Ben Settle

Recently, I learned a powerful email marketing secret.

A secret both weird and fun and profitable all at once.

A secret you can use in YOUR email marketing starting today, if you so choose.

Anyway, what is this cool secret I discovered?

Al Gore.

I’m dead serious about this, too.

For some reason, whenever I mention Al Gore in my emailz, and then put those emails on my blog, my new subscriber rate spikes.

Now, I don’t know if it’s JUST because of Al Gore.

Or if it’s because people enjoy watching me poke fun at him.

Or if it’s because his fans are finding my site in the search engines, and wanna see how much MORE I can irritate them.

What I do know is this:

I talk about “Algore” and I get more new email subscribers every time — like clockwork.

But, what does this have to do with you?

And, even more importantly, how can YOU profit from this insanity?

Well, think about it:

What celebrity, politician or other “hack” can you base your emails around to appeal to your market?

Whether to poke fun at ’em, praise ’em or do whatever it is you wanna do with ’em?

Think long and hard about this.

Because I’m telling you right now…

… unless my site is some kind of “fluke”, if your market responds whenever you mention him or her, you’ll have a cool little “ace” up your sleeve to pull whenever you’re stuck for ideas (or just feel like having some fun.)

Anyway, just a thought.

BTW, this does NOT mean I’ll yammer on about Al Gore every day.

But, whenever I can tie something he says or does into an email, you can bet your bootox I’m pulling my “Gore” card.

What’s the moral of the story?

Find your “Al Gore.”

It’s a great way to build your list and have FUN at the same time.

Ben Settle

P.S. Speaking of building your list…

… Daniel Levis is giving a free tele-seminar tonight on how to build your list extremely fast… without spending ANY more moolah on traffic.

Daniel has worked with all kinds of list-building and marketing geniuses — from Yanik Silver and John Carlton… to Dan Kennedy and even Clayton Makepeace (including writing a weekly column at Clayton’s site).

If you want some cool ways to quickly and easily build your email list, then this call will give you some great ideas.

You can still register for the call (it’s tonight) at:

Well, it finally happened.

Just when I thought our politicians couldn’t possibly lie and exaggerate any worse… our esteemed House Speaker just claimed “500 million Americans are losing jobs every month.”

Whoda thunk it?

Now, either she made a big misstatement… or she’s using that same “carbon calculator” Al Gore uses to predict how we’re all gonna die next week if we don’t let the UN tax us to oblivion.

How these jokers keep getting elected is beyond me.

Anyway, there’s actually a MAJOR sales lesson here.

A lesson that can put lots of moolah in your pocket.

A lesson that is so shockingly simple, most people miss it.

Check this out:

Generally speaking, about 5% of your customers are what I call the “kool-aid drinker” section of a list.

These people buy ANYTHING you sell.

They are your raving fans who believe in you and your products with zealot-like passion.

And no… I am not making fun of anyone here.

I’m a kool-aid drinker myself for certain businesses.

There are some people who I buy EVERYTHING from, too.

The problem is in ONLY appealing to them in your ads.

You see, while about 5% of your customers will buy everything… there’s another 10%-20% who’ll buy if they’re persuaded.

These people are not sold by your golden reputation.

Or those photo-shopped bank statements.

Or even that long list of raving testimonials.

You can’t get away with bragging and boasting to them. They don’t fall for hypey, exaggerated claims. And they don’t believe a word you say.

Instead, you gotta engage and persuade ’em.

With proof, facts, and a story they can step in and relate to.

Most people ignore this section — even though it’s usually at least TWICE as big as the kool-aid section.

And, as a result, leave a TON of moolah on the table.

Anyway, here’s the bottom line:

If you wanna rake in more dough, don’t just sell to your “fans.”

Sell to the skeptics, too.

Ignoring this “silent majority” can cost you big bux.

Ben Settle

P.S. The world-class copywriters and marketers in The Copywriting Grab Bag appendixes reveal all KINDS of ways to be more engaging and persuasive without using lies, gimmicks or exaggerations.

You can still jump on the discount notification list at:

It should be ready soon…

Been getting a TON of new client inquiries lately.

I don’t know if it’s because the economy is sucking and marketers know they can’t just rely on the “kool-aid drinker” part of their lists (who will buy ANYTHING they sell) anymore.

Or if they are seduced by my obnoxiously political emails.

Or if they are just temporarily insane.

Whatever the case… usually they send me the ads they need fixed along with their requests.

And lemme tell ya:

What I see is NEVER pretty.

Some of these ads have some MAJOR mistakes in them.

Mistakes that are almost certainly KILLING their response.

But that are (thankfully) very easy to correct.

Anyway, I thought it’d be neat to list the 10 most common “copywriting killers” I’ve been seeing in these ads.

That way, if you see any you are making, you can quickly adjust and improve your sales.

Ready?

Okay, here goez:

1. Headlines that impress other copywriters but not their market

2. Relying on bragging, boasting and hype

3. Not writing to the skeptic

4. Not being engaging

5. No logical flow of information

6. Too much swiping

7. Too wordy

8. Weak offer

9. Not enough research (i.e. LAZINESS)

10. Lame bullet points that put you to sleep

There are a LOT more mistakes than this.

But these are the biggies.

The ones that, if you ONLY corrected these 10, would make your ads pull much higher response every time.

If you don’t believe me, use this check list on any ad not converting well.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the resultz.

Ben Settle

P.S. Speaking of check lists…

… on page 205 of The Copywriting Grab Bag you’ll find a special marketing check list created by a true marketing “genius” named Mike Winicki.

Mike has consulted with, worked for and studied close to 5,000 businesses. And much of what he teaches about copywriting and marketing flies in the face of what other so-called “gurus” say (especially online).

IMHO, this marketing check list is priceless.

And I believe it can (realistically) double the size of (almost) any business in 6 months or less.

Anyway, you can ONLY get this check list in this book.

And if you hop on the notification list, you will have a chance to get the book (and accompanying CD) at a discount:

How’d you like that Superbowl last night?

Pretty sweet, eh?

Reminded me a LOT of legendary coach Vince Lombardi.

Coach Lombardi’s players used to perform what seemed like “miracles” on the football field.

And yet, nothing he taught them (as far as I know) was “sexy.”

Instead, he simply drilled the fundamentals over and over into his players’ brains until it was like second nature for ’em.

And you want to know something?

It’s the same with winning in **copywriting**, too.

It almost defies belief how much people complicate copywriting with stoopid manipulation and so-called “black hat” tricks.

So today I am going to simplify things with what I call: “The 5 Secrets Of Sexy Sales Letters”

And while most other copywriters and marketers probably won’t find these secrets very sexy… your skeptical, over-marketed-to CUSTOMERS will.

Are you ready?

Okay then, here we go…

1. Be Empathetic —

I’ve said it before… I’ll say it again:

The more you CARE about people, the more moolah you’ll make.

In fact, caring about those you sell to (as if they are family members or good friends) is numero uno.

Get this part right, and everything else falls in place.

2. Solve A Problem —

At the end of the day, THIS is what selling is all about:

Solving problems.

What’s your customer’s MAIN, most PRESSING problem?

And how does your product solve it?

Learn how to dig up your market’s problems (especially the ones they don’t talk about) and you almost can’t fail.

3. Tell A Story —

Once you know what the main problem is, it’s time to tell a story about how you (or someone else) solved it.

And, of course, solved it using your product or service 😉

4. Create vision —

As negotiation “wizard” Jim Camp teaches:

“Vision Drives Decision.”

The more people SEE… and FEEL… what it’s like using your product (or the pain and carnage that results from them NOT using it) the more you will sell.

5. Be Credible —

You don’t see many Internet sales letters using it… but credibility is everything.

Nobody buys without belief.

And nobody believes you if you aren’t credible.

So the more credibility you put in your ads, the more successful you will (automatically) be.

Anyway, these aren’t the world’s sexiest copywriting secrets.

They sure as heck ain’t “rocket science”.

But I’d bet you 90% of your competitors are NOT using them all.

Which means you can kick some major rumpus if YOU do.

Ben Settle

P.S. For 122 MORE “sexy” sales letter secrets like these, jump on The Copywriting Grab Bag notification list: www.CopywritingGrabBag.com

This book goes into much more detail about the 5 steps above.

And shows you all kinds of ways to increase your sales without slathering your ads with the “frothing-at-the-mouth” hype that insults your customers and is embarrassing to even use.

Read something really interesting in the newz today.

Something that, if you understand it, can make you more moolah… and give you a FAR more stable business.

Here’s the story:

Basically, the gummint’s cooking up a “big bang financial cleanup” (their exact words) for the economy.

Now, I don’t know about you.

But I get very “uneasy” when the gummint plans to “fix” anything — especially the economy.

Historically, this ALWAYS spells trouble.

Of course, I could be wrong here.

Maybe this will be the one time in the history of the world where the gummint’s insane interference actually werks.

But I doubt it.

And I sure ain’t counting on it.

Instead, what I (and every serious marketer I know) is doing is preparing.

Preparing for a total depression-like meltdown.

Preparing (believe it or not) to even PROFIT from Uncle Sam’s stoopidity.

How?

Well, for one thing, we are aggressively building our lists.

Think about it:

Even if the bottom drops out, people will still be buying and selling.

75% of people were still employed even during the worst part of the LAST depression.

And if everything goez to “hell in a hand basket”, smart businesses will not only survive… but THRIVE… because their customer lists are populated with those people who are still stable and spending money.

Now, all this is leading to something.

Something that can help you QUICKLY build a bigger list without spending a penny.

Check this out:

For two years, I’ve been in a very unique (and very powerful) mastermind group.

Unique because it’s so laid back and informal.

Powerful because my income has almost tripled since joining it.

And on the last call, two of the members — Daniel Levis and John Angel — agreed to host a tele-seminar about growing your list as fast as possible using JUST the traffic you’re getting now.

Daniel Levis has worked side-by-side with some of the world’s savviest “list wizards.”

And he gets paid big bux to teach his clients the exact same secrets he teaches on this call.

BTW, before you even ask… there IS something for sale.

But, the information is extremely valuable whether you buy anything or not.

In fact, I have seen some marketers record these calls with Daniel and sell them on their own as stand-alone products.

So this is hot stuff either way.

You can grab the time and day details at:

Hope to see ya there!

According to the newz… the post office may cut back on mail delivery.

Probably to 5 days per week instead of 6 — with either Saturday or Tuesday getting the “axe.”

But you know what?

While we can’t control the snail mail flow… we CAN control our email flow.

And that, IMHO, is extremely important.

In fact, over the past month you may have noticed I’ve been sending a LOT more email.

My goal is to eventually do a DAILY email — 7 days per week.

What???

Am I crazy???

Have I turned into some kind of email marketing moron?

People are more then welcome to think what they want.

But the numbers show a completely different picture.

Believe it or not, the more emails I send, the bigger and faster my list growz… the more new client inquiries I get… the more speaking opportoonities (even speaking — whoa!) I’m offered… the more people are buying products from my various interviewz… and so on.

My emails have been confusing people in other ways, too.

For example, all the political stuff.

And the annoying misspellings.

And the constantly teasing you with what’s in my (almost-ready) book at www.CopywritingGrabBag.com

Look, I’m not going to reveal all my secrets in this email.

But I can tell you it is ALL deliberate.

It is ALL putting more moolah in my pocket.

And it has (so far) ALL been well worth me dragging my lazy arse to the computer to hammer out an email on an (almost) daily basis.

Email is extremely powerful if you know what you are doing.

Far more powerful than most people realize.

And if you want to start making huge leaps in your business… start educating yourself on how genius email marketers think, work and make muney.

It’s been one of the most profitable things I’ve ever done.

And I suspect it will be for you, too.

Ben Settle

P.S.Speaking of email marketing geniuses…

One of my biggest email marketing influences (I only have about 3) is Terry Dean. Terry has been making big bux with email since before most of us even owned a computer. He’s one of email marketing’s original “pioneers” and meticulously tests everything.

And in Appendix 8 of my Copywriting Grab Bag book I grilled him on his most profitable email marketing secrets.

If you want a special discount when the book is ready, jump on the notification list at: www.CopywritingGrabBag.com

By the way, I sent the files to the printer yesterday.

So it should be ready sometime in the near future.

Do you know who Earl Nightingale was?

He was one of the early “success pioneers” who devoted his life to helping others succeed.

His most popular work is “The Strangest Secret.”

The theme of which is “you become what you think about.”

That is, according to Earl, the strangest secret in the world for success (or failure).

Well guess what?

This also applies to writing ad copy, too.

Except, when it comes to copywriting, it’s more like:

“You WRITE what you READ about.”

This is so consistently true, it’s almost spooky.

For example:

Sometimes people send me their ads to look over. Usually I delete these emails (if you want me to critique your ads, you gotta pay for it, unless I choose yours for one of my “mob critiques”).

But sometimes, for fun, I take a peek.

Usually what I see ain’t pretty.

I really HATE judging ads — no matter my personal preferences — without seeing test resultz or knowing more about the market.

But some of these are just really, really BAD.

They are simply copying the “HYPE & SCREAM” style of so many Internet sales letters.

With no original thinking attempted.

No “depth” as to what the product will actually DO for people (or how it will do it).

No even trying to establish credibility or build trust.

Dumb.

REAL dumb.

Anyway, these doods are not bad people, by any means.

They are simply victims of the “other” Strangest Secret:

“You write what you read about.”

We ALL do this, too.

We all tend to write what we read about.

And to paraphrase Earl, when it comes to writing ads:

“If we read about crap… we write about crap.”

This is one of the reasons “A List” copywriter Doug D’Anna said (in the interview he did for my book at www.CopywritingGrabBag.com) most copywriters should throw their swipe files away.

Many times they are doing FAR more harm than good.

This is also why I wrote my swipe file report last year.

This baby points you to some of the highest selling ads by some of the best copywriters who ever walked the earth.

Ads that were not only tested on the “kool aid” lists who will buy anything a particular marketer sells.

These ads actually persuade and speak to the skeptic.

You can grab this report free by clicking here.

(Just scroll to the bottom of the page.)

There’s also a free interview on how to USE swipe files there, too.

Ben Settle

Dunno about you… but my attention span is almost non-existent.

Like all “Gen-X’ers”, I was raised on MTV and action movies.

And these days, I have a hard time sitting still for even a few seconds.

Cripes… I can’t even finish a movie anymore unless there’s hobbits, super heroes or light saber fights in it.

My mind starts wandering “to and fro” real fast.

And it takes an enormous amount of effort to focus on anything I am not 100% fascinated, interested or entertained by.

Anyway, why am I telling you this?

Why should you care about my mental state?

Because what I just described does NOT just apply to guyz like me.

It’s how a HUGE portion of the population behaves.

Including people who read YOUR ads.

And it pays BIG TIME to assume all your readers are as flaky as me.

In fact, try this:

Next time you write an ad, assume your readers are ADD-riddled teenagers looking for ANY excuse to bail on you.

To escape back to the mindless, attention-gobbling vortex of Twitter, FaceBook, instant messages, YouTube videos…

… and all the other cool online devices created for those of us with “gnat-like” attention spanz.

Bottom line?

Paranoia is your friend when writing ads 😉

Treat this friend with respect, and you’ll make much more moolah.

Ben Settle

P.S. In chapter 3 of The Copywriting Grab Bag I reveal how the late, great copywriter Eugene Schwartz solved this attention span problem (which has gotten even WORSE since Gene walked the earth) to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.

You can jump on the notification list at:

Got this great question about doing copywriting research…

QUESTION: Ben, you talk all the time about the importance of doing research before writing copy. What are some research tips?

BEN: That’s a very good question. Research is everything — the most important activity of all. Get your research right, and your ads practically write themselves.

And there’s something I do that (IMHO) gives me an advantage over other copywriters.

It has nothing to do with being more talented or “smarter” than anyone.

(I’m not, believe me).

This is actually more of a tactical advantage.

A way I discovered years ago when studying the Bible.

A way YOU can use to research your ads, too — regardless of your spiritual (or lack of spiritual) beliefs.

Listen:

About 10 years ago I studied the Bible all the time.

I had this voracious appetite for it that just wouldn’t quit.

One of the reasons why is probably because I spent so much time haunting Bible forums arguing with people, debating and doing all the time-wasting things people do when they learn just enough about a subject to be dangerous to themselves.

Anyway, I found myself getting spanked a lot in debates.

In order to not look like a moron anymore, I decided I better study harder.

And so I followed the lead of what smart Biblical scholars do:

I would read a passage and analyze EVERY single word, metaphor and image associated with it.

For example:

If I saw even an ordinary word (like “touch”) I looked it up in a Strong’s Concordance to see the original Hebrew or Greek meaning.

If I read a metaphor about Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, I investigated what that actually meant back then to better know the significance of it.

And if I ran into an image about locust armies, I looked up facts about how locusts behave, and what they do to their prey to get a better grasp on what that symbology really means.

Anyway, here’s the point:

This extra effort gave me a FAR more detailed understanding of the Bible I never would have had otherwise.

Now, “fast forward” to today, and that’s how I research ads.

I meticulously research every fact about the product, market and author to the tiniest detail.

It’s like digging for gold — hard, sweaty, unpleasant work.

But it resultz in ads that put LOTS more moolah in your pocket.

Ben Settle

P.S. Just because research is “grunt work” doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to shortcut it. One of the best ways (I use all the time now) to chop your research time in half was taught to me by “A List” copywriter Doug D’Anna.

You can read it in Appendix 7 of The Copywriting Grab Bag.

To jump on the book’s notification list (and have a chance to get it at a discount when it’s ready) go to: