Archive | November, 2020

When I got started in online marketing, I was lucky. Someone told me exactly what to do, and I didn’t know any better than to follow his instructions to the letter. I looked at it this way – the guy was a self-made millionaire. I was broke. So what was I going to do – take what he told me and ‘fix’ it?

Somehow make it better? Improve upon it? There’s an old expression: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I took his instructions as gospel and did what he said. Soon I was making so much money, I was frankly astounded.

The biggest mistake I see new marketers making is they try to innovate. They have a better idea. A better system. A better method. And they almost always fail.

Look, there is a place for innovation once you know what you’re doing…

… But not when you’re first getting started.

Imagine you’re teaching someone to drive, and they get a great idea: ‘Why not just beep the horn when they’re about to hit someone? This way that person can get out of the way, and they never need to step on the brakes.’

See how crazy that is?

But it’s exactly how new marketers tend to think: “Forget the old ways, I’ve thought of a better way no one has ever thought of before.”

Uh-huh.

Instead, if you want to meet success quickly in this business, take a system that is already working and copy it.
Yes, that’s right – I’m advocating that you flat out copy what’s already working.

Are you in the diet niche? Then do this: Purchase the top 5 or 10 diet information products. Pay close attention to every step of the funnel. Take screen shots and notes. Pour through the products and see what’s good about them and what’s missing.

Then create your own product based on what you’ve learned, and set up a sales funnel based on the funnels you went through. Do this and I almost guarantee you’ll have a good selling product.

Online marketing isn’t hard if you’ll simply do what’s already working. But being human, we tend to think we can do better. Or we think we should do better and that it’s not right to copy systems that others are using.

But all industries are built upon the knowledge of those who went before – even those that innovate like crazy.

I’ll give you an example: It’s July 2003 and you’ve just co-founded Tesla Motors with the intention of building cars.

Are you going to start from scratch, with zero knowledge of cars and engines and how they run?…

… or are you going to take all of the knowledge accumulated over the last century and a half of car making, and then BUILD UPON this knowledge to create your own cars?

See?

Even companies like Tesla don’t reinvent the wheel – they make it better AFTER they’ve learned everything they can about what’s working now.

When you’re just starting out, find a system you like that you know is working, and then copy it. Once you’ve got it working, then and only then do you start innovating.

This only takes a few minutes to apply, and it can result in a nice bump in your sales…

Here’s how it works:

When you create a product download file, put it in zip file, and add a “Read me first” document to it as well.

In the “read me first,” place another offer for your customer to check out. Or even more than one offer…

It can be as simple as a sentence or two directing them to the link where the additional offer can be found. Or you can get more creative and elaborate if you have time. Either way, you should see some additional sales using this simple, easy technique.

And you can add a “read me first” file to lead magnets and free offers, products you sell, and even add it to the bonuses you give away when selling affiliate products.

Apply this simple technique to products you sell online and you can significantly boost your bottom line, while also adding value for your customers in the process by including additional resources for them.

You see it – and possibly even do it – all the time. A product launch is announced. The date is set, affiliates are lined up and the process begins. Prospects are driven to a squeeze page. They watch a video, watch another video in a day or two, watch a third video a couple of days after that, and finally the product goes live.

For a week affiliates are working hard to get sales and everything goes great. Then comes the deadline. Only 48 hours left! Only 24 hours left! Only 6 hours left! The sales come pouring in, and then it’s over. Done. Finished. History.

Sigh.

Sort of feels like the day after Christmas, doesn’t it?

No more sales.

Sure, you (hopefully) made a mint.

But that’s it.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Maybe I could reopen it in a month or two.” Sure. You can. Of course by then you will have lost all momentum. And if you said you would NEVER reopen it, then you’ll lose your credibility, too.

There is another way – and I’ll give you a clue as to what it is:

What do you do when your new customer buys your $10 product, but turns down your $97 upsell? Usually, you offer a $47 downsell, right? Well, why don’t we do this with product launches?

Let’s say you’re launching a $997 coaching program. The very day after it closes, why not do a second launch of a $297 or $497 version?

Here’s how it might work:

The day after your product launch ends, send an email to everyone on your list who opened at least one of your emails promoting that product launch. Tell them, “I see you didn’t grab my XYZ product. No problem. Maybe the timing just wasn’t right for you.”

“I’ve got a more economical version for you that’s just as powerful.”

And then you launch into a problem that needs solving, and you’re going to solve it on an upcoming webinar, and here’s the link… On the webinar you give great information, and then you offer the downsized version of your original program that just closed.

Nice.

Your prospects are still warm from the big launch. Some of them really did want your product but couldn’t afford it. And they’re grateful for the opportunity to learn more on your webinar. Done right, you can make a lot of extra sales this way.

Things to know:

– Be sure NOT to send this email to people who bought your initial product. They might get irritated that you didn’t give them a choice between the two versions.

– You’ve already created the product – it just makes sense to repurpose the information into a second, smaller product to make additional sales.

– Make sure your more economical version does NOT contain everything your expensive version contains. It’s only fair that it doesn’t. For example, if your expensive version contains one-on-one coaching, you might leave that out.

– Deliver real value on the webinar. As always, tell them what to do but not HOW to do it. They have to buy your product for that.

– If you have a HUGE list of prospects who looked at your first product but didn’t buy, you might need to do more than one webinar to get them all on. It’s a good problem to have.

– It is entirely possible to double your initial sales using this method. Of course, since you are charging less, you won’t be doubling revenue. But still it can be a very nice second payday.

– Be sure to have everything in place for this second launch prior to initiating the first launch.

– Let affiliates know they will be earning commissions on both the first and the second launch.

This is a technique that doesn’t take a lot of extra work and can make your customers, your affiliates and your bank account very happy.

Of course this is just my opinion, but I think you’ll see the logic… As online marketers, if we build our business correctly then we can create money whenever we decide to do so.

For one marketer, it might be sending out a terrific offer to her list and getting orders back within hours.

For someone with a highly popular site, it might be putting an unbeatable offer on their site and collecting the cash.

For a membership site or software as a service site, it might mean offering a year’s membership for a low price.

For someone offering services, it might be offering a special deal to clients for the next 7 days.

You’ll notice that all of these boil down to one thing – keeping a list of customers, members or leads, and having permission to contact them at will.

There it is again… you need a list.

Because a list is and likely always will be the online ticket to cash on demand.

There are a lot of things in life and in your business that you can’t control.

You can’t control what other people do.

Or what they don’t do.

You can’t control what regulations come down the pike.

Or what happens to the economy.

Or who or what wins elections. (Brexit, the US presidential election, etc.)

So what can you do?

Focus on those things that you can control.

Fix the problems that you can fix.

And for everything else, stand back and be an observer.

As best you can, remove your emotional stake in those things you cannot control.

If you are able to take this liberating attitude, you’ll notice your anxiety reduces ten-fold.

You’ll be calmer, you’ll think more clearly and you’ll get more done.

And you’ll be happier.

One more thing – when you’re calmer, clear-headed and feeling positive, you’ll begin to see solutions to problems that previously seemed insurmountable.

And you’ll discover you can control more things in life than you thought you could.

Only then can you begin to truly make a difference in the world.

Rule number one of getting your emails opened is be the person your list knows, likes and trusts. When you’ve accomplished that, you won’t need to put as much energy into your subject lines and ‘from’ fields. But until then, try these hacks to improve your open rates and get your emails read…

1. Catch the eye with the ‘from’ field.

If you go to your own email program and scan the emails, which ‘from’ fields stand out? And why?

Udemy (4) – Looking at my own inbox, the first eye catcher I see is from Udemy, the (4) indicating they sent the same email 4 times. Perhaps not the best idea, but it definitely pulls the eye in. You can duplicate this by using a number in your ‘from’ field.

Actual Email Addresses – The next eye catcher in the ‘from’ field is from Amazon because they used their actual email address with the @ sign in the middle of it. So few people use their email addresses in the ‘from’ field anymore, that if you choose to do this you will stand out.

The downside – it can look a little amateurish. Then again, if Amazon is doing it…

Academy Sports + Outdoors – Of course, it’s the ‘+’ that draws the eye.

~ PayPerClickSearchMarke – notice the symbol (do you see a trend here?)

Fab – crazy short, thus eye catching

The Email Fairy (via Tel. – This is from Tellman Knudson, who employees the unique strategy of using all sorts of different names in his from field. Still, it’s the ‘(via Tel.’ that catches my eye.

chintimini – one word, no capitals. Everyone else uses capital letters which makes this stand out.

Don @ EnginesPlus – This is a good one because it has the person’s name, their business and the ‘@’ sign.

2. Catch the eye with your subject line. Not with the actual words – we’ll cover that in a moment – But with symbols, capitalization and so forth.

Check your inbox and you will likely notice a few fancy symbols and emoji. These might be check-marks, snowflakes, hearts, faces, etc. These are actually Unicode symbols, and they’re easier to install into your subject lines than you may think. Here’s a brief tutorial on how to do it… Just Google it.

One note: Don’t go symbol crazy. Generally one per subject line is plenty, 2 is questionable and with 3 or more and you just look like spam.

About using capitals – If you use all-caps, you will stand out. But use this tactic sparingly since it’s tantamount to shouting. Best bet – use all-caps on your keyword only.

3. Use specifics.

First, you need to be absolutely clear on what your goal is. Are you promoting something? Are you giving helpful information? Do you have a story to share?

Let your customers know what they’re about to read. Being honest and upfront will get you opens. “Coupon Inside, today only” “Free Report: New Killer Traffic Source” “Twitter’s Dark Secret: The Real Story”

4. Ask a question in the subject line.

This is a great way to raise curiosity and get the customer involved with your topic before they even open the email.

For example, for a Christmas email involving Santa Claus, you might ask, “John, have you been good enough?”

Or if you’re promoting a book on persuasion, you might ask, “Who will you persuade with your new powers?”

5. Whenever possible, personalize the subject line.

Not just with names, but with other pertinent information as well.

For example…

“John, getting the most out of your new XJ524 Printer”
“Day 1 of your Jump Purple Hoops program, here’s what to do first”
“Sshhh… Special one day offer for our UK friends only”

6. Mail a series and let them know which day they’re on.

For example, maybe they joined your list to get a series on building more traffic. You could title each email with, “[Day 1] – Traffic Builders Course” This also makes it easy for them to go back and find the emails they missed.

7. Optimize the preview text as well.

Remember that the first line of text shows up in most desktop email clients. This means the recipient sees not only the ‘from’ field and the subject line – they also see the first sentence.

The last thing you want is to have it say, “To unsubscribe from our list” or any other housekeeping type of content.

Instead, think of your first line as an extension of your subject line and keep it interesting, intriguing and highly relevant.

One last thing: Become a fanatic about testing. You hear it time and again; test, test, test. But are you doing it? If you’re really serious about improving your open rates, testing is definitely the way to go.

(So give them what they want)!!

Your readers probably enjoy hearing about your latest exploits and victories. They like to hear how you made $10K in a day, especially if you give them all the details so they can try and duplicate your success.

But do you know what they love hearing even more?

Your failures.

Your muck-ups…

The time you fell down the stairs stone cold sober while holding your best friend’s wedding cake.

The time you thought you were so smart, you had found a brand new way to sell widgets, and lost $1,200 in the process while gaining a closet full of maxi-widgets 2.0.

And the time you got conned, too, also makes for a great story.

So why do people love to hear about your failures?

Because they can relate. Because it shows you’re human. Because it’s just plain fun to know they’re not the only ones who sometimes screw things up.

We all know the guy who brags non-stop about how everything he touches turns to gold. In fact there’s a word for him – BORING.

Then there’s the bloke next store who has some success, but enjoys a few failures, too. Now THAT’S the guy we want to hang out with.

That’s the guy we can relate to.

And guess what? That’s also the guy we’ll listen to and buy products from…

So go ahead and regale your readers with tales of your failures. They’ll love you for it, and in the end, so will your bottom line.

Some of you are going to dismiss this idea. You’ll think it’s strange. You’ll think I’m full of beans. But others will recognize this as one of the holy grails of online marketing. And those are the folks who will do really, really well online if they aren’t already. Because making money as an Internet marketer isn’t about selling products or services or clicks…

Nope.

It’s about selling YOU.

Think about what you buy. Don’t you find that certain marketers just resonate with you? When you get their emails, you read them. When they tell you to click somewhere, you click. And when they put out a product, you buy it.

Why? Because you like the way they make you feel. You like their style, their humor, their motivation… whatever it is, you just LIKE them.

Why did you like a certain teacher in school? Why do you like your friends? Your spouse? Maybe you don’t know why, you just know that you do. It’s the same way for your customers.

If they like you, they will read what you write. They’ll subscribe to your emails and read them. They’ll follow you on social media. They might even promote you. And yes, they will BUY most ALL of your stuff.

Not because they want more stuff, but because they like YOU and the way your stuff makes them feel. When you brand yourself in such a way that you connect with your readers, you no longer have to worry if your products will sell or if your affiliate recommendations will work.

Your coaching program will sell out. Your webinars will be packed. Your products will be winners.

And you don’t have to worry about sales any longer. Just focus on being the best YOU that you can be for your customers, and everything else will take care of itself.

So how do you brand yourself?

You might take a course on branding. You might look at branding leaders, too. Most of all, take a look at your strengths. What are you good at? How do you best communicate? What are your interests?

If your niche is IM and you’re into extreme sports, how can you combine the two to resonate with people just like you?

If your niche is health and you’re very much into spirituality, can you combine the two to create your persona?

I’m not suggesting you reinvent yourself. I am suggesting you combine what it is that makes you, YOU, with your niche.

Here’s some examples…

The Hippy Gardener
The Globe Trotting Marketer
The Spiritual Carpenter

Now, you might be thinking this is a bad idea because it will turn some people off. I have news for you – no matter what you do, there will be people who don’t like you. And that’s a GOOD thing. Because those who do like you will be all the more loyal.

Sell yourself first. Find your followers and build your tribe. And everything else in your business will naturally fall into place.

There is a young lady in the Internet marketing niche who has 3 separate IM type blogs. And without revealing too much (we don’t want to create direct competition for her) here are the methods she’s tried and the ones that worked in monetizing those three blogs…

To begin with, she tried AdSense. But that only made a few bucks and she quickly abandoned it. Then she tried renting out banners, but since her 3 blogs combined receive about 10,000 visitors a month, she didn’t get a lot of interest.

She does put up ClickBank ads, and those bring in about $1,000 a month from all 3 blogs combined. Not bad, but obviously not that great, either. Especially when you consider that she posts 6 days a week on each blog.

Next she decided to devote one blog post out of 6 to promoting an affiliate product. This wasn’t an easy decision for her, because she was afraid her readers would be alienated and they would stop visiting her blog.

But on the contrary, her promotional blog posts were well received and they’re making her money. In fact, it doubled her income and then some.

So now she was making over $2,000 a month on her three blogs but she felt she could do better. So what she did next was a little unorthodox.

She had a pop-up to get people to subscribe to her mailing list, which she decided to rent out. That’s right – she’s renting out her pop-up. She devoted the top right sidebar and the bottom of each page to capturing email addresses for herself.

Then she made a page showing her traffic stats, her own conversions on her own pop-ups, some demographic info and so forth. She was really selling her pop-ups on each of her three blogs.

And it worked. She rents them by the month, taking the code the customer gives her and pasting it into the pop-up. The customer has to be offering something for free, and of course it needs to fit her niche.

Believe it or not, between the three pop-ups on the 3 sites, she’s earning close to $2,000 a month just doing this.

Combining that income with the income from her ads and her promotional blog posts, and she’s earning about $4,000 a month from her blogs. Of course, this doesn’t include income from her own list which she is building.

So the question is, why was it so much easier to sell the pop-ups than it was banner ads? Maybe because it’s something different. Or perhaps because people want to build lists, and see this as the way to go.

Now you might be wondering if she isn’t shooting herself in the foot and losing out on long term income by building her own list faster using her own pop-ups.

It’s hard to say. But one thing for sure is that $2,000 a month from the pop-ups is coming in like clockwork, and all it takes is collecting the money and pasting in the code once a month. Really, you can’t beat that.

I hope this gets you thinking about new possibilities for your own website(s)!…

Want to create the perfect sales letter – fast? Try this template. Not only is it easy to do, it’s also highly effective. And if you know your market and your product, you should be able to crank out a rough draft of your sales letter in about an hour.

Then set it aside for a day or two to let it ‘percolate’ in your brain. Come back, polish it up and post it.

Here are the 6 primary elements of a proven sales letter template:

Pattern Interrupt with a BIG Promise – Get their attention and promise something big, bold and specific. “Veterans, is the government ripping you off? Here’s how to finally get every benefit you earned while in the service of your country – even the 14 benefits they never told you about!”

State the Problem and Make it Hurt – This is the main problem your product solves, the one that is currently making your customer’s life hell. Don’t just state the problem – really agitate it. Make them feel how bad it is to have this problem of theirs. “Beautiful women look at you like you’re a tick on a dog, and you can’t get a date with anyone but your second cousin Shirley – the shrill shrew who never stops reminding you of the time you pooped your pants at the family reunion.”

“Here’s what most people do” – this is where you talk about alternatives and why they don’t work, shutting down all avenues to solve the problem except the one you are offering. “People try anything to lose weight. One woman ate nothing but grapefruit for a month, and all she lost was her energy and her hair. Another woman walked and ran 20 miles a day, and while she didn’t lose any weight, she did get both knees replaced within the year.”

“Here’s what I do.” This is your solution. Tell why it’s best and why they must have it. “When I stumbled on this method I was flat broke and 8 days away from declaring bankruptcy. 3 months later my $125,000 mortgage was completely paid off. Yes, I was as shocked as you, but here’s the proof.”

Outline the Deal, Ask for the Sale – Don’t be afraid. If you’ve done the previous steps correctly, they’re ready to buy at this point. “When you order today, you get A, plus B, plus C. And I’ll throw in D, E and F to absolutely guarantee your success. All this, and it’s only $9.99.”

Close the Deal – this is the either / or part. “You’re either going to take full risk-free advantage of this deal and get all these benefits, or you’re going to go on having this horrible problem.” “You could continue as before, sitting home alone every night where the only women you ever see are on TV or porn sites. Or you can do what so many others have done and grab this program. Even before you complete the second module, you’ll notice women are looking at you differently. They’re smiling at you, making small talk, slipping their phone numbers into your pocket, casually touching you… your only problem will be scheduling all these beautiful women into your new dating lifestyle.”

That’s it.

Yes, writing sales copy really is that easy.

Have fun with it and make yourself tons of sales on your next product.