Issue 26 Full

Inside This Issue:

Russell Brunson’s Number One Source of Free Traffic and how you can use it to build your own traffic powerhouse! Plus: Lined

Up With People Who Will Push for Your Success.

A $100 Million Sales Letter and the never-beforerevealed copywriting secrets that made it sell!

Vol. 3 - Issue 2 - DotComSecrets, Inc. - Feb. 2009

Inside This Issue:

20 Power Marketing

20

Cover Story. Finding the right people

34

A $1 Million Sales Letter. And

who will push you towards success in your online business is only the beginning.

the never-before-revealed copywriting secrets that made it sell!

February 2009 DotComSecrets.com

25

21 Minute traffic

04

11 14

Reddit Revenue. How to get others to

17

Gather Guru. A step-by-step checklist

spread your message virally on Reddit.

Email Marketing. How to reach

thousands of prospects through email in minutes, even if you don’t have your own list.

to creating traffic in 21 minutes by getting involved in Gather’s online community!

Millionaire Mind Maps

04

Affiliate Marketing. How you can

use Russell Brunson’s favorite traffic method to take advantage of dozens of other traffic sources (no extra work is involved)!

DotCom Secrets Recommends

39 40 38

Affiliate Marketing Tool Kit.

Affiliate manager Brent Coppieter’s toolkit for finding top affiliates.

Protege Challenge

25

Action Checklist. We broke down the

most powerful marketing principles taught in this issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal into a simple checklist of to do’s.

Clear Our Store Room. Your

chance to get our best-selling products at half price so we can clear extra room for more wealth building materials.

Formula for Fortune. How one

DotCom Secrets student discovered a 30-day formula for personal wealth and is using the internet to spread his message across the United States.

expert access Q&A. Your chance to sit down with

32

Russell Brunson and his team of experts at DotCom Secrets!

PRODUCT CREATION

Photo Credits:

30 Fast Content.

Top Right: ©iStockphoto.com/Michael Monu

How to create quality content for your products in 60 minutes or less.

Top Left: ©iStockphoto.com/Zsolt Nyulaszi

Insider Journal

Publisher: RUSSELL BRUNSON, President of DotCom Secrets, Inc.

Editor: BRITTANIE BYRON, [email protected]

Contributors: BRENT COPPIETERS, Affiliate Manager MICHAEL LOVERIDGE, Partnership Director KEVIN HILL, Copywriter DEREK FAYLOR, PPC Manager

Contact: WEBSITE: www.DotComSecrets.com ADDRESS: 3100 S Vista Ave Ste 200 Boise, ID 83705 PHONE:

1.208.323.9451

Change of address or billing information: www.CustomerHelpDesk.org Questions, comments or letters to the editor: [email protected] Online Archive: http://members.dotcomsecrets.com

Copyright 2008 © DotCom Secrets, Inc. | All Rights Reserved

2 | February 2009 www.DotComSecrets.com

LEGAL DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE You do not have resell rights or giveaway rights to any portion of this Publication. Only customers that have purchased this publication are authorized to view it. This publication contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the author. Violations of this copyright will be enforced to the full extent of the law. The information services and resources provided in this book are based upon the current internet marketing environment. The techniques presented have been extraordinarily lucrative and rewarding. Because the internet is constantly changing, the sites and services presented in this book may change, cease or expand with time. We hope that the skills and knowledge acquired from this course will provide you with the ability to adapt to inevitable internet evolution. However, we cannot be held responsible for changes that may affect the applicability of these techniques. Screenshots in this book are from publicly accessible field archives. All product names, logos and artwork are copyrights of their respective owners. None of the owners have sponsored or endorsed this publication. While all attempts have been made to verify information provided, the author assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation on the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of peoples or organizations are unintentional. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. No guarantees of income are made. The author reserves the right to make changes and assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials.

Earn a Residual Income Promoting the DotCom Secrets Journal. Go to www.TheSecondTier.com to sign up for our affiliate program and you can earn up to $10 per month for every member you refer!

To My Fellow Entrepreneurs,

L Don’t forget to check the membership site often for new articles and closelyguarded secrets you won’t find anywhere else. Login at: http://members. dotcomsecrets.com

ast month, my favorite cartoon character Zoobie, the internet marketing newbie, made a huge discovery. Those of you who have seen Zoobie before know that he doesn’t have the best track record for making money on the internet. But he found a way to make money by giving stuff that normally wouldn’t sell worth beans, away for free! A couple weeks ago, he launched a new product called “Do You Suck at Making Money?” where he shared his secret and it was a huge success. Now, this concept is powerful. Many people look at the bad economy and decide not to take action on creating their own online business because they don’t think they can get people to buy anything. But how easy do you think it would be to give stuff to people for free? Very easy! And the down economy actually makes this method that much more effective! Zoobie simply found what people already want (free stuff!) and then looked for a way to make money off it. I want to thank all of you who helped make Zoobie’s launch such a success. We are excited to see how much money our students make by giving stuff away for free! I also want to take a minute to talk about a couple of the exciting resources we have for you in this issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal: Lined Up With People Who Will Push You Towards Success (pg. 20): The relationships I value the most are not with the people who watch from the sidelines, but with those who are pushing with me for a common goal. Michael Loveridge, our partnership director, will reveal how you can create valuable relationships with your employees, mentors, peers and family so that you can do more than you ever could on your own. Formula for Fortune (pg. 25): Alex Navas, one of our Protege students, has an amazing success story. Before he started marketing his products online, he was working 16 hour days and had to sacrifice time with his family and church to make his offline businesses successful. He graciously agreed to share how he is using the internet now to reach more customers than ever with one big change - he’s making money in his sleep! And remember to log into the DotCom Secrets membership site (http:// members.dotcomsecrets.com) to leave your comments and share your own success stories!

Russell Brunson President of DotComSecrets.com

Insider Journal | 3

O

f all of the ways you can generate traffic online, there is one that trumps them all, and interestingly enough it happens to be free. This type of traffic will give you the highest conversions, the lowest refund rates, the highest percentage of sales on the backend and will always provide you a better customer. I learned about this when I was first getting started online, and when I heard about it, it had such a profound effect on me that I shifted my entire business model around this one type of traffic source. One day I went to a popular marketing forum and I saw someone who asked the question, “What is your most powerful traffic source?” I got excited when I read that because I wanted to see what everyone said. I watched the conversation as one person would say, “my best is pay per click, because I can get traffic to my site within 10 minutes of posting up my ad,” and someone else would say, “my best is my own list because I can send out emails whenever I want and get people to my site.”

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How to build your traffic powerhouse with the one method that trumps them all - and use it to take advantage of dozens of other traffic methods for free! By Russell Brunson President of DotComSecrets.com

©iStockphoto.com/Michael Monu

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AFFILIATE TRAFFIC Russell Brunson’s 5 step system to building and maintaining a strong network of affiliates!

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Insider Journal | 7

Everybody’s answers were fascinating to me, but there was one that was posted by the owner of the forum (who was probably one of the wealthiest guys on this site) that really got my attention. All he said was, “I rely on my own network of affiliates.” That’s it, eight words, but when I read that I knew he was right because if you have affiliates driving traffic for you, then you could have some who do PPC on their dime, some with lists all sending traffic, some doing SEO, and more. But the key is that instead of just you driving traffic, you could literally have hundreds or thousands of people all doing it for you! The leverage you receive from your own network of affiliates is huge. So this month I wanted to create my traffic map around the most powerful and free traffic method there is, affiliate traffic. If you look at the mind map on page six, you’ll notice there are five core steps that you will be focusing on to build residual traffic from affiliates: Research (finding out where your potential affiliates are) Recruit (getting them to want to promote for you verses your competition) Train (helping those who do not know how to promote, get traffic for you) Promotions (creating fun and ex-

8 | February 2009 www.DotComSecrets.com

citing promotions that they will want to be part of ) Integration (integrating your offers into the marketing and traffic funnels of your affiliates)

How to Research and Find Your Affiliates The first step is trying to figure out where your potential affiliates are. As you can see from the traffic mind map the first thing I focus on is figuring out what products and services somebody needs immediately before and after they get my product in the buying process. So if I’m selling hosting, what does someone need immediately before they buy my service (domain names) and immediately afterwards (website design services). I then know that these two types of companies would be amazing affiliates for me. The next thing I look for are product owners who have similar products to mine. I look for products that would complement mine, not compete. These people are also great affiliates. The other thing I look for when I find product owners are the testimonials on their websites. Often, the people who are giving testimonials on websites are also product or list owners and are great affiliates. Google is probably one of the greatest research tools in the world. We look for people who are advertising on the first two or three pages in Google for similar keywords that fit our product. If

they are paying for PPC ads, then they are probably building some type of list. If they have worked hard to get to the top of the search engines, we can often piggyback on their success and integrate our ads into their site. The other best place to find potential affiliates is in affiliate networks. We look for both product owners and affiliates and find hundreds of great people who already know how the game works. All we need to do is convince them why our product is best for them to promote.

How to Recruit Your Potential Affiliates After you’ve found them, you’ve still got to convince them to promote your products over your competitors. We recruit people in quite a few ways. The worst (yet I promise most of you will try) is email. We try to get them on the phone, send them gifts, setup personalized websites for them and get them to compete in contests. Affiliates are normally people who make a lot of money not doing a lot of work. So you need to spend a lot of time building the relationship because one good affiliates can drive thousands of visitors to your site so be willing to spend the time and money to get them on your side.

How to Train Your Affiliates You won’t need to worry about training your “A” level affiliates much.

With them it’s all about recruiting. But with “B” level affiliates, if you spend a little time training them, then they will serve you forever. “B” level affiliates are usually those people who have a website but currently don’t know how to get traffic or make sales. We do weekly training calls with our “B” affiliates and teach them basic strategies that, when they implement, help them get traffic quickly to their sites. We do most of our trainings through teleseminars, webinars or live ustream. tv trainings. We also give them tools and resources they need to get up and running fast. If you spend a few hours each week training your affiliates the long term payoff will be huge.

How to Create Killer Promotions One of the things about affiliates is they can quickly get bored with a product, so creating different offers and promotions for them will keep them loyal to you. No one wants to keep promoting the same product every day. So spend some time thinking up new ways to be unique. We just launched a new offer called “Do You Suck At Making Money” and it featured our cartoon Zoobie. It was a fun promotion and we had a lot of top level affiliates promote because it was something different and unique that they could talk about. The other thing to do is create other unique ways that they can promote. Doing webinars or teleseminars works

very well. Another unique thing we’ve been doing that I haven’t seen anyone else do is to get their customer lists and send them something in the mail or doing voice broadcasts. Basically creating different and unique ways to get your message to their customers.

How to Integrate Into Their Marketing

from one of our affiliates – they then see our offer. We also trade out emails in peoples autoresponder series. So I will make day number five in my series promote my affiliate’s product, and in return he puts my offer into day num-

The more places you can get your offers in their sales process, the more long term

sales you will get without having to do any more work. Every time they

Creating promotions is great and will get you a send traffic to their own sites, you will lot of fast sales, but it’s also be getting the benefits of their traffic. important to figure out ways that you can integrate your offers into the sales process ber five of his series. of your affiliates. Find out where their These are the keystones of a sucdead real estate is (thank you pages, cessful affiliate program. If you’d like on their blogs, in their autoresponder to see us using them in action please series and more) and try to put your visit www.TheSecondTier.com. The offers on these pages. The more places biggest problem people will have is you can get your offers in their sales that they think they need thousands process the more long term sales you of affiliates to be successful. will get without having to do any more What I would recommend doing work. Every time they send traffic to is making a dream team of 50 to 100 their own sites, you will be getting the people that you would like to be your benefits of their traffic. affiliates, then start the process of reOne of the things that has worked cruiting them one at a time. If you end well for us is placing our “free dvd” up with 10 to 15 good affiliates then offers onto people’s thank you pages, you have a very solid foundation that so as soon somebody buys something you can build on. DCS

- By Russell Brunson, President of DotComSecrets.com Have a question or comment? Let us know what you think about this article by sending an e-mail to [email protected] and you may be featured in an upcoming issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal.

Insider Journal | 9

“Get $197 Worth of Russell’s ‘Closely-Guarded’ Marketing Secrets Shipped To You For FREE! (It’s A Special Thanks for Being A Subscriber!)” Yes, Russell! I want to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime offer and receive a FREE Membership Upgrade. I understand that you will rush-ship me the DotComSecrets “Collectors Edition” Wealth Building Portfolio and $197 of wealth building information absolutely FREE! Most members received my DotComSecrets Wealth Building Portfolio when they decided to join my journal and DVD-of-the-month club. If you haven’t received yours yet, I would like to upgrade your membership for FREE and send you the following (worth $197): The DotComSecrets “Collectors Edition” Wealth Building Portfolio where you can collect ALL of your DotComSecrets journals for easy reference and storage. The Exclusive “30 Day Action Plan” I ONLY reveal at my $5000-a-head seminars. It contains the ultimate blueprint you can use to turn your online business into a success. You’ll be able to qualify to win FREE products, seminar tickets, and MORE after the challenge! The DotComSecrets “Quick Start” Guide that’ll get you on the fast track to wealth and independence in NO time! The “Underground Lead Generation” Secrets Exclusive CD where I dish out what it takes to drive torrents of targeted leads to ANY business. This is stuff they DON”T teach in school! The “How the Local Business Owner Can Profit From Going Online” Exclusive CD where I unveil online marketing secrets I use to skyrocket my business and leave competitors struggling for leads! All you have to do is pay for shipping and I will rush-ship the DotComSecrets Wealth-Building Portfolio to you. Remember, your membership upgrade is FREE so your monthly membership fee will stay the same!

To Receive Your FREE Membership Upgrade, Go To http://www.dotcomsecrets.com/wealthportfolio.html

10 | February 2009 www.DotComSecrets.com

21 MINUTE TRAFFIC

Reddit Revenue How to Get Others to Spread Your Message Virally on Reddit Quick Facts: Website: Reddit URL: http://www.reddit.com

How Reddit Works: Reddit is a social media site that shows you what’s popular online. You can use it to help drive traffic to not only your own sites, articles and videos, but sites and products that you are promoting as an affiliate as well. Users can search for topics and either vote articles up or down. By supporting an article, it will then appear higher and will naturally get more traffic. As users continue voting on articles and videos, reddit will start showing similar content that it feels they will enjoys. It’s a great tool to let other people know about your website.

Cost: Free Traffic Type: Free Online Traffic Branch: Web 2.0

Helpful Resources: Elance: www.Elance.com Outsource your article or video creation

Turning Traffic Into Cash: People use reddit to drive traffic to various sites. You can increase the amounts of views by voting for the respected article, video, or site. You can write articles, create viral videos, or come up with a product or service that can benefit people. If more people vote you to the top of reddit, then you can drive a lot of traffic. As an affiliate, find products that are new to the market that are hot. Create an article or video, then give your affiliate link for people to go and look at the actual product. If they buy, then you get the commission. Traffic equals money.

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21 MINUTE TRAFFIC

Traffic Checklist

How to Get Others to Spread Your Message Virally on Reddit

Traffic Checklist Step 1: Create a New Account Go to http://www.reddit.com and click on the register button at the top right hand corner. Once you create your account you will notice that your username appears at the top of the screen.

Step 2: Edit Your Preferences You can choose your language, add friends to view reddit with only submissions from your friends, use reddit.com/r/friends. You can change your password and email, or delete your account as well in preferences.

Step 3: Time to Search At the top of the page you can enter keywords in the search field, or click on: hot, new etc.- you can save links and then vote either up or down for a link. You can click comments and read the comments that people have. You can find other links in the comments as well.

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Don’t Forget to Add Reddit to Your Blog!: Since you’re already a member of Reddit, take a few minutes to choose a button to put on your blog posts. This will make it easy for people who come by your blog through other traffic channels to give you more votes on Reddit! Simply go to http://www.reddit.com/buttons/ and grab the html code for the button you like best. Just take a look at the variety of buttons you can choose from (you can even create your own custom button if you feel ambitious)!

Steps 1 and 4 Step 3, cont.

STEP 2:

Filling out the Registration Form

By clicking on the arrows you either add points to the link or take away points. The help link at the top of the page explains everything if you get stuck.

Step 4: Post Your Own Link Click on the post link at the top of the page, then type in the URL of the content site that you want people to visit. Then enter a unique title that will grab people’s attention. You can add a sub redirect if you would like, put in the confirmation letters then click post. It is now added to the reddit list, where people can vote it up and down.

Step 5: Repeat Step 4 Once you’ve seen how easy it is to post one URL on Reddit, submit more URLs. You can post the URL to a blog post you’ve made, a video you’ve put on YouTube or even the Squidoo lens you created from last month’s issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal! Not only will this give users of Reddit the opportunity to vote for your articles, videos and blog posts, it will also give you a valuable, one-way link to each URL you submit.

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21 MINUTE TRAFFIC

Email Marketing How to Reach Thousands of Prospects With Other People’s Lists Quick Facts: How Email Buying Works: Email marketing is a powerful way of delivering a relevant message to your target market. Your goal should be finding websites and blogs that are complimentary to your product or service. Ideally look for web content, products or services that are used right before or immediately after your product or service is consumed. The diet pill and supplement industry is a classic example of this. They do a fantastic job of marketing to consumers of fitness products and services. Why? Because diet pills or supplements are great compliments to the fitness market, that’s why you’ll see banners on the fitness sites. Did you know, in addition to banner ads, many of these sites and blogs also email additional content to their visitors on a regular basis? These emails are often referred to as “newsletters.”

Turning Traffic Into Cash: It only takes a few minutes of researching a niche before you’ll find websites or blogs that have a decent subscriber base “list.” Once you find one or two of these sites they are literally a goldmine! Website owners are constantly looking for new ways to provide additional value to subscribers on their lists. This is where you step in and turn email marketing into cash, even if you don’t have your own email list. Now is the time to take advantage of this relatively inexpensive way to use email marketing.

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Website: Sites and blogs within your niche URL: Varies depending on your research and specific niche Cost: Varies depending on the source Traffic Type: Paid Online Traffic Branch: CPM

Helpful Email Writing Hints: Keep your message short Strike curiosity in the reader - give them a little, then leave them hanging Include a call to action that sells the click Be sure to provide multiple links to your squeeze or sales page

Steps 1 and 2 Traffic Checklist

STEP 2:

Filling out the Registration Form

Step 1: Research Use Google to find websites complimentary to your product or service. For example, if you were in the supplement or diet pill niche you could search for “fitness programs.”

Step 2: Evaluate Evaluate the websites that are displayed, determine whether or not the website is building a list (look for an opt-in box). It’s important to note that not all websites use standard opt-in boxes located above the fold. Be sure to look over the entire homepage to locate anything that may suggest a lead capture or subscriber form. Also, notice that most of these sites and blogs refer to their “list” as newsletter subscribers.

Step 3: Find Contact Information Locate the contact us or advertising links (usually towards the bottom of the page). Just because you don’t see advertising links doesn’t necessarily mean a website is against advertising. Many times these websites are looking for additional ways to make money with their site. Sometimes list owners aren’t aware of this type of marketing and may very well be open to a new opportunity depending on how you position the offer.

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21 MINUTE TRAFFIC Steps 3 and 5 STEP 2:

Filling out the Registration Form Step 4: Contact the Site Owner Contact the website owner via email or submit a form requesting more information about advertising opportunities.

Step 5: Write Your Message Draft and deliver your message. When writing your copy, think of the email as more of a message rather than advertising. Remember, it is important to provide valuable content to the subscriber list. Give them a little and then provide a link in the content/newsletter back to your site for additional information or to order your product.

Step 6: “Squeeze” Your Traffic Send traffic to a squeeze page. Personalize your squeeze page and offer to reflect the site that your visitor is coming from. This will boost overall opt-in rates therefore building your own list at the same time.

Step 7: Repeat Once you have made one email list profitable, start looking for more advertising opportunities. Like any other paid traffic source, it is important to always monitor your ROI so you can stretch your advertising budget as far as possible.

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21 MINUTE TRAFFIC

Gather Guru How “joining the conversation” can create traffic in 21 minutes Quick Facts: Website: Gather URL: http://www.gather.com

How Gather Works: Gather is a large community website where members can post content, create groups, carry on conversations and more. Since it is based on groups, it’s easy to find people who are interested in virtually any topic - so interested, in fact, that they want to talk about it all day long! Any Gather member can create a new group, join public groups or get invitations to join private groups. Gather rewards its members who are involved and creating the most buzz with points that can be redeemed for prizes. That’s just one more reason to get started by creating your own Gather account today!

Cost: Free (plus you can earn rewards!) Traffic Type: Free Online Traffic Branch: Community

Helpful Resources: Elance: www.AgentsOfValue.com Hire a worker to complete this traffic system

Turning Traffic Into Cash: People are constantly asking questions, discussing events or just talking about the topics that interest them on Gather. In each of these scenarios, you can easily find ways to turn your comments into traffic, then into cash. By joining (and creating) groups related to your niche, you can become Gather’s “go-to” person for your industry. This is powerful when you combine it with useful comments that provide people with the information they are looking for. The more you build your reputation on Gather, the more people will listen to you.

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21 MINUTE TRAFFIC

Traffic Checklist

How “joining the conversation” can create traffic in 21 minutes

Traffic Checklist Step 1: Create an Account Go to http://www.gather.com and click the “Get Started” button. Fill out the short form on the following page and verify your email. Be sure to choose a username that is relevant to your niche.

Step 2: Fill Out Your Profile Take a few minutes to complete your profile. This may not seem like an important step, but when other Gather members look for people to invite to their groups, they’ll be looking at the information you’ve spotlighted. And they’ll be able to click a link to view your profile every time you leave a comment. You can choose to include your website in the “About Me” section.

Step 3: Search for Groups Click on the “Groups” tab to start searching for people who are interested in your niche. You can see a sampling of the 395 groups that came up when I searched for “photography!” It’s like finding a goldmine of forums in one spot!

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Creating a Stir on Gather: Of course it depends on the groups you join, but there is one basic concept that applies broadly to Gather members - they are there to find great content on the topics that interest them most. While making comments on other people’s posts can generate traffic, the best way to create a buzz is by starting your own conversation and getting other people to comment. Here are some ground rules: Do: Include links to your websites wherever they are appropriate and add value to your posts. Do: Provide information that people would be willing to pay for. Once they see how great your posts are, they won’t be able to resists seeing what else you have on your website. Don’t: Try to to sell your product directly. Remember, your goal is to get traffic to your squeeze or sales page where they’ll be able to see what you have to offer. Don’t: Be afraid to be controversial and get people debating. The best part is, the traffic you receive from Gather will start to increase naturally as people start recognizing and following you!

Steps 1 and 3 Step 4: Join Groups Once you’ve found some public groups that interest you, click the “Join This Group” button and you can immediately access their content.

Step 5: Start Posting Make posts and comments in your groups, always remembering to provide valuable information (see “Creating a Stir on Gather” on page 18 for ideas on what you should post). Look specifically for people asking for product recommendations but feel free to post on anything and everything that interests you and has the potential to get you more traffic!

Step 6: Create Your Own Group Start your own group and build a following. You can invite other members or allow people to join on their own. Consistently make new posts while your membership is still small so people will keep coming back and tell their friends.

Step 7: Be Consistent Once you’ve gotten your first barrage of traffic, continue posting and building your reputation. The more quality posts you make, the more your effort will build on itself. And don’t forget, getting traffic from Gather can easily be outsourced!

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Lined Up Success with people who will push you towards

I

’m a sports fan, and as such, I believe there are some great lessons we can learn from the world where athletes and teams control their destinies. So, if you don’t consider yourself a sports fan, or if you don’t follow sports at all, please forgive me while I indulge in a small story that came out of professional baseball last year.

Solid Hitting Advice Back in June of 2008, I remember reading an article about Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees baseball club. For anyone who is not familiar with professional baseball, let me just explain that Alex Rodriguez (also known as A-Rod) is currently the highest paid player in the sport and is generally regarded as one of its most talented players. In the article, sports writer Tom Friend explains how Alex Rodriguez sought out the game’s all-time hit leader (and infamous gambling castaway), Pete Rose for hitting advice. The

©iStockphoto.com/Zsolt Nyulaszi

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story goes on to explain how, over the course of a couple of years, Pete Rose was able to nudge A-Rod’s game and help him produce one of the best single offensive seasons of his professional career. What I find interesting about this story is that A-Rod was well into an already illustrious career before he was able to contact and convince Pete Rose to give him pointers on his swing. Prior to that time, Alex had

I believe Alex realized two things early on that set him apart from his peers and many of us. First, we always

have something more to learn always. Second, it is difficult to teach yourself something you don’t know. gone through a myriad of different hitting coaches from his early childhood to high school and on to the major leagues. All of his coaches gave shape to the talent that we now know as “A-Rod.” However, none of them were the “ultimate” hitting coach for Mr. Rodriguez. Instead, they were stepping stones that helped him along the way. Granted, for many of us sports fans, just making it to the big leagues would have been sufficient. But I believe Alex realized two things early on that set him apart from his peers and many of us. First, we always have

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something more to learn - always. Second, it is difficult to teach yourself something you don’t know. Knowing this, Alex has constantly set out to find others who can and will teach him how to get better.

Now, most of us can barely relate to Alex Rodriguez’s sports career. I realize that. However, if you remove the sports aspect from this, the fundamentals remain true. In order to be truly successful, we all have to

©iStockphoto.com/Zsolt Nyulaszi

rely on other people to coach, mentor, help and support us in our aspirations. When it comes to starting an online business, it is at least difficult and time consuming to get things off the ground on your own, not to mention the uncertainty involved with not hearing any feedback during the process. Many of these fears and concerns can be alleviated, as well as timelines shortened, by involving others in your business. However, it is critical to find the right people to bring in, because you know what they say about rotten apples…

did. Fortunately for us, Russell has set up a coaching program and has trained a few elite coaches to teach his system of making money on the internet. I’ve had the good fortune of working directly with these guys for the past nine months and I can assure you they know what they are talking about. Their coaching sessions are customized to the student’s specific needs and are aimed at getting each of their businesses up and running. At the risk of sounding like a pitch for our coaching program, let me just say that they are worth every penny you might pay to participate with them.

Coaches and Mentors So, who are some of the people you can turn to in getting your online business up and running? To begin, I might recommend finding a good mentor or coach. Ideally, we would be able to sit at Russell Brunson’s feet and have him take us by the hand as we get our businesses up and running. Unfortunately, there is only one Russell Brunson and he is extremely business running his own business. I might argue that Russell is sort of like the Pete Rose of the Internet Marketing world, but without that whole gambling scandal. He is the guy we would all like to have guiding our businesses. But before we can get to the point where we are truly coachable by the “master” himself, we’ve all got to go through the “stepping stones” of other coaches and mentors just as Alex Rodriguez

Employees and Outsourced Workers Aside from coaches, who else can you get to help you with your business? Well, the obvious answer is to hire some employees. Of course, this can be an expensive proposition, especially if you are just starting out and don’t have a consistent cash flow going just yet. And this can become a distraction if you are not particularly skilled at hiring or contracting benefits. Not to mention all the particulars of payroll involved with employees, including insurance, social security taxes, 401k’s and more. However, if you can afford it, having employees can be a real benefit because you have someone who is dedicated to your business. Another alternative to hiring employees directly is to outsource your work to freelancers. If you’ve been

involved with DotCom Secrets for any length of time, you’ve already heard this. The benefits of hiring freelancers for your projects are abundant, including only paying for work on your project and not having to worry about payroll, taxes, insurance, or any other benefits. Some of the drawbacks include a limited ability to communicate (often freelancers are not located in the same part of the world and are awake at different hours than you), the risk of revealing upcoming projects to your competitors (by posting them on public sites such as Craigslist or Scriptlance), and the lack of full commitment on your projects because their “skin isn’t in the game.” Understanding this should help you find the right mix of outsourcing and direct employees to help you run your business.

Family and Friends Beyond coaches, mentors, and employees, there are a few other people you contact that will have an impact on your business, for better or worse. One of the tougher crowds you will ever encounter is your immediate and extended family. I think it is fair to say that we all have someone close to us who just doesn’t understand the whole internet marketing phenomena. It could be a parent, spouse, child, or other distant relative. Regardless, they are the ones you will spend more time defending your business to than anyone else. This is a challenge that could consume another series of articles completely.

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My simple recommendation is to encourage their support of your business and services because there is nothing better than having the support of your loved ones. I realize this is much easier said than done, but since all I can do is

To learn more on how you can get

involvedintheDotComSecrets Coaching or Mastermind programs call 1.208.343.0995. “say” right now. One of the easiest ways to win over your family is to take the time to show them the nuts and bolts of your business. Most people tend to be skeptical of new business concepts and ideas, leading to disapproval. But once they know and understand your business, their attitudes generally reverse to glowing approval and encouragement.

Successful Peers The last group of people who will impact the success of your business (beyond your customers, that is), is your group of peers. In order to be successful, one should surround him or herself with other successful people. If it sometimes feels like the successful internet marketers are all part of this secret “club,” it’s probably because they all talk about each other

as though they are best friends. The reason behind this is that most of them meet each other and communicate about their business in various Mastermind Sessions. The first thing to point out here is that they generally pay a significant sum of money for the privilege of participating in the Mastermind Group (the current rate for participation in a Kennedy-Glazier Mastermind group is $30,000 per year). This cost is easily justified by the business improvement ideas that are generated by bringing so many successful people together. Of course, you will likely be invited to participate in such Mastermind Groups after you reach a certain level of success. But what can you do to surround yourself with successful people prior to reaching the success of your dreams? Let me give you a few suggestions:

other big names in the industry. They want to share their message with as many people as will listen, so join in.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a great place to start “networking” with the successful people you admire. I know that Russell Brunson is constantly updating his Twitter profile, and so are almost all of the

After all I’ve said, let me just close with this small reminder. Success is a mindset more than anything. If you will simply refuse to accept failure in your business, you will ultimately find the winning formula that takes you further than you ever imagined. DCS

Group coaching sessions are a great way to not only get involved with your favorite internet marketing “guru” but to meet others who are in the same place as you with their business. If you can get into the right group, your peers will lift you as you lift them and all will succeed together. Live Seminars are a phenomenal opportunity to get great information from a variety of knowledgeable people. Additionally, they present a unique opportunity to meet them face to face and begin networking with them. Contacts made at seminars can become valuable confidants and boost your business toward success.

- By Michael Loveridge, Director of DotCom Secrets Partnerships Have a question or comment? Let us know what you think about this article by sending an e-mail to [email protected] and you may be featured in an upcoming issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal.

24 | February 2009 www.DotComSecrets.com

How one DotCom Secrets student discovered a 30-day formula for personal wealth and is using the internet to spread his message across the United States. Left: Alex Navas enjoying some father-son time reading. He started marketing online so he could spend more time with his family.

W Name: Alex Navas Niche: Credit Repair Website: www.CreditScoringSecretsRevealed.com Other Websites He Owns: MortgageMarketingInsiders.com, BloggingProfitSecretsExposed.com, and MarketerInTraining.com is in the works! DCS Member Level: Protege Motto: With God, all things are possible! Favorite Web Tool: Wordpress

hen Alex Navas started on the road to entrepreneurship, 16 hour work days weren’t what he had in mind. And while the $50 million in mortgages he generated through his two mortgage companies meant he was able to make a great income, he says the sacrifice of his time with his wife, son and church was too high a price. That’s when he decided to make a big change and focus his marketing efforts on the internet. It’s his example that shows that it’s not just about finding an opportunity where you can make a lot of money - but about finding a system that allows you to live the kind of life you’ve always wanted. Alex has already grabbed a chunk of online real estate (www. CreditScoringSecretsRevealed.com) and is using it to help others become financially free by repairing their credit scores. We checked up on Alex to see if he’s sticking to shorter work days and find out his secrets to success!

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Q: Credit repair is a huge need right now especially, but you’ve been in the industry for years. How did you get started teaching people how to improve their credit scores?: A: I’ve been in the mortgage business since 2001. When I

began my mortgage career, I trusted that all my instructors and owners of mortgage companies that I worked for knew what they were teaching me about mortgages and credit. But then something outrageous happened to my friends, who happened to also be my clients in this situation. The credit advice that I gave them, which I had been taught by “experts,” actually brought their credit scores down by about 80 points and cost them the opportunity to buy their first home! Ever since then, I have been studying the truth about credit and credit scores, and how powerful the right information is for the bearer of the information. It can literally put millions of dollars in a person’s hands without much collateral. I’ve been teaching the right credit repair strategies since about 2003.

Q: Of the thousands of clients you’ve helped restore good credit to, is there one success story that sticks out in your mind? A: Absolutely. There have been many memorable families

that have success stories, but one in particular remains on my mind all the time. They were a recently married couple who were looking to settle into their first home. Though the husband, Neto, was the only one working, his income was sufficient to qualify for the home. The problem was that he had credit issues several years back and ultimately closed all of his accounts. The only thing that was on his credit was an old collection with a small balance. In fact, his credit report didn’t even have scores since there had been no recent activity on his credit. On the other hand, his wife Lillian had stellar credit. She had a 759 score and was rock solid. Her only problem was that she didn’t work nor bring in any income. They mentioned to me that they had already visited other banks, but nothing was working out for them. That’s

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Above: Alex Navas (right), his wife (left) and son (center) on a trip to Universal Studios in Florida. Traveling the world with his family is part of Alex’s vision board.

Right: A mission trip to Burkina Faso, Africa to help churches and an orphanage.

On Alex’s Vision Board: The motivators that make building a successful online business that much more worth it!:

Giving my family an amazing lifestyle and the time to enjoy it with them Visiting three new countries a year with my family Above: Alex (right) and his wife (left) on a family vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Being known as someone who meets people’s needs Offering my time and wisdom to my church Teaching people how to leave a prosperous spiritual, relational, intellectual, and financial legacy Having my toys like a custom built home in Chicago, a Nissan Skyline, a boat to cruise on Lake Michigan, and a high end RV to take road trips with my friends and family (with internet connection of course)!

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when my knowledge of credit kicked into high gear. I let them know that it would take about 45 days, but they would indeed get into their new home. It took some creativity, but we managed to borrow her good credit and easily establish two new lines of credit under his own credit profile, thus giving him a 676 credit score in under 30 days. That was more than enough to get Nito and Lillian into their first home. They were in absolute awe, and I was grateful that they didn’t give up like all the other banks did to them!

Q: How did you finally discover the five credit myths that you now teach your clients?: A: It all comes back to trial and error. My friends’ bad

home purchase experience was the just the tip of the iceberg. It turns out that tens of thousands of people have sought help from money managers and financial counselors only to find that their credit scores had fallen from bad advice as well. I began to dive deep into what drives credit scores, reading everything I could get my hands on, attending training whenever available, and spending hours upon hours on the phone with credit resources that I used daily to conduct my mortgage practices. I came to the conclusion that credit affected much more than just mortgages, but also possible job placements, insurance rates, interest payments, available business credit. So I began teaching these principles knowing that it would dramatically transform a person’s finances.

Q: What made you decide to transition from building two successful mortgage businesses offline, to finding customers who need help repairing their credit online?: A: I love people, business, and finances. The mortgage

companies were great in all these areas. However, there was a hefty price to pay for creating success in them. Success in those businesses came at the sacrifice of my wife, my son,

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my church and my time. I became a slave of them working from 7 AM to 11 PM many days. After doing that for so long, I came to the realization that I am working so hard to provide my family with a great lifestyle without me in it! Something wasn’t adding up. And then I started learning about the power of the internet to multiply my efforts one hundred fold. I was able to create a resource where people can learn from my knowledge and experience without having me personally there. That’s the power of the internet. All the while, I am able to make money helping people even as I sleep. Working online is also the absolute best way to break down boundaries and distance barriers between me and my clients. I can help people from all around the world, not just the Chicago land area.

Q: What parts of your website have you outsourced and do you have any advice for other business owners who have too much to do and not enough time?: A: The reality is that the only part that I’ve outsourced at

this point has been the graphics for the site. Knowing what I now know through the Protégé program, I would have done far less. The thing is, since this was my first website for profit, I made the harsh decision to do everything myself. I figured I would need to do a run through at least once to understand the DotCom Secrets way and be better equipped to outsource on future projects. It was a great experience learning everything from scratch, but it did take longer than I expected. The best advice that I can give business owners is to start with a simple system first and take that a step at a time. What I mean is that entrepreneurs typically look at the big picture and often become overwhelmed with all the parts of the puzzle. Well, what if your only task was to write your ebook or record your video. You would finish that much sooner and be ready to move on to the next piece without the interruption of having to get back to your product creation. So, take one step at a time, and add more and improve over time.

Q: What recommendations do you have for other possibilities at once and ended up with a whole lot of halfentrepreneurs who want to learn how to write done would-be goldmines. The best way to approach business, especially an online effective copy?: business considering how inexpensive it is to get started, is A: Just go for it. The truth is that I didn’t have any online marketing experience before putting my Credit Scoring Secrets Revealed ebook and site together. However, I know how to write letters to friends. That’s really all the experience you need since you are writing it for just one person who you want to relate to like a friend. However, its important to follow a general formula as to what components are included in your sales copy. Here are some of the most important components (forgive me if I miss any); headline, intro to the problem, your story, your solution, bullet points of benefits (remember, what’s in it for them), testimonials, the offer, added value bonuses, guarantee, strong close with powerful call to action (BUY NOW!) and scarcity, and a P.S. which restated the value, guarantee, bonuses, and/or scarcity. Also, look at other good sales letters and ask yourself, “Does this convince me to buy?” If so, model after it.

to focus on one product or project at a time and to bring it through to completion. In business terms, the completion point is when the business is making you profits! Once you hit that point, that’s a good time to automate it and move on to the next big thing.

Q: If you could share the one principle you’ve learned at DotCom Secrets that’s made the biggest impact on your online business, what would it be?: A: That’s hard to narrow down to one thing. However, I

think that the most important principle I’ve learned has been to be consistent with taking action. When I stop, so does my income. When I am consistent, so is my income. Consistency is important for a thriving business. If you think that you’re going to be inconsistent one week, plan out your inconsistency and do things ahead of time. That way, it still gets done.

Q: What achievement in building your website are you most proud of so far?: A: My biggest achievement was the realization that anyone Q: Can you give us a hint at what’s coming up next for can really make money on the internet. Before my first sale, CreditScoringSecretsRevealed.com?: I found that it’s much easier to spend money in internet A: I’m definitely going to expand my product offerings. marketing and online businesses than it was to make it. In fact, I didn’t really believe it was possible. But when I made my first sale, I was like, “Wow, people do spend money on books they’ll never get in the mail!”

Q: What’s been the biggest hurdle you’ve had to get over in building your business and what has motivated you to push through it?: A: My biggest hurdle in creating an online business has

been to pull back my own reigns. Since I love business, the internet opened up a whole new medium for me to create endless possibilities. However, I wanted to conquer all the

For a while, I thought I overdid the offer compared to my competitors that I didn’t know what to offer as a backend. So, I’m going to change the offer completely to give away a free DVD with a trial to my membership, and have several other offers including the course that I currently sell now, as well as insider secrets audio program, and a home study course on finances and credit. I also want to provide tons of valuable content for free to help people who really need it now. Finally, I plan to release some funny viral videos on what the limitations of a bad credit score are… It’ll be fun! DCS Find more success stories at http://members.dotcomsecrets.com.

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©iStockphoto.com

Whether you’re creating an ebook, video, audio or a combination of these, putting the content together can be one of the biggest hurdles. When you’re trying to provide valuable content to your customers, it makes sense that it “just takes time.” That doesn’t mean you have to spend weeks, or even days trying to write your own ebook or record a video. Here are some ideas that will help you get a jumpstart on your content creation. In fact, most of them can be done in less than an hour – turning one of the most time consuming tasks in the product development process into one of the fastest.

Text Products There’s more than one way to write a book, and thankfully many of them don’t have to include you sitting behind a computer hammering out 100 pages of text. Here are some other quick and easy ideas: Write an outline and send it off to a ghostwriter. You can expect to pay between $300 to $500 for a well written 75 to 100 page ebook. This expense can be daunting, so if it’s not in your budget, read on.

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Buy private label rights (PLR) products and reskin them. PLR products are easy to find and are generally much less expensive than having original content created. You can get PLR products to resell for around $30 to $50. Many people shy away from PLR products because they think they can’t find quality content that will sell. The fact is, there are many well-written PLR ebooks available that the owner simply didn’t know how to market properly. If you can find a unique hook to sell a PLR ebook – do it! Find some success stories. People love to hear stories and hearing first-hand experiences is one of the best ways to learn a new concept. Ask five to ten people who have used your products or are just interested in your niche to share personal anecdotes about the subject.

Audio Products Audio products are one of the fastest ways to create content. You don’t have to have any fancy power point slides or pages and pages of text. All

you need is some talking. But that doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking yourself. Here are some ideas: Record an interview. I’ve recorded several interviews with our students and it’s hands down the easiest way to create content. Just write a list of questions (be sure to let your guru review it first) then start recording. Start a Group Discussion. If you have a group of friends who know something about your niche, gather them all together for an expert panel discussion. Your customers will appreciate the variety of ideas that they’ll get by learning from several people at once.

Video Products Like text, creating videos can quickly eat up your time. Here are some less time-intensive options to help you create great videos: Use Jing to record a series of short tutorials. Jing is a free program created by the same company that made Camtasia. It records your computer screen and your voice in five minute segments. What makes it especially quick is that it provides a link with your embedded video. You can use Jing to create software tutorials, a series of short how-to videos or you teaching a concept to power point slides. You can get Jing by going to www.JingProject.com. Record an interview. This is just like recording an audio interview but with the added element of your computer screen. Just get a webinar service like GoToWebinar.com and start recording. Don’t get stuck on content creation just because

you don’t have the time or budget to spend on making a traditional ebook, audio or video. I just listed a few ideas here but there are dozens of ways you can get your hands on quality content and do it fast. If you think creatively, you’ll be able to create a unique product that your customers won’t be able to find anywhere else. And at the end of the day, it’s all about the value you provide to them.

Use it Again Before closing, I want to talk about one more concept that will make creating products much easier. It’s something Russell talks about all the time, but I can’t ignore mentioning it again in an article about fast content creation. We teach our students to work once and profit from it over and over again as much as possible. Product creation is not exempt from that. Once you have used any one or more of the ideas in this article to create content, don’t get sucked into thinking you have to do the whole process over and over again every time you want to release a new product. If it makes sense to reuse your content then don’t hesitate to do it. This can be as simple as repackaging the content in another medium (like taking an audio and creating transcripts) or mixing some old content with something new that you’ve created. Have fun creating your content and enriching others’ lives while you do it! DCS

- By Brittanie Byron, Editor Have a question or comment? Let us know what you think about this article by sending an e-mail to editor@ dotcomsecrets.com and you may be featured in an upcoming issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal.

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picture on page 33) gives you more space for graphics and ads and will also dramatically reduce your postage costs because it mails flat. Contact Nik Rodgers at Idea Media for great bulk pricing on aspen mailers and other DVD packages (1.866.326.3416 ext. 102).

Your chance to sit down with Russell Brunson and his team of experts at DotCom Secrets!

Q: On a Budget I have footage for a DVD and want to create a physical version that I can sell to my customers but I don’t want to ship them out myself. What’s the best option for packaging and shipping DVDs on a low budget?

A: Lucky for us, the DVD replication industry is extremely

competitive so there are several cost effective options, even if your budget is scarce. Here are my favorites: On Demand DVDs: Kunaki.com creates retail-ready DVDs and CDs at any quantity for one flat price $1.75. This price includes the disc, case, printed wrap, printed insert, assembly and shrink wrap! The best part is, you don’t have to fork out any upfront costs. You can enter your customers’ addresses on Kunaki’s website as you receive orders and they will ship them for you the next business day. And whether you order one at a time or 500, the cost is always $1.75! Bulk DVDs: If you are ready to order higher quantities (1,000 or more), then you can cut costs even more by ordering bulk. You can order retail packaged DVDs at a discount or you can explore other cost-saving packaging options. For example, an aspen mailer (see

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Of course there are dozens of options so be creative and have fun creating products! Answered by Brittanie Byron, Editor for the DotCom Secrets Journal

Q: Pre-Launch Site Test I finally finished creating my website, but I want to make sure everything works correctly before I launch. How do I make sure there are no bugs?

A: Websites are not easily validated. I have been creating

websites for 12 years and still at times I will have users complain that something isn’t working right. The first thing to keep in mind is that you should always check the site first and foremost in the browser that is used by the majority of your users. Based on stats over the past few years it will usually be the current version of Internet Explorer (IE), although Firefox is coming up fast on changing that. Here is a list of browsers that you should always check your site in: IE 7.x, FF 2.x, 3.x, Safari 3.x, and Chrome 1.x. Although Safari and Chrome are nowhere near as common as the others they are always good to at least make sure that they work. For the most part you shouldn’t have a generic site that won’t function correctly across all of them, but it isn’t common to see formatting issues between them. There are two more things that you should always remember with websites. First, always make sure that it works for each user level. I can’t tell you how many times I check a site using the admin user and it all looks just fine, only to find out then when I log in as a standard user that it is failing all over the place. And second, have a validate page. This is a page that isn’t part of the main site that will run through any of the system

checks on the site to make sure everything is working like it should be. For instance this page will connect to the database of the site, pull a couple images into it, and overall make sure that server side code is working. These pages usually only take

A: The most important factor of conversion is your offer. If you have an offer nobody wants, then even the best copy will not be able to sell the offer. However, if you have a great offer, then even mediocre copy can lead to higher conversions. That’s the first thing you should tinker around with. The second thing you might need to change is your headline. If you’re not getting people’s attention with your headline, then you need to devote more time to writing a good headline than writing the actual body copy. I usually write out 25 headlines before I come across a couple I want to use. I cannot emphasize this enough: the headline is the MOST important part of your copy and if it doesn’t reach out and

Aspen mailers like this are a great costsaving alternative to retail packaged DVDs. You can save up to 75 percent on postage costs alone!

a few minutes to create and can even be password protected. The main key with these types of pages is that you can in one fell swoop make sure that everything for a site is working correctly without having to run through the entire site. Answered by Stacy Haven, CTO

grab your prospect, then the body copy will not get read and you won’t get the sale. Also, if you are not testing at least two headlines with your copy, then you’re leaving money on the table. The best part is it’s FREE to test - you can do it with Google Optimizer (www.Google.com/ websiteoptimizer). Answered by Kevin Hill, Copywriter - Expert Access, the DotCom Secrets Team

Q: Bad Copy? I launched my website and I am not getting any conversions. Is there anything I can change in my copy to get more sales or should I just move on to another project?

This is your chance to access the experts at DotCom Secrets with your internet marketing questions. Just send an e-mail to editor@ dotcomsecrets.com and it may be answered in an upcoming issue.

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©iStockphoto.com/John Kounadeas

I

n this article, I am going to explicate the 12month internet millionaire sales letter and what made it work. This letter was responsible for over $1 million of sales about a year ago and still brings in plenty of sales today. I hope you read this article and get good ideas for your own sales materials. Please refer to the original letter at http:// www.12monthinternetmillionaire.com/welcome. html so you can follow along. Ready to go? Let’s get started!

Headline and Vince’s Email To Russell I will admit - I didn’t create the headline. Since Vince James sold us resale rights to his 12 Month Millionaire book, we also had rights to the sales letter. We decided to use Vince’s headline because it was extremely unique and a huge curiosity builder. People reading that headline in our target market automatically want to know how he did it - and thus keep reading. One more word about having a unique headline. If you read headlines for other “make money” products, they are similar to the following, “How I Made $343,343 A Day Sitting On My Couch, etc.” This format has been beaten to death in this ultra-competitive niche. Fortunately, there aren’t any sales letters that talk about a convicted felon; therefore, one of the reasons this sales letter did well is because it had a unique story or “hook” to it. This is probably the most important aspect of a great sales letter because if you have a unique “angle” the copy literally writes itself. Russell decided to put in the Johnson box containing the email he got from Vince. Johnson boxes

are simply colored boxes inserted in the copy to call attention to certain text and graphics. We like putting in Johnson boxes because they catch the attention of “scanners” or people who will read the headline, scroll down, read the bullets and then check out the order page at the bottom to find out the price.

The Opening Of The Letter To The Exerpt of the “12-Month Millionaire” Book One of the hallmarks of a great sales letter is an eye-popping introduction. The introduction for the 12 Month Interent Millionaire is an adaptation from a John Carlton sales letter targeting investors: Would you take wealth-building advice from a convicted felon?  Sounds like a silly question, doesn’t it?

Well, don’t make up your mind too quickly because I’ve got a story to tell you that sounds like something out of “The Godfather.” Since the tone of the letter is controversial (a la the “convicted felon” reference in the headline) I decided to keep the tone “edgy” by having another “felon” reference and a reference to the movie “The Godfather.” The letter then gets right to the point by telling people what’s in it for them - and what they’re going to discover when they read on. The following paragraphs are another great

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element of this sales letter:

letter is an actual exerpt from the “12 Month Millionaire” book. It helped Now I’m sure your skeptical.  You’re to break up the text and gives people probably wondering if what I’m going to a “sample” of what Vince James is show you is going to get you in trouble like if the prospect isn’t familiar with him. You can do the same thing by offering To view the sales letter featured a free chapter or a small sample of your in this article product. Remember, people cannot touch or hold your product like they with the Mafia. Relax, I understand your can in a store, so everything you can skepticism...and, rest assured, what I’m do to describe your product better going to reveal to you is 100% LEGAL. would be great. So if you suspend your skepticism and read every single word of this message, I’ll show you how I was able to use Gary Halbert’s Testimonial – Major this ex-con’s secrets to LEGALLY earn Social Proof! an extra $2,236,667 (that’s  OVER 2 Another great element of this million dollars!) last year--even though sales letter is a testimonial from the I had NO prior business experience, NO late marketing great Gary Halbert. talent, and NO special education! The testimonial wasn’t praising the 12 Month Internet Millionaire, but was One of the things I like to put praising the 12 Month Millionaire in my letters is a paragraph that book - what most of the product was empathizes with the prospect’s based on. skepticism. You need to remember Most people in marketing circles that people don’t want to believe recognize Gary Halbert (and know he you when they read your letter. didn’t give testimonials out very often They’re looking for an “out” so they unless he believed in the product); can go about their lives. When you therefore, his celebrity rubbed off on tell them, “Hey, I understand you’re the relatively unknown Vincent James. skeptical...” you’re speaking their Any kind of testimonial or celebrity language. Because, in reality, they endorsement can work wonders for ARE skeptical, and you’ll literally your conversion rate. read their minds. Thus, they’ll bond with you. Another important aspect of the Screenshots of Russell’s Earnings

go to http:// www.12MonthInternetMillionaire. com/Welcome.html.

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One of the things that really ruins a sales letter is lack of proof. You can say the right things, but if you don’t present your prospect with proof that you know what you’re talking about, then you won’t make the sale. We made sure we inserted a screenshot of Russell’s earning as he DOES make a lot of money online thanks to Vince James’ secrets. Now some people might say, “Hey, it’s easy to Photoshop these things!” And, unfortunately, there are some

©iStockphoto.com/John Kounadeas

unscrupulous marketers who do that. But for the minority who’ll question the proof, the majority of people who will see your sales letter will take the proof at face value and factor it in favorably when it comes to making a buying decision.

LOTS and lots of bullets! It’s one thing to write a sales letter that has a great headline and story. It’s another thing to include teaser tidbits that tease the reader - to the point they have to buy the product so they can find out these secrets. These are called “bullets,” and I made sure I had a couple pages full of them in the sales letter. Some of these were Vince’s bullets, but most of them are mine. I listened to the entire six-hour interview to get interesting factoids my target audience would be interested to discover. Then I had to convert every factoid into a “teaser bullet” that would literally gnaw at the prospect’s conscience and increase their chances of buying. This is an excellent use of the Zeigarnick effect. It was named after a Russian therapist (Bluma Ziegarnick) who found people remembered

incomplete or interrupted tasks more than completed tasks. People also had an innate desire to complete interrupted tasks - if they didn’t, then there would be an unshakable “mental tension” until they discovered the solution. It’s similar to a cliffhanger at the end of a TV show. We have to know what happened so we tune in the next week! One more thing: It is important to have as many bullets as possible in your sales letter. You never know what tidbit is going to push your prospect over the edge and get him or her to buy!

Exclusive Bonuses And A Strong Call-To Action One of the hallmarks of a great sales letter includes great bonuses that add to the value of the product. The 12 Month Internet Millionaire has a couple great bonuses that add value. It is always important to add a value to your bonuses so your prospects can “tally it up” in their heads the great value they’re getting. Further, the letter has a great call to action. I like to put at least four to five call to actions in a letter that tells people specifically what to do in

a letter. Now these don’t have to be commands that are whole sentences. They can be “embedded commands” in the middle of a sentence. Here is an example from the letter: Now that I’ve shown you that “The 12 Month Internet Millionaire” can give you the same marketing ammunition that allowed Vince James to earn enough riches to live the good life (and make me one of the internet marketing elite) - it’s time for you to take action.  In the exerpt above, “take action” is the embedded command that points people toward buying the product. It’s a little more subtle than coming out and saying, “Order Right NOW!” (although I do have several obvious commands in the letter). If you go through the letter, you’ll notice several calls to actions such as “order today”, “order now” take action” etc—either by themselves or embedded in sentences. I don’t want to leave any question in my prospect’s mind what I want them to do! In conclusion, these are several highlights of our million dollar “12 Month Internet Millionaire” sales letter. Feel free to “steal these secrets” for your own promotions. DCS

- By Kevin Hill, Copywriter for DotComSecrets.com Have a question or comment? Let us know what you think about this article by sending an e-mail to [email protected] and you may be featured in an upcoming issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal.

Insider Journal | 37

“Here’s Your Chance To Get 50% Off Our Best-Selling Products So We Can Clear Extra Room For MORE Cash-Siphoning Wealth-Building Materials!” Russell here. And I want to give you a rare chance to take home several of my best-selling products for a FRACTION of what everyone else paid. In an effort to make room in our crowded storage room, I am slashing the price of some of our most potent moneymaking products so we can make room for our latest courses! Here’s what we’re offering this month:

The $100,000 Challenge Manual (hurry, only 14 left!): This is where I lay out the DotCom Secrets system in a connect-the-dots, 21 day plan! In addition to the $100,000 Challenge book and a copy of the first issue of the DotCom Secrets Journal, you’ll also get these four bonus discs: The Virtual Real Estate Seminar DVD: A recording of an underground workshop where Russell reveals how he turned a simple idea into a million dollar business. $2739.73 a Day Audio Training: A CD containing 24 hours of the best audio interviews about marketing you’ll ever find! A CD containing electronic copies of “Software Secrets Exposed” and “30 Days to Online Profits.” A CD with resale rights to 10 of Russell’s best-selling self-improvement products. Original Price: $97 Today’s Price: $47 + $15 shipping and handling to the US and Canada or $30 International

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Get 50% Off Our Best-Selling Courses By Sending a PayPal payment to: [email protected]

Affiliate Marketing Essentials

Affiliate Manager Brent Coppieter’s Toolkit for Finding Top Affiliates Affiliate Marketing Essentials: Free Affiliate Marketing Favorites: Google.com: It’s simple, but a good ‘ol Google search is a great place to start to find potential affiliates. DomainTools.com: WhoIs domain search so you can find contact info for affiliates. Alexa Toolbar: View how much traffic other websites are receiving.

ClickBank.com: Post your product and find great affiliates. Archive.org: The WayBack Machine on this site archives snapshots of web pages and lets you view them!

Worth Paying For: Affiliate Elite: You can steal a list of all of your competitor’s affiliates!

To grab a copy of any of the products or services you see featured in this section, go to: www.DotComSecretsRecommends.com

DotCom Secrets Recommends: (www.DotComSecretsRecommends.com) Website Essentials: Web Hosting: Blackwire Hosting Domain Registration: Blackwire Hosting E-mail Autoresponder: Aweber Merchant Accounts: ClickBank PayPal

HTML Editing Software: Adobe Dreamweaver Kompozer Blog: Wordpress

Outsourcing: Guru.com Elance.com Odesk.com Scriptlance.com

Favorite Freebies: Search Engine Marketing: Market Leap Keyword Difficulty Checker HTML Editor: Kompozer Keyword Research: Wordtracker Internet Marketing Forum: Conquer Your Niche

Insider Journal | 39

Action Checklist

How to Start Cashing in on the Content in This Issue Action Checklist: Build Your Traffic Powerhouse by Finding Affiliates (page 4): Research potential affiliates in your niche and make a list of 25 people you want on your affiliate “dream team.” Recruit affiliates from this list by contacting them. Use one of the methods given on page 8 to contact them. Train your “B” level affiliates by setting up a weekly webinar or teleseminar. Send an email to all your current affiliates.

Fast Traffic: Follow the Reddit Revenue checklist on page 11. Follow the Gather Guru checklist on page 17.

Follow the Email Marketing checklist on page 14.

Become Your Own Copy Critic (page 34): Increase your sales conversions by writing a new sales letter or reviewing one you already have with the following questions in mind: Does your headline have a hook or a unique angle? Does it stand out from other headlines in your niche? Is your opening controversial and do you have a paragraph that empathises with the reader’s skepticism? Have you built any social proof through testimonials and do you have proof to back up your claims? Do you have at least seven to ten bullets that point out the benefits (not to be confused with features) of your product? Do you have a call to action that clearly tells your reader what you want them to do?

Line Yourself Up With the People Who Will Push for Your Success (page 21): While you have probably already built many strong relationships, ask yourself the following questions: Mentors and Coaches. What areas do I need more knowledge in to improve my business and where can I learn it? Do my employees or outsourced workers have clear goals and the tools they need to achieve them? Do they have the desire to see the projects they work on and the company as a whole succeed? Do I spend time in forums or at marketing events to meet other entrepreneurs in my industry? Have my family and friends had a chance to see my website and do they know what projects I am currently working on? Once you’ve answered these questions, choose one or two relationships you’d like to improve by using the tips on page 21.

40 | February 2009 www.DotComSecrets.com

“Are You Overwhelmed With The Content In This Newsletter?” Then you haven’t seen ANYTHING yet! If you haven’t already, then be sure to login to the DotCom Secrets Membership Site for even MORE of my closely-guarded marketing secrets! Inside you’ll discover:

• Over 100 past articles from every one of my marketing experts. I used to have all of my employees sign a confidentiality agreement with fines of over $100,000 if they dared to reveal our trade secrets to ANYONE! But after months of begging, I decided to let them reveal their secrets in this membership site! • Exclusive Video Website Copy Critiques. Our copywriter Kevin Hill critiques member’s squeeze pages and sales letters so you can learn how to create a gripping sales presentation. This copywriting clinic will shave years off your learning curve if you’re just getting started. • Access To The Patent-Pending DotComSecrets “Desktop Mentor” Software. You’ll get 27 videos sent to you every day from Russell himself showing you step-by-step how to make money online. This software normally sells for $97 but you get access to it for FREE as a DotComSecrets Member! So if you haven’t checked out the membership site lately, then login today. We are always adding new content every month that’ll take your online marketing to the next level!

To Login To The DotComSecrets Membership Site, Go To: http://members.dotcomsecrets.com!

If you missed out on previous issues of the DotComSecrets newsletter, then here’s your chance to score the biggest mother lode of wealth-building info EVER!

“Discover How You Can Get My “Too-Hot-ToHandle” Internet Marketing Secrets for 40% Off What Other Members Paid!” You see, I get e-mails and letters every day from people like yourselves who get the DotCom Secrets journal. They love the content that’s packed in each issue and cannot wait until the next one arrives at their doorstep. Well…something strange happened a couple months ago. Apparently people were getting so much value out from the magazine that we started getting bombarded with newer subscribers asking our customer service representative:

“How Can I Get Previous Issues Of Your Extremely Valuable DotCom Secrets Journal?” Well, at first I didn’t want to reveal this information. I wanted to give the people who originally joined earlier the privilege to take action on the wealth-building secrets before people start talking about them on the forums---and reproducing them in $27 dollar eBooks. But I remember what I was going through when I started out. I would have given my left arm for this wealth building information when I was a senior in college in 2002. It would have saved me years of frustration and money on strategies that didn’t work.

So if you want to get a hold of either Volume 1 or Volume 2 of the Apprentice Files (or BOTH for a special price) then go to the website below. Do it now because once these 100 copies are gone, they’re GONE for good!

To Receive Your Copy Of The Apprentice Files, Go To http://www.DotComSecrets.com/apprenticefiles

Cover Photo © iStockPhoto.com/Zsolt Nyulaszi

So I decided to take a year’s worth of newsletters, bind them up in an actual book, and give away the 100 volumes we have in stock. I decided to call them the “Apprentice Files” since it contains some of my more potent marketing secrets any marketing student can follow.