Don't Murder Your Marketing.

I field quite a few inquiries every week.

This week I’ve had 5 people contact me saying “this is my website, it’s not converting well. How much would you charge to fix it?”

If that’s the first question you ask me or any copywriter, then we’re probably not meant to be.

It’s bad business for both parties involved, this is why…

I’ve Been Shot… How Much Do You Charge?

A man calls up the hospital, says “I’ve been shot, how much do you charge?”… What do you think the answer is going to be?

It’s definitely NOT going to be a number. It’s going to be “We’ll rush an ambulance over” or “where were you shot?”

Now, if I’m the doctor operating on you… It’s going to depend on a lot of factors. But a small flesh wound on the arm that just needs patched up is going to cost a lot less than a chest wound…

Dozens of factors will come into play… How do I stop the pain? Will surgery be required? How much blood did you lose? Will you be in the hospital for an hour or a few months?

And in some cases, the damage will be too much for the doctor to do anything at all.

It’s The Exact Same Thing With Marketing…

Every single client a copywriter takes on has different needs.

Some clients are launching a brand new product and they need help with positioning, branding, marketing funnels, traffic and plenty of other things.

Other clients have positioned their products all wrong and need a complete overhaul.

Sometimes the problem lies more in the traffic sources than the copy…

My past clients are much more likely to get a smaller upfront fee with the majority paid in the back, or even a 100% royalty deal (more of a partnership) than some guy I’ve never talked to… In fact, if I don’t know you extremely well the latter is very unlikely.

And to be blunt again, If that’s the first question out of your mouth when you contact me I’ll probably either point you to this blog post or send you a short email saying I’ll have to pass (my old solution)…

Why? Because…

Price Shopping When It Comes To Your Marketing Is A Terrible Business Model.

If you take a bullet the first question out of your mouth isn’t going to have anything to do with price.

Now, I’m not saying that your marketing is as critical as taking a bullet, but it’s still very serious. If you take your business seriously, you need to take your marketing seriously.

Because it doesn’t matter what business you’re in, you’re not in ANY business until you’re in the marketing business.

Let’s talk copywriting and marketing…

Do you think the guy who knows what he’s doing, who delivers results… Who really understands direct response marketing and copywriting… Is he going to give you the lowest quote? Hell no.

The guy out there taking any and every job he can get… Advertising $200 sales letters before he even knows your product or market, do you think he’s a better choice? Could be, but you’ve got to be lucky.

Because if that guy has any clue about marketing and positioning, he’s not going to quote you ANYTHING, much less $200, before he knows exactly what your needs are and IF he thinks your product is even marketable.

So if you’re “price shopping” when it comes to marketing and copywriting…

You’re Shooting Your Marketing In The Chest.

So you hire a guy for $200 and save quite a bit of money on your upfront marketing… NICE.

Except that your new marketing campaign is bleeding money. And depending on how much traffic you’re getting every single lost buyer due to poor copy is bleeding cash right out of your bank account.

Could you spend 5 figures on a copywriter and have a flopped product? It’s possible. There’s nothing certain in this business.

But it does pay to put the law of statistics in your corner… And chances are that if you hire someone with a track record of results, someone who won’t beg to let you write for any product, even if there’s no market for it, someone who has experience and can predict what will work and what won’t work with reasonable certainty… You can stack the odds in your favor.

I’m not saying I’m the go to guy for any and every product. I’m not.

With very few exceptions, I’ll generally choose to avoid working with anyone who asks “how much” before they ask “what can you do for me?”

Because if that’s the first question out of your mouth it sets off a big red flag.

One, you think of what I do as a commodity rather than a potentially valuable business partner and that tells me immediately that you’re either inexperienced or just not the kind of person I want to do business with.

My favorite clients in the past have also been my most successful clients… And they’re the guys that want to know “why should I work with you” before price is an issue. They have products that they want to be extremely successful…

They have gung ho can’t fail attitudes… And they realize that “cheap” and “results” rarely cross paths.

Cheap traffic rarely converts, cheap hosting generally sucks, and cheap service providers usually  (not always) have crappy work or customer service…  And cheap copywriting and marketing rarely produces any results.

You generally get what you pay for…

So Here’s My New Answer.

It’s impossible for me to quote you a price without taking a long hard look at exactly what I can do to help you…

And I’ve been out of the “chasing down” clients game for quite a while,  I’m at a point now where I get to pick and choose my jobs and spend more time working on my own stuff.

The index page of ResultsCopywriting.com is about to be completely revamped (it’s passed due anyways) and sometime this week it’ll be completely different.

Since I need to spend about an hour with potential clients anyway, I’ll be charging a flat fee for a 1 hour consultation.

It’ll be 100% risk free, it will be a consultation, not a sales pitch, and if you do decide to hire me after the fact I’ll apply the total to the final fee.

My time is valuable, I don’t have time to field every inquiry I get now, so this way I can filter out who’s serious from who’s not, and help you with some of the “big idea” stuff without you needing to pay my full copywriting fees.

This will save me time, allow me to work on my own stuff, and only work with people who’ve shown that they’re serious about making their product and marketing campaign a success.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S. I didn’t write this post to offend anyone… “How much do you charge” IS a valid question. It’s just not the best question to ask upfront, for either party involved.

This is a case study of a project I worked on with Andy Fletcher a few months ago…

Andy and I had never met prior to this project; we were introduced through a mutual friend. Andy had an awesome SEO course that he wanted to bring to market, and he needed some help selling it.

The guy is an SEO genius, the product and software was solid, and it was a perfect fit for me…

There were a few problems… Andy had very little marketing experience and a very tiny list. I asked him how he planned to market it and he said “probably just a WSO (warrior special offer), I don’t expect it to be anything too big.”

I almost dropped Andy right there. A $27 WSO, even if it sold well, would take well over 100 sales to even cover my fee, let alone make any money for Andy… And I don’t take on a project unless it’s going to make me and my clients some serious money.

But Andy Had A Secret Weapon

In certain circles, Andy Fletcher is considered a genius at SEO… He’s always on the cutting edge of tools and techniques that send websites flying up to the top of the search engines…

He’s also got some very influential contacts in the business. Not to mention he’s a genuinely great guy and has a very magnetic personality.

So we devised a plan… We were going to make this thing a hit, and we were going to do it using the power of relationship marketing.

Andy had some major contacts in the industry… So after we decided that this product was going to be HUGE and not just a “little WSO” Andy paid my fee and I went to work.

Little Ideas Go A Long Ways

Andy has a very cool product. You can see it at Backlinkflood.com.

It’s an SEO product about getting your websites ranked higher in the search engines in the shortest amount of time possible.

I coined some terms like “Rapid Link Indexing”, “SEO 2.0”, “Underground Link Ninja”… But more importantly I covered all of the important aspects of the copy. I consulted with Andy about some minor changes to the product that I thought could help sales.

I created several different USP’s to use throughout the copy, from faster indexing of links to how to build “authority wheels” and answered many of the questions that people in this niche would like to know.

To be completely honest, this letter wasn’t perfect  (sorry Andy). It could have used some more punch in the bullets.

I had planned for videos to accompany his software so users could get a quick overview. That never happened…

And even though I tried to convince Andy otherwise, and encouraged him to test, I wasn’t a fan of the price point.

But it does go to show you that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” sales letter… But a “good” sales letter can still make you a nice chunk of money.

The Secret Recipe For Success

Here’s why Andy’s  product was a success…

Andy knew what his market wanted. He knew how to solve their problems.

Andy hired a professional copywriter (ahem) who is familiar with his market to handle his copy… He outsourced one of the most critical components in his marketing funnel, the sales copy itself.

I also wrote some emails for affiliates to use in promotion… Andy did an AMAZING job at making the site as enticing to affiliates as possible…

From the professional design, the professional copy, the tools…

He even offered a 15% second tier affiliate structure so that affiliates would be encouraged for other affiliates.

He worked with MiniSiteFrog.com for the design, they do pretty awesome work.

The REAL Secret To  Success

The real secret to Andy’s success was his ability to go out, create some amazing JV’s and drive some traffic to the offer.

The 10% conversion rate I mentioned? To be fair, it was only a few hundred visitors, and they came off of a previous SEO products buyers list.

You can’t get much more targeted traffic than that, these are people who have shown an interest in spending money to learn more about SEO.

The site did convert around 3.5% on “freebie” lists and 1.5%+ on cold traffic, so overall the sales page did its job well.

He also had other very good JV partners… In fact the product was featured at the top of the Warrior Forum for about 2 weeks.

Andy gave me permission to tell his story, but it’s not my place to tell you how much money this little project has made him… Although I DO know he was extremely satisfied and more than covered my fee.

Moral Of The Story

You don’t need to be a “guru” or have a huge list to make a lot of money.

Andy found a market and created a product that solved a problem for that market.

He spared no expense when it came to outsourcing the essentials, like copywriters (I like to call them conversion multipliers) and design.

He worked like crazy to create an awesome product and to go out and make things happen… He didn’t create the product, have a sales page designed and then sit around waiting for something to happen. He made it happen.

It was a simple product… But because he had specialized knowledge, because he didn’t half ass anything, he worked hard and spared no expense when hiring people who he knew he could count on for a great job, he was rewarded in the end.

Whether he made $1,000 profit or $100,000 profit is irrelevant…  He created something with his own 2 hands, went out and MADE it happen.

And you can do the same. This whole internet marketing stuff isn’t as complicated as it seems.

As a former client and good friend of mine would say “Just F’n Do It”.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S. Stay tuned for an AWESOME interview with one of the world’s greatest living copywriters (who I’ll reveal shortly)… It should be out early next week but you need to be subscribed to my newsletter to be able to hear it.

P.P.S. Do you want your next product to be a success story? Head over to ResultsCopywriting.com and we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.

Follow These Simple Guidelines To Avoid This.

Everyone’s freaking out…

The alphabet agencies are coming down with new regulations, and people are scared.

On the one hand, I’m not a huge fan of government regulation and policing small businesses… On the other hand sometimes we need to be policed, and I think that these new guidelines are going to separate the boys from the men.

Liars Have An Unfair Advantage…

If I were allowed to say that “I make $476,038 a month using this system, working only 1 hour per day, and everyone who buys my $97 course does too!”…

And then I was allowed to either write fake testimonials, or pay people to write testimonials saying what I wanted them to say, I’d be rich…

I also couldn’t sleep at night. That’s not sales. That’s fraud.

The FTC is targeting flogs with fake stories, fake testimonials, and products specifically designed to dupe customers into crazy rebills…

They also want full disclosure from bloggers and affiliates that they are being compensated to endorse certain products.

Guess what?

Honesty Increases Credibility…

Let’s say I was creating a copywriting product (not that I would ever think of doing such a thing)…

I could say something like…

I made $x during my first 6 months as a freelance copywriter… And a lot of guys I know made a lot more than that…

But that doesn’t mean that you will too… You don’t just slap up a website, call yourself a copywriter  and expect the checks to start rolling in…

It takes a lot of hard work. You have to be talented… And if you can’t deliver results for your clients you’ve either got to improve your skills or find a new career…

Finding that first set of clients when you’re brand new and have no track record can be VERY difficult…

I’ll show you some shortcuts to get started… And I’ll teach you some things about closing deals and commanding the fees that you want that I had to learn the hard way…

But I don’t want you to think for a second that this is an easy way to get rich… Because it’s not.

In my mind copywriting is one of the most powerful and profitable skills that you can learn… But if you’re not willing to put in the work…

…If you’re not willing to hone your chops and get out there and market yourself, you’re only wasting your time and setting yourself up for disappointment.

IF you think you’ve got what it takes to blow controls out of the water… If you think you’re capable of writing a million dollar advertisement and you just need the right clients to prove yourself, then I CAN help…

But it’s not a magic pill and ultimately, it’s YOU who is responsible for your income…

No one is going to walk away from an ad like that thinking that I’m saying “typical results” are that everyone who buys the course will automatically become a six figure copywriter…

As for testimonials, I could say…

Here are some testimonials… Some are from fellow copywriters, others are unsolicited from satisfied customers… But not everyone who’s taken this course follows up with me to tell me about their progress…

Some people probably file it away for future use when they “get around to it”… Most people probably don’t even put all of the advice into practice.

So these testimonials aren’t speaking for everyone who’s purchased this product, it’s only people who have found the course good enough to go out of their way and send me a comment about it…

Easy.

What About Affiliates?

Use common sense…

Don’t make claims about products that you can’t back up.

Don’t make up testimonials… If you’re a blogger do what Michel Fortin did and post a full disclosure on your blog…

If you have advertisements in the side bar say “Sponsored Links”…

In you emails, it’ll vary by niche… But you can put a disclaimer at the bottom of the emails, or you can come right out and say “Yes, I’m being compensated for telling you about this… BUT I wouldn’t waste your time or put my reputation on the line by recommending this if it wasn’t going to dramatically help you (insert benefit here)…”

In The Long Run, This Is A Good Thing.

Fake testimonials, hyped up lies… Broken products that don’t deliver as promised. They’re all a giant black eye in this industry…

Honest marketers have to compete with these guys, and they give us ALL a bad name.

One of the BIGGEST obstacles when selling online is being believed… And by being open and honest in your marketing, if you do it the RIGHT way, it will help build trust and credibility and ultimately help conversion rates, not the other way around.

So what’s the easy answer?

Only sell products that actually help people, and that have enough positive benefits WITHOUT hype or lies that will still make people want to buy them.

If you have to use fake testimonials, if you have to make outlandish claims in your sales copy… If you can’t figure out how to overcome these new regulations you either need new products to sell or you need to find another line of work.

That’s my take on the information I have so far… There’s still a lot of ambiguity in the new regulations, but I’ve got a pretty good feeling that when everything is cleared up that the advice I laid out in this post will still be exactly what you need to be doing.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S. I’m not a lawyer and there are still a lot of unknown factors at play here, so take this advice with a grain of salt.

P.P.S. If you want a copywriter who can sell your product without having to lie to your customers and sell your soul in the process, check out ResultsCopywriting.com.

When friends and family ask me what I do I usually give a pretty vague answer… Sometimes I say “I write for websites”… Sometimes I say I “help companies sell products online”… And those answers are true in  a sense…

So this is about what I REALLY do for a living, the good, the bad and the ugly…

I Don’t Get Paid To Write.

If you want people to assume you’re broke tell them you’re a writer.

There isn’t a business owner on this planet that goes to work and thinks “Hey, I’m going to throw a few grand down on a writer today…”

Business owners want to make more money. Period.

They don’t care if I’ve got a Pulitzer Prize (for the record, I don’t)…

They pay me to do one thing and one thing only. Make money.

I Get Paid To Sell.

That means I help with branding products, positioning products, identifying markets, consulting with clients on driving traffic and increasing conversions…

Ultimately I do write the sales copy… But that’s only one of many hats that a copywriter has to wear if they want to be successful.

I personally don’t even like the term “copywriter”… Technically a “copywriter” is a writer who writes sales material…

But a lot of people group that in with writers who do blog posts (This is the only blog I write for), articles, reports, things like that…

And those are two completely different worlds.

A REALLY good “content” writer can make about $50 for a 500 word article…

A REALLY good “copywriter” can pull $3k-$30k+ for one sales letter.

A quote I like…

“I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes . . . .”

Philip Dusenberry, quoted in Eric Clark, The Want Makers: Inside the World of Advertising, 1988, New York: Penguin Books, p. 56.

99% Of People Don’t Need My Services.

I doubt I would have ever fallen into doing what I do without the internet… And my specialty, writing advertisements for online businesses, didn’t even exist until about 12 years ago.

Most small businesses simply don’t have the cash to cover my fee… A lot of businesses have no idea how powerful a winning advertisement can be…

Most people reading this have no reason to ever hire me… I understand that.

But for the RIGHT type of client, my service is one of the best investments that they can make…

I’ve seen, on numerous occasions, my clients go live with my sales copy and cover my (admittedly relatively high) fee with a single email blast… And go on to make hundreds of thousands of dollars using the copy I wrote.

Is Being A Copywriter Right For You?

Only you can answer that, but I’ll give you some things to think about…

Being a copywriter is 95% understanding SALES and 5% writing. I’m lucky, both of my parents are amazing sales people and I was thrown into the world of sales at a young age…

The definition of copywriting is “salesmanship in print”.

That means understanding psychology, knowing how to press emotional “buy” buttons, market research, driving traffic…

Having a way with words helps too. If you’re paying attention there are grammar mistakes all over this post. I use short sentences. Short paragraphs.  I use a lot of …. (which means “keep reading”)

That’s all by design… It makes things flow and easier to read.

There’s a rhythm you have to use to grab people’s attention, convince them to read your offer in the first place, and then ultimately buy whatever you’re selling.

I’ve been obsessed with this stuff for two years now, and I’m still constantly learning.

You Have To Be Able To Sell Yourself.

Before I freelanced for other people, I was selling my own stuff online.

I had proof that I could write a winning advertisement and sell a product. When I first started out, I thought $500 for a sales letter was good money. The thing is, it takes about 40 hours to research and write an effective sales letter.

When I started figuring out what works and getting some experience, I raised my fees considerably. When you watch a guy make $100k in 24 hours off of the sales pitch you wrote, it puts the value you’re providing into perspective.

Most of my clients now either come to me or are repeat clients. But that wasn’t always the case.

There’s a lot of competition. There are guys out there who will do my job for $200 (usually inexperienced copywriters, they’ll generally quit because they can’t sell or raise their fees when they figure out that they can.)

There are guys with years of experience who charge $10k to $100k+ for a single project… They can command fees like that because of their track record.

I fall into the middle. I’ve got a great track record, but I’m not as experienced as a lot of guys.

And you can’t just walk up to someone and say “Hey, I’ll write you a sales letter for $x,xxx…. Deal?” The sales process for copywriting is a very long and involved process.

It usually involves dozens of emails and hours on the phone… And it’s not uncommon to have a client waste hours of your time if you don’t prequalify them first.

You Write Your Own Paycheck.

That’s a double edged sword.

On the one hand, the people who do this job well, the best of the best, can become wealthy doing it.

On the other hand, it’s completely up to you to get clients… And if you can’t sell yourself you won’t make any money. Not having money is no fun.

On top of that you HAVE to put 110% into every single project you take on.  When you get to the level where people are paying you 4 figures or more, they expect sales… And if you don’t deliver word will get out fast.

But if you DO produce results, all you need is a small hand full of clients to keep you busy. Once you make them money once, if they’re putting out another product, they’ll be calling you…

Sometimes It’s Not Much Fun.

I work by myself, 40 hours a week, in my apartment.

I do get to interact with quite a few interesting people… I’ve got marketers who are household names on speed dial.

As I’m writing this I’m chatting with a world famous real estate investor on Skype…

I’ve built relationships that will help me out for years to come, and I never would have had those without being a copywriter.

Sometimes you’ll get a project that seems like you’ll NEVER be able to finish it… A couple of my least favorites in recent memory include ads for a hair care product for women and organic dog food.

Sometimes writing just sucks.

I’m flying through this post because I love the subject matter… But there are plenty of days where the last thing I want to do is sit and stare at a computer screen all day.

There are days where I’ll sit and stare at a blank page for hours and only come up with a couple hundred words of copy.

I’m not complaining though…

I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world. I plan on doing a lot of traveling over the next couple of years, and although it’s been a long process to get to where I am now, I’m starting to make a name for myself, gain a little bit of recognition, and make some decent money.

The Grass Is Always Greener…

If someone told me a few years ago that I’d be working for myself from home, I would have been ecstatic…

Now that I am, I still think about getting a part time job or maybe a job at an ad agency because I miss the social interaction.

I think I’d go back to freelancing eventually though. Working my own hours is pretty nice, and ultimately I got into this more for the freedom than making money.

So even though I spend my working hours by myself, I get plenty of free time to spend with friends and family.

This Is A Temp Job.

It’s kind of funny.

I quit my job to market online… I never intended to be a freelance copywriter.

Once I started talking to guys who do it, I realized that this is my favorite part of the business… Coming up with the offer, creating the “big idea” that motivates people to buy…

And when I realized I could leave the product creation and all of the other “boring” parts to the client, and I could make a nice living doing the part I enjoy, that’s when I went freelance.

There’s a great deal of satisfaction when you see a client succeed with something you wrote. There’s also a little bit of jealousy… “Wow, he’s getting rich, why didn’t I just hire myself?”

And that’s exactly what I plan on doing this year.

I’m going to cut back on client work and focus on my own publishing company.

If you’ve got the ability to make money for your clients, it only makes sense to hire yourself…

Also, unless you’re charging royalties for your work (which I rarely do), you’re still effectively trading your time for money as a freelancer… You could be setting up automated income streams during that time so you do the work once and get paid over and over again.

Do You Have Any Specific Questions?

Do you want to become a copywriter, or even a freelance writer? Need help getting started? Finding clients? Learning the craft?

Ask anything you want to know in the comments, I’ll do my best to help out.

And if you want to make your next product launch a home run, check out what my clients are saying over at ResultsCopywriting.com.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

This  is a critique that I volunteered to do for a member of the Warrior Forum…

This sales letter isn’t where it needs to be, I talk about some of the bigger mistakes the copy makes and offer some ideas for improvement. Here’s the original sales page.

Some things I forgot to mention in the video…

• When I say the headline is “too big” I mean the font, not the length.

• The design is pretty bad, I’d invest in some graphics.

• You should make the guarantee as long as possible, preferably 365 days.

• Don’t get discouraged, and don’t take any of the advice personally… I’m trying to help.

Overall I think the product is marketable, you just need to do quite a bit of work on the copy. Sorry about the screwy Camtasia work at the beginning… It gets better as the video moves along.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S. Grab my free copywriting checklist at the top right of this page and subscribe to my free newsletter chalk full of exclusive marketing ideas and insights that you won’t find anywhere else.

P.P.S Want to get to know me and how much money I can make for your business without spending my full fee on a sales letter upfront? Visit ResultsCopywriting.com/consultation.htm for more details…

With all of the gloom and doom recession talk, it’s tough to keep a positive attitude.

So here’s a little pick me up for you. You can have ANYTHING you want in this world, at least to a certain extent.

How so? Simple. Write a letter and ask for it!

Case in point, the late great Gary Halbert wanted to meet a woman… Not just ANY woman, the RIGHT woman for him…

So what did he do? He wrote full page ad (one of my favorites of all time) and he was flooded with responses, eventually meeting the woman of his dreams.

My dad owns a piano store, and he asked me if I thought I could sell some overstocked pianos via the internet… So I wrote a letter… And they sold.

A friend of mine desperately wanted a teaching job at a specific school. The competition was fierce, she was fresh out of College and up against many candidates who were a lot more qualified and experienced than she was…

So I wrote her a cover letter for free. Not your typical cover letter… A cover letter talking about her unique life experiences, the stuff that she could bring to the table, the enthusiasm and passion that she had for her work.

The result? Less than a week later she was hired.

Anytime I want to make money, I write a letter. Whether it’s selling a product, selling my services as a marketing consultant and copywriter, or selling a car…

If I wanted a job with a large marketing firm (I don’t) I’d simply write them a letter, show them my experiences, and I’d almost guarantee I’d be hired within a few days time.

Do you want to help out people who are less fortunate than you? Write a letter, pro-bono, for the charity of your choice.

And you don’t have to be a great copywriter to accomplish this (although it does help), you just have to understand human emotions and how to stir them up.

So the next time you’re stuck for money, or you want to take a vacation, or you want ANYTHING in this world to happen, write a letter.

The pen is mightier than the sword and the right words can move mountains.

Talk soon.

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S.  If you want an IMMEDIATE boost in your conversion rates check out my FREE guide “How To Increase Your Sales By 300% Or More In Less Than 5 Minutes”… You can grab it at the top right hand side of this page.

P.P.S. Do you  need an instant boost to your income? Head over to ResultsCopywriting.com for a FREE marketing consultation, you’ll be amazed at how much an outside perspective can completely transform your income and your life.

Back when I left my sales job a few years ago, I was on the lookout for products that I could purchase and resell myself on the internet.

I was browsing Digital Point (a webmaster forum) and saw a thread selling a brand new script that allowed people to build a custom MP3 Search Engine for $15 a pop.

The sales copy, as is pretty normal for these types of threads, was horrible. So I decided to contact the creator and ask how he was doing….

His thread had been live for a week… And he’d made a whopping 2 sales for a total of $30. I talked with him for awhile, he offered to sell me exclusive rights to the script for $500, which might SEEM like the smart move to take, but it wasn’t , and I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Instead, I proposed a partnership. Let me handle all of the marketing and we’d split the profits 50/50.

Here’s what I did:

• Told him to IMMEDIATELY take the listing off of Digital Point.
• Completely reinvented the product… Instead of selling the scripts, I hired a designer and started having the “script” turned into full blown websites with unique designs.
• Created and promoted one of the sites on my own… This would serve as proof of concept when I brought the sites to market.
• Created a long form sales page for the product, talking about every benefit of ownership, how it’s the perfect turnkey business, ect.
• I put a limit on the number of sites to be sold… Both to conserve the integrity of the product and to build a sense of urgency.
• Wrote up a “How To Promote A Website For The Complete Beginner” type of guide and included it in every sale… This served to both reassure customers that ANYONE can promote these and significantly cut down on after sale support.
• Listed the sites on Ebay using several of the upgraded features and set an extremely low reserve price.

The result? For over a month straight we averaged 3-4 sales per day (average bidding ended at $500). I hired people to handle most of the work involved in putting the sites together, and after paying for all of the outsourced work, my partner and I were left with an average of $1k-$2k per day.

Eventually competitors caught on and flooded the marketplace with similar sites… When sales started to dwindle, even though it was still profitable, I decided to move on to other things.

There are a few lessons to take away from this.

1. How people perceive your product GREATLY influences how much you can sell it for… In this case the market was dictating the price, and since it was a complete custom website instead of a script the market decided $500 was a fair price.
2. The market you target is extremely important… The forum he was selling on is used to buying $15 scripts… They aren’t keen on buying brand new websites for $500 though.
3. You have to provide VALUE. I sold these as a long term investment strategy, and explained that there would be work involved to turn a profit on these sites… I received 100% positive feedback and numerous emails thanking me for selling them the sites.
4. Expanding on the last point, I offered a bonus that taught the basics of promoting the websites… This bonus was extremely relevant and directly contributed to the sales totals.
5. I also offered a “60 day 100% satisfaction or I’ll by it back” guarantee. Out of countless sites sold, I received 1 refund request. But because of the guarantee we probably sold 10x as many sites than we would have without one.
6. Long copy does work… I wish I still had the letter I was using (I don’t) but we were killing our competitors who were just using a few lines explaining the products.

Remember when I said that buying the programmer out would have been the smart idea? It wasn’t…

Turns out, he’s an excellent programmer and we teamed up and went on to sell tens of thousands of dollars in different products… So instead of a one off investment of $500 I formed a partnership that’s going to be worth a fortune to me throughout the rest of my life.

And that leads me to the final point… Positioning and your market is KEY.  Is your product positioned as a $15 piece of code or a $500 low risk/high reward investment?

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S.  If you want an IMMEDIATE boost in your conversion rates check out my FREE guide “How To Increase Your Sales By 300% Or More In Less Than 5 Minutes”… You can grab it at the top right hand side of this page.

P.P.S. Do you  need an instant boost to your income? Head over to ResultsCopywriting.com for a FREE marketing consultation, you’ll be amazed at how much an outside perspective can completely transform your income and your life.

Hey,

I want to give you a quick introduction to what this site is all about…

My name is Scott Murdaugh, and over the years I’ve been involved with selling a lot of different products via direct response copywriting… From website scripts to online courses to pianos on Ebay, I’ve learned a thing or two about what works (and what doesn’t) along the way.

We’re going to take a trip deep into the human psyche and find out what REALLY works in sales and marketing.

If you’re a copywriter I’m going to share with you some unique insights and ideas that you can immediately apply to your business… Whether you want to improve your skills or figure out how to attract more clients, I’m here to help.

If you’re a marketer or small business owner I’ll give you tips on creating winning advertising campaigns, generating leads and sales, and ultimately making the maximum amount of money on minimum advertising spend.

We’re going to be looking into various markets, providing real world case studies and examples, split testing results, and a whole lot of exciting stuff.

If you want to learn what makes customers REALLY tick… If you want to understand just how powerful effective copywriting can be for your business, then you’ll want to stay tuned.

Peace,

-Scott murdaugh