This page was updated on January 29, 2001
The Downline Online 21-day
SFI Promotion Course
DAY 3
Get ready, because today you're going to get your business going!
Today you'll learn what brings people to your SFI site and how to start
"driving" them there. You'll also learn how to double your SFI commissions and
set yourself up for EVEN BIGGER checks.
Today's lesson is a biggie. In many ways it's the foundation for your success. You may
want to print it out to make it easier to read.
*** I'm already seeing people in my Powerline! ***
If you haven't already, you'll SOON start getting email from SFI letting you know you
have new people in your Powerline!
Why is that happening? If you read the info at my training website at
http://www.downlineonline.com/members/start.htm or the info at http://sfimg.com/training/
it describes described how the efforts of ALL the people above you in the Powerline are
helping build YOUR business FOR YOU.
*** What do I do about these new Powerline members? ***
Just enjoy that your business is building as you learn how to build your business.
Later, I'll tell you what to do when YOU start bringing in Powerline people.
##### Today's Lesson -- Anatomy of an ad #####
Before I launch into this lesson, let me make this IMPORTANT point:
YOU DON'T need to get it all!
You do NOT need to become an expert copywriter. You do NOT need to become an EXPERT
advertiser.
You DO need to understand a bit about why ads work so that you can modify the ones we
give you and, eventually, place your own.
Everything I'm about to say comes from decades of tested advertising methods. These
things work for a reason. But more important than the reason *why* they work is that they
*do* work.
Here's the easiest way to describe this lesson: You responded to an ad -- an email, a
banner ad, a classified link, something. Then you got to the SFI website and filled out
the registration form.
Why?
The answer is what this lesson is about.
*** What makes an ad work ***
The simple answer to "why you came to the SFI site" and "what makes an
ad work" is that the ad and the website did one or two primary things: mentioned
something that you wanted or thought would benefit you, and/or sparked your curiosity (and
if you check out the curiosity factor, you were curious if the thing mentioned in the ad
might benefit you).
That's the most important thing in an ad - THE BENEFIT.
Everything in an ad must be a BENEFIT to the person reading the ad. What's a benefit?
Getting something you want, getting it cheaper (or FREE), getting a better
something-or-other, getting something easier, faster, more powerful. Getting money,
attention, affection, admiration, freedom, free time, autonomy (not having to answer to a
boss).
There are a LOT of possible benefits. All of them answer the one question that the
reader is silently and unconsciously asking, "What's in it for me?" Also known
as the WIFM (I know, it should be WIIFM, but it's not... don't ask me, it's not my
acronym).
When the person reading the ad wants the benefit that the ad presents, the ad is 1 step
closer to working.
*** The most important part of an ad ***
What's the biggest part of an ad? THE HEADLINE.
The headline is, in a way, an ad for your ad. If someone doesn't read the headline,
they won't read the rest of the ad.
Think about it, when you get your email, do you open and read all the email, or look at
the subjects and decide if you're going to read the rest? In email, the subject line is
the headline.
Some online ads are ONLY headlines. On many classified ad sites, you usually only see
headlines. When you click on the headline, you then get to see the rest of the ad...
which, in the online world, we call a website! And what's at the top of a good website?
That's right, a headline!
*** Good headlines ***
Simple is best. I'll point you to headlines we've successfully used in the ACTION
section of this lesson. But I'll give you a few for now. Luckily, we can provide a number
of benefits to readers:
FREE Internet Income Course - $249 Value!
FREE money-making Affiliate website
FREE Six-Figure Income Newsletter
Your commission check
FREE Online Income system
About your subscription
Improve your online business -- FREE report
Want to make money online? FREE info.
The ones with "FREE" in them, provide a benefit to the reader, something they
want. If they're interested in making money and making money online, they'll be interested
in a FREE newsletter or report.
The "Your" ads are curiosity generators. I send those to people who I KNOW
are already trying to make money online (you'll learn how to know that in another lesson).
Since these people are trying to make money, when they see these ads, they may think,
"What about my commission check?" or "What about my subscription?"
because they're probably hoping to get commision checks from somewhere or have
subscriptions to something. Then, when they see the rest of the ad... well, let's talk
about the rest of the ad.
*** What your ad should say ***
Benefits, benefits, benefits.
I'm not going to say much more than that. When you look at the sample ads I'll point
you to in a moment, you'll see what I mean.
Okay, features too.
Once you've described benefits, you can back it up with features, or specifics. For
example, when we tell someone "Learn to make money with a FREE online income
course," they want that benefit. Then when we add, "from home business
multi-millionaire Gery Carson," we're describing a feature of the course -- that it
came from Gery, a successful person. It doesn't matter if they know who Gery is, the fact
that we're being specific is what matters.
"Make money working 20 minutes a day" is a benefit. "We give you a
money-making website" is a feature (with the implied benefit "so you don't have
to develop it yourself").
*** Add Value ***
Especially when you're giving away something free, tell them what it would be worth if
they bought it!
*** Availability and time pressure ***
You want the reader to feel like they have to ACT NOW! And that, if they don't, they'll
miss out, because this is a LIMITED TIME OFFER! You want them to think that there are ONLY
A FEW LEFT!
I'll tell you something funny. Even those of us who are in the ad writing biz, and know
that lines like this are just ploys to get the reader to respond, still respond to time
pressure! When I read and ad that says "Order before midnight to get your FREE
BONUS" and I *know* that I can order ANYTIME and get the bonus... I still order
before midnight.
*** Reverse the risk ***
Otherwise known as the guarantee. The better the guarantee, the better the ad pulls.
"30-day money-back guarantee." "No obligation." "Try before you
buy." "You won't spend a dime until you've made a ten dollars."
"Double your money back guarantee!"
Simply, you want the reader to think that there's no risk in replying, that all the
risk is yours for making the offer.
*** Call to action ***
Now is not the time to be coy. Tell the reader EXACTLY what you want them to do!
"Click here now and fill out the form on our website." "Go to
http://sixfigureincome.com/free/?27270 and sign up now." "Pick up the phone and
dial this number -- then give our operators your name and number."
*** Bonuses ***
It's always fun to add a "special bonus." It locks in the response. Sometimes
the bonus is the only reason people respond -- which do you think people want more, a
subscription to Sports Illustrated or the "Making of the Swimsuit Issue" bonus
video? (if you're one of the people who got a subscription because you wanted the football
phone, don't tell me about it!)
Remember the last infomercial you saw? "But wait, that's not all! Order today and
you'll also get..."
The bonus sells the product.
*** The MOST important word in any ad ***
Last but CERTAINLY not least. You have to know the most important word in any ad is...
"YOU."
There are two reasons this is such an important word. First is that it makes the reader
feel like s/he is being spoken to. Second is that when you use the word "you,"
the odds are you're talking about a benefit and not a feature.
When you say "we give you X," that's almost always a feature. When you say
"you get Y," it's a better chance that you're talking about a benefit.
Go through any ad you write and replace thing about "me," "us,"
"I" and "we" with "you" and "your."
*** Banner ads ***
Successful banner ads use the same rules that I just described, ESPECIALLY the call to
action! Banners that say "Click Here" do 100% better than those that don't! We
have a number of successful banner ads that you can use.
Animation is often good in banner ads, but not always important.
Lately, the best banner ads look like parts of the website. You'll see banner ads that
look like little text boxes and buttons, but are actually just graphics, designed to
almost trick you into clicking on them. Hey, they work!
**** How do I know if my ads are working? ****
You'll get sales and/or Affiliates!
But let's ask a better question: "How do I know if *a particular* ad is
working?"
Imagine that you place an ad in 10 different places for $100 each -- that's $1,000
total. And imagine that only one of them is actually working. Wouldn't you like to know
which one, so you could pull the $900 of bad ads? Of course you would.
And imagine you have an ad that works, but you wonder if a different headline might
work better. Wouldn't you like to be able to tell which headline brings in the most
response? Of course you would.
How can you know those two things? With something called Tracking Codes.
*** Tracking Codes and how to use them ***
Tracking let's you examine the results of a specific ad. And it's simple. To track an
ad, you just put some sort of code into the ad that people have to use when they respond.
For example, when you see an ad in Time magazine that says, "Mail your check to
XYZ Corp., Dept. 10," the department number is the thing that tells the XYZ Corp.
that you saw their Time magazine ad. They probably run the same ad in Newsweek, saying,
"Mail your check to XYZ Corp, Dept. 20."
You can do the same thing with your SFI ads by adding period followed by a two digit
tracking code to your SFI ID# (any two digit number between .00 and .98 -- .99 is
reserved).
For example, my SFI ID# is 27270. If I want to point someone to the SFI website, I send
them to www.sixfigureincome.com/free/?27270. If I place an ad that I want to track the
results of, I might use the website URL www.sixfigureincome.com/free/?27270.25.
In fact, what I do is this: I make up a little chart, with the numbers 00 to 98 down
the left side. When I want to place a new ad, I write in the details of the ad (where I'm
placing it, if it's testing a new headline, etc.) next to a number that I'm not using.
Then I add that number to my SFI ID. I also write down the cost of the ad (if any), and I
keep a tally of the results -- the number of affiliates or the amount of sales produced.
My chart might look like this:
| # |
AD |
COST |
Affils |
| 01 |
DEMC classified |
$40 |
20 |
| 02 |
FFA blast |
--- |
5 |
| 03 |
AOL classified |
$20 |
30 |
| 04 |
Newspaper ad |
$60 |
1 |
| 05 |
Banner ad on my site |
--- |
10 |
| 06 |
FFA Page |
$25 (one-time) |
2/day (ave.) |
Looking at this chart, I want to cancel the newspaper ad (or re- write the headline, or
place it in a different newspaper, or in a different section), keep doing the free things,
and look at adding another FFA page (you'll learn about those soon).
You can keep this chart on your computer or on a piece of paper that you carry with you
(I do both, just in case I'm away from my computer and find a place to advertise that I
want to code).
*** Using Tracking Codes ***
As you create ads, add tracking codes to your SFI ID. When people sign up as affiliates
or purchase products, SFI will send you an email saying that reports the tracking code so
you'll be able to guage your results.
*** THE BIG BUT ***
BUT... SFI will only give you this tracking information if:
A) You Upgrade to Member.
*** More benefits for Upgrading ***
When you upgrade to Member, you double your commissions on SFI products, get a
subscription to www.fullcirclesuccess, *and* you can earn money with the Affiliates and
Members in your Powerline.
Find out more about upgrading at
http://www.sixfigureincome.com/Affiliate/Affiliate3.html
Upgrade at www.sixfigureincome.com/upgrade/
Now let's get to some ACTION... but first, this public service announcement:
##### FREE vs. FEE Alternatives #####
When it comes to promoting your site, there are always two options. What I call Free
vs. Fee.
FREE options typically take your time instead of money.
FEE options take your money instead of your time and USUALLY, but not always, work
better .
For example, paid classified ads almost always work better and faster than free
classified ads. Spending a lot of time and effort to get a good listing in a search engine
may be even MORE effective. Collecting email addresses (we'll show you how later) and
mailing your ad to those people every week takes time, BUT works just as well, if not
better, than a paid ad. A Free-For-All links page takes some time and money to set up, but
generates A LOT of Affiliates.
My point is, you should always be asking yourself, "Is it worth spending my time
doing X, when I might be able to spend some money and have it done for me or have it done
more effectively?" Or, "If I'm not happy with the results I'm getting for free,
should I look into spending some money, up front, to get the results I want?"
In many of these lessons, you'll get FREE *and* FEE promotion options. If you're
willing to spend money, that DOESN'T mean you should overlook the FREE options!
For example, the WildFire Co-op takes NO WORK on your part, just $50/month for a few
months. But you can make it even MORE powerful by using the techniques in this training
course (the free *or* the fee ones).
##### Today's ACTION Steps - GENERAL #####
You're going to actually place a couple ads!
*** What to advertise ***
You may be asking, "What should I advertise? There are a LOT of SFI
products."
It's true. You can point people to products that, when they buy, generate commissions
for you, or you can do what I do, which is advertise EITHER the FREE Six-Figure Income
Newsletter or the FREE Six-Figure Internet Income Course.
One of the other keys to advertising is "frequency." It takes 5-7 exposures
to an ad before someone responds to it! So I advertise the Newsletter and Income Course
because, in each of those, Gery advertises the SFI products, so they AUTOMATICALLY get
DOZENS of exposures, instead of the one from my ad.
Given that, the best web address to advertise is:
http://sixfigureincome.com/free/?your-id#.XX (XX is the 2 digit tracking code you're
using)
*** STEP 1 - Get an ad ***
Go to www.downlineonline.com/members/sample.htm and look at the sample headlines and
ads we've used.
Pick one you want to run.
*** STEP 2 - Place the ad ***
Decide if you're going FREE or FEE.
##### Today's ACTION Steps - FREE #####
*** STEP 1 ***
Go to http://downlineonline.com/members/classified.htm, follow the directions and and
start placing the ad you've selected
You can also try going to Yahoo and placing an ad there: Go to
http://downlineonline.com/members/yahoo.htm and follow the directions.
##### Today's ACTION Steps - FEE #####
I present a number of options, but you don't have to select just one. The more action
you take, the bigger the results you get.
*** OPTION 1 - Automate the process ***
Doing the above takes a LOT of typing. You can simplify the process with Online
Classified Wizard. This program let's you type the ad in ONE time, then easily drag and
drop the text you want into each new classified site.
If you want to post into classified sites, OCW is well worth the $24.95 price tag. To
order OCW, go to http://www.kglongware.com/ocwizard.htm
*** OPTION 2 - Have a service place the ads ***
There are DOZENS, if not hundreds of services that will place classified ads for you.
Some are good, some are so-so.
I've been testing the service at http://classify98.com. It submits to about 350
classified sites for $19.95.
You can also try doing a search for "classified ad submission service" in
your favorite search engine (altavista.com, excite.com, infoseek.com, yahoo.com,
hotbot.com, webcrawler.com... or go to dogpile.com and search tem all at once!) and see
what you discover.
*** OPTION 3 - Be your own service, Part 1 ***
Traffic Builder is a program that lets you submit your site to hundreds of places with
one mouse click. Not only does it submit to classified sites, but to search engines,
directories, "what's new" pages... over 950 different sites. Use the program
over and over (I tend to use it once a week). The program is only $69.95 for the Standard
version and $99.90 for the Pro.
To get a copy at http://trafficbuilder.com
*** OPTION 4 - Be your own service, Part 2 ***
I just finished testing TWO GREAT programs that submit to THOUSANDS of classified sites
automatically.
The Classified Connection submits to 6,500 free classified sites! Each time I use it, I
get 2-5 affiliates. This is another program you can use every week. I highly recommend it.
Download a trial copy of The Classified Connection by going to:
http://downlineonline.com/class/
MyFREE Classifieds submits VERY TARGETTED ads to thousands of sites that TCC doesn't
submit to. Same incredible results! There's no trial copy of MFC, but it does have a
30-day money-back guarantee.
##### What's up for tomorrow #####
1) Ever try to to explain something to someone and, no matter how hard you try, you
just can't seem to make them "get it?" Like you're speaking different languages?
If this happens when you're trying to share SFI with someone, they may never realize that
SFI could mean FREEDOM to them.
I'll show you why this happens and how you can help them see what SFI can do for them,
without you saying a word!
2) Tomorrow, you'll also learn where you can place THOUSANDS of ads, with just a
keystroke.
See you then,
Steven Sashen
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