"Ray Edwards on Copywriting, Internet Marketing, Product Launches - and how to make your business more profitable in any economic environment. "
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By Ray Edwards | January 7, 2010 A million reasons.
Most notable: people don’t read them.
Marketers, take note.
Because if people don’t thoroughly and attentively read the instructions that come with something they’ve already paid for… what makes you think they’re going to thoroughly and attentively read your ad?
Something to think about.
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By Ray Edwards | January 5, 2010 
Mint.com makes everything about monitoring and managing your finances super-easy.
The site is a marvel of simplicity – simple copy, simple navigation, simple user interface.
What’s amazing is: the conceptual “sale” they have to make to get you to share your financial information with them (necessary for their site to be of any real use to you) is a complex sale. They have to overcome a very rational fear on the part of their prospect (”why should I give these guys all my passwords? What will they do with that information?”).
Add to that the following complexity: after they’ve convinced you to give up all your usernames and passwords for all your financial accounts, then they have to interact with all those other websites to aggregate the data into a very user-friendly online “dashboard” of your finances.
It all appears very simple to the end user.
But it’s all very hard to do.
And they appear to be making a fortune.
So how does one do such a thing?
Probably not what most entprepreneurs want to hear – especially the part about “thinking and planning” and “lots of hard work”.
But that’s how you make a Mint (.com).
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By Ray Edwards | April 15, 2009 People hate marketers because marketers lie, cheat and steal.
Now, you may protest. You may say you don’t lie, cheat or steal.
I understand. You adhere to the letter of the law, you follow the rules, and you resent the implication of any dishonesty.
But even if you are “clean” as a marketer, guess what? It doesn’t matter.
You see, what matters is if your customers think you lie, cheat and steal, it might as well be true. Because its true for them, and that’s all that matters.
Perception is the reality.
What do you do, then, to change things?
Well. Change things.
Be more than just “clean”. Be honest. But not just to the letter of the law — be honest to the point that it makes you uncomfortable. Be refreshingly honest.
Want examples?
Think of Southwest Airlines. People love this airline, even though it has the most degrading boarding process of all airlines, has the least amount of service offered in-flight, and has the highest percentage of screaming babies and inexperienced travelers.
So why do people love Southwest? Simple: they have been refreshingly honest about what they offer, so our expectations are always met.
Grit your teeth and ask: in what ways can you be refreshingly honest with your customers?
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By Ray Edwards | March 5, 2009 There’s a lot of talk these days about the economy, and what to do about it. In the world of business, there’s a lot of talk about what businesses and entrepreneurs can do about the economy.
That might be so broad a topic it isn’t helpful.
What might be more helpful: what can you – you – do differently?
You. One person.
You see, there is no such thing as One Economy. There are individuals who each have their own personal economy. When those individuals move in concert on a mass scale (such as selling their stock because they’re afraid, or reigning in their spending for the same reason), we see the effect and call it “The Economy”.
It seems a useful question might be: what is one thing you can do differently that will have a positive effect on your personal economy?
Just pick one thing. Then do it.
My contention: it’s impossible to take a positive action on an individual level without that action affecting others.
If enough people do one thing differently… and that one thing is positive… and that one thing creates value… what happens to the mass result we call The Economy?
And looking back, ask yourself: what happened when a mass number of individuals did lots of little “one things” that were not positive, and that did not add value (such as borrowing too much money, cutting corners on quality, and failing to add value in every transaction)? Is it possible this is how we got into our current situation to begin with?
So. What one thing can you do differently today?
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By Ray Edwards | July 5, 2008 
Have you ever noticed that over the years, you tend to do pretty much the same things? What I mean is, if you’re a reader you remain one, if you’re a writer you tend to write, if you’re a procrastinator you tend to keep procrastinating, and so forth.
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.
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By Ray Edwards | May 25, 2008 
Yanik Silver has an entertaining post about his adventures hanging out with Richard Branson.
He also has a fascinating list of 34 rules for “Maverick Entrepreneurs”.
Good reading.
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By Ray Edwards | May 23, 2008 The Question: I’m confused! Which marketing guru do I listen to?
The Answer: Pick the one teacher you “resonate” with — and pay attention to that one teacher.
How To Overcome Guru Confusion:
1. Pick the one teacher or program you’re going to focus on.
2. Commit to going through that teacher’s program until completion.
3. Finish that program before you start working on another program!
Click for the Podcast Audio:
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By Ray Edwards | May 21, 2008 The Question: How do I cut through the clutter and confusion… and just get started selling my stuff online?
The Answer: Simplify and use the Marketing Funnel to get started.
5-Step Plan For Building Your Marketing Funnel:
1. Start building an email list.
2. Get attention by giving away free content.
3. Offer entry-level products so customers can experience doing business with you.
4. Sell higher priced products.
5. Sell continuity or subscription products.
Click for the Podcast Audio:
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By Ray Edwards | May 19, 2008 The Story: Lots of entrepreneurs don’t seem to know the best format for talking to, interacting with, or selling to their customers.
The Point: Get information or products to your customers… in the format they prefer!
The Resource: AskDatabase.com
3-Step Plan For Finding The Right Way To Sell Online:
1. Find or develop a list of your customers and prospects.
2. Ask your customers or prospects what they want.
3. Give them what they want.
Click for the Podcast Audio:
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By Ray Edwards | May 18, 2008 
I was totally surprised today when a routine scan of Google found an Adwords Ad that spoke about me directly. Weird. That’s the ad I saw (to the left of this paragraph).
Naturally, I clicked on the ad. I quickly realized it was placed by one of my students, Darrel Hawes. I had no idea he was going to do this.
I was even more surprised to see that Darrel has written a report about… me. I certainly had no idea he was going to do that.
Now, I’m a little weirded out by this.
Of course, it feels good to have someone say nice things about me. And I would not deign to argue with Darrel about any of the nice things he said in the report.
But that’s not the reason I’m pointing it out here. The reason is: I admire it when people take positive, proactive action. And I think such things deserve to be recognized.
So: good on you, Darrel! I admire what you’ve done here. Not necessarily that it’s about me — but rather that you did something clever, and a bit daring, to make your goals into reality.
And if I can be forgiven for promoting something that speaks so highly of me… the report is darned good.
I’m not sure if I deserve all the praise Darrel heaps on me. But I am sure that his report contains good advice. So check out Darrel’s report.
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