Michael Wilding

Category: Conversion

  • F**k Trump

    F**k Trump

    If nothing else, Trump has probably caused the most controversy as a president in recent history.

    Personally I think he’s a moron. If you’re for him, then I’m sorry, there’s not much I can do to help.

    One thangs for sure… Robert De Niro ain’t giving him much love!

    Michael

    [divider]

    Standing Ovation by F*****g Trump

    (not literally, that would be wrong!)

    Robert De Niro has always been an outspoken critic about Donald Trump, but on Sunday night he lifted it to a new level!

    In his speech he said “F**k Trump” and the audience awarded him with a standing ovation.

    Want the full story?

    Here it is in all it’s toupe glory.

    [divider]

    The Ultimate Guide To Question Headlines

    Learn To Get Killer Open Rates By Asking A Question

    Headlines are important.

    Scratch that.

    Headlines are possibly the most important element of an email or sales page.

    Why?

    Because if you don’t get a reader interested in the headline, they sure as heck ain’t gonna be reading the rest of your writing on the page.

    (or opening your email if it’s a subject line)

    However, most folk don’t spend enough time thinking about the headsline they’re going to use, or how they’re going to use it.

    Me included.

    Time is always precious, so how can we write a headline quickly that we know will get attention?

    By asking oursdelves four questions.

    The four questions outlined in this blog post from the awesome Copyblogger team.

    [divider]

    Nobody Wants To Buy Your Stuff?

    Here’s How To Fix It…

    Only a small number of the people who visit your website are going to want to buy your stuff.

    And no, it’s nothing personal.

    Unless you have a photo of yourself on the sales page and you’re super-ugly.

    But then you may be selling make-overs and able to turn that into a fortune!

    It’s simply the fact that only a few people who come to your site are going to want the benefits of your product enough to be prepared to part with their hard earned mulla.

    Simply put, you start at the top of a funnel (the widest part) with lots of people visiting your website, and as you go down the funnel people drop out until you get to the number of people purchasing.

    Here’s a nice graphic from Quicksprout showing it.

    The question all companies want answering is…

    How do I get the most people from Awareness to Conversion?

    And that’s an answer which Neil Patel answers in this superb post.

  • Small things can be better ;)

    Small things can be better 😉

    I’ve just cleaned out 97% of my mailing list.

    *deep breath* *deep breath* *deep breath*

    It’s a terrifying thing to do, but sometimes it can reap massive rewards.

    I removed everybody who hasn’t opened an email or clicked a link in the last 30 days.

    Generally I do this over a six month period, but I know I’ve got a bunch of dead leads in my list, so… I figured it was time to give a one-off heavy duty clean.

    In a thirty day period, on average, only 3% of my mailing list were interacting.

    Over a 180 day period this obviously increased, but I’m only interested in the regular readers.

    Has it helped?

    Yup.

    Because since I did it, I’ve increased my open rates by 50%!

    That means I’m now getting 50% more emails opened than I was with a list that was 97% larger.

    Get your head round that one.

    Here’s what happens…

    If you have a big list and you get a 10% open rate. That’s great, but it’s a pretty low interaction, which means a bunch of the email providers will be putting your email into spam or slowing down the speed of delivery to the inbox once they’ve accepted the email.

    Not so good.

    A huge clear up and suddenly you’re getting a 30%, 40%, 50% or even higher open rate.

    Damn… people must friggin love you!

    Now the email providers think that everybody wants to get your email, so it gets delivered quickly and to the inbox.

    The result = more people opening your emails from a significantly smaller mailing list.

    It’s not rocket science, but dumping 97% of the list is like taking a punch to head psychologically. It’s tough, but when you do it and it works.

    Have an awesome weekend,

    Michael

    P.S. Get your free autoresponder account at https://goo.gl/rF647L

    P.P.S. The link above only lasts for four more days, I may create another one, I may not.

  • Are fitness DVD’s a lie?

    Are fitness DVD’s a lie?

    This morning in the paper, amongst all the stories about murder, was this…

    I mean… No S**t!

    Of course, a fitness “regime” will help. But there’s no way you’re going to drop vast amounts of weight in sixty days through fitness alone.

    Maybe over a year or two, but no way in sixty days.

    Heck, I know someone who works in the fitness and weight-loss market and with good lighting and a little bit of make-up, you can make it look like someone’s gained a six pack within sixty minutes!

    That’s not to say the fitness videos won’t get you fit. I’m sure they will. But what they won’t do is allow you to lose a gazillion stone.

    But hey… that’s marketing!

    And when you’re talking about a multi-billion dollar industry, a story in the paper isn’t going to change how people market.

    Damn, you’re not going to change the way people market in most industries.

    Why?

    Because telling people what they want to hear will always out-sell telling people what they need to do.

    Full stop.

    As marketers it’s our job to make sure that we tread the line of telling people what they want to hear and being truthful about what the product does at the same time.

    That’s the skill of a copywriter.

    Wind that into a story which your audience can relate to and…

    …you can call yourself a master copywriter.

    Not to diminish the skill of copywriting.

    But let’s be honest, it ain’t rocket science, it’s just practice 😉

    Ciao,

    Michael

  • One portion of fried blood please

    One portion of fried blood please

    Would you eat fried blood?

    It was a question asked this morning when we were served up black puddings.

    If you’re not sure what black pudding is, it’s a blood sausage eaten here over in Great Britain and Ireland.

    Some people love it, some people hate it.

    Me personally, I love it.

    I love it so much that I had two!

    But here’s what’s funny…

    Often you find that someone will say that they don’t like it even when they’ve never tried it.

    Why?

    Because of the thought.

    If you told them it was sausage meat and black oats, they’d try it and probably like.

    Perception is everything.

    And it’s the same in business.

    It doesn’t matter whether you’ve done something before or not. What matters is that the person who’s asking you to do it believes you can do it.

    Of course, if you can’t follow through with what you’ve sold, then you’re going to find yourself in difficulty.

    But you get the idea 😉

    When you look at marketing, this becomes even more important.

    Marketing is all about perception.

    Heck, there’s even copywriting known as “blind copy” which means you are selling something without telling the potential customers what they’re buying.

    In this case the product itself is completely irrelevant.

    What’s important is the journey and the emotional tones.

    I generally don’t recommend this because you will always end up with more refunds than normal, simply because customkers are buying without knowing what they’re buying.

    AND… that means it’s used most often for products which are sub-quality.

    But, like anything, in the right situation it can generate a huge amount of revenue.

    Bottom line, perception is everything. Always consider what perception you want your audience to have, and tailor your content and copy to it.

    Have a great weekend,

    Michael

  • Your Product Launch Cheat-Sheet

    Your Product Launch Cheat-Sheet

    We’re gearing up to launch a new product through the Race Advisor, my horse racing blog, and it’s looking to be a very exciting launch.

    However much you prepare, and I like to think we prepare a lot, there’s always a ton to do just before the launch, and it’s very easy to forget what you need to get in place.

    Missing just one element can have a big impact on the success of the launch.

    So… I figured you’d like to have a cheat sheet to a digital product launch.

    1) Create product
    2) Create opt-in product (very high value, should be of a quality you could actually sell it)
    3) Write sales page
    4) Write auto-responder sequence selling your product for anybody who opts-in to your freebie
    5) Write email sequence for promoting the opt-in page
    6) Get graphics done for product, book cover, software and/or opt-in product
    7) Make the sales page
    8) Create product in your payment processor and link it to your sales page
    9) Add product to your members area
    10) Create any support content if the product requires it
    11) Contact affiliate partners inviting them to join you in the launch
    12) Send affiliate partners their affiliate links and swipe emails
    13) Test everything works when you join

    Phew.

    As you can see, there’s a lot to think about.

    If you’re planning on doing your first launch, I’d suggest you create your product, sales pages, emails, opt-in offer and everything you need to launch before setting a date and contacting affiliates.

    Doing this means everything will be in place, and tested, before you plan the launch date. It’ll take longer to launch, but will be far less stressful.

    The only proviso is… you need to do it. If you need some pressure to complete the work, set a date and invite affiliates. Just remember, if you let your affiliates down by not releasing the product, they’ll almost certainly not agree to promote for you again.

    The choice is yours 😉

    Ciao,

    Michael