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If you offer a product or service, this may or may not work in your case, but it’s something to consider. If it is applicable and you start doing it, you can expect a big boost in sales.

Vacuum cleaner salesmen used to (or perhaps still do) show grossly enlarged photos of dust mites, explaining that there are millions of these critters in your bed feasting on dead skin and defecating all over the top and inside of the mattress. (Sorry, that was a nasty visual, wasn’t it?)
Then the vacuum cleaner salesman would tell them how his vacuum was the one and only solution to sucking those little bad boys out of there, as well as removing pounds of dead skin and more pounds of dust mite feces. (Again, apologies for that picture.)
Next, the salesman would ask to be taken to the bedroom, where he would ask the man which side he slept on. This is the side of the mattress the salesman would vacuum, purposely NOT vacuuming the woman’s side.
And another sale was made. Why? Because that lady did NOT want to sleep on dust mites and dust mite feces that night. Plus, if she didn’t get the vacuum them she was going to sleep on her husband’s side and her husband could sleep on the couch.
In another far removed business, a shoe shine man with a stand in a hotel lobby was hurting for business. So he put up a sign that read, “One shoe shined FREE.” There after he was inundated with business.
Do you see where this is going? Depending on what you sell, it’s entirely possible that you can make more money by giving away your service – or even your product – in a limited quantity.
After all, who’s going to walk around with just ONE shoe shined?
If you are a graphic artist, for example, you could give away one header. Of course if they want the matching footer, ebook cover, etc. then you’ll be happy to do that for them for a charge.
If you sell car wax, you could give away enough to do just the hood.
If you do remote virus removal on computers, remove one virus or malware for free. And so forth.
By giving away a portion of your product or service, you can effectively make it extremely difficult for the customer NOT to get the rest of your product or service.

You send an email to your list promoting an affiliate product, and you can tell from your autoresponder stats that a good percentage of those emails were opened. Yeah!!

But after that, it’s all downhill. Only a tiny percentage of the recipients who opened their emails actually clicked the link, and of those that clicked the link only a tiny percentage of those bought.

And this wasn’t some $997 product, this was a $7 product! So what happened?

You didn’t prime them for the sale.

Sending your prospects cold to a sales page usually does not get great results. You need to tell them a little bit about WHY they should go to that page and WHY they should consider handing over their money in exchange for the product.

For example, let’s say you’re promoting a product on how to drive traffic. Which of these email messages do you think would get the most clicks AND the most sales?

1. You gotta see this, it’s INSANE! <link>

2. Here’s a way to get more traffic that I think you’re going to love. <link>

3. I found this new video that shows how to not only get more traffic to your offers starting this afternoon – it also shows you how to convert a HIGHER PERCENTAGE of that traffic into buyers.

That’s right, more traffic AND higher converting traffic.

And the method is fairly simple – it took me about 90 minutes to set up, and within 48 hours I could definitely see more traffic AND higher conversions.

See for yourself…

<link>

The third one, right?

Now why is that? It’s not because it’s longer – longer emails don’t always produce better results than short ones.

It’s because it tells the story.

The first email is what we call “blind.” You have NO idea what it is or why you should click on it, and thus you probably don’t.

The second one is definitely better – it tells you why to visit the link – to learn how to get more traffic.

But the third one ROCKS because it tells you exactly what to expect and gets you excited to make the click and check it out.

To get your emails acted upon, you want to make them specific – tell them exactly what benefit they can receive for clicking. No need to tell the entire story, but you do want to get them warmed up.

By whetting their appetite for the product you’re promoting, you’re making them receptive to the offer before they even get to the sales page. It’s called pre-selling, and it’s a vital component to getting the sale.

If you’re having trouble making this whole online marketing thing work for you, it could be because you’ve bought into one or more of these lies.

And before you can make progress, you’ve got to bust out of this way of thinking and get back on track.

Lie #1

You haven’t succeeded because you don’t know the SECRET or you don’t have the MAGIC BEANS.

You’ve seen the headlines, you’ve read the copy, and you’ve watched it in videos. If ONLY you knew what the big marketer knew, THEN you would be a success. If ONLY you had their piece of software or their e-course, THEN you’d be a millionaire.

The truth? If you’re getting distracted by lies like this, then it’s no wonder why you haven’t succeeded yet. There is no one big secret, magic pill or instant cash software. Attaining success is a series of small, continuous steps that lead to the goal you have in mind. And if you’re constantly being pulled off the path, then it’s no wonder you’re having trouble reaching your destination.

Lie #2

You haven’t succeeded because you don’t own the push-button shortcut.

Folks, there are no push-button shortcuts. Making money online is a series of small, continuous steps that lead to your goal. (Now where have I read that before?) And if you’re getting distracted by the latest, greatest gizmo, then you’re moving backwards, not forwards. You’re spending your money and you’re wasting your time, when you need to be investing both your time and money on moving ever closer to where you need to be.

Next time you see a sales letter for the secret to end all secrets, the magic formula to success, or the push-button shortcut that will make your bank account explode, ask yourself – will this get me closer to my goal, or will it get me distracted?

And one more thing – what is it about these copywriters who want to “Explode Your Bank Account?” I don’t know about your bank, but my bank HATES anything that explodes and tends to greatly discourage that kind of thing. 😉 Maybe it would be better to simply grow our bank account at a steady rate, instead.

Lie #3

You can easily and quickly attain the “Internet Lifestyle.”

What the heck is an Internet Lifestyle? According to sales letters, it’s kicking back, doing nothing and watching the armored car roll up to your beachfront mansion.

Or it’s pressing 4 keys on your keyboard and again, watching your bank account explode.

Folks, even when you become ultra successful, Internet Marketing is STILL work. Unless of course you hire a staff to handle everything for you, in which case who is going to monitor the staff to see they don’t run off with the business? A manager? Okay, who’s going to monitor the manager? And who’s going to steer your IM ship and keep it on course?

The fact is, you’ve got to be realistic and understand for your own benefit that Internet Marketing is hard work, and it’s hardest of all when you first get started. There’s a lot to learn and even more to do, and until you take action and get to work, nothing is going to happen.

And that’s not to say you’ve got to work 12 hours a day. But you do have to work smart, and you do have to work.

One more thing: If you ever do find that magic combination of 4 keys that makes you Bill Gates rich, please let me know.