1. Stop asking for first names on your opt in forms (at least on the first page).    Tests show first names suppress response.   And you know what?  You’re probably not using the information correctly when you’ve got it anyway.  (If you DO have first name, don’t use it in the subject line, and don’t you dare use it in the greeting of the email… instead, embed it several times deep in the body of your email like your best friend might when she’s writing to you)
2. Call a dozen of your competitors and analyze their phone messages. Seriously… it’s amazing to me just how many people spend a fortune on generating the call, only to totally neglect to address the customer’s most common concerns on their voicemail, or via their customer service.  Your voice mail should immediately reassure your prospect AND convey your point of difference benefits, just as succinctly and professionally as your landing page (if not more, because of the value of the opportunity). Don’t just read this… go do it now, really… I’ve never had ANYONE come back and tell me they did this and regretted the time spent.
3. If You’re Stuck, Spend a Full Day Trying to Fail:   Seriously.  If you feel stuck in your business, take a day off and think of all the ways you possibly can to destroy it.  I’m not saying to DO those things, I’m just saying to brainstorm them, capture the energy encapsulated within them, write down your idea, call your friends and ask how they could make them worse.    The ACTUAL SOLUTIONS these business-destroying-ideas will stimulate (in a kind of Zen-like paradoxical “use the force Luke” way) will astound you.  Really, seriously, 100% straight up… don’t say bullshit, say “I’ll try it Glenn”. (Repeat after me “I’ll try it Glenn”, “I really will try it”)

Well, I guess you caught me in one of my moods.

Aren’t you glad you did?

The other day, Terry Dean asked me to identify the best 25 or so for us to include in The Total Conversion Code.  (Shameless plug).  So I analyzed all 419 … actually it was 417 at the time… all 417 subject lines and click through rates, looking for patterns.

Anyone have a guess which subject line got the second highest  click through rate EVER?

I’ll give you a hint, it was NOT “Disturbed Emotional Copywriting”… that one was just a little above average, despite my best hopes.  (A killer interview with Ben Settle by the way)

It also was NOT “I’m so ugly, so very very ugly” –> just average there too,  but I particularly enjoyed writing that one!

“Time is running out” was one of the lowest of the losers… if subject lines were like kids in grade school, this one definitely had koodies!  (How the hell do you spell Koodies by the way… anyone know the official word on that?)

OK… know what it WAS?

“all my audios are now on iTunes” (they ARE by the way – Glenn Livingston Mp3s)

The CTR on this was over 400% higher than the average, only beaten by ONE other message in over four years.

Why do you think this was?

I’ll tell you.

It’s the “no brainer” principle.

Establish valuable FREE  content that sells… then tell people where they can get more.

They’ve already consumed the value… so you’ve got all the PROOF you need in the subject line because they’ve already EXPERIENCED it.  (“Who wants more cookies and milk?”  DUH!)   (By the way, you can use this same proof principle to establish proof for your physical products by simply using a nice product demonstration on video)

They already associate me with solving DESPERATE PROBLEMS (figuring out how to get prospects to buy, and customers to buy more)

And it’s a unique offer… right there in that puny subject line… “ALL the cookies and milk you missed!”

Desperate problem, unique offer, and overwhelming proof.

Establish valuable free content that sells, then tell people where they can get more.

Of course “that sells” is the kicker.

Know how to do that?

I’ll spare you the usual rhetoric about having to know your market cold, etc.

Let’s assume you do.

How do you define the “free line?”

The best phrase to write on the inside of your eyelids is “Useful but Incomplete”

Like, for example, giving people your SECOND best click through generating email.

Or creating amazing cheat sheets, and sharing genuinely valuable methods and tips, but not putting the whole SYSTEM together step by step for everyone until they’re convinced and willing to pay you.

Useful but incomplete.

Someone send me a t-shirt with that on it please.  Or a bumper sticker.

(I know… my wife is chuckling now saying that’s kind of how she thinks of ME… “Useful but Incomplete”… oh well!)

Here’s another one of my best (but not my absolute best) tips.

Almost NO ONE bothers TAGUCHI TESTING their email subject lines.  But 90% of click through variance is all about the subject.   And if you’re generating traffic from your subject lines, you could be generating twice as much with better subject lines!

Food for thought,

G

PS – Have you see the new Guaranteed Video Traffic Service yet?   We’ll be ceasing the case study discounts shortly (we’ve almost chosen our lot)

To celebrate, I’ve zipped up 6 of the BEST interviews I’ve done with Perry and his office over the years into one big “Fill Up Your MP3 Player Perry Marshall Mega-Download” (there’s an important interview with Bryan Todd, his co-author too.

Perry’s NEW Definitive Guide includes intensive MULTIMEDIA modules on:

• Affiliate Marketing
• The Content Network
• “Just Getting Started”
• Information Marketing
• Marketing in the UK
• Copywriting (with Michael Fortin)

Here’s more specific list of changes to the Definitive Guide:

• Over a dozen brand new chapters covering things like the Content Network, Analytics, Quality Score, and the new interface
• Over 15 hours of brand new audio files (supplementary content included with purchase)
• Video presentations on targeted AdWords sections (supplementary content included with purchase)
• PDF documents and reports never released to the general public before – in other words, stuff from Perry’s private AdWords Vault.
• Niche specific modules that elaborate on how you can specifically use AdWords to profit in your industry. (Think modules for affiliates, info marketers, etc… )
• A brand-new “Beginner’s Guide to eCommerce” that takes Definitive Guide owners from zero to building a website, picking a niche, and launching and AdWords campaign profitably.
• And, of course, Perry and Bryan take you deep inside the AdWords machine, crack the code and reveal how to attract millions of potential buyers in a matter of minutes at the lowest cost possible. With all new tactics and insights, they’ve completely cracked the code anew.

It also includes up to $75 in free traffic from Google for new advertisers.

If you’re marketing in AdWords, you really need to keep up with these changes (personal opinion).   You can pick it up here today

Dr. G

We did NOT intend to distribute this conversation, so I apologize for the speakerphone, but I thought it represented a unique opportunity for you to be a fly on the wall to see:

A) How a high-level copywriter interviews “in the trenches” sales people to elicit the benefits and objections necessary to write A level copy

B) How my thinking has evolved into a more comprehensive, yet simpler system for building a solid internet marketing structure

The original purpose of the call was for Tony to get the material he needed to develop a consultation form like the one we’ve got here, but targeted at people who wanted more than PPC management… instead desiring a more comprehensive package including market research + site design/repositioning + PPC/SEO.

You see, it’s been several years since I originally innovated and presented the How To Double Your Business process, and I’ve moved WAY beyond the advanced survey methods I originally presented.  The way I approach markets presently is simultaneously  simpler and more powerful.

1) MAKING MORE MONEY WITH FEWER KEYWORDS

The most successful of the 100+ clients I personally audited at Rocket Clicks last year (especially those who seemed to survive the economic earthquake in the fall of 2008) were   focused on many, many fewer keywords, leading me to develop a set of algorithms for choosing the smallest number of keywords likely to make you the most money.

In fact, I now believe it’s ESSENTIAL  to have a well articulated rationale for choose ONE dead-center bulls-eye keyword for your business… the one you’d advertise on if Google restricted your account to only ONE adgroup with ONE broad match keyword in it.  (The “ultimate elevator speech”).

Considerations of relevancy, volume, and bid price are essential in making this choice.

And once you know your Bulls-Eye, I think it’s also essential to define a very small set of concentric circles around it … no more than six keyword groups.  And you’d better have a good written definition of the CONCEPTUAL BOUNDARIES OF YOUR KEYWORD SET, or else you’ll wind up wasting time, money, and diluting your conversions by aiming off your “keyword archery target”

2) GATHERING MORE FREE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE THAN ANYONE IN YOUR MARKET

Once you know exactly where your keyword archery target starts and ends (and why!), I’ve innovated a NEW method for leveraging social media, competitive intelligence spy tools, and RSS fees to set up one systematic and comprehensive competitive intelligence dashboard…

Then identifying YOUR SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITOR and totally reverse engineering their web testing diary.  (I’m not just talking about the stupid PPC spy tools … I’m NOT NOT NOT talking about figuring out what web changes they made which made them successful in the first place)

3) IDENTIFYING POINT OF DIFFERENCE BENEFITS WITH A NEW 80/20 VERSION OF MY SURVEY INTELLIGENCE PROCESS

On the foundation of a more clearly defined and simpler keywords set AND comprehensive competitive intelligence, we then utilize the survey process to find point of difference benefits for the market.

4) DESIGNING YOUR SITE, COPY, AND FOLLOW UPS TO BUILD ON ALL THIS UNIFIED INTELLIGENCE

With a clearly defined bulls-eye and keyword archery target, the knowledge of who’s winning the game on that target and why, the consumer language, emotional benefits, and point of difference benefits in hand, the process then proceeds to UNIFY ALL YOUR MARKETING COMMUNICATION AROUND A  SINGULAR, WELL RESEARCHED USP.

5) BUILDING OUT PPC AND SEO CAMPAIGNS FOR YOUR VERY FOCUSED TARGET:

SEO and PPC are expensive and time consuming.   The gorillas who survive are the ones who know exactly where to FOCUS their time and money.   The new Livingston Process ensures you eliminate waste and laser focus on a hyper-responsive message for the short set of keywords which define your business.

6) OPTIMIZE YOUR CONVERSION:  Multivariate and Taguchi testing are still VERY powerful tools (always will be).  But they’re only useful when you’ve got the RIGHT INPUT to test.   The new process above ensures you’ve always got a prioritized list of options for continually bringing your business to the next level.

Enjoy the FREE MP3 below please!  :-)

ACTION OPTIONS: Do all this yourself, hire us to do for you,  or have me coach you through it personally.

Yet despite this very clear and convincing skew, almost NO ONE goes to the trouble of testing the ORDER of their follow up sequence.

That’s a BIG MISTAKE because, if email #12 happens to be your strongest pulling follow up, there’s a damn good chance you’ll snag more buyers by moving it closer to the sign up date when a greater proportion of your list is “in heat”

Moreover, sometimes a particular email does a better job immediately after another email, and, conversely, there are certain messages which will actually decrease the efficacy of their followers.

The bottom line is, there’s usually money on the table for marketers willing to go through the time and effort to optimize the ORDER of their email sequence.

Logistically, this can be difficult, in fact, I’ve found only one or two other people who’ve ever run these kinds of email sequencing tests.

To try and ease the burden, I’ve prepared a simple cheat sheet which outlines exactly how to do this using aweber, step by step.

I hope you find it helpful

PS – If you REALLY want to blow out the response from your autoresponder follow ups, listen to this FREE AdWords Autoresponder MP3 and get yourself signed up for Perry Marshall’s  AdWords Autoresponder Workshop.

You see, one of my deepest,  darkest secrets is, my sales-letters wouldn’t work more than 30% as well as they do without my autoresponder sequences. In fact, for most of my markets, sending traffic right to the sales-letter is a losing proposition.

If you’re on MY  list, you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve been with me for years, you know I’ve sent out literally 65+ MP3s, videos, and cheat sheets which truly deliver value and build trust. (If you’re new, just stay tuned and you’ll get them)

What you don’t know is the MAGNITUDE of the trust that’s built by a solid autoresponder sequence. Like, the kind of trust which makes the right people very comfortable with hourly rates
(e.g $1000/hr) I could NEVER charge to a cold referral. The kind of trust that thrust hundreds of prospects into Rocket Clicks consults and grew us to 21 employees in the first nine months we were incorporated.

The kind of trust that turns visitors into dollars.

Now, there are TWO SIMPLE PIECES OF AUTORESPONDER ADVICE the vast majority of marketers don’t take, and even if you don’t attend the  AdWords Autoresponder Workshop, if you do NOTHING besides correct these mistakes, this will probably have been the most valuable post you’ve read all year:

“The Most Frequent Mistake People Make With Autoresponders Is Not Having One”

“A MUCH BIGGER MISTAKE IS LETTING YOUR EXISTING RESPONDER RUN OUT!”

Why anyone would go through the trouble of buying traffic and acquiring names in a valuable market and then abruptly stop talking to them after 7 emails has always been a complete mystery to me.

But simple autoresponder advice ends there. There’s MUCH more to it. Like…

- How to get a NEAR ZERO UNSUBSCRIBE RATE
- Complex Email Frequency Patterns Which Motivate and Hold Attention
- 21 Email Strategies that hit pay dirt with customers FAST
- A 100% counter-intuitive email message that builds trust by pushing customers AWAY from you
- How to design your sales funnel to accommodate those who want the drip-drip-drip of constant follow ups, yet also engages the ones who want to drink water from a fire hose, FAST
- How to expose and leverage other people’s lies
- When and how to use sub-listing strategies (you’re probably leaving 75%+ on the table if you’ve only got one list)
- How to build a huge email list even in a skeptical, email-resistant, over-crowded market.
- 175 emails from Perry Marshall’s own multi-million dollar sales funnel with license to modify for your use

If you choose to attend the AdWords Autoresponder Workshop, you’ll also get a copy of MY autoresponder presentation from last year’s event. (In fact, Perry’s giving away a video of the WHOLE event last year to this year’s attendees)

AND … in the Gold version Perry actually has his copywriters WRITE TEN FOLLOW UPS FOR YOU … then he reviews them personally. (Details on his site):

After the event last year, even after developing my markets and autoresponders for 5+ years, I came home and had to aggressively re-work my approach.

Now here’s one last deep dark secret, which I probably should have asked Perry’s permission to reveal first, but I figure it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission sometimes, right?

In my humble opinion, Perry Marshall’s success is based more on his email follow methods than on his Adwords brilliance. So if you miss this, you’re really missing more than half the story.

By the way, the price goes up on July 4th so if you’re interested, listen to the MP3 and then please have a look at the bootcamp right away.

The FREE MP3 is below.

Glenn

PS – Anyone who attends Perry’s Autoresponder Bootcamp through my links (on this page) gets a special set of 4 bonus videos from Perry’s office

Email From A Client Who Previously Heard Me Present Hyper-Responsive Adwords Methods

“Hi Glenn, I just picked up your Truth Profits program and I gotta tell you…I was blown away by the PPC section you included. Like a lot of internet marketers, I’ve lost my shirt (and close to my pants! in getting pay-per-click completely WRONG for so long. I’ve purchased several programs but all they seem to do is tell you Google’s “rules” or how to try to “game the system”.

The format that your team used with discussing PPC was like being a fly on the wall as real pro’s discuss what’s REALLY working in this area. It’s obvious that the other marketers you teamed up with were somewhat challenged at some point with PPC. They asked all the right questions (for beginners and pro’s)…and you gave some incredible answers in a real step-by-step format.

I listened to the recording 3 times in a row and found new tips each time. In fact, I listened to it while on the treadmill at my gym and had to keep jumping off to scribble down the thoughts and ideas as they came pouring into my head! (I think you’re personally responsible for about 750 calories I could have lost if I’d just been able to keep running! Won’t hold it against you!)

Anyway, just wanted to say that I’ve listened to many of your recordings in the past but this one is by FAR the best yet. This section alone was worth far more than the price I paid.

Thanks for the tips!”

Jeff Anderson Chicago, IL

I was speaking to  Howie Jacobson today and picked up this adwords cost reducing method … very cool!

adwords costs – reduce unsubscribe rates to zero mp3 file