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Highly Recommended *
What
Are You Missing in the Financial News?
It
never ceases to amaze me how the mainstream financial media
leave the most important details out of their investment
news.
Did
you know that the government is actually steering the dollar
downtrend even as they repeat their belief in a strong dollar?
Want to learn more? Read Money Insight each week.
At
the end of every issue, Money Insight tells you what Wall
Street is saying... and what it really means. Plus you’ll
learn ways to invest and profit off of distorted news…and
why this news matters to your portfolio.
It
takes five minutes of your time to stay one step ahead of
the Street. Sign up for Money
Insight today.
Good
investing,
-Charles
Delvalle
Let's
Look at the Real Estate Bubble This Way
By
Michael Masterson
Bill
Bonner, the greatest writer I know personally, had this to
say recently about the real estate market:
"America's
real estate bubble has created a whole nation of geniuses
... people who think they are smart because their houses
have gone up in price. And the smartest of them weren't content
to merely watch prices rise; they took advantage of them
by leveraging themselves into more and more expensive properties.
...
"There must be millions of real estate speculators, concentrated
in the hot markets on both coasts, in similar situations. They've
stretched to buy. Now they're stretched to keep up with maintenance,
taxes, condo fees, and interest payments. Their neighbors bite
their tongues. 'I told you so,' they itch to say.
"What can you do to protect yourself? If you have a house
you don't intend to hold for a long time, this may be your
last chance to sell at near-peak prices. Otherwise, all you
can do is to put your money where a U.S. housing collapse won't
hurt it."
Longtime
ETR readers don't have to worry about what to do now. They
have already sold their inflated properties. Or at least
we hope they did. We've been suggesting they do so for 18
months at least - maybe longer.
I
don't think there's much of a chance of selling at near-peak
prices now. Properties are still being listed at peak or
near-peak prices, but they are not selling. We predicted
15 percent declines for single-family homes, 30 percent for
townhouses and 50 percent for condos. My guess is that prices
have already tumbled about two-thirds of that -10 percent
for single-family houses, 20 percent for townhouses, and
33 percent for condos.
Today's
Action Plan
If
you are stuck with property you can't afford to keep and
can get better prices than our gloomy crystal ball is predicting,
sell.
"Writing
headlines is a specialty. There are outstanding writers
who will tell you they couldn't write a headline to save
their lives."
-
Bill Walsh
A
5-Minute Method to Double Your Ad Response ... Starting
Today
By
Katie Yeakle
If you're like me, you can't check your mail or log onto your
e-mail without seeing a slew of messages trying to sell you.
A quick scan of mine this morning reveals everything from outrageous
promises to "Increase Your Size" to legitimate "Special
Offer" promotions sent by companies I've purchased from
in the past.
Most
days, I've only got time to give them a 15-second look, open
the ones that seem interesting, and send the rest to the
trash. And you can bet that's what even your loyal customers
are doing too.
If you want to increase response to your company's direct-mail
and e-mail marketing efforts, you've got to do more than simply
make them stand out from the pack. You have to engage your
customers from word one with your headline or subject line.
But how do you do that every time?
Even
the savviest of entrepreneurs start scratching their heads
when it comes to choosing the best words for the job. Many
that I've talked to resort to hours-long brainstorming sessions,
and pick what they think will work. Then they cross their
fingers and wait for the phone to ring.
But
there's a better way.
There's
a shortcut I learned from the copywriting
program Michael Masterson developed for AWAI that can
help you come up with, in record time, the most powerful
line to engage your customers and increase the sales of your
products and services.
So,
rather than spending hours to come up with a blah headline
like ...
"Why
the Stock Market's Set to Take a Tumble"
You
will quickly come up with a winner like:
"5
Events That Will Send Your Stocks Plummeting Next Year -
and What to Do Today!"
Instead
of ...
"New
Breakthrough in Men's Health"
You
will say:
"How
any man can build muscle in 30 days, naturally!"
And
why say ...
"Fall
sale, save up to 50%"
When
you can say:
"Save
$25 Off Your Next Order of Imported Belgian Chocolates"
See the difference? This simple tool that turns ho-hum headlines
into attention grabbers is one of the first lessons taught
to new copywriters who take Michael's program.
The "secret" works
whether you're contacting your prospects online, or trying
to come up with a winning headline for direct-mail efforts
or space ads. It works for every product in every market.
Guaranteed.
What
I'm talking about is a "test" that Michael calls
the Four U's. Apply these four words to your ad copy and
you'll know how to narrow down a dry-erase board of a dozen
headline ideas to the very best response generators in a
matter of minutes. So, what are they?
1.
Usefulness
2. Ultra-specificity
3. Urgency
4. Uniqueness
Here's
how they work:
Let's
say you're sending out an e-mail blast selling a stock investment
tip. Your team comes up with the following headline ...
"The
Hottest Investment Tip in Town"
Not bad, but the Four U's can make it better. First, you need
to communicate something of value to the prospect. So let's
add the first U, Usefulness. What about ...
"Make
thousands by following one investment tip"
Better.
Now your prospect knows the benefit. But it's kind of vague.
How much is "thousands"? Your reader must know
what specific benefits are in store for him or you're going
to lose him. So you need the second U, Ultra-specificity.
Let's try ...
"Make
an extra $4,500 by following one investment tip"
Okay,
now we're really getting somewhere. The prospect knows he
can make $4,500 with this tip. Still, you need to give the
reader a reason to desire the benefit - and, here's the key
- sooner rather than later. So you need the third U, Urgency
...
"Wake
up tomorrow $4,500 richer by following one investment tip"
This
could work. Who wouldn't want to "wake up tomorrow $4,500
richer"? But you can make it better still when you use
the fourth and final U, Uniqueness. After all, the reader
could think this investment tip is just like all the others
out there. You have to suggest that what it's offering is
in some way different from everything else of its type. So
let's try this ...
"Psst
... buy this little-known stock and wake up tomorrow with
an extra $4,500"
Now
the reader knows that if he buys a certain secret stock he
can roll out of bed with an extra $4,500 in his pocket! Not
bad.
I
certainly want to find out what it is and how it can make
me so much money, don't you?
That's
the power of the Four U's. Every time you or someone on your
marketing team is writing ad copy, put the subject line,
headline, even the subheads and bullets through the Four
U's by asking:
1.
Is it Urgent?
2. Is it Useful?
3. Is it Unique?
4. Is it Ultra-specific?
If
you can answer "yes," to at least three of these
criteria, you'll fast and furiously weed out the ones that
won't work. As for the mediocre ones? You'll know immediately
how to kick 'em up a notch to attention-grabbing great. No
more finger-crossing. No more guesswork.
[Ed.
Note: Katie Yeakle is Director of American Writers and Artists
Inc (AWAI). The Four U's is just one of the many winning
sales techniques personally developed by Michael Masterson
in AWAI's Accelerated
Program for Six-Figure Copywriting. Find out how you
can start using these secrets today to boost
sales or become a successful copywriter yourself.]
*
Highly Recommended *
You
Are NOT Alone
According
to a recent Harris poll, 72% of American households are thinking
about starting a home-based business.
You
are not alone...
- More
and more people are dropping out of the rat race to provide
services and/or goods from home. Start part-time and
build until you can drop the "day job."
- For
many, working from home is the best choice (ex., the
stay-at-home spouse, or those who are retired).
- For
others, working from home may be the only option (ex.,
house-bound due to health or to care for elderly parents).
- And
it has even proven to be an excellent (if unexpected)
opportunity for hundreds of thousands (ex., the "downsized")
The
Web is the best way to do this. Start today and be there
before the rest. Here is a certain way for YOU to have your
own REAL Web business by July 16th.
-
Patrick Coffey
Heart
Healthy Benefits of Interval Training
By
Jon Herring
Of
all the factors related to exercise - how frequently you
work out, how long, how hard, etc. - the one most closely
related to the risk of heart attack is how quickly the heart
can return to a resting pulse after a bout of intense exercise.
That's the conclusion of a French study recently published
in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers measured
the heart rates of 5,000 healthy men as they exercised, and
followed them for more than 20 years. Among other things,
they found that those men who had the widest range between
their maximum and resting heart rates were the least likely
to die of a heart attack
The
best way to achieve a lower resting heart rate, increase
max heart rate, and widen the range between the two is with
interval training - repeated brief bouts of high-intensity
exercise, followed by active rest (i.e., high-intensity sprints
followed by brief periods of walking).
Check
your resting heart rate in the morning, before drinking anything
with caffeine in it. Take your pulse (or use a heart rate
monitor) for one minute. Then, to determine your maximum
heart rate, perform a cardio exercise at high intensity for
as long as you can ... and immediately check your heart rate
for 15 seconds. Multiply that number by four. The wider the
spread between your resting and maximum heart rates, the
better.
Spotted
on the Internet: A Bit of Fluff to Make You Smile
Dear
Lord,
Help me to relax about insignificant details, beginning tomorrow
at 7:41:23 a.m. EST.
Help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them
are hypersensitive.
Help me to take responsibility for the consequences of my actions,
even though they're usually not my fault.
Help me to not try to run everything - but, if you need some
help, please feel free to ask me.
Help me to be more laid back, and help me to do it exactly
right.
Help me to take things more seriously, especially laughter,
parties, and dancing.
Give me patience, and I mean right now!
Help me not be a perfectionist. (Did I spell that correctly?)
Help me to finish everything I sta
Help me to keep my mind on one thing ... oh, look, a bird ...
at a time.
Help me to do only what I can, and trust you for the rest.
And would you mind putting that in writing?
Keep me open to others' ideas, misguided though they may be.
Help me follow established procedures. Hey, wait ... this is
wrong ...
Help me slow down andnotrushthroughwhatido.
Thank you, Lord.
Amen
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Secure
Your Future...TODAY
In
6 hours and 35 minutes, you can be in business - well on
your way to making upwards of $100,000 per year! That's how
long it takes to "create" what is without question
the world's easiest, most profitable and infinitely
rewarding business.
Word
to the Wise: Crapulous
Someone
who is "crapulous" (KRAP-yuh-lus) is sick as the
result of excessive eating and/or drinking. The word is derived
from the Greek "kraipale" ("intoxication").
