12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Getting Their Attention The Sub-Headline

Assuming we got their attention with the Headline, now we need to get our audience of prospects to keep reading. To do so, we need to engage our audience both emotionally and intellectually. We do this by clearly identifying a problem which the reader has. Sometimes this requires a sub-headline, sometimes a paragraph and sometimes both.

What matters is that:

• The reader feels that someone understands a problem they have
• The reader is reminded of the experience of the pain of the problem
• The reader is becomes somewhat agitated as a consequence

For example, let's say we are selling an audible finder device. Our headline might read:

"I Turned Off My Cell Phone And Now I Can't Find It!" (Get their attention)

Our sub-headline might read:

"Don't you hate it when you turn off your cell phone at a meeting and then you can't call it to find it?" (Remind them of a problem)

Our sub-paragraph might read:

"Why is a cell phone and all-or-nothing deal? You turn it off in a meeting or theater, and then you misplace it...and you can't dial it to find out where it is, since it's turned off! How frustrating! To make it worse, you might be expecting a time-sensitive call. Sure you could select a quite ringtone, but if you are like most people you don't have the time to dig into the menus to change it!"

If we are doing our job well, we have succeeded in irritating the reader enough so they might:

• Want to throw their cell phone at the wall
• Write to a cell phone manufacturer suggesting an improvement
  
• Buy our handy-dandy voice-activated chirping cell-phone locator
  

At this point we have already verged into Identify the Problem. More on that in the next installment.

Next Installment: 12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Identifying The Problem

12-Part Sales Letter In Depth - Getting Their Attention The Headline

The first part of a 12-part sales letter is called Getting Their Attention.

Usually this is done with some sort of hard-to-ignore headline. Time-tested headlines include:

• Secrets of X Revealed!
• How to X
• Warning! Don't Even Think Of Doing Y Until You Learn X

However, in the ever-more-jaded internet marketplace, other approaches can work, such as the Echoed Complaint:

"Arrgh! This Pile of Bills Only Gets Deeper!"

or the Amazing Results Testimonial Quote:

"My Sales Increased 400% In One Quarter When I Hired X"

or even the What The Heck Question:

"Does Your Doctor Want To Keep You From Getting Well?"

The point of all these headlines is to make what you have to say impossible to ignore. You can experiment to find what gets your viewers to keep reading.

Next Installment: 12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Getting Their Attention The Sub-Headline

http://internetmarketing.meadrose.com/

The 12-Part Sales Letter: What It Is & Why You Need It

Let's say you have a product, service, book or some other offering that you feel certain would be of benefit to a certain market segment and you need to get the word out about it. If you simply put up an announcement, some people may respond but the majority will tend to ignore it. Most people's experience is that things in life are pretty much consistently mediocre. How can you convince them that what you have to offer is something special?

One time-tested method is the 12-Part Sales Letter. Briefly, these are the 12 parts:

1. Get their attention (Make a provocative statement that makes them want to read further)
   
2. Identify a problem (Paint a picture of a difficult situation most of us find ourselves in)
3. Announce your solution (Make a bold assertion that you can solve their problem)
   
4. Present your credentials (Give them a reason to believe you, with a degree or a story)
   
5. Show the benefits (Paint a picture of how they will be better off with your solution)
   
6. Give social proof (Cite the positive experiences of others with testimonials)
   
7. Make your offer (Tell them how your solution is worth more than what they will pay)
   
8. Inject scarcity (Inform them that the present opportunity will expire)
   
9. Guarantee Satisfaction (Let them know they get their money back if they are not happy)
   
10. Call to action (Request that they BUY NOW)
    
11. Predict Consequences (Paint a picture of continuing problems)
    
12. Use a Power Postscript (Drive the point home one more time)
    

Each of these steps is worthy of in-depth exploration, and although the general structure is known, the particulars vary from audience to audience. Allow me to provide a self-serving and hopefully humorous example. See if you can spot the sections:

"AARGH! THIS INTERNET MARKETING STUFF IS TOO MUCH TO DEAL WITH!"

All you want to do is sell your book online. It should be a simple matter. You put your heart and soul into it for years. It is a polished piece of work that will make a difference to anyone who reads it BUT... (See if this sounds like you):

• "I paid a web designer several thousand to make a site that gets no traffic"
• "I pay all over again every time I need to make a change"
  
• "I bought a domain name that no one looks for"
• "I am on page 5 of Google for my own name"
  
• "I am losing my shirt on pay-per-click"
• "I got flagged as a spammer sending to my confirmed subscribers"
  

If you are like may others, you find the details of internet marketing to be a daunting array of puzzles where the rules are always changing. Aside from the technical details, even the basic business stuff seems challenging. Why do it yourself? Why not hire an expert?

Good news! If you are reading this, you have found your expert. I am your guy.

My name is Mead Rose. I am an internet marketer by profession. I lucked into this by a series of fortunate circumstances:

• I learned how to code HTML in '97 at the request of a boss
• I composed my first professional site in 2002 in repayment of a chiropractic bill for my girlfriend at the time. http://losaltosfamilychiropractic.com/
• Another patient of the chiropractor clued me in to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Steve at http://www.frontendtech.com/
• Another doctor at the clinic, author of My Doctor Says I'm Fine, So Why Do I Feel So Bad? approached me to implement an internet marketing plan.
• After working with her for a year, I met the owner of Best Of Hawaii who had a longtime association with the folks who had written the plan I had been implementing. I took on writing her newsletter, Hawaiian Travel News. She was quite helpful in effectively structuring a site for monetization.
  
• Since then I have been experimenting in an attempt to keep up with the ever-changing world of internet marketing. Although most of it is pretty standard, I have made some discoveries that I tend to keep secret.

Imagine having a simple, functional, monetized website that sends you ever-increasing revenues in exchange for about one workday per week of your time and you do most of it yourself. From time to time you receive an email from me with suggestions about what to do next along with a schedule of my consulting fees. Easy, no?

"In one hour of consulting with Mead I learned ways to make my traffic climb with minimal effort"

"In one weekend, Mead put together a site that has brought me several thousand dollars worth of clients last year"

"His marketing feasibility study was impressive."

My business partners and I originally paid several thousand dollars to learn these secrets. Now I offer them to you for a few hundred...because I want to build my client base rapidly. I consult for $60 per hour. It's a steal at that rate.

But these rates won't last forever. As my clientèle grows, my rates will go up.

Here's the good news: If you don't think what I tell you is well worth what I charge, KEEP YOUR MONEY. We can shake hands and discontinue our interaction. I am betting you will come back time after time to learn more.

So call me at 720-436-5133. Don't wait.

You could wind up being sold a bill of goods by some kid who makes a point of keeping you in the dark about the technology. You could discover that you are pitching the wrong product to the wrong people using the wrong words...and that by spending a little up front you could have saved yourself some headaches.

P.S. Why make all the mistakes beginners make on the path to doing it right? Get an expert on your side at no risk and get a head start.

Next Installment: 12-Part Sales Letter In Depth: Getting Their Attention the Headline

http://internetmarketing.meadrose.com

Establishing Credibility

"There's one born every minute." - P.T. Barnum

There is a tremendous amount of fraud in the world and the internet makes it easier. This is a problem for those of us who want to market a legitimate product or service at a fair price.

A few years ago people were willing to plunk down serious cash for information in electronic form. The situation has changed so there needs to be a way to corroborate claims made on a sales offer. This is easy enough to to if you are selling something in your neighborhood, since all someone has to do is drop by to check it out for themselves. It is another matter if someone is halfway across the country.

Sometimes trust can be established by carefully crafting the look and feel of a website, but since phishers are honing their skills daily, this practice is falling by the wayside.

There are basically three ways to establish trust on the internet:

1. Verifiable Assertions (Credentials and real people's testimonials listed onsite with a contact option)
   
2. Customer delight (Consistently exceeding customer expectations resulting in word-of-mouth referrals)
3. Reputation building (Affiliates, radio and television appearances, cross-listing in yellow pages, space ads, podcasting, etc.)
   

These three methods build on one another. Let's take a look at how the first step is accomplished.

Next installment: The 12-Part Sales Letter

Visit http://www.whipthenet.com

Inch Wide, Mile Deep

"Inch Wide, Mile Deep" refers to one of the most wonderful properties of a niche market. To take advantage of this, a person needs to have several items to sell, each item must delight the customer and be part of a "sales funnel."

The principle of a "sales funnel" is simple: Given the fact that most people will not make a purchase from a source where trust has not been established, the vendor needs to provide a path by which that trust may be won. Commonly this is done by offering products in a line, arranged from least expensive to most expensive.

Most buyers are willing to risk $20 to find out whether a given product will meet their needs, provided they don't trip over any of several potential obstacles. (Typographical errors, poor grammar, second-rate graphics, resemblance to known swindlers, etc.). Once they get over the initial resistance, purchase and enjoy the product, they are far more likely to purchase a more expensive offering from the same vendor. If they like their second purchase, they are likely to make several more successively more expensive purchases. Hence the expression "inch wide, mile deep."

So, when marketing over the internet, lead with a $20 product, and have several follow-up products to offer potential buyers after their initial purchase.

Next Installment: Establishing Credibility

Pretty Sites Lose Money, Ugly Sites Make Money

Ever notice that when you are doing searches that there are some very pretty sites if you look deep in the search pages? Why is that? Because search engines run on words and not art, and because page rank is also determined by link popularity and popularity is determined by usefulness. Another reason is that in order to make money, certain standard items need to occupy the top of the page, such as the offer, the opt-in and the pitch.

This means that if you want your site to make money, your site needs to use the right words, be useful to people and contain certain standard elements. The bad news is that a site like that won't be pretty; instead it will be functional. The good news is that this is far less expensive than hiring a Macromedia Flash designer and winding up with a very pretty site several thousand dollars later.

It turns out that words can make or break you. I can't stress this enough. Many people approach search-engine optimization as an afterthought when it needs to be the first thought. It is a good idea to do keyword research before trying to come up with a domain name. It is an even better idea to re-think your business model based on what keyword research reveals about the market.

Next Installment: Inch Wide, Mile Deep

Profiting By Your Passion

It has been said that we live in the Information Age. With web hosting for under $10 per month and blogging for free, virtually anyone can have web presence. But how can you profit by it?

Just start. Then keep at it. Remember the movie, Field of Dreams? "If you build it, they will come." Ideally you would have something to sell, and the products with the lowest wholesale cost are ideas. I would suggest starting with something you are passionate about. Even if you are not the world's foremost expert on it, you have a unique perspective, and others may value that perspective.

Many of us have advice for friends. Instead of trying to get your friends to listen, write up your advice. If you don't have enough time to write a book, write a blog. Learn as you go. Here are a few examples:

Tantric Arts Institute began as an idea in early 2006. Little by little it has grown to the point where the Google Adsense pulls in an ever-increasing revenue stream.

My Vagabond Musician blog chronicles the musical journey that my life has been with links to examples. I love writing it and would do it even if it made no money, but by putting Google Adsense, relevant Amazon links and an option to donate to my PayPal account, I stand to make money as my blog becomes more popular. The great thing is that the more I write, the more likely it is that people will find me. Anyone can do this. All you need to do is write a few paragraphs twice a week. Heck, that's no harder than high school.

Ultimately, you may find yourself in possession of some valuable information. Recently deceased car buff Corey Rudl started in 1994 with a book called "Car Secrets Revealed" about how not to get ripped off at a used car lot. He had bought several space ads and gotten nowhere. Then he put together a basic website and started experimenting. Quite a few of his experiments failed, but the ones that worked, worked very well. By 2004 he had a company worth 7.6 million.

Corey said to decide on a market first, then figure out what you want to sell. Once you know what your market is, the steps are fairly straightforward, but the trick is to be a pioneer. You can enter a new field, or bring new information to an established field.

I would say, learn by doing. There is a lot to learn, and it is a good idea to get a feel for things before throwing a lot of money into what you are unsure of. Once you have been playing in the internet playground for a little while, you are in a position to competently research and reap profit from niche markets related to your passion.

Next Installment: Pretty Sites Lose Money, Ugly Sites Make Money

Spotting emerging markets and developing your ability to respond

Emerging markets have less competition than established markets, but one needs to be creative and innovative. The main characteristic of an emerging market is that all bets are off because there is no track record associated with them. The next characteristic is that they can be risky since it is hard to tell whether or not a particular market will pay off. "Gee, I wish I'd bought Intel years ago" exemplifies the difficulty.

To be responsive to emerging markets, a person or company cannot rely entirely on established products or talents and will often need to do some research and development.

So how does a person fit the two together? Actually, it is a fairly simple matter.

Start by taking a look outside the mainstream at the people on the fringe. They might appear to be crazy. Flying Saucer Nuts, Religious Cults, Nerd Societies, Consumer Electronics Buffs, etc. From time to time a phenomenon my happen on the fringe that seems a little less crazy. Think of how personal computing emerged. In the late 70's a few curious tech-heads got their Apples and their Commodores and most people thought, "Interesting but useless." Now personal computers and email are the norm. More recently, ringtones and camera phones where what people said "Interesting but useless" about while others got rich.

So when you watch the fringe and see something interesting but useless, start to look where you might fit. You may have to adapt a skill set or undertake a bit of training. Within my personal experience, I adapted my extensive training in Zen and the martial arts towards tantra, and undertook to get the training to become a teacher. In a separate realm, I adapted my writing skills to the Search Engine Optimization market and undertook training in internet marketing.

What's great about emerging markets is that you don't have to be an expert, but you DO need to be willing to experiment and "fail fast, fail frequently." That is precisely how you discover for yourself knowledge that no one else has.

Next Installment: Profiting by your passion

http://whipthenet.com/

Matching Niche Markets With Your Skill Set

First of all, allow me to explain what a niche market is: A group of people who want something specific who's needs are not met by the mainstream market.

It is very difficult to compete in a mainstream market. Someone already beat you to it. Niche markets are another matter, since quite often no one has come up with the best solution to meet the needs of the people in question.

Examples of niche markets:

• Organic food (Although it is becoming more mainstream, it started out as a niche market)
• Alternative Health Practitioners (Mainstream doctors and insurance companies are weaker than alternative health care practitioners on prevention and chronic disease, but are generally not set up to refer out to alternative practitioners, so there is an unmet market demand both among patients and practitioners for each other)
• Personal Tech Support (Computer newbies are disappointed with telephone support outsourced to India, so a knowledgeable local tech support person can fill the need)

On the other side of the equation is one's own skill set. We know skill sets from our jobs, so we might think of them as word processing, phone skills, record-keeping, etc. But there are many other skill sets we possess that are not part of those we use for employment purposes. We have skills sets around what we do for fun, whether it is golf, attending the opera, or fishing.

Jermaine Griggs used to give lessons on how to play by ear at his local church. Someone suggested he write them up. After a year he had a whole book of lessons. Someone suggested that he advertise it on the internet. When he did so, he was soon making a few hundred dollars a week selling his book online. Then he got some coaching about how to improve his online sales. He has bought both himself and his mother new houses as a result. Jermaine was 16 when he started and is about 20 years old now. http://www.hearandplay.com/

So the trick is to think of what you already do and how that might be of benefit to someone else.

A good place to start is by experimenting with Yahoo's Overture Keyword Selector Tool:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Try typing in a word related to one of your interests and see what other people are searching for. Notice if a significant number of people are asking questions that you could answer. Just for fun, run a calculation to see if you could make money in a pay-per-click campaign.

For a specific key-phrase calculate:
The number of searches x $.10 = what you pay for each referral (base price, may be greater if others are bidding on the same terms)

288395

love poem

Example: love poem 288,395 x $.10 = $28,839.50 pay-per-click cost
Then speculate a $20 product and assume that 50% will be profit = $10
"My book of love poems"
Then calculate what it would take to break even:
1% conversion = 2884 x $10 = $28,840 - $28,839.50 pay-per-click cost = break even

Of course, there are many other factors, such as how well you pitch your product and what the actual bid prices are, but you get the picture.

The real trick is to spot emerging markets and be one of the first to provide what people need. You may find that in order to meet that need, it will be necessary to learn some new skills. More about that in the next installment.

Next installment: Spotting emerging markets and developing your ability to respond.

Understanding the potential of a website

I have written quite a few websites for people. Some are personal pages but most are business related. I have noticed that in terms of the business potential of a website, many people have a limited notion of what it could mean. Quite often, it is not until they have had their website for a while, that they start to wonder what else it could do for them and generally find out that they might need to start over.

The most common initial approach to internet presence is what I call an Online Brochure Site. A person already has a business and they want to add web presence because someone told them they needed to have one in addition to business cards and brochures. The content from the brochure is readily transferable into HTML and Voila, instant website! Their business cards and brochures are then upgraded to carry the URL and they are happy to have the appearance of being "with it."

A few weeks later they come back wondering how to rank higher in the search engines, and I am compelled to explain to them that even though I optimized their site, the most important first step got left out, namely Keyword Research. In my opinion, it is a good idea to do keyword research prior to naming your business and possibly even before deciding what business you are in. Here is why:

A website is not an ad in a local newspaper. With the potential to reach the entire world, it is much more like being a "ham" radio operator. They don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing. This has its upside and its downside. The downside is that since the playing field is relatively level, a person is competing with the rest of the world to get noticed. The upside is that when you DO get noticed, it is the entire world that notices you. The key is to get noticed by those who are looking for someone like YOU.

Keyword Research is important because it tells you:

1. What people are looking for
2. How many people are looking for things related to what you do
3. The words they are using to look for those things

From a marketing perspective this translates to:

1. Potential Markets
2. The size of those potential markets
3. What you need to say to let them know you can fulfill their needs

From a general business perspective this translates to:

1. What businesses you need to be in
2. Who your customers are
3. What you need to say to get their business

Once I explain this to people and provide a few examples the light bulb generally comes on and they start thinking about various ways to re-think their skill set or their product line to be responsive to the needs of the market. (By the way, this is what differentiates marketing from sales. Sales starts with a product and attempts to find customers and close sales with them. Marketing starts with an examination of what people need, seeks to fulfill those needs and gains sales for doing so.)

Once a person has started to re-think their business, they can start to think of a website as more than an online brochure. Any website has the potential to be:

• A billboard
• A magazine
• A storefront
• A library
• A meeting place
• A directory
• A trade publication
• A referral point
• ...and many other possibilities

Next installment: Matching niche markets with your skill set

http://whipthenet.com/

Creating A Masterpiece

When an artist sets about painting, there are many steps involved:

• Studying the Subject
• Underpainting the Canvas
• Identifying the Big Shapes
• Studying the Color Values to be used
  
• Blocking in the Colors
• Adjusting Color and Value
• Finishing the Painting

The list is deceptive, since some steps take longer than others and some steps demand more expertise than others. In drawing a figure for example, the head and face often require as much time and attention as the entire rest of the figure; and getting the eyes right may require the most expertise of the entire painting.

So it is with internet marketing. It has been my experience that when people first think of a web page, they are unaware of its potential and don't become aware until after they have had a web page up for a while. Sadly, they often find out they have made a few crucial mistakes and need to start from scratch.

Many people put money, time and attention into creating websites that amount to beautiful hand-painted billboards on desert highways. A little understanding on the front end can help tremendously.

Next Installment: Understanding the potential of a website

http://www.meadrose.com