Here’s a tip for affiliate marketers.

Once upon a time, an “Email Players” — www.EmailPlayers.com — subscriber asked what to do when you are selling something as an affiliate that’s a first rate product, but has a sales letter so chock-full of hype, screaming and nonsense you’re literally embarrassed to send your list to it.

Do you just pass on selling it?

Or grit your teeth and send them there anyway?

I thought this was an awesome question.

Here’s what I suggested he write in the email:

“Look, personally, I am not a big fan of the tone of this advertising, it’s actually kind of insulting to my intelligence, and the advertising writer should be fired. But, the product is top notch, one of the best I’ve ever seen and I’m willing to put my reputation on the line you’ll think the same when you try it yada yada yada”

In other words… tell ‘em the truth.

Will this hurt sales?

Actually, I bet you’d INCREASE sales.

Probably even by a lot.

Why?

Because nobody is blatantly honest like this, and it makes you stick out and softens the blow of the bad advertising. Plus, it shows respect for their time, too.

(You do respect your list’s time, right?)

It’ll make you more trustworthy in the future, too.

Hey, don’t take my word for it.

Try it yourself and see.

And when ready to take the email kid gloves off, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Ever hear of the “halo effect”?

This is when, for example, you get interviewed or endorsed by someone with credibility oozing out of their pores and all that credibility seeps onto you — usually making people FAR more likely to buy from you.

It’s a very powerful phenomenon.

And, it can put many more coins in ye olde piggy bank.

But even so…

It ain’t nuttin’ compared to what I call:

“The Pitchfork Effect”

This is something anyone with the ballz to say something controversial and (GASP!) offensive experiences over time — as it creates a super polarizing effect on people. The savviest marketers (and politicians) have known for decades… the better you are at turning OFF those who aren’t your prospects, the better you’ll be at turning ON those who are.

Oh yeah, baby!

And email is perfect for this.

Do it the way I teach and you’ll get people riled up and passionate.

The buyers will enjoy it (and buy).

The pissants will hate it (and attack).

But love you or hate you — they’ll ALL be passionate. And passion will put LOTS more loot in your coffers.

So how about it?

Ready to piss some people off?

And pocket more sales?

Then there’s no time to lose.

Grab your pitchfork and zip on over to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I throw the word “goo-roo” around a lot.

And sometimes people wonder if I’m referring to someone specifically or (and I find this especially amusing) if I’m referring to them!

The answer is “no” in both cases.

I speaketh of a “type.”

But, just to be safe…

Here are some clues you might be a goo-roo:

(In my best Jeff Foxworthy voice)

• If you send out a broadcast email and write “sent from my iPhone” at the bottom to trick people into thinking it’s a personal email… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you admit behind closed doors you can’t get your “push button riches” program to work for yourself but sell it anyway… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you claim to get 100% conversion from a sales letter that sold a total of one person… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you sell a “how to get website traffic” course and get all your traffic via joint ventures… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you sell an email course but hardly ever write any emails yourself… YEW might be a goo-roo…

• If you insist on everyone testing their ads but have never actually tested anything yourself… YEW might be a goo-roo…

And the list goes on.

Maybe I’ll continue this list again some day.

(There’s lots of goo-roo types out there).

In the meantime…

I you want to join my inner sanctum of email marketers who are tearing it up out there in the market place check out the “Email Players” newsletter at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

And don’t worry.

There’s nary a goo-roo in sight inside.

Ben Settle

This question pops up… a lot:

“you recommend emailing everyday. but how do you keep generating content ideas in order to make it happen?”

A good question.

Here’s the way I see it:

If you’re positioning yourself as an expert (or even an ex-spurt) or a leader in your market… and don’t have something (anything) to say each day… then mayhaps you’re not the expert/leader you say you are.

Hey, don’t take this personally.

Consider it a challenge.

A challenge to study your market harder.

Dig more into your product’s benefits and applications.

And gain a deep (not shallow — like most people selling online) understanding of your competition, your market’s psychology (you have done a psyche profile of your market, right…?) and all the things that make you the best person to buy from or hire.

More:

Plus, you KEEP stuffing your mind with other facts and info.

Things unrelated to your business.

As the great copywriter Gene Schwartz taught, you keep feeding your mind with anything that will stick.

Then what happens?

All that info mixes in your mind.

Ideas pop out of nowhere.

And you start writing about things nobody else has even thought of before, making you an original voice that demands to be heard.

Getting ideas is no longer the problem.

It’s REMEMBERING them all.

Yeah, it’s work.

Weeks and months (and years) of work.

And it’s ongoing — you NEVER stop the process.

But this is what separates the men from the boys, and what will make emails flow out of you as naturally as BS flows from a goo-roo’s lips.

As for the “how tos’” of email…

That’s where “Email Players” comes in.

No, it’s not cheap.

And it’s not for the lazy.

Details at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Q&A time…

“Since emailing my subscribers ‘the settle way’ I’ve noticed a few things. Unsubscribe rates have increased, and so have spam complaints lol… but guess what? Sales have also increased! Is this normally the case? Also, I’m wondering, once your subscribers have bought the products you’re promoting in your emails, like your newsletter, do you market to that buyer’s list everyday too?”

Veddy good questions.

Let’s hit ‘em one at a time…

Yes, unsubscribe rates are gonna go up.

Might as well accept it.

But, as you saw, sales go up, too.

(And which is better – lower unsubscribes or higher sales…)

Spam complaints?

It depends on your list.

But I suspect your spam complaints will go way down with time, especially if you tell people exactly how often you mail at the sign-up/opt-in stage.

Do I market daily to buyers?

For this site, no.

My back end marketing is done via my print newsletter.

For another site I run, I have no back end product, but when I did (I used to backend sell a supplement) I took the same email I sent to prospects, altered it slightly to reflect the back end product and sent to the buyers list.

Took about 2 minutes each day.

For another business, we have multiple buyer lists.

They each have their own auto-responders.

The point?

There’s no magic all powerful way of doing this.

You simply do what works for you.

Each business is unique, after all.

And it’s okay if you don’t get it figured out right away.

Just get started.

That’s step numero uno.

(And the step most never do…)

For guidance on getting started, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Remember yesterday’s email about ex-spurts?

And how you can identify them?

Well, another way you can pick an email ex-spurt out in a crowd is they’re always more worried about unsubscribe rates than making sales. In fact, I’ve seen entire articles written about the evils of high unsubscribe rates, how to keep your unsubscribe rates down, and how to make it so less people want to unsubscribe… yada yada yada.

It’s nutzo.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

For one thing, unsubscribes are not the devil.

They’re GOOD for you.

(They can save and make you money.)

But that’s not even the real problem.

The real problem is this attitude people have where they’re always playing NOT to lose, instead of playing to win.

Why do people have that attitude?

I have no idea.

But it’s killing people in business and in all of life. After all, you don’t see championship winning pro sports teams playing not to lose. They play to WIN, baby.

Hey, it’s no different selling online.

Don’t worry about unsubscribe rates.

Focus instead on building your list.

Emailing them every day (correctly).

And yes, making sales.

The rest will take care of itself.

And when you’re ready to take the training wheels off and play with the big boys in email, check out The Email Players Newsletter.

Next issue is chock full of goodies.

Especially for list building.

Specifically, it includes a secret way of creating capture pages that’s exponentially increasing my opt-in rates (and of the few other people who know about it).

Anyway, it was discovered by a computer scientist.

And works like gangbusters.

Go here to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Another ex-spurt misses the boat:

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You sent 7 emails to me today. I’m sure your unsubscription rate went through the roof today if you emailed everyone on your list like that. I don’t think I needed 7 reminders about your sale today. Are you really that desperate? Is this what you teach in your book?”

Well, I guess he told me!

Dang, why didn’t I think of that?

BTW, his email is about a recent sale.

The above commenter was complaining about how, on the last day of the sale, I sent out 7+ emails about that sale ending.

(Funny how nobody screams when eBay does it…)

Anyway, here’s why I bring it up:

His is the attitude of someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about… but doesn’t. (i.e. ex-spurt)

They’re all over the Internet, too.

Offering their unsolicited advice.

Giving uninformed opinions.

And projecting their biases onto others.

Sigh.

Kind of sad, really.

If only he’d asked (instead of mindlessly assuming) he’d have known I got more sales on that Sunday (when I mailed all those emails he was whining about) than on the previous 3 days of the sale combined.

Gotta love them ex-spurts.

Sure, their opinions mean zilcho.

But they’re always good for a few laughs.

Hey, speaking of special sales…

I’ve been perfecting my method for doing sales with email for the past few years in multiple markets (consumer and business-to-business).

It works like gangbusters.

Is very simple.

And it’s something I taught in this last December’s “Email Players” newsletter.

Complete with tons of examples.

Back issues are for sale to “Email Players” subscribers only.

(Not the general public)

To get in on the action, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

G’Day Mate,

Here’s something kinda interesting.

One of the things I talk about in the “Email Player’s Cookbook” (which comes with your “Email Players” newsletter — www.EmailPlayers.com — subscription) is how important it is to learn the slang of your market… and also slang your market is NOT familiar with to keep things fun, interesting and engaging.

Sometimes you can even make words up, if you want.

(I do just for kicks.)

Anyway, the BEST slang (IMHBAO) is from Australia.

In fact, check this out:

Last year, kool-cat copywriter Dean Jackson sent me a list of Australian slang terms he’d picked up since moving down under.

• As useless as tits on a bull

• Busier than a one armed brick layer in Baghdad

• Poo tickets (toilet paper)

• Fair dinkum (means everything looks good)

• Hoon (crazy driver)

• “G’Day Mate” (common Australian greetings)

• The word “bloody” for emphasis IE: “How the blood hell are ya?”

Alright, that’s it for today.

More tomorrow.

In the meantime…

Wanna write emails that aren’t as useless as tits on a bull?

And (worse!) aren’t mistaken for used poo tickets?

Then check out:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

There’s been a great disturbance in the force.

Apparently, I have a new enemy.

Check this out:

There’s this somewhat well-known Internet marketer who I kinda-sorta know (I was on his Internet radio show once a few years ago) who recently did a little “analysis” of me.

One of my subscribers forwarded it over.

And I found it quite… illuminating.

Why?

Because amongst his babblings, he said I fit the bill as a not-so-charming psychopath (and that I admitted it on my blog)… am not as sharp as I tell you I am… not making the killing I “brag” about (he said he Google’d me)… and that I write emails that are too long and uninspiring, and he knows this because he’s my perfect prospect but never clicks on any of my calls to action — yet says my writing intrigues him in a bizarre sort of way…

(Sounds almost like he’s both OGLING and Googling me.)

OK, so those are his opinions.

And he’s certainly welcome to them.

But, is he right?

Let’s see what’s going on here…

(And no, I’m not revealing his name and giving him a free plug, most long time IM’ers can figure it out on their own, anyway)

1. Psychopath

I heard someone else using this word about online marketers but I think what they REALLY mean is sociopath. There’s a difference in as much as psychopaths are extremely violent sociopaths, or who have an “urge” to kill (or maybe I’m just watching too much “Dexter”).

Anyway, this guy said I admitted to being one.

He says I took a personality test that said so.

But alas, he was wrong.

You can see what I actually said here:

www.BenSettle.com/blog/?p=4293

Burping along…

2. Bragging About Making A Killing Online

If he had done even a shred of actual research he would know I don’t publicly count money whether I’m hurting for it or if some day I end up swimming in the stuff like Scrooge McDuck. For one thing, it attracts all the wrong people into your life. And for another, it puts a juicy fat target on your back for “lawsuit happy” lawyers and losers who want to blame you for all their problems.

Besides, I’ve never said I make a killing, anyway.

(Especially not in a psychopath kinda way…)

I wonder if this dude ever gets tired of being wrong.

Let’s see…

3. Not As Sharp A Marketer As I Tell You I Am

I have never claimed to be “sharp.”

But, I will be blunt with you:

There are lots of things I’m NOT good at.

Far too many to list.

But I have mucho confidence in those things I DO excel at — like emails, copywriting, selling, etc — and thoroughly enjoy myself when cowardly little goo-roo fanboys hiding behind their computers have emotional meltdowns over my perceived arrogance on such matters by sending me hate mail, etc.

Hey, it’s entertaining to read.

Plus, it means I’m probably doing something right…

4. Long, Uninspiring Emails

This I found especially amusing.

Reason why is because he says his passion is email and so he’s my “perfect prospect.”

Not so fast there, Jethro.

Methinks he’s the exact opposite of my ideal prospect.

How do I know?

Because from what I’ve seen, the dude is ALL about “free.”

Free traffic.

Free opt-ins.

Free Willie, etc, etc, etc…

It’s always about free.

Hey, if that creams his twinkie, goodie for him.

(I bet if my stuff was free he’d be clicking them links…)

But those kinds of customers (assuming they buy at all) tend to be huge pains in the assimus who never appreciate anything, never know the joy of earning what they take, and freak out whenever they have to — GASP! — pay for something.

As for length…

If it hurt my sales I wouldn’t do emails like this.

So ’nuff said there.

Anyway, normally I ignore nonsense like this.

Got enough drama in my life right now, thanks.

But this guy lied so easily about all this stuff (just like the sociopaths he claims to protect the public from, kinda makes ya wonder)… I wanted to set the record straight.

Actually, maybe I should be grateful for him?

After all…

He just gave me an excuse to plug my product:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. There was one more thing my paranoid foe said:

He suggested I don’t give any “gold” on my blog.

Gonna have to call BS on that one, too.

Forget for a second I have a “media” page on my site with more free content on it than most paid products… and forget for a second there’s like 700 posts on my blog.

Forget those facts for a second.

Let us ponder this:

If there’s no “gold” on my blog, then why do I get testimonials about my free content? And I don’t mean “oh wow golly gee whiz your website is like really neat and stuff” testimonials.

I’m talking performance testimonials.

Where people profited from the free material.

Like Jason Rivera who told me he made over a $1k in sales in 5 days just using the info in the free “Email Players” pdf issue I give away to new BenSettle.com subscribers. Or Kelly Tanguay who told me how she recently astounded her employers (using just the free tips) to the tune of DOUBLING their response (and MORE than doubling sales). In fact, she said her “Settle-inspired” emails made the company over $50,000 EXTRA unexpected dollars in a single mailing.

Sounds like a lot of gold in them thar hills to me, Batman.