Ben Settle

My new book The Copywriting Grab Bag is finally ready.

And for the next 24 hours I’m practically giving it away.

Here are the details:

This book contains all the best chapters of my no-longer-published eBook The Copywriters Cheat Sheet, plus 9 appendixes of interviews with some of the world’s savviest copywriters and marketers.

Some of these interviews are on my site.

And some are totally exclusive.

The exclusive interviews are with:

• Ken McCarthy (Of “The System Seminar” fame).

• Doberman Dan Gallapoo (Who used to work with the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert).

• Mike Winicki (A direct marketing genius).

• David Deutsch (I recently read on John Carlton’s blog that David had 6 controls running simultaneously back in September — dang!).

• Brian Clark (Of copyblogger.com — one of the most-visited blogs on the entire Internet).

Here are a few comments about this book when I gave it away free (and BEFORE I added the valuable appendix interviews):

Ben…your blog is always a great read, and your “Copywriter’s Cheat Sheet” book definitely kicks ass on each of its 300 pages. In fact I’d go as far to say it’s one of the very few valuable resources on the net worth downloading – and way better than 99% of the stuff I’ve bought over the past 12 months. Keep up the great work…

– Simon Johansson
www.BillionDollarCopywriter.com

Your “Copywriter’s Cheat Sheet” e-book was solid. Had me glued to the computer for a couple hours.

-Matt Marshall, Direct Response Copywriter
www.mattmarshallcopy.com
www.lookgoodwithnoshirt.com

Your “Copywriter’s Cheat Sheet” book is more valuable than 97.9% of the books I’ve paid money for. In fact, I haven’t even read the whole thing and I’m already putting your tips to work on an ad I’m writing.

-Mike Low
www.killermarketingtactics.com

Ben, your free “Copywriters Cheat Sheet” book is great stuff. The info in it is worth over $100. In fact, I’ve paid $79 and $99 for far less good info.

-John Gilger, Freelance Copywriter
www.jgilger.com

And just yesterday Ken McCarthy sent me this email:

Right now the book sells for $97 on Amazon.com.

This is actually a screw-up (on my part) — as I originally intended to price it that high, but recently decided to lower it to $49.95 to make it more accessible to people.

However, it will probably take about a month or so for the new price to filter through the system.

Whatever the case, I promised a special discount to my blog readers.

So, for the next 24 hours (and the next 24 hours ONLY) you can get this book for just $19.95 plus $7.50 shipping & handling (14.50 if you live outside the US.)

I was recently asked the following question about email copywriting:

Hi Ben,

I just wanted to take a minute to compliment you on your email messages. They always sound so personal and never like a list message. What is your secret for doing that so well?

If there’s any “secret”, it’s simply studying what the email copywriting masters do.

Below are my three all-time favorite email marketers.

I save everything they send in their own folders in my email program.

Whenever I’m “stuck” for an idea, I simply browse through their stuff and the answer usually comes within a few minutes.

And if you get on their lists and read what they send, I think you’ll find your emails become FAR more effective (and profitable).

Here they are:

1. Ken McCarthy

Ken’s forgotten more about email marketing than most of us will ever know.

I can’t think of one email of his (even when purely promotional) that I didn’t read all the way through. In fact, it was by reading his emails that I had one of my biggest copywriting breakthroughs.

Here’s an excerpt about email marketing from his interview in my Copywriting Grab Bag book:

…yes, email is free. But, if you just send people crap, or self serving stuff, they will very, very, very quickly decide that your emails are not worth reading. And you and I probably both know guys with massive — supposedly massive — email lists…, “Oh, I got a 100,000 on my list….” How many of those people actually read anything you send them anymore?

And I don’t do a lot of promotions for other people, but when I do, people are always surprised because they’re like, “Wow… your conversion rate is just crazy. It’s exponentially higher than anybody else that promoted this thing. What’s going on?

Well, I don’t waste my customers’ time with nonsense. And so when I do say something, they tend to at least consider it and it’s credibility. So you’re either adding to your credibility with each email or reducing your credibility. It’s almost like an “on/off” switch. You can make your credibility deeper and deeper, so that there it’s incremental. But in terms of losing your credibility, that’s an “off” switch. And once that switch is off, that’s it. You’re not going to turn that back on with another email. It’s over.”

Powerful stuff, eh?

And that one tip alone is possibly the single most valuable email marketing lessons you’ll ever hear.

I hope you enjoy it, internalize it and, of course, use it.

BTW, you can see Ken’s email marketing “in action” (save and study EVERYTHING he sends) by signing up on his list at:

2. Ray Edwards

Sometimes I’m just in awe of Ray’s email writing.

Why?

Because he has the rare ability to get you reading through his emails even when he’s pitching something you couldn’t care less about. And even when a dozen other people are trying to sell you the same thing.

He has the “cut through the clutter” knack down pat.

His brilliance is not only in his “writing”, but also in the structures he uses.

And that’s why I recommend reading and studying Ray’s emails in microscopic detail.

You can check it out yourself by getting on his email list at:

BTW, Ray also has a brilliant teaching about how to cut down on your spam complaints by sending MORE emails.

You can read it at:

And last (but FAR from least)…

3. Matt Furey

In my humble opinion, Matt Furey’s ezine is the “Cosmo” of email marketing.

Just like you can always get the hottest and most effective headline ideas on the cover of “Cosmo” magazine, you can always get the hottest and most effective email ideas in Matt Furey’s daily emails.

Matt’s stuff is so good many people I know (myself included!) have bought a bunch of his products just because of his emails (without even reading the real “sales letters”).

What’s his secret?

I wish I knew!

All I know is he can jab at your hot buttons like nobody else.

And you can learn a LOT about email marketing by studying Matt Furey’s emails and buying his products (yes, buy some of his products, if for no reason than to see great examples of product development).

Anyway, you can get on his list at:

OK, that’s it for today.

There are a lot of other great email marketers out there besides the above.

But these are the three I study most.

I highly recommend you check them out, too.

P.S. Another great email resource is top direct response copywriter, Doug D’Anna.

When you sign up for his “A-List” ezine you get a free report “7 Proven Profit Triggers for Email Copywriters”. This awesome report has had a dramatic impact on my writing.

You can sign up for his A-List at:

A few months ago I had a huge “ah ha!” moment about selling.

I was talking with Michael Senoff about the $1,497 “How To Buy A Business” product he was selling that I wrote the ad for, and how we were getting sales without driving a lot of traffic to the site.

Now, as the copywriter I’d LOVE to take credit for all the sales.

But I’m not that naive.

Copy alone only gets you so far.

Especially with a high ticket product like that.

No, in this case, it was the copy plus something else we did.

Something simple and easy… that I’m betting you can apply to anything you sell, too.

What was the “secret” we were using?

Audio.

In fact, I remember Michael getting emails from customers who listened to the audio interviews he did with the product author multiple times before buying.

They pulled the interviews off iTunes, or burned the MP3’s to a CD from Michael’s site… and then listened to them when driving to work, or while exercising, or when fiddling around with something in the office.

Eventually, something “clicked”, they’d take another look at the sales letter, and buy.

That, my friend, is the raw power of audio.

And it’s also why I believe audio interviews are some of the best “auto-responders” around.

I mean, think about it:

If you produce a decent audio interview — that gives lots of good information someone can really use — people will many times listen to it over and over again.

And each time they listen to it, you reinforce the value of your information… strengthen your bond with that prospect… and re-ignite his desire to buy.

Many times a sale is made.

Sometimes even dozens of sales — with thousands of dollars in additional profits.

Here’s a “real life” example:

A few years ago I used to have long commutes to the job I was at.

And during those commutes I would many times listen to Dan Kennedy’s “Magnetic Marketing” tape (where he gave a demonstration of his system at a Peter Lowe event) over and over again.

And each time I listened to it I “re-sold” myself on Dan Kennedy, his product and his offer.

Eventually I just HAD to buy it.

Even though I couldn’t really afford it… and even though I had never actually read a “sales letter” for it.

But guess what?

It didn’t stop there.

Because soon after I bought his newsletter. Then a bunch of his books. Then some of his info products, etc.

I’ve actually lost track of all the Dan Kennedy stuff I’ve bought since.

And all those extra sales stemmed from his simple audio lesson on tape.

Which brings me back to my point:

When you produce a decent audio interview or recording that’s packed with real value (and is NOT just a sales pitch) — and that demonstrates your knowledge and experience — you’ll add a whole new “layer” of persuasion to anything you sell.

In fact, if you do it right, it can dramatically increase the conversion of ALL your marketing.

And position your business in a way plain text can’t touch with a ten foot pole.

Try it yourself and see.

I bet you’ll see a pleasant “bump” in your sales.

For more information on creating simple audio interviews that sell, check out the interview I did with Michael Senoff a few weeks ago below. Michael has done hundreds of audio interviews selling everything from $5,000+ information products… to anti-counterfeit writing pens… to entire businesses.

And you can easily use his methods to sell whatever you have, too.

You can grab the interview in streaming audio, MP3 or written transcript below:

Part #1 (41:10):