Ben Settle

Been thinking about AdWords lately.

I’ve written lots of AdWords ads (for other businesses), but haven’t actually got off my lazy gluteous rumpus to run any of my own campaigns yet.

But, when I do, I’ll have a big advantage over most.

What advantage?

Drum roll…

Batman.

And Spiderman.

And The X-Men.

And all my other comic books.

You see, one of the best pay-per-click ad “cheat sheets” you can find is no farther than the back issue bins of your local comic book store. In fact, whenever I write pay-per-click ads, I raid my box of comics and study the short, pithy direct response ads they used to run in pre-1990 comic books.

They’re masterpieces of persuasion, too.

Those guys were probably the best copywriters in the world.

They knew how to get into your psychology and push all the right buttons to make you buy the stoopidest things — including booklets about packing on muscle, X-ray glasses, sea monkeys, ninja training booklets, and everything in between.

Just excellent stuff.

And they make awesome pay-per-click ad “templates” that let you hammer out new ads in mere seconds.

But hey, don’t take my word for it.

Get ye to the comic book store.

Or check out “The Copywriting Grab Bag”:

I put a bunch of my best ones on the bonus disk.

Either way, I highly suggest trying it.

Ben Settle

Ever hear of the Bridgewater Triangle?

Me neither (until recently).

But for hundreds of years it’s been known as a “hotspot” for paranormal phenomena — with UFO sightings, and reports of Bigfoot (bring it!), giant snakes, poltergeists, phantom dogs (and hitchhikers), and other bizarre phenomena.

All in one spot.

And, in many cases, with multiple reliable witnesses, too (like police officers and local news teams).

I haven’t been there myself.

(At least, not yet!)

But methinks it’s not only a hotspot of paranormal activity, but also a hotspot of TOURIST activity, too (with local towns raking in plenty ‘o the green stuff as a result).

Anyway, why am I telling you about this?

Because your business can be a “hotspot” like this, too.

No, not with monsters (I hope).

But with customers.

And you can do it just like Bridgewater Triangle does, by telling people about your “legend” (your STORY) in a way that gets them buzzing and burping with excitement.

Frankly, you almost can’t not see success with this.

How can I be so sure?

Because I’ve tested this myself and seen the results.

In fact, can you guess what my blog’s most visited pages are?

It ain’t the content stuff.

No… it’s my bio (my story).

It’s nothing fancy, either.

Just a simple telling of my story, letting it all hang out. But even today (6 years after writing it) people email me about how they remember the story about going from living in an office to building a successful business.

It’s become my “legend”, in some ways.

And it STICKS in peoples’ minds.

You can do the same thing, my friend.

Just figure out your story and tell it to the world.

Yeah, it really is that simple.

Ben Settle

P.S. Many prospects (spanning just about every market I’ve ever seen) love buying from ads that tell a good story when told correctly. If you want to use this nifty “persuasion tool” in your ads or sales letters, check out the July Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue (which goes to print in less than 2 weeks) over at:

Sometimes this gets me in trouble.

Especially with the copywriting fanboys.

But it’s my contention (and I’ve seen it happen) that a story can potentially carry the entire sale in an ad even if everything else is technically “wrong” (no clear call to action, confusing copy, weak headline, no offer, etc).

Prove it, you say?

Okay, how about these oranges:

Back in 1986 a movie called “Top Gun” hit the theaters.

Top Gun is about a couple hotshot Naval pilots given a chance to train with the “best of the best” pilots in the world at the “Top Gun” fighter pilot school. Now, whether you like Top Gun or not (I love it!), it was, in some ways, an extremely profitable “sales letter.”

How so?

Couple reasons:

First…

After the movie hit the screens, Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses (the kind Tom Cruise’s character “Maverick” wore) jumped 40%.

That’s a HUGE increase.

And secondly…

Air Force and Navy recruitment (both sometimes very “hard sells”) shot through the roof.

Crazy, isn’t it?

But apparently, the movie was so good at “selling” all the young whippersnappers of the day on how cool being a fighter pilot is, recruitment booths were set up inside many of the theaters it played in!

Hence, the selling POWER of stories.

And of giving people a fun, thrilling ride.

After all, there was nothing in the movie telling you to go buy Maverick’s brand of sunglasses or to join The Navy. Yet, the movie “sold” great hordes of people on wanting to be like Maverick.

To live his exact lifestyle.

And, yes, win over the hot babe at the end.

So anyway, what about you?

Would you like to tell stories that SELL like that?

Then check out the next Crypto Marketing Newsletter issue (that goes to print July 1), which is ALL about writing stories that sell in ads.

You can subscribe over yonder at:

See ya on the other side, Maverick…

Ben Settle

My #1 business book is “The System Club Letters.”

It was penned by Ken McCarthy.

And I never get bored of it.

Anyway, one of the best chapters in the book has got to be the one about Independence Day (July 4th here in the US).

Why does Ben likey so much?

Because it talks about how when the US was founded, about 90% of the country worked (and thought) for themselves. Most voters and politicians were farmers, business owners, etc. Today, those numbers are flipped upside down — with 90% working for someone else, and only 10% working for themselves. (And as Ken explains — of the 90% who work for a paycheck, over 55% work for institutions with 500 employees or more.)

So what?

Who could care?

Well, think about it:

Over HALF the country is financially dependent on a big bureaucracy.

Not good for a so-called free society.

At least, not if you’re an entrepreneur.

Ken’s solution?

Become financially indepenent.

And then, instead of just using your “powers” for your own benefit, use them to help take a stand against the big fatty bureaucratic forces eating away at your freedoms — big government, big media and big business.

(Or, “the trinity of tyranny” as I call ’em.)

After all, as Ken puts it…

“If we don’t do it, who will?”

Ben Settle

P.S. If I could only learn ONE skill to start working towards financial independence online… it’d be email marketing. No ifs, ands or bootays about it. Email has been worth FAR more to me than any other skill bar none, period. You can use it to sell your own products, hire yourself out to clients looking for email writers and maybe even find someone who knows traffic, and joint venture with them on a project. (Like I did recently.)

Either way, it can bring in the bacon.

To learn my way of writing and using emails, sally forth over to:

Recently, I confused some of my email subscribers.

It was in the email about all the reasons I like using email over blogs, videos, podcasts, etc, where I said email is “forgiving.” And apparently I wasn’t clear enough about what this meant (hey, my bad).

So maybe this will make it clearer:

Ever seen the movie Superman 2?

Specifically, the scene where Superman “threw the S”?

No?

Or maybe you just don’t remember?

That’s okay.

I’d gladly block the memory out too, if I could.

But in the final fight scene where Superman is battling three other Kryptonian criminals (who have his same powers), out of nowhere he rips off his “S” emblem and throws it at one of the villains — which grows and turns into what looks like a giant fruit roll-up that temporarily covers ye olde villain up like plastic wrap.

Yeah, it was as dumb as it sounds.

So dumb, you lose IQ points just watching it.

In fact, I recently saw it referred to as “throwing the S” — a term now applied to ANY bad movie scenes. (Kinda like “Wow, George Lucas sure threw the S with that Jar-Jar character!”)

What’s this got to do with email?

Well, if you do a lot of email, you’re gonna throw the S, too — where you send an email (you wish you hadn’t) with something stoopid in it or with an embarrassing mistake, etc.

It happens to me sometimes.

And chances are it’ll happen to you, too.

But guess what?

If you mess up and say something stoopid or whatever, you just roar back the next day with something cool and all is forgotten (or, at least, forgiven) which could possibly even result in a sale.

No harm, no foul.

So that’s what email being forgiving means.

If you throw the S, who cares?

You can easily make things right tomorrow.

And maybe even profit from it.

Ben Settle

P.S. I should get the proof for the Street-Smart Email course this week. I just have to whip up an ad for it and it’ll be for sale probably in a couple weeks (give or take).

You can jump on the notification list at:

Early bird customers get a juicy worm (i.e. huge discount).

Yesterday I had quite the nerdgasm.

A real doozie.

I was watching a documentary about comic book creator and legend Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Ironman and many other “household name” characters).

And what tingled my spider sense?

The famous Marvel and DC Comics’ “rivalry.”

You see, Marvel has (from what I can tell) always outsold DC Comics. And the DC guys were always trying to geek information from the Marvel people about their big “secret.”

What did they do differently?

Why did fans FLOCK to Marvel like that?

And so they would study Marvel and, for example, notice them using lots of dialogue on their covers. Splashing flashy colors throughout their books. Placing word balloons a certain way, and so on and so forth.

And you know what happened?

The DC guys tried “swiping” all these techniques and tactics.

Did it work?

Apparently not.

You see, the REAL reasons for Marvel’s success had little to do with their “tactics” — like how they used colors, word balloons and dialogue.

The gold was in the intangible stuff.

The stuff you didn’t “see” in the comics.

Like how they created a sense of community for their readers, fleshed out their characters and structured their reader-publisher relationship.

To this day, Marvel STILL wipes the floor with DC.

And guess what?

The same thing happens online today.

People get so caught up in the “tactical” stuff they see from goo-roos or whatever — like headline colors, sales letter formats, launch techniques, search engine “loopholes”, short term test results (that may or may not apply to anyone else), etc — they forget the 100% principle-based fundamentals that build businesses and long term customers.

Like, for example positioning.

Telling the truth (the #1 sales”technique” you can use).

Respecting marketplace skepticism.

Relentless follow-up.

Rock solid customer service.

And all that other “un-sexy” stuff.

Bottom line?

Marvel figured this principles vs tactics thing out DECADES ago, and today, they’re a multi-billion dollar operation.

And the competition?

Most are pouting in Marvel’s giant shadow.

Ben Settle

P.S. For dozens of principle-based sales and marketing secrets that build businesses (and not just one time sales), find a phone booth, put on your cape & tights, and fly on over to:

By popular demand…

Here’s my top 10 favorite copywriting resources:

1. Gary Bencivenga’s “100 Seminar” DVD’s

2. Matt Furey’s original email course

3. Eugene Schwartz’s “Breakthrough Advertising”

4. Doug D’Anna’s “How To Write Long Copy That Makes Money” DVD

5. Gary Halbert’s “The Boron Letters”

6. All the copywriting issues of Gary Halbert’s newsletter

7. Paul Hartunian’s publicity system

8. John Carlton’s “Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets”

9. Ken McCarthy’s “Advanced Copywriting For Serious Info Marketers” course 

10. The Gene Schwartz Phillips Publishing speech

Some of these resources are unrepentantly expensive. Some are dirt cheap (and, in one case, free). But cheap or pricey, they’ve been worth their weight in platinum to me.

And have easily paid for themselves.

So I guess in that sense, they were technically “free.”

Also some of these are hard to find.

That means, don’t ask me where to find it, ask Google.

To learn more about the paid Email Players newsletter go here:

www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle

Let’s rap about sales today.

No… not “selling.”

But sales — as in having a sales event.

Sometimes people ask why I rarely do sales.

Is there an ethical reason?

A strategical reason?

Otherwise why not get on the stick and have a sale???

First off, it’s true, I don’t do many sales. But, not because they’re inherently “wrong.” It’s just, in my way of thinking, most people buy when they’re ready to buy — sale or not. (Otherwise, nobody would buy anything from retail stores here in the US all year until “Black Friday”).

Another reason is discounting ain’t selling.

Sadly, many think it is.

But in most cases (especially in my market) the more someone pays for something, the better the chances they’ll USE it, and the more VALUE they’ll likely get from it.

That doesn’t mean I “gouge” anyone.

But I don’t want my products rotting on shelves, either.

I want them to be used.

Otherwise, what’s the point?

However, I do make exceptions when launching new products.

Mostly because I LOVE rewarding action takers.

Just like what I’m going to do with my coming Street-Smart Email System in a few weeks. The regular price will probably be anywhere from $695.00 to $995.00 (haven’t decided yet).

But not for launch day customers.

They’ll get it for at LEAST $300.00 or $400.00 off.

To be notified when it’s ready, hop over to…

Ben Settle

P.S. By the way, this is just how I do business now, and could change. I’ve worked with businesses where having sales is a major (very important) part of the sales funnel.

There’s no one-size-fits-all biz model.

No matter what ye olde goo-roos say.

Every now and then, someone asks…

“Ben, why are you so obsessed with email? With all the Web 2.0 technology why do you think email is best?”

Good question.

These days you’re almost considered the village idiot if you focus on “plain vanilla” email… instead social media, videos, podcasts, blogs and all the fancy pants apps and sites.

But to me, email blows all that fluff away.

And here are a FEW reasons why…

1. Email is visible

People check their emails 2, 3, 5, even 10 times per day. Let’s face it… your message’s chances of at least being seen are extremely high.

2. Email is intimate

It can be like getting passed a note in study hall. And if you do them right, you will have people not only anxiously tuning in to your emails… but looking forward to them.

3. Email makes your OTHER writings better

Since writing daily emails my other (non-business) writings have gotten much more crisp and FAR more persuasive. Methinks yours will, too.

4. Email increases response

’nuff said.

5. Email is forgiving

It’s kind of like dressing “business casual” — informal… yet still serious enough to take care of business. Plus, if you mess up, you come back the next day without missing a beat.

6. Email is fast

Want to test an idea? Get feedback? Take the “pulse” of your list? You can do so at the speed of a mouse click.

7. Email is fun

One of my “big secrets” to writing lots of emails is only writing about things that are fun to write about. How can you NOT have fun if you only write about fun things?

Again, just a FEW reasons I’m an email kinda guy.

Frankly, if I only had ONE tool to sell with online… I’d pick email every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

What about you, though?

Want to learn more about using email?

Then fear ye not.

My Street-Smart Email system is almost ready, where I lay everything I know about email marketing and writing on a plate.

It won’t be cheap, of course.

But launch day customers get a big discount.

To be notified when it’s ready, go to…

Ben Settle