» Conversion

The Pick-Up Artist Guide on How to Get More Subscribers

Andi Putra — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Out of all the books that I’ve read in the past few years (and believe me, I’ve read quite a bit), The Game, the pick-up artist book by Neil Strauss, seems to be one of the few that leaves a lasting impression on me. I could relate to his character, a social retard who have not grown up and figure out how to deal with women yet. And, I was just excited to finally discover the ‘secrets’ to attracting women.

But, what’s even more interesting to me about his book is how this law of attraction is more universal than most of us like to think. Neil’s concept of attracting members of the opposite sex can also be used, with some modification, to help us attract and get more subscribers. Here’s how.

1. Select A Target

No, you can’t create something randomly and expect it to be successful anymore. In this highly competitive environment, you’ll need to differentiate yourself. Position your product, be it a blog or a course, as something new and fresh by first understanding who your market is. Male in their 40s? Or female in their 20s? Then, find out their needs and wants. The writing style and design of your squeeze page will be different depending on the demographic you’re going for.

2. Approach and Open

BAM! That’s what your headline should feel like. A punch on the face. You can’t ignore it and you have no choice but to react to it. Check out Blogussion article on the 5 major ways to write a punchy headline. People are pre-occupied most of the time; they are busy answering their emails, listening to music, or doing other stuffs while browsing. So, your job is to break their pre-occupation using your headlines.

3. Demonstrate Value

What’s In It For Me? Why should I read this? Why should I spend time on this squeeze page than this other one? This is why you’ll need an interesting and shocking first paragraph after your punchy headline. Your first paragraph needs to tell your readers what they’ll get by subscribing to your newsletter or email list, making them excited on what’s to come.

4. Isolate the Target

A quick and easy way to grab the attention of our primitive and most decisive part of our brain is to use the word ‘you’ often in your copy (of your squeeze page). The old brain is self-centred and focused on what is good for you, hence it’ll often unconsciously prefer what better emphasizes how You can benefit. So, rather than using ‘we’, personalize your writing with ‘you’.

5. Create an Emotional Connection

Unless you can build rapport and trust with your readers or prospects, you can’t get them to subscribe. You need to show your the visitors of your squeeze page that you’re genuine, honest, and real. Tell them how you can relate to their problems and how, by subscribing, they’ll be able to solve those problems. Videos will help tremendously to create this emotional connection, as the visitors can listen to your voice and probably see you (if you record yourself).

6. Pump Buying Temperature

The visitors might already be interested in subscribing to your blog/list, but they just can’t seem to get themselves to do it. Hell, we’re all inherently lazy after all. So, your job is to make that decision to subscribe as painless and as smooth as possible.

You do this, as many marketing gurus probably have told you, by bribing them excellent quality freebies (in the form of eBooks, video tutorials, etc). This will usually give them the much needed final push to take the action to subscribe.

7. Blast Last-Minute Resistance

Just like a woman who’s afraid that you’ll be that guy who leaves them early next morning after she has given herself to you, your visitors have the same fear about subscribing to your email list.

Spam emails that contain links to viruses or hacks have been a bad enough problem without them putting their names and email addresses on some random subscription forms. So, you need to promise them, in your privacy policy, that you will keep their email addresses private and will not send any spam emails to them. And, of course, keep this promise.

These are a couple of tips to get more subscribers to your blog or, if you’re launching a product, your list of prospects. One thing you have to remember is to manage your expectation. Not everyone who visits your squeeze page will subscribe. You can get subscription rate of 1% or 20%, depending on how well you’ve optimized it.

So, be sure to split-test and tweak your squeeze pages to get maximum conversion rate.

Frank Kern: How To Change Your Life & Business Forever

Andi Putra — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:33:11 +0000

I received an email from Frank Kern yesterday. At first, I thought…“Huh, another sales pitch…?” But then, because the email was from Frank and all, I opened it. And I’m glad I did.

The email contained a link to the recorded video presentation by Frank Kern called Core Influence, created in early 2008. In it, Frank talked about how to achieve success by knowing what you really want and who you really are, and knowing what your market really want and who they really are. It’s a fantastic video that goes far beyond the superficial making money online talks that the gurus are selling, and into the realms of subsconcious bond with your true self and customers.

It’s a great video and I can’t recommend it more. Check it out here, Frank Kern’s Core Influence. Btw, you need to sign-up to watch it.

Why You Can’t Make Money Online?

Andi Putra — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:07:46 +0000

We are all striving to make money online. But, whether you like it or not, only a few of us will succeed in doing so. And that’s not because that one guy is smarter than the rest of the pack. Or that he obtained the secret knowledge to internet wealth (I wonder if this mythical treasure actually exists…). What he have is patience, determination, and the correct understanding of what it takes to make money online.

Let Me Tell You A Story

I have a friend who has been blogging for over 2 years now. He had a fantastic amount of traffic coming to his blog and he also had a relatively good amount of RSS and email subscribers for it. The problem is, after 2 years in business, he haven’t managed to make a huge amount of money online. He had tried Adsense, promoting affiliate products, and even some sponsored links, but he can’t make more than a couple hundreds of dollars a month. So, he contacted me and asked me what’s wrong with his site and how he can fix it. But, there’s nothing wrong with his site. The problem lies with him.

It’s Not About the Traffic

One thing I noticed about him, whenever we talked about internet marketing stuff, is how he always boasts about how much traffic he can get using various methods and strategies that he learned from gurus or by himself. He spent hours everyday, trying to figure out what new traffic method he can use, rather than using the old, but reliable ones. And, there lies the problem.

Don’t get me wrong. Driving traffic to your site is important. But, it shouldn’t be the part that consume most of your time when making money online. Why? Because, traffic doesn’t necessarily makes you any money. Facebook is undeniably one of the largest site online right now, with hundred millions of users registered. Surely they have the traffic to make crazy amount of money, right? Wrong. They’re losing more money than they make as of 2008. Traffic eats up your bandwidth, slow down your site, and fill up your server. It costs you money, not making you more.

It’s Not About the List

Another problem that he had is that he focus on building his list without having any real purpose for it, other than promoting some affiliate products. Having a list is great. But, as I say again and again, the money is not in the list, it’s in the relationship you’ve built with the people in your list. So, if you have a list, but you never emailed them anything but affiliate product promotions, you only have yourself to blame for the bad sales.

Having a giant list is also useless if the people inside your list is not your target customers. That’s why you’ll never make a cent from a list of some 100,000 people from Africa or China. A huge list doesn’t mean anything if your prospects doesn’t buy from you. In order for them to do so, you need to spend as much effort (as your traffic and list building effort) on this last, and often ignored, part of making money online.

Everything Comes Down to…

Conversion and authority.

Conversion means transforming your prospects into buyers. You can apply this to your subscribers by converting your free list, meaning the people in the list haven’t bought anything from you yet, to a buyers list (list full of buyers), which he definitely hadn’t done. Let them make small purchases, like buying a $3 to $7 eBook. After they’re comfortable in making small commitments with you, you can start offering them higher prices affiliate products.

Authority is a result of your popularity and positioning in a niche or market. You can positioned yourself to be the traffic guru, the super affiliate marketer, or the authoritative blogger. It doesn’t matter what you choose, as long as you emphasize it in whatever you’re involved in. Be it social media space, your videos or podcasts, or even in your blog posts. By having authority, you’ll have an easier time to sell your products because the people in your niche have known and accepted that you’re the expert in your field.

You need to understand that your final goal in this industry is to make money online. I say this because I saw many people seem to be missing the point. My friend is proud of how much traffic he can get. Or how many people is in his mailing list. But, it really doesn’t matter how much traffic you have or how many people are in your list. You’re here to make money, huge amount of money if possible. And until you do, you shouldn’t stop trying.

Feel free to leave comments below or tweet it if you like it.

How To Build an Email List of Eager Buyers

Andi Putra — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:09:28 +0000

There’s a huge difference between having list full of prospects and having a list of buyers. If you have 2 list with equal number of subscribers, one filled with buyers (ex-buyers) and another with prospects, your former list will beat your latter list by a pretty significant margins. Your list of buyers can easily be turned into repeat customers because they’ve bought a stuff or two from you before. And repeat customers, as I’ve mentioned in my previous article, I Don’t Need to Build a List?, is the best thing you can have in your business, online or offline. First, because you don’t need additional investment to acquire them. Second, they’ve already trusted you. That’s why they buy from you in the first place, aren’t they? So, how do you get a list full of eager buyers and repeat customers?

1. Be Ready to Spend Some to Get Some (Day 1-2)

First of all, you need to be ready to spend some cash in order to get this type of list. Why? Because, this is a list full of buyers after all. Not just some prospects that might or might not buy from you anytime soon, if ever. People in this list have proven that they are interested in your product and that they trust you. That’s the reason why they buy from you in the first place.

The best way, in my opinion, to get a list full of buyers is to use PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing or JV partnering. They are fast to set up and generate results (we’re gonna do it in a week, remember?) and offer a very targeted traffic of visitors who are ready to buy. You can also register yourself as a merchant in affiliate networks, such as Clickbank, Azoogle, or Max Bounty, to have affiliates and super affiliates help promote your product. The only downside to this is the approval process that might take a while.

2. Design Your Sales Funnel (Day 1)

Designing your sales funnel is an important part of your overall list building strategy. You need to make the transition between your Adwords link, your sales page, and your buying confirmation page as smooth as possible. Check for typing mistakes in your sales letter and refrain from using extremely audacious claims that makes your product looks like a scam. Give them piece of mind.

You also have to think of how you can use your list after you’ve obtained them. Are you selling them more products? If so, what type of products? Will you use this list to send traffic to your blog? If so, how can you make more money out of that? More ad revenues? More Adsense earnings? Or what? Make sure you know what you’ll do to your list once you get them.

3. Use the Low Entry Point Strategy (Day 1)

I learned about the low entry point strategy from Perry Belcher and Ryan Deiss, two of my most favorite internet marketers. The concept of low entry point strategy is simple, you’re using your cheap front-end product as a bait for your more expensive back-end products. For example, if you’re selling a complete course in playing electric guitar. And your course consists of 2 eBooks and 20 video lessons. You might be selling your 2 eBooks as a front-end offer for possibly $27, and your 20 video lessons as a back-end (upsell or email them later) for possibly $97.

There are 2 benefits of using low entry point strategy. First, lower price means a lot more people will be able to afford your product. Even if they don’t buy your 2nd offer, they become a part of your list of buyers. They might also buy your second product at a later date, if they found your first one to be good. Second, lower price means that you have a higher chance of over delivering. It’s hard to over deliver on a $2,000 product. But, when the product is only $27, it’s easier to surpass your promises. And when you over deliver, your buyers will be turned into your fans and, later on, repeat customers.

4. Build Your Relationship (Day 2-6)

You need to send follow up emails that provide even more value to your subscribers. I talked about over delivering in my previous point. That’s what you need to do here. Give them useful and noteworthy information in your emails. Send them tips and tricks to help them with their problems. You can even send them free software and tools, if you choose to. Be generous and they’ll pay you back.

5. Time to Harvest Again (Day 7)

If you have done all the steps above. It’s time to make money from your list (again). Since they’ve bought from you before, it shouldn’t be that hard to convince them to buy from you again. As long as you follow these rules. First, sell or recommend them only products that are highly relevant to the product that they’ve bought. So, if they bought a list building course from you, don’t offer them blogging course next. Instead, offer them list building tools or something. Second, be prepared to go the extra mile by providing more bonuses or more discounts for this second offer. You have to one-up yourself this second time around.

These are the 5 steps to build your list of eager buyers in a week. Feel free to leave comments below or tweet it if you like it.

Can Clickbank Gravity Tell You Anything About a Product’s Conversion?

Andi Putra — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:39:11 +0000

There are 3 major ways to make money online. You can create a blog with tons of visitors and make money using ad revenue, develop your own products and sell them, or simply promote someone else’s product (affiliate marketing). If you chose the last method, I’m sure you’ve heard of Clickbank. It’s the most famous affiliate network in internet marketing circle, promoted and hyped by many gurus, because of how easy it is to become an affiliate in the network (compared to many others with an approval process). Although, if any of my Clickbank earnings is any proof, the money’s not bad too.

Digging Clickbank Gravity

First of all, let me explain what Clickbank gravity is. Clickbank gravity represents the number of affiliates who are making sales for the last 8 weeks. So, if 100 affiliate marketers make one sale each in the last 8 weeks, the gravity will be 100. And if 50 affiliates each making 4 sales and another 50 affiliates each making 1 sale in the last 8 weeks, the gravity will still be 100. At least that’s the basic idea.

But, as a matter of fact, Clickbank gravity calculation is not as simple as I’ve mentioned above. Clickbank algorithm actually weighted the number of affiliates who made a sale based on how long ago the sale is made. The idea is, the more recent an affiliate made a sale, the higher he contributes to the gravity score. So, an affiliate who made a sale 7 weeks ago will only contribute half or less to the gravity score than the recent ones. That’s why Clickbank gravity number is rarely rounded.

The Gravity Trap

Many newbie affiliate marketers are trapped into believing that Clickbank gravity represents how much money they can make promoting a product. Although that’s not the case at all. It’s very possible for a lower gravity products to make more sales than a higher gravity ones. Because gravity is nothing more than the number of affiliates who are making a sale, not the number of sales made.

As many newbies think it’s better to be an affiliate for high-gravity products, “boosting” the gravity figure becomes a pretty good way to attract affiliates. And many product owners actually faked their Clickbank gravity. This practice is common in internet marketing niche in which the product owner will create ten or more Clickbank accounts, each with different Clickbank affiliate IDs, to promote his product. They can even ask their JV partners to do the same. As a result, the Clickbank gravity of the product will appear high. Although, no affiliate is really making money at all. Just because the sales letter is not that good or the product’s a scam.

Make Gravity Works For You

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking you to ignore Clickbank gravity totally. I just want you to treat the gravity number as a very rough indications of product sales or conversions. Test the product yourself to check the real conversions numbers. If the conversions is bad, don’t blame yourself. It’s most probably the sales page or the product’s fault. Just take a deep breath and move on to next products.

The easiest and fastest way to test a product is using PPC (Pay Per Click). It do cost money though. So, if you don’t feel like spending anything, you can test it with free traffic methods, like article marketing, forum posting, etc (Learn more: Cheap Web Site Traffic). Just take note that these free traffic methods are slower to pick up. So, you’ll probably need a longer time to make a conclusion about the products’ conversions.

Feel free to leave comments below or tweet it if you like it.

99.5% Sales Pages are Becoming Illegal Soon!

Andi Putra — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:39:57 +0000

Ok, first things first. As Brian Clark of CopyBlogger said, 65.2 % of all statistics are made up on the spot. So, yes, I pulled this percentage number out of thin air based on my experiences with most sales letters and after reading the updated FTC guidelines (which could be found here). If you’re lazy to read or just feels like you don’t want to waste time reading 8 paragraphs article, I’ll summarize them into points form for you.

1. When the results you put on your sales pages are not typical, you will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. (Ex. John earn $500,000 in 30 days. But not everyone is John, most others will only earn $500 in 30 days)

2. Bloggers or word-of-mouth marketers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. (meaning: they need to state if they got paid doing it and that they receive the product for free.)

3. Celebrities also need to reveal if they got paid for endorsing the product.

4. Researchers and doctors must reveal how well they have tested and understood the product benefits before endorsing it.

What’s My Problems?

First, if you’re a super honest blogger or affiliate marketer who never once make an outlandish claims on your review and pre-sales pages. You’re safe. And if you’re a product creator who also never make an outlandish claims and testimonials in your sales pages. You’re safe. And, if you’re none of the two but are not living in the US. You’re safe as well. Since I’m living in Sydney, I’m safe. But just to make this post longer ^-^, I’ll just put some of the problems I have with the updated guidelines.

My first problem with this updated guidelines is it’s too vague. I mean, if you put an outlandish figure, then you have to say what the typical number is, like my example above. But, what if I put my top most results in testimonials but I also put my lowest results? Would that be legal then? And what If i only tested my product on 10 people…and they all got TOP results…but the buyers would not get that, does that mean I am breaking the law? There are loads of questions still waiting for answers.

My second problem with it is that it just creates a higher barrier of entry. This updated guidelines will have profitable marketers magically appear incorporated and hosted in the BVI or other overseas location. And then of course the next logical step is that you will see a slew of affiliate networks “relocating” overseas with just their “support” staff being “outsourced” and US based. Since both the drivers of the traffic and the paymasters can all effectively and virtually relocate “overseas” it will be nearly impossible to enforce for serious affiliates and just present a higher barrier of entry into the industry, which means less novices and more for the established.

So, I noticed that the new FTC guidelines is not finalized yet and there will definitely be some more improvements and details regarding this new guidelines. Hopefully for the better. Feel free to comments and tell me what you think about it. Or tweet it if you like it.

8 Ways to Building Lists of Subscribers Fast

Andi Putra — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:01:36 +0000

We need to be building lists. No, not because the gurus told us so, but because having subscribers allow us to have a peace of mind. You don’t have to worry all that much about Google Slap (if you do PPC) or being banned from Google Search for breaking the Google guidelines. Cause you’ll be able to survive from your subscribers alone. It’s also an excellent relationship building tool. Most of the time the first-time visitors and casual readers of your blog won’t buy anything from you. Even if they do, the conversion rate of your blog will be pathetic, probably less than 1%. The only way you can have a better conversion rate is by having subscribers that trust you. If you recommend a product that they need, they’ll most likely purchase it from you instead of someone else. These are the 8 ways to building lists of subscribers fast.

1. Use the Forum

The Process: Go to a forum. Reply to at least 15 threads a day for two or three weeks. This is to establish yourself in the forum. At the same time, create a squeeze page and a freebie that you want to give to your new subscribers. This freebie can be in the form of an eBook, audio, or video files. On the third week, create a thread that ask the forum members to go grab the freebie you’ve made. To get your freebie, they’ll need to subscribe to your newsletter.

2. Create a 2-Part Video

The Process: Create a video using Camtasia or other software or tools and split them into 2 parts. Using Tube Mogul, syndicate your videos to major video sites for free. You have to create a squeeze page at the same time as well. Your prospects watch the first part of the video in the video sites. But, to watch the second part, they’ll need to subscribe to your newsletter. Learn more about viral video marketing tricks.

3. Set Up PPC Campaigns

The Process: You need to sign up for Google Adwords account and start building your campaigns based on the keywords you have researched with Google Keyword Tool or other paid tools. Drive your ad visitors to your squeeze page that contains a free offer. Utilize video if necessary. Remember to do split-testing to your squeeze page to find the highest converting ones. Learn more about setting up your pay per click web site.

4. Do PDF Marketing

The Process: Create an eBook and split them into 2 parts. Post one part to PDF directories, like Scribd, eSnips, DocStoc, or Yudu. Provide a link at the end of the eBook that leads to your squeeze page. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter to get the 2nd part.

5. Utilize Your Previous Subscribers

The Process: Give more free stuffs to your subscribers in exchange for recommending their friends to your free offer. You can use Mike Filsaime’s Viral Friend Generator for this. You can also ask them to tweet and social bookmark your free offer.

6. Do a Product Launch

The Process: Seriously?! I thought you need a list before you can launch a product?! It works both ways. Just remember, the reason why you have this product launch is to first and foremost, build a list. So, your offer price shouldn’t be too expensive. To start, find partners that agree to promote your product to their lists. Offer them 75% or more commission. Launch your product. Now, you have your partners’ subscribers.

7. Exploit Twitter

The Process: Having a welcome message to your new followers that leads them to your free offer is obsolete . Not to mention that they might un-follow you for being a spammers. @ and direct messages are also filled with spams. So, the only way do Twitter marketing is to do Twitter keyword research. Yeah, you heard me right. Search for keywords related to your niche in search.twitter.com after finding some possible ones with Google Keyword Tool. Send an @ or direct message containing links to your blog post to those people with the problems you can answer. In your post, ask them to subscribe to your list.

8. Do Article Marketing

The Process: As I’ve mentioned in my previous article, 9 Worst Internet Marketing Advice Ever Given, article marketing is not dead. It’s still working well and there are still a huge market for it. So, write a couple of articles and submit them to the top directories like EZine Articles, Go Articles, Articles Base, Article Alley, Article City, Article Base, and Article Snatch. Put links in the resource box of your article that lead to your squeeze page that contains a free offer.

These are the 8 most effective ways to building lists of subscribers fast. Use it well to get the best out of your list building efforts. Feel free to leave comments or tweet it if you like it.

Little Known Way to Bond with Your Readers & Generate Sales

Andi Putra — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:52:29 +0000

In my recent posts, The Secret of the Most Popular blog Post and Do You Make These Mistakes When Writing Product Review? I mentioned using stories as a way to connect with your readers and, if you are promoting affiliate product, make a sale. The era of selling commodities is long gone. There are too many choices and too many channels. Remember the time when there’s only 2-3 toothpaste brands and varieties to choose from? Now there are more than twenty different types (high calcium or fresh mint taste or strawberry taste or maybe different paste color?). Internet offers hundreds or even thousands of different channels, from Google ads to Twitter marketing, that are used by businesses to bombard us with their products. And through that process, we stop paying attention. Everything are just bits and bullets. Just noises. The only way to break through these noises of overload of information is to tell stories.

So Why Stories Work?

These are some of the reasons why stories work, as mentioned by Craig Wortmann in his book, What’s Your Story?

1. Stories Create Presence

Stories gets people’s attention. Good stories are based on Hollywood formula of success that play with our emotions; they entertain, inform, refresh, and connect us. Stories also create presence because it’s a much-needed break from our information-drenched day. They give us a chance to pause and catch our breath.

2. Stories Build Strong Relationships

Stories require a teller and a listener before any thoughts or ideas are exchanged. And they weave together facts and feelings and as we hear stories, we literally make meaning out of them. Imagine going to a movie with a friend. After the movie, you go into a discussion with him. And you discovered things about the story that you hadn’t noticed. It is in that collaboration that the learning takes place and relationship is built.

3. Stories Show Us How and Why, as Well as What

The best example of this phenomenon is the Bible. Over the centuries, people have read, re-read, interpreted, discussed, and debated the stories in the Bible. They have added their own meaning to those stories in trying to figure out how these stories relate to their immediate lives.

4. Stories Allow For Reflection

Our business culture can be characterized “Fire. Fire. Fire” rather than “Ready. Aim. Fire.” We’re good at getting into action but we’re bad at reflection. Stories make us slow down and listen. As we discover where the story is leading, we begin to bring our own experience to bear on the story, we interpret story in ways to connect it to our prior experiences.

5. Stories Spread

Have you ever said someone say, “You won’t believe the Power Point presentation I just saw!” Probably not. Stories spread because they are often told in groups, and thus they benefit from the social aspect of groups. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point, mentioned that once we’re part of a group, we’re susceptible to peer pressure and social norms and any number of other kinds of influence that can play a critical role in sweeping us up in the beginnings of an epidemic. That’s why blog is one of the best place online to tell your story and sell your product.

How Do You Use Story as Internet Marketers?

Now that you know the importance of stories, it is time for us to dive into the practical stuff by creating a story that sell our products. Isn’t that the only thing we care about as internet marketers? ^-^. There are a lot of story structures, but I’ll just use the most popular one in internet marketing community, the hero’s journey story. The Hero’s journey is about a character achieving his dream against all odds. The main character is created based on the prospect’s demographic. Meaning that you need to wear your prospects’ shoes and tell your journey from their perspectives.

To determine your prospect’s demographic, go to Quantcast.com and check the top 4-5 sites in your niche for the average age, income level, education level, and other crucial information of your customers.

The hero’s journey story needs to have a beginning, failures climax, and an ending. In the beginning, your character with his traits is trying achieve his goals(dreams). A problem soon arrived. He tries to solve it. But, he fails. He tries again, still no luck. He is giving up when suddenly he discovers the cure, the secret, the recipe that allows him to finally reach his goals.

For example,

I’m a woman in my late thirties, doing programming. I know it’s not a typical occupation for a woman, but I love what I do. (character introduction) My wedding is next month and I want to look my best in it. But due to years of sitting in front of computer without exercising, I come to a realization that I’m obese. (problem) So, I tried to lose weight by going to gym and by eating low calorie food, but they are not working. (failures) I’m still fat. I’m ready to give up with losing weight when my friend recommend me ‘THE THING’. At first I don’t believe it, but in 2 weeks, I’ve lost more than 20 pounds. (climax) In my wedding day, everyone praised me for my slim and hot body. (ending)

This is just one of the example of using story-selling that would work well, whether you’re selling through email or through blog. Feel free to comments or tweet it if you like it.

Do You Make These 6 Mistakes When Writing Product Review?

Andi Putra — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:45:04 +0000

Yesterday I posted the 7 Little Known Tweaks to Improve Your Money Making Blogs, in which I explained how you could improve your blogs just by doing small and simple changes. One of those tweaks tell you how you could improve the sales of your affiliate products’ reviews. Today, I’ll delve deeper into this topic. I’ve learned a lot about internet marketing from both pro bloggers, like Darren Rowse, Shoe money and John Chow, and internet marketing gurus like Frank Kern, John Reese, and Jeff Walker. One of them is how to sell through blogs and emails and having people thank you for it. They know the secrets to selling that 95% internet marketers and bloggers don’t (This statistic is just a guess ^-^). Most newbie marketers and bloggers do the same selling mistakes over and over again, without even realizing it. So what are these mistakes?

1. Doing Hard Sell

A lot of newbie marketers acted like a bad car salesman when selling affiliate products. They mentioned the features of the product they are promoting, the specifications, the price and some random bonus offers they have. But their readers or visitors are not interested in all of those. Because they could get all those information from the sales page of the product. Even worse, they promote the product with unnecessary exaggerations and, sometimes, lies (remember the açaí berry fake blogs crackdowns recently?). Mark Ling, the founder of Affilorama, said blog is not a place to hard-sell. In case you don’t know, hard sell is an advertisement or campaign that uses a more direct, forceful, and overt sales message.

So how should you sell instead? Do a soft-selling. Tell them how you feel after using the product, how the product change your life for the better. Your success stories. You might asked me, what if I never really tested the product myself? Then try it. You could probably lie, but your readers will know eventually. If they buy your affiliate product and it is not as good as what you say it is, you’re ruining your reputation and credibility. You might made the sale this one time, but you won’t have repeat customers. But, if you know more about the product you’re promoting, the better you pre-sell post would be. And, the more sales you’ll get. So, try the product yourself, then review it. Trust me, it’s worth it.

2. Not Using Cloaking

I’m not saying that the internet is filled with bad people or anything (but maybe it is…). But it’s better safe than sorry. Cloaking the affiliate links prevents people from robbing you of an affiliate commission by copying the affiliate URL and removing the affiliate ID from it. How to hide affiliate links? I definitely am not a technical person so I don’t know how. But as usual, my favorite blogs come to the rescue. After some browsing, I found that John Chow have made a decent tutorial about it. So, rather than copy-pasting his article here (and getting chain-sawed by my English teacher for plagiarism). Why don’t you just visit this link and learn how: John Chow’s Affiliate Cloaking.

3. Never Optimized for Buyer’s Keyword

The third mistakes that most marketers do is not optimizing their articles for the buyer’s keyword of the product they are promoting. What’s a buyer’s keyword? They are keywords that are more likely to turn prospects into buyers, because they are much more targeted and long tail. For example, you are promoting the new Acer laptop. Rather than optimizing your article for too broad, too competitive “Acer laptop” phrase. Meaning, when people search for the phrase “Acer laptop”, they might just trying to find Acer’s customer support or Acer official site. The intention is not clear. So, instead of wasting our time optimizing on such a broad keyword, we should focus on long tail keyword phrase, like “Acer Aspire 5610 review” or “Acer TM 4150 Comparisons”. Those keywords have a higher chance of selling the laptops because, if you think about it, when is the time you try to find reviews and comparisons? When you are ready to buy, right? So capitalize on those keywords.

4. No Comparisons

This doesn’t apply to some products because they are simply cannot be compared. For example, when you are promoting a new weight loss guide, you can’t compare this new guide with the other guides in the market, right? Oh, they are missing the chapter about setting up your mindset for diet…It just won’t work! But other products that have direct competitions to them could certainly benefit from using product comparisons. Electronic products, email marketing services, software, and hosting services are some that could be compared. By using comparisons, your visitors could easily get why the product you’re recommending is superior.

5. No “Because…”

Your readers won’t buy from you unless you tell them the reason why. If they already have the previous version of the product , why do they need to upgrade? If they are using other services, why must they change? And if they haven’t had any experience whatsoever with this type of diet, why should they start now? Brian Clark, from CopyBlogger, wrote in one of his many popular articles that the two most important words in blogging are “you” and “because” (Two Most Important Words in Blogging). By answering the “why”s, you’ll be forced to use the word because, which results in making your pre-sell post more effective and powerful.

6. No Call To Action

This is one of those mistakes that seem obvious, but a lot of marketers still forget to do it. You need to tell your readers to buy the product from your link. Don’t be shy or feel bad. If you really have tried the product and get something good from it, your readers would thank you for recommending it. Tell them honestly that you’ll get a commission from every sales that you made through the link. If you have shown through your article or video that you knew the product and that you have benefit from it, your readers won’t think twice about getting their wallets out and buy from you.

These are some of the mistakes that you should avoid when writing product reviews in your blog. I am hopeful that this guide could help you write better reviews and thus increase your sales. Feel free to leave comments or tweet it if you like it.

21 Killer Copywriting Tips You Probably Never Heard About

Andi Putra — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:01:09 +0000

Copywriting is a tough nut to crack. It’s hard enough to write something good on paper, now your writing needs to be able to sell products or services. These 21 copywriting tips, arranged at no specific order, will hopefully aid you in eliminating the problems you might faced when writing copies. You could also treat this as some sort of checklists when you do write a copy.

1. Be curious

The best copywriters in the world are usually curious about life. They have many hobbies and a variety of interests. They thirst for knowledge and new interactions. They are also good listeners, open to other people’s experience and ideas. Incorporate the hunger for knowledge, a curiosity, and a passion in your life, and you’re on your way to be a better copywriter.

2. Do more sucky drafts

What is the recipe of success? According to my favorite self-help guru, Anthony Robbins, it’s repetitions. Always practice the art of writing copies and always write more than one copy drafts. It would train your mind to find the best way to put your ideas into words on paper. And it really doesn’t matter if they are difficult to read. Some of the best copywriters have admitted that their drafts are usually illegible, except to themselves.

3. The perfect buying environment

I bought a home theater system that cost me around a thousand dollar recently. The interesting is I have no intention of buying when I first got into the store. The salesman, after saying hi to me, brought me to a small room where they’ve set up a 50 inch LCD TV with a set of Sony home theater system. They let me sat on a very comfy sofa, drinking the Coke I’ve brought in with me. They let me feel how good it is to have the set, and I bought it. My point is, one major contributing factor of my purchase is not how good the product is compared to others, but the incredible experience I had in that small home theater room. In a copy, the buying environment is created through the graphic elements you used, the way you phrase your words, the choice of words, and the level of integrity you convey. So keep a lookout to those factors.

4. Anticipate and Resolve Objections

If you think your prospects might raise some objections to your product, raise those objections yourself first. You’re not there, face-to-face with your consumer, to answer the questions they might have. After you raise those objections, resolve them altogether in your copy. You must be honest and provide alternative solutions or dispel the objections completely.

5. Seeds of curiosity

I obtained this knowledge from Joseph Sugarman, one of the best copywriters in the world. He said that one of the ways to make your prospects unable to stop reading your copy is by applying, what he called, “seeds of curiosity”. At the end of a paragraph, put a very short sentence that offers some reason for the reader to read the next paragraph, using sentences such as:

But there’s more.

So read on.

But I didn’t stop there.

Now here comes the good part.

These seed of curiosity cause your readers to subconsciously continue reading even tough your copy might have reached a down point.

6. Sell to the heart, justify to the mind

People don’t buy Mercedes because of the 600 cc engine, the dual airbags or whatever features that are advertised for the car. They bought because its prestigious brand and the feeling of belonging to the crowd that drove Mercedes. Those technical features, however, are important to let your consumers justify your products to others, when they had to explain the reason for their purchase.

7. Do you feel like reading it?

After you finished writing you copy, read it yourself. Be objective and judge yourself on how much you enjoy reading your own writings. If you feel bored or disinterested at your own writings, how could you expect someone else to read it?

8. Edit your copy

Don’t post or publish your copy directly after you finish writing it. Re-read and edit it to find the best way to communicate your ideas in writing. Let your copy slides and flows into your consumers’ mind as smoothly as possible. Also, check for spelling errors as they would make you appear unprofessional.

9. Know your customers, like thyself

Are your consumers male or female? How old are they? What are their probable hobbies? The more you know about your prospects, the more ideas you could put in your writing that appeals to your consumers’ specific wants and needs. Thus, the better your copy would be.

10. No clichés, please

Have your heard of phrase like, “Here comes the product that the world has been waiting for!” or “This Product is The Best Thing since Sliced Bread!”? These phrases are what we called clichés. And if you feel inclined to use them, don’t. They seem to be used when you have nothing really significant or good to say about your product or service.

11. Testimonials

A testimonial is a good way to increase credibility, especially if it’s from a very credible person or organization. In recent years, audio or video testimonials are slowly replacing written testimonials, and becoming the norm. They had proven themselves to be more effective, primarily because written testimonials have been so over-used over the years. I also noticed some online sales pages that put a ‘As seen on: Google CNN, etc’ banner to increase their credibility.

12. Price

There are 2 ways you could display your price in your copy. If you’re selling a product or service at a very good price, like the recent $1 access for CPA Classroom, then set the price in larger typeface. You want people to see how much value they are getting with your product. On the other hand, if your product is expensive, you might want to underplay it. Use smaller fonts, but DON’T HIDE IT.

13. Recap you Offer

Summarize your long offer into one paragraph near the end of your ad. “So here’s my offer. Get unlimited access to Blog for Charity Classroom for only $1 for the next ten days.” This is a very important point that are still missing in a lot of online sales copy.

14. Call for action!

Always ask your prospects to take action at the end of your sales copy. “Click the Order Now Button to get Blog Charity Classroom for only $1” or “Click the Add to Cart Button to not miss this fantastic offer.”

15. Be honest

Consumers are getting smarter, they could get all the information they needed with one Google search or two. They could also tell if you are truthful in your advertising. So, instead of being dishonest in your message, use honesty as a psychological selling tool. Write the negative features of your product in your copy, but explain why the flaws didn’t amount to much and why they should still buy your product. The more truthful and frank your ads are, the more consumers would respond. Try it.

16. Establish authority

Choose a niche within a niche and be an expert in it. People needs reassurance and confidence about the purchase they are making, assurance from others that they spend their money wisely. You usually asked your friends, family members, or even neighbors for approval. If, however, you can trust the sales organization or person (in this case you) as the experts, then you won’t need any outside expert opinion. Some good examples are John Chow and Darren Rowse who established themselves as the authority figure in making money by blogging niche.

17. Be believable

In your copy, you need to convey, through examples or by comparison, that what the customer is buying is a good value. But you have to be believable. If you offer a supposedly $1,000 product for only $1, that doesn’t mean all of your prospects would just run and purchase your product instantly. Some would, of course. To make your offer more effective, tell them the reason ‘Why’. Why is it so cheap? What is the occasion for this discounted price? Or even, Why they need to buy now?

18. Create a sense of urgency

Your prospect is sold with your idea and is ready to buy. But, like many customers, he said, “Let me think about it.” So, here’s what you need to do. Put constraints on your offer. These constraints could be in the form of low supplies, closeout opportunity, limited-time price opportunity, price rise, or limited-edition opportunity. Hey, you could even say, “Buy one during the next 4 hours and get the second one free”, like what they did on those shopping channels on TV.

19. Give them hope

Hope could be a great motivator for someone to purchase a product. An office worker bought a $2,000 internet product, hoping to be the next internet millionaire. A hardcore golfer purchased a new golf ball, hoping that he would have better games. The future benefits are never assured, nor are they guaranteed. They are just possibilities. One aspect that you need to focus on when you create a copy using the power of hope is credibility. Be a credible person and your prospects would feel confident and feel compel to order.

20. Tell a story

People love stories, and one of the really good ways to connect with your prospects is just by telling a story. Stories usually have lessons to teach or experiences to share or even endings that can excite, surprise or bring out emotion. And so it is with good copy. Frank Kern earned more than $1 million within 24 hour with his Mass Control course by telling stories about his life. The story of how he got back to his feet from the disaster that befell him at the time. A good story helps you bond with your prospects.

21. Be exclusive

Let your prospects feel special when purchasing your product or service, like they will belong to a very small group that can be envied for owning this very limited item. This could, of course, be applied to actual membership sites or forums as well. Sometimes, limiting the number of people who could purchase your product or service might be more beneficial than allowing anyone to purchase it. Some internet marketing gurus are selling their products at crazy prices, like $3,000++, using this strategy.

These are some of the ways to improve your copywriting skill that you could use to sell your own products or services. Please, feel free to leave your tips in the comments area below or tweet this article.