Ben Settle

A question rolls in about testing…

“I’m totally confused by this testing vs. non-testing debate. If the concept of testing is not sound, then how does anybody know if anything works (other than generating a random quantity of sales?) What’s to say you should use one headline over the other if you can’t trust the results of either? Was Claude Hopkins full of sh*t when he coined the term “scientific advertising” for his book? Testing has to have *some* validity, right? Maybe only in broad strokes, but still usable.”

Who said you shouldn’t be testing?

I’m ALL for testing.

But realize testing emails is very unreliable.

And, can even harm your sales over time.

Example:

I’ve written many emails that kicked bootykis the first time I used them, but BOMBED the next time. I’ve also had emails do little or no sales the first time (and this spans multiple markets, btw), but drive in lots of sales when I lazily recycled them later.

See the problem?

The danger?

If I’d dogmatically relied on so-called “testing data” from tediously setting up A/B tests each day, I’d have missed out on lots of sales.

So I’m all about sales trends with email.

Not measuring metrics that are (at best) unreliable.

BTW, as a side bar…

This “testing” email stuff makes some people VERY emotional.

One blue-flame special went especially batty — including threatening to punch me in the face, demanding I show him a tax return, yada yada yada.

Amusing stuff.

My buddies and I found it hilarious.

Hey, I DO so love them haters.

They… complete me…

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes, now, static pages are great for testing.

Especially opt in pages.

(And especially the kind of opt in page I’m teaching in the July “Email Players” — www.EmailPlayers.com — newsletter issue, which goes to the printer in a few days…)

But email testing data is highly unreliable.

Not always repeatable.

And, can cost you money as a result if you blindly follow it (it’s not a total waste of time, but you have to be careful).

Bottom line?

The real power is in regular communication.

In being consistent.

And, in knowing how to write to your market.

That’s my opinion.

And, as you know, I’m always right.

You can learn my email system at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

“Email Players” subscriber Joe Gilder writes:

“Do you do an affiliate program for ‘Email Players’? Random update: This month will be the SIXTH month in a row where I’ve beaten my previous month in gross income. ridonkulous.”

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Yes, some think I hype my newsletter up.

Usually, those are people who have been burned by someone else, and now take their righteous indignation out on anyone who makes any kind of claim about any kind of product.

Kinda sad.

Because, usually, those types continue to fall for nonsense.

(And then get even more zealous in their cries about hype, etc).

Anyway, onto Joe’s question:

Is there an “Email Players” affiliate program?

The answer is no.

And probably there never will be one.

BUT…

I am toying with the idea of licensing the newsletter.

Basically what that would mean is, interested people would buy the rights to sell the newsletter (an expensive licensing fee up front, plus paying me a small royalty on the sales each month), and have to agree to use my printer and a few other odds and ends.

Not sure I’m going to do this yet.

And, I do know I want only serious people selling it.

Not any old yahoo with a clickbank ID.

Anyway, so that’s what’s going on.

More info forthcoming.

In the meantime, subscribe at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. Joe Gilder (the guy who asked the affiliate question) also sent me another email saying how it’s not like he went from $20 to $30. He was around $7,000 in January. Now he’s pushing $15k.

All from using my system.

And, from doing it consistently.

Hey, this stuff ain’t magic.

But the results can sometimes seem magical, eh?

The next issue goes to the printer in a few days.

If you want in on time, go to:

www.EmailPlayers.com

What’s with this anti-blatant pitch attitude online?

It’s like people have been so indoctrinated with one goo-roo after another telling them to never pitch… just give away all your best ideas freely… or just do some lame half-assed pitch in the PS or whatever, safely hidden away so nobody (GASP!) unsubscribes.

Well I’m here to tell you it just ain’t so.

You CAN pitch blatantly.

You SHOULD pitch blatantly.

And, dang it, you WILL pitch blatantly (and LIKE it) when I’m done with you.

There are many reasons to blatantly pitch.

Maybe not every day.

But, at least sometimes.

A few big reasons include:

1. More sales (isn’t that reason enough?)

2. Sets the tone you’re in business (and not a charity)

3. Gets your solution into more hands (isn’t that what it’s ultimately all about?)

4. Saves money (contrary to what the Internet marketing igits say, you want high unsubscribe rates, especially if you have a lot of website traffic)

There are many more, of course.

Probably dozens more.

Now, there is a bit of art & science to this.

The key is knowing how to do it in a way where you don’t freak anyone out or come across as just another affiliate or goo-roo looking for a “booty call” (figuratively speaking).

That’s where I can help.

Getting away with pitching is my speciality.

It’s something I’ve gotten VERY good at (modestly speaking…) via writing thousands of emails total for multiple different markets selling all kinds of various products.

And guess what?

I’m teaching this in the July “Email Players” issue.

It’s gonna be a doozy, too.

There ain’t nothing more profitable than knowing how to blatantly pitch in an email in such a way where people not only don’t mind, but actually love reading it (and, yes, buying from it).

Wanna see how it’s done?

And, how you can do it too?

Complete with a couple real life examples?

Then at the risk of blatantly pitching you…

Go here to subscribe:

www.EmailPlayers.com

It goes to the printer soon.

No time for dilly-dally…

Ben Settle

I just love the smell of hate mail in the morning.

Check out the doozy below that came in yesterday.

WARNING for ye with tender eyes:

Strong and (even worse!) unintelligible language, read at your own risk or scroll down past it:

Message:
fuck you scum suckers and nazi fags.

eat shit and die assholes.

Aaaah.

Hate mail is truly my morning brew of choice.

But methinks we need some balance.

So, here is an actual intelligent question about yesterday’s “Web 1.0” email:

You mean there’s hope for me yet? Too many balls to juggle.Would love to just focus on the basics.

But, the truth is, that FB done right, can gain a hell of a following of a hungry crowd. And, I look at FB and my cell phone more than emails. Lots of emails don’t get opened (even a few of yours, unless there’s vulgarity in the subject line, in which case it gets opened first).

Many people seem to do very well with an integrated approach.

But you’re saying if you can’t be bothered with SM (a true form of S & M) (and I don’t get Twitter at all) not to worry, just stick to good ol’ email?

People incorporating SM aren’t making more sales just by virtue of being in front of more people? I may not open someone’s email, but I may see something they post or a friend posts.

In any case, interesting counter-conventional wisdom.

I say (and I’m right) use it all if you want.

The more the merrier.

But if your life was on the line, and you HAD to make a sale, and you had to pick either sending an email to your list or lobbing a link at your FaceBook friends, hoping enough of them are going to see it at THAT particular time for you to get the sale… which will you choose?

I know what I’d do…

Hey, email is KING.

At least, if you do it right.

(Sadly, hardly anyone does.)

But social media is more like the court jester.

It’s amusing.

It’s fun.

It can at times even be useful.

But at the end of the day, compared to email… it’s a joke.

Email is where the real $$ is made.

To get your piece of that pie, go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Social media blah blah blah.

Everyone’s an expert at it.

And if you ask some of these “experts”, they really do believe Twitter and FaceBook are the 8th and 9th wonders of the world — the twin messiahs that will usher in a new age of business peace and prosperity.

I kinda don’t think so, chief.

Yes, they have their uses.

But the REAL profits are not made on Twitter or FaceBook or any “social media” site.

They’re made with ANTIsocial media.

Media that’s one sided conversations.

With little or no interactivity.

Take for example…

* Direct mail

Last year I briefly worked with one of the top direct mail consultants on the planet. He routinely was mailing something like 50k postcards per week selling a “how to make money in real estate” product.

Real estate?

Isn’t that dead?

Not in direct mail apparently…

* Magazine ads

I remember a few years ago, Dan Kennedy talking about a small display ad for men who want to be taller, how it had been running non-stop since… before he was even born!

Just chugs and chugs along, year after year.

Decade after decade…

Try doing that with a Tweet.

* PPC ads

Even though most of the goo-roo fanboys are banned from AdWords (how are those sneaky little “ninja tricks” working for ya?), that doesn’t mean PPC isn’t kicking major gluteus bootyus.

There are people doing HUGE numbers with PPC.

Yes, even with all of PPC’s silly rules.

* Email

Like it or not, you’ll build your business far faster regularly mailing a list of 500 email subscribers than you will with lobbing tweets at 100k twitter followers all day (assuming you know what you’re doing, of course…)

Awright.

Enough!

I’m not totally knocking social media.

After all, I use it myself.

But it’s like sitting at the kid’s table trying to out-scream each other for attention, while the REAL business is being done at the adult’s table.

That’s my opinion, leastways.

And methinks the numbers agree…

Ben Settle

P.S. Of course, my favorite antisocial media marketing tool is email. If you know what you’re doing, you can profit quite handsomely even from a small list.

I’ve taught many others how to do it.

And can show you how to do it, too, at:

www.EmailPlayers.com

I keep banging this drum.

And, I will keep banging it until the incessant copycatting of my emails ceases. I’ve even decided to take legal action after talking to a lawyer. Since these thieves obviously can’t be bothered to read the “copyright” notice on the bottom of each email, I’m sure they’ll read the official legal papers telling them I’m nailing them for up to $150k per infraction.

(Hey, it could be that next stream of income I’ve been looking for…)

For one, stealing is illegal.

For another, it’s dumb.

Really dumb.

So dumb, it makes the guys in the movie “Dumb & Dumber” look like jeeniuses.

Why do I say this?

Because it can completely destroy your reputation in a heartbeat.

Goo-roo fanboys stealing my emails while selling to the Internet marketing crowd are especially making asses out of themselves and throwing money away. (One blue light special even used one of my emails to sell another email system, the owner of that system looks like an idiot now and is — rightfully — PO’d at the thief who did it). I know who many of the thieves are now, as people on their own lists are sending me the copycatted emails (which are now being forwarded to my legal “shark” each day). And people (literally) tell me “I thought this guy was legit but he’s stealing your material Ben, I was going to buy his product but not now…”

Yep, I get emails saying that exact thing.

And it brings a warm cockle to my heart, too.

After all, it shows my system — www.EmailPlayers.com — goes beyond words (what the thieves THINK is what is making the sales), and builds trust, loyalty and a list of people who have my back.

You can’t get that being a thief.

You gotta be an original, baby.

More:

Stealing/copycatting can get you fired if you’re writing for clients.

Or, even worse, get your client in legal trouble.

In fact, check out this email I got from a subscriber last week:

(Names have been removed to protect the guilty… for now…)

Dear Ben:

I enjoy your emails, Dr. —- not so much. He keeps sending me stuff roughly based on your emails (not much of a problem here, imitating the best) but some are exactly your words. I realize you’ve written stuff for _____, which I enjoy, but is Dr. — a client–or is he just blatantly plagiarizing your emails? I find it hard to take advice, or buy products from someone who plagiarizes someone elses material without permission. Dr. — holds himself out as a leading consultant to the _____ profession, but I think he owes our profession (and you) a big apology if he is just stealing your stuff. So, could you please clarify whether he is a client with permission to use your emails, or just another thief?

If there’s one customer saying this, there’s a dozen.

Maybe several dozen.

Maybe even hundreds, if your list is big.

All those potential sales and your reputation… GONE.

Pissed away by laziness.

By lack of ethics.

And, by lack of a ball sac, IMHO.

Hey, laziness doesn’t cut it.

And being in a “hurry” doesn’t excuse it.

(That’s like pick-pocketing a pedestrian on the street and then your rationalization hamster justifying it by saying it’s okay ‘cuz you were in a hurry…)

Not only will I nail you (for up to $150k bones a shot).

But, your customers will nail you, too.

(And tell others to avoid you…)

Over time, that’s even more expensive.

OK enough.

I’m teaching people how to stand on their own two feet with email each month.

And I’m doing it in “Email Players”.

Yes, you can write profitable emails without stealing.

Without struggling.

And, without spending a lot of time writing.

It’s easier than you think, too.

Here’s where to go next:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Usually, I qualify claims I make about my email methodology with (1) you need a list — not a BIG list, but a list, you’re actively adding names to, and (2) steady traffic coming in.

It is, after all, the responsible way to advertise.

But, it’s not exactly true.

Case in point:

My Australian friend Kyle Tully started using email the way I teach.

His results?

Starting from scratch (and only 1 person on his list) he sent 23 emails over 35 days. Said his average writing time was 20 minutes. And his overall sales for those 35 days were…

(Drum roll…)

A phat $3,988.

Nearly $4k!

“Working” just 20 minutes per day.

And starting with no list to speak of.

(He said the last email went to just 93 people.)

More:

He also said he has done NOTHING to build the list other than put an optin on his blog. And he’s not doing anything to actively drive traffic to the blog either.

But you know what the BEST part is?

The part nobody ever thinks of?

I’ll let Kyle tell you in his own words:

“And I’m getting LOTS of personal replies and positive feedback. Goodwill is hard to put a $$$ figure on but is certainly building.”

What???

You mean mailing more often doesn’t just generate hate mail?

People aren’t BOTHERED?

They actually LIKE it?

Yep.

Yep.

And… yep.

That’s the difference between how I teach email and all the wannabes (and there are an ever growing number of Ben Settle wannabes starting to teach email “suddenly” — it’s amusing, since every single one of them is doing it wrong).

My stuff is fun.

Not based on stealing or copying.

And, shows you how to be a man about it — not a ball-less little copycat who has to swipe & copy from other emails like a kid clinging to his “banky”.

I’m going to write more about this tomorrow.

(The dangers of copying.)

But for now…

There’s only one way to learn my system:

Subscribe to the “Email Players” newsletter.

It ain’t cheap.

But you get what you pay for, chief.

Go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

P.S. Kyle made roughly $173 per 20 minute email.

Most people don’t make that in an 8 hour DAY working for the man. Maybe now you finally understand my hot, steamy love affair with email…

Here’s an interesting question…

“Ben which are the best Internet sales letters worth studying?”

Uhm, none of them.

Stay away from studying Internet ads, boyz & girlz.

(Yes, my ads, too.)

Why?

Because the REAL copywriting is not found online.

It’s found OFFLINE.

Ads that have been scientifically & rigorously tested (hint: very few online ads are truly tested scientifically), and often competing against 2 or more other highly paid badass copywriters who are all competing for a fat royalty.

You get nothing but top notch offline.

Online?

We can get away with a lot of slop.

I’ve seen “ads” that have supposedly pulled millions online, but a cursory glance will tell you the sales letters had way less to do with all that green stuff than the hundreds (or thousands) of affiliates working for rockstar-positioned goo-roos who could sell their grocery lists for $997 if they wanted to.

I’m not saying ALL online ads suck.

Many are actually very good.

But if your life depended on it, and you HAD to get the best copywriting edu-ma-cation, I’d study only high pulling offline ads.

One of the best offline copywriters was Gary Halbert.

Easily my favorite.

And I attribute SO many successes to him.

(And studying his OFFLINE ads.)

What made him so special?

Lots of things.

And that’s why I’m offering a very rare chance for you to learn his least-known tricks (the stuff you can’t even find in his free newsletters online or products).

It’s in an audio interview called:

“Gary Halbert Lessons
From Beyond The Grave”

It’s an interview I did with Doberman Dan.

Dan used to live with Gary (no homo).

And they did a bunch of projects together.

During that time, Dan learned lessons that have made him (literally) millions in sales since. In fact, this interview contains tips for everything from how to virtually guarantee you get someone’s attention (i.e. potential JV partners, clients, customers, etc)… to how to write ads while goofing off (how else do you think a fun-loving guy like Gary Halbert pumped out so many ads?)… to why blatantly copy & pasting Gary Halbert’s copy for your promos can destroy your sales… to how to never get “writers block”… to the single most important copywriting “trick” ever created (and that can help you do all kinds of other tasks, too — like write high selling ads, find a car and accomplish just about anything else).

And the list goes on.

(It’s a 2 hour interview).

Anyway, it’s all yours for the taking.

All you have to do is this:

1. Get on Internet marketing attorney Mike Young’s list at:

http://USInternetLawFirm.com

(You should be on it anyway, he keeps us all up to date on various government and corporate tomfoolery that affects you — he also gives away 3 free chapters of his new book, good stuff)

2. Buy his “Legal Forms Generator” product

(Worry not, you’ll see links to it in his emails after you opt in)

3. Send me your receipt

And that’s it, chief.

Easy, yeah?

I don’t recommend a lot of opt in lists.

But I DO recommend Mike Young’s.

Go ye forth and protect thyself.

Ben Settle

I’m not “paranoid.”

But when it comes to lawsuits, legal problems and “shark like” lawyers & bureaucrats looking to milk money from misery, I trust the government, the legal system and the millions of “sue happy” losers out there about as far as I can throw a piano.

It’s one reason my sites are plastered with legal disclaimers.

And why I had them even when I wasn’t making sales.

Why?

Because the government is NOTORIOUS for going after people “retroactively”, and I wouldn’t put it past them to go back in the annals of Google history to find a stray claim made in 2003 and try to nail you for that later when you ARE making some scratch.

Don’t laugh, Bigfoot.

This stuff CAN happen.

That’s why, whenever the FTC announces some high profile lynching, er, I mean lawsuit against a marketer, I ALWAYS take the marketer’s side first until that marketer is actually PROVEN guilty of something.

In many cases the marketer is getting screwed.

Just ask guys like Chase Revel (founder of Entrepreneur Magazine).

His story is a doozy.

Anyway, why am I bringing this up?

Because one of the most underrated products on the market right now is Mike Young’s “Legal Forms Generator” product.

I use it for multiple sites/businesses.

And, it gives me a lot of peace of mind.

Mike is one of the only lawyers out there looking out for Internet marketers.

And his product is a “must have” as far as I’m concerned.

Yes, even if you aren’t making a lot of money now.

In fact, I remember world class copywriter David Garfinkel saying (in an interview with the late copywriter John Ritz) how the government can (and likely will) go after you later for claims you made in the past if it’s worth it for them.

(And you ARE planning to make $$, right?)

And, before you even ask…

This is NOT an affiliate pitch for Mike’s product.

I don’t get paid a single penny if you buy it.

I just really support what Mike Young is doing (and so should every other Internet marketer, in my humble, but always ACCURATE, opinion). He also recently helped me out big time with a legal matter and has given me invaluable advice in the past (including how to deal with a certain Chinese pirate last year).

And so, I wanted to return the favor to him.

In fact, want to know something?

I’m even going to BRIBE you to get his product.

Here’s how:

If you buy Mike Young’s “Legal Forms Generator product”, and then email me your receipt, I will send you a rare interview I did with Doberman Dan Gallapoo about the most profitable lessons he learned while working side-by-side with the late, great Gary Halbert.

It’s 2 hours long, and we call it:

“Gary Halbert Lessons
From Beyond The Grave”

(Yep, Sir Gary of Halbert is still taking us all to school 6 years after his death).

And make no mistake about it…

There are many tips in this interview you won’t find in Gary Halbert’s free newsletter issues online.

What, you think Gary gave away his BEST stuff free?

By the way…

Doberman Dan recently spoke at Dan Kennedy’s seminar.

And is really quite the badass in his own right.

(He recently had a “run in” with a home intruder and basically kicked the guy’s ass).

So don’t mess with him.

And, don’t mess with your future, either.

Get Mike Young’s product and protect thyself.

Then send me your receipt.

I’ll then send you the Doberman Dan interview.

Capice?

Here’s where to get it:

www.legalformsgenerator.com

Ben Settle