Ben Settle

I’m not going to say testimonials are worthless.

(I use ’em myself.)

But, my opinion  is many testimonials are probably the weakest form of proof there is in ads, emails, sales letters, etc.

Why is this?

Well, let’s put it this way:

I live in bigfoot country in the Pacific Northwest.

And, every single year, there are all kinds of bigfoot sightings — even from forest rangers, law enforcement and other people with credibility.

Yet, these “testimonials” are coldly ignored.

Mocked.

And, yes, even laughed at.

Same with UFO sightings.

Got lots of ’em.

Even from “authority” figures people tend to believe.

Yet, few are believed.

Why is this?

Because people reading testimonies fall into two camps:

1. People who already believe you, and just want more validation to pull the trigger to buy. (i.e. a hardcore bigfoot believer will believe the sightings because he WANTS to.)

2. People who are skeptical yelling “bullshit!” at each one.

There are exceptions to this, of course.

But, we live in the age of the skeptic.

Everyone has been screwed over by someone in the past few years especially — whether it’s their banker, their lawyer, their government, their real estate broker, their favorite political party, the list goes on…

That’s why I say assume nobody believes you.

Nobody believes your shnazzy testimonials.

And, nobody believes your advertising.

That’s the bad news, Chachi.

The good news:

There are simple ways to build belief. To persuade people you’re not out to fleece them. And, to make MORE sales as a result.

Probably the best way is demonstration.

Simply demonstrating your product or knowledge.

And guess what?

Email lets you play demonstration like a fiddle.

Each day (if you do it right) you can demonstrate you da man (or woman) in your market, the one to be trusted above all others and, yes, the one to buy from.

It’s what I teach in “Email Players”.

And, I can teach you, too.

That is, if you can follow instructions.

And, write a simple email.

More info at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

I’ve mentioned the movie “Sideways” before.

It’s about a couple middle aged dudes who go on a wine tasting weekend in California… getting into various misadventures, etc. A fun, thought-provoking flick with great acting and a story I can watch over and over and not get bored.

Anyway, here’s why I bring this up.

One of the two guys is named Jack.

He’s a voiceover actor.

And, he’s also a low class jackass kinda guy who’s about to get married the next week, and wants to spend all his time on the wine adventure trying to get laid before his big day.

Towards the end…

(SPOILER ALERT)

He finds a waitress he wants to have sex with.

When Miles (his friend) objects, Jack says:

“Listen, man. You’re my friend, and I know you care about me. And I know you disapprove, and I respect that. But there are some things that I have to do that you don’t understand. You understand literature, movies, wine… but you don’t understand my plight.”

Pretty funny scene if you watch it.

And, kind of useful, too.

Specifically, for people learning copywriting, email, etc.

What I mean is this:

A lot of people get into copywriting and email marketing and they understand headlines, and storytelling and closing an ad. They’ve studied (even wrote out by hand!) dozens of ads by Halbert, Bencivenga, Carlton, etc. And, they can recite Caples, Hopkins, and Schwartz chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

But, they still struggle.

And, they don’t know why.

Well, the reason is simple:

They don’t really understand their market.

The copywriting tricks of the trade are fun… but, unless you learn your market first… unless you understand their “plight”… your copy will be taken about as seriously as Jack takes Miles’ advice not to have sex with another woman before he gets married the next week.

You gotta understand their plight, Beavis.

Otherwise, persuasion “tricks” won’t do you a lick of good.

Anyway, something to drink on.

This goes for email, too.

It’s why I always tell people no matter how well your emails are, if you don’t know your market… don’t have an offer they want… don’t have a responsive list… they’re dead in the water.

So learn your market’s plight.

Get in their heads.

Then, sell, baby, sell.

That’s where “Email Players” swoops in.

It’s a monthly newsletter.

And, I show you the exact same email ideas & tactics I use.

(With examples.)

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Below are some “marks” of low class jackass marketers.

They are everywhere.

But, they abound online.

If you meet one, don’t give them a second of your time, a penny of your money, or a whiff of your knowledge (i.e. don’t let them buy from you).

Okay, here they is:

• Putting people on email lists without consent.

• Trolling Amazon and iTunes reviews.

• Serial refunding products on Clickbank because they know Clickbank won’t even make anyone explain how they bought a product and magically went through it in the 5 minutes it took them to refund.

• Adding people to Facebook groups without their consent.

• Not removing people when they click the unsubscribe link.

• Trying to squeeze free information out of a copywriter, consultant, or other service provider by making them think they want to hire them, but really have no intention of doing so.

• Swiping ads/emails/titles/products, etc word-for-word.

• Complaining about free information they get.

I could go on and on.

But, those are a few of the more common signs.

Again, if you see any of these “marks” on a customer, service provider, list owner, client, or anything else… run.

Don’t give them anything.

Not your time.

Not your knowledge.

And, certainly, not your money.

SPURN me on this at your peril…

OK, on to the fun stuff:

Next issue of “Email Players” shows you (amongst a bunch of other things) how I recently used email to whip the pants off of a bunch of other high level marketers (with much bigger lists) when selling a product as an affiliate.

I’ll show you how I did it.

And, how you can, too.

To subscribe to “Email Players” go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let me tell you about Shamus, my neighbor’s cat.

When I first moved to the Burgle last year, I was on the phone one day in the kitchen and noticed a small snake slinking in under the door. I’ve seen stranger things and just kinda shrugged my shoulders, kicked it out, and went on about m bid’niz.

Next day… same thing.

Except this time it was a salamander.

Wtf?

Again, I shoe it out.

But, this time, I see Shamus nearby with a grin saying:

“See what I did for you?! I gave you a couple gifts! Feed me!!”

I’ll never know for sure.

But, I suspect dropping that snake and salamander on my stoop was Shamus’s way of getting himself a reward of some kind.

(Food, attention, who knows?)

The point?

Lately people have been sending me unsolicited books in the mail.

I don’t know who’s teaching people to do this.

But, sometimes I will get a book in the mail from someone I don’t know, have never heard of, and who didn’t even give me a heads up.

I’m guessing they think I’ll reward them somehow.

(With what, I have no idea.)

But, it doesn’t work that way.

For one, I never asked for any of these books.

In fact, I’ve already got enough reading to last me the next several years, which they’d have known if they took 10 seconds to, you know, ask me first. Nothing against receiving gifts, but, like Shamus’s gift, if it’s not something I want, it becomes more of an imposition — gotta find a place to put these books or else throw them out or whatever — than a gift.

And secondly:

Offering strangers stuff they don’t want ain’t persuasion.

It won’t kick-start the so-called “law of reciprocity.”

And, frankly, it’s a waste of your money.

And you know what?

That goes for trying to sell anything.

I don’t know who said it.

(Dale Carnegie?)

But, just because you like strawberry shortcake, doesn’t mean you should try to catch catfish with it.

Anyway, down to bid’niz:

If you want to learn how to sell (not just be a giveaway artist) check out the “Email Players” newsletter.

It ain’t cheap.

And, it ain’t for price shoppers.

But it shows you how to sell.

And, in a way people *like* buying from.

Subscription info here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Following is a true story.

Once upon a time, I was talking to my droog Doberman Dan when he told me about how his merchant account was suddenly shut down out of the blue.

No indication.

No warning.

And, no reason whatsoever.

(His track record was “hounds tooth” clean.)

Someone in ye olde bureaucracy decided he was high risk.

And that was it.

They shut his azz down!

Then, they shut his back up merchant account down, too!

Luckily, he has a back up of his back up and was okay.

But this sort of thing can happen to anyone.

So since then I’ve been kinda paranoid about it.

After all, you can’t control the merchant account peoples’ decisions. But, you CAN control your income streams so that all your income doesn’t come from one source. “One” being the most dangerous number in business as Dan Kennedy (who knows a thing or two about this stuff) likes to say.

So, how can you diversify your income streams?

Easy…

Have several irons in the fire.

And, have them all generating income (big or small) from difference sources.

Like, for example:

• PayPal
• Your own merchant account
• Kindle
• Client work
• Clickbank
• JV’s (they collect money and pay you)
• Investment income

Etc, etc etc.

See how that works?

So if one income stream goes down, you don’t feel it.

You have the others still going strong.

This is one reason I dig on email.

You can create multiple income streams selling various kinds of products with email, but have them all coming from different sources. One can be an auto-responder sequence selling via ClickBank. Another product with PayPal. Another with your merchant account. Another from Kindle, etc. And if you can have one or two that are NOT tied to your social security number, even better (i.e. JV’s, clients, etc).

Anyway, email lets you create these streams fast.

You just gotta do the work.

No slacking allowed.

For ongoing email marketing guidance, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

On this week’s “Ben Settle Show” episode, we natter on about the “Odd Fellows.” Why you’re one… why I’m one… and, why so few people in the world (5%) are.

Confession:

This is an experimental episode.

(So much so… I’m not even pulling bullets from it.)

Download this bad-boy here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle

Let me tell you a story.

About 14 years ago, I got interested in a certain ancestor (great grandfather) who was like someone out of a movie — professional adventurer, soldier, gunman, Rough Rider for Teddy Roosevelt, master of fighting with a saber, etc — and he had written about all his adventures (and misadventures) in a local magazine in Kentucky.

Anyway, his obit had a weird section in it.

Specifically, how he was in a group called:

“The Odd Fellows”

That sounded like kind of a strange name.

So, I looked it up.

Turns out the Odd Fellows are a not-so-secret society of people who basically want to help their fellow mankind via various selfless acts and charitable ways using their own time, money, and resources (i.e. they really do want to help “the children”, the poor, and others who need help, not just use them to get elected).

Thus, they were called “odd fellows.”

It’s no different in the bid’niz world.

It’s my opinion (and I’m right) just being in business (even if you are new, and have not yet reached any kind of financial or job freedom yet) makes you (yes, you, babycakes) and Odd Fellow as far as the rest of the population is concerned.

Just something to think about, amigo.

If you’re in bid’niz pat yourself on the back.

You’re truly an “odd fellow” in that sense.

And, it’s something I talk at length about tomorrow in “The Ben Settle Show” podcast.

Watch for my signal tomorrow.

Download past shows here:

www.BenSettleShow.com/itunes

Ben Settle

One of the things I did when structuring “Zombie Cop” was purposely divide the plot into 14 chapters, with 7 “scenes” (parts) each chapter.

I wrote about this before in February.

(Before publishing it.)

And, yes, I did the same with “Vampire Apocalypse” — which I’m working on the second draft of currently.

Why?

Three reasons, Van Helsing:

1. When information is presented in 3’s or 7’s it’s very easy for the (uneaten, at least) human brain to accept and follow.

I don’t know why this is.

But, I just know it works.

(At least I noticed it does in advertising.)

2. It made the book a lot easier and faster to write.

When writing these novels I am striving for a “24” pace.

I really dig that show.

And the reason why is, it’s so quick.

You barely even notice the time going by when watching it. Something is ALWAYS happening — and it keeps you on the edge of your seat and begging for more the next week.

So my goal was with “Zombie Cop”.

And so it is again with “Vampire Apocalypse”, too.

Fitting the story into this structure just… works… for my storytelling style. It fits so well when writing I don’t even have to consciously think about it. In fact, it just works out to be that exact length (14 chapters, 7 parts per chapter) no matter what I do.

Why fight it?

3. It makes it a fast read.

Here’s the troof:

“Zombie Cop” is definitely not high literature.

It’s not “deep” as far as characters go, either.

(Although I argue the plot has a lot more depth than other zombie and monster stories out there these days.)

And, it’s certainly not “great writing.”

(Nor does it pretend to be.)

But, what I hope it is, and what it was always intended to be… was entertaining. The kind of book you read and get sucked into the story and have a hard time not reading it in one sitting because you can’t look away.

And you know what?

I think it succeeds on that front.

At least, according to the amazon reviews.

Anyway, the point of all this?

I dunno.

I just felt like writing about this.

And, talking a bit about the process of writing novels, as I think more copywriters and email marketers should try their hands at it.

That said, let’s get down to bid’niz:

“Vampire Apocalypse” will be ready by Christmas.

If you know someone who loves vampire stories, I think I have a somewhat unique take on the monster they’ll enjoy, just as I believe “Zombie Cop” has a unique take on zombies you’re not seeing in Hollywood or anywhere else.

Makes a good stocking stuffer for ’em.

Just make sure they read “Zombie Cop” first.

That way, they know what’s going on.

To read the first couple chapters go here:

www.ZombieCopBook.com

Ben Settle

Hello boys and ghouls,

One of the most amusing things about my “Zombie Cop” novel is how much of the positive feedback is from people who admit they don’t usually like zombie movies, much less will sit down and read a book about them.

And, this has been especially true of chicks.

For example, take this amazon review:

Let me start by saying this: Had I been walking through the book store for a new read, this is the last book I ever would have picked up. Seriously. The very last. For most of my life, I have been forced to sit through zombie movies or shows that, in my opinion, are always the same. We get it…they got bit, they look pale, they can’t talk, they eat humans. Moving on. I am not into zombies. I am a girl. I prefer feel good stories with feel good endings. I have a knack for data mapping these kind of books before the events even unfold.

That all changed with Ben’s “Zombie Cop”. I could feel myself getting completely captivated as the author has a way of making the characters feel like people you would want to hang out with, keeping the story line titillating and a fast paced, and…for the most part…being unpredictably sick minded and merciless.

Chapter ten really effed with my head so ladies beware. I almost stopped reading the book here. I continued, though, and I am glad that I did. My need for closure (and some recent attempts to do pull ups) gave me the inner strength to forge onward to an ending that I found incredibly unique and exciting.

This is a great read for anyone with a twisted mind that loves sick stories….or for people who are just completely ignorant, thinking that this story will be like “all the others”.

Ah yes, chapter 10.

One lady reader said she got mad at me while reading it.

She says:

“Ben, you really made me mad because you have zero filter for your ideas.”

She’s right, of course.

It IS a disturbing chapter.

But, necessary.

Why?

Because when writing (and this goes for copy and emails as well) you can’t censor yourself. If an idea or word or analogy — no matter how politically incorrect or taboo — needs to be said to tell your story or make the point, then you put it in and let the chips fall wherever they may.

Case in point:

If Hollywood ever gets a hold of my book they’d probably want to strip out some of chapter 10’s contents.

Or, at least, water it down.

(Or make it an “implied” scene.)

But that’d only hurt the story.

(In my humble, but accurate, opinion)

The events in that chapter HAVE to happen in order for you to hate (and I mean really hate, as in get emotional about it on some level) the villain.

Anyway, something to chew on.

BTW, speaking of Zombie Cop…

I’m guts deep into the sequel’s 2nd draft this week.

The sequel is called “Vampire Apocalypse” — and is book 2 of this 7-part series of novels.

Should be ready by Christmas.

In the meantime:

If you haven’t read “Zombie Cop” check out the URL below.

It’s gotten a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews and testimonials — including from a few world class copywriters, bestselling authors, an “A list” book cover artist (who designs covers for all the big mainstream book publishers), and lots of people who never ordinarily even read fiction but loved every deranged word of it.

The chicks dig it, too.

Especially since, it effs with their heads.

You can read the first couple chapters free here:

www.ZombieCopBook.com

Ben Settle

P.S. If you read it and haven’t left a review yet, I’d be as happy as a flesh eating zombie at a nudist colony if you would write one up real quick (can be short, it’s all good) for amazon.

Gracias in advance…