You might think this is getting rather picky, but I’ve found it flat out works.

When advertising anything with a price, lower the left-hand portion of the price and test it against your original price.

For example, if you’re currently selling your ebook for $10.00, lower the price to $9.99. Yes, I know it’s only a penny, but look at the left side of those two numbers – 10 versus 9.
People aren’t all that logical. They’re not good at math, either. So while you and I know it’s only a lousy penny, somewhere in their brain they are perceiving one price as being ten bucks and the other prices as nine bucks.

Try it. You’re going to be pleasantly surprised at the increase in sales.

Well now, that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?

And it’s not just Netflix. You are in competition with Reddit, YouTube, Amazon, social media, video games and every website out there for your prospect’s attention.

Scary, right?

But before you give up and curl yourself into a self-defeated ball, consider this:

You have a message that no one else on the planet can deliver.

It’s your own unique perspective on the world and on your niche.

No one has your exact experience or viewpoint.

No one looks at things exactly as you do.

And no one on the planet can articulate your message like you can.

So beyond delivering what is uniquely yours, what makes for riveting, effective content that keeps your visitors reading, watching and consuming?

Effective content is:

1: Focused. Let your headline guide you and write from an outline so you don’t wander off track.

2: Conversational. Write in a friendly and welcoming tone. Use a style and vocabulary that is appropriate for your target audience – not your English professor.

3: Task Oriented. Write actionable content that solves problems. Keep in mind that boredom is one of those problems, so solve it by being interesting, too.

4: Concise. Use as many words as you need, but no more than that. You have no interest in wasting your reader’s time or putting them to sleep.

You already know all about scarcity. The scarcer something is, the more people want it.

That’s why we use deadlines to entice customers to buy. Without the deadlines, people would put it off and then forget about it.

For decades savvy store owners have used this trick. By limiting the number of items a person can purchase, they increase the number of items sold.

But I wonder – are we using this to maximum advantage online? Yes, we sometimes limit the number of copies sold. Yes, we use deadlines and then promise not to sell any more after that deadline.

But what if we used it in a slightly different way…

Imagine you have different levels of participation in a product launch.

For example: You will sell only 10 copies at $2,500 each that includes actual coaching and one-on-one time with you for 12 weeks.

You’ll sell only 100 copies at $1,000 that includes group coaching for 12 weeks.

You’ll sell 200 copies at $500 that includes the “done for you option,” which is also included in the higher levels, too. But there is no coaching at this level.

And you’ll sell 1,000 copies that don’t include coaching or the done for you option.

Then you place counters on your site that tell how many copies of each have sold.

Yes, this will take some guts. After all, what if something doesn’t sell? But that’s also the fascination factor, too.

People will continue to revisit the page just to see what’s selling.

And what happens when there are only 6 or 5 or 4 copies left of the highest option? Suddenly they’ll start selling FASTER.

The last copy or two will likely FLY off the shelf.

You’re adding a new brand of scarcity, a higher level of fascination and interest and accommodating people’s needs.

You might think of this as a new way of upselling, or a more transparent method than using one time offers. It’s up front, honest, and lets people decide ahead of time what they want.

And if they don’t act fast enough, they will miss out, too.

Short and sweet: If you’re making good money coaching others to do or accomplish something, then you can probably double the money you make without much effort.

It’s sort of a recycle and reuse kind of thing, where nothing in your business goes to waste.

Let’s say you spend time coaching people on how to start their own businesses. You show them the sequence, how to get things done, how to outsource, the shortcuts, the little things they need to know and so forth.

But consider this: There are other marketers who want to get paid for coaching, too. Except they don’t know where to start or what to do.

So you also coach other marketers on how to do coaching.

You let them in on all your secrets of how to get clients, how to work with clients, how the whole process works and so forth.

I suppose you could even let them listen in on your coaching calls. If you do, you need to let your students know someone else is on the line.

And whatever you’re charging your regular coaching clients, you can probably about double for your new students who are learning how to become coaches. Again, it’s up to you.

You’ve got a skill – coaching – that others want to have. So why not become a coach’s coach?

You can give your future coaches templates for their sales pages, techniques for getting their first clients and ongoing support. And for this you can easily charge $5,000.

Even if you just take on two new students a month who are learning to be coaches, that’s an extra $120,000 a year.

I mentioned this to a friend, and he’s a bit snarky. He wanted to know, “If you’re coaching students, and you’re coaching coaches on how to coach students, couldn’t you also coach people on how to train new coaches that teach coaching?”

Actually, yes. But that might be taking things a bit far. 😉

People love to tell you they are logical and rational, and that they make decisions based on the facts. But what people say and what they do are two different things.

Between you and me, people make decisions based on emotion – they just don’t realize it. So how can you tap into those emotions and get them to click your link or buy your product? By adding faces to just about everything you do.

Next time you run a Facebook ad, do a test. In one ad, use any image you want, as long as it’s not a face.

In the other ad, use an interesting face that expresses the emotion you want your prospect to feel.

Now notice which one gets more clicks.

Face images, whether they’re drawings or photos, work not just on Facebook ads, but also on your sidebar ads, blog posts, social media posts and so forth.

And they work especially well on all things Facebook and social media, because people are already looking for faces there. Thus your posts and ads will unobtrusively blend right into your customer’s newsfeed.

The human brain is actually wired to look for and respond to facial cues and expressions, much more so than the written word.

You’ve been wanting to start an online business, but you keep putting it off.

You want to build a new website, write a new book, create a new product, etc., but you can’t seem to do it.

Or maybe you just want to exercise more or eat better, so you have the energy to run your business.

Whatever the change is that you want to make, you might be having a tough time making that change ‘stick.’

Or perhaps you want to help someone else to make a change.

I’ve just started reading, “Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything,” by Michael Pantalon, and I want to share something with you.

It’s his formula for getting anyone to change.

Instead of telling them why they might want to change, you ask them why they might want to change, using these six steps:

Step 1: Why might you change? (Or if the person is you, ask yourself, “Why might I change?”)

Step 2: How ready are you to change – on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means “not ready at all” and 10 means, “totally ready?”

Step 3: Why didn’t you pick a lower number? (Or if the ‘influencee’ picked 1, either ask the second question again, this time about a smaller step toward change, or ask, “What would it take for that 1 to turn into a 2?”)

Step 4: Imagine you’ve changed. What would the positive outcomes be?

Step 5: Why are those outcomes important to you?

Step 6: What’s the next step, if any?

That’s it. I invite you to try this one yourself first, before you try it on someone else.

See what happens. I know when I used it to make myself give up a certain food that I was practically addicted to, it worked like a charm.

Next I’m going to try it on bigger things and see what happens.

According to the reviews on Amazon, this simple process has literally changed lives, so maybe it will change yours.

I know a few readers are going to take issue with what I’m about to say.

That’s okay. If you don’t like this or you think it’s morally wrong, then simply don’t do it.

For everyone else, riddle me this:

What do Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby), Anne Hathaway, Ann Rice, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Eckhart Tolle, Ellery Queen, George Eliot, George Orwell, James Herriot, John le Carre, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Voltaire and Woody Allen all have in common?

None of these people technically exist, because they’re all pen names.

The other day on the Warrior Forum I saw an old thread with a question that went something like this:

“I’m thinking of using a pen name when I go into a new niche. Is that alright, or am I breaking some sort of rule?”

Answers ranged from a friendly, “There’s nothing wrong with that, go for it.”

…to an angry, “What’s your problem and why are you trying to hide? Are you a scam artist or something?”

If pen names are a benchmark for whether or not you’re a scam artist, somebody better tell the writers and the descendants of writers listed above – I think they’ll be surprised.

From a marketing standpoint, pen names often make more sense than using your real name.

For example, you’ve got a good reputation online as the ‘go-to’ person in a particular niche. You want to enter an entirely different and unrelated niche. If you use the same name, readers in BOTH niches will be confused. And confusion is a sales and deal killer, by the way.

Another example: You’ve got a stellar reputation in internet marketing. You build rapport with your list and you only try to sell them something now and then. But you want to try the churn and burn method of marketing, in which you promote products several times per DAY via email. Naturally you will want to use a different name for this list.

(Churn and burn is getting as many people on your list as possible, and promoting to them like crazy until they can’t take it anymore and get off of your list.)

And by the way, no matter how much you and I don’t care for the churn and burn method, the fact is that it’s highly profitable. Which is why so many big-name marketers use a pen name to run their own churn and burn lists.

Another use for a pen name: You can recommend products created by your pen name, and have your pen name recommend your products. Again, a lot of big name marketers do this. I’m not advocating this method, but it does work.

I’ve also known marketers who only worked under a pen name and never under their own name. Usually this is because they have a name that is virtually unpronounceable and unspellable by most people on the planet, so really it’s a question of branding.

And speaking of branding, you could always choose a name that fits your niche particularly well. For example, if your niche is gardening, then calling yourself Rosemary Greenfield or some such might be a nice touch.

There is one reason for using a pen name that – in my opinion – beats them all, and it’s this:

When you use a pen name to build an entire business, you can then SELL that entire business to someone else. They keep the pen name, and customers don’t even necessarily know it changed hands.

If anything goes wrong with the business after you sell it – for example, the new owner doesn’t deliver on the promises of the business – it won’t affect you or your reputation in any way because your name has never been associated with it.

Bottom Line: There is nothing unethical about using a pen name. They’ve been used for hundreds of years by some of the best writers in their field.

And there are some dynamite advantages to using one.

Imagine for a moment that you want to create a product in the dating niche.

In fact, you even know what kind of product you want to create, who your target audience is and so forth.

Now if you could just get someone to show you exactly what to do…

• What kind of emails should you use?
• What sort of branding?
• What kind of follow up sequences?
• How should you position your product?
• What might the sales copy look like?
• What kind of pricing will work?
• How many upsells should you have and what should they cost?

Here’s an idea: Hire a $3,000 a month coach.

Here’s another idea: Reverse engineer funnels that are already in place.

Before we go any further on this… I am not advocating you steal anything, especially copy. I’m only advocating that you see what’s working and WHY it’s working. 

Okay, let’s get back to it…

You want to make a dating product. So, you go to someplace like Clickbank, find a product that’s similar to the one you’re creating and you become a customer.

You go through the entire sales process, copying every URL along the way. 3 upsells? You copy the URL’s. Oh yes, and you buy everything in the funnel, too.

This person has done all the work already. You can guess by their gravity how well they’re doing. If they’re on a platform like JVZoo, you can tell EXACTLY how well they’re doing, how well they’re converting and so forth.

As you’re going through the funnel, look at it with two sets of eyes – customer and marketer.

What does the squeeze page look like? The sales letter? The thank you page with the first upsell, and so forth.

Study how it works, how it’s put together, what kind of language they’re using, how they’re appealing to the customer, what kind of proof they have, how they present the offer and so forth.

How does the whole thing make you feel? Which parts do you think need improving? Which are working? What’s missing?

Go back to the squeeze page and put in a different email address from the one you used to buy the product.

Now watch your emails for both sequences – the sequence you get as a buyer, and the sequence you get as a prospect.

Notice what other cross-promotions they’re doing, what offers they’re making, and how everything is presented.

Again, I’m not advocating you steal anything. I am advocating that you do your homework and figure out what’s working.

This is the cheapest and yet the most priceless education you can get on how to build your own funnel.

Now go back and look for any other products that are similar to the one you’re producing, and repeat the process of reverse-engineering everything.

This could well be the best blueprint you could ever want for how to create and position your funnel for your own product.

If you’ve been in marketing for awhile, and you cater to the online marketing crowd, then you’ve gotten an email from a subscriber that looks like this:

You’ve gotten that email, too, right? I think we all have.

Which got me to thinking…

What if you set up a squeeze page that has an offer like this: “30 day course on how to start your business and earn $X money in 30 days. Pay nothing now, and simply send me $100 when you’ve earned your first $1,000.”

Do you think you would get some subscribers? Of course. This isn’t your typical offer at all, and people will recognize this.

So, you get your subscribers and every day they get another email from you with another step in how to build their business.

For the content, I recommend getting one of those big PLR courses with 30 steps or 40 modules or whatever number of lessons that teach how to build an online business. The number of steps will determine the number of days your course runs.

Each day you email out a link to the next step / course / module.

Pretty soon your new subscribers will realize that this is a lot of work, and they’ll be wishing for a shortcut.

~~cough cough~~

And you give it to them, of course.

This is a much sexier course, such as how to earn $5,000 in the next 20 days by working one hour per day, or whatever.

You place the link in each email and on each daily page of the course.

And you will make sales.

Now then, if you’ve been paying attention, then you realize this is simply a variation of a very tried and true method:

Teach them step-by-step how to do something, then offer them an easier or faster way to get the same or better result.

You start out teaching, but when things get too hard or time-consuming, you come to the rescue with a shortcut.

People love shortcuts, and they gladly buy them every day of the week.

This is just another way to frame it, and you can use this method in other niches as well.

“Pay nothing until you find your dream spouse.”

“Pay nothing until you find the home of your dreams.”

Pay nothing until your investments earn you at least $x money.”

“Pay nothing until you land your dream job.”

And so forth.

It’s all in the positioning. And because this method hasn’t been done to death, I guarantee it will afford you plenty of traction and a good amount of sales, too.

I do a great deal of reading and researching on the topic of online marketing. I have to, it’s how I make my living. I imagine you do the same.

Which is why you may have noticed that a lot of people tend to over complicate the whole online marketing thing.

Really, you need a product to sell, someone to sell it to and a way to persuade them to buy.

That’s it.

In fact, I said that exact same thing to an aspiring marketer the other day, and he responded with, “That’s OVER simplified, tell me how I’m supposed to do that.”

Okay, here goes:

When you get someone on your list, your job is to build rapport so they like you and your content. Once you do this, it’s a lot easier to convince them to buy your recommendations.

That’s why I start out by telling them something about me and my life. Not a full-blown biography – I’m not that fascinating. Just enough so they feel like they know something about who I am and how I think and live.

Then I send them content and offers, same as any other marketer.

Except, I don’t try to appeal to everyone.

In fact, I don’t want to appeal to everyone, because when you make that your goal, you wind up appealing to pretty much no one.

Imagine if you tried to create the perfect food that EVERYONE likes. Any flavor is going to turn off a certain segment of the population, so you’ll have to remove all flavor to make everyone happy.

Except, of course, when you remove all flavor, your dish will be as bland as paste and it will appeal to no one.

Time and again I see marketers trying not to have opinions or offend anyone. And these same marketers struggle, despite having 5 or even 6 figures of subscribers on their lists.

When you appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.

So what I do is ‘let it all hang out,’ so to speak.

I state my opinions. I give my thoughts. When I disagree with something, I politely but firmly make my case.

In other words, I’m myself. I don’t try to be an ‘everyman,’ I just work at being me.

Which I have a lot of practice at, so it’s much easier than trying to be someone I’m not.

Some people don’t like me or my opinions, and they unsubscribe. Hence the name, “repulsion marketing.”

Other people resonate with me and what I believe, and these folks not only stay on my list, but they also open and READ my emails.

And click my links.

And buy my stuff.

They’re receptive, enthusiastic, and fun to have as customers. I’m continually building my tribe, and part of that process is weeding out the people who aren’t a good fit.

I never worry about how ‘qualified’ my traffic is or what ‘quality’ it is.

My only job is to get people onto my list and then just be myself.

It’s like real life – some people think you’re a jerk, and other people become your friends and lovers.

And it works really, really well.