12 Proven Email Copy-writing Templates Guaranteed to Get Clicks

12 Proven Email Copy-writing Templates Guaranteed to Get Clicks

This is the part where I tell you that email is not dead. Why we have to keep saying that, I don’t know, but it seems like we do.

Do not click here.

Nearly everyone has an email address. In fact, 92% of US adults use email. What the other 8% are doing, I don’t know, but I’m guessing they’re either over 80 or living in a cabin with Bigfoot, that big hairy gorilla guy who periodically pops up on the radar in the American Northwest.

And yes, other marketing channels like YouTube, SMS, Facebook marketing and so forth on are on the rise and they’re all avenues you might consider. But email is the ONE avenue where you get to speak directly to your subscriber on a one-to-one basis in the privacy of their inbox.

That is why email is still one of the most effective and personalized ways for you to communicate with your audience. And it’s almost always the most cost-effective way, too, with the highest return on investment.

The one downside to email is that deliverability is getting harder, thanks to tighter restrictions put in place to deal with phishing scams and clickbait. And that darn exiled Nigerian Prince didn’t help matters, either.

But if you flip tighter restrictions on its head and realize it can be an opportunity for those who do play by the rules, you’ll see that email is an amazing tool to authentically market yourself, your brand and your products and services.

The key is to send hyper-relevant emails to the right people – which means proper list targeting. For example, don’t send a string of emails to your social media marketing students about a new business opportunity that has nothing to do with social media. Know what each of your lists want to receive from you, act accordingly and you’ll do fine.

Which brings up an excellent point… before you can send the right emails to the right list(s), you’ve got to WRITE those emails. And as Shakespeare would say, “There’s the rub.”

You start building a list. You get all excited… 5 subscribers! 10 subscribers! OMG 50 SUBSCRIBERS!

And then it hits you.

You have to WRITE emails to do email marketing.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had several templates you could use to help you with this process?

Yeah, I thought so, too.

That’s why today I’m giving you not just 1 or 2, but 12 different proven templates that work like gangbusters to get the clicks, regardless of what niche you’re in or what you’re promoting.

And that’s what email is for – getting your subscriber to click that link and move to the next step you want them to take, whatever that step might be.

These templates appear in no particular order.

Do not click here.

Email #1 – The Welcome Email (And Reactivation Email, too)

When someone gives you their email address, you want them to feel welcome and happy they subscribed.

This is where you turn that new subscriber into a reader, so that you can then turn them into a customer.

“Thanks for subscribing” does not cut it, because you need to do more than that.

Make your new subscriber feel like they are part of your tribe, that they’re special for being on the inside of your group and give them a taste of what’s to come.

And here’s a little email trick you might not have thought of…

The Reactivation Variation

What happens when your subscribers stop opening your emails? They forget you even exist.

But what if you send them a NEW welcome email? They are likely to think they just signed up to something and so they open it.

Inside the email you remind them that you already have a relationship or they are already in your tribe. You remind them of the benefits of being in your group of insiders. And then you give them a list of enticing bullets, letting them know what’s coming in the next few days and weeks.

This is a marvelous way to reactivate subscribers who are no longer opening your emails. It gets them interested and excited once more, much like they had just joined your list.

The Welcome Email Template:

  • I am so glad you’re here!
  • You are now part of this tribe, and here’s what that means for you
  • In the following days, you will receive (list benefits, secrets, tips, etc.) Use enticing bullet points that makes them eager to open your next email.

Email #2 – The Short and Fast Click

Just as its name implies, this can be an incredibly short email that is all about ONE thing – getting the click.

To pull this off, you need to build curiosity and open a loop in your reader’s mind. Make them want to know what’s on the other side of that link so that they MUST click the link to find out.

Make no mistake – while this is the shortest email, it can take as much time to write as any of the longer emails. That’s because it’s absolutely VITAL that every word counts, from the subject line to the link itself.

Your goal is to pack a big punch in just a few words. Think of someone on their cell phone with distractions – how do you grab their attention and get them to click fast?

First, this works best if you have already established some rapport with them. Imagine your best friend sending you an email that basically says, “Dude, you gotta see this weird car!” You’d click that, right?

Second, use a subject line that gets the open. This is true for any email, of course. If they don’t open the email, they can’t click the link. And if the subject line sucks, they won’t open the email.

Third, make your email super short and to the point, being sure to use curiosity.

Here are examples:

Niche: Online marketing, targeting unresponsive list

Subject Line: Are you still interested in making videos?

Email: This ugly video took 5 minutes to make and garnered 54,693 views in one week. <>

Niche: Adult ADHD

Subject Line: Did my weirdo cat just cure my ADHD?

Email: I was super shocked when my cat dropped THIS in my lap… <>

Niche: Gardening

Subject Line: Giant octopus-looking insect in my garden

Email: Here’s a video of it running across my arm and scaring the crap out of me! <>

The Short and Fast Click Template:

  • Curiosity building subject line
  • Open loop email, usually just one sentence but can be a bit longer.
  • Link

(I know, this one seems almost too easy – try it out for yourself)

Email #3 – The Objection Story

People have objections you need to overcome.

And people love stories.

Hence, the Objection Story.

This email could also serve as the beginning of your sales letter. You tell a story – preferably your own story, but it could be someone else’s – that is believable, relatable and adds value.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a body building product. You can tell the story about how you were skinny as a rail. Nothing worked. You tried all these different types of exercise, nutritional formulas and body building secrets, and yet you were still skinny. You felt hopeless. The gals never paid any attention to you. The guys bullied you and locked you in a school locker. You were ready to give up. And then “It” happened.

“It” is your product or information. You thought it was total crap, but you gave it a try anyway. You saw a little success, so you dove in head-first and totally went for it.

Now you look like a different man, the sort of man women chase, and…

You get the idea.

The main objection to a body building product is people won’t believe it works or it’s too difficult. But through your story, you demonstrate that even you, the skinniest guy in your class, were able to become a body building king.

You’re going to notice a difference in conversions between this email and the Short and Fast Click email.

Short and Fast will get you more clicks, but fewer of those will convert on the other side.

With the Objection Story email, you’re going to get fewer clicks but a much larger percentage will convert. That’s because you’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting in this email, priming them for the product or service you’re about to reveal once they click the link.

They’re already half sold because their objections have been answered in a believable, trust-worthy manner.

One note: Don’t become long-winded here just for the sake of writing a long email. Every word still counts. If there is any place in your email that drags, this is where you will lose them.

The Objection Story Template:

  • List the major objections to your product or service
  • Then write your personal story that overcomes these objections
  • If you don’t have a story of your own, borrow a customer’s story
  • Do. Not. Be. Boring.
  • Remember your link

Email #4 – The Product Update

This one is written for your true fans and group insiders. You should have a deep understanding of what your fans and customers want and why it’s important to them.

The whole idea here is to encourage them to take action.

Think of product updates as fuel for fires that are already burning.

Amelia is interested in your product. She’s not ready to buy it because she’s still researching or thinking. Your product update pushes her closer to making that decision to purchase.

Joe likes your product. He’s thought about buying it, but he hasn’t taken the leap yet. You send out a product update that pushes him over the edge and gets him to buy.

And you don’t actually need a new product feature or update to send this email.

Product updates can be as simple as, “Hey, I’ll bet you didn’t know our product also does XYZ for you and gets this result.”

If one of your customers tells you they are using your product in a way you hadn’t even thought about, tell your subscribers in a product update.

If you normally stress that your product helps to get rid of wrinkles, do a product update showing that your product also brightens skin and gives it a youthful glow.

Of course, any time you actually do update your product, be sure to send out an email letting your readers know.

The Product Update Template:

  • Give the benefit of the new feature or new use in the subject line or first sentence
  • Reveal how it works in easy steps
  • o Step 1
  • o Step 2
  • o Step 3

Email #5 – The Cliffhanger

The premise is simple – end your email at a point where the reader is left intrigued and in suspense, wanting to know WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

This creates an open loop in their mind that won’t be satisfied until they read your next email or click the link (your choice).

This is storytelling at its finest, putting the hero of the story in some sort of precarious situation and then leaving them there – essentially leaving them dangling off a cliff until your next installment.

Cliffhangers are abrupt and surprising to shock the reader. But they should be resolved fairly soon in your next email to avoid irritating or annoying your reader. They already waited an entire day to find out what happened next. Besides, you’re (hopefully) going to end this next email with another cliffhanger, right?

Your cliffhangers will be problems or setbacks the hero must get through. And they should also evolve naturally into your story. Create problems your readers care about and you’ll hook them into reading your emails the moment they see them.

Examples of how this might work in your emails:

Niche: Internet Marketing Instruction

You describe a crazy idea you had for a product. You outline the idea and then send it to your friend who is a 7-figure earner to get her opinion. She calls you on the phone screaming that she’s calling the police…

The next day you reveal why she was calling the police and what happened. Then you reveal that to finish your product you need the help of a certain recluse genius who is impossible to contact. Luckily he lives near you, so you track down his compound in the middle of nowhere, infiltrate his security (climb over the fence) and make it to the front door. But when the door opens you find a shotgun pointed at your head…

You get the idea. The point is your email ends in a cliffhanger that needs to be resolved in the next email. Why is your friend calling the police? Who had a shotgun to your head, and what happened next?

Make your reader care about the hero or the cause, and then threaten it. Remember, if everything goes well, it’s a boring story. Impossible time crunches, something standing in the way and misdirection are all tools you can use.

You might need to get a little creative at times to locate the cliffhangers, but I assure you that any good story will have several.

The Cliffhanger Template:

  • Tell a story from your life or from someone else’s life.
  • Find the roadblocks, obstacles and problems your hero has to overcome.
  • Use these as your cliffhangers, stopping just as you get to the surprising or shocking part.

Email #6 – The Blog Update Email

You do have a blog, right? And you’re making sure your list members stay fully engaged with your content by sending them an email each time you update your blog – right?

I only ask because the vast majority of marketers forget to do this, and yet it’s a super simple way to keep your subscribers interested, get more eyes on your posts, show your subscribers that you’re the expert with solutions, and even get some social media play if your subscribers share your posts with their followers.

If you’re not sure what to blog about, there are tons of examples online. My favorites include:

  • Offering your opinion on relevant, current news
  • Sharing success stories from your customers including tips
  • Giving excellent ‘how-to’ instruction that happens to include your solution
  • Roundtable posts that include other experts in your niche

The Blog Update Template:

  • Headline from your blog post
  • An image from the post
  • Bullet points on what they will discover in the post
  • Call to action to read the post immediately
  • A P.S. that includes popular post links, just in case this particular post doesn’t resonate with them.

Email #7 – The Black Friday Email

Contrary to its name, you can use this any time you want to have a sale or special offer.

Basically, you’re telling them what they’ll get and why they need to buy it right now.

This is the go-to email for brick and mortar businesses that don’t know anything more about marketing than to have a sale.

But it also works for more sophisticated marketers any time you need a quick influx of cash.

You might put your product(s) on sale, bundle several products together to create a fire sale, or sell a year’s access to your monthly membership for a discounted price.

You might even offer a limited time extra special bonus to go with one of your products, such as 60 minutes of free one-on-one coaching to go with your $199 course.

This email works best when your readers know you, like you and trust you. It doesn’t work as well to a cold list because it can come across as too salesy or even spammy (be careful here).

The Black Friday Email Template

  • Here’s the special deal (present your offer and your price)
  • Here’s why you’re having the sale (give them a reason why there is a discount or a special)
  • Here’s why you need to buy it NOW (scarcity – give a deadline or a limit on quantity)
  • The Link

Email #8: Please Review Us Email

The more reviews you have, the easier it is to make future sales (Assuming, of course, that your reviews are positive. I didn’t really need to say that, did I?)

The right review can make a sale but getting reviews doesn’t happen automatically; you’ve got to ask for them.

Be totally upfront about asking for a review. Encourage participation by offering something. And make it super easy to leave a review. Making them jump through hoops isn’t going to work. It’s got to be one click easy – click the link in the email, leave the review.

The Review Email Template

  • Thank them for their purchase (this also reminds them of the purchase, just in case they forgot).
  • Give them an incentive for leaving a review, such as entry into a drawing for a big prize.
  • Give them a strong call to action to click the link and leave the review, letting them know it will only take 60 seconds.
  • Provide your customer service information or at least an FAQ link, letting them know that if they have any questions about the product or need help, to please contact you. This is to dissuade unhappy people from leaving you a bad review.

Email #9: Recovering the Sale – Abandoned Cart Email

Business Insider tells us that $2.75 trillion of lost e commerce is recoverable.

And one of the best ways to recover the business is to email when your customer abandons their cart.

If you’re skeptical that this works, think about all the times you added something to your cart and then got distracted. It happens. You really did intend to order, but then life got in the way. And all it would take to get you back to the cart is a reminder of why you wanted that item to begin with.

If you sell lots of different products, then you’ll have to use more generic emails such as, “All is not lost. We’ve saved your basket for you. Click this link to complete your order.”

But if you only have a few products, you can get more specific, like this: “Did you forget something? You indicated you want to double your business in the next 30 days by increasing your traffic and your conversion rates. You chose XYZ product to do exactly that for you because it’s been rated best on the market for 3 years running. Now all that is left is to claim your 24-hour discount and finish your check out so that we can start growing your business and your profits today.”

The Abandoned Cart Email Template

  • An appropriate headline, such as:
  • o Did you forget something?
  • o You left something behind.
  • o Not all is lost.
  • o Whoops! We saved this for you.

Email #10: The “I’m Human” Email

This email can take many forms, but the essence is to show your subscribers that you are in fact a real person and not some faceless Internet entity.

You might share the lesson you learned from an especially bad day or difficult experience.

You might talk about a personal victory, like your first jump out of an airplane or the birth of your daughter.

You might share your worries, fears, hopes, dreams…

The possibilities are endless, but a word of caution: You’re not sending this email out to get free therapy from your readers. You’re sending it to show them that you are real, so keep that in mind.

Don’t ramble, do keep it interesting and do not paint yourself as a hero. Show your vulnerability.

And whatever you talk about, relate it back to your reader and their own hopes, dreams and goals.

Even when emails seem like they are about you, they are still really about your readers.

The I’m Human Email Template:

  • Use a subject line that is personal, not business-like. Use, “My brother-in-law bet me I wouldn’t jump out of a plane today,” not “10 Reasons to Go Skydiving”.
  • Draw the reader into the conversation. Instead of, “My brother-in-law is one of those macho guys who isn’t afraid of anything…” Say, “Have you ever known someone who didn’t seem to be afraid of anything? You know the type, ready to do anything on a dare.”
  • Do not be the hero, even if the story is about you succeeding. Find a way to make the reader the hero. Instead of bragging about how you jumped, talk about how terrified you felt, how you almost didn’t do it and acknowledge that your reader would almost certainly have been far braver than you in the same situation.
  • Bring your story back to your reader’s interests, desires and goals. “Today was a stark reminder to me of just how scary life can be. Even simple things like growing your business can be scary. And that’s why I’m going to something I’ve never done before: I’m going to remove 100% of the risk of trying our software by giving you a special pass to try it for free for 90 days. Because I never want you to be afraid to succeed and build the business of your dreams.”

NOTE: You don’t have to make an offer with the “I’m human” email if it doesn’t feel right. Just be sure to relate your story back to the reason they subscribed to your list in order to keep it relevant for them.

You might even invite them to share their own story with you and give them something special if they do.

Email #11: The Troll Email

This one is counter-intuitive but it’s also amazingly effective.

Sooner or later you will be trolled by someone who hates you, hates your product and generally hates everything.

You can send out the troll message along with your thoughts, and you’ll be surprised how your tribe rallies around you. This type of email can get more response than you’d expect and 99% of it will be positive. It can actually be something of an ego booster.

The Troll Email Template:

  • Start with the worst thing the troll said.
  • Then explain that this is a message you received and how you received it (email, FB, etc.)
  • Put in as much of the message as you choose.
  • Give your thoughts about the message.
  • Thank your readers for being kind, caring people and not dumb trolls, or some such.

Email #12: The “I Goofed Up” Email

Sooner or later, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to have a disgruntled customer with a legitimate complaint. It’s inevitable that you cannot please everyone all the time, and it’s also a fact that you are human and humans make mistakes.

That’s okay. It’s what you do next that’s important.

Immediately fix the mistake and make it 110% better. You not only want to make the customer whole, you also want to go above and beyond in some meaningful way.

Then once the customer is super happy and satisfied, go ahead and tell your readers about your bone-headed goof up along with how you went the extra kilometer to satisfy that customer. Your readers will be impressed by your honesty and integrity and relieved to hear that you fix your mistakes.

This sort of email can earn both trust and business, yet almost everyone is afraid to send them for fear they’ll look less than super-human. Guess what – your customers already know that sooner or later you make mistakes just like they do. But when you admit it and show how you fix those mistakes, you earn their respect.

The I-Made-A-Mistake Email Template:

  • Start off with saying you made a mistake or you blew it.
  • Explain what happened and why it went wrong.
  • Tell how you fixed it and quote your happy customer.
  • Explain the measures you’ve put in place to see it doesn’t happen again.

You can use these templates any time and in most any order, depending on your goals and even on what you feel like writing that day.

A few last thoughts:

Never be long-winded if you can say the same thing in fewer words.

Always keep it interesting, never boring.

Write as you speak to avoid confusing the reader.

Have someone read your emails out loud prior to sending them, so they can pinpoint anything that isn’t making sense.

Stop worrying that someone on your list won’t like what you write. That’s what unsubscribe buttons are for.

Stop worrying that people will unsubscribe. You’re looking for your tribe, those folks who want to hear from you. They’re the ones who will continue to open your emails and buy your products. The others don’t belong on your list anyway.

When subscribers write to you, answer them. They’ll be surprised and pleased, and they’ll keep reading your emails.

And have fun.

  • #1 tip or thing they need to know
  • Incentive or reason to grab the product right now
  • Product description(s) and image(s)
  • If possible, benefits of owning the product
  • If applicable, discount deadline or other scarcity
  • Call to action
  • P.S. A reminder of why your company and/or customer service and/or product totally rocks

Irving

Do not click here.

5 Reasons Why Your Site isn’t Ranking in Google

5 Reasons Why Your Site isn’t Ranking in Google

Sometimes even small changes can make a big difference in getting traffic through the SERPS.

1: Your content doesn’t connect with visitors

Buyers want to be heard, understood and helped. Most of all, they need to feel they can trust the content on your website or they will leave.

If your content is nothing but, “We are the BEST! Buy from US!” Then why would anyone trust it?

If the end goal of your site is to make sales, start by writing about these topics in an informative, helpful, non-salesly manner:

Pricing and comparisons – be the source that gives them the prices and specs on not only your product, but your competitors, too, and you might just keep them from leaving your site to make their decision.

Their problems
– your product is the solution to their problem, right? Let them know that their unusually high-water bill can be solved with your free plumbing and leak detection inspection.

Your problems
– your product is not a one-size fits all. Let them know this and you’ll build instant trust. For example, if you install wooden fencing, let them know when wood is not the best solution and chain link is better.

‘Best of’ lists
– write articles that show the best of products in your category, the best services, the best whatever is relevant. When people are ready to buy they often search for, “Best plumbers in Cincinnati”. If you can get them on your site, you have a good chance of making the sale. You can also write about the best practices, the best new methods, best examples, etc.

Reviews and case studies – before people make a purchase, they want to know that others have had success with your solution. Give them the reviews and case studies that ease their worries and build trust.

2: Your content isn’t targeting the right keywords

Search engines need to know what questions you are trying to answer with your content.

Start with keyword research and identify the keywords that will drive actual results for your business and not just general traffic. Find out how prospects talk about your product or service, and then create content that uses the keywords naturally.

For example, your customers might be searching for, “Best chiropractor Tampa Florida”. You might write an article titled, “The 5 Best Chiropractors in Tampa, Florida.”

3: Your site speed is too slooooow

Typical mobile sites take 5 or 6 seconds to load. But typical mobile users will only wait 3 seconds.

Houston, we have a problem with these numbers.

Google looks at your engagement numbers. And if people aren’t sticking around long enough for your site to load, those bounces are going to hurt your rankings.

4: You don’t publish often enough

For best results, publish at least 2 or 3 new pieces of content each week. This will please both the search engines and your prospects.

Have you ever visited a site that hasn’t published anything new in six months? Did you wonder if they were still in business or able to take care of your needs?

Publish keyword targeted, relevant content on a regular basis.

5: You’re not optimizing older posts

If you’ve got content that you published years ago that isn’t ranking, it’s time to update that content.

Find the articles with high bounce rates as well as the ones ranking on page 2 or 3 of Google. Also, look for articles that receive a significant number of impressions in search engines but not a lot of clicks through to your site.

Update those articles by removing anything that is out-of-date and adding anything that is new and relevant. Make sure each article is targeted to a specific keyword and formatted in an easy to read style.

Update the title and meta description to better align with what searchers are looking for. Don’t change the publish date unless you update a significant portion of the content.

Remember that any content that is outdated, inaccurate or missing information needs to be updated as soon as possible.

How to NEVER Feel Slimy When Selling

On or off the internet, you are always selling something to someone.

Maybe you’re selling your parents on why they should pay for your college.

Or you’re selling your spouse on why they should let you take that trip with your friends.

Or you’re selling your boss on what a great employee you are, and how you should get a BIG raise starting NOW.

We even sell little things, like getting our kids to go to bed, getting the newspaper carrier to deliver our paper where the sprinklers won’t get it wet, and selling the new cashier on bagging our cans at the bottom of the bag instead of on top of the bread.

“But these types of selling are different,” we tell ourselves. This isn’t selling someone on something they don’t need or want (it might be) This isn’t taking advantage of someone (depends on the point of view) or ripping them off (I hope not).

We’ve learned to equate day to day selling of our friends and relatives on agreeing to our point of view or requests as something other than selling.

And we’ve also been conditioned to think that OTHER kind of selling – the one where you take money in exchange for something – is sleazy, slimy and something no good person should ever do to someone else.

You and I know people don’t like to be sold but they love to buy. And people are afraid – really afraid – of being taken advantage of by a scam.

Yet our job as online marketers is to SELL something. Maybe we’re selling ideas, products, services or whatever. But we are most definitely selling. Even if all you do is blog, you are still selling your visitors on reading your stuff and your advertisers on buying ads from you.

Even social media mavens without a business are selling others on ‘liking’ their posts so they can get the momentary thrill of feeling, “They Like Me!”

How are we supposed to go against years – decades – of being brainwashed to think there is something painfully sleazy about selling?

How do we get up in the morning EAGER to sell something to someone?

The answer is so simple, and yet so profound, that I’m going to bet you already heard it but forgot it…

Do not, ever, ever sell anything you don’t believe in, aren’t excited about or goes against your moral compass. And never, ever make claims that aren’t 100% authentically true.

When you create a product or service with the intention of helping people, you will never feel bad about selling what you have. You will be able to speak of the value and importance of your product without an ounce of shame.

When you are being totally true to your goal of helping others, it will never even occur to you that you are somehow being a pushy salesperson. Rather, you’ll be able to passionately talk and write about how great your product or service truly is.

In fact – and here’s the amazing part – if you do this right, you won’t even feel like you are selling at all.

And this gets even better. Remember when we said that people hate to be sold to, but they love to buy?

When you’re passionately honest about helping others with your product or service, the person being sold to won’t feel like they’re being sold to. That’s because when you’re offering them the thing they want – or more specifically, the benefit they seek – they’re not being sold. Instead, they’re BUYING.

Everyone thinks that advertising doesn’t work on them. “I don’t fall for that malarkey,” they’ll say. But in reality, when someone responds to advertising, they’re not making the connection that they’re being sold to. They were LOOKING for that thing (that benefit) and then they make a rational, educated decision to buy it after reading or hearing about the benefits and features.

So the simplest way to not feel like a slimeball sales person is to only sell things you believe in to people who actually WANT what you’re selling.

Don’t sell hamburgers to vegans.

And don’t sell hamburgers if you are a vegan.

If you’re a vegan, then offer the best vegan burgers possible to vegans, and you will never feel like you are selling a day in your life.

Renovating Your Lousy Out-of-Date 404 Error Pages

A 404 Error Page is what a visitor sees (or should see) when they land on a page that is no longer there. Some links go bad over time because products get removed or content gets deleted. Or maybe there are changes in the permalink structure, or gremlins ate the page. It can happen. It DOES happen.

And there was a time when your 404 Error page could say anything or nothing at all.

But it’s time to wake up because 1995 is long gone.

If you’re still using bland, boring, dead-end 404 Error pages, then you’re losing readers.

That’s right – if someone lands on your 404 and it’s a dead end, you may as well put up a sign that says, “Go away, we don’t want you here!”

I’m not saying you have to get all creative and artsy-fartsy unless you want to. I love it when I see creativity and humor on a 404. But there are 3 things your 404 page MUST do, regardless of whether it induces a smile or even a laugh.

1: This one is so basic I can’t believe I have to state it, but here goes: HAVE A 404 PAGE. Please.

Don’t redirect to a category page or homepage or a whatever page. It’s so darn confusing for a visitor to think they’re going one place and end up someplace else.

If Bob think’s he’s going to the page with the article about his favorite sports icon and he winds up back at the homepage, he’s not going to be happy.

It’s like opening the door marked “Men’s Bathroom” in a restaurant and finding yourself back at the front entrance. What the heck just happened? You don’t know, but you’re pretty sure you don’t like it and you’re going to find a restaurant that doesn’t play weird tricks on you.

2: Your website’s navigation MUST be available on your 404.

This is not negotiable. While you want to have a message that indicts the person is in the wrong place, lost or simply took a wrong turn, you also want to give them options for getting the heck out of there.

Go to nytimes.com/qwerty and you’ll get a page that says, “Page Not Found. We’re sorry, we seem to have lost this page, but we don’t want to lose you.” This is followed by a search bar (Search NYTimes.com) and several choices for Most Emailed stories and Top News.

I really like how they take credit for losing the page, even though it’s not their fault I typed in a bogus link. And I love how they say they, ‘don’t want to lose you’.

3: Make it abundantly clear that this is a 404 error page. Have you ever stumbled on a 404 error page that was trying to HIDE the fact that it’s a 404? There’s a menu, navigation or some other content that you didn’t expect to see, and then in tiny writing near the bottom you see, “Page Not Found.”

Oh, well, thank you very much for FINALLY letting me know! It’s like driving the wrong way down a one-way street and wondering why All the cars are going the other way and honking furiously at you. Maybe they should put up a SIGN you can SEE that says you’re going the wrong way.

Duh.

Okay, here’s my BEST 404 Error Page tip – are you ready?

Easter Egg it!

That’s right, turn your 404 Error Page into the ultimate Easter Egg for your lucky visitors.

You might say something like, “Uh-oh, this page was not found but guess what? You’ve stumbled upon our most secret of treasures. This (whatever it is… lead magnet, video, report, etc.) is so special, we do NOT allow just anybody to have it. In fact, before today ONLY 12 people have ever been lucky enough to discover this top secret stash, making you the 13th person on the planet to get access!”

Change the wording to fit your brand. The idea is since they landed on a 404, which generally is not a good place to land, you are going to turn the experience into something great for them. Yes, you can ask their email in exchange for it. How else will you send it to them, right?

Or have a crazy, fun 30 second video. Or do something wild. Consider your niche, be consistent with your branding and then come up with something off the wall but appropriate.

And yes, don’t be surprised if your 404 goes viral when you do this. Just make sure that whatever the Easter Egg is, it’s absolutely FANTASTIC.

Irving

7 Dangers of Selling Products on Amazon | One by One

7 Dangers of Selling Products on Amazon | One by One

While this list is by no means comprehensive, here are 7 dirty tricks to watch out for if you’re selling products on Amazon:

1: Other Amazon sellers copying your products

Let’s say you have an online store and/or you have your products on Amazon.

Anyone can copy your photos and product descriptions and place them on Amazon under their own account.

Worse yet, when you contact Amazon to file a complaint, they will require proof and documentation for every single product in dispute. You will have to prove the products are yours before Amazon will take them down.

Your best bet: Contact the pirate seller and politely ask them to remove them. Let them know your next step is contacting Amazon and your lawyer.

2: Copycats who piggy-back

Having your products copied and stolen isn’t all that common. But piggy backing on listings happens all the time, and it works like this:

You sell your own private labeled product under your brand and Amazon product number. Someone else piggy backs your listing by undercutting you on price and shipping a counterfeit item.

This hurts your brand three times over.

First, you’ve lost a sale that should have been yours.

Second, because their knock-off product is likely of lower quality than yours, your brand’s reputation takes a hit. The unhappy customer might leave negative feedback for your product even though they received a counterfeit product from someone else.

Third, if you get enough negative reviews, your product can drop into oblivion in Amazon’s search results.

To fight back, pose as a customer and purchase the product yourself. Then you can file a complaint against the fraudulent seller. Just know that Amazon moves slowly and this resolution process takes time.

3: Buying you out

You get an order for ALL of your inventory of a particular item. Someone else then gets the buy box because you have no inventory. A few weeks later, this mystery buyer returns the big purchase they made. You’ve lost sales for those weeks that you had no inventory, plus you made no money on that big sale.

Here’s what to do: If you get a large order, use extreme caution. If you’re fulfilling orders yourself, check up and see if this order appears genuine.

Contest any large return complaints with Amazon.

Realize that Chinese sellers are using automated software that keeps buying your stock and then cancelling the orders in bulk. You go out of stock in no time and your listing is basically destroyed. Don’t get complacent: Keep an eye on your listings at all times.

4: Switching out your photo(s)

If you haven’t registered your brand with Amazon (which requires a trademark) then be careful of other sellers changing out the photos in your listing.

Another seller might switch your picture to a completely different product. Then when customers buy from you, they complain that the product they received does not match the photo.

What to know: Amazon does NOT send you a notification when pictures are changed, so you’ll have to keep a close eye on your listings.

5: Leaving false negative feedback on your products

Just as there are people who will leave positive feedback for a fee, there are also people who get paid to leave negative feedback. And while Amazon is getting better at detecting false feedback, it still happens with alarming frequency.

The hardest false feedback to detect are reviews left by actual buyers. That’s why a competitor will pay people to buy your product first and then leave a negative review. These false reviews often claim that your product is a counterfeit or fake, two things that real reviews almost never say.

When Amazon’s bots detect these trigger words of ‘bootleg,’ ‘counterfeit’ and ‘fake,’ they immediately ding your account which hurts your product’s visibility.

If you receive negative feedback of any sort, address it immediately. Be extremely professional and polite, and show that you will do anything and everything to make the problem right.

Amazon records all conversations and this will help you tremendously should your ever get suspended.

6: Leaving false positive reviews on your products

Only a crook or evil genius would think to hurt their competitors by leaving positive reviews.

Amazon has been doing a better job of cracking down on sellers who buy positive reviews. They even have algorithms in place that detect unusual spikes in positive reviews and will instantly suspend an account if they think the reviews are fake.

Enter your competitor who hires a service to leave 50 five-star reviews for you overnight. The next morning you get up to find your Amazon account is suspended for suspicious activity while you had absolutely nothing to do with it.

This one is difficult to overcome because how do you prove that you weren’t the one instigating the sudden influx of positive reviews?

7: Sellers trademarking your Amazon account name

Most full-time sellers on Amazon trademark their brand name so they can enroll in Amazon’s brand registry.

But many sellers don’t take this step, preferring to avoid the hassle of trademarking.

For example, maybe your Amazon account is called Big Dog Enterprises. And under Big Dog you sell 2 different brands, Blue Dog and Pink Dog. Most sellers will trademark Blue Dog and Pink Dog, but they don’t bother trademarking Big Dog.

This leaves the door open for a malicious seller to trademark Big Dog and then completely take over Pink Dog and Blue Dog.

And when this person has trademarked your account name and registered it with Amazon, he can kick you off your own listing and take full control of your account.

I hope I haven’t scared you completely away from selling on Amazon. It can still he incredibly lucrative, but you do have to use utmost caution not to get scammed as a seller. Do your research, take extra precautions when necessary, and do everything you can to bullet proof your business from unscrupulous sellers.

Most of all, never put all of your eggs in the Amazon basket. You don’t own Amazon and you can be banned at any time for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Spend a portion of your time building your own platform and store. Steer clear of super competitive products because they tend to attract the worst of the diabolical Amazon sellers. Build your own brand. And as always, build your own audience of subscribers and customers.

Irving

How to Build Know, Like and Trust into Your Marketing | One Step at a Time

How to Build Know, Like and Trust into Your Marketing | One Step at a Time

“I’m sick and tired of hearing about ‘Know, Like and Trust.’ I don’t get it. Exactly HOW am I supposed to get people on the internet to know me, like me and trust me?”

I understand the frustration of this new marketer. It’s so easy for marketing teachers to tell you to build Know, Like and Trust into your marketing. But how often do they tell you exactly HOW to do it?

1: How to Become Known

Build your personal or business brand and infuse it in everything that you do.

To do this, determine who your ideal customer is. Create an avatar of that person so that you know exactly who you are speaking to.

Next, build your brand to suit that ideal client. You are the ideal information provider or service provider for this ideal customer.

Finally, stay consistent to your customer avatar and your brand. Your goal is to become known as THE expert or THE go-to person for your exact audience.

This will make you known on a professional level, but you can do better.

Instead of people just knowing about you or knowing of you, how about if they KNOW YOU?

To achieve this, you’ll want to share some personal stuff. Real stuff. Maybe even painful stuff. Mistakes. Dumb moves. Naïve stunts gone bad.

And share the good stuff. ‘Your beautiful, noisy, messy kids have watched Little Mermaid 143 times and you’ve evacuated the house to write your readers this email’ kind of thing.

Strong relationships are deep relationships. Years ago I shared a few personal details with customers about how I was working late into the night, getting up late and my general routine.

To my surprise for weeks afterwards people were commenting back to me about these things because they could relate. That’s when I learned the power of sharing my life with my readers. When I do, I’m not just a wooden puppet, I’m a ‘real boy,’ to paraphrase Pinocchio.

From there I was able to go deeper, speaking about my fears, my stumbles and my comebacks. The more I shared, the more people knew me, and the more they liked me.

2: How to Be Liked

Mind you, not everyone will like you. That’s okay because you only want your avatar to like you. Think of anyone – ANYONE – in history, real or mythical, and there is someone who doesn’t like them. Once you stop trying to get everyone to like you, it is much easier to relax, be yourself and better relate to your ideal customer.

Make a list of every place your avatar commonly hangs out online and make it a point to be there, whether that’s on social media, guest blogging, guest podcasting, advertising to your audience on Facebook and so forth.

Go where your audience is and make yourself known in a nice, helpful, non-obnoxious manner by posting content your ideal client enjoys reading or watching.

Make your content relevant, genuine and personal.

Infuse your own personality into it and speak directly to your avatar of one.

If you can, do live events where people can interact with you directly and ask you questions.

Use an engaging picture of yourself.

Tell your own story in a captivating way.

Be nice. Be real. Be authentic.

Be you – or if necessary, be a better version of you.

3: How to Become Trusted

Repeat steps 1 and 2 consistently.

Promote only products that you believe in.

Promote only ideas and people you believe in.

If you make a mistake, say so.

Use real testimonials from real people.

Share stories of how you’ve helped others to achieve results.

Be transparent and genuine – not fake.

Give people the whole truth, even when it’s not in your best interest to do so.

If you are similar to your avatar, by all means point this out. People like and trust people who remind them of themselves.

Think of the people you trust and emulate them.

If you get a complaint about your product or service, take 30 minutes to walk around the block to completely calm down and THEN write your answer. Do not get into an argument – even if you win, you will lose.

Make your customers feel safe. Offer a no-questions money-back guarantee.

Be accessible. Place your contact details on every page of your website in the sidebar or footer.

Give away some of your best stuff.

Don’t disappoint. Don’t lie. Don’t stretch the truth.

Be consistently good. Or great.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?

Maybe it is. Or maybe it just boils down to…

  • being yourself
  • being seen, helpful and accessible
  • targeting your ideal prospects
  • and doing your best to make them happy.

7 Dangers of Selling Products on Amazon

While this list is by no means comprehensive, here are 7 dirty tricks to watch out for if you’re selling products on Amazon:

1: Other Amazon sellers copying your products

Let’s say you have an online store and/or you have your products on Amazon.

Anyone can copy your photos and product descriptions and place them on Amazon under their own account.

Worse yet, when you contact Amazon to file a complaint, they will require proof and documentation for every single product in dispute. You will have to prove the products are yours before Amazon will take them down.

Your best bet: Contact the pirate seller and politely ask them to remove them. Let them know your next step is contacting Amazon and your lawyer.

2: Copycats who piggy-back

Having your products copied and stolen isn’t all that common. But piggy backing on listings happens all the time, and it works like this:

You sell your own private labeled product under your brand and Amazon product number. Someone else piggy backs your listing by undercutting you on price and shipping a counterfeit item.

This hurts your brand three times over.

First, you’ve lost a sale that should have been yours.

Second, because their knock-off product is likely of lower quality than yours, your brand’s reputation takes a hit. The unhappy customer might leave negative feedback for your product even though they received a counterfeit product from someone else.

Third, if you get enough negative reviews, your product can drop into oblivion in Amazon’s search results.

To fight back, pose as a customer and purchase the product yourself. Then you can file a complaint against the fraudulent seller. Just know that Amazon moves slowly and this resolution process takes time.

3: Buying you out

You get an order for ALL of your inventory of a particular item. Someone else then gets the buy box because you have no inventory. A few weeks later, this mystery buyer returns the big purchase they made. You’ve lost sales for those weeks that you had no inventory, plus you made no money on that big sale.

Here’s what to do: If you get a large order, use extreme caution. If you’re fulfilling orders yourself, check up and see if this order appears genuine.

Contest any large return complaints with Amazon.

Realize that Chinese sellers are using automated software that keeps buying your stock and then cancelling the orders in bulk. You go out of stock in no time and your listing is basically destroyed. Don’t get complacent: Keep an eye on your listings at all times.

4: Switching out your photo(s)

If you haven’t registered your brand with Amazon (which requires a trademark) then be careful of other sellers changing out the photos in your listing.

Another seller might switch your picture to a completely different product. Then when customers buy from you, they complain that the product they received does not match the photo.

What to know: Amazon does NOT send you a notification when pictures are changed, so you’ll have to keep a close eye on your listings.

5: Leaving false negative feedback on your products

Just as there are people who will leave positive feedback for a fee, there are also people who get paid to leave negative feedback. And while Amazon is getting better at detecting false feedback, it still happens with alarming frequency.

The hardest false feedback to detect are reviews left by actual buyers. That’s why a competitor will pay people to buy your product first and then leave a negative review. These false reviews often claim that your product is a counterfeit or fake, two things that real reviews almost never say.

When Amazon’s bots detect these trigger words of ‘bootleg,’ ‘counterfeit’ and ‘fake,’ they immediately ding your account which hurts your product’s visibility.

If you receive negative feedback of any sort, address it immediately. Be extremely professional and polite, and show that you will do anything and everything to make the problem right.

Amazon records all conversations and this will help you tremendously should your ever get suspended.

6: Leaving false positive reviews on your products

Only a crook or evil genius would think to hurt their competitors by leaving positive reviews.

Amazon has been doing a better job of cracking down on sellers who buy positive reviews. They even have algorithms in place that detect unusual spikes in positive reviews and will instantly suspend an account if they think the reviews are fake.

Enter your competitor who hires a service to leave 50 five-star reviews for you overnight. The next morning you get up to find your Amazon account is suspended for suspicious activity while you had absolutely nothing to do with it.

This one is difficult to overcome because how do you prove that you weren’t the one instigating the sudden influx of positive reviews?

7: Sellers trademarking your Amazon account name

Most full-time sellers on Amazon trademark their brand name so they can enroll in Amazon’s brand registry.

But many sellers don’t take this step, preferring to avoid the hassle of trademarking.

For example, maybe your Amazon account is called Big Dog Enterprises. And under Big Dog you sell 2 different brands, Blue Dog and Pink Dog. Most sellers will trademark Blue Dog and Pink Dog, but they don’t bother trademarking Big Dog.

This leaves the door open for a malicious seller to trademark Big Dog and then completely take over Pink Dog and Blue Dog.

And when this person has trademarked your account name and registered it with Amazon, he can kick you off your own listing and take full control of your account.

I hope I haven’t scared you completely away from selling on Amazon. It can still he incredibly lucrative, but you do have to use utmost caution not to get scammed as a seller. Do your research, take extra precautions when necessary, and do everything you can to bullet proof your business from unscrupulous sellers.

Most of all, never put all of your eggs in the Amazon basket. You don’t own Amazon and you can be banned at any time for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Spend a portion of your time building your own platform and store. Steer clear of super competitive products because they tend to attract the worst of the diabolical Amazon sellers. Build your own brand. And as always, build your own audience of subscribers and customers.

Irving

Drink a Beer, Make a Sale

Drink a Beer, Make a Sale

Let’s say your electricity is on the fritz. One of your circuits is fried, and now the lights don’t work in the bathroom. You need an electrician. You search online and find more electricians than you know what to do with. They all have great ads and they all say they are the best, the fastest, the cheapest and the highest quality.

Cripes. If you choose the wrong one, it could cost you a fortune and then they still might not get things right.

It’s too much, so you put the decision off and you go to the pub to have a beer. There you run into a friend and you have a drink together. You tell him about your electric woes and he says not to worry, he knows exactly the man you need. He introduces you to a friend of his, and says, “This guy does all my electrical work, been in the business for 20 years and knows his stuff. Plus, his rates are reasonable and he gets the job done fast.”

Your problems are over. You’ve got your electrician and in days the problem is sorted and you’re happy.

What’s the difference between all those ads online and your friend’s personal recommendation?

The difference is your friend presold you on the idea of using this person. You saw this electrician’s ad online along with all the others, but you didn’t call him. Only when your friend made the recommendation did you use his services.

But there’s a hidden reason here as well, and it’s an important one: By going with your friend’s recommendation, you are no longer responsible if things go badly. If the job turns out great at a good price, it’s because you’re smart about who you hire. But if the job turns out poorly, it’s your friend’s fault for recommending this guy.

How can we use this tactic online?

By preselling anything you recommend. Buy the program or software and use it yourself. If you love it, recommend it. If you don’t, then don’t recommend it.

Your job as an online marketer and especially as an affiliate marketer is to presell, recommend, introduce and advise. Have that beer with your prospects and tell them why this product or software is exactly the one they should buy, just like your friend told you why to hire that particular electrician.

Instead of sending traffic straight to sales pages, put up a presell page where you tell why YOU love the product.

Instead of sending your list a one paragraph email telling them to grab a product, send them an honest list of reasons why you’re recommending this product.

You take the responsibility for the decision this way. And as long as you only offer products that are truly excellent, you will make far more sales than simply slapping up an affiliate link and shouting at your visitors to go read the sales page.

Bonus: Here’s how to kick this up a notch and become the only person your customers buy from.

This takes guts, but it can be super lucrative if you do it right.

Make a personal guarantee on everything you recommend. If the product isn’t everything you say it is, and if for any reason they don’t get their money back from the original seller, you’ll refund them.

Yeah, it sounds scary. But if you’re only recommending great products that YOU believe in, and if your guarantee period is the same length as the guarantee on the product, you will almost NEVER have to pay out on this.

But it will set you apart from every other affiliate marketer in your niche because it shows you 100% stand behind your recommendations.

And it’s a great way to build trust and loyalty with your customers.

Irving

Online Marketing Goodies | Put to Good Use

Online Marketing Goodies | Put to Good Use

The, “Can You Spot the Dog” Trick to Going Viral

If you go to Reddit and search for, “Can you spot the dog,” you’ll find a variety of photographs that each contain a hidden dog.

People LOVE this type of picture because they get a little serotonin hit when they find the dog. And they love to share these pictures with their friends, too.

How can you use this in your social media marketing?

Find or take photos that are relevant to your niche and have something hidden in them. It doesn’t have to be a dog; it can be anything. The important thing is that it is somehow tied to your niche, with bonus points if it ties to one of your products. And then share these photos with your followers.

Take this up a notch by branding the photos with your name or website.

And consider compiling a dozen or so of these photos and putting them onto your site.

“For more find the X photos, click here.”

Boom.

Great Way to Start.

This is fun for your followers and can bring you viral traffic. The only difficult thing might be creating or finding photos that are niche relevant. Obviously if your niche is pets, then this is easy. Any niche that can be represented visually can work. Maybe you teach crochet and have a cat? Make a series of photos of your cat well hidden in your crochet projects or yarn stash. You teach landscaping techniques and you have a dog? Easy-peasy – hide the dog in the landscape shots. If you don’t have a dog, hide a gnome.

But what if your product is a course on how to drive traffic? Maybe you have photos of traffic and you photoshop your product into the photos, hiding it in a car window or on a distant billboard.

Remember those books, “Where’s Waldo?” They were simply a series of 10 or so pictures with tons of detail and one hidden person – Waldo. And they sold like gangbusters because people LOVE the feeling of finding the hidden element.

Get creative and see how you can use the “Spot the Dog” trick in your business.

Case Study: $10,000/mo in Coaching Fees without Doing Any Coaching

This one is super simple and surprisingly lucrative.

It all started when Bob (not his real name) offered coaching services to his customers.

Bob only wanted to take on a certain number of students and no more, so he referred any additional students beyond his limit to other coaches.

These other coaches thanked him profusely for the referrals, and Bob realized he’d goofed up because he should have been smarter and made a commission on the referrals.

Oddly enough, none of these coaches had affiliate programs, and so he asked each of them to create an affiliate program just for him.

On $1,000 to $2,500 a month coaching, Bob typically earns $250 to $500 a month in commissions. And that’s usually over the course of 3 or more months.

Because promoting other coaching programs to his leads and customers turned out to be so lucrative, Bob seldom does any coaching anymore. Instead, he simply refers people to the other coaches and cashes in, earning about $10,000 a month.

Of course, you could do both – coach students and promote other coaches, too – if you want to make even more money.

But if the idea of coaching doesn’t sit right with you, then promoting other coaching programs might be the way to go.

And if those coaches don’t have affiliate programs, just ask them to create one for you.

How to Get Plenty of Affiliates with Zero Hassle

Great Way to Start.

As anyone who’s tried it knows, recruiting affiliates for a product launch can be a real pain.

Some affiliates have large egos and even bigger demands for your time and your money.

“I want a bigger commission.” (They ask this no matter how much you’re paying, btw. I think they read it in an affiliate how-to manual.)

“I want you to promote my products to your list in return for me promoting your product.” (Now you have to check out their product and see if it’s something worthy of promoting and a good fit for your list. 9 times out of 10 it isn’t.)

“I want you to place my products inside your sales funnel.” (Sure, I’ll just do that for 100 affiliates and we’ll have 100 upsells and won’t that be fun?)

And on and on it goes.

It’s enough to knock the wind right out of your sails, and it’s the reason why some online marketers prefer to never deal with affiliates in the first place.

But there is a way to recruit affiliates without any of the hassle, and it’s simple: Just get a JV broker on board for your launch.

Choose someone who is just getting started in launch circles, someone who is hungry and eager and won’t demand you pay them in bags of gold up front.

They should be active online and perhaps have done a couple of launches themselves. They don’t need a ton of experience; just enough to know how product launches work and how to find affiliates.

Pay them for results, such as giving them a percentage or your profits or giving them access to the list you build from selling your product, or even placing their product inside your funnel.

The more sales they generate, the more they earn.

You set up the affiliate page and you decide on the contest prizes and commission structure. Then your JV broker’s job is to schmooze affiliates, send out launch reminders, perhaps provide ongoing motivational emails to affiliates, answer affiliate questions and anything else having to do with affiliates.

This is going to take massive stress off you. In fact, the only thing you’ll need to do other than set up the affiliate page and commission structure is send out a thank you email to affiliates after the launch ends.

Great Way to Start.

And don’t worry about your JV broker. They won’t have to endure half the B.S. that you would need to go through because they are “just” the JV broker. When someone asks them for special favors like higher commissions than other affiliates and so forth, your JV broker can simply say they don’t have that authority.

If you don’t enjoy recruiting affiliates, scout around and find yourself a JV broker. If they’re good at their job, they’ll bring in more sales than you probably could, paying for themselves and building your list even bigger. And they’ll free you up for the important stuff, like tending to your new customers.

Affiliates – 3 Tricks to Making More Money with Little Effort

Here’s how to find and use even the most obscure affiliate programs. Let’s say you’re in the fitness niche and you write a blog post about Kettlebells – those weird gym weights that look like tea kettles without spouts.

In the past you would post the article and move on to something else.

But today you got just 1% smarter and you asked yourself… “I wonder if there is a Kettlebell affiliate program?”

First Trick – Too Easy?

You go to Google and you type in, “Kettlebell affiliate program” and you find SEVERAL affiliate products that are specifically for kettlebells. Some are workout plans and programs and others are selling the actual Kettlebells themselves.

You sign up with two affiliate programs and make a couple of quick changes to your blog post. First you recommend to your readers where they can get a great deal on Kettlebells, and then you recommend your favorite Kettlebell workout program.

This didn’t take much time at all and yet you’ve potentially got two more affiliate programs making sales for you.

Second Trick – Kicking it Up a Notch

Now imagine you do this with every single blog post you publish, as well as going back to your most popular past posts and doing it for those as well.

You could end up with several new affiliate programs making you sales. And again, it didn’t take all that much work.

Third Trick – Never-ending Kettlebell Commissions

And then imagine if you keep track of which affiliate programs are converting the best.

Remember that kettlebell workout plan you promoted last month? It’s selling like crazy. How about writing a SECOND blog post about kettlebells and promoting that affiliate program again?

Or even making a kettlebell lead magnet and segmenting your list to find out who is interested in kettlebells, and then sending them an autoresponder sequence promoting perhaps 3 or more kettlebell programs over the following weeks?

Now you’re not just 1% smarter, you’re an affiliate sale-making machine!

Bottom Line:

Every time you create a new piece of content, have a goal in mind. Whether it’s to get more subscribers with a lead magnet upgrade or make an affiliate sale or some other end goal, every piece of content needs to be working to build your business…

Even the article about that weird cannonball with a handle.

Last Note:

Never promote a program or product you do not 100% believe in. Your good reputation is worth infinitely more than a handful of sales commissions.

Death by Committee – Killing Your Biz to Save $5

In the age of Covid19, things change. What was once offline is now online. For some the transition is easy, but for others, it’s not.

Take a Fellowship group in the U.S. I won’t name names, but I will tell you their story.

Every year this Fellowship (sort of like a church, but without the rules of a particular religion) holds a HUGE rummage sale. The members donate tons of items and for a week volunteers sort and price everything.

Then people came from all around to buy lots of goodies and go home happy.

Enter Covid19. Everything is now being done virtually via an auction site. The problem is…how to get the word out?

There’s social media sites like Facebook and Nextdoor. Then there’s Craigslist, the big classified type of website (not available in all parts of the world.)

That’s a start.

But how about asking members to send out the short, snappy URL to their friends and family in the area?

And maybe texting that memorable URL to friends and asking them to pass it along in conversations to others.

Put this eye-catching URL on posters, too, and post them where ever people are coming and going.

Except… the Fellowship wouldn’t spring for the $5 (GoDaddy coupon) to get a short URL. Which is a shame because the name of the town with the word ‘sale’ was available. That’s a super easy to remember 9 letter, 2 word URL with a dot com.

But according to the consensus of the committee who knows nothing about marketing, $5 was just too much to spend.

So instead, their url was something like this:

Auctionsitename.bit/rtufannualrummagesaleonline2020

Yup.

You see where this is going.

No posters around town. (Who’s going to remember that URL?)

No word of mouth. No mention in the local paper (they have a limit on URL size.)

Most people didn’t even try to text it to others.

This happens all the time, from the biggest corporations to the smallest one-man businesses.

The marketing minds need $X for their campaign. The bean counters say no. The marketing campaign fails. And everyone blames the marketing team.

Odds are YOU are your marketing team and you are your own bean counter.

What expense are you saying no to that could totally revolutionize your business?

Is it money for advertising on Facebook? Sure, you might lose money while you’re getting your campaign worked out. But once you figure out what you’re doing, spending $1 to make $2 can be clockwork. But hey, you don’t want to lose that initial money, right?

You want to sell t-shirts, but you know that when you’re first starting your initial 10 or 20 campaigns might be duds. Sure, that 11th
or 21st campaign can put you in serious profit, but you don’t want to spend the money to learn what works and what doesn’t.

Maybe you need a website overhaul but you don’t want to hire a professional. Or you need software to automate a process, or rights to a product you can resell like gangbusters, or something that will cost you money now to make MORE money later.

Don’t let a $5 or even a $500 investment keep you from success.

Determine what is a luxury and what is a necessity to get to the next level. Ignore the luxuries (for now) and invest in the necessities.

Doing so will allow you to buy all the luxuries you want down the road when you’re raking in the dough.

Using Pinterest Treasure Hunts to Drive Traffic

Here’s an interesting idea I observed in action last week…

Plan out an online treasure hunt using several images.

Then contact a few of your partners and ask each one to pin an image on their Pinterest board. Each image gives a clue to the next image in the treasure hunt.

Publish a blog post about the promotion along with a link to the first image. Fans then go from image to image by following the clues. The last image forwards them to a hidden page where they enter their info to take part in a raffle, or they get a free download, coupon, or whatever you choose.

One note: Make the treasure hunt fairly easy and lots of fun.

Mastering Hashtags to Drive More Traffic

Hashtags organize social media according to conversations and topics, making it easier for you to find your target market for your brand.

To like, retweet and reply to posts under several hashtags, use a social media monitoring tool such as Hootsuite. Hashtagify can also help you find other hashtags that are related to the one you’re targeting.

Now here’s the tricky part: Not all hashtags are to be treated the same on every channel. For example:

On Twitter, tweets with a single hashtag typically generate more engagements than tweets with 3 or more hashtags.

Conversely, Instagram posts receive the most engagement when using multiple hashtags, even as many as 10 or more in a single post.

Then there’s Facebook, which tends to do better without any hashtags.

Have you heard that hijacking hashtags to promote your own products is a good idea? Don’t fall for that mistake. Hijacking a hashtag is essentially spamming and the vast majority of people will ignore it (if you are lucky) or take you to task for it.

Instead, contribute to the conversation in a meaningful, helpful way that is natural and non-pushy.

Create posts that align with trending topics to reach new people. Watch what’s happening in your niche and look for opportunities to add your voice to the conversation.

Or you might even parody what’s happening in the world. For example, brands might run their own ‘candidate’ during political elections or feature their own ‘movie star’ during Hollywood awards shows.

One last thought on joining in on conversations on social media: When possible, use humor. Funny posts and tweets can sometimes gain enormous traction, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be related to your product. Brands like Oreos do this all the time. Just make sure it is always in good taste.

Irving

Get started here.

Your Best Resources and Ideas | For Affiliate marketing

Infographic Ideas

Infographics are great for conveying information in a way people quickly grasp and understand, as well as getting social media shares and new traffic.

If you need inspiration for your next infographic, check out Visually to see what others are creating.

https://visual.ly/tag/inspiration

Clickbank Fitness, Diet and Health Recurring Billing Programs

Don’t you just love programs where you make the sale once and get paid over and over again?

And what’s not to love about the fitness and health niche, too? It’s expanding faster than people’s waistlines, to the tune of $100 billion dollars on a global, annual basis.

Your customers are desperate to lose weight which is why they buy your products. If they do lose the weight, you can then sell them fitness programs. And everyone needs to improve their health as they age. It’s an industry where you can carve out your own niche and potentially make a fortune.

For you affiliates, I’ve done some legwork for you here, finding the health, fitness and diet programs on Clickbank that pay out a minimum of $200 on average in re billing. The ‘average re bill’ amounts you see below are straight from Clickbank.

Just a note: I am in no way endorsing any of these programs, so please do your own research and only recommend programs you trust. That said, in my opinion there are at least several programs here that are totally awesome and well worth promoting to start earning yourself some long-term residual income.

  • Turbulence Training

Average Rebill Amount: $1253.64

Product: http://www.turbulencetraining.com/homepage-cb/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.turbulencetraining.com/affiliates

  • Pure Reiki Healing Master

Average Rebill Amount: $908.91

Product: http://www.purereikihealing.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.purereikihealing.com/aff.php

  • Mi40x

Average Rebill Amount: $851.01

Product: http://www.mi40x.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.mi40x.com/affiliates.html

  • Paleovalley Grass Fed Beef Sticks

Average Rebill Amount: $768.62

Product: https://paleovalley.com/cb/grass-fed-beef-sticks

Affiliate sign up: http://cf.paleovalley.com/cb-affiliates

  • BiOptimizers

Average Rebill Amount: $608.86

Product: https://www.masszymes.com/cb/

Affiliate sign up: https://bioptimizers.com/affiliate-center/

  • No Excuses Body Makeover

Average Rebill Amount: $598.51

Product: http://noexcusesbodymakeover.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://noexcusesbodymakeover.com/noexcuses/affiliates

  • Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

Average Rebill Amount: $562.60

Product: http://www.reverse-diabetes-today.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.reverse-diabetestoday.com/affiliate_program.php

  • Workout Finishers

Average Rebill Amount: $521.86

Product: http://workoutfinishers.com/version2/workout-finishers2/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.workoutfinishers.com/affiliates.html

  • PuraTHRIVE

Average Rebill Amount: $440.63

Product: https://purathrive.com/turmeric/

Affiliate sign up: https://purathrive.com/affiliate/

  • MP3 Meditation

Average Rebill Amount: $432.37

Product: http://www.mp3-meditation-club.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.mp3-meditation-club.com/affiliate.php

  • Ketogenic Accelerator

Average Rebill Amount: $420.37

Product: https://www.venturesupps.com/ketogenicaccelerator-cb1

Affiliate sign up: https://www.venturesupplements.com/affiliates/keto/

  • The Alkaline Diet

Average Rebill Amount: $379.73

Product: http://thealkalinediet.org/

Affiliate sign up: http://thealkalinediet.org/affcontest.php

  • Unlock Your Hip Flexors

Average Rebill Amount: $368.36

Product: http://unlockhipflexors.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.criticalbench.com/partners/welcome.php

  • Apple Cider Vinegar

Average Rebill Amount: $366.91

Product: http://www.applecidervinegarbenefitsbook.com/thebenefits/index.php

Affiliate sign up URL: http://www.applecidervinegarbenefitsbook.com/affiliates.html

  • Organifi Green Juice

Average Rebill Amount: $359.85

Product: https://www.organifi.com/2-classic-cb/

Affiliate sign up: https://www.organifi.com/affiliate-resources/

  • Body By Boyle Online

Average Rebill Amount: $348.33

Product: http://www.bodybyboyleonline.com/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.bbbonline.hop.clickbank.net

  • Anabolic Cooking

Average Rebill Amount: $346.02

Product: http://www.anaboliccooking.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://www.anaboliccooking.com/affiliates/home.php

  • Fat Burning Kitchen

Average Rebill Amount: $323.45

Product: https://www.truthaboutabs.com/fat-burning-kitchen.html

Affiliate sign up: https://www.truthaboutabs.com/affiliate-info.html

  • The Secrets Of Manuka Honey

Average Rebill Amount: $295.36

Product: http://www.secretsofmanukahoney.com/thebenefits/index.php

Affiliate sign up: http://www.secretsofmanukahoney.com/affiliates.html

  • Joint Regan

Average Rebill Amount: $234.50

Product: http://www.asrjointregen.com/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.jregen.hop.clickbank.net/

  • Precision Movement

Average Rebill Amount: $207.25

Product: https://www.precisionmovement.coach/store/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.ewongmma.hop.clickbank.net

  • Precision Movement

Rebill Amount: $206.42

Product: https://www.precisionmovement.coach/store/ Average

Affiliate sign up: http://partners.ericwongmma.com/

  • Morning Fat Melter

Average Rebill Amount: $200.86

Product: http://morningfatmelter.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://morningfatmelter.com/aff-tools

  • Metcon 6

Average Rebill Amount: $197.30

Product: https://sixminutefatloss.com/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.marchman84.hop.clickbank.net/

  • Halki Diabetes Remedy

Average Rebill Amount: $189.81

Product: https://research.halkidiabetesremedy.org/

Affiliate sign up: https://research.halkidiabetesremedy.org/p/affiliates/

  • See Your Abs

Average Rebill Amount: $187.68

Product: http://www.seeyourabs.com/index.html

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.bkwellness.hop.clickbank.net/

  • The Grow Taller Pyramid Secret 2.0 System

Average Rebill Amount: $179.99

Product: http://www.growtallerpyramidsecret.com/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.gtpss.hop.clickbank.net

  • Hot Skinny Tea

Average Rebill Amount: $168.80

Product: https://hotskinnyteas.com/

Affiliate sign up: https://hotskinnyteas.com/affiliates.php

  • Muscle Gaining Secrets

Average Rebill Amount: $159.41

Product: http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.ferruggia.hop.clickbank.net/

  • Bar Brothers

Average Rebill Amount: $142.09

Product: https://barbrothers.com/system/index.php

Affiliate sign up: https://barbrothers.com/aff/

  • 7 Day Mind Balancing

Average Rebill Amount: $139.27

Product: https://7daymindbalancing.com/

Affiliate sign up: https://7daymindbalancing.com/affiliates.php

  • Super Sexy Skin

Average Rebill Amount: $135.50

Product: http://supersexyskin.com/

Affiliate sign up: http://thetruthaboutaging.com/supersexyskinaffiliatecenter/

  • Hollywood Abs Regular

Average Rebill Amount: $110.20

Product: http://www.jmaxfitness.com/hollywood-abs-launch-regular/

Affiliate sign up: n/a – replace XXXX with your Clickbank ID to create your affiliate link. http://XXXX.maxwelj15.hop.clickbank.net

 

Irving

All The latest Affiliate Marketing News | For Reading at Your Leisure.

All The latest Affiliate Marketing News | For Reading at Your Leisure.

Will Google Chrome’s new ‘fast pages’ rank higher in search?

Google is taking important page ranking factors into consideration when labeling fast pages.

In the past decade, Google has announced a variety of search ranking factors, including website security and accessibility, page speed, mobile friendliness, and domain authority, among others.

According to this article on Chromium Blog, with the roll out of the Chrome 85 beta comes a “fast page” label for specific pages that meet or exceed all metrics thresholds included in Google’s Core Web Vitals program.

This appears to prove once more that there will always be something new to consider when getting your pages ranked.

https://blog.chromium.org/2020/08/highlighting-great-user-experiences-on.html

Burger King prints customers’ orders on face masks

Burger King is giving 250 customers in Belgium face masks with their orders custom-printed on them.

Because… why not? There was a time when placing ads on the inside of toilet stall doors was considered revolutionary. Marketers everywhere started looking for the next bit of empty space to put their message.

Face masks could be just one more way to get your message out.

https://www.businessinsider.com/burger-king-belgium-allows-customers-to-order-using-face masks-2020-8

Google My Business Covid Hours Update

Google My Business is a free tool that Google provides businesses to allow them to keep their company’s online presence updated and accurate, including in the Search results and Map results.

And now they’ve added a feature that tells searchers when the store hours were updated. This feature can be super useful to customers when wanting to know if they can rely on the business hours, especially now in these COVID times.

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-local-panel-hours-last-updated-29790.html

Facebook users can soon broadcast their Messenger Rooms via Facebook Live

With more people wanting to connect via video during the COVID pandemic, Facebook is now enabling users to broadcast their Messenger Room via Facebook Live.

Facebook Live is a feature that allows users to broadcast real-time video on the social media platform.

Now, Facebook has connected its popular Messenger Rooms feature with Facebook Live to offer new functionality to users.

Messenger Rooms is a video chat room where users and 49 of their friends can chat. While there is a limit to the number of people, there is no limit to how long you can chat — and you don’t even need to have a Facebook account to join.

Facebook has taken both Messenger Rooms and Facebook Live and brought them together — announcing recently that you can now broadcast live your Messenger Rooms.

This now allows you to expand your audience and get more of your content out there and have an even bigger group discussion.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/facebook-users-to-broadcast-their-messenger-rooms-via-facebook-live

Spotify announces launch of video podcasts

If you use Spotify to stream your favorite audio content, you might be excited to hear that Spotify now supports video podcasts for several of its podcasts.

If you aren’t already doing so, you may want to consider including advertising on podcasting platforms like Spotify as part of your marketing strategy.

Since early 2019, Spotify has nearly doubled its podcast audience. Now it has over 250 million podcast listeners throughout 75 different countries.

Earlier this year, Spotify released a new ad technology called streaming ad insertion, or SAI, that lets marketers use real-time data to implement targeted ads to podcast listeners.

https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/spotify-launches-video-podcasts

Google launches Shoploop to simplify the online buying process

Google’s in-house incubator Area 120 and Shoploop developed a digital shopping experience in the form of bite-size informational videos available on your mobile device.

Many are calling the app TikTok for shopping.

Unlike other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok where you’ll need to sift through various types of posts, Shoploop is hyper-focused on only displaying product tutorials and reviews.

https://9to5google.com/2020/07/17/shoploop-from-googles-area-120-is-a-sort-of-tiktok-for-shopping/

Google Ads to support lead forms in YouTube and Discovery campaigns

Google announced recently that lead form ad extensions will now be available in YouTube and Discovery campaigns.

Google has been testing lead form ad extensions since late last year and has been rolling out more features to help support brands battling business loss due to the pandemic.

Google also released some additional features focused on driving better lead value.

https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/generate-leads/

Facebook is removing 1,000+ ad targeting options because of low usage

According to Facebook, “As part of our latest efforts to simplify and streamline our targeting options, we’ve identified cases where advertisers — of all sizes and industries — rarely use various targeting options. Infrequent use may be because some targeting options are redundant with others or because they’re too granular to really be useful. So we’re removing some of these options.”

https://www.facebook.com/business/news/update-to-facebook-ads-targeting-categories/

Google Maps: The new social platform?

For all you savvy business marketers: there is now another social media-type platform you may want to know about.

Google Maps released an update earlier this month that is an extension of a pilot program it ran last year that now enables users to create profiles and follow local influencers all while on the same platform.

This could theoretically make Google Maps evolve from a place to find directions and other business information to be a place for users to discover unfamiliar local businesses from other influencers.

This “social” step forward for Google Maps essentially makes the platform a combination of Maps, Google My Business, and social media.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-maps-goes-social-giving-each-user-their-own-profile/376194/#close

Irving

Million Dollar Video Ad Script Templates | Feel Free to Use

Million Dollar Video Ad Script Templates | Feel Free to Use

The other day I wanted to create some ads to place on YouTube.

No big deal, right?

Except that the right ad can make a fortune, while the wrong ad would cost me time and money with no return. I knew I had to get this right, so I did what most people do… I went online and searched for help.

And searched.

And searched.

Surprisingly, I could find very little about how to craft a 30-60 second ad for YouTube that will pull in the customers.

And maybe you’ve been faced with the same dilemma. Asking around, I discovered that for most marketers who want to use short video ads on YouTube, Facebook and so forth, the sticking point is creating the ad itself.

When a great ad can literally give you a license to print money on demand, and a lousy ad will rob you of time and money, there should be more information on how to craft these ads.

In fact, there should be TEMPLATES.

Follow the template, outline your ad and then create it and profit.

Good news! With further research and help from people who run video ads all the time, I now know how to create profitable video ads for almost anything.

And today I’m going to share this information with you, giving you not just one, but 10 simple templates you can use to create high converting ads that target your very best prospects.

No matter what you might be selling or what action you want your prospects to take, I think you’ll find a video ad script below that will work for your purpose.

First, let’s cover a few general principles that apply to all video ads…

Getting Ready to Write Your Script

There are certain elements that are consistent, regardless of what type of video you are making.

The process begins not with a template, but with questions you need to answer about your target audience, your offer and exactly what you want to happen next. The better you can answer these questions, the more effective your video can be at converting your prospect to the next step, whatever that might be.

Questions:

What’s the main purpose of this video?

Is it to get viewers to your sales page?

To get them to sign up for your email list?

To visit your blog, view a more in-depth video, sign up for a webinar or join your social media group?

Do you want them to text or call you?

You must have a concrete idea of what you want your viewers to do once they’ve finished watching your video. You only get ONE choice here – one place to send them.

It’s almost always a terrible idea to try to sell them on a purchase in a short video ad, but 60 seconds is plenty of time to convince them to take a smaller action, such as visiting your sales or squeeze page.

Who is your exact target audience?

It is freshly unemployed people looking to make extra income?

Middle aged women who want to lose weight?

Professionals who need help with retirement planning?

Beginning vegetable gardeners who need a game plan for raising, harvesting and processing enough produce to feed their family for a year?

It’s vital that you know EXACTLY who you are targeting. This should be your IDEAL customer, the one who is most likely to purchase your product or service.

You’re going to speak directly to them and not to the masses. Remember, if you try to appeal to everyone, then no one will be interested in what you offer. Every word you use should appeal to your very best prospect.

What is their problem that you are going to solve for them?

Not their 5 or 10 problems, but that one BIG problem that they need solved ASAP. Because this is a SHORT video, it must be focused on solving ONE problem with ONE solution – your solution.

How does your solution help them solve their problem?

After answering the previous questions, this one should be easy and clear cut. If it’s not, you’re on the wrong track. Exactly how is your solution the right solution for them?

For example, let’s say you’re targeting busy, intelligent women age 40 – 60 who are 50 pounds or more overweight and just learned their health is deteriorating because of their weight. Your goal is to get them onto your list and sell them on your $500 coaching program. Your solution to their problem is your program designed just for their needs. This program helps them lose 2 – 3 pounds every week without going hungry, without time-consuming meal prep, without expensive foods and supplements and without hours of painful exercise. And you’re going to give them this solution with a free 5-day training program (that sells your $500 coaching course) which they receive just for visiting your page (where you capture their email address and ask them to sign up to your Facebook Group, where you hold the live lessons).

That was just an example, of course. Maybe you’re simply sending them a free cheat sheet or lead magnet. Or sending them to your sales page (be sure to capture their email address) and using retargeting for those who don’t buy the first time. The options are limitless when you’ve got the templates to do high-converting video ads.

Let’s dive into those templates right now…

1: Classic Video Ad

This is the simplest copy framework – the same one used in many sales letters – and it works like this:

Problem – Spotlight the painful problem your prospects are facing

Agitate – Magnify the underlying pain behind the problem, accessing your viewer’s emotions

Solution – Show them how to solve this painful problem with your solution

The problem
should be the biggest, most painful problem that your prospects are facing that your product solves. In a one-minute video ad, for example, you do not have time to cover more than one problem. Pick your best one and make it good. This might even be a hidden problem beneath the obvious problem. For example, the hidden problem might be embarrassment at not having any energy and always feeling tired, when the main problem is needing to lose weight.

Main problem: Do you want to lose weight?

Hidden problem: Do you avoid certain activities with friends because you are embarrassed by your appearance and your inability to keep up?

You can see that the second approach can be much more compelling than the first one.

Agitating the problem is when you make your viewers feel the pain of having this problem. Ideally, you want to create contrast between the painful problem and the relief you are about to offer in the solution.

Be sure the agitation is as relevant to the type of person you are targeting as the problem itself.

Problem: Do you avoid certain activities with friends because you are embarrassed by your appearance and your inability to keep up?

Agitation: Do you wonder if your friends secretly joke about your weight when you’re not there? Are you worried that your spouse will leave you for someone thinner who can keep up with their active lifestyle?

To find pain points and ways to agitate the problem, research what others say about the problem. Dig deep and find out why they really want the solution they seek, and then use their own words in the video.

The solution is ideally reached in 30 seconds or sooner in your video.

Here’s what that might look like:

Do you avoid certain activities with friends because you are embarrassed by your appearance and your inability to keep up?

Do you wonder if your friends secretly joke about your weight when you’re not there? Are you worried that your spouse will leave you for someone thinner who can keep up with their active lifestyle?

Despite what everyone tells you, if you’re more than 25 pounds overweight then simply eating less and exercising more will not help you to lose significant weight. That’s because metabolic syndrome is very likely keeping you fat as well as endangering your health.

But it is possible to naturally reset your damaged metabolism and lose the weight without starving, without crazy exercise and without dangerous pills or potions.

Now introduce your solution and explain how your product will fulfill the promise you’ve made. This section will likely be the bulk of your script, but don’t go overboard here. Simply communicate enough information to get your viewers to take the next action you seek, whether that’s signing up to get your lead magnet, visiting a website, joining a Facebook Group or anything else.

2: The Before, After and Bridge Script

This is somewhat similar to the first script. In fact, most of these scripts have similarities.

Here’s the outline for this one:

Before: “This is your life right now, and it stinks.”

After: “Just imagine how glorious your life would be without this problem or with this benefit.”

Bridge:
“Here’s how you get from the stinky before to the glorious after.”

Your goal here is to paint two pictures in your prospect’s brain – the before and the after – and then show how to get from the awful place they are in to the wonderful place they want to be.

Real estate agents do this when they hold open houses. You might not even be seriously interested in moving. Maybe you’re just bored and looking for a way to pass the time, so you figure you’ll snoop in other people’s homes during the open houses held by real estate agents to show off homes.

Did you know that most homes are NOT sold through these open houses? And yet agents still hold them because they know this is a great way to find buyers. When you start looking at the gorgeous homes you DON’T have and then you go home to your small, dull house and compare what you’ve seen to where you’re living, you’ve got a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ stuck in your mind. And the difference between these two pictures might be all it takes to get you to start seriously shopping for a new house.

This is what you want to accomplish in your video. Remind your prospect of how miserable their current situation is and contrast that with what they could have if they get your solution.

3: The Promise, Picture, Proof and Push Script

What if your product doesn’t solve a big problem? Or what if your audience is not yet aware they have this problem?

Then it’s time to try the 4 P’s.

Promise – Make a bold claim that causes viewers to snap to attention

Picture – Get viewers to imagine their life once they get this promised benefit

Proof – Explain how your solution works and back it with supporting proof.

Push – Recap what you’ve just explained in a very clear manner and then give viewers specific instructions on what to do next.

This is your go-to script when you there is no major pain to be solved. For example, when computers were first introduced, few people felt there was a major gap in their lives because they didn’t have one. The same goes for MP3 players, smart phones and just about any new technological advance.

When you’re filling a need people don’t know they have, you can’t talk about the pain of not fulfilling this unknown and uncared about need. Instead, you talk about the big benefit or claim, paint a pretty picture of having this product, prove that it works and give viewers a little push in the right direction.

More Video Ad Templates:

Those first 3 templates are enough to cover 80% or more of your video ad needs.

But because I’m pretty sure you can’t have too many video ad templates in your arsenal, and because there will be times when you need something different, I’m going to quickly share a few more with you in just a moment.

Also, there might be times when the purpose of your video isn’t to directly sell, but instead to explain something, make an announcement and so forth.

Your video is still short, direct and to the point like a video ad, but the main goal isn’t necessarily selling the click. At least, you’re not looking like you’re selling the click. Paradoxically, there can be times when you will get a greater response from not selling than selling.

For example, when an icon in your industry passes on, you might do a short tribute video to that individual. That last thing you want to do here is end the video with, “Buy our product!” Companies get lambasted, flamed, roasted and toasted for doing this. But tactfully placing your business name in the closing frame is fine. People who loved this person see your video and are moved to find your site or reach out to you on social media.

That’s just one example, and I’m sure you’ll run into many more as you do more and more marketing.

And there are even more occasions when you need a quick video that adds to the selling experience, such as a video to explain how your service fulfillment works, a video testimonial for your product, an interview of a case study and so forth.

But since the main purpose of the majority of your videos ads will likely be to sell, most of the following scripts I’ve chosen here can also be used to promote your products as well.

Here then are 5 more templates you can use for making your next video ads:

4: The Video Announcement

This can be to announce anything newsworthy to your audience, including the release of new products, adding more features to an existing product, an awesome offer or sale of a product they’re already familiar with and so forth.

In general, you’ll use an outline like this:

Short introduction – This is one of two sentences designed to grab attention and introduce the BIG NEWS you have. This might be in the form of a question, such as…

“Are you sick and tired of being terrified of catching the Coronavirus every time you leave your home? When you come home, do you spend the next 14 days waiting to see if you get sick?”

Main message
– Next is the big picture of the news you’re sharing.

“Vira-Shield can protect you from 99% of airborne virus and bacteria particles in the air.”

Details – You’ve given them the big picture, now zoom in and give them the details.

“It’s comfortable, it keeps you cool and breathing is a breeze. Not only that, but when worn correctly it is proven to filter out 99% of dust, bacteria and viruses – including Covid-19 – by a double-blind University of Nox scientific study. Plus, you look like a total badass when you wear it, too.”

Call to action
– What should they do right now?

“Click here right now to choose one of 14 colors and finally enjoy peace of mind whenever you leave home.”

I gotta tell you, If I saw this video I would be clicking that link so fast my mouse would melt.

5: The Struggling Hero Video

This video is great for explaining almost anything that involves solving a problem. Added points if you can make it memorable, too.

The struggling hero starts with a character who is struggling with the same problem as your audience (I know, what a coincidence, right?). This works spectacularly in animation, but you can use real people or a slideshow.

Introduction and Problem – Introduce your character and his/her problem.

“Meet Bob. Bob is feeling sad because people have been avoiding him lately – even his wife Jill, and Bob’s afraid it’s because of his bad breath. In fact, it’s gotten so bad, even his dog Rex has been staying a leash length away from Bob.”

Solution – Introduce the solution, giving the big benefit. Your hero can be introduced to the solution by another person, stumble upon it by himself, or the narrator can speak directly to him.

“Bob, have you tried Tasty8 Mouth Rinse? It’s proven to eliminate even the worst mouth odors for 8 whole hours.”

How it Works and Results – Now go into detail.

“Tasty8 Mouth Rinse uses three different kinds of bacteria neutralizing agents to completely rid your mouth of odors and leave your breath fresh and tingly clean for a whole 8 hours. Just rinse for 30 seconds and you’ll have breath so fresh your confidence will soar and women will throw themselves at you. Or at any rate, your wife will at least kiss you again.”

(You do realize I’m making this up off the top of my head, right?)

Call to Action
– “Visit our site right now for a 20% off coupon when you sign up for our plain brown wrapper auto ship program.”

6: Breakthrough Video

This type of video explains something new of a breakthrough nature. If you have a unique solution to a problem, for example, then this is the script to use. Because you want to get to your breakthrough as fast as possible, you’re going to immediately start with the…

Problem – what is the problem and why is it so terrible?

“Your friends are afraid to tell you that your cat’s litter box smells worse than you think – a LOT worse. In fact, they’re talking behind your back about how they hate visiting your house because it’s so bad.”

Hopelessness
– there was no real solution until YOUR solution.

“Until now, all you could do was try to cover the smell with scents or clean the litter boxes multiple times per day.

Unique Solution and Why it Works – why and how is your solution so much better or more advanced than anything else out there?

“But thanks to our exciting discovery, your friends will never again be afraid to enter your house. Miracle Cat Litter with exclusive odor absorbing clay beads harvested from the Valley of the Picas removes 99.979% of all odors. These amazing clay beads are just the size of pinheads, yet they can remove 1000 times their own weight in odor. And they’re completely natural and healthy, with no toxic chemicals or perfumes to hurt your kitty.”

Call to Action

“Visit our website now to see Miracle Cat Litter in action with our exclusive Smell-o-Vision technology and get your coupon for 25% off your first bag.”

Smell-O-Vision?? Sure, why not…

7: One of the Gang Videos

Your first goal with this video is to establish common ground. It could be “us against them” such as a common enemy, or simply “you’re not alone” in having this problem.

Establish the Common Interest – You can ask a question, make a statement, let them know they are not alone or point out the common enemy.

“Don’t you hate it when your coworker in the next cubicle just won’t shut up? This happened to me and she almost got me fired.”

Problem – what’s the problem you’re going to solve?

“I know exactly what it’s like to continuously be bothered with distractions at work. Because I couldn’t get any work done or even think straight with this coworker continuously talking, my boss thought I was slacking off. He was going to fire me and I knew I had to do something quick.”

Solution – “Thank goodness, I discovered Pure Quiet Headphones. When I slip these on all background noise disappears. I can’t even hear my coworker, and she’s only 6 feet away.”

How it Works
– “These headphones work by canceling out all incoming noise, as well as generating a very soft brown noise that helps my brain to intensely focus on my work. Now I get twice as much work done in half the time. I’ve gotten two promotions in 14 months and my pay has doubled. Just imagine what these Pure Quiet Headphones can do for you!”

Call to Action – “Visit our website for a no-risk trial today.”

8: The Talk Show Sales Ad

I love these because they’re ads cleverly disguised as interviews. Most everyone likes interviews and talk shows. The back and forth repartee keeps it lively and interesting, like listening in on a private conversation between an expert and someone who knows how to extract all the best info from him or her.

Place a video interview in your sales funnel and people won’t even realize at first that they are being sold to. If we think about the webinar in which someone interviews the expert – but you call it an interview instead – then you’ll get the idea.

One note about the talk show or interview ad is this: If you’re looking for brevity, this format is seldom the answer. When is the last time you heard a one-minute talk show? But if you have at least 5 minutes or more, then you might consider this one.

For your ‘interview,’ write down the key points and then have a real conversation using this outline:

Introduction
– the person doing the interview introduces herself and then the expert, explaining what problem they’re going to discuss (solve) in this interview.

Establish credibility – The person doing the interview asks a question to get things rolling such as this person’s experience in solving this problem.

Agitate the problem – Then they might go in depth on the problem; why it’s terrible and why it needs to be solved.

Give hope – The person being interviewed can talk about how they had this problem or how some of their customers or clients had this problem and what an enormous difference it made when the problem was solved.

Other solutions
– Then they talk about various well-known solutions, and what is wrong with each solution or why they are problematic or difficult to implement, all while letting listeners know there is a better way which they will talk about in just a moment.

The Solution
– Finally they talk about the solution they want the audience to embrace. Time wise this takes about one third of the interview.

Call to action
– And lastly there is the call to action.

9: Video Testimonial

This is super simple and short. But never underestimate the power of a video testimonial, especially if the speaker is well-known or has some sort of implied credibility such as being the CEO of a company.

Introduction
– the speaker introduces herself. “Hello, I’m Elizabeth Michaels, Marketing Vice President for Incapacitated Pharmaceuticals.”

The Problem Statement – this is what came before your brilliant solution.

“Before the Hypnotized Doctor App, we had to send sales reps out to convince doctors to prescribe our drugs.”

Results – what’s the result of using your solution?

“But then we got smart and hired Bob’s Hackers to break into every doctor’s phone and install the Hypnotized Doctor App. Now we never need to send out sales reps because every doctor in the country is continually hypnotized while they sleep to prescribe our drugs to every patient they see. Our sales are through the roof, our shareholders are happy and I’m about to retire to a South Seas island with no extradition laws.”

Conclusion – the person giving the testimonial can make a recommendation to anyone watching.

“If you want to influence doctors, just do what we did and in a few short weeks you can be retiring, too!”

To any pharma reps or companies out there… just kidding!

To any doctors reading this… you might want to check your phone. Just in case.

10: Story Video

This one is my favorite. I should probably use it more because everyone – EVERYONE – pays attention to a story that captivates them. And the payoff for a story video can be high if it happens to go viral on social media. But this one also seems like more work to me, which is why I don’t often take the time to use it.

To be fair, most of the other scripts do incorporate a bit of a story arc. For example, here’s where you are (it sucks!) here’s where you could be (it’s wonderful!) and here’s how to get there.

But to do a real story video, you’ll want to use this basic story structure that has been working for literally thousands of years:

Inciting Incident – The hero’s normal life is disrupted by some event that provides a challenge or goal.

(Woman receives an invitation to her 25th high school reunion and is horrified to realize the ex-cheerleaders will make cruel jokes about how she looks.)

Turning Point – The hero gets busy and accepts the challenge or goes on the adventure or makes a decision to right a wrong, etc.

(Our hero decides she will absolutely lose the weight and get in shape for the reunion.)

Midpoint – After some success and some failure, the hero reaches a point of no return.

(Our hero loses a little weight but is starving and exhausted and can’t go on. Then one of the dreadful cheerleaders calls her to see if she’s coming, and she accidentally brags to this cheerleader about wearing the same outfit she wore on graduation day. Now she HAS TO lose the weight.)

Escalation – The hero has to risk everything to win, or the stakes have become unbearably high, or something has made it even more imperative that the hero wins.

(She has everything on the line now, because word has spread and everyone is expecting her to wear her graduation outfit.)

Final battle – the exhausted hero learns her biggest lesson from her worst failure.

(Her weight is right where it was and there are only 4 weeks left to the reunion. Starving and working out like crazy did NOT work. She is about to throw in the towel and not go to the reunion when she finds your program. She dives in and in 4 weeks she loses 30 pounds.)

Hero defeats the antagonist and finally achieves her goal.

(She wears that same sexy outfit she wore at graduation. The cheerleaders (who have all gained weight) are green with envy. The high school quarterback asks her to dance. Sparks fly. The end.)

That’s a LOT to fit into a short video but it can be done. Animation works really well for this.

And there you have it – 10 different scripts you can use for your ads and a whole lot more. Keep these handy because you’ll find they can also work well for other mediums beside video. For example, doing live calls, writing sales copy, email marketing and more.

A few things:

  • Watch your pacing
  • Never use more words than you need
  • Make every word you do use count
  • Never, ever be boring

And have fun! Making video ads can be a blast because they are so short. It’s excellent practice for making longer videos, and it’s a skill you’ll always be able to use in your marketing.

Irving