Hand a sales letter to a dozen people, and you’ll see what I mean. Some of them — the inveterate readers — will read the headline and every page of the copy.

The rest — the scanners — will quickly flip through, reading only the heads and subheads.

Before the invention of sidebars, we rarely gave scanners much that would draw their eyes into our sales letters. But sidebars turned scanners into readers. And because only readers respond to an offer, they dramatically increased our chances of making the sale.

My point — and I do have one — is…

Great sidebars turn scanners into readers — AND responders.

Notice I said “great sidebars.” Unfortunately, a lot of the sidebars I see are not great. They look like what they are: afterthoughts. Or, worse, “leftovers” from an earlier draft.

Instead of sleepwalking through your sidebars, try writing your running copy first. Then read each paragraph, thinking, “What kind of sidebar could I use to drive this point home in the most powerful manner possible?”

Do that and, suddenly, every sidebar becomes more focused. So does your entire sales message.

Then, after you’ve written a sidebar, ask yourself, “How can I make sure this is not a dead end? What can I do to help this sidebar drive the reader back into the copy? Or, better yet, to my order device?”

Most of the promotions I see would probably pull 10 percent to 30 percent better if the writer had followed this advice.

20 Kinds of Sidebars and How to Use Them

That said, let’s take a look at the kinds of sidebars that give you the best chances of turning scanners into readers…

Readership Sidebars are designed to sell the prospect on reading your text. They generally fall into one of three categories…

• Tables of contents: A listing of the valuable information revealed inside the promotion enlists the prospect’s self-interest.

• Pull-quotes: These boxes put an intriguing proposition… or a compelling benefit… up in lights. I often include a photo of the ersatz author of the piece for added attention-getting power.

• Teasers and page-turners: Inserted at the bottom of a right-hand page, these little gems “sell” the reader on turning the page by hinting at the valuable information on the next spread.

Biography Sidebars are really a kind of a “credibility device.” They’re used to eliminate any doubt that the titular author of the piece knows what he’s talking about. They attempt to lift your expert — and, therefore, your sales message — head and shoulders above the competition. They often take the form of a…

• Curriculum vitae: A true biography of the expert — his education, accomplishments, awards, books, and so on.

• Case history: A narrative of an experience the expert has had that demonstrates his wisdom, experience, and/or prestige in his industry.

Proof Element Sidebars are used to present facts, figures, and other evidence that prove the truth of statements made in your text. I use them in three ways…

• To document the enormity of the problem or opportunity: When I’m trying to evoke concern over heart disease, for example, I might include a chart showing how many Americans will suffer a heart attack this year.

In a financial package, I might use this kind of sidebar to document a claim that 80 percent of all mutual funds don’t keep up with the S&P 500. Or I might use a table listing the advisor’s most profitable trades. Or maybe a line chart showing soaring global demand for oil and plummeting supplies.

• To demonstrate the wisdom of the expert’s approach: This kind of sidebar might be a chart or graph comparing the profits the expert has earned to another indicator — the S&P 500, for example. Or, it might compare the blood pressure of people who take a particular supplement with those who don’t.

Benefit Sidebars are really just like ads within your ad. Each one draws out one of the compelling benefits the product offers. More important, each one is presented in a way that connects with the prospect’s feelings about:

• Avoiding or resolving a problem: With this approach, I typically put my prospect’s negative feelings about the subject at hand into words… validate how he feels… and empathize with him. Then I show him how my product will resolve those feelings.

• Easing a fear: “Fear relief” sidebars appear around the middle of my sales message — after I’ve done everything I can to bring every concern or frustration my prospect has about the subject at hand bubbling to the surface. Once I’ve done that, I use these sidebars to show him how my product will free him from those negative emotions.

• Fulfilling a strong, long-held personal desire: If my main theme is a positive one — focused on one or more benefits that will bring tremendous value to my prospect’s life — I use these “fulfillment” sidebars to prove that my product will, indeed, deliver.

Credibility Sidebars are invaluable tools for convincing your prospect that your expert’s view (no matter how radical) is valued by other experts, and that your product will produce the promised benefit.

• Customer testimonials: These can take the form of straight testimonials or narrative testimonials. They can appear singly to add impact to a spread or be clumped together. I like to do both.

• Expert testimonials: Praise from peers and other experts whose names are known — or whose titles are impressive and/or connect them with respected institutions — establish the authority and credibility of your expert.

• Media mentions and appearances: These demonstrate that your expert is important enough to have been noticed, quoted, or invited to appear on major media outlets. At best, they’ll say something about him that reads like an endorsement. But the simple fact that he regularly appears on CNBC or “Nightline” or is quoted in The Wall Street Journal makes him worth listening to.

Sales-Closing Sidebars generally appear in the final third of the sales message. They are designed to remove the final roadblocks between the prospect and your response device. I use seven of these kinds of sidebars in just about every promotion I write…

• Pull-quotes: To allow the author to look the prospect in the eye and deliver a compelling benefit or horrifying alternative and ask for the sale.

• Premium ads: To ramp up the perceived value of the free gifts the prospect will receive. Usually, these ads are a series of bullets on the most valuable information in each premium.

• Product ads: To fully lay out the value the product will bring to the prospect’s life. These are typically written in much the same way as a premium ad.

• Value sidebars: To demonstrate how mind-blowingly cheap the product is relative to other things the prospect buys. These sidebars are designed to make not ordering feel like the dumbest thing he could possibly do.

• Risk relief sidebars: “Risk relief” is just a fancy-schmancy way of saying “guarantee.” But I make my guarantees go beyond simply saying, “If you hate it, I’ll refund your money.” I use my guarantees to reiterate the benefits I’m promising… to have my expert sign a contract with the prospect, promising that he’ll deliver… and to demonstrate his “money-where-his-mouth-is” confidence that the product will perform as advertised.

• Contact devices: Actually, these should appear on every spread and contain a toll-free number the prospect can call to order. I also like to break them out in sidebars to drive my prospect to my response device or to his telephone.

• Action devices: Often imbedded in other sidebars, they urge the prospect to order now — either by calling a toll-free number or turning to the order form.

Lots to think about!

Now, here’s your assignment: Grab a pile of promotions and plop down on the sofa. Look at each sidebar and ask yourself, “Why did the writer include this? What kind of sidebar is it? What does it accomplish? Does it focus his main theme or serve to diffuse it?”

More important, read the running copy and ask yourself, “What other kinds of proof element, credibility, and other sidebars could have done a better job of making the sale?”

By the time you’re done, you’ll be twice the copywriter or marketer you are now.

[Ed. Note: Ready for more tips from the master? At ETR's Info-Marketing Bootcamp, Clayton Makepeace joined a dozen other experts in Internet marketing, social media, and business building. If you couldn't make it to see their presentations in person, you can still benefit from the secrets they revealed from the stage. We recorded every single minute of Bootcamp on video. And those recordings are available for order now.]

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The Greatest Dirty Little Secret of the Internet

To make money as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to constantly scour the earth for high-quality, in-demand products.

You could create new ones. But that can be expensive. Time-consuming. And after all the work… you might wind up with nothing.

But a few of the Internet’s top marketers have found a way around this problem. They don’t spend time (or money) on products that may or may not sell. Instead, they pluck moneymakers from a reserve of pre-made products and sales promotions.

A martial arts expert from Florida has turned this strategy into a small fortune. He estimates that one “pre-made product” made over $20,000 in one month… Another has gone on to pull in over $332,250.

Discover how he found these moneymakers… And learn how you could use this secret to make anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to a few hundred thousand bucks a year right here.

Not that I pay much attention to such things, mind you.

My professional life revolves around marketing trends. And there again, my advanced age means I’ve seen many promotional styles over the years.

But through it all, the principles of creating effective sales copy pretty much stayed the same. And for one simple reason:

Our prospective customers weren’t changing much.

In 1975, for example, my average 65-year-old prospect had been born in 1910. In ‘85, I was writing primarily to folks who’d been born in 1920. In ‘95, my average prospect had been born in 1930.

All of these prospects had common values. They all had memories of the Great Depression… World War II… and of gathering around a flickering black-and-white television for Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best.

Their Weltanschauung was formed at a time when a man’s word was his bond and good character meant everything.

They were raised by their parents to revere the government… trust the family doctor… respect their employers… believe what the media told them. And also to assume that most of the advertising they saw and heard was true.

It was for these generations that the great advertising masters created their legendary ads. And it was from these generations that the masters learned what worked best before passing it on to us in their classic books.

Now, these generations are being gradually replaced.

Oh, what a difference a single generation can make!

Today’s 65-year-old prospect was born in 1942. Way too young to remember World War II, let alone the Great Depression.

More important, he turned 18 in 1960. And he acquired his skills as a consumer smack-dab in the middle of the “Question Authority” era of the 60s and early 70s. Vietnam and Watergate produced the most cynical generation America had ever seen.

What’s more, that generation did an excellent job of passing its skepticism on to its children. Those hyper-cynical “Generation Xers” are now your 26- to 47-year-old prospects.

Meanwhile, two additional sea changes have been giving our prospects even greater reasons to distrust anything they see, hear, or read. Including our ads.

The first one began with the appearance of The National Enquirer, packed with stories of alien encounters and other such horsepucky.

Soon, other publishers figured out they could get rich by appealing to our baser instincts. And tons of “me-too” tabloids — featuring stories of the lurid and bizarre — began springing up like crazy.

Finally, the national media figured it out too — and started spending less time covering news that matters.

They became obsessed with Joey Buttafuoko, Lorena Bobbit, Monica Lewinsky, the status of Britney Spears’s underwear — and, of course, UFOs.

Now, I ask you. Can you imagine the venerable Walter Cronkite reporting on such things?

Neither can our prospects.

And now, while the once-respected media have been busy debauching themselves, a second sea change has taken place. The Internet — an even less responsible medium — has taken center stage.

Since people can pretty much say whatever they want on the ‘Net — whether it’s true or not — many do.

And so, for consumers whose IQ is larger than their shoe size, online advertising claims are taken with a grain of salt.

What does all this mean to you?

Well, for one thing…

Everything you think you know about marketing is becoming obsolete.

The advertising masters — Kennedy, Lasker, Hopkins, Collier, Schwab, Caples, Reeves, Ogilvy, and others — created their classic ads for a radically different audience.

It’s time to stop asking, “What did the masters say in their books?” and to begin asking, “What would they HAVE DONE if they had been presented with today’s prospects?”

As a marketer, overcoming your prospects’ skepticism is your greatest challenge.

The good news is, it can be done. Because though our prospects are radically different than their parents and grandparents, they have one thing in common with them:

They like to spend money.

The desire to feather our nests… purchase products that can make us richer or healthier… buy things that save us time, effort, or money… spend on things that assuage boredom or improve status… is every bit as powerful as it ever was.

Nevertheless, the way in which we deliver the message that our products can satisfy those desires must change.

Today, it’s all about developing a relationship with your prospect. It’s about building credibility and loyalty over time.

Marketers who do that are growing by leaps and bounds. Those who cling to the old models are losing ground.

Today’s prospect is likely to ignore sales communications that look like sales communications.

Instead, newsy leads that key on something they are already thinking about often work best.

Lower-key, value-added advertorials that reward prospects for reading by delivering useful information is leaving the high-energy language of the carnival barker in the dust.

It’s all about persuasion.

Falling back on the old ways and just throwing around a bunch of promises is easy.

Thinking is hard.

Climbing inside your prospect’s skin… fully understanding what he must first know before he’s likely to purchase your product… then presenting that information in a way that’s engaging, entertaining, and credible — and doing all that without having your sales copy sound like sales copy. That is the hardest kind of hard.

But it’s worth it.

A while ago, I wrote a series of friendly e-mails inviting prospects to attend a free teleseminar on international investing.

More than 5,000 people signed up. And the call delivered valuable, actionable advice to help investors profit in foreign stock markets.

It also sold somewhere north of $1.5 million in subscriptions in a matter of hours.

Meanwhile, we blasted an “obvious” USP-based promotion to prospects.

It barely registered on the response Richter scale.

Worth thinking about…

P.S. At Early to Rise’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November, I’ll be sharing even more insights about what is working in Internet marketing today — and what isn’t. I’ll reveal how to boost response and sales in today’s market. And I’ll tell you exactly how to avoid the mistakes that have been slowly killing so many online businesses in the past couple of years. Find out more about Bootcamp here.

———————————————-Highly Recommended —————————————————

The Greatest Dirty Little Secret of the Internet

To make money on the Internet, you have to produce and sell lots of products.

But producing all those products can be expensive and time-consuming. And after all the work and investment, you could end up broke.

There is a very clever way to get around this problem. It’s being used by a few of today’s top Internet moneymakers. But they aren’t talking about it.

They don’t spend time (or money) on products that may or may not sell. Instead, they pluck moneymakers from a reservoir of pre-made products and sales promotions.

A martial arts expert from Florida turned this strategy into a small fortune. He estimates that one “pre-made product” made over $20,000 in one month. Another has gone on to pull in over $332,250.

Discover how he found these moneymakers … And learn how you could use this secret to make anywhere from a few hundred bucks a month to a few hundred thousand a year right here.

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We bought it a few months ago so we could spend more time with my two older kids and three grandkids. They live in Atlanta, less than an hour away.

My plan for the weekend was that we’d all be tear-assing around the lake on our Sea-Doos. Maybe we’d do a little early-morning fishing. In the evening, we’d grill our catch out on the deck, along with an assortment of steaks, burgers, and weenies.

You know. Typical, normal family stuff.

Instead, I found myself sitting there alone. And I was feeling more than a little alarmed — having come to the realization that I am the patriarch of a family of nerds.

My son-in-law and both sons were spending Friday night in Atlanta, preparing to attend Dragon*Con on Saturday.

Never heard of Dragon*Con? I hadn’t either. Until my just-turned-15-year-old son said he wanted tickets for his birthday.

Dragon*Con is where thousands of nerds dress up like fantasy, horror, superhero, and sci-fi characters — and then geek out over each other.

It was enough to make me want to throw on my leathers, fire up the Harley, cruise over to the nearest biker bar, and drown my sorrows in a gallon or three of Absolut.

Don’t feel sorry for me. I actually enjoyed the solitude. Gave me time to think.

What I was thinking about was the impact our fantasies and beliefs have on us.

I saw a documentary on a related subject the other night. Fascinating stuff. It made the point that we are complicit in every lie we’re ever told. Our desire to believe makes deceiving us easy.

Guess that’s why they’ve sold billions of pills that supposedly make your thingy bigger. Or grow hair on your bald spot. Or burn off that spare tire without exercise.

It must also be why Bernie Madoff was able to fleece so many sophisticated investors for so many years.

This simple fact of human nature is so powerful, it is dangerous. As a marketer, simply knowing it gives you the ability to become a superhero or a supervillain.

Superpowers, as any Dragon*Con attendee can tell you, can be used either for evil or good. Please use this one only for good — to promote products that truly benefit your prospective customers.

And the way to do that is to get inside their heads.

Know Thy Prospect

Libraries of books have been written on the importance of knowing your prospect. Most extol the virtues of understanding demographic facts about them.

They drone on about knowing the sex, age, income level, educational level, etc. of the people you’re asking to buy your product.

And they go further, lecturing on the need to ferret out their hobbies, interests, and buying preferences.

However, few suggest that anchoring your sales message to a commonly held belief can have an explosive impact on your response rate and sales.

Case in point:

In the 1970s, a new industry appeared to provide objective news, analysis, and advice to investors. There was a crying need for it. Until then, this information had been parsed out by Wall Street brokers. And because they sold the investments they were talking about, they had a massive conflict of interest.

In the 1990s, another industry emerged. This time to provide news and advice to people who were interested in alternatives to toxic drugs and life-threatening surgery.

Again, there was a crying need. Until then, health information was largely dispensed by drug companies and mainstream experts who were paid fortunes in kickbacks by the drug companies. Every one of them had a vested interest in convincing consumers to blindly follow their doctors’ orders.

The prospects for both of these huge new industries had one, clear belief in common: You CANNOT trust the establishment. Not with your money and certainly not with your life.

Not surprisingly, copywriters for the investment and health industries who began by looking at mere demographic facts about their prospects produced lukewarm results at best.

But every copywriter who used his headline and lead to connect to the anti-establishment belief his prospects shared hit it out of the park.

Like me, for instance. The “Forbidden Cures” promo I wrote to harness my prospects’ distrust of and disgust with the medical establishment mailed in the tens of millions. And I was paid a king’s ransom in royalties.

Time to put on the old thinking cap…

What fantasies are your prospects engaged in right now? What commonly held beliefs do they swear by?

How can you connect with those beliefs in a way that will produce maximum attention-getting power, readership, and response in your next marketing effort?

Food for thought…

P.S. Ready for a marketing and copywriting master class? At Early to Rise’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp in November, I will be making one of my few public appearances. I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned during my decades in the business — at least, as much as I can in three days. And I’ll be joined on stage by a dozen of the most cutting-edge Internet marketing experts working today. Find out more about Bootcamp here.

———————————————-Highly Recommended —————————————————

ETR’s $500,000+ Gamble

We’re betting on your success at our Information Marketing Bootcamp this November. In fact, we’ll “see you and we’ll raise you!”

You see, we’ve put the 12 gurus we’ve invited “on the spot.”

If you don’t learn from them how you could make at least your first $10,000 with your online business by May 2010 … we’re going to give you back your entrance fee. AND we’ll give you another $1,000 for your trouble.

Check out all the details on your “sure thing” here.

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More wealth, health, and wisdom from Masterson …

If I gave any credibility to what I read in the newspapers or see on talk shows, I’d believe that we are coming out of the Great Recession.

Every day, I hear news about how things are improving. Yet when I look around at the businesses I know, I can count on the fingers of one hand those that are not in trouble.

I am friendly with the owners of half a dozen restaurants in Delray Beach. They tell me sales are down between 30 percent and 70 percent. My brother-in-law is in the retail jewelry business. “It’s a complete disaster,” he says. “Most of the industry will be bankrupt by March,” he predicts.

My friend Mike wholesales furniture. His outlets are down 30 percent to 50 percent. At Joe’s cigar bar, we have plumbers and doctors and brokers — to name just a few trades. They are all crying the blues.

Is it me? Am I hanging out with the wrong people? Am I myopic?

All these hurting businesses mean rising bankruptcies and rising unemployment. And rising unemployment means more bankruptcies.

Yes, the bankers and brokers who have been “bailed out” are doing fine — or so they say. Their numbers are up because they are taking in all these freshly printed dollars. But that doesn’t mean their businesses are getting better. When the Obama administration finally turns off the spigot, we’ll see which of them will be standing. My guess is not many.

I’d like to hear from you. How are your friends and neighbors doing? How are you faring yourself? Let me know at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com

David Cross copied me on an essay in The New York Times that I had missed.

It was by a woman who had spent 30 years in publishing. She explained how technology has changed the business.

In the beginning, she said, it was “primitive chaos,” with typewritten manuscripts, ringing phones, carbon paper, fountain pens, mimeograph machines, and the smell of cigarette smoke.

Then came electric typewriters, Filofaxes, and copy machines. The antique Royals and carbon paper were trashed.

Then voice mail replaced operators, word processors replaced Wite-Out, and e-mail replaced secretaries.

She ended by asking, “Is the screen the new paper? Will publishing houses go the way of old record stores? Is digital-delivery the new bookstore? Is Google the new library?”

“I can’t answer these questions,” she says. “I am no longer in book publishing”

But in the italics that follow her essay, we learn this about her: Jan Evans, a former book publisher, is now co-founder and CEO of wowOwow.com, a website for women.

If you are in print publishing now, you don’t have long to make the switch. Tomorrow is already here…

Women, and even men nowadays, spend a small fortune on creams and lotions to keep their skin youthful looking.

But there’s something you need to know, says Total Health Breakthroughs Editor Melanie Segala. And you won’t hear it from the billion-dollar skin care industry. Taking care of your skin from the inside with a healthy diet is far more important than using the most expensive anti-aging products.

Vitamin C, for example, helps build collagen, says Melanie. That’s the connective protein that makes up 75 percent of skin. And as you age, you lose collagen. That’s one way you get wrinkles. But you can help replenish lost collagen by eating vitamin C-rich foods. Strawberries, red peppers, citrus fruits, and tomatoes are just a few.

At the same time, you’ll be getting much needed antioxidants that prevent chronic disease. No high-priced skin cream can do all that.

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“Riding out the storm.”

“I’ve been reading your newsletter for a good while now. Not all of it applies to me, but I read it all nonetheless.

“I’ve always been confident in my capabilities and those of my fabulous husband of 7 years…. 18 months ago, we left an uber-cushy expat job in Asia to partner in some new ventures in order to provide a legacy for our three kids, then all under 3.

“It’s tough going — the recession certainly didn’t help — but we’re not going to give up.

“Your nuggets of information and inspiration always seem to say just what we need to hear, to suggest a different way of considering things, of riding out the storm.

“So, thank you.”

Nadine
Adelaide, Australia

———————————————- Highly Recommended —————————————————

E-Mail Trash or Treasure – Bob Bly wrote an e-mail in five minutes. It generated a $7,449 profit in a single week. Here’s what he said…

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I would have instantly pegged you as a lunatic. But I would have been wrong. Thanks to the Internet, we actually can do it. And that’s huge.

When I write a direct-mail package, I know my client is going to have to cough up an average of $550 to send it to every 1,000 prospects in his universe. That’s $55,000 for 100,000 potential customers. And $550,000 for 1 million.

On the Internet, you can post a website with your sales message for 500 bucks. And then blast a million e-mails to drive folks to your site for next to nothing!

So, yeah. The Internet is huge and cheap. Just like the hypesters say it is.

And, yes, marketing on the ‘Net can make you a bundle. I know lots of Internet marketers who make tens of millions — even a hundred million or more — every year.

But there is a bit more to it than that …

The Web is growing up. It’s time Web marketers did too.

Frankly, most Web marketers have been spoiled rotten. Sorry guys, but you know it’s true!

For more than a decade, the fact that your medium was brand-new and your prospects were wide-eyed has allowed you to get rich without having to think much about your sales copy.

So, you’ve written the copy yourself. Or cheaped out by hiring neophytes to write it.

As a result, 99 percent of your copy is so weak it would have long ago sent any direct-response mail marketer into bankruptcy.

Now, with the Internet maturing and becoming more competitive, amateur night is over.

— Highly Recommended —

ETR’s 10-Pound Confidential Internet Marketing Playbook – When the Internet exploded 10 years ago, Michael Masterson was excited about its potential. But he predicted that it would develop very differently from what most industry experts expected. Since then, he and the rest of the ETR team have been making notes in a private journal. This “Playbook” contains all our best secrets — everything that’s helped us grow so quickly. The Playbook was meant for our eyes only. But now, for a limited time, you can get a peek. Read more …

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The costs associated with driving prospects to websites are rising. The average ‘Net consumer is growing wiser and more skeptical. And, suddenly, many Web marketers are in the same boat as their peers who use other advertising media — desperately searching for ways to boost response.

This presents a dazzling opportunity for Web marketers! Because if you make the effort to hire a good copywriter, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition. And you’ll be setting yourself up to skyrocket the amount of money you’re making now.

The other day, I was studying a series of websites from one of the nation’s most successful Internet marketing companies.

This company has all the high-tech talent and infrastructure it needs to dominate its industry. It has hundreds of employees who are experts in the nuts and bolts of Web marketing. One word from the prez, and they can conceive a new website before 10:00 a.m. … have it written by lunch … and have it designed, programmed, and making sales by quitting time.

In short, the owners have built a Ferrari of a company. But instead of paying for high-octane fuel — compelling sales copy created by proven professionals — they’re pouring cheap kerosene into the gas tank!

If they ever try sending their sales copy out via snail mail, they’ll be lucky to recoup 10 percent of the money they spend on postage!

Nevertheless, on the low-cost Web, their crummy copy generates nearly $100 million a year in sales. And they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

But just because they’re getting rich doesn’t mean they’re smart. On the contrary, it’s proof that ignorance truly is bliss. Because if their copy didn’t suck, they’d be making $1 billion a year instead of a lousy $100 million.

Unfortunately, the company’s copy will probably continue to suck. And the owners will continue to leave 90 percent of their sales on the table. Because they just can’t bring themselves to pay a top copywriter a commission on the increased sales he or she could produce for them.

So, in hopes of helping any reluctant Web marketers reading this see the error of their ways, allow me to offer this simple, one-second test …

What would YOU rather have? 100 percent of $100 million? Or 90 percent of $1 BILLION?

If you said “100 percent of $100 million,” you may as well stop reading this. Get your resume in order, and prepare to go to work for someone else.

Because your company will soon get its head handed to it on a not-so-silver platter.

But if you instantly recognized that paying a top copywriter 10 percent of sales and settling for 90 percent of the increase that stronger copy could bring you is the smarter move … because IT WOULD MAKE YOU NINE TIMES RICHER … do this …

Go to the head of the class. And call one of those copywriters. NOW!

P.S. Even if you plan to hire copywriters to write your sales copy, you should study copywriting yourself. At the very least, you must be able to recognize great copy when you see it. At Early to Rise’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November, I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned about copywriting during my decades-long career. And I’ll be joined by a dozen other experts in Internet marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and much more. You’ll discover everything you need to know about starting and growing your own Internet business. Find out more about Bootcamp here.

— Highly Recommended —

This Ancient Chinese Secret Could Change the Course of Your Life…

This secret originated in China over 6,000 years ago. Many refer to it as “mystical”… or even “supernatural.” But it’s not “magic.” It can be plainly and clearly explained with scientific principles.

Wealth… Stronger relationships… Good fortune… Better health… All can result from applying this one powerful secret to your life, according to mind development expert Paul Scheele and master of this Chinese secret Marie Diamond.

Paul and Marie show step by step how you can use this secret to power the four main areas of your life: Success, Relationships, Health, and Spiritual Growth. Get all the details about how you can use this ancient secret to direct the fortune of your life right here.

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More from Masterson…

Since When Is Saving Money a Bad Thing?

The recession is turning Americans into penny pinchers. Seven out of 10 of us are cutting expenses, a Gallup poll says. And we spend only 86 percent of what we used to.

Just about every mainstream publication I read — including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times — says this is a bad thing. But they are wrong.

The point they make is that if Americans cut back on spending and save more, new cars will stay on lots. Contractors will lose jobs. Lawn services will be let go. And stores will go out of business.

So what’s wrong with that?

The fundamental reason for the financial mess we are in is that we have been spending more money than we have. Consumers have been doing it. Businesses have been doing it. And the banks and institutions that hold our money have been gambling it away.

The press wants us to believe that trillions of dollars have mysteriously disappeared from our economy because of this lack of spending. But that wealth never existed in the first place. It was an accounting fraud. The land, the buildings, the machinery, and our human capital, however, do still exist.

When your business is losing money, you cut expenses and work harder. When families run over their budgets, they do the same thing. So why should it be different with an economy? It’s not.

Spending more now will only make things worse. But if you take care of yourself, you will be doing more for the economy than the government could ever do.

So work more. Save more. Take on an extra job. Start a side business. And spend less money.

Pass the Guacamole

“Don’t eat avocados. They’re loaded with fat.” That’s the claptrap we’ve heard from health “experts” for years.

Avocados do have lots of fat. But it’s very healthy fat — monounsaturated. That is the same fat found in extra virgin olive oil and in abundance in the so-called “Mediterranean diet.” Total Health Breakthroughs’ Dr. Dharma says that’s good news for your brain. Monounsaturated fats help protect neurons. And they’ve been linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.

Avocados also have a lot of vitamins E and A, potassium, and antioxidants — which help cut your risk cancer and heart disease too.

— Highly Recommended —

“But E-Mail Marketing Bothers People, Right?” – Wrong, says Internet Rant Editor David Cross. As he learned from Michael Masterson, the best time to send an e-mail to a new customer is right after they’ve bought something from you. And not just some random “How are you?” e-mail. You say make a very specific offer. One of David’s clients did just this … and doubled their sales in months. Read more …

—

You begin by considering his most intense feelings about …

• Himself relative to the subject at hand …
• The benefits your product and premiums promise …
• The medium through which your message is being delivered …
• The offer — the price, payment terms, guarantee, and order process …

… And then, you devise ways to deal with each of these emotions in ways that get them working FOR you.

When you get it right, the attention-getting power of and response to your promotions skyrockets.

Check out this promotion. It’s a magalog titled “Retirement Wealth Builder” for Phillips Publishing’s Retirement Letter. Retirement Letter was one of Phillips’s flagship publications in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was edited at the time by my old friend Pete Dickinson. Pete’s photo appears on the cover of the magalog, with a caption reading “No more Mr. Nice Guy” Pete Dickinson: The Nation’s #1 Retirement Authority Hits Back. Here’s the headline:

“Not With My Life You Don’t”

“Here’s how to strike back at greedy congressmen, bungling bureaucrats and unethical brokers …

“… and win a richer lifestyle in retirement than you have now!”

PLUS — SWEET REVENGE

What you need to know to set things right.

197,000 successful Americans over 40 have done it!

CENTER PULL-OUT SECTION: Retirement Lies That Could Cost You Everything You Ever Worked For.”

Here’s what it looks like in full color:

This promo could have simply led with a headline that said “Retire RICH!” That’s a big benefit, to be sure. But that kind of headline can lack credibility. Worse, it misses the opportunity to fully activate the prospect’s emotions about retirement.

Instead, this lead connects with prospects at a deeper level. And it accomplishes six major objectives …

1. It transforms passive emotions (guilt and frustration) into active ones (anger and the thirst for revenge). Most people begin planning for retirement too late in life. And whenever the subject is raised, the first feelings they have are (a) fear and (b) guilt.

By putting the blame on others (politicians, bureaucrats, and brokers), this lead instantly assuages the prospect’s guilt. It says “It’s not your fault!”

Plus, by making others responsible for the prospect’s predicament, this lead transforms his fear into anger — a far more actionable emotion. And it offers him a way to act on it.

Then it validates the prospect’s righteous indignation by having Pete express it in a personal “declaration of war.” That instantly makes Pete the unchallenged leader in this fight.

2. It eliminates the “salesman/prospect” dynamic. Recognizing how we all feel when confronted by a salesperson — uncomfortable, skeptical, guarded — is a powerful “dominant emotion” technique.

In this lead, Pete is not presented as someone who wants to sell the reader anything. He’s in the same boat as the prospect. He’s fighting for his own retirement. And he’s prepared to lead the prospect into a comfortable, financially secure future.

Pete is positioned as a powerful ally and champion. He is unapologetically on the prospect’s side. That’s the first step in making Pete and the prospect fast friends.

3. It offers the prospect an instantaneous emotional bribe for reading further. After activating the prospect’s feelings about the enemies of his retirement, he is offered the satisfaction of “striking back” and getting “sweet revenge.”

Again, a great dominant emotion technique. You deliver an emotional reward — completely free of charge. The prospect doesn’t have to buy a thing. Gratification is instantaneous.

4. It delivers Pete’s “Big Promise” as a USP (unique selling proposition). Pete’s vision for the reader is bigger and better than the prospect’s own vision — “a richer lifestyle in retirement than you have now!”

This promise works on two levels …

FIRST, it raises a fascinating possibility. Most of us assume that we’ll have to make compromises when we begin living on a fixed income.

Pete says, “THAT’S WRONG: You can actually live better in retirement than you are now.” Who in their right mind wouldn’t be eager to hear more?

SECOND, it speaks to the two major types of prospects for the Retirement Letter: (a) folks who are speeding toward retirement, and (b) those who are already retired. No matter which category you fall into, this message is for YOU.

5. It includes a powerful credibility element. Dominant emotion selling considers all the emotions the prospect is feeling. And in today’s overly advertised-to prospects, that includes skepticism. Especially after the presentation of a “big benefit” USP.

This magalog cover addresses prospects’ skepticism head-on: “197,000 successful Americans over 40 have already done it!”

Not only does this suspend the reader’s disbelief, it suggests that an elite group of people are living the life he only dreams about … and that this is his invitation to join them.

6. It includes a second bribe just for opening the package. Earlier, the prospect was told that Pete would deliver a powerful and instantaneous emotional benefit if he would just keep reading. Pete would help him get “sweet revenge” and “set things right.”

Now, Pete is also promising to deliver a tangible benefit right in the magalog — a “CENTER PULL-OUT SECTION: Retirement Lies That Could Cost You Everything You Ever Worked For.”

This banner at the bottom of the magalog cover does double duty by presenting the “horrifying alternative” — the consequences of failing to listen to what Pete has to say.

I count just 65 words of headline copy on this cover. And they cover the prospect’s most dominant emotions at every level …

• His feelings of guilt regarding his own failure to provide for a more comfortable retirement …
• His fear of poverty and dependence …
• His disdain for politicians and bureaucrats who constantly seemed to be taking something away from him — never giving anything back. And for brokers who promise the moon but fail to make him rich enough to retire comfortably …
• His yearning for justice to be done, and even …

His skepticism about claims made in direct-mail promotions and the pitchmen who make them.

Now, you gotta ask yourself: How could employing these principles ramp up the attention-getting power of and response to the ads you’re working on now?

P.S. Connecting with prospects on a deep, emotional level is just one way to boost your advertising copy — online or offline, in sales letters or ads. I’ll be revealing dozens of other copywriting “secrets,” techniques, tricks, tactics, and more at Early to Rise’s Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books -- bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response -- at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.]

More from Masterson…

What a Product Should Do: Revive the Love

“What is the perfect investment newsletter?”

“What do you mean?” I wanted to know.

“From a subscriber’s point of view. What kind of content should the perfect investment newsletter have?”

This was a smart guy. He wasn’t looking for obvious answers. He didn’t want to hear about cutting-edge ideas, emotional relevance, or actionable advice. He was looking for something more fundamental.

I thought about it. “The ideal newsletter,” I said, “makes the subscriber feel excited and informed — the way he felt when he read the promotion.”

Now it was his turn to ask what I meant.

“It’s like the perfect spouse,” I said. “Someone who loves you always the way she did when she first fell in love with you.”

“Yeah, right,” he said.

But that’s what I meant. Every business should attempt to have every one of its product meet this level of perfection.

Cancer Cure in a Pill?

There is one supplement that Dr. Sears takes every day without fail.

CoQ10 is its name. And multiple studies show that it is a powerful cancer fighter. It helps prevent cancer and cure you if you get it. In one Danish study, breast cancer patients who received large doses of CoQ10, along with other antioxidants and essential fatty acids, went into remission.

CoQ10 works by blocking free radical damage to your cells. And it boosts your immune system.

Dr. Sears says you are probably low in this vital nutrient. Most of his new patients are. You can eat red meat to boost your level. It’s the only natural source. But it doesn’t give you enough. That’s why Dr. Sears recommends supplementing with 50 mg of ubiquinol CoQ10 daily.

Maybe it’s a client’s product. Maybe it’s your own.

And because your discovery possesses the six qualities direct-response homeruns share, you suspect you just might be looking at a grand slam:

• This product delivers benefits your prospects already want.
• It conveys these rational and emotional benefits in superior ways.
• You’ve got proof elements out the wazzoo.
• It’s a screamin’ deal.
• The offer makes buying this product, from you, today a no-brainer.
• Downstream sales are a slam-dunk.

In fact, this product is so good, you’d feel guilty if you failed to nag your sweet, sainted old grammy until she bought it. Better yet, you’d joyfully buy it and give it to her yourself.

Congratulations, my friend. You’ve got a product that can make your reputation, your career, and your fortune.

… So where do you start?

Well, you’d sit right down and write the ultimate promotion for your ultimate product, right?

Well, not exactly. In fact, not by a long shot.

Instead of ETR’s “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach, that would be “Fire! Ready? Aim.”

First, you need to find a marketing model that’s the best fit for your product.

“So what the heck is a marketing model?” you ask.

Simple. Your marketing model describes the strategy – the step-by-step process – you’re going to use to:

1. Find your best prospects …

2. Turn those prospects into customers in the most cost-effective way…

3. And, ultimately, cause your customers to:

• Buy from you more often …
• Spend more with you on each purchase, and …
• Keep buying from you longer. Hopefully, forever.

Get that right and you’re on your way. But if you screw it up, the best product ever invented and the most brilliant sales copy ever written won’t save your sorry butt.

I can’t be there with you the whole way. But I will give you a great starting point for getting a great marketing model …

Steal it.

Find a company that’s marketing a product similar to yours … that sells at a price point similar to yours … to prospects like yours … and shamelessly duplicate THEIR marketing model.

I mean, why re-invent the wheel? There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of successful companies in every niche market you can name. The most successful ones have spent years and millions of dollars in slow, painful trial-and-error testing to find their optimal prospect/media/messaging/offer mix.

The conclusions they’ve drawn from all that priceless marketing data are easy to see. You just have to watch what they’re doing.

When I begin working with a new client in a new niche, the first thing I want to know is, “What are the names of the five most successful companies in this niche?”

Once I have those names, the questions come fast and furious: “What kinds of prospects are they targeting? What media are they using? What kinds of offers are they making? What price points am I seeing most often? What kinds of sales copy and formats are they using to attract new customers?”

I grab the appropriate SRDS publication (usually the latest Direct Marketing List Source) and look up my target companies. I search for clues on how fast they’re growing (by studying the number of hotline names they have available) … how they generate their customers … and what their price points are.

I check Target Marketing’s Who’s Mailing What to see if they have any samples of my targets’ promotions on file.

I buy something from the companies I’m studying, suspecting that they’ll be sending their new customer acquisition promos to their customer file. And I buy something from their main competitors, hoping my target companies will rent those lists and I’ll be able to see the promotions they use to attract new customers.

I visit the popular websites in my client’s market niche to see if my target companies are placing banner ads on those sites or sponsoring those e-zines. I click every link that I suspect may lead me to their squeeze pages, landing pages, or websites. If they have an e-zine, I subscribe. If their website invites me to register, I register.

In short, I do everything I can to make sure my target companies have my phone number … my street address … and my e-mail address so I can see as much of what they’re doing as possible.

Then, once I have a clear picture of how my target companies attract new customers, I simply “borrow” (okay, “steal”) a marketing model from the one that seems to be the most successful.

At this stage, I don’t want to innovate. I just want to help my client do things as well as the largest, most successful company in his niche. Once we’re doing that, it’s time to test new stuff. But initially, being as good as the best is good enough.

“Borrowing” marketing models from competitors is just one of the strategies I’ll be talking about at Early to Rise’s upcoming Info-Marketing Bootcamp this November. Also on the stage will be a dozen of the top Internet marketers working today. They’re not just respected in their fields – social media, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, and more – they’re making millions for themselves and their clients each month.

You can find out all about who’ll be joining me at Bootcamp here.

P.S. Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books – bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that’ll skyrocket your response – at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.

More from Michael Masterson…

Uncle Sam: Subsidizing a Junk Food Nation, Part 1

When I was in New York recently, I read in The Times that NYC’s poorest citizens are much fatter than those of means – with double the rate of obesity in the poorest neighborhoods.

I asked Jon Herring, one of ETR’s health experts, what he thought of this. Here’s what he said …

“The poorest New Yorkers, like those in the rest of the country, are fat because of what they eat. And what they eat is a direct result of government subsidies. The USDA subsidizes a select few food crops with more than $15 billion a year. Which crops get the money? Sugar, wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. In other words, the government has made the main ingredients in junk food and sweetened drinks (corn syrup) artificially cheap.”

So how much government money goes to farmers who grow healthful fruits and vegetables? I’ll tell you tomorrow.

A One-Hit Wonder Falls Off the Charts

Crocs. Your grandma might have a pair. Maybe the nurse at your doctor’s office too. Seems these brightly colored shoes/sandals are on everyone’s feet. In fact, the company sold 100 million pairs in seven years. And they had to keep ramping up production to meet demand. They spent big time on manufacturing plants and distribution centers.

Then came the recession.

The company posted a $185.1 million loss last year. It had to cut nearly 2,000 jobs. Its stock price plummeted 76 percent. All this just two years after posting a $168.2 million profit. And just three years after selling $200 million in shares to the public.

The moral of the story? Be skeptical of one-hit wonder companies. If their plan for the future is to keep riding the same fad, they are doomed for a quick decline.

Once the long copy was finished, I knew the rest would be easy. I could simply excerpt sections of it, over and over again, to create a multi-step campaign…

STEP #1. Pick the low-hanging fruit – cheap.

A respectable chunk of my client’s customers love him to death and will buy just about any product he recommends. For these wonderful folks, I created an extremely simple, low-cost e-mail promotion that we sent out immediately.

STEP #2. Get fence-sitters to a “tipping point” website.

I used about half the long direct-mail copy I had written about the product to produce an “Urgent Special Report” that could be accessed via a little website we created online. And in week #2 of the campaign, we began sending e-mails to the client’s customers urging them to click a link in order to read the free report.

STEP #3. Exploit other low-cost or free media.

Then I simply took the 12 pages of copy from the little website I’d created… wrote a new headline and opening copy… turned it into a printed special report… and had it inserted in the next issue of my client’s print newsletter.

STEP #4. Show up where they least expect you to.

Two weeks after the newsletter insert hit our prospects’ mailboxes, we hit them again – with the full 24-page direct-mail package I had initially created to promote the product. This time, it was formatted as a free special report – a “thank you” bonus for loyal customers.

STEP #5. Get tenacious.

Two weeks after the 24-pager hit prospects’ mailboxes, we stuffed it into an envelope, added a one-page letter from my client asking “Why haven’t I heard from you?” and dropped it into the mail.

The combined effect of e-mail, the website, the inserts in the print newsletter, and two direct mailings had a multiplying effect on response.

When the dust had settled, our multi-channel marketing campaign had sold more than $5 million worth of subscriptions to the new service in just five weeks – about five times more than we would have sold through an e-mail promotion alone!

[Ed. Note: Yes, the Internet is ripe with opportunities for savvy marketers to make money. But as master copywriter Clayton Makepeace just proved, the Internet is only ONE channel for communicating with potential customers. If you're stuck using just one marketing method, you need to get your hands on the bestselling book on multi-channel marketing by MaryEllen Tribby and Michael Masterson, Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business. It's a premier guide to beefing up your marketing efforts to bring in double, triple, even quadruple your current revenues. Get your copy now.

Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.]

So when I’m fresh and full of mental energy, I focus on the creative tasks associated with the project. And when I’m running a bit low on creative juices, I use my time to handle the left-brain, detail-oriented stuff.

In other words, I approach my copywriting projects modularly and out of order, much like the way they make movies in Hollywood.

If I’m feeling frisky, I’ll work on my theme, my headline, and my opening copy – or maybe on the first two-thirds of my body copy. If I’m feeling sluggish, I may simply outline the project. Or focus on the research, number-crunching, or the charts and tables I’ll need.

Sometimes, if I’m kind of in between, I may rough out the last third of my copy first – the factual product description, premium description, offer, guarantee, and response device. Or, if I’m further along and have a complete draft, I may spend my time on editing what I’ve written.

This is what works best for me – the approach I’ve developed through trial and error during my four decades in this biz. It fits me like a glove.

It may work for you, too. It might make you tons more productive and improve your sales copy (or whatever else you do) by an order of magnitude.

Or, who knows? My way could prove to be the absolute worst way for you to approach your work.

There’s only ONE way to find out. Test. Analyze the results. Improvise with new ways to work that may fit you better. Repeat.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.

Staying productive is critical to keeping your goals on track. For specific tips, click here.]

Once our curiosity is engaged, knowledge that someone else knows a secret that we don’t know is like having a stone in our shoe. It gnaws and nags at us. We can’t willingly rest until we’re in on the secret too.

Since offering to reveal a secret appeals to us humans on so many visceral levels, it’s no wonder that many of the most successful direct-response promotions of all time have used it to boost attention and readership. Nor is it any wonder that offering to reveal more secrets in a free report that is delivered along with the product being sold can drive response rates, revenues, and profits through the roof.
So how could YOU use secrets to hit one out of the park the next time you’re at bat?

The way I see it, there are four kinds of secrets…

1. Simple Secrets. If you haven’t done so already, buy a product – any product – from Boardroom or Rodale. Before long, your inbox and mailbox will be stuffed with promotions that tell simple secrets – and offer to give you thousands more secrets when you buy the book or newsletter they’re promoting.

2. Forecasts. If you think about it, predicting a future event in a promotion is kind of like telling your prospect a secret that very few other people know. If you can show him, in your product or premium, how to use this “confidential, privileged information” to solve a problem or get something he wants, your readership and response are likely to soar.

3. Mis/Disinformation. Lies are, by definition, secrets too. When you show your prospect how “the establishment” or, better yet, your competitors are at fault for his difficult situation, you free him from responsibility for it.

4. Conspiracies. These are big, fat, irresistible bundles of secrets that amplify and broaden their power by an order of magnitude. Show your prospect why and how the deck is stacked against him and you create massive credibility for your product by validating his suspicions and creating an excuse for his current predicament.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.

Good copy is just one element of a successful business. For a step-by-step guide to researching a niche, finding your target market, and then marketing effectively using search engines, e-mail, and more... check out the Internet Money Club: Independent Learner Edition.]

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The simple act of putting sales copy before a prospect brings him to a fork in his road – forcing him to make a decision to either (1) read or (2) not read our message.

And every time his eye moves from one sentence to the next… from one paragraph to the next… or from one page to the next… he reaches yet another fork in the road – and gets to decide whether he’s going to keep reading our message or abandon it.

Writing a kick-butt headline to grab his attention is only the beginning. Our job is to make sure the prospect makes the right decision – the decision to continue reading – at every one of these forks in the road.

So what could make your prospect make the wrong decision and drop your promo into the nearest trashcan?

Off the top of my head? Here are five:

1. Interruption. Your prospect’s kids just shoved the family cat into the dishwasher. He hesitates, but ultimately decides that dealing with the immediate crisis is somewhat more pressing than reading your message.

Remedy: Pray for the cat.

2. Unsuitability. Your prospect already has a computer and quickly decides your computer catalog is of no interest to him whatsoever.

Remedy: Shoot your list broker.

3. Disbelief. Your claims seem so exaggerated or even dishonest, the prospect figures he can’t trust anything you say.

Remedy: Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

4. Boredom. Your copy is so brain-dead boring, he’d rather eat week-old sushi than continue reading.

Remedy: Get a personality.

5. Exhaustion. Your copy is so dense, difficult to read and impossible to follow, he simply gives up.

Remedy: Copy that’s so good it takes no effort to read it.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books - bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that'll skyrocket your response - at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com

Learn how to boost your skills in copywriting, as well as Internet marketing, e-mail list building, search engine optimization, and more at Early to Rise's 5 Days in July Internet Business Building Conference. Find out how you can build your own fully functioning online business in just five days.]

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