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Do you remember how you flipped each page with an almost excruciating curiosity because the story was so tantalizing, you became increasingly riveted to the book with each subsequent chapter?

Copy is, or should be, the same.

Good copy makes a good case. But great copy tells a good story. A great copywriter is also a great salesperson. But all great copywriters AND all great salespeople also have one thing in common...

... They are also great storytellers.

The closer your copy reads like a compelling story — keeping the reader interested and engaged, hanging on to every word — the greater your chances she will read your copy until the end and, of course, buy.

Your "story" should tickle the reader's curiosity and pull her into the copy. Each new idea introduced should build on the other, pulling the reader further and deeper into the salesletter. The copy should almost mesmerize the reader to the point she's in a trance-like state.

Each header, each paragraph and each word crescendos and prepares you, step-by-step, for the climactic "twist" in the story's plot.

The climax, of course, is the offer.

And the plot, in copywriting, is called the "platform."
Your platform is the major concept or "storyline." It's possibly a core benefit, result or key topic that creates the foundation upon which your entire "story" is built. It's one powerful idea with which your entire copy will hinge.

The platform you choose to present your offer is critical to the offer's success — hopefully the offer is good, but getting there is the job of the platform.

The concept of the "greased chute" is one in which you keep the reader hanging on to every word you write — up until they buy. They simply can't leave. They're glued to your copy. They're compelled to keep reading.

Copy is telling a good story that involves the reader so they can see in their mind's eye the benefits of your offer, as if they owned your product already. The platform is the "pivot," if you will, you choose to build your story on.

It could (and often should be) be your USP. It could be what copywriter John Carlton calls your "hook." It could be some major advantage or benefit.

Ray McNally, a programmer and friend, offers a neat software program that complements an affiliate marketer's efforts by helping them capture the names and email addresses of traffic they generate to an affiliate link.

This program sets up a doorway page (not the search engine kind) that, before the affiliate's generated traffic is sent to the site being promoted, it capture's their name and email addresses for future follow-up.

Why? Because once they click on an affiliate link, they're gone. But that affiliate has worked hard or spent money on generating that traffic. They own that traffic. So why not capture it in the process?

If they DIDN'T end up buying that affiliate product, no problem. That list can now be followed-up with, or even monetized in other ways!

What has that got to do with copy? Here's my point.

Originally, Ray had one of those hackneyed headlines: "Discover how to explode your income... Blah, blah, blah." Bland. Hypey. Boring.

After talking with Ray, I said, "Ray, this is your USP! Your hook. Why not capitalize on it?" So the platform I told him to use was this ability affiliates will gain with this software to make far more money with the traffic they generate.

The result is here: http://AffiliatePageCreator.com/. Check the headline out and you'll understand what I mean. Also, you'll notice another strategy I used.

Before I explain it to you, let me backup a little to "set the story."
A great way to learn how to write mouth-watering copy is to read fiction. Take a popular book and read it through once. Then go back, read it again and take notes. List the nuances, twists and storylines that grabbed you. And why.

In other words, try to look beyond the story.

Pinpoint where certain characters, ideas and phrases were introduced in specific locations of the book — and see how they relate to the whole plot.

Look at the flow of ideas. Is there a crescendo? Are there small "valleys" along the way (until you reach the "summit," i.e., the climax)?

What do I mean by "small valleys?" Copy should build on the reader's intrinsic curiosity. But it needs to do so multiple times throughout. In fact, incorporate what copywriter David Garfinkel once told me are called "nested loops."

A nested loop is when you begin on an idea but, before you complete it, you introduce another idea. And guess what? People will read every single word more intently and intensely, and remember more what is being said in the process, until you close the loop and finish the idea.

In between the nested loop is therefore a great place to insert a key idea or critical point you want to drive home.

Why are "nested loops" so powerful?
In 1927, Bluma Zeigarnik, one of the early contributors to Gestalt Psychology, found that people have an intrinsic need for closure. Often called the "Zeigarnik Effect," he discovered that we remember interrupted tasks best.

We either passionately attempt to complete something that's incomplete, or feel a certain discomfort, uneasiness or disconcertedness, until it is. The tension created by such an unfinished task helps us to concentrate more.

For example, have you ever watched the news on TV or one of those tabloid shows, where they begin with the following introduction:

"Tonight, Hollywood superstar escapes blazing fire while filming her new mega-budget movie. More on that later. But first..."

That story aroused your curiosity. So you remain glued to your TV set until... They air that particular story at the end of the show! Now, do you think they did this intentionally? Of course. They did so to force you to watch the entire show. (And of course, all of the commercials in between.)

Look at all the TV shows that keep you hanging with each show to the next. (Look at the hit show "24" as a perfect example.) Even commercials use this strategy brilliantly. (Remember the "Taster's Choice" soap-opera-like series?)

Once you close the loop, their concentration level goes down somewhat, which is why you want to use multiple nested loops, or "valleys," throughout the copy. Once they finally "climax," there's no more "Zeigarnik Effect." And you stand a great chance to lose your reader.

(Take, for instance, the show "Dallas" in the 80's with the famous "Who Shot J.R.?" plot. After the show's culmination when they finally revealed who did it, ratings dropped dramatically.)

In copy, include nested loops to not only keep the reader reading but also to build on the reader's level of concentration until the very end. And use them to introduce new or critical ideas in between them.

Look at soap operas and cliffhangers as an example. As an aside, even a few Internet marketers are doing exactly that. For example, check out the "Joe And Mable Show" at http://www.joeandmable.com/.

Perry Marshall is an author, speaker and consultant in Chicago. He is known as "The Wizard of Google AdWords" and is one of the world's leading specialists on buying search engine traffic. His company, Perry S. Marshall & Associates, consults both online and brick-and-mortar companies on generating sales leads, web traffic, and getting maximum advertising results.

Prior to his consulting career, he helped grow a tech company in Chicago from $200,000 to $4 million sales in four years, and sold it to a public company for 18 million dollars.

Like direct marketing pioneer Claude Hopkins, Perry has both an engineering degree and a love for persuasive copywriting. He's published dozens of articles on sales, marketing and technology, and his books include Guerilla Marketing for Hi-Tech Sales People and The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords.

He’s spoken at conferences around the world and consulted in dozens of industries, from computer hardware and software to high-end consulting, from health & fitness to corporate finance.

Perry Marshall is a Google marketing expert and spoke at Armand Morin's Big Seminar Series and Carl Galletti's Internet Marketing Super Conference.

The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords

Google has a new system that makes it possible, for the first time in the history of the world, to deposit five bucks, write a couple of ads, and instantly get access to over 100 million people - in less than 10 minutes.

It's called Google AdWords and it's hot. In fact it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site. But it's not always as easy as I just made it sound - AdWords has some nuances, and most people have a rough time at first.

Perry Marshall has written a very helpful e-course called "5 days to success with Google AdWords" and there's no charge for it. You can find out about it here.

The Definitive Guide to Writing & Promoting White Papers

If you sell any kind of complex service, technology or sophisticated product, a White Paper is the best way to educate your customers about that technology.

You can use a white paper to build your credibility, get free exposure in the press, attract new customers, and drive new technology into change-resistant, conservative markets.

Most white papers are either too technical (boring) or too commercial (thin and cheesy) - but Perry Marshall has written a guide that shows you how to strike the perfect balance.

But what's most important of all, though, is promoting and publicizing your white paper - because the best white paper in the world is no good unless somebody reads it!

How to sell my Marketing Toolkit for Hi-Tech Sales

Most sales people spend all day dialing for dollars, chasing prospects who are mentally if not physically backing away from them, and they waste most of their time chasing deals instead of closing them.

At the same time, most companies spend all kinds of money on advertising and don't get nearly enough bang for their buck.

Perry Marshall's "Guerilla Marketing for Hi-Tech Sales People" is an information-packed audio CD that discusses 21 principles that you can use to eliminate cold prospecting and wasted advertising dollars in today's fiercely competitive B2B marketplace. You can get your copy here.

Let me say it another way.

You've done your research. You found a starving market. Your product fills their needs. And your sales copy shines with benefits. If so, then why is your product still NOT selling? Is it the price? The offer? The competition?

Maybe. But not necessarily. The fact is, these things are not always to blame for being unable to sell an in-demand product, even with great copy.

It has more to do with one thing: FOCUS. (Or the lack thereof.)

In fact, the greatest word in copywriting is NOT "free." It's "focus."

And what you focus on in your copy is often the single, greatest determinant of your copy's success. Similarly, the most common blunders I see being committed in copy is the lack of focus in a sales message on:

The individual reading the copy; and,
The value you specifically bring to them.
In my experience as a copywriter, I find that some people put too much emphasis on the product, the provider and even the market, and not enough on the most important element in a sales situation: the customer.

The individual reading the copy at that very moment.

Don't focus your copy on your product and the features of your product — and on how good, superior or innovative they are. And don't even focus on the benefits. Instead, focus on increasing perceived value.

Why? Because perception is personal. It's intimate. It's ego-centric.

Let me explain.

When you talk about your product, you're making a broad claim. Everyone makes claims, especially online. "We're number one," "we offer the highest quality," "it's our best version yet," etc. (Often, my reaction is, "So what?")

And describing benefits is just as bad.

Benefits are too broad, in my opinion. You were probably taught that a feature is what a product has and a benefit is what that feature does. Right? But even describing benefits is, in my estimation, making a broad claim, too.

A claim always looks self-serving. It also puts you in a precarious position, as it lessens your perceived value and makes your offer suspect — the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish by making claims in the first place.

Therefore, don't focus on the benefits of a certain feature. Rather, focus on how those features specifically benefit the individual.

There is a difference. A big difference.

The more you explain what those claims specifically mean to the prospect, the more you will sell. It's not the features that counts and it's not even benefits. It's the perceived value. So how do you build perceived value?

The most common problem I see when people attempt to describe benefits is when what they are really describing are advantages — or glorified features, so to speak. Real benefits are far more personal and intimate.

That's why I prefer to use this continuum:

Features Advantages Benefits

Of course, a feature is what a product has. And an advantage (or what most people think is a benefit) is what that feature does. But...

... A benefit is what that feature means.

A benefit is what a person intimately gains from a specific feature. When you describe a feature, say this: "What this means to you, Mr. Prospect, is this (...)," followed by a more personal gain your reader gets from the feature.

Let me give you a real-word example.

A client once came to me for a critique of her copy. She sold an anti-wrinkle facial cream. It's often referred to as "microdermabrasion." Her copy had features and some advantages, but no benefits. In fact, here's what she had:

Features:

It reduces wrinkles.
It comes in a home kit.
And it's pH balanced.
Advantages:

It reduces wrinkles, so it makes you look younger.
It comes in a home kit, so it's easy to use at home.
And it's pH balanced, so it's gentle on your skin.
This is what people will think a benefit is, such as "younger," "easy to use" and "gentle." But they are general. Vague. They're not specific and intimate enough. So I told her to add these benefits to her copy...

Benefits:

It makes you look younger, which means you will be more attractive, you will get that promotion or recognition you always wanted, you will make them fall in love with you all over again, they will never guess your age, etc.

It's easy-to-use at home, which means you don't have to be embarrassed — or waste time and money — with repeated visits to the doctor’s office... It’s like a facelift in a jar done in the privacy of your own home!

It's gentle on your skin, which means there are no risks, pain or long healing periods often associated with harsh chemical peels, surgeries and injections.
Now, those are benefits!

Remember, copywriting is "salesmanship in print." You have the ability to put into words what you normally say in a person-to-person situation. If you were to explain what a feature means during an encounter, why not do so in copy?

The more benefit-driven you are, the more you will sell. In other words, the greater the perceived value you present, the greater the desire for your product will be. And if they really want your product, you'll make a lot of money.

It's that simple.

In fact, like a face-to-face, one-on-one sales situation (or as we say in sales training, being "belly to belly" with your prospect), you need to denominate as specifically as possible the value of your offer to your readers.

In other words, express the benefits of your offer in terms that relate directly not only to your market, but also and more importantly:

To each individual in that market
And to each individual's situation.
Don't focus on your product. Focus on your readers. Better yet, relate the benefits of your offer to the person that's reading it. And express how your offer benefits your prospect in terms they can intimately relate to.

Look at it this way:

Use terms the prospect is used to, appreciates and fully understands. (The mind thinks in

For marketers, these changes mean more direct interaction with customers and potential customers. By speaking and listening directly with the customer marketers are able to reduce the expense for public relations and advertising. Of course, these developments are worrying some in the pr and advertising industries, as well as the news media.

Many things about marketing communication won't change, of course: you still need to have something to say. And the best way to apply all these technologies is still within a business niche. With that said, here are some of the other ways communication is changing:

1. Podcasting is the hottest idea on the internet. Starting in 2004, people began downloading homebrewed radio shows to their iPods. So instead of "broadcasts" they're "podcasts". Unlike streaming audio, podcasts require the file to be downloaded. The advantage of podcasts versus streaming is that you can take it with you when you're not on the net. The disadvantage is that streaming audio is much easier for a customer to play at his or her computer. The solution is to do both - create an audio file for streaming, and an mp3 for podcasting. The same recording can be used for both.

2. A vlog is a video blog. Unlike podcasting, vlogging can refer to either streaming video or downloadable shows. Combined with the rapid development of internet video delivery, vlogging seems poised to take off. As with audio, you can prepare your video file in both streaming and downloadable formats. Also like audio, you can begin with very low-cost tools and work your way up to full blown professional equipment. Remember that people like good production quality, but they like watching something interesting even more.

3. Wikis are websites that are editable by the site users. Content becomes part of a dialogue among the users, instead of something fixed. This interaction can build strong communities, and produce large sites with enormous information. Up until recently, wikis have been difficult to use, and limited to techs. New approaches to wikis are making them easier to use, and reinforcing the next trend:

4. Social software. Community sites that encourage sharing and conversation are springing up in many areas. Photography and music have been drivers of this trend, in addition to political activism. Interaction builds community, and community is where the market is.

5. Almost all of these tools involve RSS, a technology for feeding information to people who want it. Unlike email, which is "pushed" by the sender, rss feeds have to be "pulled" by the user. While still not completely mainstream, rss is a rapidly growing delivery system.

For the small marketer, the price of reaching customers directly has dropped. Large corporations, though, are picking up on these technologies rapidly. To truly gain an edge, the small business person needs to develop a strategy for these channels before the big companies figure them out.

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print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A
courtesy copy of your publication is appreciated. Send to
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Author: Ralph Zuranski
Website: www.InSearchOfHeroes.com
Phone: 619-795-9034
E-mail: biomans@gmail.com

One tip I use to increase my clickthroughs from Google AdWords is to use dynamic headlines in my ads so that the keyword searched for by a user appears in the title of my ad.

It's proven that, when the keyword searched for appears in your ad, it increases your CTRs (e.g., clickthrough rates).

Thus, here's how you do it. Type ...

{KeyWord:Default Title}

... Exactly as shown. "Default Title" is the default title that appears if the keyword isn't an exact match to your list of keywords, is a variation or if the keyword/keyphrase makes the title longer than Google's limit of 25 characters.

Plus, type it exactly as shown -- KeyWord, not keyword, or Keyword, or KEYWORD -- because "KeyWord" will capitalize each word in your title ("Keyword" will only capitalize the first letter), since first capitalized letters increase CTRs, too.

Now, that may be good news to some of you, but it's NOT the news I wanted to convey. As a test fanatic myself, I wanted to try to see if {KeyWord} works in the ad itself -- either in the ad content or, more important, in the display URL.

Why the display URL?

Because the display URL can be whatever you want (and the real URL is the one people are sent to when they click) ... As long as the display and real URLs are in the same domain, it meets Google's editorial guidelines.

Since I was in the middle of writing copy, I didn't have time to check this out. So I made a request -- and The Copy Doctor member, Eric Graham, was gracious enough to try it out.

The result? You won't believe this! (And you certainly won't believe the tremendous boost in conversion it did, too! Hint: It tripled ... a 328.1% increase! ... the CTRs!)

See http://copywritersboard.com/viewtopic.php?p=2258#2258
for the whole story.

However, there are unblockable pop-ups. Some people sell software to create them. But there are also free scripts available on the Internet. Here are a few links to help you create "unblockable" pop-ups I use on my many websites.

Granted, they are not 100% foolproof, as pop-up blockers are becoming more and more sophisticated. However, not everyone has them, and therefore your chance to take advantage of these response boosters are immense -- at least for the time being.

There are 3 types...

1. Window Layers (Or "Pop-Overs")
The first is to create DHTML (dynamic HTML) windows, which uses layers (also called "pop-ins" or "pop-overs," and sometimes called "hover ads" or "drop-in windows").

These windows are not windows per se but in fact are actual HTML mini-pages created "on top" of regular HTML. When they close (such as by clicking the "X" in the upper righthand corner), they don't really close. They simply become invisible.

These scripts are free.
ScriptAsylum.com
DynamicDrive.com
CodeLifter.com
You can also use their cookie function to disallow pop-ups from showing up with returning visitors, thus reducing annoyance.

Let me show you some examples.
There's my client Chet Womach at BirdTricks.com (notice the "close window link" in the window, which I discovered by myself .) There's my own website at SuccessDoctor.com.

2. Modal Windows
The second one is the same as a standard pop-up window. But instead of lauching the window when the page loads or closes (traditionally using the body tag "onload" or "unonload" function), this script launches the window within the code itself -- rather than when page loads.

These scripts are also free.
forums.HotScripts.com
Here's the same one but in a downloadable zip file.
PageResource.com
WebReference.com
Let me show you a more specific example.
There's my own website at TheCopyDoctor.com (you may have seen the "exit" survey that pop-ups when you leave the website, asking for your feedback as to why you didn't order today).

3. Scrolling/Draggable Layers
The third is somewhat like #1. But instead of a window, you can create a linked image or a set of links (with no frames) that follow you around on a web page.

This one is becoming more and more popular. It was once used for providing feedback, but with the advent of pop-up blockers, this technique is fast becoming the "pop-up" of choice.

These scripts are also free.
EchoEcho.com
Codelifter.com
Dyn-Web.com
(Click on gliding "layers always in view.")
Here are some examples.
For links, you can purchase a software that creates them for you, like Dave Brown's WebsiteResponseBooster.com (not an affiliate link). But when you visit the site, look in the corners of your browser window.

So page "a" may be your existing control while page "b" is exactly the same with one slight change. (Always test just one variable at a time.)

Scenario of "a" versus "b" split test.
The script serves one page, alternately, with each visitor. It measures the response rate per page. Say, page "a" gets 100 hits, 2 sales (2% response). Page "b" gets 100 hits, 3 sales (3% response). The difference between "a" and "b" gives me the change. It's a 1% difference. Based on the original 2%, that's a 50% increase.

Let me show you a more specific example.

First, you install the script. You then set your 2 pages. Page "a" is your current control. Page "b" is an exact carbon copy of page "a," but with a slight change. One variable, whatever it may be. Now...

Page "a" 213 hits, 2 sales, 0.9% conversion
Page "b" 188 hits, 3 sales, 1.1% conversion
Increase from "a" to "b:" 1.1 - 0.9 = 0.2% difference
To calculate the increase 0.2% represents:
Multiply it by 100, like 0.2 x 100 = 20
20 divided by 0.9% = 22% increase
Thus, page "b" with the slight change represents a 22% increase over page "a." Thus, 0.9% (page "a") x 1.22 (22% increase) = 1.1% (page "b"). In other words, add 22% of 0.9% to 0.9%, which equals 1.1%.

Now, is this empirical? No.

The amount of traffic above is very small. This example should not be considered as across-the-board numbers. But, it gives you a good indicator. (Don't forget that a modification to your control may decrease your response, too. That's fine, since it gives you the knowledge of what DOESN'T work -- and not repeat it.)

Here's a great site that teaches it to you is http://testandtrack.com/.

It's like the time you walk into a department store and check out a new shirt you're interested in. Since there's none in your size, you ask the sales representative if one is available. The clerk goes into the backroom, and emerges a few moments later, saying, "I found one in your size, but it's the only one we have left in stock."

Now, how much more desirous are you in that shirt?

I'm a firm believer, and I've grown even more convinced over time, that great copy is not meant to induce action, especially online -- it's really meant to prevent procrastination. Why? Because copy should not sell people and pressure them per se. It should help them buy what you sell and prevent them from making a wrong decision.

And procrastination is a decision in itself -- a bad decision at that.

Online, people find your site through research, searching for specific information. Or they were propelled to visit your site through some affiliate promotion, ad or offer made elsewhere. So to a large degree, and unlike the offline world, they're pre-qualified. They're interested. They're in the market. (Granted, not all the time. But again, they are to a great degree -- at least to a greater degree than a bunch of people on a direct mail list you have no knowledge of, other than some basic demographic data.)

Nevertheless, as the saying goes, "People don't like to be sold. But people love to buy." So scarcity, used properly, helps them buy -- and not pressure them to act.

Look at it this way: if you give a chance for your prospects to procrastinate, they will. Guaranteed.

So use takeaway selling in order to stop people from procrastinating rather than getting them to take action now. In other words, shape your offer -- and not just your product or service -- so that it is time-sensitive or quantity-bound. More important, give a reasonably logical explanation to justify your time-sensitivity or else your sales tactic will be instantly discredited as it appears disingenuous.

How do you do that?

I've always used one of three ways...

In my experience, there 3 types of takeaways you can use:

Limiting the time
Limiting the quantity
Limiting the offer
The first is done by adding a deadline on the offer. A realistic deadline, and not some script that changes everyday. For instance, how many times have you come across a salesletter where the offer had a deadline, which seemed to "magically" bump ahead each time you visited the website? That's what I mean. (People are not stupid!)

This is done very well when the product or the price is changing after the deadline, or simply no longer available or temporarily inaccessible. Take Thomas Pierce's BlogMasterSecrets.com, for example, which is no longer for sale. Well, for now at least.

(By the way, Thomas reported on an interesting take on the use of takeaway selling. There's a site that's holding a rabbit hostage, on its way to a slaughterhouse by a certain date -- unless you donate money or buy merchandise, the rabbit will die. Personally, I'm not too keen on the approach. It's crude. But creatively, and as an example of takeaway selling, it's brilliant. See Thomas' blog post here.)

The second is limiting the number of units (stock) or openings (clients) available. Again, back it up with a realistic reason. Something logical. Something justifiable and real. Perhaps it's "fire sale" (products discounted because of minimal cosmetic damage, for example), or perhaps it's a way to deplete old stock and to make way for the new.

Whatever the reason, as long as it's credible and logical, scarcity can become a powerful too. Remember, people buy on emotion first and then justify their decisions with logic. In fact, if you give them logical explanations in your copy further down, many will actually use your suggestions -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- as a way to back up their purchasing decisions.

You make the excuses for them. You make them feel as if they "own" your reasons for buying now, in other words.

In terms of services, this is done by limiting the number of people for a number of reasons -- such as a service provider who can only take on a certain number of clients because there are so many hours in the day, or because it would dilute the value of the service. Etc, etc, etc.

Also, even making the offer something that's secretive, exclusive or otherwise unavailable to the general public, can arouse stronger motives in the psyche of your readers. People are intrinsically curious. And people always love to get some kind of "insider's edge" over the rest of the world.

Take my friend Ryan Deiss' Nicheology.com private site, for example. They currently have an extensive waiting list and only open their "doors" every so often for a very specific number of new members. Once they've reached that number, the offer is "closed."

The third is the offer. And this is done through limiting other elements that are part of the offer, such as the guarantee, the bonuses/premiums, the price (not a discount, but perhaps an imminent increase in price, perhaps to cover the extra costs in dealing with more customers), the packaging (perhaps since the product is bundled with other products or components that won't be available after "X" amount sold), the extras (perhaps as in free support, free installation or free shipping, etc), and so on.

I like them all, especially when the product is truly limited, such as Frank Kern and Ed Dale's recent Underachiever Mastery course I wrote the copy for, which was strictly limited to 700 packages, and the site was taken down once they've reached the limit.

(The reason? The course helps people make money with tiny, ultra-targeted niches, where very little competition if any exists. But if too many people bought the course, then chances are that the competition in any given niche will grow and thus lessen the potential profitability of people buying and applying the techniques in the course.)

But for convenience and flexibility, I prefer the "fire sale" as well as the third (which is limiting the offer, especially with bonuses and extras). Because often, bonuses can be limited and changed, without limiting the sales of the core product or service.

This not only creates more believability (because it reduces the perception of the owner's "control" over the limitation, which may appear as self-serving or manipulative), but also reduces skepticism as the bonus may actually have been sold elsewhere or is currently being sold elsewhere, and therefore the 3rd party may put a limit on the quantity to distribute.

For example, I did this with Stephen Pierce's copy I wrote, where Stephen was giving away a software program that complemented his infoproduct he was selling -- one that was truly being sold by someone else on another website at a real price. Stephen managed to secure permission to distribute only a certain number of copies from the 3rd party as a free bonus to his infoproduct, making the offer truly scarce and valuable.

In negotiation skills training, they call this approach the "higher authority" or "third party" gambit, where the limitation is outside of the owner's control -- making the takeaway truly a takeaway, and not some manipulative ploy.

This is crucial, because too many people use takeaway these days as a tactic, not as a reason.

So add a deadline to your offer, limit the number of products you sell (or the number of new members you allow to join), or shape your entire offer so that one of more elements are limited.

Again, there is a caveat: to make sure that people believe your need to limit the offer, give a reasonable and logical explanation to justify your time-sensitivity, or else your tactic will be instantly discredited.

Here are some examples.

If you add a deadline or limit the number of members you accept, you must explain why you're doing so. But you can also be vague, too. (Although a real, tangible deadline is best.) Here's an example of what I put on some sales letters I've written -- they sell memberships to private sites and offer personal consulting to their members:

Example #1:

"To be candid with you, I don't know how long I'm going to keep the doors open to new members since this information is extremely sensitive and limited. I don't want to dilute the value of this information for my paid members. If you were a member, wouldn't you want the same, too? So, I must restrict the number of users for quality control purposes."

(In the above case, it is very true. The author sells access to a limited number of "hot" real estate opportunities that he finds through his unique system, which he also teaches his members. If too many people join and get their hands on the opportunities or the system, it will surely lower the value of the information to the member-base, and contradict the whole purpose of the site, which is to gain access to hot, insider's information. Otherwise, why would one join?)

Example #2:

"We're only human, and there are only so many hours in a day and so many people we can physically attend to! So, in order to limit the number of hours of coaching we do provide, we must put a cap on the number of new members for obvious reasons. We can only guarantee that people who sign up through [date] will qualify for membership, completely custom-tailored support and this incredible set of free bonuses worth over $[amount]! 'You snooze, you lose'. So, join today. I'd hate to put you on a milelong waiting list!"

(This example demonstrates the importance of the support they offer private members and, at the same time, drives home the idea that such a service is limited. I'm sure the owners can hire part-time help, if the need ever arose. But nothing can replace expertise that comes from straight the experts -- the more people join, the more individualized coaching they must provide, and the less time they have.)

Example #3:

"If you act by midnight, Friday on [date], you will get the 3 bonuses included with your special offer. But keep in mind, however, that these bonuses come from various third parties, including [3rd party name], over which we have no control, and can be removed at any time without notice. I've only secured permission to give away [amount] copies of this bonus bundle. So the time to act is now!"

(The above is an example of the 3rd approach, where the offer is limited through a bonus. You can also accomplish this by tailoring your offer, or even making a special backend or alternative offer to an accumulated list of non-buyers, after they've seen the original offer.)

So, add some kind of constraint, such as a time-limited or quantity-bound offer. Such limitations implore at some unconscious level, "You better read this and take action now!" But above all, always make sure to back up your limitation with a logical, genuine and easily justifiable reason in order not to appear misleading or disingenuous.

For the more you make them feel that procrastination is a bad decision, the more people will feel compelled to buy of their volition -- and not pressured into buying.

Rolfing works with connective tissue, which forms a web-like structure throughout the body.

From superficial to very deep layers at the core of the body. Connective tissue, or fascia, envelops every structure in the body, all the muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels and internal organs. Because of injury, stress, illness, repetitive use or simply the aging process, this tissue will shorten, thicken, become more rigid and twist according to the pattern of strain to which the body is subjected.

Rolfing works to release the restrictions, strains and adhesions that create pain, inflexibility and general discomfort and fatigue.

Then, the body is a freer and more balanced and there is a sense of inner strength because the body is working as a whole rather than disjointed segments. After Rolfing, there is a sense of aliveness. Energy levels usually increase. Daily chores simply take a lot less effort. Body parts are working together rather than against each other. (think of a car performance after alignment and tune-ups.)

Spirits have been known to soar after Rolfing.

There is pure joy and delight as we move toward greater integrity of body, mind and spirits as we merge with ourselves, that blending is a true homecoming.

You can learn more about rolfing by Clicking Here.

It's the second biggest copywriting problem. And that is, the copy doesn't speak to the customer at the stage of awareness at which they happen to be. This is pivotal to ensure that the copy is long enough, or strong enough, to qualify, educate and sell the prospect.

What are these "stages of awareness?" There are four.

I've used these before I ever learned about their existence. (Mostly unconsciously through researching a target market while writing copy.) For example, I know that Eugene Schwartz talks about this at great length in his amazing book, "Breakthrough Advertising."

But I prefer to use my own version of these stages, and an acronym so it is easier to remember and follow.

I call it "OATH." As in, "Is your prospect ready to take an oath?"

Here's what I mean.

You see, depending one where your reader is at, the level of education, credentialization and agitation you need to do (and the length of copy you need to write, to a certain extent) depends very highly on how knowledgeable and aware your market is.

Maybe they're hurting right now. Or maybe they're not there yet. "Not there yet" means not only how much are they hurting but also how much do they KNOW they are hurting.

That's what their awareness level of the problem means. And it's also how educated they are about the solution -- let alone your solution.

Granted, this is answered to some degree by how targeted your audience is. The first problem I mentioned earlier. But the copy should flow from, and follow with, that stage of awareness in order to bring them to a successful outcome.

I like to look at it this way...

To me, if they're ready to take an oath, meaning they're ready to buy, is based on any one of those 4 stages. Here's what "OATH" means...

O - They're oblivious.

They're unaware about the problem let alone a need for a solution. They don't know they're hurting or could be hurting (i.e., that there's a potential problem they don't know about and should prevent with your solution).

So in this case, you need to educate them a lot -- educate them about the problem or potential problem. You need to bring it to the top of their minds. If you hit them too hard and too fast with the solution and particularly the benefits of the solution, without knowing they have a problem in the first place, you're going to confuse the heck out of them.

Often, this is what happens with copy that's too short or too presumptive. Do they really know they're hurting? Even if they simply have an unmet desire for something (and not really a problem), they're still hurting at some other level.

As my friend and copywriter Craig Perrine once said, "An unmet desire is also a problem to be solved."

A - They're apathetic.

They know they have a problem, but they're indifferent about the solution. Any solution. They simply don't care for whatever reason. Perhaps the problem is not important enough in their minds. Perhaps the problem is not urgent enough. Perhaps they're not hurting enough.

So you need to blow up the problem (or the risk of the potential problem, which is a problem in itself). You need to aggravate it. Make it more real, more present, more urgent, more vivid.

You need to make them feel the consequences of their inactions. Because, you see, good copy doesn't really induce action. Good copy, in reality, is meant to prevent procrastination -- the biggest killer of sales!

And this is even more true with the subsequent stages of awareness, since the more aware they are and the less they act, then the more it's about procrastination than it is about the lack of desire.

T - They're thinking.

They know they have a problem and that there is a solution, but they don't know about your solution. They're shopping around, they're considering other offers or they're just thinking about whether they should be doing something about their problem in the first place.

So at this stage, you don't need to sell them too much on the problem or the solution. But you need to sell them on YOUR solution.

What is it? Why is it a good solution? Why is it important to them? What makes it so unique, different, valuable? What makes your offer so compelling above over all other choices, including unrelated ones?

With the latter, I mean indirect competitors. For example, an indirect competitor maybe a totally different solution -- even a totally different product or service -- that soothes the same pain. So you need to build value in your solution, too.

H - They're hurting.

They're desparate! They know they have a problem and how bad it is, and they even know about your specific solution. But they haven't gone ahead for whatever reason.

Perhaps they don't know how to go ahead, why they should go ahead or why they should go ahead now. Perhaps they've used other solutions unsuccessfully in the past and are afraid. Their inaction, in this case, is because they've seen other offers or been burnt by other, substandard solutions.

Think of it this way: if they're desperate, then they're already 60-90% sold. So why haven't they bought yet? What do they need to get over the remaining "hump?" What's stopping them from going ahead? What objections do they have left or what questions remain to be answered?

So here, you need to increase proof, urgency and the value of your specific solution. No need for a lot of education here. Just sell them on reasons why and getting your solution now. Build perceived value, proof and scarcity.

At this stage, procrastination (more often than not, based on fear) is the culprit. You need to allay that fear. And to do so, you really need to look at your copy and your offer; to understand your customer at a deeper, more intimate level; and to learn why they haven't gone ahead yet or what they need to go ahead. (And finally, to give it to them.)

In a nutshell, that's my OATH formula.

So bottom line, your audience may be more in the oblivious stage, the apathetic stage, the thinking stage or the hurting stage.

This will tell you a lot about not only how much information you need to gather and provide, but what kind of information, and what kind of offer, that will stimulate them and transition them into buying your solution.

And remember, it all starts with knowing your audience and helping them to buy, more than it is about knowing your product and selling it.

Ralph: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Frank Garon. He’s an outspoken webmaster of the widely successful Internet Cash Planet. He is a former bankrupt truck driver and he pulls no punches about what you need to know right now to make your internet business a success.
 
Frank treats his readers like family, going out of his way to help them any way he can. He’s got a great newsletter and I’ve been a subscriber for a long time. It’s just like conversing with a friend. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to Frank at a number of different seminars that I’ve taken photos at.
 
Frank really lays it on the line and tells people in a straightforward simple way on what they need to do to be successful on the internet. How are you doing today, Frank?
 
Frank: Hey Ralph, I’m doing great. Thanks for having me here and I’m looking forward to help get the message out to your people.
 
Ralph: I really appreciate you taking your valuable time to answer the Hero questions. I wanted to ask you the first one. What is your definition of heroism?
 
Frank: I probably have two different definitions. One, heroism would be anybody that does the right thing under any circumstances without seeking any reward, just because it’s the right thing to do. In today’s day and age, it is kind of heroic when people stay the course and do the right thing without any gain or without anybody watching them.
 
I think that is heroic, because day to day we face challenges that test our spirit, our strength, and in reality, our soul. And every time each one of us comes back with a great way to treat another person or the right thing to do, even if it causes us a little bit of trouble to do it, I think that is something to be celebrated and recognized in some way as heroism.
 
The second way I would define heroism is anybody that overcomes adversity in their lives and remains positive and optimistic. I’d also like to combine that with somebody that – I mean obviously, the standard definition of heroism is somebody that lays down their life or puts their life in jeopardy to help or save somebody else.

So I don’t know if that is two and half definitions, Ralph, or three, but it’s a little bit more than the two I promised.
 
Ralph: Yeah, well that really covers the spectrum of heroism. Did you ever create a secret hero in your mind that helped you deal with life’s difficulties?
 
Frank: I guess one way of answering that is to say my grandmother on my mom’s side was my hero, my role model in life. She raised a total of five kids on her own. She had two husbands. The first one got stabbed to death in front of her. The second one was a drunken bum. And this was in the forties, going into the fifties that she had to deal with all this.
 
She kept the family together. She kept a house. She kept the kids together. One daughter died tragically. Another son died and a third son has been institutionalized most of his adult life. Yet, she always smiled. She always had a kind word. She never really complained, even though she had more reason to complain than a hundred other people.
 
She was awesome to her grandkids. She was supportive and understanding right up until the bitter end. So her and maybe to a little lesser extent, my grandparents on my dad’s side - those are my heroes. I prefer real life heroes rather than sports figures or Hollywood heroes or whatever.

Did you ever create a secret hero inside your mind? A lot of times people go through difficulties in their lives and they develop what I call a right brain hero or character inside their brain that’s always encouraging them and telling them that they can be successful and overcome difficult obstacles that everybody has to face.
 
Frank: I would have to say I haven’t done it. My conscious mind is too busy yelling at me to keep me on track. There’s probably not room for an imaginary friend in my brain right now.
 
Ralph: [Laughter] Well, what is your perspective on goodness, ethics, and moral behavior?

Frank: I’m a big fan of all three. I can’t get enough of them. How would we define that? Well, my perspective is the right thing to do IS the right thing to do, and that’s why they call it that. It is the right thing to do. I can only worry about myself and where I’m headed and what I’m teaching my two kids.
 
My son is four and half. My daughter’s nineteen. My thing is no matter how big I am on the internet, no matter how much money I make, no matter where I go business-wise, none of it matters if I’m not good and kind, if I don’t have ethics, if I don’t conduct myself morally. I think my perspective is I try to live everyday with keeping that in the forefront of my mind.
 
I wish I could say I do a better job at that than I’m currently doing. We should always seek to strive to do better. But I’m concerned about it and I want to live it. Like I say, I know what I’m supposed to be doing. My view is if you know it’s the right thing to do, then you should be moving towards that and working towards that at all times.
 
I guess that’s the best way for me to define the way I view myself. And I do. I hold myself responsible. I hold myself accountable, not only to myself, but to God. I’m going to be pretty disappointed if I fall over dead tomorrow and I get yelled at for not doing as good as I could. I’m always looking to do better and I’m honest.
 
I’m honest. I’m not perfect. I am fallible. I do need improvement and that’s why I really don’t judge other people. I guess that’s why probably I’m able to treat my readers so good, because I know what I feel and I know what I go through. And maybe I have a few extra breaks.
 
Thank God for the internet. I’m well connected. I have a mind for business. I’m home full-time. People come to me with opportunities. So I’m able to take advantage of things that maybe in some ways the average person can’t.
 
So I figure if I’m having challenges and problems and obstacles in life, then people that are just getting to where I’m getting or not quite there yet, must have even more. Again, why not have compassion and understanding for them.
 
Plus, on top of it, getting at a spiritual mode and getting in a capitalist mode. Quite frankly, if I don’t treat everybody else right, they have no reason to do business with me. As we spoke privately before this call, I’m here for the money. I am here for the money.

I’m here to get a few million in the bank; take care of my kids; make sure that I’m set for life. And then I’m off to do charity work, volunteer work, and philanthropic work. That’s where my heart’s called. That’s where my I think my true fulfillment in life is going to lie and I definitely feel called to it.
 
I need cash in order to be able to do that. How you get cash is by serving other people and doing the right thing. So, even if it didn’t come naturally for me, which thank goodness it does, from a business standpoint, it just makes a lot of sense.
 
Ralph: Boy, that’s so true. What principles are you willing to sacrifice your life for? I know that there’s a real question about real heroism. Like somebody, there’s a burning building and just on the sake of adrenalin, they race into the burning building and either die or pull somebody out.
 
But then there’s the other idea of sacrificing your life for a principle or sacrificing your life for somebody that’s sick in your family. What do you think about that?
 
Frank: I guess I won’t know until I’m tested. And we could actually do a whole call on that. Don’t ask me how I know, Ralph, but I just know. On a very deep level, at some point in my life, I’m going to be called accountable for protecting or saving somebody that could die without my help.
 
And I don’t know if it’s car accident, plane crash, burning building, mugging, I don’t even know. I just know that at some point I am going to be called accountable for that. And I’m going to have to make a decision at that moment in time.
 
And at that moment in time, my character, all my talking, all my telling other people what’s the good thing to do and how they should do it, and all my truth about how I think I’m trying to raise my kids is going to be called into account. And that’s where the real tire is going to hit the real road.
 
So the answer is I won’t know until I get there. I like to believe I would lay it down for my fellow man, even if I didn’t know them. If they were in peril, I don’t think, Ralph, I could walk away from a burning building knowing that people were inside of it.
 
When I drove a truck, I drove over a million miles commercially. I saw accidents routinely. There were several that happened right in front of me that I did stop at to help and so forth. Certainly, my kids – I mean I’d die this second if it meant having my kids safe and protected. I mean that’s automatic.

That’s the most primitive sort of brain function I have is to protect my kids, and to protect my views and beliefs. I mean, I don’t know. I’m pretty opinionated. I never did back down as a kid from somebody else that said, “You’re stupid,” or “You’re crazy,” or “This won’t work,” or “That can’t work.” I guess one way of saying it is that there’s not really a lot that I’m afraid of.
 
I guess we’ll see what happens when it happens, but there’s not a lot I’m worried about. I think if anything, I’m worried about dying before I’ve fulfilled what I’m supposed to do, which is really helping other people, really making a difference, through, like I say, volunteer work and so forth. That and my kids getting hurt, are probably the only two things that I’m afraid of.
 
The only third thing would be if they stop making pizza and vanilla ice cream. That would probably have me wanting to move to another planet, Ralph. Those are two of my staple foods, I’m happy to say.
 
Ralph: You’ve had some real ups and downs in your life. What was the lowest point in your life and how did you change your life path to one of victory over the obstacles?
 
Frank: Well, you know what, Ralph? Who’s to say that I’m not at the lowest point in my life right now? If I was able to look back and look at my entire life history and how the story ends, that’s one way I look at it.
 
I like to look at it as I’m not in as good of shape and I’m not as happy and I’m not as healthy and well-rounded and successful as I am going to be tomorrow. Because, like I say, I try to work on continuous improvement.
 
On the other hand, it is also important to know where I came from. I think going bankrupt was pretty low. That was pretty low. I think when my grandmother on my dad’s side died on Christmas day 1980 – that was pretty low.
 
I think choosing to leave my previous marriage, knowing that I would never raise (then Frankie wasn’t even two years old), knowing that the decision that I was making that was “best” for all of us, was a decision that would have me not under the same roof as him to love him and protect him and kiss him goodnight every night.
 
I’d honestly have to say that that one right there, now that I think about it, that was a low point. There’s not too much lower than you can get, than saying, “Alright, this relationship is very unhealthy. If I stay, it’s going to destroy my son, too. Teach him bitterness, and anger, and spite, and fighting and things like that. So I’ll just be a man about it and leave, so he can live a better life.”

I’ve got to say, that was not a good day, Ralph. I laid on the floor and I cried once my ex-wife and my son drove away. I felt like my world ended. I would still make that decision again at that moment in time. That would be my answer.
 
Ralph: How did you recover from that? That’s pretty devastating when your family falls apart and your son leaves. I think that our family and our friends, that’s where the greatest joys and sorrows of our life are.
 
Frank: From your mouth to God’s ears, Ralph.
 
Ralph: So how did you recover? Was there anybody that helped you, or did God help you, or positive thinking? Because everybody goes through situations like that, I don’t know anybody that isn’t having difficulties in some relationships in their lives. And they’re always questioning what’s going on in their lives. What did you do?
 
Frank: To be honest with you, I just worked through it. I just worked through it. I mean my heart still hurts, but the show goes on. The weird thing about things like that is every day that goes by, your heart recovers even if it’s almost immeasurable, to a very, very small extent, your heart recovers and you are able to move on.
 
I guess it just happens one day at a time. Like now, when he still comes out for the weekend. I get him for a full weekend, now that he’s older. He likes to do stuff. And I’ll tell you what – I still cry after I drop him off at his mom’s. I mean, that’s my kid, that’s my blood. I made 50% of him. I’m 50% responsible for the rest of his life.
 
And to just drop him off. I mean, his mom, Marie, she’s a wonderful mom. She’s devoted her life to him. I don’t have anything but good things to say about her. But at the same point, not being there, I don’t care who’s in charge of him. I don’t care if God’s in charge of him while I’m not there; you’re still going to worry about it. That’s what parents do.
 
Ralph: That’s true.
 
Frank: That’s the only way I can put it. And on top of that, I’ve got a nineteen year old that’s going into her second year of college. She’s a thousand miles away down in Florida. She’s gorgeous, five eight, tall, gorgeous body, legs that go on forever.

And I’m like, “Oh, great. I’ve got a supermodel for a daughter.” And here she is – a thousand miles away. Don’t know who she’s with. Don’t know who’s got designs on her. But all I can do is trust her.
 
Come to think of it, Ralph, my kids stress me. They’re supposed to be fun – yeah! I don’t know what happened there.
 
Ralph: I think probably every parent can make that statement.
 
Frank: They’re supposed to get easier as they grow up. The nineteen year old has me more stressed than the four and a half year old. He’s a walk in the park compared to that one.
 
Ralph: The only thing I can tell you for sure is your kids will always be with you, no matter what age you are.
 
Frank: This call is bringing me down, Ralph. Suddenly, I want my mommy. I don’t know what just happened.
 
Ralph: What’s your dream or vision that sets the course of your life? Is it the idea of generating enough income so that you can work philanthropically full-time by helping others?
 
Frank: Oh, absolutely. I guess threefold. Number one, my dream would be to finally get to some point of homeostasis where I feel like I’ve gotten the whole ‘kindness’ and ‘do unto others’ and ‘Golden Rule’ and ‘do the right thing’ down to a science.
 
In other words, it’s automatic. I have to say that right now I still walk in this world, so I’m definitely not perfect. I would absolutely like to do better. So that would be number one. I’d love to get to that point.
 
Number two is I would like to get to the point in a relationship where it was healthy and loving and productive and everything was talked out and dealt with honestly and openly, rather than via yelling and anger, or even be emotionally shutting down. To me that can be just as deadly.

Then the third thing would be to have that kind of money where I’ve got millions in the bank and I can just cut a check for some kid in the inner city that’s getting good grades, but he needs to get out of the hood. Or there’s a village in Paraguay that just got washed away in a mudslide. I’d like to cut the check and say, “Here people. Do what needs to be done.”
 
I think out of everything, being able to do that would probably take care of the other stuff. If you’re in a position to give like that, I think the universe is going to give back to you and you’ll reap so much more than you give. If I could only pick one of the three, I think it would be serving other people.
 
Really, without that, you could be Simon Legree and what do you have? I’ve been alone at Christmas and I had a few options. I chose to be alone. Even by choice, that stinks. I would never want to be in a position where money meant more to me than people.
 
On the other hand, you know me. You know I’m a capitalist. It takes money to make money and it takes money to make changes. I’m absolutely not money adverse. And I don’t particularly want to be poor, and I hope I’m never poor. I like being comfortable just like the next person.
 
I guess it’s the serving and the wanting to help people. If that costs me money to be able to do that, hopefully I’ll be okay with that fact if it ever hits that point.
 
Ralph: Now, everybody experiences setbacks and misfortunes and makes mistakes in their lives. How important is it to have a positive view of those things?
 
Frank: I might be the wrong person to ask, Ralph, because sometimes I still get down and frustrated.
  
Frank: Just when it rains, now it’s going to start pouring awesome. Can’t I get a break here? I don’t know that I’m the most qualified to [inaudible]
 
Ralph: How about being an optimist? What do you think about being an optimist?

Frank: I can tell you what I’d like to do and what I do do sometimes. It is to keep moving, keep trying, and you only fail when you quit. That much I can honestly say. You only fail when you quit. I’ve gone bankrupt. I’ve had tax issues due to the marriage that are only now being settled, and still aren’t totally settled.
 
There are just things that happen. My thing is that if I quit now, number one that is pretty stupid because I don’t know how the story ends. Number two, it’s like, well I came this far, why would I bail now? Its decent now, but I want to get to great.
 
So quitting now, I would have had a decent life. By keeping on moving, I have every chance of having a great life. And again, I don’t mean that in a selfish way. I’m just being honest. And I define great as being a fulfillment of the goals that I seek to achieve.
 
So I’m just like, “Okay, that kind of stinks.” I’m using words you can use in public here. But then I just keep going. I’m like a human cockroach. You’re not going to kill me. You’re not going to keep my down. Drop a thousand bombs on me, I might need to recover a little bit, but I am not going down and staying down.
 
Personally, I refuse to anymore. I refuse to.
 
Ralph: Well, you changed to a lot of different paths in your life, in going from truck driver to MLM to the internet, and to an assortment of all the different business opportunities that are out there. Does it take a lot of courage to pursue new ideas and new business opportunities?
 
Frank: I would imagine in some circumstances it does. However, truth be told in my case, most of it was for capitalistic reasons. In other words, when I left truck driving and got into network marketing [inaudible] that was the first arena that I dabbled in. I still do have a residual income from that.
 
Quite frankly, it was for capitalistic reasons and the fact that here was a way to get out of a job that I was going to wind up strangling my boss at if I stayed there. I wish I could say that took courage, but maybe another way of saying it was it took faith. I’ve always kind of just laughed.
 
Maybe that’s a rhetorical statement, or a chicken and egg statement. Does it take courage? Does it take nerve? Does it take bravado? Are they the same thing described, you know worded differently? Is that courage? Is it something on a more primal level? Is it something you don’t think about? Is it your inner voice or something spiritual guiding you?

I guess on that one, I really don’t know, but I definitely knew there was opportunity moving forward. And I definitely knew there was not opportunity staying put. Each time I made a move.
 
There are not many moves I’ve regretted. I would even say that the marriage and the divorce – because if I had never met my ex, I never would have had Frankie. So all the pain that I went through there - If you said to me, “Hey, Frank. You don’t have to go through that pain. Maybe you’ll marry this girl and have a happy family instead, and whatever. But this particular child won’t be born.”
 
Yeah, I guess I’d still go through it again. I honestly wouldn’t even have to think about that. So I tell you all that to say some of it is courage. It has to be courage, because anybody that moves or makes changes has to deal with it courageously on some level. But I want to be up front and say I was also there to make the money.
 
I was also there to make the creature comfort improvements. And I was also there to better myself. Better myself financially.
 
Ralph: So do you think it’s important to have the courage to believe in your dreams, that they will eventually become reality? A lot of times people around you, they try to kill your dreams. They’re sort of locked into where they’re at and it’s just incredibly hard for them to move anywhere.
 
And you have dreams, whether they’re caused by your life being so miserable, you’ve got to make changes or opportunities look so great, you can’t not help but make that change because you want to have a better life. What do you think about that?
 
Frank: I will say I think it takes courage for the average person to dare to dream different dreams and to dare to do better and dare to be stronger and smarter and live a life that most people… I mean 99.9% of the people out there in the world are going to tell you you’re crazy for doing this.
 
The internet is all scam. Network marketing is a pyramid scheme. “What are you? One of those spammers?” “Do you own a porno site?” All the stupid things people say, instead of not saying anything, or instead of saying something supportive.

It takes courage to face all that and to keep moving. That’s one thing I try to keep in mind right now. If I’ve got to be honest, I’m a little bit more stubborn, and I’m a little more opinionated than the average person. At least I feel anyway.
 
When I was driving a tractor trailer, and I’d hand somebody one of my tapes that I was listening to, or whatever, and I’d say, “Here. Check this out. Here’s what I’m doing. Here’s what I’m in to. Here’s what I’m going to do in life.”
 
And they say, “That’s all garbage. None of that works.”
 
I always thought they were the nutty ones and that I was on the right track. I felt bad for them. And that’s the way I thought, but I do need to keep in mind that other people, and the people I deal with in my organization, my newsletter list, my various endeavors, that they may or may not have the resilience and the bravado that I did.
 
It does take courage. What you’re doing is you’re being the one who climbs out of the boiling pot. All these other people are pulling you down and saying, “Stay with us. Don’t rock the boat. You belong here.” That act is courageous.
 
And I’ll say this for the men listening to this, buying another eBook, downloading another product, going to another conference, taking one more swing at it, knowing that you’re going to have to show your wife the credit card bill, that my friend is courageous as well.
 
Ralph: Boy, isn’t that the truth. Everybody is affected by doubts and fears. Some we create on our own and a lot of them are put into our minds by the people around us. How do you overcome your doubts and fears?
 
Frank: Continuous immersion in self-improvement material, combined with surrounding myself with other people that are of a similar mindset. You really do have to leave this world in many ways to move forward with what you want out of life. You literally have to detach and depart and disengage from the “real world,” or I tell people, the civilian world, in order to move your life forward.
 
Your friends mean well, but forget about it. They’re going to say, “Ah, don’t do this. Do that instead. You’re no fun. You’re a party-pooper. All you do is this. Blah, blah, blah, blah.” All those things take inoculation and immunization. If you don’t do that and if you don’t motivate yourself and if you don’t stick with that, it’s never going to happen for you.

I did it. I was very fortunate to find one person in particular, and that’s a fellow by the name of Guy Finley. He can be found at GuyFinley.com. I found him ten years ago, whether it was by accident or by Providence, I don’t know.
 
Listening to his material and to hear that other people thought like me, and to hear that I was on track, and I wasn’t crazy, and that there was another path. There was a path of peace and a path of positive thinking, a path of saying, “No. I don’t accept what other people tell me I need to accept.” I’m not living that life. I can actually design my own life.
 
That was crucial and critical to me. I’ve since found two other extremely helpful things. One is Centerpointe and that’s at Centerpointe.com. And then the third one is Doctor Robert Anthony. I don’t actually have a URL for that one handy.
 
Those three studies, or those three journeys – Guy Finley, Centerpointe and Dr. Robert Anthony – if I took those and the Bible, because for me whether I'm religious or not, I got to say I probably come down right in the middle. I believe in God but I also get angry with Him at times and don’t necessarily always do what I should.
 
I’m not going to tell everybody, “Oh, follow my way. Follow my path religiously.” But I will be honest and say that no matter what you do, if you listen to Guy Finley, Centerpointe, and Dr. Robert Anthony, well, you're, I don’t know, a hedonist, or a Christian, or Protestant, Orthodox Jew, whatever. It does not matter.
 
Listening to this sort of stuff is impartial religiously but there are basic truths that we all need to hear and we all need to live with and we all need to abide by. They can be found, I feel, and I say it humbly and respectfully, in these three bodies of works.
 
They are what have gotten me through. They are the things that I hold myself accountable to because I know deep down they're very true. That’s a little bit deep of an answer, Ralph, but I'm hoping that answer made sense.
 
Ralph: Yeah. It’s important, I think, probably. And what those guys say is, “It’s important to forgive others who upset, offend, and oppose you,” since there are always people that seem to be antagonists in our lives. How important do you think it is to forgive others that offend us?

Frank: Well, let me say that I know it’s important and I know it’s necessary and I also know if you don’t do it, all you're doing is giving yourself a bigger problem by keeping the anger, the rage, and the hurt in your heart. Then, you are hurting the other person that you're holding that grudge or problem against.
 
But, you know Ralph, I like to think of myself as very forgiving but I'm up against a couple things right now where I am hurt, angry, and upset. I got to be honest with you. I know I'm not doing as good a job as I should be doing.
 
I'm just not because I know me enough to feel me inside. I am not doing everything I need to be doing in order to be bettering my life, myself, and my way. I'm just honestly not doing it right now. I'm disappointed in myself, but hey, I'm hurt. What do you want from me?
 
Ralph: That’s true. It’s a daily challenge I think, even a moment-by-moment challenge, just to do the right thing. Some days, it’s just overwhelming. There’s just nothing you can do. No amount of prayer, positive thinking, or anything can just pull you out of the doldrums. The good thing is that life will change.
 
Frank: That is true. I kind of backed myself into a bit of a corner here. I'm probably just as frustrated at myself as anybody else because I'm also not a hypocrite. I think we have free will and I’ll say this:
 
We all would do a lot better if we just held ourselves accountable for the decisions that we make and say, “Yeah, you know what, that was a dumb decision. I won't do it again. But I've learned from it and I'm going to love myself enough to forgive myself.”
 
I can tell you this. I'm a million times better at forgiving other people than I am forgiving myself. I still beat myself up over things I did twenty years ago. I guarantee you that’s had a bad effect on my life.
 
Again, Ralph, I tell people this because I am not a hypocrite like that. You read on my introduction that I am right up front. I'm very direct with people and I tell people like it is. I think a lot of us could learn to forgive other people better.
 
I think probably our biggest problem is we don’t forgive ourselves fast enough and quick enough. I know for a fact that I don’t forgive myself. I’ll make a mistake and maybe I had good intentions or maybe I meant well, but I’ll still say, “You know what Frank, you're an idiot. You're stupid. Why did you do that? Why whatever?”

This is a guy that makes very good six figure income a year. This is a guy that on paper has the world by its tail. I'm feeling these things. It doesn’t matter whether you're a millionaire because I know millionaires and I will be a millionaire in the next couple, few years.
 
Or, you're dirt poor because I know people that are dirt poor. Everybody feels this and everybody hurts. Everybody on a base level feels the same emotions. I recognize that and I know I need to do better.
 
Ralph: Do you experience service to others as a source of joy? I know that when I first approached you about the Heroes program back at the Big Seminar in Dallas, you were one of the first persons that said, “Yeah. Anything I can do to help out, just let me know.”
 
Frank: Well, I think that probably came through on some of my other statements so I won't get into it, but I have to say that the three joys I would most like to experience in life would be seeing my kids, and hopefully grandkids, grow up to be moral and just people that contribute to society.
 
That would be number one. Number two is experiencing the kind of romantic love that I've always dreamed about because I'm a mush. I cry at chick flicks, Ralph, I got to tell you. I'm this big manly truck driver.
 
I can get out of a bad situation, either through brains or hustle. But you put on “Terms of Endearment” or “Beaches,” I’ll tell you what man, I'm tearing up. Then the third thing is service to others.
 
Evidently I have what I need. How I know that – I'm talking physical possession-wise is because the more physical possessions I buy the less content I am with the spiritual aspect of my life. What that’s telling me, now that I'm old enough and wise enough to listen, is that possessions don’t equal happiness.
 
So what I need to do is go back and retrace my steps and say, “Okay, if buying things, and pampering myself, and watching out for number one most of the time, and making sure that I'm taken care of are not making me happy” – and as a side note, I'm not saying, “Ignore yourself and I'm going to donate my house and my entire internet business to charity and live off the street and God will provide,” I guess I'm not that brave yet.

But what I am saying is obviously buying things isn’t bringing more true joy and inner peace to my life, then something else must be the thing that will do it. The only thing I can figure, Ralph, is spirituality and living according to the spiritual, moral, and religious guidelines that I personally believe in combined with doing the right thing and serving my fellow man more than I am.
 
I'm looking at it like Mr. Spock. I'm looking at it logically. I'm looking at it from every which way I can figure. All I know is the money things were rocking and rolling. The other things were rocking and rolling.
 
But if all that has not gotten me to a point of bliss or Zen or at peace with the universe spiritually, then we need to drop back and punt and reevaluate and say, “What else could the answer be?”
 
Ralph: What place does prayer have in your life, the power of prayer? Do you pray?
 
Frank: I have to say I don’t do as much as I should. I'm probably just like everybody else. I pray more for me getting what I want than other things I probably should be focusing more on. Again, do I pray? Sure. But is there room for improvement there? Absolutely. Is it routine and every day? No. Would I like it to be? Yes.
 
Ralph: How important is having a sense of humor in the face of serious problems? I know being an emotional person like you, my wife is very similar, and you just take the cares of the world and the hurts of others just onto yourself. Sometimes that’s either laugh or cry. How important do you think that humor is?
 
Frank: I’ll say it’s so important that I really think that and sheer bravado are the only two things that have kept me alive.
 
Ralph:  Other than your grandma and I think you said one other person in your life, who are the heroes in your life now or who were the heroes in your life? I know that you talked about your grandma. Who are the heroes in your life now that you want to give credit?
 
Frank: I guess honestly the other two people that have been in my life that I would consider heroes are two kids I went to school with. One kid Algal Shaskee sat in front of me in home room all the way up until he either died in Junior High or High School and I can't remember now.

He went through cancer and chemo and being different from all the other kids, being sick and missing classes, while he should have been listening to Van Halen’s first album and playing hockey, this probably was about 1980 or so.
 
While he should have been doing that and celebrating life, he was facing death, and he did it with dignity, and courage, and helping other people understand what it was that he was going through. He taught me how to be happy even when things were absolutely without fail going to go bad.
 
There is no getting out of this. You're sunk, and yet you can still be happy. You can still laugh, still have some sort of spirit and zest for life inside your heart. The same thing with my friend Stu. When they closed my school in fourth grade and shipped us across town to the other school in fifth grade, Stu was the kid that welcomed us and made us – we were the Hill Toppers and they were sort of like the Kennedy Park kids.
 
Those were the different neighborhoods. He was the one kid out of the class of thirty that made the ten of us that were transplanted feel welcome. He was very friendly, very good kid. His mom and my mom were the class moms in fifth grade and all.
 
Then, later in life, he got I forget if it was meningitis or encephalitis, but they had to do brain surgery. They took the top of his skull off to work on him and relieve pressure and everything else. He was never right after that and most people disowned him because he had a head injury, short to anger, didn’t always make good judgments, and didn’t take care of himself.
 
Deep down he was the same kid. He also taught me courage and dignity because he kept on going. He forged new friendships. He had dreams and interests and plans for life even though, unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way and he died in his early twenties.
 
He taught me kindness, and courage, and the simple fact of treating people right was the correct thing to do. So my grandma and those two school kids taught me more about life than probably most everybody else ever has.
 
Ralph: Why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?
 
Frank: I guess because today, based on what I know, young people really don’t have a lot to look forward to, sorry to say. It’s definitely not as fun as it was when we were kids. You got to worry about AIDS, getting stabbed, other kids shooting in school, terrorism, pollution, just all this crap that is just stuff that no child should go through.

Music is not even as good. It’s violent and destructive, a lot of it. Losers that beat their wives and treat people like garbage are held up as heroes. Sport figures, movie stars, musicians and whatever. So what does a kid look up to these days?
 
I think more than ever it’s important to have heroes because if you don’t have goals and dreams, what else is going to keep you alive? I'm forty. If I didn’t think tomorrow was going to be better and if I didn’t think I could do better and be better and have better, honest question is what in the hell am I still alive for? Why not end the pain, right?
 
Ralph: Do you think there are any heroes in our society today that aren’t getting the credit and the recognition they deserve?
 
Frank: Yeah, obviously. Just like I talked at the beginning, I know that the day-to-day heroes, the people that do the right thing, the people that – I have a friend whose mom is dying and dad is elderly and infirmed himself, but he’s busy taking care of her and trying to keep her home. I mean, it’s inevitable she’s going to go to a hospice or nursing home.
 
It’s just to the point where she really should’ve been in a while ago. This seventy or eighty year old guy that can barely move himself is keeping his wife home and he’s hurting himself physically and draining himself mentally just to keep his wedding vows. When she goes in somewhere, they're going to take the last fifteen thousand of his money.
 
That’s going to be it. To me, hey, that guy’s a bigger hero than I am right now. Yet he’s not recognized. He can't get aid, he can't get help, and he can't get support. What’s wrong with this picture?
 
Ralph: I think that a lot of people in my generation, the baby boomer generation, I'm taking care of my parents now after catastrophic illnesses. I think that is something that a lot of kids that are my age, that’s something that they're going to have to face.
 
Are they going to step up to the plate and take care of the people that took care of them or are they just going to stick them in nursing homes or put them on Medicare? I think that those people that do step up and do the right thing are not only heroes but those that take care of people that are sick in their families are true saints.

Frank: Well, again, it goes back to that’s what you're supposed to do. I don’t know how society started thinking that that was an option. You know that you didn’t have to do things and you know, “Hey, she gave birth to me and I didn’t ask that.”
 
I definitely have a strained relationship with my parents because I'm independent and I'm definitely different than my mom, and my dad, and my sister. But at the same point, I know when they need help and they're old and infirm, I know that I will be there.
 
That is for two reasons. One is it’s the right thing to do. Two, if I don’t do it, where am I going to wind up? What’s going to happen to me when – do unto others, man. Quite frankly, I don’t want to be seventy and have my kids feed me dog food and abuse me and this sort of thing.
 
Ralph: How does it feel to be recognized as a hero yourself? I know that a lot of the people that I've interviewed some accept that they are heroes because they have an ability to know that they are helping others. Some people are just straight forward like yourself that struggle with the struggles that everybody goes through. A lot of people just won't admit it.
 
I think that even though we do go through all those struggles, the reason why I selected you was that you are honest about the struggles you are going through. And yet you still help other people that are struggling to achieve a better life. So how does it feel to be recognized?
 
Frank: I guess the way to say it is if it helps other people feel better about themselves, motivate themselves, keep themselves on track, see that they can do better, be better, and have better then I'm okay with it.

But as far as personal gain or how it makes me feel personally, I take pride in my work. I take pride in that I made it from bankrupt truck driver to six figures a year. Quite frankly, the only reason I went bankrupt was because I was dumb and didn’t manage my money.
 
I don’t know how heroic it is to bounce back from that. I suppose it is, and I suppose I could’ve let it keep me down and so forth. But I really don’t think I'm a hero. I think I have a lot of room for improvement.

I think that once you get that much pride that you do see yourself as a “hero,” I think there’s a real risk for losing the humbleness, and humility, and the willingness to serve others. Ralph, the internet could blow off tomorrow. What would I have left? This is how I make my living.

Ralph: You’d have all the friends that you’ve made.
 
Frank: Yeah. Well, you know, so then that’s got to be what’s heroic about me if anything is that I've been nice enough to other people that they value me enough to keep me in their lives, even when they're busy and sometimes thousands of miles and sometimes continents away.
 
But even then, is that heroic or is that just doing the right thing, Ralph? You can make the case that everybody is a hero. You can make the case that nobody is a hero. It’s all in how you look at it.
 
I have an ego in a sense that I’ll compete, and I’ll try to do my best because I think you need to have that in business, but I don’t have an ego as far as, “Oh, are people looking at me and thinking good of me and are they looking up to me?” I could give a rat’s patoot about that to be honest with you. That’s meaningless to me because that can all be taken away literally in a heartbeat.
 
Ralph: That’s true. Well, my definition of a hero is somebody that helps out at any moment in their life. As Gregory Alan Williams, the actor (He was a cop on Baywatch TV program. Actually saved an Asian guy’s life during the L.A. riots.) says, “There’s a little bit of bad in the best of us, a little bit of good in the worst of us. When we step up to the plate and help somebody, at that moment in time, we become a hero because we didn’t have to do that. But we chose to make another person’s life better by our sacrifice.”
 
So I think that everybody, including you, has the potential of being a hero. I know that you have because there are a lot of people that you’ve touched their hearts, and touched their lives when helping them in different areas just because of your transparency and ability to share that you're successful. But you’ve had failures and you're going through difficult times.
 
It’s refreshing to have people admit that their life isn’t a bed of roses, that you suffer from the same doubts and fears and griefs and sorrows that we all suffer from. But yet you don’t let it get you down for long. You get back up and you just keep on going and I think that is the true definition of a hero, is somebody that presses on in the presence of fear and failure but yet refused to give up.

Frank: I appreciate that and all I know is that I will not give up because there’s more to life. I'm happy in many ways with where I am at now. I'm not going to complain. I got it pretty well made compared to most people because I work out of the house. I don’t have to get up. I don’t have to go to work. I don’t have to work today if I don’t want. I don’t have to work tomorrow if I don’t want to.
 
But at the same point, Ralph, there’s so much more that I need to achieve in life and so many more things that I want to do that I really do think it’s important that you keep perspective and maintain the humbleness and the humility that has gotten me to this point because it would be easy to say, “Oh, man, I’m Mister Internet Dude and I'm the man and whatever and whatever.”
 
Where does that get anybody? Where is that getting me? Also, where is it getting the people that I'm trying to serve?
 
Ralph: I think that it’s important that people look at individuals’ lives and see them over a time period and see how they react to the ups and downs that everybody has. I think that it is inspirational for everybody when they see others that they have that desire to do more, to be more, and to help others to a greater degree. That’s what the Heroes program is all about. What do you think about the Heroes program and its impact on youth, parents, and business people?
 
Frank: Well, Ralph, I think it’s great what you're doing. I think it’s a celebration of the average person and a reaffirmation that doing the right thing has its own rewards, that you're not alone. You can find heroism, fulfillment, enjoyment, and satisfaction just in day-to-day events because I celebrate the average person.
 
If you gave me the keys to a Peterbilt a big white freight liner or tractor trailer, I could drive across the country tomorrow and not hit a curb, not miss a gear or not whatever. I still walk with the average person in very many ways.
 
If I walk back to work driving a truck or working in an auto parts store tomorrow, I would do okay with that because I know what the average guy goes through. But at the same point, Ralph, what a wonderful opportunity we all have here to take advantage of the internet and some of the things we’re speaking about and just move up in life.

The internet has been very, very good to me. That’s all I can tell you. It’s definitely been a blessing. It’s definitely been a blessing. I really can't complain. Anything I don’t like in my life, I could change now, this second.
 
I have a world full of opportunity at my feet, and so, to sit there are cry and go, “Ooh, I got it so bad.” That’s stupid. I'm not sick. I'm not in the hospital. I'm not dying, I didn’t just lose somebody in a tube train in London so basically, just shut up and get back to work, Frank. That’s the way I look at it.
 
Ralph: Let me ask you the final question. What are the things that parents can do that would help their kids realize that they too can be heroes and make a positive impact on the lives of others?
 
Frank: Why, just from parenting, the thing that they can most do to help them realize their child’s potential is to spend time with them and not outsource parenting. I know we all have to work. I know we all have to do this and that. I'm not going to lay claim to the world’s greatest parent, but we’re going to lose a generation here if we don’t do things differently.
 
Actually, we’re going to lose a civilization is the way I truly see it, because we’re losing compassion. We’re minimizing morality. We’re calling people in groups stupid and ugly. We’re encouraging culture that demeans people. It is just at what cost.
 
Believe me, I'm not a prude or an old fogy. I'm a truck driver from New Jersey. I know curse words just as well as anybody listening does. It doesn’t mean you need to embrace garbage talk and garbage thinking and garbage mindset and a garbage lifestyle.
 
It starts with parenting. You're old enough to have a kid; you're old enough to raise them. And if you're old enough to raise them, you're old enough to raise them right. I guess that’s really all I can say, Ralph, is leading by example you teach your kid heroism.
 
I see people who work, but they always make their kids’ games, or they always make their kids’ school functions. What’s that teaching them right there? What’s that teaching them about family?

Okay, we live in this house because it’s closer to the grandparents and it has a better school system than the house I would like to move into, and the house that I could afford. But I won't move because it would negatively impact the family, in spiritual and non-visibly lifestyle types of ways. Things like that to me are heroic as well.
 
Ralph: You know, I totally agree that the examples of the parents are going to have a big impact on how their kids turn out, that the kids see actions and listen to words and see if they match up. Well, Frank, I really appreciate your time.
 
I know that a lot of people enjoy this interview because it’s rare that you find somebody that is willing to share what’s going on in their heart, their fears, joys, failures, or successes and still is able to have a positive attitude and a desire to make the world a better place. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your time and what a good job that you're doing.
 
Frank: I appreciate that, Ralph. Like I say, it’s always good to hear that other people believe in what I'm doing because it at least shows me that I'm on the right track and I'm making some kind of progress because otherwise you wouldn’t have had me here and the thought of using me wouldn’t have even crossed your mind, right?
 
Ralph: That’s true. A lot of times it’s not what you say about yourself, it’s what other people say about you that’s the most important.
 
Frank: Well, that is true because the funny thing is I really can't get any bad press. As hard as I am on myself, maybe if I stopped and thought a little bit more about the fact that people do business with me and people love me and care about me.
 
My business is booming. It’s just growing ever stronger. I guess I am on the right track and I guess I am doing the right thing. I guess I am in the right place at the right time. All of us need to recognize that if you have somebody that loves you, somebody that believes in you, and somebody that says, “You know what, I like being with you. I want to be with you,” however we put that forward, then that’s a good place to be. That means you're on the right track.
 
Ralph: I think that’s why people call you Uncle Frankie and that you have such success with the people that are in your newsletter list is because everybody wants a relationship with somebody that’s a real person, that actually cares about them.

Frank: Like I say, I appreciate that. I can only hope that I continue to do the right thing and that I help people and serve others. Because without that I would be embarrassed to show my kids any other thing that I think is right and correct.
 
I'm just happy that people think good about me. That’s probably all I can add. I’m more worried about where my soul’s going and what my kids think about me and how I’m raising them. But, at the same point, I want to make people happy. I want to make things work right and make a difference in other’s lives.
 
So, yeah, I appreciate that Ralph.
 
Ralph: Frank, again, I really appreciate your time.
 
Frank: Sure am happy to be here Ralph. Thanks for having me.
 
Ralph: Okay, see you soon.
 
Frank: Okay. Bye.
 
Ralph: Bye.  

But is it really ALL about words? I mean, just words? No.

Some copywriters claim that graphics, formatting and photographs should NOT be added to a salesletter because they distract. They can take the reader's focus away from the message.

I agree. But not entirely. Here's why...

You see, it is definitely true that words are extremely important. And the words you choose can make or break the sale. You must describe your offer in a way that gives it sex appeal, a sense of urgency and dose of emotion.
But the cosmetics are just as important, too.

They help to direct the reader's eyes. They also help to drive important points home. But above all, they help to replace the cues, nuances and nonverbal subtleties that occur in traditional, face-to-face sales encounters.

They are Proxemics, Haptics and, most importantly for us writers, Kinesics.

Proxemics is the science of personal space. The distance between individuals during, for example, a conversation, a meeting or a shared activity.

This is not some metaphysical "Feng Shui-ish" thing. I'm talking about our psychological (and often subconscious) reaction to the distance we maintain with other people -- such as, for example, during a sales encounter.

For instance, sitting across from someone at a desk may unconsciously convey that the other person is being confrontational. That's why some sales training programs tell you to sit side by side with your prospect.

Haptics, on the other hand, is the science of touching. Some psychologists have studied the effects of touching during conversations. For example, they tested how people would react when they were told a certain statement.

Here's what they did.

In some cases, the speaker would simply tell the listener a story.

In other cases, they were told the same story. But at times, the speaker would lightly touch the listener on the forearm for no more than a few seconds, particularly when he was saying something important.

According to the study, subjects in the second test felt that the speaker was more believable. They had higher recall scores. Physiologically, they felt more relaxed and comfortable with the speaker. They felt a certain "connection."

Of course, there's more to proxemics and haptics than that. And you can't really use those in copywriting. But the one type of nonverbal communication you can use (and the one I want you to focus on) is Kinesics.

Kinesics is the science of body language. Nonverbal gestures, postures and facial expressions by which a person manifests various physical, mental or emotional states, and communicates nonverbally with others.

These messages delivered through nonverbal cues, which can be either verbal or physical, can support, emphasize or contradict what is being conveyed.

In face-to-face selling, Kinesics are often used to emphasize key benefits. But they are particularly important because they can drive important points home -- such as by adding emotion to a sales pitch, which go beyond words.

Uncrossing of the arms or legs. Raising of the brows. Rubbing of the chin. Leaning forward. All of these can indicate that you're interested in your client -- or if the client does it, it can tell you she's interested in your offer.

But verbal cues are usually those conveyed through the qualities of the voice, such as tone, volume, rhythm, pitch, pausing and inflection.

All of these can be interpreted as many things and used in different ways.

For instance, inflection is the musical quality of the voice -- the verbal ups or downs of a part of a word, a whole word or a series of words. In selling, vocal inflection is probably the most often used Kinesic form of communication.

Why? Because it can virtually change the entire meaning of a message, even when a single word is inflected. Take, for example, the following sentence:

"I didn't say I love you."

It's pretty straightforward, right? But instead, if I said:

"I didn't say I LOVE you" (where verbal emphasis is placed on the word "love," as in " loooovvvve", then I might be implying that I simply "like" you.

On the other hand, if the word "you" was emphasized (such as " I didn't say I love YOU", then it could imply that I love someone else altogether.

If I inflected the word "didn't," as in "I DIDN'T say I love you," then it could imply that I wrote it, or I said or meant something else instead.

In essence, it's not what you say but how you say it.

In copy, we're limited, not by what we want to say but how we want to say it. That's where cosmetics, formatting and certain " visual triggers" come in.

Sure, you shouldn't add graphics willy-nilly. But you should add graphics and photos that support (and perhaps even emphasize) the sales process, and not graphics that could distract the reader from the sales message.

Auction giant eBay reports that listings with pictures outsell those without pictures. While anecdotal, I've heard of boosts in bids as high as 400%.

Therefore, if you can add a photograph of your product (or if you sell a service, a picture of you in action with a client), you will likely achieve greater results.

But graphics and pictures aside, the look of the copy is just as important as the the words themselves. That's why, when I write copy, I usually pay close attention to the cosmetics. I even call it "copy designing."

How do YOU do that?

Incorporate visual triggers, cosmetic "commands" and response devices into your copy, usually with formatting, in order to boost readership and response.

Now, I'm not talking about going crazy with different fonts and colors.

I'm talking about strategically placed bolds, italics, typestyles, font sizes, boxes, bullets, colors, white spaces, borders and so on. (Take, for instance, the way I emphasized certain words in the inflection example earlier.)

As copywriter Martin Hayman noted: "Michael Fortin is right. The way the copy is set out on the page makes a massive difference to the way the reader responds. Typographic practitioners have known this for, oh, centuries."

Here's just one example.

Over 60 years ago, Frank H. Johnson, a direct mail copywriter, decided to start a new technique to boost the readership and impact of his salesletters.

He would highlight the offer in a centered, rectangular box placed at the very top of the letter above the salutation. Why? Because he wanted to summarize his offer upfront in a way that saved his readers' time and hassle.

Instead of forcing readers to wade through a mass of copy before making the offer, he gave them the essentials, right upfront. The results were astonishing.

Direct mail copywriter Ivan Levinson reports he has seen claims that adding a "Johnson Box" to a plain letter can shoot response rates up by 40%.

This technique can also be applied to boxes placed within the heart of the copy in strategic locations, such as right before any call- to-action or when highlighting some of the most important points of your copy.

So in your copy, put your bonuses, premiums, guarantees, testimonials, factoids, key points, stories and sidenotes in Johnson Boxes.

Take a look at The Copy Doctor, or a recent salesletter I wrote at TrafficSecrets.com. You'll notice Johnson Boxes interspersed throughout the copy, often in different colored or shaded tables.

My theory of why they are so effective is this: These boxes tend to direct the readers' eyes and force them to read their contents. They help to inculcate into the readers' minds those key points you want to drive home.

There's little your prospects will retain from your copy. But if you use Johnson Boxes, the likelihood they will remember their contents more -- and over any other point stated in the rest of the copy -- will be stronger.

Nevertheless, the moral is this...

Copy is not all about what you say. It's also about what you mean.

Yeah, he's got a big blockbuster movie out right now that
he's trying to promote (War Of The Worlds), but he's also
been getting a little "out there" going on about his newest
love, Katie Holmes, and of course -- he's been in
"preacher" mode about his cult / religion, scient