In my last blog post, I shared with you my best, free resource to writing copy and getting better conversions for your websites. You also learned how to get more targeted traffic by incentivising your loyal readers with your products, thus spending pennies on the dollar of what you would normally pay for advertising.

Today, I’ll explain the dangers of using incentives wrongly so you know what you are doing and why you are doing it.

But first, I want to share with you an email sent to me by Bill…

============================================
From: Bill D. <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 7:44 PM
subject: Re: Here’s My Secret Resource That
I’ve Been Using For A Year.

Hello Tian,

You informed me about The Total Package with
Clayton Makepeace. I went to his site and found
all the free info to be absolutely amazing !!
So I am writing you to THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!

God bless you with a joyful,peaceful and
prosperous new year !!

On the success road,
Bill D.
============================================

Bill was refering to Clayton Makepeace’s Total Package, the website I used to write copy for over a year. If you haven’t check it out yet, you should!

http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/bonus/holiday-referral-signup.html

The site contains more than 600++ articles and interviews on copywriting, conversion, design, persuasion, psychological triggers, and much more…

…all written by top-guns in the industry.  These are real experts with real experience, not some new “Guru” whose wealth is made by teaching others how to make money.

So click on that link above and consume all the valuable information, it’s free.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get back to the topic of the day.

The big question that you might be asking is…

“What’s the danger of giving away paid products to people for spreading your word?”

Answer: None.

… in the short term.

But in the long-run, you’ll lose responsiveness, reduce the perceived value of your products, and hurt your customer’s loyalty.

That’s right… you’ll hurt your customer’s LOYALTY.

Bargains like these must have an expiry date to preserve the retail value of the product. If you think about it, people will become numb to promotions if they are overused.

Not only will this hurt your response, but you’ll also cannibalize your product, making it worthless in the eyes of customers.

After all, if people aren’t paying for your goods, how valuable can they be? There is no other reason to personally invest in something people can obtain easily. On top of that, your early adopters who were the first to pay for your products will feel cheated, and are unlikely to support you again.

Most marketers don’t get this by the way… Giving away products for free after charging a high price for them drives customers insane. Yet, we see it all the time on the web everyday.

Drayton Bird, one of the 50 most influential people in direct marketing wrote an article about this.

“Don’t Confuse Bribery With Loyalty”

Drayton was writing about “Loyalty Schemes” used by companies to fuel sales. When you bribe your customers, your competitor’s WILL out-bribe you. You end up hurting your margins and repeat the fate of companies who pioneer “Loyalty Schemes”… bankruptcy.

Victor Ross once suggested that “Loyalty is what’s left after you remove the bribes.”

If you heard the interview I did with Drayton, you can tell he knows what he’s talking about, armed by years of experience in the direct marketing industry.

I still remember one remark he made about marketers who don’t study copywriting and direct marketing enough.

He said…

“Just as there are junk, junk food, and junk movies… there are also junk people.”

Remember, we’re in an industry where “junkmail” is a norm. And to be able to rise above all that, we have to go back study the basics.

That’s why a resource like The Total Package is important

If you like to read more insights by Drayton, you can study his articles in The Total Package. Yes, even he is one of the contributors there.

And… if you search that site closely, you can find a rare interview of Clayton Makepeace with Drayton Bird himself. Two direct marketing monsters grilling each other and revealing gems of wisdom along the way.

They aptly named the interview:

“The Drayton And Clayton Show”

Get it here…
–> http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/clayton-makepeace/the-drayton-and-clayton-show-episode-3.html

In the next issue… I’m revealing my year-long commitment to copywriting and hitting the A-List of copywriters. You’ll be able to apply the same philosophy I use to get tremendous success in your online marketing ventures.

It’s called “Jack Of All Trades, Master of ONE.”

Be Well,
- Tian Yan

P.S. Just yesterday, I was compiling The Gary Halbert Letters to be binded in book for easy  reference. The Gary  Halbert Letters is one of the top 3 resource I use in copywriting… so is The Total Package.

If you’re like me, you want to start printing all The Total Package articles on paper, bind the comb on the RIGHT hand side, and then read the text out loud, and handcopy the text again by hand.

I’ll explain why in a moment…

As I was compiling the documents into Microsoft Word, I was shocked to find that the whole collection has up to…

1,473 Pages!

And all those are filled with text of font size 9.

That’s a huge amount of information, especially when it crashed Microsoft Word a few times on my 1.6GHz laptop.

Now that worries me because The Total Package has more than 600++ articles. With every article averaging 5 pages of text, I have a total of 3,000++ pages to print!

Clayton wasn’t kidding when he said he will make War And Peace look like a comic book.

I’m ramping up a pretty hefty bill from the copiers printing and binding this baby, which means I have to give them a whole afternoon before I can pick it up.

But if you want quality information that no other site can give you… this is it. This kind of information, when applied, can bring money to the bank.

Now, if Clayton can make his site more printer friendly for “hardcore copywriters” like us…

P.P.S. Here’s why I’m printing everything out and reading them aloud, if not copying the text by hand. This is how people learn copywriting… they model the best in the industry, everything from the style to the choice of words.

The reason I’m binding the document on the RIGHT hand side is because I want the blank pages to face down at my writing hand so I can take quick notes easily. I’m right-handed.

It sounds tedious. But if you want to really benefit from this information without having to spend money on the “next big money making product”, it’s worth the effort. I’ll tell you more in my next issue.

In fact, I’m using this method of study on all top 3 copywriting resources I use.

You know what? let’s play a little game… If you’ll go to The Total Package, explore it for awhile, and give me your honest feedback by replying to this blogpost…

I’ll let you know my other copywriting resources for free! You don’t even have to like The Total Package, just give it a fair chance.

http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/bonus/holiday-referral-signup.html

To all you copywriting geeks out there, I have a gift for you…

A year ago, I discovered a treasure chest online. I was researching for conversion tactics to improve my sales, and accidentally stumbled upon this site — that many people know nothing about.

I don’t blame you if you haven’t heard of it. Most marketers don’t even dare to share it because it makes their paid products look like trash in comparison.

But the other reason why you probably have not heard about this site is because the URL made it difficult for it to get high rankings.

Which is really a shame, considering the whole library of articles by top gun copywriters and free interviews with some of the legends in the industry available on the site.

Before I tell you more about this resource, let me tell you something even more interesting…

I didn’t recommend you to go to this site just because it has helped me earn an honest income and has every resource available to help you thrive in these tough economic times.

It’s also because I’m literally bribed to tell you about it!

The man behind the site, Clayton Makepeace, a genius copywriter… gifts every one of his readers a copy of his best-selling products, just for recommending his site to others.

Now, that’s ingenious.
And here’s why…

What Clayton has is a very good site to begin with. But he knows that just because he has a good site, doesn’t mean people are going to spend every minute of their life telling others about it.

Does it cost much to incentivize others to spread the word? Not much. Although he is giving out physical products, the cost to manufacture them is a mere pittance compared to the free advertising his site receives.

For a few dollars, he got every one of his loyal readers to pay attention, make a video about him, recommend him to other potential customers via email, and give him free links on blog posts.

I challenge you to name me 1 advertising network that could do all that. He doesn’t have to pay out affiliate commissions either.

So if your website needs more traffic, and you do give out solid content, get creative and make your own incentivised campaign.

And if your website needs more sales, print out every article in Clayton’s site and implement the techniques shared. I have to warn you, with 600++ articles there, this will keep you busy the whole year.

Now… go indulge in all the free copywriting/conversion secrets at his site… and wish the man a Happy New Year
on my behalf.

http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/bonus/holiday-referral-signup.html

Be Well,
- Tian Yan

Coming up in the next issue…

I’ll present you with more insights on Clayton’s marketing move… but also warnings to some of the long term damages you might inflict to your business if you do this incorrectly.