The Infotainer.com If they ask for only the email address they’re going to have a much higher conversion level or opt-in level than they would asking for more information at that point. We don’t have trust, we don’t have rapport. We have nothing.
Infotainer.com
The email address is the safest thing to request, but double opt-in ensures that if they’re going to put “screw you Johnny” or whatever it is, they’re putting some stupid entry in there, that obviously you’re never see it. It will get kicked. It will never be confirmed in the system. Opt in, video. Third component. At the end of the video, which is very short, 15 seconds, call to action. There should be social proof. A stream of 10 to 15 seconds of people raving about what it is you do. They should be monetized. “As a result of Shawn, we generated 30 grand in the first three weeks. We couldn’t believe it. His writing style has enabled us to write more effective copy that has motivated people from the heart to invest in our products. We never thought it was possible.” Then it goes on. “Before John, 30 pounds overweight. After John, his simple guidance and steps...” See, a monetizable testimonial is anything that shows the before and the after the transformation. The fourth component missing from Web sites is the call to action. If there is no specific call to action, none will be taken. I would venture to say that in your group, we could go through a list together. We’re not going to. I’m just saying we could, and we could find 20 or 30 percent of them that aren’t doing those four things. They may know about them, Shawn. What I’m indicating here is, beyond knowledge, transcending knowledge is application. Are they applying it? Most of them aren’t. Dan Kennedy, one of the top marketers on the planet, one of the most brilliant men in marketing, has finally embraced video marketing, and won’t argue the fact that it’s more effective than copywriting. If you had an audience, and they had to make a choice between sitting and listening to a video, and reading 50 pages of copy, right now they’ll choose the video. Now if you do both, video and transcription, you’re going to optimize very effectively. That’s really effective, new, relevant data for positioning on the engines. Absolutely the video of the call to action is what most are now using, some of the most effective marketers. I’m sure you could name names, because you’ve seen it done. That’s a massive change that’s taken place in the last two years. Video now dominates. It’s huge. Copywriting is also very effective. I’m not putting it down. There are people that love to read copy, but the majority would rather be sitting and entertained initially, and then read the copy. I think both should be there, but on a different layer. I’d rather have video on the first layer, as it’s relatively non invasive and it’s an entertainment. Anyway, I just wanted to make that comment. Very simple four principles. Auto-responder sequencing, the silent salesman. I’m
20 | OCTOBER 2009 | FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE
amazed how many Web sites you go there, you opt in. So those are the principles I discuss in detail prior to going to a live event, even though I don’t teach Internet at those events. I teach something very different, branding and differentiation, and yet I’ll talk about those four Internet principles because most people have a site, and it’s not generating any money. They build it, and no one came. They’re not Kevin Costner. It’s not a field of dreams for most people. They’re still dreaming about why it’s not working. I would start with those four repairs right there. I would like to ask you something right now. Would you agree that if those components are missing, they’ve got a problem from the get go? Shawn: Yeah. The one thing I would question is for me, as a user, I can’t stand auto-play video, and I’ve talked to a lot of people that don’t like it. So I use video a lot, but I always have the user having to take the action to play it. Joel: No, that’s fine by the way. I would agree with your assessment, in terms of having interviewed audiences, but in terms of conversion level, our testing produced a very different result. If we want to strictly go according to the numbers, I would say everyone should ignore Joel Bauer, ignore Shawn, ignore everyone, and do their own test.
Shawn is a Co-founder of Affiliate Summit and Co-Editor-in-Chief of FeedFront Magazine.