Michel Fortin: A Low-Tech Way To Boost Response

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

Some people have asked me to give a few tips and tricks they can start using right away to apply some of the strategies I wrote about in my “Death of the Salesletter” report, without resorting to audio or video.

Aside from the various technology you can start applying to make your sales experience more dynamic, there are some very simple things you can do to your salesletter, right now, to improve its readership. And ultimately, its response.

It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s proven to increase results.

It’s adding pictures, photos, clipart, and content-relevant graphics to your salesletters. Particularly, one near the top, around the headline.

Headlines are critical. In fact, it’s part of the most important element of any salesletter: the “A” in the AIDA formula, which is to grab people’s attention, and to get them to start reading.

If you don’t get people to start reading your copy, it doesn’t matter how good your copy is. They just won’t buy.

Better headlines have been proven to increase readership and response by as much as 700% in my own split-tests. But adding photos and graphics near the headline have equally boosted response as well, sometimes even more.

And I’m not talking about graphic headers. I’m talking about pictures and graphics within the body copy.

My friend Brent Turner, branded as the Design Frog has an amazing package. Check out Graphics Frog. Brent also designs ebook covers, websites and software packages. (Check out his portfolio.)

Not that Brent’s package is less professional, but if you prefer a more toned-down and subdued graphics package, Hrvoje Livnjak, a young Croatian member of my Copywriters Board, offers his own package — and I recently bought it without batting an eyelash.

You can check out his special offer for copywriters at eCovers Lab Special Graphics Package he posted on my board.

It includes arrows, callouts, stars, frames and so forth. He offers various formats, including the Photoshop native .psd format, so for those amateur designers, you can change them to your liking, if you wanted to.

Mr. Subtle (aka JayKay), a brilliant graphic designer and direct marketer offers a brilliant solution and alternative to his highly hated “mega-headlines” by simply turning them into short animated ones.

For copywriters who still wish to retain their wordy headlines (although I would still try to edit them down to be as pithy as possible), Subtle recommends using animated headlines like a slideshow of sorts, where portions of the headline transition from one to another in seconds.

This way, if you wish to retain your bulky 80-word headline for example, you can break it down to 3-4 shorter, less wordy headlines that transition from one to another.

(And you can also apply the element of curiosity, by adding half-finished sentences or ideas that force readers to watch the remainder of the headline, or, better still, to get them to start reading the salesletter.)

I don’t believe we should resort to this, however the use of animation is a cool aspect of making the web page a little more dynamic, other than video, which you can test with your salesletters. (I am testing this, too, right now.)

But headlines and graphics aside, an important element you can add to your salesletter, particularly near the headline, is of a photo or picture. I have found that some pictures do increase response, particularly if the picture represents:

The author of the letter.
The product being offered.
The major problem suffered without the product.
Something that represents the main benefit.
Before and after pictures showing the results.
As for #4 and #5, I have found that they work best with pre-targeted or pre-qualified markets. Similar to the fact that newsworthy headlines seem to out-pull benefit-laden ones, graphics that show a benefit can be counterproductive with generic, unqualified audiences.

Nevertheless, here are some examples.

For #1, the picture is a simple picture of the person who authored the letter. It’s the same as some newspaper or magazine articles, in the article’s byline, where the picture of the author is shown.

Better yet, if you can add a picture of the author in action, particularly if the person is speaking to an audience, speaking on stage, writing on a whiteboard, delivering the product or service, or working with a client, such as in consultation, they seem to outpull traditional studio photos.

(My guess is that they offer social proof. Take, for instance, the picture of John Reese being bombarded by questions from attendees at a seminar, at the top of the Traffic Secrets letter, which I wrote.)

For #2, this is a photo of the product itself. The best ones I’ve found are photos of the product in its entirety. They boost credibility because they show that the offer, the author and the product are real.

When I write salesletters for information products, I often ask the business owner to send me a copy. What I often do is display the product on a white bedsheet or kitchen table, then take a photo of the entire package and add it to the salesletter.

(Some of my top-marketing friends have even added pictures of them pulling out the product from the box when they receive it in the mail. It’s a great proof-generator, since it shows exactly what people are getting and how they are getting it.)

For #3, an example is when I wrote the salesletter for an anti-spam software, where I added a picture of a person pulling out his hair staring at his computer screen, which donned a picture of a can of Spam (i.e., the sandwich meat one).

An example of #4 is, when I wrote a “dating guide” salesletter, I put up a picture of a loving couple in warm embrace. We see this style of photo when we see those “get rich” salesletters, where the author of the letter is posed with his Porsche, mansion or yacht, or holding up money.

Although I’m not particularly fond of the latter, any picture that represents the ultimate benefit or result of the offer is good. There are many creative ways to do this, if you put your mind to it. Think of how you want the reader to visualize themselves after applying or using your product.

For #5, it’s almost a combination of #3 and #4. And it’s probably the most powerful of them all.

Before and after pictures represent comparisons between before using the product and after doing so. (You often see these with weightloss products, muscle-building products or makeup products, for example.)

But they are not limited to cosmetics or beauty. We did this with a salesetter I wrote for a company selling special daylight-mimicking “lightbulbs” that created warmer, richer lighting, using less energy than most bulbs.

What did we do? We took a picture of a room with regular 60-watt lightbulbs. We then took another of the same room but with this company’s bulbs.

The before and after pictures, set side by side in a single graphic placed at the top, increased response. (You can see the obvious difference the lighting made in the room.)

The pictures were taken at the exact same angle and were untouched, and a caption below the pictures indicated so. In fact, that’s another important and powerful tip: add captions to your photos.

Captions are almost always read. It’s not only a great opportunity to describe the photo but also one to add some interesting fact, tidbit or benefit related to the picture. (Add something you definitely want readers to remember or appreciate about your product or service.)

If you don’t have any pictures, you can certainly use stock photography. I do, for example, when I add post icons at the upper-left corner of my blog posts.

Some stock photo websites include iStockPhoto.com, BoxedArt.com, and Photos.com.

Cyrell Price, a wonderful graphic designer — and she’s the person who does a lot of my salesletter formatting for me and my clients — offers some interesting resources on where to get stock photos.

Mr. Subtle also gave a remarkable tip: stock cartoons.

Cartoons are fabulous because they are great attention grabbers, give a bit of humor, and communicate problems and solutions in themselves in a direct and poignant way. In fact, he recommends Ron Leishman who draws and sells CDs filled with cartoons and clipart you can easily add to your salesletters.

If you have a chance, read that whole thread. Mr. Subtle shows a “live” example of getting the cartoonist to draw a customized cartoon, which is a great benefit for direct marketers, such as one that represents the benefit of the product or service in question (or in this case, the problem without it).

Anyway, hope this helps. What other suggestions do you have to add more “eye gravity,” proof and credibility to your copy? I welcome your feedback.

About Michel Fortin

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.
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Tags: boosting conversion, copywriting, michel fortin, sales copy tips

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How to get 2000 RSS Subscribers in 3 Months

The Tony Robbins Part…

People with no experience with blogging or building authority are doing incredible things in short periods of time with their blogs. You can too if your heart is in it. The thing that motivates most people is their goals. If you don’t have specific goals and realistic deadlines that push you to achieve greatness, your campaign is dead from the start.

Hint: “I want to make money” is not a goal.

A-List Bloggers, Current and Future, All Share the Same Traits

What I’ve noticed from every successful blog owner I’ve ever reviewed or consulted with is that they are motivated to learn and apply what they learn diligently. They don’t cheat or look for the easy way out (there isn’t one) and they will stop at nothing to see their goals realized.

1. They get up early and work before they go to their “real jobs.”
2. They come home and work into the night, often losing sleep to meet their deadlines.
3. They think deeply about content and their visitors’ needs.
4. They study their market and stay up to date on the relevant hot topics and capitalize on them to generate great, unique content.
5. They network heavily. From social marketing to doing “favors” for bloggers who are higher up on the food chain in order to gain favor with them. (Links being one big favor!)
6. They are thought leaders. Not just followers. They start conversations in addition to participating in conversations started by others.
7. They will do anything to meet a self-imposed deadline for content development, marketing goals and traffic benchmarks.
8. They are motivated by the lure of being financially independent to such a degree that there is almost nothing they wouldn’t sacrifice in the short term to see their long term success. (Most share sleep as the biggest sacrifice!)
9. They don’t expect anything to be handed to them. They earn everything they get as a result of hard work, creativity, and being a thought leader in their niches.
10. They never cheat or look for the easy way out and they don’t believe sales pitches that make schemes and scams sound like the mythical “instant reward” syndrome most new bloggers fall for.
11. Their content is superior, deep, imaginative, and always has a “hook” that almost forces new readers to subscribe to their blog to see what’s next.
12. They generate a hunger in their readership for the value they become known for producing in each and every post.
13. Their readership has a high return ratio. Example: This blog has a 37% return visitor ratio.

If you adopt these traits you will see significant progress in your blog’s growth, rankings, and links. It’s almost guaranteed.

Here’s A Case Study From A New Blogger Who Acquired 2000+ RSS Subscribers in 3 Months
Follow this guide laid out by Tina Su who wrote an excellent piece for ProBlogger recently. You can mirror her system to gain a lot of readers in a very short time.

Related: Social Marketing Advice You Really REALLY Need!
If you are working on a social marketing campaign for your site (you’d BETTER be) then a related story from Search Engine Land is essential reading today: “15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media Marketing”

Tags: blogging case studies, blogging success, problogger, rss subscribers, social marketing advice, tina su

Google Is Coming For Your Children!

Tags: funny google videos, google, google maps, using google maps

Michel Fortin: Multiply Your Marketing Like a Virus

Guest Post by Michel Fortin

In today’s Internet, conversations are cropping up all over the place. People are talking. They are talking about products. They are talking about businesses. And they are certainly talking about their experiences.

When you look at how blogs, forums and social networking sites have exploded in the last few years, you can see how powerful word-of-mouth is. But the question is, is it all really important? Can it really help your business?

Yes.

And I’m not talking about traffic. And you don’t need to be controversial, either. I’m talking creating systems to leverage, manage and profit from the “buzz.”

Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful lead and business generation processes there is. Online, some people call it “word-of-mouse.” But we know it more as viral marketing.

Viral marketing is the process of implementing means or tools through which the knowledge of your existence self-propagates. Like a virus, your visibility spreads throughout a network of people who refer you to each other.

Notwithstanding the power of backlinking, traffic and SEO, viral marketing is key for a number of reasons. Success in the offline world is “location, location, location.” The Internet is no different. Your success depends highly on the number of locations you appear online — places on which your site, link, company or product name exist.

In essence, to expand your reach, you need to be in as many places as possible, talked about by as many people as possible and be in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

With viral marketing, there are three ways of doing it:

Create content.
Create applications.
Create systems.

The first is self-explanatory. Your content may be controversial or buzzworthy. It may create raging fans — or enraged enemies.

The second is simple: you create an application — whether it’s a video, audio, file, software, document, etc — that people can pass around, and thus proliferates the knowledge of your existence on the web through other people’s efforts.

I might write about these two at a later time. But for now, the one on which I want to focus is the third: creating a system.

Before I give you some examples, let me explain why word-of-mouth works wonders. Those who get to know you or to know about you through a third party grant you a higher level of confidence, credibility and loyalty. According to Dr. Robert Cialdini in his amazing book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” this is social proof in action.

Remember a dictum a mentor of mine once told me, which is: “Implication is far more powerful than specification.” In other words, if you tell people you’re the best, that you’re the leader in your field, or that your product is the best solution to their needs, your self-serving promotional bias makes it all suspect.

However, if someone other than you — whether it’s on a blog, in an email, on a social networking site or in person — says to another that you are indeed the best or that you do have the best solution to their problems, how much more believable will that person’s statement be? How much more credible and trustworthy?

The answer is “definitely more.”

Accordingly, word-of-mouth is not only important because it creates an awareness of your business (let alone traffic), but also it is important to the degree to which third party marketing indirectly communicates greater credibility, superiority and value of the products or services you offer.

In his book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding,” Al Ries stresses the importance of leadership and how that leadership is communicated.

According to Ries, people never buy the best — they only think they do. They usually buy the leader (or what they perceive as being the best). And that perception is often molded by what they are told and by what others do, not by what is fact or by what is being advertised.

Coke, for example, outsells Pepsi. But according to Ries, taste tests reveal that Pepsi is the better tasting brand. So, why does Coke still beat Pepsi in sales? It is not because it is the leader in the marketplace or promoted itself as such but because it is known as the leader. And the reason it is known as the leader is because Coke was the first cola “in the mind” of the marketplace.

It is the one most talked about, even to this day. When a person is introduced to cola for the first time, they are often told to try Coke. Restaurant patrons still ask for “coke,” even when Pepsi is the only cola served. Why is that? While other colas are bombarding them with marketing messages, people have heard of Coke first, and most likely from other people.

Consequently, if people hear about you from other people, and not some advertisement or pitch, this social proof will create not only a certain buzzworthiness about you but also an almost instant trustworthiness.

How do you do that? The most significant method is to be the first. If your business or website is unique, focuses on a niche or is the first in some category, the knowledge of your existence will spread quite naturally, almost like wildfire. It becomes viral in and of itself, in other words.

Now, I’m not saying you need to be new. I’m only saying you need to be unique. Or better yet, you need to be the first. Whether it’s catering an existing product to a new niche, or adding a new twist to an existing product, you become the first.

I said it before: don’t be the best, be the first. But more important, as Ries pointed out, “Don’t be the first in the marketplace, be the first the MIND of the marketplace.”

That said, there are ways to use systems that will leverage the spreading of that message, on the other hand, which helps to multiply your marketing punch. Such systems both simulate and stimulate word-of-mouth advertising.

Networking systems, for example, include strategic marketing alliances, joint ventures, and affiliate programs. And unlike the more traditional traffic generators such as ads and search engines, these specific tools are much more effective since they are used by third parties and not by the original advertiser.

In these cases, people don’t find you. They are told where you are because someone told them about you — especially if that “someone” is a person whose opinion they value.

If you received a call, letter or email from someone you know (and especially trust) referring you to a particular company, how much more credible will that referral be when compared to a blatant advertisement coming from the company itself?

You got it. A lot more.

When we think of viruses, we remember when “Melissa” and “I Love You” hit the scene in the late 90s and early 2000s. No, they weren’t some kind of adult-oriented websites, but computer viruses (or is that virii?).

But here’s why they were so effective: the devious (or perhaps even brilliant) way these viruses worked was that, after opening the email attachment, it sent more virus-infected emails to the first fifty people in your address book without your knowledge.

While we are bombarded with spam and phishing attempts, and anti-virus warnings telling us to never open an attachment from an unknown person, how can we resist doing so when the email apparently comes from someone we actually do know (since the virus uses address books to multiply itself and even personalizes the email with that person’s name)?

We can certainly learn the way viruses work — and, in the same way, apply that process to online marketing.

How? Remember that good ol’ fashion process called “networking”? According to Jill Griffin’s wonderful book “Customer Loyalty: How to Earn it, How to Keep it,” we are more open, trusting and loyal when doing business with or being marketed by people we know — and we certainly refer them to others more often as well.

Networking grants you the ability to reach corners untapped — areas that would have been unreachable otherwise. I personally don’t advocate traditional networking (the simple, “I’m open for business” kind) because, in my experience, it hasn’t brought me anything substantial in return. While it can be a fantastic marketing tool, the way in which networking is conducted is often the reason why it does not produce any favorable results.

When you’re only networking, more often than not people will want something in return — otherwise, they will lose interest or stop sending referrals if you don’t take the time to recognize their efforts. A way to consistently reward others is to turn your networking efforts into systems — in other words, to develop strategic marketing alliances.

There are many ways to accomplish this. But the most effective forms of networking are those that are systematized.

A traditional network is one in which qualified leads that you can both share, or information about each other that is promoted to each other’s market, clientele or subscribers. This way, you can effectively cross-promote or share markets with each other. As long as your alliance logically shares a same target market but without directly competing with you, it could be potentially rewarding.

On the Internet, this technique is one in which a systematized method of cross-promotion between you and your alliance through a unique, joint marketing effort is created. It is also often referred to as a “joint venture.”

For example, this includes the coupling of complementary products or services in a single offer that’s exclusively marketed to each other’s market. While different, these offers are combined and marketed under the banner of a single promotion.

Whose product or offer can you bundle with yours to create an entirely new and distinct package?

In its simplest form, if your alliance sells a product to a market that matches yours, they can add to their offer additional products, services or bonuses from you, which may include an exclusive special offer for one of your products as an upsell.

But the best method I’ve found is when you create an entirely distinct product with those from two or more strategic alliances, amalgamating existing products from all companies into a single offer that’s sold simultaneously from your partners’ sites.

For example, you sell cookware online. You can easily team up with a publisher specializing in cookbooks and throw a book in the mix. While you raise the price and split the profits with the publisher, you instantly raise the perceived value of the cookware through a co-branded approach or a combined package of non-competing products or services.

Best of all, each of you market the “new” product separately while sharing in each other’s traffic, market, lead-base and referral-sources (i.e., your own respective networks, including affiliates, “fans” and even suppliers) — thus doubling the reach with the same marketing effort.

If they have their own distinct affiliate program, network of affiliates and fan base, including their own blogs for instance, they can leverage the knowledge of your existence quite rapidly. And vice versa.

Ultimately, by leveraging the efforts of others you not only propagate the knowledge of your existence on the web, but also you create trust and credibility. And if you cater to a new market, or offer a new product by taking an existing product and giving it a new twist, you also give yourself an extra dose of buzzworthiness, too.

About Michel Fortin
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: affiliate marketing, michel fortin, viral marketing, word of mouth

100 Plus Ways To Make Your Blog Go To 11

…monetize your blog without driving readers crazy…

…get traffic from Facebook…

…get more links to your site…

I like lists. It’s no big secret. Something about lists that approach 100 has a certain ring. 100 things means its usually a pretty deep, hefty resource. Sometimes there are only a couple of things on a 100+ list of resources that are helpful, but its because it is a big list that you are almost guaranteed to find stuff you didn’t know about before.

Blogging Tip: “Lists are tired linkbait.” Have you heard that before? Here’s how to get as much out of list-bait as in the old days. Go to 100! I know its very Spinal Tap of me to say so, but the list that goes to 100 is rare, and reeks of someone putting some serious work into a post. Lots of research goes into a quality list of 100 anything!

If all the blogs in your niche go to 10, then yours needs to go to 11!

This video should help you understand the concept of going to 11…

Tags: blog marketing, content development, link bait, linkbait, lists

Where’s Your Blog’s Unique Voice?

We’ve been talking a lot at SPL and ASC lately about finding your voice for your blog. As you might have noticed there is more “me too” blogging going on than “me new” blogging. A lot of people are taking my frequent advice to look at what others are doing successfully so literally that they seem to think I mean to “copy” the successful, unique voice bloggers.

I don’t mean that, of course. Seeing what is working for others is one thing, but a blog that copies the look and feel of an A-List blog as well as the types of content and even the messages and writing style of the original - that’s just cheating and lazy. And completely ineffective.

Finding your voice and making a blog unique is a crucial step on your way to high traffic and lots of links. Until you can set yourself apart from the rest of the “pack” in your niche, people will find it easy to leave without subscribing. They will notice you’ve done about the same content as a favorite blog of theirs already, so why subscribe to yours?

Your “voice” is what makes people decide to subscribe and stick around. If you are too much like the current A-Listers in your niche they won’t have any need to subscribe.

Tags: Blog Marketing, finding your voice

Increase Repeat, High Quality Comments and Visitors

I just found the first best plugin for Wordpress of 2008.  (I found it in 2008, so it counts!)

I saw it in action today on HowtoSpoter and it is a brilliant idea.  The plugin is called CommentLuv and if you scroll down this page to the comment field you’ll notice a new check box and text:

Enable CommentLuv which will try and get your last blog post, please be patient while it finds it for you

You can see it in action here.  Scroll down to the comments and you will see regular comments but now you also get the last post that commentator made on their blog.  See the comment by “Virginia” at bottom for example.

That is major major reward for participation! 

Knowing you are going to get a link to your latest blog post, with all the keyword goodness you built into the title, tends to make you want to visit a site more.

The more people visit and comment on your site the more user generated content loaded with keyword relevance that gets added to your site.  That’s a big deal.

I will be following closely on sites like HowToSpoter who are using plugins like this because I simply get more for participating there.  With CommentLuv enabled, you get an incredible bonus and people will see traffic increases absolutely, positively from this.

(I still moderate comments and, now that I am giving so much by using this killer Wordpress plugin, will be even more picky as to who gets past me.  So don’t think this is your chance to get some easy links without making meaningful posts!)

Download CommentLuv and get more participation going on on your blog!   Click the graphic below…

Tags: comment plugin, commentluv, killer wordpress plugins, wordpress plugins

lolcats Are Traffic Magnets!

I never understood why people are so freakin’ nuts about lolcats.  There’s even a new book out, according to Gawker, so “you can has cheezburger” on the coffee table.

So I’m not fighting it anymore.  I am getting in the game…

i can has traffic now? 

Tags: gawker, i can has traffic, lolcats

Reality Check from ProBlogger

This is a great piece by Darren at ProBlogger.

Just had to share!

A Reality Check About Blogging For Money

Tags: darren rowse, make money blogging, making money online, problogger articles

Gotten Any Death Threats At StumbleUpon Lately?

Here’s how bad it gets when you are seen as an outsider and a marketing spammer on a social network like StumbleUpon…

Marty Weintraub posted just now about receiving death threats and calls for suicide (in ways he didn’t detail in his post) from Stumblers who feel like StumbleUpon is theirs and not to be used to market…anything.

Nevermind that everyone who uses StumbleUpon is marketing something. If not their own website, they are marketing their own profile. They are marketing by their interaction. To make friends and be “approved of” by the micro-society of StumblUpon they most identify with. To have the deepest, top profile. Whatever, everyone is marketing on StumbleUpon.

Regardless, read how Marty tries dealing with the outpouring of hatred by visiting his local FBI office to see what can be done about clearly illegal harassment by these hardcore Stumblers.

Tags: social marketing, stumbleupon death threats

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