DanzDigitalz

(Cue maniacal laughter.)

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Did you feel that? The breeze suddenly became more crisp…

All around, leaves are shuttering as their imminent mortality becomes apparent. Starbucks Baristas everywhere have begun their ritualistic dance to give life to the pumpkin spice gods that they may bring them lattes, cold brews, scones, and more during this season. Decorative gourds have shown up on store shelves, doorsteps, and kitchen counters.

Of course I am talking about the greatest season of year: Autumn. And earlier this week I felt it for the first time as a cold front came in and made my heart skip a beat. Everything about the transition of summer to fall is perfection in my mind and it probably helps that I was born during the heart of the season. One of my favorite things about this amazing time of year is the ghost stories and attention around every thing that scares us the most.

Personally, I love monster stories so it’s fitting that the theme of this post if one of the most famous monster concepts… The Reanimated Corpse.

I love Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” and H.P. Loveraft’s parody “The Reanimator” and since I think most marketers have similar traits to the mad scientist, I want to share with you today the top 4 things to creating a MONSTER launch with affiliates.

Make Sure You Find a Fresh Enough Body (Test Test Test)

One of the running jokes in H.P. Lovecraft’s series The Reanimator is Dr. Herbert West’s growing obsession with finding the most recently deceased bodies he can in hopes they will perfect his experiment to bring people back to life. While this ended up leading to the demise of Dr. West, his commitment to testing is something that I see in the most successful affiliate launches we have had at ClickBank. Specially the testing that occurs BEFORE they push an offer out to affiliates.

While you might feel confident that what you have created is the greatest offer that has ever been given to man, until you start to see clicks actually come to the landing page you don’t really know. I can tell you that this level of confidence has burned me before.

Sometimes the best offers from the best marketers still just don’t work. Or, they don’t work in the way you anticipated. When you scale the offer out to affiliates who are wading in the sea of offers to promote and yours does poorly, your chances at getting them to try again will plummet. You risk the chance of really lowering the ceiling or killing an offer before it ever got a chance to get started.

So, how do you test an offer if you don’t send it to affiliates? Here is the flow that I recommend to my clients.

Always test to your internal list or audience first.

You have the most relationship-equity with this group of leads and buyers that have shown interest in what you are doing. If you can’t get great results from this list, you need to go back to the drawing board with your offer. (Unless you are creating a product in an entirely new vertical. In that case, your internal audience might not work for testing.)

Once you hit some solid benchmarks and the offer looks like a great offer to your audience you can start moving into the next step.

Be Sure You Know Where the Bodies are Buried (Have a Plan)

Dr. West may have found a solution to bring the dead back to life (although not as people…) but that was just the beginning. He had to make sure that he had a detailed plan in place to get the bodies, find a secure location to experiment on them, and that he had the “tools” to eliminate failed experiments.

Having the serum wasn’t enough–just like testing an offer to your own audience, putting it on ClickBank, and expecting traffic is not enough to create a monster offer. You need to identify what traffic sources you want to have, and who you can partner with to test it.

The plan shouldn’t just be to test with a one person and then wait, but a targeted approach in tiers.

For example:

You start with a testing group of maybe 3-4 affiliates that you personally know to test the offer. You will want to set clear performance goals that will be indicators that the offer is a success and make sure both sides understand what they are.

Test, observe the results, optimize the funnel, and test again (sometimes to a different partner).

Once you hit the benchmarks you were looking for (Target EPC, Conversion, CTR, AOV, etc.) you can move to the next stage.

Double the affiliates beyond close relationships, post about it in groups that you are a part of, take it to an event and get some people to try the offer out (if we ever have events again).

Similar to what you did in Stage 1, you need to set clear expectations for what success looks like so you know you can move on to the next stage. Number of affiliates successfully promoting, revenue, stability of your numbers, and other key measurements will indicate if you’re ready to move on.

Once you have that all dialed in and your offer is starting to scale, it’s time to reach out and go after the big whales and “dream people” on your list. The reason for the slow approach is you want to make sure when you push all the traffic your offer is primed to be the most successful it can be. You often times only get one shot with a large list owner or super affiliate. Don’t waste it.

After you have your plan laid out and targets set for each stage, you need to make sure you have the team in place to execute.

Every Mad Scientist Needs His Assistant (Have a team)

While Mary Shelly didn’t write in an assistant for the Dr. Frankenstein it was quickly added to stage and film adaptations. My personal favorite is Igor in Young Frankenstein. H.P. Lovecraft told the story of ReAnimator through Dr. West’s long-time assistant who aided him in his dark dealings…

The important lesson here is that it takes a village to make a monster (or who else will the torture and maim when they are let loose?).

For monster offers on ClickBank you don’t need a village per say, but you do need 4 key roles to be filled by someone on your team (even if they are all the same person). Without these roles being occupied and executed on, your offer will not have the support it needs to reach those monster levels.

1. Project Manager
   You need someone who is going to be able to own the offer and all it’s little projects and tasks to make sure you don’t lose momentum. If you don’t have someone owning the project, executing the plan, it will only go as far as your attention will allow it. (Which, because of TV, isn’t very long for most of us, what was I talking about? Oh yeah Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, what a great series…)

2. Copywriter
You cannot have a great offer without great copywriting. If you are not a trained copywriter and you are looking to write for you own offer I would recommend taking a course on it (Stefan Georgi RMBC method is great). If you can’t do that, you should at least map out the structure of the copy of top offers on ClickBank right now. If you only hired one of these roles this is the one I would pick for you to hire. Get a good copywriter and find a way to pay 5k-20k for copy. I would recommend going to a vetted group like Copy Accelerator and looking for copywriters from there. To learn about how to effectively hire a copywriter, check out this blog.

3. The Tech Guru
You are going to need make sure the customer data coming from ClickBank is integrated with all of your back end systems (ESP, CRM, Fulfillment, advanced tracking, etc.). Many providers have built in integrations with ClickBank which makes the process so much easier, but you will need someone to play this role for your offer regardless.

4. An Affiliate Manager
It is one thing to get someone to run a test or send a single email drop to their list, but to really make an offer grow into a monster that will terrorize all other offers for months and years, you need an affiliate manager. This needs to be the person that not only will reach out and recruit new affiliates but will also grow and develop the existing relationships you have. It isn’t about the first send but the 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th time they mail your offer. Fostering these relationships and grooming them into massive ROI takes time and effort.

As long as these 4 roles are assigned and not being neglected, you are on your way to entrenching your offer in folklore and keeping people looking over their shoulders at night for generations to come.

While your monster offer will keep people watching their backs, you need to make sure that you are always looking far ahead which brings me to number 4…

Maybe we should have made sure it was dead… (Build Out Systems for Scale)

           
Twice in the tales of the Re-Animator, Dr. West goes to discard a body only for it to reanimate later and reap some form of havoc upon people in the cities he was residing at. A little bit of extra prep would have gone a long way like “checking” that it was dead before he walked away and let it become a super strong crazed monster…

This is not too different to someone who builds a killer offer but doesn’t put in place the software or tools to handle it once it starts to scale. Here are a couple things you can do to help.

Own and host your own pages so they can handle the volume you will have not what you currently have. I am a huge ClickFunnels fan, as well as a many other page builders, but they tend to struggle at scale. Not to mention out of the box solutions are always harder to build automation or integrations on. The sooner you can have your own pages, the more prepared you will be for massive scale.

Split testing software should be a day 1 investment and be something that you want to have in place that will scale with more offers, and more data. CBsplit is one of the best I have seen for the top offers on ClickBank. It will give you all the details you want to know when split testing in a single place you can easily digest.

You’re also going to need automated and easily-scalable customer support. The fastest ways to find yourself getting in trouble with returns killing your bottom line and putting your processing at risk is having bad or insufficient customer support. You want to make sure you don’t just handle the request you have right now but you have a process that can easily add more support when your volume increases. Setting up a Zendesk system or working with a customer care agency can help prepare you to scale with ease, instead of with headaches.

And last but not least, you’ll need processing and affiliate reporting that can scale like ClickBank. I know this might feel like a shameless plug, but ClickBank can make scaling with affiliates less painful whether you are just starting out or making 8 figures on a monthly basis. Not having to worry about getting shut down or cash getting held from a bank because a large affiliate drove too much traffic is a big deal. Plus, ClickBank takes care of tax remittance across the world (well, everywhere that we can process… which is most places) and sends tax documents to your affiliates, giving them the assurance that they will be paid on time every single time. Affiliates can trust they will get their money which makes recruiting conversations so much easier.

If you can nail these 4 steps, you are going to be on your path to creating a monster offer and you won’t have to wait for a lighting storm or find freshly deceased bodies. If you’re eager to get started experimenting…er… I mean building an offer, you’ll need to sign up for a ClickBank account first. While you’re at it, get yourself a pumpkin spice latte and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

The post 4 Things You Need to Know to Create a Monster Offer for Affiliates from ClickBank’s Own Mad Scientist appeared first on ClickBank.

Source: clickbank

What hundreds of hours watching winning VSLs have taught me about making a great one.

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In giddy anticipation, I stand in front of the microwave, listening to the accelerating kernel pops as I wait for my buttery treat. 

I’ve found the perfect bowl–the one that is rarely designated solely for popcorn, but is the perfect vessel for a movie-time snack. 

Popcorn in hand, I sit down and get comfy. It’s time to watch another VSL.

Okay, okay… you caught me being a bit dramatic (more on that later). I don’t actually watch VSL marathons the way I would watch a movie marathon, but there are some similarities between the two art forms (yes–I referred to a VSL as an art form).

So today, we are going to add a little “movie magic” as we dive into the five biggest mistakes you can make when you are creating your VSL.

For those that aren’t aware a VSL stands for “Video Sales Letter.” A VSL is a great way to capture an audience’s attention–especially in the current world of content where consumers are blitzed with things and information to digest. 

VSLs can engage and capture a consumer in a way that even the most snappy of headlines and most compelling of content cannot. VSLs open a door to more traffic channels and tend to do better with mobile audiences–which has become increasingly important as mobile continues to overtake the desktop market. (For reals though, does anyone even use a desktop if they aren’t at work anymore?) 

VSLs come in many shapes and sizes. From 30 second pitches at the top of an ecommerce page to 90 minute epics selling you a course on how to make 8-figure VSLs… the limits are flexible. Today we are going to focus on the long from VSL. On ClickBank, we tend to see the most success for both sellers and affiliates who use long from VSLs. 

Alright, let’s just into the five things every great VSL needs.

1. A Great Story
   Just like every memorable movie, a VSL must have a great story. The first step to creating a great story is focusing on the VSL copy. Also similarly to the movies, even the best effects and production can’t save a script that is total garbage. (I’m looking at you Sucker Punch.) Yet, on the flip side, a great script shines even in the lowest of production environments. (Clerks cost Kevin Smith all of $27,000.)

   VSLs, and really all things marketing, require good copy before impressive production. Otherwise, you’ll spend hours and hours in production (and likely a lot of money) on something that will never captivate an audience the way you want it to.

   With your long form sales page, you will be able to easily test multiple headlines and CTAs. You’ll be able to optimize the copy without investing time and money into a VSL that will never convert.

   Once you feel confident that you have winning copy, don’t overthink things. Create what Digital Marketer calls an “ugly VSL” using PowerPoint and your own voice over. Test this primitive VSL and do it cheaply so you can scale into a polished VSL.

   Keep in mind that there is one thing that you must have in your script for it to capture conversions… drama. 

2. A Dash of Drama
   Can you imagine how bad Die Hard would have been without the terrorist? Or what if Harry met Sally and they got married in two months of uneventful dating and lived happily ever after? Or what if Forest Gump just stayed at home and mowed lawns?

   These would be terrible movies. No one would watch them and they probably never would have been made (or in the case of Dances with Wolves would win tons of awards but still bore us all). We need the DRAMA to drive the story. Not just movies, but in VSLs as well.

   However, unlike movies, there is little time to spend building tension in your VSL. In cinema, a good build up is applauded when executed well. Movies such as Blade Runner, There Will Be Blood, or–more recently–The Joker do an amazing job of building tension until the third and final act, leaving viewers with their jaws dropped and their butts still in their seats (even after 2+ hours).

   The liberty to take one’s time in crafting a story is truly reserved for movies alone. Movies viewers are committed to watching one thing with a minimum of 80% attention for at least 90 minutes. They are buckled up and ready for the climb.

   VSLs are different. When a customer gets to your landing page, they are being bombarded for their attention from all manner of sources. Family, work, friends, facebook, Farmville, bank account, the random question they had to answer about that serial killer from 20 years ago, a new email, other ads! The list is endless.

   This means they are unlikely to give much patience to wait and see if a VSL is going to eventually get interesting. As a VSL creator, you have about five seconds to keep someone watching.

   That is why you need to start every VSL at the peak of drama. Channel your inner Spielberg and start with boulder-chase-level of drama like he did in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or make it irresistibly action packed in the same way Christopher Nolan did to open the Dark Knight. Without a doubt, the best VSLs always start at the peak of the drama.

   As I was falling to the floor I could see my life flash before me. Was this really it…”

   “I could feel the cold steel of the .357 barrel on my temple. Quivering, crying, and feeling so lost I didn’t think I could go another day if something didn’t change in my life…”

   “I woke up in the middle of the night to the blood-curdling sound of my daughter screaming. I knew something was wrong…”

   These are all examples of high drama leads for a VSL. Make it intense and something that the viewer simply can’t turn away from.

   Great! You have them hooked. But how long will they stay?…

3. VSL Length
   The most common question I get asked when it comes to VSLs is, “How long should it be?”

   Here’s my answer every time: 

   “As long as you need to sell the product.”

   You can sell the features of a product in a stylish, simple video. Look no further than the “As Seen on TV” product line. Exhibit A: A charismatic pitch-man showing me how I can finally make arduous vegetable cutting a thing of the past with the Slap Chop!

   The price point is low, the marketing is flashy, and the end goal is my commitment to an impulse buy. There are no upsells, the AOV (average order value) isn’t going to be that high, and–if they want to keep selling Slap Chops–the volume needs to be enormous.

   This doesn’t work for digital products or high-end supplements. 

   You may be wondering, “But why?”

   Because selling digital products and high-end supplements require the sales of a concept, not just a product. The concept of the paleo diet can’t really be explained in a 60-second video. Likewise, the concept of spending $200 a month for a 6-month supply of a fat burner cannot be done in a 5-minute video.

   When you think about movies, this same concept applies. Movies with simple concepts like animated films and horror movies clock in around 90 minutes. The deeper the concept, the longer the movie. Dramas and blockbusters are on average 30 minutes longer, taking up about 120 minutes. These movies tend to win awards and make more money.

   When it comes to selling concepts, there needs to be a deeper connection at work, which can only be done when a story meets education in a marriage unique to long form sales copy. And while sometimes you can sell a product without the long form VSL by using other tactics (such as adding a free-plus-shipping cookbook), you won’t get the same AOV when it comes to your upsells.

   That is because when someone commits to buying your concept rather than just a tangible good, they are trusting your ability to deliver to them a solution to their problem. They will want more of it. And they are also willing to pay more for it.

   I don’t want to leave you without some specifics, so I will say that the most successful VSLs that I have seen range from 45-80 minutes in length. It doesn’t mean you can’t do more or less, this is just the spot that I see the highest conversions at.

   Now that you have the perfect story, with the fight amount of drama, at the right length, you want to make sure that your VSL and sales page look good.

4. Bad Production Will Destroy Your VSL

   When I say bad production I don’t mean that you need to spend a lot of money to produce your VSL. In fact, a high budget doesn’t mean good production–a phenomenon we see in cinema all the time. (John Carter anyone?) Your dollars need to fit the feel of the sales letter and the page.

   If you are going to go simple, commit to a VSL that will highlight the text and story. This is where a really good voice actor and copywriter can do wonders. If you want to invest in lots of stock footage, a real actor with live shoots, go all in. Don’t cut corners with obvious or corny-looking stock images that are repetitive or look low budget. Essentially, don’t let your production fall somewhere in the middle.

   Middling production is a no man’s land that will hurt conversions every time. I truly cannot think of a top-performing VSL that lived in the middle. As a famous sage of cinema once said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”  

5. A Busy Page Does Convert, It Distracts
   The most important lesson I can leave you with is this: 

   Consider where you want the viewers eyes to be at all times during your VSL.

   Naturally you want your viewers to be watching the actual VSL until you present the CTA. So it would make sense that the more you add to the page around the video, the more you fracture your viewer’s attention. Fractured attention is bad because you need as much attention as you can get from them on your VSL. With too much going on on the page, they won’t be as bought in and they won’t be as likely to convert.

   Don’t show the CTA. Don’t add testimonials. And, please for the love of Frodo, don’t fill the margins around the video with text or images. There is a time and a place to show them more and it isn’t until you present the CTA. If you are worried about keeping people on the page, spend time on your video not the content around it.

   I had the pleasure of attending a training session at the YouTube Offices earlier this year. During the training, YouTube had a presentation from their in-house conversion optimization and testing team and they shared some interesting information about the production of ads that worked.

   First, ads that have more frame changes convert better. Look at every successful Harmon Brothers offer and you will see how often they change frames in their videos. They keep you on your toes to keep their viewers engaged. Remember all those competing attention grabbers I mentioned? This is how you combat those.

   Second, focus on the face and speed up the pace. Make sure you have tight shots that focus on people’s facial expressions to enhance the intimate feel of video. This is especially important for small screens. Then, the fast pace (literally talking and moving faster) will capture and keep attention.

   Finally, add in superimposed text! If you want to emphasize a point, you need to display text on the video. When text is put in front of us that only offers a limited time to read it, the viewer must read it as it is presented.This is one of the reasons I remember so much more from foreign films that are subtitled. I am forced to read the captions and fully immerse myself in the conversation. The commitment it takes to reading alone keeps my attention more than standard dialog.

Speaking of attention, if you’ve made it this far, I must have kept yours. As we roll to the credits, let me recap on what you need to make a killer VSL: 

• You need great copy first.
• You need to start your video at the peak of a dramatic story. 
• You need to spend around 45-80 minutes selling a concept. 
• You need to avoid bad production and pick either high-concept or low-concept production. but not the middle ground.
• You need to avoid making your page busy and distracting so viewers can focus on your video. 

When you want more examples, or if you are curious where to find the best VSLs use the ClickBank Marketplace to find them.  

We automatically sort the top offers in REAL TIME and put them to the top so you don’t have to search. Look at them, understand them, and create your own high-converting VSL. 

The post 5 Surefire Things You Need For a Killer VSL appeared first on ClickBank.

Source: clickbank

What hundreds of hours watching winning VSLs have taught me about making a great one.

hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: ‘5154711’, formId: ‘7642b9fe-5d46-49e7-aa54-737c33f9221c’, })

In giddy anticipation, I stand in front of the microwave, listening to the accelerating kernel pops as I wait for my buttery treat. 

I’ve found the perfect bowl–the one that is rarely designated solely for popcorn, but is the perfect vessel for a movie-time snack. 

Popcorn in hand, I sit down and get comfy. It’s time to watch another VSL.

Okay, okay… you caught me being a bit dramatic (more on that later). I don’t actually watch VSL marathons the way I would watch a movie marathon, but there are some similarities between the two art forms (yes–I referred to a VSL as an art form).

So today, we are going to add a little “movie magic” as we dive into the five biggest mistakes you can make when you are creating your VSL.

For those that aren’t aware a VSL stands for “Video Sales Letter.” A VSL is a great way to capture an audience’s attention–especially in the current world of content where consumers are blitzed with things and information to digest. 

VSLs can engage and capture a consumer in a way that even the most snappy of headlines and most compelling of content cannot. VSLs open a door to more traffic channels and tend to do better with mobile audiences–which has become increasingly important as mobile continues to overtake the desktop market. (For reals though, does anyone even use a desktop if they aren’t at work anymore?) 

VSLs come in many shapes and sizes. From 30 second pitches at the top of an ecommerce page to 90 minute epics selling you a course on how to make 8-figure VSLs… the limits are flexible. Today we are going to focus on the long from VSL. On ClickBank, we tend to see the most success for both sellers and affiliates who use long from VSLs. 

Alright, let’s just into the five things every great VSL needs.

1. A Great Story
   Just like every memorable movie, a VSL must have a great story. The first step to creating a great story is focusing on the VSL copy. Also similarly to the movies, even the best effects and production can’t save a script that is total garbage. (I’m looking at you Sucker Punch.) Yet, on the flip side, a great script shines even in the lowest of production environments. (Clerks cost Kevin Smith all of $27,000.)

   VSLs, and really all things marketing, require good copy before impressive production. Otherwise, you’ll spend hours and hours in production (and likely a lot of money) on something that will never captivate an audience the way you want it to.

   With your long form sales page, you will be able to easily test multiple headlines and CTAs. You’ll be able to optimize the copy without investing time and money into a VSL that will never convert.

   Once you feel confident that you have winning copy, don’t overthink things. Create what Digital Marketer calls an “ugly VSL” using PowerPoint and your own voice over. Test this primitive VSL and do it cheaply so you can scale into a polished VSL.

   Keep in mind that there is one thing that you must have in your script for it to capture conversions… drama. 

2. A Dash of Drama
   Can you imagine how bad Die Hard would have been without the terrorist? Or what if Harry met Sally and they got married in two months of uneventful dating and lived happily ever after? Or what if Forest Gump just stayed at home and mowed lawns?

   These would be terrible movies. No one would watch them and they probably never would have been made (or in the case of Dances with Wolves would win tons of awards but still bore us all). We need the DRAMA to drive the story. Not just movies, but in VSLs as well.

   However, unlike movies, there is little time to spend building tension in your VSL. In cinema, a good build up is applauded when executed well. Movies such as Blade Runner, There Will Be Blood, or–more recently–The Joker do an amazing job of building tension until the third and final act, leaving viewers with their jaws dropped and their butts still in their seats (even after 2+ hours).

   The liberty to take one’s time in crafting a story is truly reserved for movies alone. Movies viewers are committed to watching one thing with a minimum of 80% attention for at least 90 minutes. They are buckled up and ready for the climb.

   VSLs are different. When a customer gets to your landing page, they are being bombarded for their attention from all manner of sources. Family, work, friends, facebook, Farmville, bank account, the random question they had to answer about that serial killer from 20 years ago, a new email, other ads! The list is endless.

   This means they are unlikely to give much patience to wait and see if a VSL is going to eventually get interesting. As a VSL creator, you have about five seconds to keep someone watching.

   That is why you need to start every VSL at the peak of drama. Channel your inner Spielberg and start with boulder-chase-level of drama like he did in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or make it irresistibly action packed in the same way Christopher Nolan did to open the Dark Knight. Without a doubt, the best VSLs always start at the peak of the drama.

   As I was falling to the floor I could see my life flash before me. Was this really it…”

   “I could feel the cold steel of the .357 barrel on my temple. Quivering, crying, and feeling so lost I didn’t think I could go another day if something didn’t change in my life…”

   “I woke up in the middle of the night to the blood-curdling sound of my daughter screaming. I knew something was wrong…”

   These are all examples of high drama leads for a VSL. Make it intense and something that the viewer simply can’t turn away from.

   Great! You have them hooked. But how long will they stay?…

3. VSL Length
   The most common question I get asked when it comes to VSLs is, “How long should it be?”

   Here’s my answer every time: 

   “As long as you need to sell the product.”

   You can sell the features of a product in a stylish, simple video. Look no further than the “As Seen on TV” product line. Exhibit A: A charismatic pitch-man showing me how I can finally make arduous vegetable cutting a thing of the past with the Slap Chop!

   The price point is low, the marketing is flashy, and the end goal is my commitment to an impulse buy. There are no upsells, the AOV (average order value) isn’t going to be that high, and–if they want to keep selling Slap Chops–the volume needs to be enormous.

   This doesn’t work for digital products or high-end supplements. 

   You may be wondering, “But why?”

   Because selling digital products and high-end supplements require the sales of a concept, not just a product. The concept of the paleo diet can’t really be explained in a 60-second video. Likewise, the concept of spending $200 a month for a 6-month supply of a fat burner cannot be done in a 5-minute video.

   When you think about movies, this same concept applies. Movies with simple concepts like animated films and horror movies clock in around 90 minutes. The deeper the concept, the longer the movie. Dramas and blockbusters are on average 30 minutes longer, taking up about 120 minutes. These movies tend to win awards and make more money.

   When it comes to selling concepts, there needs to be a deeper connection at work, which can only be done when a story meets education in a marriage unique to long form sales copy. And while sometimes you can sell a product without the long form VSL by using other tactics (such as adding a free-plus-shipping cookbook), you won’t get the same AOV when it comes to your upsells.

   That is because when someone commits to buying your concept rather than just a tangible good, they are trusting your ability to deliver to them a solution to their problem. They will want more of it. And they are also willing to pay more for it.

   I don’t want to leave you without some specifics, so I will say that the most successful VSLs that I have seen range from 45-80 minutes in length. It doesn’t mean you can’t do more or less, this is just the spot that I see the highest conversions at.

   Now that you have the perfect story, with the fight amount of drama, at the right length, you want to make sure that your VSL and sales page look good.

4. Bad Production Will Destroy Your VSL

   When I say bad production I don’t mean that you need to spend a lot of money to produce your VSL. In fact, a high budget doesn’t mean good production–a phenomenon we see in cinema all the time. (John Carter anyone?) Your dollars need to fit the feel of the sales letter and the page.

   If you are going to go simple, commit to a VSL that will highlight the text and story. This is where a really good voice actor and copywriter can do wonders. If you want to invest in lots of stock footage, a real actor with live shoots, go all in. Don’t cut corners with obvious or corny-looking stock images that are repetitive or look low budget. Essentially, don’t let your production fall somewhere in the middle.

   Middling production is a no man’s land that will hurt conversions every time. I truly cannot think of a top-performing VSL that lived in the middle. As a famous sage of cinema once said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”  

5. A Busy Page Doesn’t Convert, It Distracts
   The most important lesson I can leave you with is this: 

   Consider where you want the viewers eyes to be at all times during your VSL.

   Naturally you want your viewers to be watching the actual VSL until you present the CTA. So it would make sense that the more you add to the page around the video, the more you fracture your viewer’s attention. Fractured attention is bad because you need as much attention as you can get from them on your VSL. With too much going on on the page, they won’t be as bought in and they won’t be as likely to convert.

   Don’t show the CTA. Don’t add testimonials. And, please for the love of Frodo, don’t fill the margins around the video with text or images. There is a time and a place to show them more and it isn’t until you present the CTA. If you are worried about keeping people on the page, spend time on your video not the content around it.

   I had the pleasure of attending a training session at the YouTube Offices earlier this year. During the training, YouTube had a presentation from their in-house conversion optimization and testing team and they shared some interesting information about the production of ads that worked.

   First, ads that have more frame changes convert better. Look at every successful Harmon Brothers offer and you will see how often they change frames in their videos. They keep you on your toes to keep their viewers engaged. Remember all those competing attention grabbers I mentioned? This is how you combat those.

   Second, focus on the face and speed up the pace. Make sure you have tight shots that focus on people’s facial expressions to enhance the intimate feel of video. This is especially important for small screens. Then, the fast pace (literally talking and moving faster) will capture and keep attention.

   Finally, add in superimposed text! If you want to emphasize a point, you need to display text on the video. When text is put in front of us that only offers a limited time to read it, the viewer must read it as it is presented.This is one of the reasons I remember so much more from foreign films that are subtitled. I am forced to read the captions and fully immerse myself in the conversation. The commitment it takes to reading alone keeps my attention more than standard dialog.

Speaking of attention, if you’ve made it this far, I must have kept yours. As we roll to the credits, let me recap on what you need to make a killer VSL: 

• You need great copy first.
• You need to start your video at the peak of a dramatic story. 
• You need to spend around 45-80 minutes selling a concept. 
• You need to avoid bad production and pick either high-concept or low-concept production. but not the middle ground.
• You need to avoid making your page busy and distracting so viewers can focus on your video. 

When you want more examples, or if you are curious where to find the best VSLs use the ClickBank Marketplace to find them.  

We automatically sort the top offers in REAL TIME and put them to the top so you don’t have to search. Look at them, understand them, and create your own high-converting VSL. 

The post Five Surefire Things You Need For a Great VSL appeared first on ClickBank.

Source: clickbank

And showed me how to create a stronger, better offer…

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Praise be to L. Ron Hubbard! Not only did he teach us about Xenu and how his mass murder of the Teegeeack and their lost spirits are the cause of every bad feeling I ever had, but he was also a very skilled marketer.

Just in case people are not aware, I am not a follower of Scientology, but I am a fond observer of cults and the dark arts used to convince seemingly “normal” people to believe in very strange and radical things.

Before we talk about what I learned from one of the more accomplished cult leaders, I want to first tell you about a situation I have seen far too many times.

A driven entrepreneur comes to me with their next big winning offer. They uncovered a product so amazing that is is about to change the world. To be honest I am a sucker for a good idea and an amazing product and their excitement quickly is transferred to me as I excitedly ask… “What is it?! Tell me now. Now! TELL ME!”

I am soon blown away by an extraordinary list of amazing things:

• it will make it so your feet stop smelling bad;
• you will stop snoring;
• your hair will start growing back;
• it will make you a professional level singer;
• you will be able to finally understand David Lynch movies instead of just pretending you do;
• And the list goes on and on and on…

We both high five in victory because in that moment we know. We know that his offer is going to be a winner, but… Come the highly anticipated launch day and soon anticipation and excitement soon turns to dread as the clock ticks… And you see the clicks…

But not one     single    purchase…

Gutted everyone stares at each other and asks the question “How did this happen?”

How to “Find the Ruin”

Imagine this scenario: a young, despondent, man is wandering the streets of England. It’s 1954 and a new movement has just started gaining attention. This young man is approached by stranger. He says a few sentences…

“You have a mind. Here is the guide book for it.”

The young man was hooked and with his interest peaked he asked to learn more. The stranger was happy to take him back to the local headquarters where they proceeded to do two things. First they explained who they are and made sure to diffuse any objections about the Church of Scientology (ya know like not being a cult, no we don’t harass and blackmail our members, just the little stuff).

Secondly, and more importantly, they uncovered the one biggest pain the young man was experiencing in his life right now. Once he shared his story of a troubled romance that was currently haunting him and leaving him seeking answers he was hooked.  All the stranger had to do next was prove that Scientology was the answer to the question he had been seeking and that he was finally home, where his pain and suffering would be alleviated.

You might be wondering when the mention of aliens and spirits and Xenu comes in, but that is much later and nothing we will be discussing here. The stranger wasn’t a marketing or sales genius but in fact he was just following the basic 4 step recruitment process all recruiters followed.

Step 1: Make contact (handing him the book).

Step 2: Disarm (remove any “misconceptions” about Scientology).

Step 3: “Find the Ruin” (the bad relationship).

Step 4: Close the deal (Make Scientology THE answer).

In this simple and devious recruitment model lies the answer to why offers fail… Find the Ruin.

Solve One (Just one!) Problem

If we go back to the situation of the failed offer I mentioned above you can see how this step was painfully missing. I mentioned the offer creator came to me with a list of problems the offer COULD solve. The problem is a successful offer only promises to solve one. 

When the stranger was recruiting, if he had began to speak of all the problems that could be solved with Scientology, he would have likely become bored and overwhelmed the man. This is because humans are inherently self-interested. When someone starts talking about problems that don’t apply to us, we lose interest. Uninterested people are not going to become buyers, and they are unlikely to give you a second chance to try to convince them otherwise.

Just the other day I was reviewing a video sales letter (commonly referred to as VSL) for a friend. This was an offer he had poured his heart and soul to. He felt like it would be his legacy. He wanted to help people start their own businesses online and change their lives in the same way it had done for him. He had so many ways and things he was going to do accomplish it. I thought the offer sounded amazing and I felt inspired by his passion he had to help people, but then I watched the VSL…

It started as a business opportunity offer, but then became personal development, then biz op, then health and fitness, and honestly I don’t know what it went to next because I was struggling to follow along.He had so much to say…

He had so many problems to solve… He tried to solve them all and didn’t solve anything.

Needless to say, I felt for my friend who had all the enthusiasm and passion in the world, but couldn’t marry it to the right pitch. Fortunately, it is an easy fix! He just needed to pick the ONE thing he wanted to fix for people and go from there.

But how do you pick what problem I want to solve? It is like picking my favorite child. Which, by the way, for the actual parents out there, isn’t hard to do it all. It’s always the youngest one–they have disappointed you the least so far. Anyways, I digress.

It’s not up to you to choose. Don’t be the one that decides, let your customers do it.

Collect the answers your product provides and start writing headlines for each one. Now start surveying. Compile the list of your pain headlines and ask your target demographic which one speaks to them the most. Collect the data and pick the winner. You now have found the ruin and you can write your sales page to provide the answer which is your product. You just made L. Ron Hubbard so proud.

Seek Out Expert Advise

You might say: “But Kyle, I don’t have an audience, I’m not an influencer, I don’t have an email list, what do I do?”

There is a ton of things you can do. Luckily people are everywhere so go find the ones that fit the demographic you wish to serve and talk to them. Go to some sub-reddit forums and ask the questions of what would you choose. Find Facebook groups and create a poll. Go old school and head down to a coffee shop and buy people some coffee if they answer your question. There is no short supply of people in pain you just need to find what pain your product targets best. 

Once you get the target down to one simple pain point you will see a dramatic lift in your conversion rates. I can personally say going through this exercise on a failed offer more than doubled the conversions! Granted the first version of the offer was a certified stinker. This kind of work takes trial and error to get right. Don’t get discouraged. But before you launch your next big offer pause and think about the regal and dynamic L. Ron Hubbard and ask your self did I identify the ONE point of ruin for my customer?

If you can say yes, you are on the path to a great offer.   

The post How Scientology Taught Me the #1 Reason Offers Fails appeared first on ClickBank.

Source: clickbank