Ben Settle

Here’s a question about affiliate marketing…

“Ben, I’m new to the Internet and decided to try my hand at affiliate marketing but I am unsure of how to pick a good product to sell. Do I just sell what’s high selling on Clickbank and what I see other people doing? Any advice for a newbie?”

BEN: Indeed I do…

A lot of people will disagree with it, though.

But, it’s worked out pretty good for me and it’s one of the secrets I teach in my Affiliate Trump Card product. In fact, it works so well that one buyer posted this on my blog: “The formula on page 17 is worth at least 100…times the modest investment…and not just for affiliate marketers.”

Big claim?

Maybe a bit of “puffery”?

Hey, see and judge for yourself:

One of the things I insist people do when choosing an affiliate product is to make sure the product has a unique and interesting STORY behind it.

This alone can close many a sale.

My favorite example is Ryan Healy’s freelancer eBook.

There are other similar products out there.

Including a few by some “big name” copywriters.

But Ryan’s stands out like a glowing red nose in the fog.

Why?

Because Ryan wasn’t “handed” anything. He had no special breaks… no special contacts in the industry… and had a LOT of pressure on him to succeed (he had no job and only two weeks of money with a mortgage, a child, a pregnant wife and no insurance — whoa!)

Talk about an interesting story!

It’s also inspirational and valuable, too.

And a lot of struggling freelancers can relate to it and, thus, believe in the product enough to give it a shot.

Anyway, there’s other criteria besides a great story.

But you know what?

Methinks if you did nothing but sell products built around fascinating stories, you will probably be successful.

And that ain’t no bull.

To read more about this, go to:

Ben Settle

I gotta make this a quickie today.

So what I thought would be fun is to give you 5 things you can test in your online sales letters that can be a potentially big “booster shot” for your advertising.

Ready?

1. A TOTALLY different page design

2. Change up your offer

3. Add in scarcity (as long as it’s REAL, not phony)

4. Video summarizing your offer under the headline

5. Remove the deplorable word

The deplorable what?

Well, there is a single word I’d bet your left kidney you are almost certainly using in your direct response ads (PPC ads, squeeze pages, sales letters, maybe even your order forms) that could be hurting your response.

Maybe just a little bit.

Or… maybe a LOT.

Even the old school copywriting masters used this word.

But, usually it hurts your sales.

To find out what this stinky, “dead rodent” word infesting your ads is, see the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue.

It goes to the printer tomorrow.

After that, it’s too late.

Get it while you still can at:

Ben Settle

OK, so last week I ripped on the Wal-Mart mentality.

How it caters to cheap.

Encourages cheap.

And how, if entrepreneurs are not careful, that same mentality could ensnare them into the same “cheap” mindset where cheapness reigns supreme over quality and performance.

Well, guess what?

There’s also a flip side to this.

Something Wal-Fart does that’s not only worth shamelessly copying for your business… but can put mucho more shillings in ye olde pocketses

Let me ‘splain.

A few years ago I wrote an ad for an unusual product.

It was info product Michael Senoff and a brilliant merchandiser named Joe McVoy did showing people how to get their products selling in Wal-Fart, Target and all the other billion dollar monster retailers.

Very cool product.

And one I HIGHLY recommend to anyone in to this stuff.

Anyway, one of the big take-aways was the importance of selling products that will not only sell themselves… but help sell the OTHER products around it.

Now, there’s a whole art and science to this.

And the course spends a lot of time on it.

But this one tip is worth its weight in gold to ANY business (whether selling in Wal-Fart or not). Frankly, there are few things more profitable than selling products that naturally and logically lead to the sale of other products you sell (either yours or affiliate products).

Wal-Fart does this brilliantly.

And maybe even (gasp!) worth going to Wal-Mart to see it.

Either way, it’s a great way to sell more stuff.

And, hey, let’s face it:

If it works for the billion dollar retailers…

Ben Settle

P.S. Time’s almost up to get the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue. I’m sending it to the printer in 48 hours. It’s a double sized issue about getting traffic and more conversions. It also reveals the response-killing word you’re almost certainly using in your squeeze pages, sales letters, PPC ads, etc that could be slaughtering your response (even though all the copywriting experts you’re studying likely use it).

To grab this issue in time, check out:

One of my childhood heroes was Walter Payton.

Walter Payton played for the Chicago Bears and was easily one of the greatest football players who ever lived. Sadly, he died several years ago of a rare liver problem, but I recently bought his biography “Never Die Easy.”

The title is very fitting, too.

This guy NEVER went down easy.

Never gave up.

And, in fact, dispensed punishment on anyone in his way — like literally physically abusing anyone who tried tackling him or forcing him out of bounds or whatever. (As one guy said, “you don’t tackle Payton, Walter Payton tackles you!”)

Anyway, he was one tough dude.

And his “never die easy” attitude is perfect for business, too.

Especially since a lot of marketers are so lazy.

They die WAY too easy.

And they never push themselves to outwork or out research their competition, when knowing just a few more facts about their market or using just a few more response-boosting ideas in their copy could put them on top.

Instead they fall for the idiotic “lazy man” notion.

It’s almost cool now to be lazy online, isn’t it?

Some even brag about their “lazy way” to do things.

Well, guess what?

I’ve worked with some of these guys.

And trust me, it ain’t pretty behind the scenes. Frankly, you’d probably be shocked by how many so-called “million dollar marketers” are not only NOT millionaires, but one failed promotion away from living at the YMCA.

Anyway, just something to ponder.

Laziness might make you sound cool.

But really, it just makes you a fool.

And you know what?

I bet Walter Payton would agree!

Ben Settle

P.S. And folks continue to email me with their guesses on what the “deplorable word” in advertising is that everyone uses but that’ll almost always hurt your response.

It’s amusing, too.

Especially since nobody has even come close to guessing it.

And they’re not going to, either. The only people who will know what this word is (so they can stop hurting their response) are those who subscribe to The Crypto Marketing Newsletter before it goes to print next week.

I have VERY few “AH HA!” moments anymore.

But this revelation definitely qualifies as one of them.

To subscribe, go to:

Got quite a few people in a tizzy last Friday.

Everyone wants the scoop on the “naughty” copywriting word.

The word everyone uses in their ads, but that’s killing your response (even though all the BEST and brightest copywriters have used it for decades). Like I said, the December Crypto Marketing Newsletter (which mails next week) shows you what it is. And also why it’s killing everyone’s response rates on sales letters, opt in pages and even PPC ads.

Until then, methinks I’ll fan this curiosity flame a bit more.

What could this deplorable word be?

What. could. it. be?

Is it “free”?

Uhm, no.

Free is still cool in ads.

What about “guarantee”?

Nope, not that, either.

What about “new” or “easy” or “simple”?

No, nope and nada.

Those words all work like gangbusters.

Look, we could do this dance all day long. And I bet if I looked at one of YOUR ads, I’d see you using this extremely common word, and probably murdering your own sales, opt ins and other conversions.

But for now all I’ll say is this:

Since NOT using this word my sales have gone up.

My conversions have gone up.

And, yes, my PROFITS have gone up.

Do you wanna know what this word is?

You would?

Then check out the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue.

However, this puppy goes to print soon.

Subscribe before it’s too late at:

Ben Settle

Someone took exception to yesterday’s email:

“Ben, I don’t agree with your assessment about not learning from one expert. Didn’t you mostly study only Gary Halbert’s books and teachings? And it gets expensive learning from multiple gurus.”

Well, not so fast there, daredevil.

For one thing, I’m not saying to buy everything from everyone.

That WOULD be a waste of cash.

I believe in buying one product, learning ALL you can from it (by consuming it multiple times) then moving on.

That saves money and time.

Plus, you won’t get sucked into any emotional hype fests.

As for learning mostly from Gary Halbert…

That is true with copywriting.

I DID mostly only study his stuff at first.

But (1) he certainly wasn’t the only one I studied (not even close) and (2) had I dogmatically followed his advice, I would have LOST money. Heck, I DID lose money for a spell while dogmatically following his advice on blind faith.

It was a very expensive mistake, too.

And it had to do with giving away your best info free online.

Big mistake.

Big, big, big, big mistake.

And I did it for YEARS.

But, here’s the thing:

What he taught on that subject probably DID work for him.

However, it did the opposite for me — it cost me money. So I made some adjustments based on something I’d learned from a DIFFERENT expert (i.e. I started mixing and matching) I was also studying and – VOILA! – I started making way more sales and I’ve never looked back since.

So yeah, don’t dogmatically follow anyone.

Not even your favorite goo-roo.

Unless, of course, you like losing money…

Ben Settle

P.S. Oh, and hey, speaking of not blindly doing what others teach… the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue includes a HUGE insight about a single word EVERYONE online uses in their ads that’s killing your response — and yes, I used this word excessively myself in my ads (and so does just about every copywriting “guru” I’ve ever studied) until recently, thinking it was a good word to use.

Well, guess what?

It’s a NAUGHTY word (conversion-wise) that kills sales.

I’d bet green money you’re using it, too.

And hurting your sales (big time).

You can get the details in the next issue.

But it goes out soon, so if you want it go to:

Had a marketing epiphany a couple nights ago.

A brave Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscriber submitted his first sales letter for critique to the private Yahoo group subscribers get access to.

And some of us let the “hounds” out on him.

Nobody was an a-hole or anything.

And everyone gave him great advice.

But one of the pieces of advice I gave him was about not binding yourself to just one marketing teacher. You see, like almost of all of us do at first, he was basing his strategy and much of his ideas on what one marketer in particular teaches.

Nothing “wrong” with that, necessarily.

In fact, the marketer he is learning from is my friend.

But, this marketer’s stuff is NOT always the perfect fit for everyone in every situation (nobody’s is). And the advice was it’s okay to take what works out of what he teaches and mix and match with other ideas and approaches, etc.

In other words…

Don’t be a marketing “purebred.”

Be a marketing “mutt” instead.

I mean, let’s face it — even in nature mutts have less health problems, are often (but not always) more intelligent and, yes, tend to live longer.

Same goes with marketing.

Be a mutt, not a purebred.

Don’t fixate on ONE teacher and blindly follow suit. Instead, test, question and experiment with ideas from multiple different teachers, experts and resources.

Then, use what works, discard the rest.

Anyway, something to think about.

Ben Settle

P.S. If you’d like to start interacting with Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscribers and get your ads critiqued via a “marketing mob” like this, go to:

Last week I saw a cool video about lying.

Someone was forwarding it around FaceBook, and it was a clip of the old Johnny Carson Show where Johnny was playing a crooked politician hooked up to a lie detector at a news conference.

Every time he lied the machine buzzed…

BZZZT!

It was one of the funniest things I ever saw.

My stomach was in PAIN from laughing so hard. And afterwards it got me to thinking about online marketers.

How many blatantly LIE in their ads?

Inflate their numbers?

Or distort facts to get a sale?

You know, like…

“We have 10,000 people on this call tonight…”

BZZZT!

“We will never offer it this cheap again…”

BZZZT!

“I started off broke without a penny to my name…”

BZZZT!

“This sales ends today…” BZZT! (i.e. when they already have an “after sale” planned for the next day)

BZZZT!

“We only have 39 of these eBooks left…”

BZZZT!

“There was a problem with our email server so I’m sending this out again…”

BZZZT!

And on and on and on….

Anyway, this stuff always amuses me.

And it makes me wonder:

If their product is so good, why lie about it?

Ben Settle

P.S. The next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue goes to print in just two short weeks. It’s a double-sized issue “year end” training packed with lots of info on how to get traffic and better conversions.

Subscription info at:

Got asked an interesting question about email.

This person has been reading my emails (via my blog) for a while now, and noticed a sharp contrast between how MUCH content I put out vs my colleagues, peers and, yes, competition. Specifically, while everyone else does longer posts, that are often multiple pages long… mine are short and almost… “thin” compared to everyone else’s.

And the question was… why?

Shouldn’t I be trying to out-write everyone else?

Pump out MORE content?

And spend more time than they do?

No way!

For one thing, I do these mostly every week day.

I miss a day here or there, true.

But I’m more or less consistently putting out something each and every week day — rain, sleet or shine. It’d be nutz over chocolate for me to spend that much time every day on a single email/blog post.

And secondly, I specialize in “popcorn” emails.

What do I mean by “popcorn” emails?

Well, I shamelessly swiped that concept from the movie industry which makes most of its money from “popcorn” flicks — movies that won’t win any awards — but will often be a fun, escapist adventure people love to watch.

That, my friend, is the kind of emails I do:

Escapist.

Fun.

An adventure.

And, yeah, with tips tossed in for good sport.

Anyway, I could drone on forever about email.

Which is why I have a couple detailed trainings on the subject as bonuses for new Crypto Marketing Newsletter subscribers — including an “unadvertised” bonus training I recently did for one of the Internet’s largest home business training websites.

For more info get ye over to:

Ben Settle