Ben Settle

Here’s a question that came in:

“Ben, is there really anything in your Copywriting Grab Bag product that most of us don’t already know who study copywriting all the time?”

I can’t possibly answer that.

After all, I don’t know what you know.

But, I will say it’s certainly been unique and helpful to people who have “seen it all” when it comes to copywriting and marketing products and courses.

Take, for example, Leon Altman.

Leon is no fluke.

He has written copy for Apple Computer, The Anaheim Angels and Jim Cramer (of CNBC’s “Mad Money”)… and has even been a featured copywriter in AWAI’s “Monthly Copywriting Genius.”

Not exactly your “average” copywriter, is he?

Probably, he’s seen quite a few copywriting products.

And here’s what he says:

“The Copywriting Grab Bag is an enticing buffet of copywriting tips, tricks, techniques, stories, metaphors, resources and interviews that copywriters at any level can feast on whenever they’re hungry for new response boosting ideas. And it’s written in a distinct style that makes it fun and engaging to dip into at anytime of the day.”

But he’s just one example.

Here’s what Terry Dean said about it:

“I usually have a stack of a dozen books or so on my shelf and everything goes on the bottom of the shelf. After skimming it, there were so many tips that I immediately picked up it went to the top of the book shelf and it was the next book that I read. My first read through I pulled out between six to ten new things to take and test in my own sales letters online. And it’s on the shelf for another read through again coming up soon.”

More?

Okay, here’s what Ken McCarthy said:

(Ken, I can assure you, has ZERO tolerance for BS products…)

“Ben, what a massive contribution to the copywriting world. And very original. And I recommend anybody who’s trying to get a handle on copywriting or get better response to their ad copy to get it and read it. It’s really a fantastic resource.”

Anyway, there are many more than this.

And you can read them at the link below.

But, here’s what’s urgent:

During this special “reload” launch, the product is $100 off.

But ONLY until Sunday at midnight.

So if you want in, sprint on over to:

Ben Settle

P.S. If you have an older version of the product and want the updated one, let me know and I’ll send you a discount coupon to deduct what you paid for it last time.

Also, one more thing.

Something that came up last week:

If you own the last version of The Copywriting Grab Bag, have my Street-Smart Email course and were subscribed to The Crypto Marketing Newsletter from May-September 2010, you already have everything in this new edition.

No reason to buy it again.

Otherwise, here’s where to get your $100 discount lovin’:

I wish I could take credit for this subject line.

I really, really do.

But in reality, my friend Daniel Levis wrote it a while back when promoting my Copywriting Grab Bag product to his own list. And that email was such a huge hit, that I couldn’t resist using it today.

Especially since, it is now officially for sale again.

The added material includes two more books with:

• My entire copywriting methodology (that I have so far only taught to my paid Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscribers and nobody else — ever)

• Over 100 pages of advanced email training (revealing many of my best email secrets)

That’s well over $200.00 of additional value.

And until Sunday, March 27th at midnight it’s $100.00 off.

Details at:

Ben Settle

A while back “it” finally happened.

I’d heard about “it” happening to copywriters before.

And, especially to the bigger name copywriters, like John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, etc

Anyway, what is this “it” I speaketh of?

Someone swiped one of my ads almost word for word.

But here’s the ironic thing.

Even though the “perp” swiped my ad… and did it for an ad competing against mine in the same market (a blatantly unethical no-no)… it didn’t make me angry at all.

In fact, I found it kinda amusing.

Why?

Because even though the swiper thought he was being “clever”… he missed the whole point of what made the ad successful.

In other words…

He swipe all the wrong parts!

It was just a complete mess, too.

His headline missed the emotion mine targeted, his sales argument lacked any trace of fire or passion (as they say in Hollywood terms, he “phoned it in”), and it was a hatchet job where nothing read smoothly or organically.

It was just cut, paste, smooth over, pay me my fee, Mr. Client.

Yikes.

You know, that’s the big problem with swiping.

Copywriting ain’t about the words.

It’s about the market.

The best prose won’t mean jack if you get the market dynamics wrong (or ignore them altogether, like this swipemeister did).

Anyway, it really was kinda funny.

In fact, know what it reminded me of?

A two-bit thief so lazy all he can do is rip off the spare change laying on the kitchen table… instead of taking the time to find the rolls of $100 bills stuffed in a safe in the wall.

I guess it’s true what they say after all:

Crime really doesn’t pay.

And speaking of copywriting…

The new Copywriting Grab Bag “reloaded” product is going to be re-released in a couple days.

To get $100 off on it, go here:

Ben Settle

Someone recently asked me about copywriting “shortcuts”?

Are they real?

Or mere fantasy — like unicorns or honest politicians?

I don’t know if this qualifies as a “shortcut” or not… and maybe it’s more like cheating… but one way you can definitely speed up the process of writing ads and make the whole messy affair less painful is getting good (REALLY good) at writing bullets.

Hey, my ads are almost ALL bullets.

A headline, some tease and — BOOM! — bullets.

It’s all about the bullets, baby.

The better I get at writing bullets, the faster I get writing ads, because an ad that is mostly bullets is far less words than an ad that is full of hot air and pointless tangents.

Bullets keep YOU focused.

Keep your READERS interested.

And keep your MERCHANT account busy processing orders.

But… how do you get good at bullets?

What’s the “secret”?

And, how can you learn it?

That, my friend, is something I reveal in The Copywriting Grab Bag product in detail. In fact, if you want to see every single bullet point trick, secret and technique I know (and use), it’s found inside.

What???

You want me to prove it to you?

OK, here are a couple comments about the product.

(The OLDER version, the new one has even more bullet tips).

“Your ‘Copywriting Grab Bag’ book not only has a lot of really priceless information, but your (secret described on page 65) bullet point idea is a thing of beauty.

So simple, yet so irresistible.

I’ve already put it into practice.

What reader could help themselves from filling out an order form when you use that technique?”

-Charles Brown
Dynamic-copywriting.net

And here is another from a “LinkedIn” recommendation:

“Ben writes bullets that make you salivate and suck you into buying just to find out what he’s talking about. They sound too good to be true. When I got his “The Copywriting Grab Bag” and looked up all the bullets… guess what?… he nailed them–all of them!

I thought John Carlton did great bullets.

And he does.

But Ben, in my view, is at least as good, and he gives you another perspective in writing bullets that compel the reader to scratch the itch and find out the BIG WHAT. Also, I don’t want to say he’s underpricing his “stuff”… let’s just say he delivers huge value for the price.”

-David Graska
(From his LinkedIn.com recommendation)

Anyway, hope that helps prove the case.

Bullets can absolutely explode your entire conversion rate. One bullet is all it takes (in some cases) to make the sale.

It happens all the time.

OK, that’s that for now.

To get Copywriting Grab Bag for $100.00 off, zip over to:

Ben Settle

P.S. If you have an older version of the product and want the updated one, let me know and I’ll send you a discount coupon to deduct what you paid for it last time.

Also, one more thing.

Something that came up last week:

If you own the last version of The Copywriting Grab Bag, have my Street-Smart Email course and were subscribed to The Crypto Marketing Newsletter from May-September 2010, you already have everything in this new edition.

No reason to buy it again.

Otherwise, here’s where to go for the $100 discount:

I kinda feel bad for online marketers.

And the reason why is because a lot of them (MOST of them) are not really entrepreneurs, are far too safety oriented, and so embarrassingly gullible they really don’t have a chance of making it in business unless and until they change.

This has nothing to do with education either.

Or experience.

Or even personality.

It’s just a mindset thing.

Real business owners don’t think like employees.

Yet, most people online are really “nontrepreneurs” not entrepreneurs. And they frankly do belong in a job and probably should not be wasting their money and time trying to make it online (or offline) in a business.

Harsh?

Hey, I calls it like I sees it.

Here are some “marks” of a nontrepreneur:

• They need constant hand holding (yes, help and guidance is peachy, but some people cling to their coaches or their goo-roos like Linus in the “Peanuts” comics clings to his blanket…)

• They see info products as expenses (not investments)

• They aren’t willing to do whatever it takes (ethically) to win (maybe it’s all these goo-roo products they buy saying they can grow rich by being “lazy”…)

• They blame others for everything (wives, government, etc)

• They blindly follow goo-roo advice (even when unethical!)

• They quit things WAY too fast (not giving something — a product, a newsletter, a health supplement, whatever — at LEAST 3 months is insane, there is no overnight success with anything)

Oh well.

That’s just the way it is, I suppose.

Whatever the case, I just got the proof for the new and improved Copywriting Grab Bag product and it’s a doozy.

It re-launches later this week.

To get a $100 discount, go here:

Ben Settle

One of my favorite stories is “Animal Farm.”

It was written by George Orwell.

And it’s about the various animals of a farm successfully revolting against their human owner, only to slide into a far more brutal tyranny among themselves.

At one point, the commie tyrant animal says:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”

And you know what?

I just realized it’s sorta the same with my customers.

At least, with the forthcoming Copywriting Grab Bag relaunch.

Here’s what I mean:

I’ve been getting questions from people who already have the previous version of the product, and want to know if there is enough new stuff added to make it worth buying it again.

Very good question.

Mayhaps this will clear up the confusion:

There are two components added:

1. 100 pages of new copywriting content (from my paid newsletter)

2. 106 pages of email training

And what I’ve decided is this:

Previous Copywriting Grab Bag buyers can subtract whatever they paid for their product originally from the $197 launch price. Just send me your receipt (or I can look it up in my system if you don’t have it) and I will send you a shopping cart coupon code before buying. If you paid the $137 that means you get it for just $60, but if you paid $97 for it (its original price) you would have to pay $100 for the newer one.

So yeah, some customers are more equal than others.

But, it’s the fairest way to go, I think.

BTW, what’s the VALUE of the new info?

Well, let’s put it this way:

The 5 Crypto Marketing Newsletter issues that make up the extra copywriting training would run you $135 to buy the back issues separately (and they are only for sale to subscribers).

And then there’s the email info.

That’s a bit harder to pin a price value on.

But basically, it’s not for sale anywhere.

You’d have to buy Michael Senoff’s expensive HMA deal for it.

Anyway, that’s that.

To get the $100 discount, go to:

Ben Settle

The ‘net is stuffed with copywriting myths.

Too many to list, quite sadly.

And before you spend a small fortune on learning it, I think you will find the following little “guide” helpful (I wish I’d known this several years ago when I was trying to sift out the good stuff from the garbage).

OK, ready?

Here goes…

MYTH #1:

“Copywriting is a sales generator”

No… it’s a sales multiplier.

By itself, an ad is worthless. You need some other things first, like, oh, I dunno… a list… a great product… some marketplace positioning… etc

MYTH #2:

“Copywriting can you a million overnight”

Uhm… no it won’t. Unless, of course you have the above first in SPADES…

MYTH #3:

“Expensive is always better”

It amazes me how cleverly packaged some goo-roo courses are. You could get the same information in a $12 book they charge $1,200.00 for…

MYTH #4:

“You get what you pay for”

You probably don’t need me to tell you that’s redonkulous. There are libraries full of $1,000 copywriting courses owned by people who still can’t write an ad… because they never took the time to implement the products.

MYTH #5:

“Learning copywriting will help me get clients!”

Not so fast, Batman.

The vast majority of copywriting courses mention nothing about getting clients. The reason why is because many aren’t written by people who even know how to get clients themselves!

MYTH #6:

“Learning copywriting will help my email writing”

I wasted a lot of years thinking regular emails were like static sales pages and direct mail letters, and assuming the stuff I was learning in copywriting courses were applicable to emails.

Sometimes they are… but often, they aren’t.

Now… re: Myths 5 & 6 above:

There’s a blatantly self-serving reason for including those.

And it’s because I’m re-releasing my Copywriting Grab Bag product soon. It already includes some chapters and MP3’s on getting clients. But this new version now includes a second book with my entire copywriting methodology, too. (Reprinted from my Crypto Marketing Newsletter.)

The whole mindset is there from “A to zebra.”

(i.e. from headline to PS)

Anyway, early birds get a $100 discount.

For details, go to:

Ben Settle

Noticing certain sales letter “checklists” floating around lately.

Usually, they are long (some like 30 points or more).

And all of them seem extremely confusing and complicated. Now, whether that’s due to my low attention span (it probably is) or if they just like complexity, I don’t know.

But mostly, I find them amusing.

Especially at how goo-roos love them.

I once had a client who was a total goo-roo fanboy who handed me one of these checklists and, I guess, expected me to use it.

Yeah, right.

I don’t do other peoples’ check lists, dawg.

And I’m sure as shizzit not going to sit there and artificially try to hammer in “social proof” or “persuasion” or “scarcity” or whatever the new goo-roo buzz word-of-the-month is just because they think it’s cool or whatever.

And you want to know something?

You shouldn’t, either.

In fact, in my humble (and BIASED) opinion, there is only one check list worth using.

And that’s the one I created!

(See, told you I was biased!)

And here it is:

• Headline
• Opening paragraph
• Story
• Bullets
• Close

Hey, I’ve written a lot of winning ads.

Frankly, I’m not sure I’ve ever lost a split test.

And if there’s a reason for that, it’s the above check list.

Simple.

Uncomplicated.

Easily used for most any kind of product.

In fact, I’ll take the Pepsi challenge against any other sales letter checklist with the one above.

It was even the subject of 5 Crypto Marketing Newsletter issues.

Those 5 issues made up my entire copywriting methodology.

My whole system on a plate.

And guess ye what?

Until now, Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscribers were the ONLY people who had access to it. I say “until now” because I have recently decided to re-release my Copywriting Grab Bag product (at a much higher price than before). And part of the product includes those 5 issues (as well as over 100 pages of intense email training, too).

More:

Launch period customers will get a $100 discount.

Instead of $297, they will get it for $197.

(And I pay the shipping).

Should be ready soon, I think.

To hop on the notification list, go to:

Ben Settle

Recently I got a funny question from a subscriber.

He has a blog and wants to know how to get more people commenting on his blog and participating in discussions, etc. This is funny because (if you’ve seen my blog in the past 2 years) I don’t even allow comments.

Anyway, I think he’s asking the wrong question.

The question I would ask is, are you finding blog comments leading to cash-in-the-bank sales or not?

If not, then why even worry about it?

Internet marketers are funny like that, though.

Few real business owners (and most Internet marketers are not real business owners) ever think like your average, IM’er does.

They can’t afford to.

If they did, their businesses would die right quick.

Can you imagine a grocery store or retail shop owner asking, “hm, wonder how I can get more people to stand around in my store all day, talking?”

More likely he’s thinking, “how can I increase sales!”

Because SALES is what pays bills.

Not online gossiping.

Not social media brain farts.

And certainly not blog comments.

Yes, they COULD lead to sales.

There are ways to monetize these things, no doubt about it.

But by themselves, they’re as useless as a $3 bill.

Just my too many cents.

Ben Settle

P.S. Speaking of blogs…

One of the bonuses you get when you subscribe to The Crypto Marketing Newsletter is an 86-minute advanced training I did on blog copywriting (for turning your blog posts into sales, not just comment farms) for one of the Internet’s leading home business training sites (the only other way to get this is to buy their $997.00 product it was created for).

For more info, skadoodle on over to: