Deciding What To Sell Online (Podcast)
The Story: One of the first steps in creating online businesses is deciding what to sell.
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:
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Can You Over-Automate Your Business?
There is so much talk in the “Internet Marketing” world about automating your business, setting up processes, and creating “passive income” that the Nirvana would seem to be a business that is 100% hands-free. Of course, that is not possible — not entirely.
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.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Test Your Sales Copy: Quick, Easy and Free
I get a lot of questions from clients and students and people who read my blog asking, “How do I get started testing and tracking? I know I should be split-testing and tracking my sales copy, but I don’t know how!”
“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:
- Get a Google account. Use this link to set it up.
- Set up your first test. Follow the step-by-step instructions in Website Optimizer.
- 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.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Does Your Copy “Show Up and Throw Up”?
There’s a phrased in the sales world: “show up and throw up”.
It means that as a salesperson, if you don’t take time to relate to your potential customer, to get to know them and their needs…
If you just jump right in and hit them with your cheesy, canned sales presentation right off the bat…
…it’s like saying “hi” by throwing up on their shoes.
Gross analogy, I know. But apt, yes?
Jeff Sexton wrote a great little piece on how to avoid this phenomena at GrokDotCom (and that site should definitely go into your RSS reader).
Check out their post on web copy that makes you sick.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.3 Simple Tactics Increase Opt-In Conversions
Lately, Internet marketers have been telling me, “Ray, people don’t opt-in to squeeze pages nowadays. They just don’t opt-in like they used to”. Do remarks like this have you nodding in agreement?
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!
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Smart Radio Boosts Web Sales
I recently interviewed a radio advertising expert named Dave Tester.
Now, you may know that I worked in radio for over 25 years, and was very successful in that industry. I think I know my stuff when it comes to radio. But even I was blown away by some of the ideas Dave and I ended up discussing on this call.
There’s nothing for sale on the call; it’s pure ideas, tools, and tactics.
Listen to it online by clicking below.
Enjoy.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Southwest Offers Wi-fi In The Air
I just read on Valleywag that Southwest will soon start offering in-flight wi-fi! I’m a happy flier.
I fly Southwest frequently. Not only are they economical, they’re almost always on time and their employees are unusual in the air travel industry; they’re not bitter refugees of the Air Travel Wars. They haven’t had their souls crushed by corporate greed and bureaucratic stupidity.
In other words, they’re nice people.
So now I get quality air travel, nice people performing the service, and wi-fi too. Life is good.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Killing The Paper Clutter Monster
I detest clutter.
I refuse to tolerate it any longer in my life.
This week my wife and I hauled off several small truckloads of clutter to Goodwill (and some to the dump). We’re got more to haul away — but we’ve at least identified it all and we know what we’re doing about the clutter conundrum.
Next on my clutter-blusting list: paper.
Man, do I have a lot of paper. And I have found the solution (I think). If you haven’t read Ken Silver’s post on the Paperless Office, go read it now.
In his article, Ken says:
Here’s what I do each day to win the paper war:
When paper of any kind…a magazine article I clip, an invoice, notice or bill… gets to my desk, I run it through the ScanSnap which is permanently on.
The item shows up on Windows Explorer in the supplied Adobe Acrobat 6.0 program as an untitled PDF file. I name it immediately in a COMPANY NAME - DOCUMENT NAME - ITEM - DATE format and drag it to the appropriate folder.
I have only 2 folders for all my files, marked BUSINESS and PERSONAL. The Business folder has sub-folders, each labeled as a financial year… 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 etc. There is one other sub folder which I’ve labeled PROJECTS.
Since my scanned files are shown in alphabetical order in Explorer - and that’s the way I retrieve them too - there’s no need to get any more complicated than that.
I ordered my Scansnap today and it should arrive tomorrow. I’ll have more to say about this soon — but for now check out Ken’s article. If you’ve had any experience with “going paperless”, let me know by posting your comments below.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Do Product Launches Still Work?
You may be wondering if product launches “still work”. Marketers ask this question all the time. Everyone knows how to do it (or more accurately stated: they think they know how to do it), but is it still worth doing? Why?
Using product launches is a great strategy, one that works as well as ever. However, the “standard” product launches aren’t producing the same results that they did a year ago.
By “standard” I mean: copying only the externally obvious tactics, and neglecting the psychological triggers that make launches so effective. The only person I know of who teaches those triggers is the guy who invented the whole idea: Jeff Walker.
To make a successful product launch now, you need to follow a formula. Let’s face it, all the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. But with this formula, created by Jeff Walker, you can have a successful product launch. Here’s an example…
You may have heard of the Membership Site Bootcamp launch. Jeff was the quarterback for that launch (I wrote much of the copy), which created $1.7 million in the first week! So, yes, product launches are still an effective way to create a profit windfall.
I encourage you to check out Jeff’s Product Launch Formula. Even if you don’t plan on purchasing his course, he still gives away great free information on this site.
Here are three tactics you can use to boost launch results:
Use a “reverse squeeze page”. This term was created by John Reese, I believe, and not too long ago at that. In this case, you offer free content before you ask for their opt-in information. As an example, you offer them a free article or video. At the end, advise clients that you will be creating more of the same. “If you’d like to get more videos absolutely free, fill in your name and e-mail address.” In this case, you give something to get something.
Give them your best material up front, for free.
No, I’m not crazy.
When I suggest this, the most common response is, “But if I give them my best stuff for free, there won’t be anything to sell them!” In fact, this is not a problem. The great copywriter Eugene Schwartz, author of Breakthrough Advertising, pioneered this method, and it works! He found that when you gave away something terrific, people’s perceived value of your other products increases. Readers think, “WOW! If this is what they give away for free, their other stuff must be incredible!”
So what happens if they get into your site and find that your product isn’t as good as the stuff you gave away free? That’s when you benefit from the “Halo Effect”. People will be amazed by your great freebies, and so credit your saleable material as being better than it may actually be. It takes no manipulation on your part.
Share your story with your sublist. Don’t e-mail them to tell them that you’re going to sell to them (”watch your email Monday!”). That’s not a story - it’s a statement. People love stories. Offer them personal insights into the business, tell them how the launch is progressing, or take them to blog posts. Use all the principals of influence that Jeff teaches in his course. It’s worth it!
I highly recommend Jeff’s Product Launch Formula, and think it’s a wise investment. If you can’t get it right now, use these three tips for your next product launch. You’ll improve your conversions and get more business.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.Fast & Easy List Building
I get a lot of questions asking how to build a list and do it quickly.
Actually, it’s a lot easier to build a list than you might think.
The fact is the techniques of list-building are really quite simple.
These three tactics will help you to build your list quickly:
Use a “squeeze page”. I find that, while everyone seems to know about the effectiveness of a squeeze page, few are actually doing it, or if they are, they’re not using a true squeeze page. You must admit, it takes a little bit of backbone to say, “You don’t get to see anything until you give me your e-mail address!” I promise you, though, use a squeeze page and you’ll get subscribers, and you’ll build your list. If you look at my squeeze page for Ray Edwards Copywriting, you’ll see that I don’t even offer an ethical bribe to get people to opt-in, yet my conversion rate for this page is about 38%.
Do “ad swaps” with other list owners. Look for people with ads in their e-zines, contact them and say, “Hey, I have an e-zine, too! How about we trade ads?” Then, you run an ad for their list and they run an ad for your list. Or, if they don’t offer ads (or you don’t offer ads), simply contact them and say, “I would like to promote your email newsletter to my subscribers, would you do the same for me?” In your e-mail newsletter, then, you just write a little paragraph that says, “I’ve discovered a great newsletter that I think you’d enjoy. Here’s the link.” This, by the way, is one of the best and fastest ways to build your list. I know, I know, it’s too easy. But, it works.
Look for opt-ins through forum postings. You can post good content to forums. Many forums will allow you to add text to your signature line. Try something simple, like “To get my ‘Seven Tips on List Building’, click here”. That link leads readers directly to your opt-in page. Make sure you have a decent ethical bribe to offer - a special report, audio clip, video clip, a .pdf, even free software. Don’t subscribe to any forums? Now may be the time to start! All you need is twenty minutes a day. Use that time to check out ten forums, add quality posts, answer any questions, and include your signature line link. This really works - I get new subscribers every day from this method, and I don’t even have time to post to forums anymore.
Want more information about the quickest ways to build your list?
I recommend Tellman Knudson’s List-Building Club.
Ray Edwards is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, author, and speaker. He has written million-dollar sales copy for top marketers including Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jeff Walker, Alex Mandossian, Matt Bacak and many others. Get more free copywriting information from Ray at RayEdwardsCopy.com.
