I got a royalty check from a client in my mailbox. That always makes me smile.

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

I’ve already hinted at this. But let me spell it out very clearly.

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!

So you’ve got all these info-products you’ve bought but never used. Some of them you’ve never freaking OPENED.

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.

You said you wanted more transparency. I shall oblige you…

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?

While visiting with my Dad this past week, I had to explain (not for the first time) just exactly what it is I do for a living.

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?

There’s a lot of chicken feathers flying.

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.)

Just when I thought I’d seen it all…

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…

Yesterday (Monday, October 5, 2009) the US Federal Trade Commission rolled out a brand new rule: bloggers who endorse products must disclose any financial benefits they receive for doing so.

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.

(NOTE: This is an update of a previous post… enhanced with video. Please be sure and let me know what you think of this “multi-media” approach, okay? It’s quite a bit of work, and I’m happy to do it if you think it’s worthwhile.)

[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.

Funny story.

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.