Copyright 2006 Peter Tarrida del Marmol
When writing a sales copy, all internet marketers know that a long copy will sell more than a short copy. This does not mean that the more words the better; the quantity and the quality of detail is what will improve its performance.
Having the correct sales structure will keep the reader interested from start to finish. These are the steps to follow to create a successful sales letter:
1. USE A POWERFUL HEADLINE. Express the main benefit of your product in a short sentence. Grab your readers attention and make them want to continue reading.
2. CREATE EXCITEMENT WITH A SUB-HEADLINE. In no more than two or three short sentences, expand on the benefits of your product and generate excitement in your reader. If you are offering a limited promotion, specify the limitations of your offer here.
3. OUTLINE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. Give the reader three good reasons to buy your product. These reasons have nothing to do with the product's features; think about what your customer wants. For example, if you are selling holiday villas, say something like:
"If you want to take advantage of the comfort of a luxury apartment, enjoy the Mediterranean sun and save money on your summer vacations, then this might be the most important letter you'll ever read"
4. EXPLAIN YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION. This is the specific benefit that differentiates your product from all the others. At this point, you must mention your USP in one or two sentences. You will explain the details later in the sales letter.
5. PROVE YOUR CREDIBILITY. The most important thing to sell on the internet is credibility. Your readers have to trust you before they will buy anything from you. Give them three reasons why they should believe you. Try to prove that what you say is true.
6. EXPLAIN THE FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. Explain how your product will improve your reader's life or how it will solve a problem. The more detail you can provide, the more convincing your copy will be.
7. PROVIDE MORE DETAIL ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT. Here is where you can tell the reader everything about your product. Use as much space as you need. Write until you get bored.
8. INCLUDE CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS. In order to continue establishing credibility, mention testimonials of customers that have already bought from you and enjoyed your product. Have them mention what they liked most about the product instead of making general comments like "I really loved your product..." or something similar. Mention at least five testimonials.
9. ELIMINATE THE COMPETITION. You eliminate your competition by giving your reader the information they need to see that your product is superior. Mention the elements where your product is excellent and much better than your competition.
10. BUILD VALUE. To build value in your offer you have to let your readers know that your offer is so good, that they cannot refuse to take it. One way of doing this is to compare the value of your offer with the normal value of your product.
11. PROVIDE A SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING YOUR CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE. Make sure your reader understands everything he is going to get from you.
12. MENTION THE PRICE OF YOUR PRODUCT. Mention the regular price and the sale price of your product. The regular price must be crossed out and the offer must follow.
13. LIST YOUR BONUS PRODUCTS. The objective is to prompt immediate action by offering something extra. With this strategy, you are also adding value to your product. You can also try to create a sense of urgency by telling that the bonuses will only be available for a short time.
14. OFFER A STRONG GUARANTEE. The strongest guarantee you can offer is a "money back" guarantee. The willingness to offer your product at no risk will generate a lot of trust and confidence among your readers. You have to honour your guarantee for any returns you may get, but you can be sure that the sales you will generate with this strategy will be by far outnumber the number of returns.
15. RE-EMPHASIZE YOUR GUARANTEE. Remove all elements of risk by closing your sales copy with something like:
"You don't have to decide now if this product is for you. Just get it and try it out. If it doesn't do everything I say and more, if you don't save money, or if your business doesn't improve, or if your life isn't better, or if you don't absolutely love it, just let me know and I'll give you every cent of your money back! So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
16. TELL THEM HOW TO ORDER YOUR PRODUCT. Provide detailed instructions about how to place the order.
17. SIGN THE LETTER. Use your full name and title.
18. CLOSE WITH A "P.S." Use this part to emphasize the most relevant points of your letter.
Remember that this will be a long sales copy that will take your readers some time to read. With this in mind, you must work on the format and design of the copy so that it is as friendly as possible. Highlight the most important statements, so that the letter can also be read in one or two minutes.

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Peter Tarrida del Mármol is a Spanish online and offline marketer. Get a FREE e-book about making business online EVERY WEEK by subscribing to his newsletter:
http://www.auctionearnings.com


The Quiet Revolution In Matrix Marketing
By Marige O'Brien Copyright 2006
The key elements of matrix marketing have always SEEMED like a great way to create a successful perpetual income. But whenever that blueprint has been transferred to real life, some unforeseen element causes it to fail. Why?
That's the question Thom Thompson of Our Power Forced Matrix (OPFM), asked himself. Before he began OPFM, he was an instructor in internet marketing and knew more about the dynamics of successful marketing than most gurus. He, like so many others, scratched his head at the theories, seaching for a clue to the matrix puzzle.
BACKGROUND
Matrix marketing is another term for Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), the pyramid-like concept of expotential growth that occurs when a company offers incentives to those who bring in new marketers. Marketer -A-, for instance, earns a percentage of the income for every other marketer that joins the sales team through him or his links. Those marketers become his "downline." They, in turn, bring in others and the downline grows, creating a "matrix".
To help the matrix grow, it is common for MLM's to include a FORCED aspect to this plan. That is, once a marketer bringS in so many other marketers (usually between 2-4), anyone else they bring in will automatically go UNDER one of THEIR downlines, thus FORCING the matrix to grow. This is done to even the playing field, so that stronger marketers can help their weaker counter-parts get started, as well as to ensure even expotential growth.
THE PROBLEM
The main difficulty with this concept has always been that only those on the top levels earn a sizeable income, while those at the bottom earn almost nothing. Compounding the problem is that, those at the bottom often NEED a good income in order to invest and have any chance of success at all. Without that investment, the matrix's growth often slows to a crawl, if it doesn't die out altogether. This is one of the factors that has caused dot-coms to perish in the past.
THE FLIP FIX
Established marketers have come to realize that this problrem directly impacts their own success. Despite having brought in, perhaps, 100 people, if the majority of those marketers don't succeed as well, their own efforts have been wasted.
Understanding this has even prompted some aggressive marketers to offer a "matrix flip" in which the upper level marketers willinglyGIVE UP their own position to the bottom levels, in order to support their efforts and, theoretically, ensure the continued growth of the matrix. This has had some success, though it usually falls short of the goal simply because, not having earned what they receive, those that benefit and were FLIPPED to the top, have no appreciation or understanding of what that position entails. To put it briefly: They don't understand what they've been given. It's like giving ruby earrings to a 5-year-old girl who proceeds to lose them in the sandbox.
And then there is the "it's too good to be true" factor, because many doubt the flip's reality, forever sniffing for a scam. Their own insecurity doesn't allow them to see the honest value of the successful marketer's investment in them -- much as they did initially. They also fail to understand that, like any new business, their unlooked for profits SHOULD be re-invested. Instead they take the money and run-- and often return to find their "pot of gold" has run out. They scratch their heads, never realizing it was their own actions that caused this to happen.
And the experienced marketers return to scratching THEIR heads over the blueprints. Until now.
NOW
In October, 2005, Thomas Thompson quietly unveiled a new concept in forced matrix marketing, one that adds several key elements that have never been attempted in the past. By doing so, he has begun a quiet revolution in one corner of the internet. One that, some believe, may even change the nature of affiliate marketing as we know it today. Already, in less than 3 moonths, his plan is spreading like wild-fire and has grown to include over 20,000 marketers. What has he done?
He's added two elements to the Forced Matrix concept:
1) THE TEAM CONCEPT: This, in and of itself, is nothing new. But coupled with the Forced matrix becomes a "force", if you will, to be reckoned with. Rather than the marketers being anchored to any one program or product, this group works as an INDEPENDENT TEAM and will continue to be so. Plus, the entire OPFM group is committed to working as a group through multiple programs. In fact, the matrix is designed with this committment.
Because of this, the group itself becomes an incredibly strong marketing force.
2) MULTI MEGA-FLIPS
Being independent, the group can work together and, as they move from one program to another, create their own "flips". By doing this, and requiring all members to commit to all programs, the OPFM virtually guarantees that EVERYONE will end up at the top of at least one program.
These two factors, more than any other, insure that the group WILL be self-perpetuating and profitable.
This explains the group's explosive growth. But the growth itself has added another bonus that even Thomas Thompson hadn't envisioned.
The team's size, alone, has attracted the attention of many internet companies who need a powerful marketing boost. This, then, becomes a third factor that further insures OPFM's perpetuity. In the classic "nothing succeeds like success" philosophy, companies are lining up, vying for position in future programs, even offering the group special incentives that only THESE marketers will enjoy.
WHERE WILL IT END?
Just as most internet companies evenutally developed MLMs once the concept took hold, copycat marketing groups will inevitably spring up to match the OPFM concept. But, being the first it is doubtful others will be able to match their impact. Still, with these copycats, it won't be long before a normal part of becoming an internet marketer includes being a part of one group or another.
And, too, since this concept is ideally suited to offering relatively quick success, it also promises to give the online marketing world a much needed infusion of new marketers who, because they can rely on their income, will realize the dream of working online.
In short, a quiet revolution has begun in the internet marketing world and Our Power Forced Matrix started it.-- mo.
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About The Author
Marige O'Brien works as a writer, web designer and Internet Marketer. Visit her Website, Tracker Mo's Den. Join our Our Power Forced Matrix today.


Think Like Google with AdSense
Copyright 2006 Mark Meshulam
A conversation with my son Matt confirmed my suspicion. The Google AdSense ads I recently installed on my website www.poingo.com are actually giving me an insight into what the Google search engine spider cherry-picks from of my web page content.
It's not hard to imagine: AdSense ads are context sensitive. They exist as scripts on the web page. In order to be context sensitive, the script must initiate an indexing when the page is opened and refreshed.
Is there any reason to think that the indexing process performed by Google AdSense would be different from the process used by Google the search engine? None I can think of. Both indexing processes need to do the same job: extract core meaning from a page and compare it to a database.
In AdSense, the database contains paid ads waiting for a relevancy match. In search, the database holds keywords. But the meaning extracted from the web page could easily be identical.
Therefore, one might get a peek into the Google indexing algorithm by reviewing a series of web pages which display AdSense ads, and studying the ad content.
I studied the 30 or so pages on my site at www.poingo.com and checked the AdSense ads on each page for relevancy to the page content. Results were quite interesting.
The site contains a number of pages which present the features of various software or service offerings. Verbiage on these pages tends to be sparse and oriented toward key concepts.
On these product presentation pages, AdSense did a great job of extracting meaning.
For example, the page offering Poingo Email Printer, software which creates PDFs, was accompanied by AdSense ads which all pertained to PDF conversion. Text on the page was minimal, but the page title contained "create PDF", there were 3 keywords metatags containing "PDF", and the first paragraph contained "convert PDF" in bold.
From an indexing standpoint the page spoon-fed meaning to Google, and obviously there was a wellspring of PDF software advertisers for Google to find in its database. A match (or five matches to be exact) made in heaven!
Similarly, pages offering FTP software and an Outlook add-in received highly relevant companion ads. Again, words on the page were sparse, but page title and paragraph text contained the obvious words FTP and Outlook respectively, and Google AdSense took the bait.
The three pages mentioned above offered essentially single concept offerings. PDF. FTP. Outlook. No confusing multiple choices.
When analyzing the page which offers Lightning Navigator, a hotkey shortcut software with multiple features, AdSense picked one feature, screen capture, to orient 3 of the 5 the companion ads. Interestingly, screen capture is listed seventh on the list of product features. It follows six other features which were all keyword-optimized but ignored by AdSense.
From previous research, I recall that keywords pertaining to screen capture such as "print screen", "screen shot", and "screen grab" receive many more clicks per day than other features such as "automatically create email" and "internet shortcut".
Apparently in this example, AdSense was quickly able to select the key concept for which it had the most ads to apply, and then threw most of its ad eggs in this basket. The interaction between page and AdSense now becomes more interesting. Inventory of relevant advertisers becomes a factor in selecting key concept. That makes sense. You can't post an ad if it's not in the queue.
The non-screen capture ads on the Lightning Navigator page are as follows: 1 for shortcuts (highly relevant) 1 for surveillance equipment (huh??)
I have no doubt that there is a reason the surveillance equipment ad appeared, but it was not visible to me in the text of my page, the ad itself, or the page which the ad linked to. Mystery abounds on this one.
If your eyes are not bleary yet, stick around. There is more to tell.
A sizeable portion of the Poingo website is the article section. Here I publish articles about small business and people, processes and technology in the workplace.
The articles were written without use of a keyword suggestion tool. They are written in 100% non keyword optimized English. What did Adsense do with these verbose index-elusive rants?
To appear scientific - after all, somebody might actually read this - I developed a down-and-dirty rating scale. First I counted the number of relevant ads (of 5 total) per page, then I multiplied it by a subjective relevancy score scaled 1 through 5, where 5 is "frickin' good" and 1 is "obscure at best."
Therefore a page score of 25 (5 ads x relevancy score of 5) would be a top score ("AdSense, you're seeing into my very soul") and 0 would be ("We never talk anymore, You don't even know me(sniff)"). Here is the scoring: Chart showing AdSense Ad Relevancy for Articles AdSense scored an average of 10.5 out of a possible 25 on these wordy, interesting but non optimized articles. Yet in 7 articles out of 20, Google scored the coveted "frickin' good" appellation. 35% of the articles were "understood" with high accuracy.
Beyond that, there was a chasm of irreconcilable differences leading ultimately to the vacuum of deep space. What does it mean to us little folk waving our flags and trying to get noticed on the web?
Keep your message simple and clean, boiled down to one or two key concepts on a page. The spiders want to understand us but they are kinda dumb. At least that's what Matt says.
For charts and data: http://www.poingo.com/ART-think-like-google-with-adsense.htm

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Mark Meshulam offers productivity tools, software, services and information to grow small business. Email tickler system. Make PDFs. Outlook Image Editor. Timestamp filenames. Hotkey shortcuts. Screen grabs. FTP software. http://www.poingo.com