’ stuff, mind you).

I worked on this Product Launch with Real Estate teacher Jack Bosch back in 2008. That was almost two years ago. Jack remains a client of mine (he’s still paying his royalties, like clockwork). This interview was recorded the day after we closed the cart on the launch.

It’s worth noting that, on day two of our launch…it seemed luck was not with us.

On the second day of the launch, a massive US Financial Collapse began.

The largest bank failure in US History was in the headlines. And yet…

We brought in over $1.12 million in 7 days. (Please note: I’m not claiming you can do the same. Most launches don’t do these kinds of numbers – this is definitely atypical… which is what makes it worth studying.)

Click Here To Listen To The $1.12 Million Launch Case Study With Ray Edwards

Listen to this case study interview and learn…

• How a penniless immigrant with no money and no English made $1.12 million in just a single week.
• The secrets that allowed Jack to create a massive info-product… assemble a team… and do a $1.12 million dollar launch in less than 3 months.
• If you think you have no experience, no expertise, and no chance of success… once you hear Jack’s story you will NEVER let those excuses hold you back again.
• How Jack learned the secret of rapid product creation, and how it changed his life (his first ebook took him 5 months… while his massive 26-CD course and 400 page manual only took 8 weeks!).
• The simple, easy-to-duplicate tactic that allowed Jack to create a 400 page workbook… without writing a word!
• What gets people “stuck” in creating their own product, and the magic that dissolves those mental blocks and makes things happen.
• Why Jack was shocked at my $30,000 retainer… and why he’s now GLAD he paid that amount (and more).
• Why copy is so important to JV partners — and it has NOTHING to do with the sales letter!
• The power of having an organized approach to doing a product launch… and which pieces are critical to your success.
• The “unexpected benefit” that brought in new JV partners like bees being drawn to honey… and it happened totally by accident (but from now on, Jack will be doing it on purpose).
• How to develop content for your videos and other marketing pieces using the power of persuasion in print to make your VIDEOS and AUDIOS more profitable.
• Why Jack was able to pull off a seven-figure launch even though disaster struck on Day 2… the largest bank failure in US History! (The secret tactic that allowed us to bring in 60% of our sales AFTER the bad news about the economy…and how you can apply this same secret in your own marketing).
• The one critical element that accounted for $400,000 in sales that would not have happened otherwise (how much money are you leaving on the table right now because you’re not doing this?).
  
• The deadly pitfalls that can stop your launch (or your business) in its tracks… and the simple steps you can take to avoid them every time (the secrets of how Jack picked a launch date 3 months in advance and actually launched on that day!).
• Why it’s okay to start even before you “know what you’re doing” — and why it might even be crucial that you do in fact “start before you’re ready”.

Click Here To Listen To The $1.12 Million Launch Case Study With Ray Edwards

When you get right down to it, this business is so simple it’s almost funny.

To sell stuff online here’s all you have to do… think of these as four legs of a stool.

Without one of the legs, the stool is wobbly and unreliable. But with all four legs, your business cannot just survive… but actually THRIVE.

ONE: Market Finding

The first leg of the stool is: you simply find a market where people are unusually passionate, and where they already spend a lot of money. Then you look into what they are actually buying. Identify the top products and see what their commonalities are. Also look for the unique features of each of top products.

TWO: Product Creation

Now combine the common elements, compile all the unique ones... and create a product that includes all these things plus your own new ideas. Now you have a product that is the slightly better than the other products at the top of the market. There are simple and easy ways to create the product yourself.  And there are cheap, quick ways to have someone else do it, if that’s what you prefer.

THREE: Traffic Getting

Next, you need to get your product seen by the people who will be interested in it. You can do this by recruiting some affiliates (not that hard to do really), by using Pay Per Click ads through Google, buying cheap but effective banner ads, and any one of a dozen other strategies and tactics. It’s NOT HARD. It’ just takes a LITTLE time & effort.

FOUR: Conversion

Finally you need to be able to turn those visitors into buyers. This comes down to good copywriting. There are some good books on the subject, there are some great courses available (I have one that I sell, for instance – one of each, book and course), and you can even buy templates where you just fill in the blanks.

Then you test what works. Simple.

With those “four legs” under you… and the determination that you simply won’t quit until you succeed…

…you’ll do fine!

Here’s way to get back ALL the money you’ve invested… and feel immensely good about yourself. This is also a way to recoup your losses if you’ve gotten caught on the latest guru product treadmill (they’re only losses if you fail to do something with them – see “How Much Money The Gurus Make”).

You’ll need a couple of hours (depending on how bad your “habit” is).

You’ll also need a legal pad and a pen.

Got all your school supplies? Good. Here’s what you do:

1. Start with the info-product on top of the pile. Open it and look for the “Quick Start Guide”, or better yet, one of those nifty “Cheat Sheets” or “Checklists”  they so often come with.
2. Go through the Quickstart Guide, or Checklist, or Manual, or (heaven forbid) the actual DVD or CD labeled #1. Find the FIRST action-item you can locate from this particular info-product. Doesn’t matter how small. Just find one item you can DO. Ideally it would be a short something (like changing a headline, setting up a new squeeze page, setting up a survey) that you can do in a few minutes. The only rule is, it must be something you can do in ONE SITTING.
3. Got your first action item? Write it down on your legal pad.
4. Now put away info-product one. Put it neatly back on its shelf. Move on to info-product #2 and repeat until you’ve gone through the whole pile.
5. When you’re done you should have a good list of things to do, each of which can be done in just one sitting.
6. Now — and I mean NOW — schedule a time on your calendar when you will sit down and do ALL these items. The very best scenario is: do them right now.
7. The most important thing is: complete your list in 3 days or less. Do NOT let it sit around longer than that.

If you’ll do this exercise, I guarantee three things:

1. You will have gotten all your value from those info-products, everything else in there that you act on is just “gravy”.
2. You will have done more than 99.9% of all info-product buyers will EVER do.
3. You’ll see a surge in your results AND you’ll have an immediate boost in your self-esteem.

Try it and see.

This year so far, I estimate that about $100 Million has been made by “gurus” doing product launches. I know a lot of these numbers because I have written copy for most of these people. I have an “insider line” on what various promotions have done. And while I never reveal confidential information from anyone’s individual business… I can tell you that as an aggregate the number is very close to $70 million… and I believe it’ll be over $200 Million by the end of the year.

You’re being lied to — continuously and with gusto. Most of the courses and programs have been touted as “must have” methods and secrets you “cant’ live without”… and the sales pitch for these things makes it clear that if you don’t have the latest, greatest, whiz-bang whang-doodle, you’ll be lost in the middle of a hopeless world. Simply not true.

You’re the victim of an elaborate scam — just like you already suspect. Now, not all “Internet Marketers” are scamming you. And some who are scamming you aren’t doing it on purpose. But at the end of the day, you’re still sitting there with your wallet cleaned out. And it doesn’t have to be this way.

Now here’s the secret I want you to “get”.

You can learn a lot from the “gurus”… but mostly by watching what they do instead of what they say.

What they say is… “You just have to have Method X, and if you don’t, you’ll never REALLY be successful.” And then they proceed to sell you Method X… for a lot of money.

And now may I ask you: how’s that working for you so far?

How many more “Method X’s” will it take before you get the picture?

So that’s what they SAY..

But HERE’S What They DO…

What the “gurus” are all doing — the one thing that they have in common – is so simple that when I tell you about it you’re going to be tempted to gloss over it.

You’ve heard it before.

It’s not sexy.

But it’s what’s really going on.

And you want to know what’s really going on.. and how to profit from it yourself… don’t you?

Okay. Now that you’re ready to take what I’m about to tell you as the serious truth, here’s what every single successful guru does:

Find a big group of people who are (a) passionate about a topic, who (b) have money to spend on that topic (and who already do spend money on it), and then (c) find out what they want, (d) make the product these people are begging for and (e) sell it to them.

You most likely already knew this.

Think about how the “gurus” sell their stuff to… let’s call it “The Internet Marketing Crowd” or “IM Crowd”.

And what do we know about the “IM Crowd”? Well, follow along with me here. The IM Crowd…

1. Is passionate about making money online.
2. Has money to spend on their topic.
3. And already does spend money on it!

So the smart “guru” just figures out what these folks want… makes it… and sells it to them.

That’s it.

The secrets of becoming a guru – revealed!

So What’s Wrong With That?

Let me be really clear: not a thing is wrong with this.

In fact, I recommend you do exactly the same thing in your own market.

What IS wrong, though, is when Gilligan Guru starts telling you seductive lies that go like this: “Step right up, ladies and gents, and get your own Money Making Genie 2012! Just rub the lamp, and money comes out of your computer just like an ATM machine! It’s MAGIC!”

And without the Money Making Genie, the Guru implies, you just can’t make it in this business.

But ask yourself a question: why isn’t Gilligan Guru actually using Money Making Genie himself?

And if he’s not using the Genie… then how IS Gilligan Guru making his money?

Right: he’s doing it by telling lies. He’s appealing to your desires alright, but not delivering the goods.

Whether it’s Method X or Money Making Genie 2021… the “guru” is making promises but not keeping them.

And he’s not telling you what really makes him all that money.

Read This Part Or Stay Broke (Your Choice!)

There is a very real conspiracy to extract as much money from you as possible.

Right now, as I write this, there is a group of “gurus” sitting in a circle in some hotel suite.

Each one of them is talking about their own version of Method X, and how he plans to sell it to the masses.

And they are all agreeing to promote one another’s Method X….

…and that’s why you keep getting email after email from the same group of people promoting one another.

Now, am I saying it’s wrong to promote products for other people? No. I’m not. What I am saying is that when there is an organized “plan” to put you into a cycle of buying one $2,000 or $5,000 product after another, without regard for what’s best for you…

…when you have bought… and bought… and bought stuff, but still haven’t made any money….

…when you are being told 10-12 times per year that the latest, greatest, “Method X” is the “one true answer” to all your problems…

….and you keep racking up credit card debt to buy all this crap, with no results to show for it…

IT’S TIME TO GET OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND.

It’s time to stop buying crap, and start making some money. Agreed?

Now show me you meant it when you said you wanted truth-telling here. Do the following:

1. Comment here on the blog (if you’re reading this in our email feed, just head over to http://RayEdwards.com

2. Spread the word. Share this post. Click the “Like” button. Do something.

Thanks! Now… what do you have to say about all this?

The topic gravitated to “what is Internet Marketing”. I realized that Dad thought I meant “any marketing campaign that uses the Internet”.

I had to explain that this was not what I meant.

What I meant was: a group of online marketers who make a living selling information about online marketing to other online marketers (who quite likely sell the same stuff to other online marketers).

Does this seem weird to anyone else but me?

People are in a flutter about the new FTC guidelines.

This affects you if you are a blogger, and affiliate marketer, or an Internet marketer of any stripe.

Now, there are a lot of snake-oil salesmen who are ready, willing and able to take advantage of your FEAR of the FTC.

Usually they have an “FTC Protection Kit” to sell you.

Well, my friend and colleague Jim Edwards just interviewed Richard Cleland, the FTC director in charge of advertising and claims.

I think this interview is top-notch, clear, and brings a voice of sanity to the whole discussion.

There is no pitch for anything, and this is not an affiliate link. It’s just a service.

http://jimedwards.s3.amazonaws.com/ftc-advertising-interview/index.html

Take some advice from your ol’ buddy Ray – watch this interview now.

(Also, it’s not required but I’d recommend signing up for Jim’s email newsletter. It’s one of the very few marketing newsletters that are worth subscribing to.)

I came across a website today for something called “Laughter Yoga”.

My first question was, “What the heck is ‘laughter yoga’?”

Turns out it’s exactly what it sounds like.

People get together in a Yoga-class type setting, and they LAUGH.

There’s even a “Laughter Yoga Home Study” set, which is a bunch of DVDs that will set you back $195.

I kid you not.

Now after a little Google research I found out that doctors and patients say that this weird kind of yoga relieves stress and anxiety and could even strengthen the immune system.

It seems kinda like a stretch to me, but a lot of people swear by it and are willing to pay their hard-earned money for it.

Just Google “laughter yoga” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

So what can we learn from this?

It’s just this: making money is simple if you remember that all people really want is to FEEL BETTER.

I mean, c’mon.

If people will pay $195 to earn how to do “laughter yoga”, doesn’t that say a lot about what people really want?

How about diet books?

We all know (don’t we?) that most people who buy diet books (or “get out of debt” books, or “get a better relationship” books, etc.) don’t every really lose weight (or get out of debt, or get a better relationship, etc.).

So why do they buy those books?

TO FEEL BETTER.

The book makes them feel better about themselves. It makes them feel like they COULD go on the diet, or the budget, or whatever.

Now, I think your product or service should provide real value. So that if your customer actually USED the product they would get the result.

But you should also think about making certain that your product itself provides a way to feel better.

And for darn sure, you’re marketing and sales material should absolutely make the prospects feel more positive, more focused and more hopeful.

While I don’t think any of us should be selling “false hope”, I definitely feel we should be selling “hope”.

Because hope makes people feel better, and that is ultimately what most human beings want.

Just to feel better.

That’s what I think – but what do you think? Is is good to sell “hope” to prospects… to make  them feel better? Post your comments below…

Failure to live up to this rule could get bloggers fined up to $11,000.

Per violation.

There are lots of questions about what this means for affiliate marketers, if anything.

It really seems to me that the best policy is also the easiest to implement: if you’re being paid to promote something, say so. End of story.

Where it gets murkier is what the FTC’s rule will mean for those who run affiliate programs – are they now going to be held responsible for what their affiliates do? That seems like a responsibility most business owners are going to be unable or at least unwilling to bear.

What do you think about the new FTC rules for bloggers? Has the FTC killed affiliate marketing in one fell stroke? Or are paranoid marketers blowing this all out of proportion? Post your thoughts below.

[flashvideo file=http://rayedwards.s3.amazonaws.com/x11Video1.flv image=http://rayedwards.com/images/forge.png /]

Every piece of your website is a link in the sales chain.

Each link leads to the next, and at the end of the chain is the sale – and profits for you and your business.

Of course, as we all know, any chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

One way to get quick sales boost is: find the weak or broken links in your sales process and strengthen or repair them. And almost every website has at least a few week or broken links. I’m not just talking about hyperlinks, here… I’m talking about any crucial part of the sales process.

No website is perfect – no website is ever optimized fully. There’s always room for improvement. In most websites I look at for clients, there are some basic fixes that can pay off in a big way.

Here are three examples of things you might want to do on your own website:

• Fix Broken Links. The most obvious example is actual broken links. These are frustrating at best for your visitors, and for many it will kill the sale instantly (“if they can’t get their links fixed, what must their product be like?”).
• Remove Inconsistencies. In the world of direct mail, there’s a proven response boost when the message on the outside of the envelope matches the message on the headline of the letter inside; the reason this is so is, we are wired to respond positively to consistency. We like getting what we expect. Even seemingly small inconsistencies send a subconscious signal to your prospects that all is not right. Some specifics to look for: different typefaces or look & feel on your pages; lack of consistent layout from one section of your site to the next; jarring differences between your major sales pages (opt-in page, salesletter page, order page, thank you page). Get fanatical about consistency.
• Remove “Mind Stoppers”. Some things just cause us to “stop our mind” when reading a website. For example, strange or unnatural wording can cause us to stop in the flow of reading and ask “What? Huh?” Even though these “Mind Stoppers” may only cause a pause of 1 or 2 seconds, they interrupt the flow of your sales message. Avoid “Mind Stoppers” at all costs. The best way to find them: read your copy aloud, to another human being, in a natural tone and at an easy pace. Then have them read it aloud back to you. In each case, mark any section that causes you to pause or stumble. Re-write those sections and remove the “Mind Stoppers”.

When you forge stronger links in your “Sales Chain”, you’ll increase your sales results. And that means more profits for you and your small business.

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.

I just need to point you to this one: Seth Godin on taking the high road.

The discussion turned to “back end promotions”. Which means, “what you sell people after they bought your entry-level product”.

And the topic was the copy used to sell “back-end promotions”. One of the well-known, high-profile marketers on the call said something like, “Heck, you don’t need a great copywriter to write  that stuff. Those people are already your customers. A monkey could write that stuff.”

BUZZER.

That player is out of the game.

If you think any piece of your copy can be written by “a monkey”, you’re in trouble.

Because if that’s what you think, you’re saying your customers are monkeys, too. See how that works?

And if you still think there’s nothing wrong with all that, try this exercise: imagine your mother or your grandmother is the customer in question. Now imagine telling Mom or Grandma you hired a monkey to handle this part of their transaction, because that’s all the respect you needed to give them.

How’s that working for you?

I’m not talking about your death here – just your business (or service, if you’re a provider of things like copy, graphics, design, etc.).

Oh sure, your clients would notice for a moment. Or a day.

But how about a week later?

What about even after they had found your replacement?

Would your clients look back a year from now, sigh, and lament the loss of your business or service?

This is a question you might contemplate quietly, in your “secret heart”. You know the answer already. And if the answer is, “They wouldn’t miss me much”… it’s time to go to work.

The best way to ensure your prosperity is to matter. To make a difference.

I’m not talking about “making a difference” in some cotton-candy-dreamy-fuzzy-feel-good kind of way. I’m not talking about charity work (though I believe that’s important, it’s a different discussion). I’m talking about adding so much value (in real, measurable ways) to people’s lives that if you went missing, they would notice. And they would be sorry. Over the long term.

Making a difference is the single best strategy for you and your business in today’s economy. Or any economy, for that matter.

It needs to be relevant – in other words, you need to write about stuff your market cares about.

Most bloggers (and newsletter/ezine publishers, and speakers, and authors, etc.) don’t have a clue what their market cares about.

Oh, they think they know what the market wants. That’s the problem. Don’t be too upset if this has happened to you, because I’m about to give you 5 easy ways to always know exactly what’s on the mind of your market.

It’s almost as if they were wearing signs around their necks proclaiming, “Here’s what has my attention right now…”
This is going to seem brain-dead simple.

Just find out what they’re already talking about, or what they’re already paying attention to, and give them more of that – but with your own unique spin.

And of course, in a way that adds value to their lives (and at the same time leads them to your door).

So here are the “5 Easy Ways”… really they are 5 websites that are like magical marketing x-ray machines. Just look at the screen, and see what’s inside the mind of your market.

http://del.icio.us
http://digg.com
http://answers.yahoo.com
http://stumbleupon.com
http://google.com/news

Of course, it’s up to you (or your copywriter) to figure out how and why today’s hot topics matter to your market. And how they relate to your message about who you are and what you bring to the world.

We’ll be talking more about exactly how to do this at my upcoming workshop in Las Vegas (there are only 5 seats left, so you might want to take a look and see if it’s right for you).

The Point: To get a surge in business, pick one of the 3 ways and do it with intense focus for 7 days.

3 Ways To Grow Your Business:

1. Get new customers.
2. Get your customers to pay more per purchase.
3. Get your customers to buy more frequently.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

Fear and paranoia, with a healthy dose of spam, has made it harder to get people to opt-in. At one time, it was so easy. All you had to do was add a form that said, “Sign up here to get e-mails”, and the world would flock to your site.

People would opt-in like crazy! E-mails, e-newsletters — everything was so new and exciting. My, how things have changed. Today, we are deluged with e-mails. People are constantly changing e-mail addresses. People have multiple e-mail addresses – heck, some people even have a fake e-mail address that they never check, just to deal with all the spam.

Cutting through the clutter is a challenge. How can you make sure you are getting real opt-ins from people who will actually read the e-mails you send out?

Well, yes. There are ways to increase your opt-in conversions. These simple tactics don’t take a lot of work, but they are very effective.

Try these three tactics to boost your opt-ins:

Make a stronger offer. We all know you have to give an ethical bribe to get people to opt-in – a special report, an audio, a video, a piece of software. If you just say, “Sign up to get my newsletter”, to the average reader that means, “Sign up so I can spam you.” You need to be more creative. Work harder to create a better premium to offer your subscribers. If you’re offering a special report, it better be a killer special report, and not the same old crap that everybody else is offering. You need to come up with a unique angle, it needs to be well-written. Same is true of audio, video or software – it needs to be well-done, it needs to be unique – something obtainable only through you, and it needs to address a need that is in line with the desires of your readers.

Use a bigger, “responsive” HTML button. Go to my website: www.RayEdwardsCopy.com and look at the button on the subscription form on my squeeze page. Notice that it’s larger than most buttons you see on subscription forms. Notice also, that when you hover your cursor over the button, the background changes color from red to green. That is a subtle, psychological hint that takes people from “Stop” to “Go!” Yeah, that’s a little sillybut, in my experience, it increases conversions. I can verify this through some colleagues of mine: Michel Fortin, Eric Graham – The Conversion Doctor and Armand Morin, as well. My recommendation is that you try this kind of button, too.

Keep distractions off your opt-in pages. Take another look at my opt-in page. Do you see how clean it looks? There are no distractions to take attention away from the opt-in option. Of course, there are legal disclaimers at the bottom (right where I need them), but they are very subtle. And when you click on them, those legal notices open in small pop-up windows – after all, I want them on this page, not heading off in another direction.

While these suggestions seem very simplistic, they really work. Try them for yourself, and watch your opt-in rates soar!

And there is also a very big downside in taking the “maintenance free” approach to building a business online. The downside is: it’s possible to set up a website that is hands-free… and that makes very little money. Hmmm…

The meaning in this seems to be: the income you derive from a website is in direct proportion to the value you put into it.

Said more plainly: if you build crappy websites, expect crappy results.

There’s a great post about how zero maintenance can mean zero money over at Self Made Minds. Worth reading.

“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.

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.

A list of prospects and buyers that you can use as a foundation for your online business.

It’s harder than ever to build e-mail lists online, as customers are more reluctant to opt in for free e-zines (or other mailing lists) than ever before.

What’s the best way to build an e-mail list? Rest assured, e-mail marketing is just as important now as it ever has been, and perhaps even moreso. So what do you do? My advice is to use offline marketing to build your online e-mail list. This is a tactic that is seldom employed by online marketers, and yet it is the most powerful way to build an e-mail list I know of. Why is this? Because people who move from an offline promotion to an online mailing list make up the most responsive e-mail list you will ever have.

Here are three ways you can use offline media to build your online mailing list.:

Radio

Radio is an overlooked but inexpensive and effective medium for building an online e-mail list. If you’re going to use radio, make sure your radio ad is a direct response style. The key to this kind of ad is that it simply directs people to a landing page (or squeeze page) that offers them something for free in return for their name and e-mail address. Even though the squeeze page technique is harder to implement in today’s online marketing world, with the people who move offline to online response rates are stellar.

Direct Mail

Using postcards, you can build an e-mail list very quickly using inexpensive direct mail promotions. Make sure that you buy quality, targeted lists to mail to. Also make sure that the copy you used in your direct mail is targeted, effective, and powerful.

Outdoor Advertising

If you can squeeze your opt in message into seven words or less, including the domain name, consider using outdoor advertising. Billboard companies frequently make killer, bargain-basement deals to fill up unused billboard space each month. Negotiate your deal toward the end of the month, and let them know that they are competing with other media for your business, and you should be able to get the best available rate.

Use these offline methods to build your online list and watch response rates rise.

I should be working on other stuff.

For instance, I have 8 more small business profit boosters to write for you (I’m up to #13 and I promised 21). But…

I felt compelled to write this post instead.

I’ve been reflecting on who I owe my success to in the copywriting and internet marketing world. Because you know, none of us do this on our own. I’m not an island. I’ve been helped by a number of people along the way. And as we move into the new year, I want to publicly thank and acknowledge a number of them.

Disclaimer: making a list like this always opens up the risk that I’ll leave someone out. If you have helped me, and I somehow forget to mention you, remind me privately and I’ll add your name to the list.

Armand Morin. Armand is the guy who has taught me the most about Internet Marketing, and he pushed and prodded me to create my own info-products (I went from zero to over 20 in less than a year) and to get serious about my speaking career. Without a doubt, I recommend Armand’s Big Seminar and his Internet Marketing Newsletter.

Alex Mandossian. Alex taught me how to use Teleseminars to build my business (even though I was a copywriter at the time, my first year using Alex’s techniques easily made me over $100,000). He’s also a man of deep integrity.

Brad Callen. One of my top clients, I am actually involved in a site with Brad and his brother Matt. These guys have been with me as clients for a long time now, and have been a great encouragement to me.

Willie Crawford. One of the first friends I made in this business. Willie and I had some pretty amusing adventures together.

John Carlton. Possibly the world’s greatest living copywriter. I have learned so much from John, I can’t even begin to tell you. I attended a seminar once just so I could buy his “mother of all offers” where he sold a $5,000 box of his materials. Pay attention: I went to a seminar so that I could spend $5,000 with John. That ought to tell you something. I had the privilege of hanging out with John in Vegas recently, and it was the highlight of my trip.

Harlan Kilstein. Killer copywriter and Carlton’s top student, Harlan is also a master of hypnosis and NLP. Harlan taught me how to get paid what I’m worth as a copywriter. Seriously. After attending one of his seminars, I TRIPLED my fees. Thanks Harlan.

Matt Bacak. One of my top clients, Matt was one of the very first people to hire me to write copy. We met because I saw him sitting in the bar… with his laptop! I knew he was a kindred spirit. We’ve done some great things together (recently we did a $3.5 million promotion), and I’ve learned a lot from Matt. He’s also been a good friend.

Mike Litman. Mike was the first Internet Marketer to pay me for copy. He paid me a scandalously low amount of money. When he ordered 2 more sales letters from me, he coached me on raising my prices – on his project! His was the first IM event I ever attended, and it’s where I met my long-term friends (and now clients) Armand Morin and Matt Bacak.

Mike Stewart. Mike showed me “lifestyle business” at its best when he invited me to spend a couple of days at his lake place in Georgia. We played around on the lake, ate a lot of good food, and created a new video product (on copywriting) in his home studio (said product to be released soon).

Frank Kern. I’ve learned a lot from Frank, and he’s hired more than once to write copy for him. Frank gave me my all-time favorite testimonial (it’s a bit off-color, so I won’t quote it here). It’s through Frank I first met John Carlton, Sarkis, Neil Strauss, and a bunch of other “fancy people”. And Frank recommended me to Tony Robbins for some copywriting work – so how could I not acknowledge Captain Kern?

Ed Dale. I actually met Frank Kern and Ed Dale at the same time. They had hired me to write copy for their Underachiever Conference before we ever actually met. What endeared me to Ed first was his love for all things Apple. Instant bonding. And Ed actually gave me the testimonial that ties with Frank’s for my all-time favorite. Since it doesn’t contain the “F Word” I’ll quote it in full: “Ray, I bless the day your copy met my bank account”.

Jeff Walker. The creator of the Product Launch Formula, Jeff taught me the art of Product Launches. I was one of the first customers for the original PLF, and ended up in Jeff’s high-end Platinum Coaching group. Jeff coached me through my first launch (of my own product). Jeff had made me… well, a lot of money. And he’s also a good friend. Jeff credits me with being the first person he’s ever actually paid to write copy for him. I can’t thank him enough for all the guidance, encouragement, and generosity he has shown me.

Jon Walker. Jon is Jeff’s brother. I actually got to know him before I got to know Jeff, and I count Jon as one of my very favorite people. He’s kind, diplomatic, and has a razor-sharp business mind. He is truly one of those “guys behind the scenes” who is responsible for some big stuff in the online world. Jon has given me some invaluable counsel, advice and insight on my own business, and he’s one of the people I love to bounce ideas around with.

Michel Fortin. One of the first people I got to know in the copywriting world, I owe Michel several debts of gratitude. I’ve learned a lot from him about copy, marketing, and online technology (Michel convinced me to migrate from Movable Type to WordPress, for instance… and was at least partially responsible for getting me hooked on Photoshop). He’s also helped me navigate through a couple of difficult situations, and has unselfishly helped me grow my business.

Sylvie Fortin. Sylvie is one of the most vibrant, determined and principled people I know. She has the courage to speak her mind even when it might be unpopular to do so. I am astounded by her willingness to share personal challenges publicly so that others may benefit. And her keen insight played a crucial role in rescuing me from total burn-out in 2008. Really. I love Sylvie Fortin for these reasons and more.

Craig Perrine. Smart, funny, intelligent, and willing to encourage me in my tendency to sit in the back of the room and cause trouble, Craig is a great friend and a smart marketer.

Kirt Christensen. One of the first people I bought an information product from, Kirt agreed to meet with me not knowing for sure whether I might be a stalker. We ended up become friends and business partners. Kirt helped me form my pursuit of the ideal business: working 20 hours a week and making $100,000 per month. That’s not too much to ask, right?

Eric Graham. I’ve never met a person more dedicated to rigorous scientific testing of copy, marketing tactics, and web page factors. Eric takes the “voodoo” of marketing and makes it science. From him I’ve learned discipline and tenacity. Plus, he flies stunt planes. Yep, upside down, loop-the-loops, and all that stuff.

Christina Hills. Christina is the CEO of “Shopping Cart Queen” – a company that educates online businesses on how to use their shopping cart software. They also teach a lot more stuff, including other software and systems. Christina was crucial to my first product launch coming off well, and she’s helped me in a pinch on more than one occasion.

Stu McLaren. Stu was one of my early clients. I wrote the copy for his Idea Incubator Seminar. I was so excited by it I decided to attend. Stu and I became friends, and through him I met Stephen Pierce, David Frey, Alex Mandossian, Jeff Walker and many others. Now Stu not only is a big-shot Internet Marketer but is now working with his wife Amy to change the world. Bravo!

Mike Filsaime . I met Mike before he was “famous”. We had a conversation outside the seminar room in Denver where Mike told me the story of this new product he was creating called “Butterfly Marketing”. We have remained friends over the years, and Mike recently had me work on the “7 Figure Code” launch with him (which was a blast).

Tom Beal. Tom and I were in a Mastermind Group together for a while, and when we met through that group I only had a vague idea that he worked with Mike Filsaime. Tom and I have laughed together, hung out in the back of many a seminar room, and worked together on a few projects. I count him as both a friend and a great marketing mind.

Joel Comm. Joel and I knew each other a while before we ever did any work together. Joel has been a true friend, and has done a lot to help me as a person and on a business level. Joel got me my publishing deal, invited me to be a guest expert on The Next Internet Millionaire, hired me to write copy, and has been a true supporter.

Andy Jenkins. You know him as the StomperNet guy – and so do I. I’ve written some copy for the Stomper guys (Andy and Brad Fallon). Andy has been encouraging, enthusiastic, and promoted me in places where it counted.

Rich Schefren. Controversial, smart, challenging, and able to wear you down. And that was just my first dinner with Rich! Rich is not only a client, he’s one of the people I’ve learned some of my most valuable business lessons from.

Brian Johnson. You may know him as Schefren’s right-hand guy. I know him as a trustworthy friend and tireless supporter. He’s also a guy who will be there to get the job done, even when other people have gone home.

Ryan Healy, Ben Settle, John Angel and Daniel Levis are all part of a secret mastermind group I belong to. The weird thing is we’re all copywriters. And it’s one of the most profitable and enjoyable groups I’m a member of. This group has been referred to as “The Five Horsemen of the Copywriting Apocalypse”.

Jeanette Cates. She’s organized, she’s diligent, and she’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever met. She’s also fun to hang around with.

Dave Bernstein. One of the first products I ever created, I created with Dave. He’s absolutely nuts about all things audio. And he is smart enough to live where it’s warm all year.

George Callens. George works with Armand to run a $25 million dollar a year company and makes it looks easy. He’s on top of things, he’s in charge, and he’s one of the most stunningly competent people I know. George has helped me sort through some important challenges in my business.

Chris & Jim Howard. I’ve been friends with Jim & Chris just about as long as anyone in this business. They are a continuous inspiration, and “go to” people when I need help or advice.

Dr Mike Woo-Ming. He’s a friend, he’s a client, and he’s an International Man of Mystery.Remember that time you rented that house in Vegas and we all hung out there? That was awesome.

Howie Schwartz. One of the smartest and funniest people I have ever met and someone I am proud to know and call friend.

Yanik Silver. Brilliant marketer, tireless entrepreneur, and peerless promoter. I love the Underground Seminar, and his YSS is brilliant. I’m also inspired by what he’s been doing with the Maverick Brand.

Dan Kennedy. What can I say about Dan that hasn’t been said? I think he mostly invented the info-product/coaching business. He’s a writer’s writer. He lives the life he chose to live. And he seems to be a true genius when it comes to this stuff.

Jason Moffatt. Jason and I are probably about a much alike as East and West – but I count him as a friend, a keen marketing mind, and one of the very best salesmen I have ever met.

Tracy Childers. Tracy and I have held a few late-night brainstorming sessions involving large quantities of what another friend of mine calls “barley pop”. Every time I talk to him, I get about two dozen new ideas. And Tracy is inspiring in his ability to get products created, and his integrity and kindness.

Marlon Sanders. The first marketing product I ever bought was “The Amazing Formula”. It blew me away. Since then I’ve had a chance to get to know Marlon as one of the funniest, most intelligent, and most interesting people I know. Plus, have you seen this guy’s hats?

David Frey. He’s the “gentle giant” of Internet Marketing, He’s been an encourager, a good teacher, and someone I’ve felt inspired by since we first met at Stu McLaren’s Idea Incubator.

Ken McArthur. One of my favorite clients, Ken has been another ardent supporter of mine. He’s someone who is universally loved by everyone who knows him. And he invited me to speak in Orlando in February (Disney, here I come).

Clayton Makepeace. One of my copywriting “heroes”, Clayton is one sharp guy. And Clayton is the guy about whom I have the strangest “how we met” story of all. Sorry, I’m not telling. Not today, anyway.

Mary Mazzullo. She took the pictures that make me look good. Of course, that ‘s what she does. She also got me into the mysterious “Club 33”. And she’s a true friend.

Bob Bly. The copywriter’s copywriter, a scholar, and a gentleman. Bob really got me started down this road, and one of the highlights of my career was being quoted on the cover of “Secrets of a Freelance Writer”.

Mari Smith. First she was my student (in copywriting) and now she is my teacher (in Social Media Marketing). Thanks Mari!

Seth Godin. Some of the most intense learning I ever did, I did at Seth’s office. Thanks Seth!

This post grew as I was writing it.

The truth is, there are so many people I should thank I probably could never write it all down. So please, if you don’t see your name here, don’t take it personally. I love and appreciate you — and if you know me at all, I hope you know that’s true.

Bear with me, I have a couple more acknowledgments: my business could not exist without the support of my family (both near and far).

My wife and son are the two most important people on earth to me. I love you both with complete and reckless abandon.

Finally, and most importantly, I would be nothing if not for the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Every good thing I have (or ever will have) comes from Him.

There are only a few simple things you need to get started making money with your own internet-based business.

It’s not complicated, really.

Let me break it down for you. I’ll tell you the basic items you need, and Google can tell you the rest (just search for information on the areas where your knowledge is weak or incomplete). Here’s what you need:

1. A Product. Obviously, you need something to sell. This could be software, or items you sell on eBay, or a service, or an information product. People get hung up on how to come up with a product — and the truth is that products are the easiest thing in the world to get. It’s taking action that’s tough.

2. A Domain Name. This seems obvious, but you need a name for your business. You can get one at http://NewHostingPlan.com.

3. A Web Page. I say “page” instead of “site” because a “site” seems complicated. A “page” seems easy, doesn’t it? You can get one through http://NewHostingPlan.com.

4. Web Page Software. You need to build a page with content on it. You can do it yourself with free software from http://nvu.com, or you can use a paid product like Dreamweaver (which is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/). If you don’t want to do it you can get a designer at http://sitepoint.com.

5. Graphics. You need a logo and a “look and feel” for your products or services. Again, you can use free software (like that at http://www.gimp.org) or you can buy something like Photoshop (at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/compare/). Or you can get someone to do it for you at http://sitepoint.com.

6. Autoresponder Account. This is an account that allows you to build a mailing list so that you can mail to your customers or prospects. It can also do this for you on an automated sequential basis, so once someone signs up they get an email from you on a regular basis (automatically). The service I use and recommend is http://RaysAutoResponder.com.

7. Shopping Cart Software. You need to be able to take payments somehow, right? My advice is to get a nice, proven, all-in-one solution. I use http://newmarketingautomation.com.

Now, each of these are somewhat complex discussions that we could probably spend a one-hour teleseminar talking about each of them. Do a quick search on Google – there are plenty of online resources that will teach you more about each of these subjects.

You now know the basic building blocks needed to build your online business.

Can you spend years learning to master it all? Yes. But is it simple enough to get the basics in just a few minutes (as you just did)? Yes.

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Just remember these basics, figure out which pieces you already have… and figure out what the next logical step might be. Then just do it!

I hope you’re making use of these ideas — feel free to post your success stories if you want. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would, too.

Okay… on to today’s Profit Booster: postcard marketing.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective ones. Here’s the scoop…

Send everyone on your list (your prospect list and your customer list) a simple postcard.

The card can say something like, “just wanted to say thank you for being part of my world…” and then offer a link to a special webpage.

I recommend you register a new domain for the special webpage, because you want the address to be short and easy to type. Don’t obsess over the domain name. You can easily find plenty of good ones-for instance, www.ThanksFromBob.com (I suggest using your own name).

So, what’s on this page? Why, a special offer of course. Available only to the people who received your postcard. And of course, to all the people who read your postcard. Because postcards are what’s called “naked mail”-anyone who wants to can read it. That’s why it’s a good idea to put the benefit of the special offer right there on the postcard (“I’m giving you a gift worth $500 at a special webpage…”).

Also don’t obsess about getting the postcards out. You can upload your customer lists and create your postcard copy dirt cheap at www.USPS.com -they’ll even stamp and mail the postcard for you!

So go ahead, send some “naked mail” today, and start watching the profits pour in.

For most companies this is a disaster.

Every contact with your prospects and customers is either an opportunity, or a problem. There is no in between.

Question: why do we leave these interactions to chance?

We all instinctively know there is usually a “best way” to answer the phone, greet a customer, run an interview, or deal with a customer service issue.

Yet we (and more frighteningly, our employees) do absolutely nothing to prepare for these interactions. What if you changed that?

Write a script for every interaction you can anticipate with your prospects and customers. This means you’ll have a script for:

• Answering the phone
• Greeting customers
• Conducting a client needs analysis interview
• Running a consultation
• Giving a presentation
• Dealing with customer complaints
• And every other interaction you can think of

Creating a script for each situation-and making sure your employees actually use the script-can make a world of difference for your company.

So get busy. Write your scripts. Know your lines.

And make sure your people know their lines too.

To get other people to do what we want them to do.

There is a tactic that gives almost magical powers of persuasion.

You can, quite simply, get practically anyone to do practically anything.

It’s so simple you’ll be tempted to shrug it off.

Don’t.

Here it is…

“Enter the conversation already taking place in your prospect’s mind.”

As far as I know, that idea originated with Robert Collier. It’s a simple principle, but not easy to do. So how do you do it?

Listen. Pay attention to what people say. Hang out in online forums. Track trends on twitter. Collect the words, phrases and ideas your market uses. Speak back to them in their own words.

Watch. Be conscious of what your store or website visitors actually do. What causes them to opt in? To opt out? To buy? To ask for a refund? Nothing teaches like behavior. People vote with their feet. Watch their feet.

Think. How can you solve their problems? How can you solve them quickly… easily… and with simplicity? Be the aspirin for their headache and abundance will be yours.

If you can do these things, your readers/visitors/ listeners will be nodding their heads, slapping the table top, and saying, “Yes! That’s exactly how I feel!”

And when that happens, Constant Reader, they will do anything you ask.

Because anything you ask will be in alignment with what they already desire.

That’s a deep well I just pushed you into. Follow it all the way down, and be rewarded with the cool fresh water of more sales, more often.

In the United States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving. In our tradition, this means expressing our gratitude for the bountiful harvest. It is a long-standing tradition, steeped in the mythology of the birth of our nation.

For many people, it is one of the very few times of the year they pause to truly reflect on what they’re thankful for.

In keeping with the idea of giving thanks, I’m about to suggest a simple strategy of thanks-giving that can also have a “boomerang effect”; by giving thanks, it’s possible to get thanks back in return. In the form of dollars in your bank account.

Which leads us to Tactic #2 in our 21-part series. Here’s the tactic…

Get out your trusty list of all past customers.

Even the ones who only spent a few dollars with you.

Now send each one of them a hand-written thank you note.

Yes, I said a hand-written thank you note.

Not one printed by computer, using a handwriting font.

Not a photocopied “hand-written” note. No, I’m suggesting you send each individual customer a short, quickly-written, perhaps even a little tough to read… hand written note. (HINT: I never said you personally had to write each one; just that it be written by a human hand.)

“But That Will Take Forever!”

I can already hear the protests that this is much too time-consuming.

I beg to differ.

Follow my reasoning: which has more impact on you… a computer printed note (which you can always detect, right?), or an obviously hand-written one?

My questions are a setup, of course. We all know that hand-written note is magnitudes more important and attention-getting to each of us.

How important do you think it is to create those emotions in your customers?

If you can reach a large number of your past customers, and grab a little piece of their attention, and make them feel a little special… do you think that’s likely to result in new or repeat business? Do you think it’s possible that they will recommend you to their friends and loved ones? Do you think it’s possible that when one of your competitors starts marketing aggressively to this customer, they’ll remember that handwritten note from you?

Now, if you simply stop with the thank-you note I don’t think your results are going to be very outstanding; although I do predict you’ll get some business if that’s all you ever do. But here comes the real power play…

How To Follow Up Your Thanks-giving Note With a Thanks-getting Note

The timing on this nextmaneuver is crucial.  If you wait too long, it won’t work nearly as well. Within two days of sending the thank you note, send a marketing communication.

My suggestion is this marketing communication be simple and to the point. It might say something like, “as an added thank you for being a loyal customer in the past, I’d like to make you aware of a special opportunity right now…”.

The keys to this tactic working  are:

1. The fact that the first note is genuinely handwritten.
2. The proximity (in time) of the second note to the first
3. The words “added thank you”. Because they evoke the memory of the thank you note.

Mess up one of those variables, and your results will diminish.

Is this groundbreaking?

Is it earth shattering?

No.

But it will work. The hand-written note will stand out from among all of the “fake” thank you notes your customers are getting from other businesses. Trust me. You’re going to be on a whole different level.

If you send a marketing communication within 48 hours of your customer receiving your hand-written note, your marketing communication will be at least seven times more effective than it would have been on its own.

Many of your past customers will thank you for your personal attention-and they’ll thank you in the form of new business.

Tomorrow’s profit booster: Bobby Fischer marketing.

I’ve had it with all the loser talk about the economy.

I know it’s bad.

I know people are losing money.

I have lost money, too – my retirement account is worth about two thirds what it was worth six months ago.

So I get it.

But it’s time for all of us to stop talking about it, and instead start doing something about it.

First Of All, I’m Not Suze Orman

I’m not going to pretend to advise you on what to do with your investments, or that kind of thing. There are plenty of experts who can help you with that. In fact, I recommend you listen to these audios by Tony Robbins for some guidance on your finances – and your attitude.

What I have to offer is of a different nature. Here’s my contribution…

I’m writing a series of blog posts (starting with this one) that are focused on one thing, and one thing only: helping small business owners thrive-not just survive, but thrive-in today’s economic environment.

I believe that is realistic and attainable for almost all small businesses – if they’re willing to do what it takes.

Are you?

We’ll see.

The World Series Of Small Business Profit Tactics

This will be a month-long series (give or take). Each day my goal is to post one actionable step you can take that will either get you more sales, increase the amount of profit you make on each sale, or multiply the number of sales you get from each customer… and ideally, it will do all three at the same time.

Tactic #1: Discover Your Own Acres of Diamonds

You have probably heard the classic motivational tale called Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell.

It’s the story of a poor farmer who sold his land in order to go off in search of treasure. He never found that treasure… but the new owner of the property discovered a rich diamond mine lay just beneath it. The poor farmer gave up all he had… including his “acres of diamonds”.

Dig In Your Own Back Yard

This is a perfect illustration of how most business owners run their small businesses (whether online or off-line).

The are constantly in search of some new idea, technology, or innovation… and they fail to harvest the fortune already at their feet.

If you have any kind of business at all – if you’ve been selling anything for any length of time -  you already own acres of diamonds.

Your diamonds are your past customers.

They spent money with you before. The hardest sale to make (and the most expensive sale to make) is the first one. And yet… many business owners never try to work for the second sale at all.

They seem to operate under a motto that reads: “Find ‘em, fool ‘em, and forget ‘em.”

What about you?

Have you given your past customers opportunity to do business with you again? Have you asked them for more business? Have you done it recently… persuasively… persistently?

If you’re like most business owners, the answer is “no”.

How to Harvest Your Diamonds

So how do you harvest your acres of diamonds? How do you go about reactivating old customers-in real, practical terms?

The simplest way is: contact them.

Do you have their phone number? Then call them.

Calling them is the best way-it’s the most personal (barring showing up at the front door, which might not be such a bad idea, depending on what business you’re in).

I can already hear someone saying, “But Ray, people will be offended if I show up out of nowhere… or call them on the phone… or e-mail them… and ask them to buy something.”

Well of course they will.

Especially if they haven’t heard from you for a long time. But what if you took a different approach?

What if you called (or sent a letter, or an e-mail) and said something like this: “Hi this is Bob the Remodeling Guy…  and I was just checking in to see how that new bathroom is working for you? I know it’s been a year since we installed your new fixtures, and we always like to follow up and make sure our work is living up to your expectations.”

Will you get some complaints? Probably.

You’ll find a few people who’ve been meaning to complain about that leaky faucet but never thought you’d even return a phone call. They’ll be glad to finally have your ear. But if you handle even these situations right, it will almost always result in new business.

Why is that? Because nobody calls to follow up these days. Nobody.

And you might be surprised to discover that most of your calls will not result in new complaints. Most of them will result in people being surprised that you called the begin with.
Most calls will be a pleasant shock for the customer and result in some kind of conversation about what other work, products, or services they might need.

If you can’t call your customers, send them an e-mail; if you don’t have your e-mail address, send them a postcard.

Get this: the technology you use to reopen the dialogue doesn’t matter. What matters is that you start the conversation.

And don’t start it by asking for more money; start by finding out how they felt about dealing with you in the past, how well you helped them solve their previous problem, and — if they have any thing less than a stellar report for you — how you can make things right.

If you do these things, you will get new business as a natural course of events. And you won’t have to bring it up–they will.

“But What If They Don’t?”

What if you have a pleasant conversation with your past customer, all is well, and they don’t mention buying something new? No problem. It doesn’t mean you can’t sell them something. Just be nice about it, for cryin’ out loud. Don’t be rude. Make sure they have been heard before you try to make them hear you.

And once you know they have been heard, and feel great about you because you contacted them, and because you (gasp!) listened to what they had to say… make them aware of whatever your current promotion happens to be. Just do it  without being pushy.

It can be as simple as saying, “By the way, we have a special discount available for previous customers who…”.

If they’re interested in your new offer, they’ll let you know.

If they’re not, they’ll let you know that too.

Either way, the worst thing that can happen is you will have built more goodwill for your company, its products, and services. And if you contact enough of your previous customers, taking the right approach, you will generate new business.

This tactic works because hardly anybody does it.

In fact, I predict hardly anybody reading it on this blog will do it. But don’t let that discourage you-in fact, it should excite you.

It should be exciting to know that so few of your competitors will take this simple step to increase their sales and profits.

That just leaves more for you. Now go do it!

Tomorrow’s tactic: Thanksgiving Equals Thanks-getting.

This myth has always struck me as false — or at least only partially true.

I believe that when it comes right down to it, you must have some writing talent. If you don’t, your copy will not be brilliant. It may not even be good. In most cases, it will just be bad.

I see plenty of evidence that the last is the most common result.

There is another myth that if one studies enough of the right manuals, or attends enough of the right seminars, one can learn to write well. Frankly, if you don’t have some native talent — a “knack”, if you will — I don’t think all the classes, courses, or seminars in the world can help you much.

Stephen King would agree with me, I suspect. In a recent article he penned for the Washington Post, King wrote: “The only things that can teach writing are reading, writing and the semi-domestication of one’s muse.”

So there it is, then.

My opinion is that not everyone can learn to be a great (or even good) writer. Everyone is born with a certain aptitude (or lack of it), and they’re pretty much stuck with that aptitude. They can take classes or be taught to make the most of it, but they are always limited to a certain range in the development of their craft.
What do you think?

I think one of the real tricks of success is to simply recognize these things you tend to do, and then find ways to make these tendencies support your success. In fact, I think most people are miserable because they fail to do just that. Instead of working with their tendencies in order to succeed (almost effortlessly), they identify their tendencies as the problem and vow to change.

That, my friend, is called swimming against the river. And while you may get credit for working your tail off while doing it, you’re not going to make much progress relative to the shoreline.

Case in point: for the longest time I was worried about my information addiction.

And make no mistake… I am an info-addict.

Just this morning, I read the six magazines I bought yesterday. Read part of a book. Checked out the over 1,000 new items in Google Reader. Watched a brilliant little video by Ed Dale over at the Thirty Day Challenge site. And sifted through 52 emails (it was early, and it’s the day after a US holiday, so email was light this morning).

I have dozens of PDFs in my “To Read” folder on my Macbook Pro. I have dozens more videos and audios to go through in my “To Listen” and “To Watch” folders.

And once upon a time I thought something was wrong with me because of this kind of behavior. So I struggled against it. I read books about it. I read articles about it. I listened to self-help material about it. Is anyone other than me seeing the irony yet?

One day I stumbled across an article by Dan Kennedy in which he detailed his working habits… and I was shocked to discover they were identical to mine (at least when it came to info-consumption)! And Dan saw it not as a weakness to be changed… but rather as a strength to be nurtured.

That was life-changing for me.

It gave me a way to stop struggling against my natural tendencies, and to embrace the way God made me. That tendency to process large quantities of unrelated information allows me to form connections between ideas, concepts, and methods that I would not possess if I limited my information intake. So now I structure my work and my routine in such a way that my behavior in this regard in strengthened, reinforced, and nurtured — and then put to profitable use in my writing.

I look for ways to channel that stream of information so that it’s not wasted.

For instance, I found this excellent piece by Chris Brogan on focused blogging just this morning. You can bet I will be implementing many of Chris’s suggestions in my own routine.

Another source of inspiration and information on effective ways to channel my own natural tendencies is at the blog of my new friend Brian Clark (we met in Vegas last week at a blogging/marketing get-together). Brian’s site, Copyblogger, is an excellent resource no self-respecting copywriter or blogger should ignore.

So what does this all mean to you?

In my experience, it means that if you find yourself fighting the same old battles (chronic lateness, procrastination, forgetfullness), you’ve probably unwittingly been holding yourself back by resisting your own gifts.

If you have trouble with authority, why work in a job when it’s clear you’d be happier as an entrepreneur?

If you are always late for appointments — why not just stop making appointments (Arnold Shwarzenneger reportedly refuses to make appointments with anyone, and he seems to be doing okay running the state of California).

And if you have tendencies that are frowned upon by others — for instance, sleeping during the day and staying up all night — why not look for a way to turn the tendency into an asset (for instance, by working via Internet with clients or companies in a different time zone… where suddenly YOU are the early riser!)?

My friends Frank Kern and Jason Moffatt are both self-admitted “lazy surfers”… yet they’ve managed to turn these personality “quirks” into a financial asset. Frank and Jason both market products and information to other people who are drawn to the very personal traits that would be frowned upon in most business settings.

Just because certain tendencies, behaviors and attitudes are not “acceptable” in one context does not mean those qualities are “bad”. It simply means — at least in my experience — you need to find a different context! And that decision — how you live your life — is (for most of us) entirely a choice.

(And to ward off the inevitable objections to my premise: yes, I recognize that there are behaviors and “tendencies” that are illegal, immoral, and unethical. That’s not what we’re talking about here, okay? Anything that falls into those three categories should be jettisoned from your life. ‘Nuff said on that.)

Now take a moment to think about this…

In what ways could your “limiting tendencies” become strengths?

How could your re-arrange your life to make it so?

If you can find positive, proactive ways to answer those questions, you just might find yourself more productive, profitable, and happy.

The Point: Don’t make getting clients harder than it is. Physician, heal thyself!

The Resource:

5 Ways To Get More Clients Now:

1. Send an email.
2. Call people on the phone.
3. Go fishing in the forums.
4. Release a white paper.
5. Do a teleseminar.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

But… we are taking Tim Ferris’s recommended “mini retirement” (taking your retirement now… while you’re still healthy enough to enjoy it).

We’re just into the third day here in Sedona, Arizona.

So far, the schedule seems to be: I work for about 5 hours in the morning, and then we go do cool stuff the rest of the day. Today we went for a hike and went to a cool Chapel up on a mountain. Not a bad lifestyle. Here’s the video:

Click Here To Watch The Video.

Can you really run an Internet Business from anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection?

In theory it sounds good… but does it hold up under actual practice?

Only one way to find out… so we loaded up the Element and we’re off on a month-long trip to Arizona. During this trip I’ll continue to run my business, and I thought it might be interesting to document our findings here.

We begin with a little videolog of our first two days on the road. We drove because we’re bringing our faithful Pug companions with us… and a bunch of our stuff (already it seems like too much stuff, so that may be Lesson #1).

Here’s the unedited video (and I mean COMPLETELY unedited…sorry, but the truth is I’m tired and just want to hit the sack!).

I do welcome your comments below.

Video Link

PS: Today’s the last day to get Web Copywriting Explained at the old price. Tonight when I get to our hotel, I’m taking down the order page and the only way to get it is to pay the new price (probably $1,997 — four times today’s price of just $497!). 

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

And there is also a very big downside in taking the “maintenance free” approach to building a business online. The downside is: it’s possible to set up a website that is hands-free… and that makes very little money. Hmmm…

The meaning in this seems to be: the income you derive from a website is in direct proportion to the value you put into it.

Said more plainly: if you build crappy websites, expect crappy results.

There’s a great post about how zero maintenance can mean zero money over at Self Made Minds. Worth reading.

“And how about Taguchi testing – do I have to use that, too? What about multivariate testing?” The questions go on and on in this often-confusing subject!

Now for the good news: split-testing is easy! By using simple, yet sophisticated, split-testing techniques, you can increase your conversions and gain more business.

Today’s resource is for you if you want an easy way to test your copy. By using Website Optimizer, you can easily test your writing. No, I’m not making bunches of money by recommending it – you can’t buy this software, so there’s no affiliate link here. But you can have it free, and it’s all courtesy of Uncle Google.

This is truly wonderful software. While it is very sophisticated, it is also easy to use. With all these features, you would expect to pay hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Not only can you use it to perform split-testing, it even does simple multivariate testing too.

While doing a traditional “split-test” means you test one element at a time, with multivariate testing you can do so much more. Test everything all at once, from your headlines and sub-heads to your background and graphic elements! The statistically-reliable testing offered by this program can help you sell more of whatever you sell by increasing your conversions.

Google has great tutorials right on their website to teach you how to use it, so I won’t spend a lot of time explaining that. Just read and watch the tutorials.

Here’s the easiest way I know of to start testing, and it will take you one hour or less to get started:

1. Get a Google account. Use this link to set it up.
2. Set up your first test. Follow the step-by-step instructions in Website Optimizer.
3. Start your test. Just click and let Google do all the work. The software can test all your copy, headlines, and so on, advising you which version will convert the most sales for your business.

It couldn’t be easier, and you sure can’t beat the price!

Check out Website Optimizer today. It’s the best way I know to get started split-testing.

Great writers improve their writing by reading books. This is a great way to improve your skills in the copywriting field, too. Today, I’ll offer you a few suggestions for books that will quickly boost your copywriting results.

Here are three books on the subject of copywriting, and one is off the subject, that I have for you.

My first recommendation is The Robert Collier Letter Book, by Robert Collier. This book has become a classic in the copywriting and marketing industry. Collier himself wrote many of the ads in the book. While the language is somewhat antiquated, giving an old-fashioned feel, the basic principles of the book still stand the test of time.

Next on the list is Claude Hopkins’ seminal work, Scientific Advertising. Again, the language is quaint but the lessons are still valid.

Finally, John E. Kennedy’s Reason Why Advertising is a fantastic book you should have in your library.

And my fourth suggestion is my off-the-subject book. It is not a book about copywriting, but it IS about selling! This is a book that you will enjoy if you are a mouse, or if you live in a house; if you are a fox, or if you are in a box. That’s right… it’s Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

It may seem silly to read a children’s book to improve your business, but this book is all about persistence in making a sale. Dr. Seuss teaches us valuable marketing lessons which we can apply to our advertising strategy. Convert more clients into buyers – read Dr. Seuss!

As promised, I have a good resource for you, and here it is – hard to find marketing classics at TwiPress. This site is run by a friend of mine named Bret Ridgway of Speaker Fulfillment Services. He specializes in hard-to-find books on marketing and copywriting. It’s well worth taking a look there.

Buying good books on copywriting is a great investment in your business. The books I have recommended here will be valuable additions to your copywriting library. They don’t cost much, and you’ll get a great return on your investment. The lessons you learn will pay off in ways you can’t even imagine.

Spam and the spam filters it has given rise to make it harder than ever to get your email delivered.

It’s even hard to receive email we want. How many times have you been frustrated because a friend, co-worker, or relative was supposed to send you an email that never arrived… only to discover that email in your “junk mail” or “spam” folder?

Here’s the good news: the death of email marketing has been greatly exaggerated.

Even though deliverability rates are lower than ever, email marketing still works, and is still responsible for many millions of dollars worth of sales. It can work for you as well.

3 Keys to Successful Email Marketing

First of all, keep a clean double opt-in email list. What this means: if someone signs up to receive email from you, you need to get them to confirm that they actually want to receive the email. Most email marketing providers, (like aweber and 1ShoppingCart) automatically require people to double opt-in to any email list. In some cases the “double opt-in” feature is optional… but I think it’s the best way to manage your email list. Single opt-in (no confirmation required) may yield bigger subscriber numbers (it does), but that list will be less responsive to your offers.

Secondly, educate your customers on how to white-list or authorize your emails to get through to their inbox. Usually this is just a case of having them put your email address into their address book; if they use a service like Spam Arrest they’ll have to go to the actual website and authorize your email address. Teach them how to do that, either using text and illustrations or with screen capture video.

The third key to successful email marketing is about boosting response rates to your messages. How do you do this? Make sure you send relevant and expected content to your list. Emailing your list frequently will get your emails through more readily and get you a lot fewer spam complaints. Why? Because if you send frequently people are going to do one of two things: they’re either going to read your email or unsubscribe. If you email them less frequently, you run the risk that they will forget who you are or even forget that they subscribed to your list… and that will generate spam complaints.

Use these keys to successful email marketing and watch your list numbers and response rates grow. Long live email marketing!

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.

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!

It’s not your fault.

Most business people are not trained as copywriters. But once you’ve read this article, you’ll know exactly what to do to correct the problems that are killing your sales and lead generation efforts.

This is “Part 2” of a 2-Part series; while this post stands on its own, I urge you to read my previous post, and also learn about the first “5 Deadly Mistakes”.

And now, “5 Additional Deadly Copywriting Mistakes You’re Probably Making…”

Deadly Mistake #6: Sentences and Paragraphs That Are Too Long

Keep your sentences and your paragraphs short.

A paragraph in a sales letter should be no more than 3-4 sentences long – and they should be short sentences.

People will read more of your copy if the sentences are and paragraphs are short. This is especially important on the first page (or the first screen, if it’s online) of your sales letter, when you are trying to draw them into your story.

Don’t scare people off with big blocks of text.

Deadly Mistake #7: Not Enough Testimonials

One of your first tasks as a copywriter is to break down that skepticism, and get them to believe you – even just a little bit.

Once that initial barrier of skepticism comes down, you have a chance of making a sale. How do you break through that skepticism?

Testimonials.

You need lots of testimonials in your copy. How many? As many as you can get.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: however many you have now, get 25% more.

Deadly Mistake #8: Offers That Stink

If your offer stinks, the best copy in the world won’t help you.

By your offer, I mean the bundle, widget, or information as presented for sale. This includes your price, and how you demonstrate the value of your offer versus what you’re charging for it.

It’s best if you’re in the position of “selling dollars for dimes”. Then it’s easy to show the value of your offer.

For instance, if you sell a device that causes a 20% increase in a car’s fuel efficiency, you might frame the offer like this: “The FuelSaver is $99 – but you’ll save ten times that amount per year in fuel costs. So you get back more than TEN TIMES YOUR INVESTMENT in just one year!”

Is your offer good? If not, figure out how to make it good!

Deadly Mistake #9: Forgetting To Ask For the Sale

It’s one of the most common mistakes in all forms of selling – not asking for the sale. Hard to believe? Maybe. But it’s true anyway; people just don’t want to ask for the order.

There comes a point where you’ve presented all the benefits of your offer; you’ve demonstrated its value; you’ve supplied lots of credible testimonials; you’ve shown your iron-clad guarantee… and you just need to ask for the sale.

On the Internet, this can be as easy as putting in a link that says “Order Now”.

Online Marketer Armand Morin often has 5-7 order links on each of his sales pages; he says that the more “order links” he adds, the more sales he makes.

Deadly Mistake #10: Pricing Before Benefits and Offer

Sometimes business owners want to use price point as a selling feature, and so you see lots of web pages that right near the top will say something like “Now Only $24.95!”.

That’s a deadly mistake.

First, you are signaling readers that this page is an ad, not a page of information. That will cause you to lose readers before you’ve had a chance to tell them your story.

Second, you haven’t had a chance to elaborate on the benefits of your product or service, or to show the value of your offer.

Long before the price ever shows up on your page, you need to make the prospect feel that they must have the benefits that your product offers. They must desire those benefits in a strong and intense way.

Don’t reveal your price before you spell out the benefits of your product, and the value of you your offer. If you do this well, and you do it in the correct order, price will never be an objection; your offer will always seem like a bargain.

What to Do Now

Here’s your “takeaway” from this blog post: it’s the same advice I gave in Part 1 of this series.

Grab your own sales copy, this list of copy mistakes, your favorite beverage, and go through your copy line-by-line. Ferret out these mistakes and eliminate these mistakes.

Do it now.

Don’t put it off.

You’ll be glad you did.

And if writing is “not your thing” – hire a professional. Having great copy is the single most important tool you have at your disposal to sell your products or services.

Let me make you a bold promise: examine your own sales copy and eliminate these copywriting mistakes, and you will see an instant improvement in your sales.

Let’s get started…

Deadly Mistake #1: Being Focused On You, Instead Of On Your Market

This is the easiest mistake to make, and the most common. Most ad copy is focused on the advertiser, not on the consumer. Big mistake.

When you read copy that says things like, “We’re the best in the industry… we’ve been in business since 1979… we have the most well-trained associates… our facility has won many industry awards…” what is your reaction?

Most likely, your reaction is, “So what? What does that mean to me and my life?”

If you’re using copy that says “we”, “us”, and “our” a lot – find a way to change that copy so that it says “you”, and “yours”. Speak about the things that matter to your customer.

Here’s a hint: those things are probably not what you think they are. Why not ask your customers? They know the answer, and they’ll be glad to share it with you if you’re wise enough to listen.

Deadly Mistake #2: Using a Weak, Wimpy, or Just Plain Bad Headline

In the beginning, you only have one chance to grab the reader’s attention. That chance is the headline. Make sure your headline is strong, aggressive (without being pushy), and compelling.

Think of your headline as the sales pitch to get the prospect to read the whole ad. It has to be compelling enough that the reader thinks, “Hey, if this is true, I need to know about it…”

You get one shot. You can’t afford to blow it.

A poor headline for an automotive shop: “Our Experienced Staff Can Tend to Your Every Automotive Need, And Are ASE Certified with the Guaranteed Lowest Prices.”

A much better headline for the same client: “Are Hidden Mechanical Problems With Your Car Threatening The Health And Safety Of Your Family? Our 9-Point Safety Inspection Could Save Their Lives – And Give You Peace of Mind…”

Deadly Mistake #3: Not Using Enough Bullets

Bullets break up your copy into short, readable bursts. Especially on the web, people tend to scan copy before they read it; breaking your benefits into bullets increases the chances your copy will “catch the eye” and thus get read.

To recap the benefits of bullets:

• They break up copy (just like this) into short pieces.
• They make the copy easier to scan.
• They make it easier to pick out key words and phrases.
• They get more of your copy read.
• They make you more sales.
• The more bullets the better (usually).

Deadly Mistake #4: Using big words and jargon.

Copy should read like conversation; it should flow naturally and be easy to process.

Using big words and jargon might sound impressive, but it won’t get you sales. Which would you prefer?

Use strong, punchy words. Write simply and clearly.

Read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style – and follow its advice.

Avoid jargon.

Deadly Mistake #5: Using Weak, Wimpy, or Just Plain Bad Sub-Heads

You should use subheads every 3-4 paragraphs in your copy.

Make subheads strong and compelling; think of them as headlines for each section of your copy.

If read in sequence, your subheads should sound like an abbreviated version of your sales pitch (which is what they are). Sub-heads done correctly are a way to “stop the eye”, catch the reader’s interest, and get him to slow down enough to read that section.

What to Do Now

Here’s your “takeaway” from this article: Grab your own current sales copy, this list of copy mistakes, your favorite beverage, and go through your copy line-by-line.

Ferret out these mistakes and eliminate them from your copy.

Do it now, and don’t put it off.

You’ll be glad you did.

And if writing is “not your thing” – hire a professional. Having great copy is the single most important tool you have at your disposal to sell your products or services.

The winners are shown in the screen cap to the left. Remember, it was about quality and not just about numbers. There was a tough call to make… Jeff Wells worked his tail off and did a lot of posting, but Cheryl Antier wrote some brilliant posts that were long and thoughtful. It was a tough call. So I’ve made a decision to award BOTH of them the Grand Prize. They’ll each get a copy of the Robert Collier letter book plus the two products from me.

One decision that was challenging was to decide what to do about Ed Erickson, whose posts were also of very high quality. As much as I would like to give away copies of Robert Collier to everyone, I can’t really do that (not at $100 a copy!). So Ed gets the Runner Up nod, meaning he gets copies of both my products. Nice work, Ed!

The remainder of the list will get a copy of one of the products I showed in the video.

So if your name is on the list, please send an email with your name and shipping address to copycoach [at] gmail [dot] com. That’s the only way I will know where to send your package — so please do it now. If I don’t hear from you before December 20th, I’ll assume you don’t want your prize. Fair enough?

New Contest, New Prize Worth $1,497

This contest worked out so well, I’ve decided to do another one.

This one lasts a little longer… from now until Friday January 4.

The prize is full access to my Web Copywriting Explained course on writing persuasive sales copy. The course has been selling like crazy for $997. In fact, you can’t currently buy it on the web — it’s only been for sale via speaking engagements and webinars for the last few months.

The best part is that if you win you also get access to the upcoming new version of the course, which includes live interaction with yours truly, this spring. That version of WCE will be selling for $1,497. What’s in the course?

This course is, in my belief, your absolute fastest, easiest and most economical way to do all of the following…

	Live the lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of, with no bosses and no commute.
	Use sales letters (and other sales copy) to bring in record profits (and no, salesletters are not “dead”).
	A step-by-step system for profit-pulling copy that make sales.
	Use the latest Web 2.0 design elements to boost sales overnight.
	Motivate and persuade prospects to buy faster, with less hype.
	Exactly what works now – in 2007-2008 – and not “yesterday’s tactics”.
	How to use audio, video and interactivity in the world of Web 2.0.
	Learn how to hire a copywriter without getting ripped off every time.

So What’s The New Contest?

Simple.

Make regular comments on the blog (this one!).

Your comments don’t have to be lengthy, but they need to be quality (no comments like “great post!” will be counted). Say something in your comment that contributes to the conversation. You certainly don’t have to agree with everything I say.

The winner will be selected by someone other than me (takes the heat off Uncle Ray, see?).

The criteria for winning: the person with the highest number of consistently quality posts will win. Period.

Jeff Wells did a great job this last contest. His comments were short, but they showed that he had read the posts and thought about his response.

Cheryl’s comments were much longer (they could have been posts in themselves!), but they were far fewer in number.

I think the winner of the next contest will be someone who finds a happy medium between those two approaches and takes the time to comment once every day or two. For a guideline, take a look at Ryan Healy’s comments lately.

Here are some sites I think are worth spending time with:

• Shoemoney blogs on making money as an affiliate.
• John Chow makes money online telling people how to make money online.
• Ryan Healy writes about copywriting and his writing is so good it makes me envious.
• Ben Settle is one of the most methodical and deadly effective copywriters I know.
• Dave Winer blogs with personality, controversy and integrity.
• Mike Sansone has a great blog about blogging — I always learn a lot from Mike.
• Michael Port knows the secrets of getting booked solid (great if you’re a service professional).  And the header on his blog is very cool. I’ve never seen that done before!

The tools, tactics, and technology available today give you the power to literally create an empire from your kitchen table (thanks Jeff Paul).

I’m not engaging in hyperbole.

Google was started in a garage.

I have clients in Australia, the UK, India, China, Japan, Mexico, St. Lucia, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador… and I run my business from a tiny corner of the Northwest US. The Internet gives each of us the power to do what we will, from where we will.

That’s freedom.

It’s something I’ve come to think of as “The Freedom Lifestyle”, and the Formula for achieving that freedom lifestyle will be my focus in 2008. I touched on it briefly, and outlined some of my basic thoughts in a free call I did for my email subscribers earlier this week.

In this FREE “no-pitch” (there’s nothing for sale) call, you will learn:

• What works for making money online — NOW.
• Mistakes I made in 2007 and how you can avoid them.
• The emerging trends that you can leverage for massive profits in 2008.
• The SHOCKING real secret to “passive income” online (and no, it’s not porn.)
• The never-before-revealed “FLF” — and how it changes lives.

I thought you might like to hear the call… so here it is:

Click here to get the audio.

After you’ve listened, maybe you’ll share your own thoughts on the Freedom Lifestyle… you can do that below.

I look forward to hearing from you on this: if you have tools, tips and tactics that have worked for you please share them. And if you have questions or problems you’re trying to solve, ask your questions here.

The Point: Long copy sucks (the money right off the table!). The reason long copy works is the same as ever. You must answer every possible objection in order to make the sale.

The Resource: The Death of the Salesletter

3 Ways To Use Long Copy To Rake In More Sales:

1. Tell more (and better) stories.
2. Pile up a Preponderance of Proof
3. Explain your key points and propositions in a simple, step-by-step manner.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

One of your first tasks as a copywriter is to break down the skepticism that your prospects (readers, site visitors, subscribers) are feeling, and get them to believe you – even just a little bit.

The Point: How do you break through that skepticism? Testimonials and proof elements.

The Resource: Any late-night infomercial

3 Ways To Use Testimonials or Proof:

1. Add more testimonials.
2. Show photographs (before and after).
3. Show evidence (pictures or screen grabs).

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: The reason the old formulae are less effective is: it’s harder to get people’s attention these days. Time to step up your game.

The Resource: Attention Age Doctrine

3 Keys To Grabbing Their Attention:

1. Change Their State.
2. Stop Their Inner Chatter.
3. Appeal To Their Greed, Lust, Or Moving-Away Values.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Story: Follow Ernest Hemingway’s Four Simple Rules to improve your copywriting (or any writing, for that matter).

The Point: The more effusive and melodious your prose, the greater the certitude you will obfuscate the concept you are laboriously attempting to elucidate; eschew obfuscation.

The Resource: The Elements of Style

Hemingway’s Rules:

1. Use short sentences.
2. Use short first paragraphs.
3. Use vigorous language.
4. Be positive, not negative.

Note: I have written about Papa’s rules in the past. This time I decided to do a little research before doing the podcast, and found different versions. So who is right? I don’t know. My favorite version, though is at Brian Clark’s Copyblogger site.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

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

The Point: Learn to repurpose your products as well as those of others for maximum profit.

The Resource: Apple

3 Ways To Repurpose Your Content or Products:

1. Change print to text.
2. Change audio to text.
3. Change text to articles, blog posts, press releases, and emails.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

It seems hard to believe.

But a TechCrunch article seems to show that MySpace is stealing content from Paul Colligan.

Am I missing something?

Can someone explain to me how this is okay?

Has the world gone mad?

The Point: Carefully consider the message you’re sending when you employ scarcity in your marketing message.

The Resource: Influence, by Dr. Robert Cialdini

3 Mistakes To Avoid When Using The Scarcity Tactic:

1. Telling lies.
2. Not demonstrating the reason why there is scarcity.
3. Allowing readers to form negative conclusions about the scarcity.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

How did they do that?

The Point: We already know how to do what Apple did. We just don’t like to do it.

It takes imagination.

It takes guts.

It takes money.

The Resource: Apple

3 Ways To Use iPhone-style Marketing In Your Business:

1. Do what others do… in a way that is infinitely more cool.
2. Marry good function with oustanding form (packaging).
3. Fill the experience of doing business with you with pleasant little surprises.
Click for the Podcast Audio:

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Stories are attention magnets.

The Point: Too many online marketers adhere to the “just the facts” approach — or worse, they engage in “hype”.

This costs these unfortunate marketers sales and profits.

Integrate a powerful story into your copy and test the results.

The Resource: All Marketers Are Liars, by Seth Godin

3 Ways To Use Stories In Your Marketing:

1. Attention grabbers that draw people into the copy.
2. Rapport builders that mirror your reader’s dominant emotion.
3. Proof elements that create mental images of your product working for the reader.
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

The Point: To break through the clutter of online marketing, use a technology everyone is familiar with – the phone. It’s easier and more effective than you think!

The Resource: VoiceShot

3 Ways To Use the Phone to Grow Online Business:

1. Call potential Joint Venture Partners or Affiliates.
2. Call your previous customers to follow up.
3. Use voice broadcasting for mass communication.

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: Writing copy that sells without using hype is easy to do.

The Resource: The Copy Doctor

3 Ways To Eliminate Hype In Your Copy:

1. Talk about the reader’s pain.
2. Tell relevant stories.
3. Use detail, not description.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click 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: Spend an hour adding audio to key parts of your website and watch conversions soar.

The Resource: AudioGenerator

3 Places to Use Audio For Better Conversions:

1. Squeeze Page
2. Sales Page (in the Guarantee!).
3. Order Page.
Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: A few simple steps can start an endless flow of testimonials you couldn’t shut off if you tried.

The Resource: Ray’s Automated Testimonial Machine

3 Ways To Get More Testimonials

1. Ask for them.
2. Set up an ATM (Automated Testimonial Machine).
3. Ask repeatedly (in your autoresponders).

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 Point: When you know how, it’s easy to get all the clients you can handle.

The Resource: Gitomer

5 Step System For Getting Copy Clients:

1. Develop your marketing site.
2. Use a sales process.
3. Screen your clients carefully.
4. Use followup marketing.
5. Attend seminars and network.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: Anyone can increase their conversions by using simple split-testing.

The Resource: Website Optimizer

Here’s the easiest way I know of to start testing (one hour or less):

1. Get a Google account (use the link).
2. Set up your first test.
3. Get the test started.

What do you think?

I welcome and invite your comments (click the link at the bottom of this post).

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: There are specific reasons why long copy works, has always worked, and will always work… when used correctly

The Resource: www.WebCopyWritingExplained.com

Here are three reasons long copy works:

1. We love to read about what we love.
2. Online is not like selling face to face; you need to answer all possible objections.
3. Long copy allows you to tell a story.

Here’s the Four-Part Sales Letter Formula (credit to John Carlton):

1. Here’s what I have to offer.
2. Here’s why it’s right for you.
3. Here are some questions you may have.
4. Here’s what to do now.

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

Just in case you need something to do over the weekend, here’s a selection of fine, hand-picked links for your surfing enjoyment.

Is there money in blogging? Depends on how you intend to make that money.

How to write better titles. Worth your time, trust me.

Is advertising on its way out? Or is it just changing?

The best bloggers are connectors. So says my buddy Ryan Healy, and I agree. Subscribe to Ryan’s feed.

Great “swipe file” material. And while you’re at it, subscribe to Ben’s feed too.

Not for the easily offended. But filled with great information.

Enjoy the links… and consider subscribing to this blog in your RSS reader.

New podcast on Monday… have a great holiday weekend (US readers)!

The Point: The techniques of list-building are really quite simple; three techniques you can use today.

The Resource: www.MyFirstListOnline.com <– Free List-Building Tips

Here are three tactics you can use to build your list fast:

1. Use a “squeeze page”.
2. Do “ad swaps” with other list owners.
3. Use forum postings to get opt-ins.

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

The Point: While it’s true that the “standard” product launch won’t produce the way it did a year ago, the strategy of using product launches is as strong as ever.

The Resource: www.TheProductLaunchFormula.com

Here are three tactics you can use to boost launch results:

1. Use the “reverse squeeze page”.
2. Give away your best material right up front.
3. Give your sublist a strong, personal story to follow.

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: You can instantly increase your optins and sales by correcting these specific mistakes.

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

What are the three most common mistakes made by copywriters? They’re not grammar or syntax errors. They are rather errors in approach or mindset. While these may seem to be “soft” topics, they directly affect your results. The mistakes are:

1. Not writing to the reader
2. Writing copy that sounds like copy
3. Not taking the time to know their product

Click for the Podcast Audio:

Click Here

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.

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.

A list of prospects and buyers that you can use as a foundation for your online business. 

It’s harder than ever to build e-mail lists online, as customers are more reluctant to opt in for free e-zines (or other mailing lists) than ever before. 

What’s the best way to build an e-mail list?  Rest assured, e-mail marketing is just as important now as it ever has been, and perhaps even moreso.  So what do you do?  My advice is to use offline marketing to build your online e-mail list.  This is a tactic that is seldom employed by online marketers, and yet it is the most powerful way to build an e-mail list I know of.  Why is this?  Because people who move from an offline promotion to an online mailing list make up the most responsive e-mail list you will ever have.

Here are three ways you can use offline media to build your online mailing list.:

Radio

Radio is an overlooked but inexpensive and effective medium for building an online e-mail list.  If you’re going to use radio, make sure your radio ad is a direct response style. The key to this kind of ad is that it simply directs people to a landing page (or squeeze page) that offers them something for free in return for their name and e-mail address.  Even though the squeeze page technique is harder to implement in today’s online marketing world, with the people who move offline to online response rates are stellar.  

Direct Mail

Using postcards, you can build an e-mail list very quickly using inexpensive direct mail promotions.  Make sure that you buy quality, targeted lists to mail to. Also make sure that the copy you used in your direct mail is targeted, effective, and powerful.  

Outdoor Advertising

If you can squeeze your opt in message into seven words or less, including the domain name, consider using outdoor advertising.  Billboard companies frequently make killer, bargain-basement deals to fill up unused billboard space each month.  Negotiate your deal toward the end of the month, and let them know that they are competing with other media for your business, and you should be able to get the best available rate.

Use these offline methods to build your online list and watch response rates rise.

“As the go-to copy writer for many of the web’s most successful marketers, Ray Edwards has had the opportunity to observe the businesses and more importantly the thought processes of the top “players” in the online business world.
 
Ray has masterfully distilled the wisdom gained from these million dollar clients (and many other mentors, teachers and authors) into 21 fundamentals that anyone can adopt and apply in their own lives to achieve real and lasting success.
 
As someone who has already achieved a certain degree of success online, I can tell you from experience that the fundamental principles ray explains on this CD will transform the quality of your life.
 
The principles Ray shares will not only ensure your online success, but also (if acted upon) ensure your success in all areas of your life.
 
Anyone who has not yet achieved their goals online or offline (and even those who have) should listen to this powerful audio program a minimum of 7 times and then refer back to it on a regular basis.
 
I know I will.  Thanks Ray!

Eric Graham
http://conversiondoctor.com

Grab your copy at the low $47 price before it goes to $97 at 9am Pacific on Thursday 5/24.

A "squeeze page" is one that forces your site visitors to give you their name and email address in exchange for some kind of bribe… an audio training, a special report, or piece of software.

Making a free offer to your site visitors in exchange for their name and e-mail address is a great way to grow your e-mail list, but it has to be done carefully so that you don’t also drive away potential customers. 

Here are some things to think about…

You know it’s important to grow your e-mail list. The bigger the list, the more people will see your offers, and the more money you will make. 

The challenge in today’s internet marketing world is it’s harder than ever to convince people to opt in.  A squeeze page is probably the best list building tool available, but you must be careful.  Using a squeeze page the wrong way can hurt your business more than it helps. 

It’s best to use a squeeze page on a site that is built to sell one product.  For example, if you have a site that features a sales letter selling a particular product or service, placing a squeeze page in front of the information about that product or service is a good idea.  This keeps readers from being distracted; it sifts and sorts potential buyers by level of seriousness; and it gives you a list of interested parties that you can go back and market to repeatedly. 

One of the biggest mistakes I see being made online is putting a squeeze page in front of the wrong kinds of sites. 

Don’t put a squeeze page in front of your portal site, your branding site, or your blog.  Putting a squeeze page in front of  those kinds of sites does not make sense.  Those sites have a very different purpose than sites that are intended to sell one targeted product or promotion. 

Remember that your squeeze page is a gate. 

It keeps people out of your website and it can potentially scare off your customers. 

If you have a strong enough offer, a video, an audio, or special report, you may be able to get people to opt in and build a very targeted list using a squeeze page. 

The growing problems of spam, viruses and spyware have made people more reluctant than ever to give up their name and e-mail address. 

Squeeze pages can definitely build your list fast. These pages are a powerful tool that I recommend to all of my clients; just be sure to use them in the appropriate situation. 

What do you think? Are squeeze pages more or less effective than they once were? Post your comments below.

It’s about how to leave your 9-5 grind (whether that means you have a job working for someone else… or a "job" working for yourself!).

And Ferriss claims he works just 4 hours per week.

Did I mention he makes over $80,000 per month?

Of course, that was before his book was published. If he hits the best-seller lists, which seems inevitable, I’m sure that number will go up. Way up.

I would think that whole business about "$80,000 per month" was just a load of bull if I didn’t know a handful of people who work 10-15 hours per week and make over $100,00 per month.

 So I know it’s possible… And it blows my mind.

As a result of all this, I’ve set some new goals for my own work life. I’d suggest you get the book and do the same. No affiliate links or anything like that – just a recommendation you go get the book.

I will have more to say about this very soon. And I have a couple of new projects lined up that will help you along your way to that "4-Hour Workweek".

More about those in the next couple of days.

For now… off to the bookstore with you! Grab a copy of "4-Hour Workweek".

You’ll thank me.

Last night I conducted a coaching call for my private coaching students group, and I was nervous about doing it.

  The reason: up until now, I had only done practical, "how to" information on our group coaching sessions.

This one was different.

It was about something more "touchy feely" and I wasn’t sure how it would be received.

Last night’s call was on "The 21 Fundamentals of Online Success". It was a 70-minute call, and I jammed as much value into that session as I possibly could.

As a copywriter, I’ve had the privilege of working with some very successful clients (including Alex Mandossian, Mark Victor Hansen, Ed Dale, Brad Callen, Frank Kern, Jack Canfield, Joel Comm, Willie Crawford, and many others).

I’ve seen what makes them tick.

I’ve studied their businesses, and observed the common success factors that they all share. I have also combined that knowledge with my long-standing study of greats like Napoleon Hill (hence, Napoleon Hill’s Internet Marketing secrets…), Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, and others.

That combined information — which is available nowhere else at any price — formed the basis of what I taught on last night’s call.

Still, I worried that my students might not find it "practical".

I should not have worried; I’ve already gotten more rave reviews for last nights call than any other single session I’ve conducted.

One example: "Really enjoyed tonight’s call (module 9). In retrospect I think it was worth the cost of the entire course, just by itself. I’m not exaggerating."

I’ve already converted that call into a standalone audio product. It’s a physical audio CD, which will be shipped automatically to my customers without me lifting a finger.

I did it in less than 24 hours from creation to completion.

Within the next week or two, I’ll teach a few students how to do exactly what I did to get their first product out the door and making sales.

In the meantime, you can get a copy of the product for only $27.

I will keep raising it until it reaches $97.

Note from Ray: Response has been great! Thanks to everyone who purchased a copy. As of Sunday 5/6/2007 (and as promised), the price has been raised to $47. The next increase will come later this week, and will go to $67… so if you want a copy, you should buy it now.

So my advice is, if you want to know the specific, concrete, 21 Fundamentals of Online Success, grab a copy for yourself while it’s still only $27 $47.

Claim your copy here.

Now don’t get confused; long sales copy websites almost always sell more than "short copy" sites. But…

WITHIN your long copy, keep everything short; specifically, I mean you should keep your sentences and your paragraphs short.

A paragraph in a sales letter should be no more than 3-4 sentences long – and they should be short sentences.

People will read more of your copy if the sentences and paragraphs are short.

This is especially important on the first page (or the first screen, if it’s online) of your sales letter, when you are trying to draw them into your story.

Don’t scare people off with big blocks of text.

Short and sweet is best.

One of your first tasks as a copywriter is to break down the skepticism that your prospects (readers, site visitors, subscribers) are feeling, and get them to believe you – even just a little bit.

Once that initial barrier of skepticism comes down, you have a chance of making a sale.

How do you break through that skepticism?

Testimonials.

You need lots of testimonials in your copy. How many? As many as you can get.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: however many you have now, get 25% more.

Hard to believe? Maybe. But it’s true anyway; people just don’t want to ask for the order.

There comes a point where you’ve presented all the benefits of your offer; you’ve demonstrated its value; you’ve supplied lots of credible testimonials; you’ve shown your iron-clad guarantee… and you just need to ask for the sale.

On the Internet, this can be as easy as putting in a link that says "Order Now".

Online software mogul and marketing expert Armand Morin usually has anywhere from 5-14(!) order links on each of his sales pages; he says that the more "order links" he adds, the more sales he makes.

And by the way…all of these tips, techniques, and tactics are incorporated into copy I write for my clients. Does it make a difference for them? Just ask Aden Rusfeldt – the copy I wrote for him created a 197% increase in sales.

Or you felt like they were talking over your head, using a lot of buzzwords and lingo you didn’t undertsand?

Me too.

That leads to this little tip that will REALLY help your copy make more sales (or generate more leads, or whatever you need it to do)…

Keep it simple! Yes, even "dumb it down".

Copy should read like conversation; it should flow naturally and be easy to listen to (or read).

Using big words and jargon might sound impressive, but it won’t get you sales. Which would you prefer?

Use strong, punchy words. Write simply and clearly.

Read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style – and follow its advice.

Avoid jargon.

That’s what my good friend Michel Fortin (a great copywriter) says, and he’s paraphrasing the great sales trainer Zig Ziglar (the original quote was "Wimpy salespeople have skinny kids.").

Here’s why this is important to your sales copy:

In the beginning, you only have one chance to grab the reader’s attention. That chance is the HEADLINE.

Make sure your headline is strong, aggressive (without being pushy), and compelling.

Think of your headline as the sales pitch to get the prospect to read the whole ad, letter, or web page.

You get one shot. You can’t afford to blow it.

A poor headline for an automotive shop:

"Our Experienced Staff Can Tend to Your Every Automotive Need, And Are ASE Certified with the Guaranteed Lowest Prices."

A much better headline for the same client:

"Hidden Mechanical Problems With Your Car Are Threatening The Health And Safety Of Your Family!  Our 9-Point Safety Inspection Could Save Their Lives – And Give You Peace of Mind…"

Try it! It will make a difference.

There are only a few simple things you need to get started making money with your own internet-based business.

It’s not complicated, really.

Let me break it down for you. I’ll tell you the basic items you need, and Google can tell you the rest (just search for information on the areas where your knowledge is weak or incomplete). Here’s what you need:

1. A Product. Obviously, you need something to sell. This could be software, or items you sell on eBay, or a service, or an information product. People get hung up on how to come up with a product — and the truth is that products are the easiest thing in the world to get. It’s taking action that’s tough.

2. A Domain Name. This seems obvious, but you need a name for your business. You can get one at http://NewHostingPlan.com.

3. A Web Page. I say “page” instead of “site” because a “site” seems complicated. A “page” seems easy, doesn’t it? You can get one through http://NewHostingPlan.com.

4. Web Page Software. You need to build a page with content on it. You can do it yourself with free software from http://nvu.com, or you can use a paid product like Dreamweaver (which is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/). If you don’t want to do it you can get a designer at http://sitepoint.com.

5. Graphics. You need a logo and a “look and feel” for your products or services. Again, you can use free software (like that at http://www.gimp.org) or you can buy something like Photoshop (at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/compare/). Or you can get someone to do it for you at http://sitepoint.com.

6. Autoresponder Account. This is an account that allows you to build a mailing list so that you can mail to your customers or prospects. It can also do this for you on an automated sequential basis, so once someone signs up they get an email from you on a regular basis (automatically). The service I use and recommend is http://RaysAutoResponder.com.

7. Shopping Cart Software. You need to be able to take payments somehow, right? My advice is to get a nice, proven, all-in-one solution. I use http://newmarketingautomation.com.

Now, each of these are somewhat complex discussions that we could probably spend a one-hour teleseminar talking about each of them. Do a quick search on Google – there are plenty of online resources that will teach you more about each of these subjects.

You now know the basic building blocks needed to build your online business.

Can you spend years learning to master it all? Yes. But is it simple enough to get the basics in just a few minutes (as you just did)? Yes.

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Just remember these basics, figure out which pieces you already have… and figure out what the next logical step might be. Then just do it!

Spam and the spam filters it has given rise to make it harder than ever to get your email delivered.

It’s even hard to receive email we want. How many times have you been frustrated because a friend, co-worker, or relative was supposed to send you an email that never arrived… only to discover that email in your “junk mail” or “spam” folder?

Here’s the good news: the death of email marketing has been greatly exaggerated.

Even though deliverability rates are lower than ever, email marketing still works, and is still responsible for many millions of dollars worth of sales. It can work for you as well.

3 Keys to Successful Email Marketing

First of all, keep a clean double opt-in email list. What this means: if someone signs up to receive email from you, you need to get them to confirm that they actually want to receive the email.  Most email marketing providers, (like aweber and 1ShoppingCart) automatically require people to double opt-in to any email list. In some cases the “double opt-in” feature is optional… but I think it’s the best way to manage your email list. Single opt-in (no confirmation required) may yield bigger subscriber numbers (it does), but that list will be less responsive to your offers.

Secondly, educate your customers on how to white-list or authorize your emails to get through to their inbox.  Usually this is just a case of having them put your email address into their address book; if they use a service like Spam Arrest they’ll have to go to the actual website and authorize your email address. Teach them how to do that, either using text and illustrations or with screen capture video.

The third key to successful email marketing is about boosting response rates to your messages. How do you do this? Make sure you send relevant and expected content to your list.  Emailing your list frequently will get your emails through more readily and get you a lot fewer spam complaints. Why?  Because if you send frequently people are going to do one of two things: they’re either going to read your email or unsubscribe. If you email them less frequently, you run the risk that they will forget who you are or even forget that they subscribed to your list… and that will generate spam complaints.

Use these keys to successful email marketing and watch your list numbers and response rates grow. Long live email marketing!

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

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.

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.