Today I’ve got a special written interview with Ben Settle — 12 questions, 12 answers, and a goldmine of valuable information for copywriters, marketers, and online entrepreneurs.

In addition to being the most committed member of our meet-when-we-feel-like-it mastermind group (he actually gets the “shakes” if we don’t meet every month or so), Ben is one of the strongest copywriters I know. He’s consistently writing stuff that makes me scratch my head and say, “How does he do that?”

And, lucky for both you and me, Ben graciously agreed to a really in-depth interview. I’ve published all 12 questions and answers below. I think you’ll see Ben tells it like it is and doesn’t hold anything back.

If you like the interview, please Tweet it, Stumble it, Digg it, bookmark it, etc. Thanks!

Exclusive Interview: 12 Questions
with Copywriter Ben Settle

1. How did you first learn about the field of direct response copywriting?

I stumbled onto it by complete accident.

What happened was, my wife and I had spent a couple years slugging it out in MLM with zero success.  Complete and utter failures in every way.  We spent so much money on leads and products and got into so much debt we couldn’t even afford to live in a real apartment or house.

Instead, we lived in a little two room office.

Not our finest hour, let me tell ya.

Anyway, it finally dawned on me this MLM thing was not working and something had to change.  I still remember it like it was yesterday.  It was about 3 am, I was laying there on the floor (we didn’t have a bed or anything, the joys of office living) plagued with insomnia and praying to God to tell me what to do.  My wife and I had only been married 9 months.  She left everything she knew and everyone she loved 2,500 miles away to marry me and look where I had gotten her?

I felt like such a loser — with a capital “L”.

So I got up and started looking for something to read.  There was a book by Joe Vitale called “The 7 Lost Secrets Of Success.”  It is about an old school advertising man named Bruce Barton.  I started flipping through it and read a story about a man Bruce helped during the great depression.  Apparently this guy was in sales and had a reputation for writing sales letters, in particular.  So Bruce took the guy to the window and said something like, “Take a look at all those buildings out there.  Why don’t you write them a sales letter selling them on hiring you?”

I don’t know what it was, but that story grabbed me.

And everything just seemed so clear — writing sales letters.

From there I ran into the usual suspects like Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, etc and haven’t looked back since.

2. Once you decided to become a freelance copywriter, how did you get your first clients?

After stumbling onto Gary Halbert’s site I saw a newsletter he wrote that immediately caught my eye (for obvious reasons).

The title was: “Why Multi-level Marketing Sucks.”

And in it, Gary described a way to get clients where you don’t collect an up front fee.  Instead you are basically “investing” your time and abilities in someone else’s product in exchange for a cut of the sales.

That seemed logical to me since I had no real experience.

So I found this business-to-business email based forum type thing where people just sent each other offers.  Back then this kind of thing was more widespread as we didn’t have the mass spamming problem we have now.  And I offered to write ads for people for no fee, just 5% of the sales.

Which, looking back, was really stoopid.

But even so, I got about 4 or 5 clients out of it, learned how to dig in and write ads, deal with clients and some of the other realities (good and bad) about freelancing.

I then used those ads as my portfolio on Elance.

From there, I got a couple gigs and made some money.  Eventually, I ran into my friend Michael Senoff and we did some projects together and things took off from there.

3. You send out an email 5 days a week to your subscribers. How do you generate so many good ideas to write about?

They’re just everywhere.

I’m always thinking about emails in the back of my mind and am, I suppose, receptive to them. It’s like an antenna and I’m just looking for anything that can be turned into a fun and interesting read for people.

A lot of it comes from pop culture.

Like, for example, movies, TV shows, comic books, something I read on yahoo news, etc.  I also draw on real life.  Everything is an email — from my dog pooping, to the movie I just watched to the latest adventure with a clueless business or customer service department.

It’s not always peaches and cream, though.

Sometimes I can’t think of anything. When that happens I consult a folder on my hard drive where I am always logging random thoughts, ideas, phrases, news headlines, etc.  From there I can usually find something to talk about.

The key for me is to remove all pressure.

I don’t really buy this whole “gun to the head” mindset thing.

I’m not knocking it as I know some people who thrive on it.  But it doesn’t work for me at all.  If someone put a gun to my head and told me I HAD to write an email, or an ad or perform in any way, I’d probably just tell ‘em they might as well blow my brains out.

Because it just ain’t happening, Bugsy.

Instead, I give myself permission NOT to write anything.

I have a goal, yes.

But whether I make it or not is cool either way.  Usually, that results in a lot easier writing and flowing forth of ideas.

4. I often think of you as the “John Carlton” of our Mastermind Group. How have you developed your style — and what do you do to continue becoming a better copywriter?

While I am extremely flattered you’d call me that, I’m not even in the same ballpark as John Carlton. I’m not even in the league or even the same sport as him.

That dude can dang near make his keyboard turn water into wine.

I look at his ads and just think, “How in the hell does he DO this?” He’s taken copywriting to a level I can’t even begin to fathom.  One of the true greats and someone who really does deserve to be called a “guru” (IMHO).

Anyway, now that I’m done kissing John Carlton’s ass, I’ll answer your question.

I focus on two things:

The first is writing almost every day via emails, etc.  I generally send out 5 per week, sometimes 6.  Other times I may only send 2 or 3.  But usually I write something every working day.

The second thing is always studying my market.

It’s ALL about the market.

The writing truly is secondary.

If you know your market like you know your best friend or whatever, the writing pretty much takes care of itself.  You know what they want to hear, how they want it presented and what their hot buttons are.

It’s probably not as “sexy” as the writing.

But it really makes a big difference.

5. My first exposure to you was when I somehow found myself on your “Private Details about Ben Settle” page. (This was before you had a blog.) And I gotta tell you, I read the whole thing right then and there and decided I had to get in touch with you somehow. What were you thinking when you sat down to write that “bio”?

I was inspired by how Michael Senoff did it on his site.

He told some of the highlights of how he got in business and the events that shaped his life and ideas and business philosophies.  So I sat down one day and just started writing, starting with how I took my wife away from everything she knew and loved and dumped her in a two room office 9 months later.

That then led into writing about some other things.

Like, for example, how I found my first clients, some of my business philosophies and spiritual beliefs and why the best “luck” is the kind you make for yourself.

It all just kind of brain-farted out.

6. How badly have you been “screwed over” by a client, and what did you learn from that experience?

The worst was a well-known (pretty much a household name, or used to be, anyway) asset protection company out of Nevada.  One of those companies that sets up Nevada corporations for people.

I was kind of a fan of the company.

And I wrote the owner a letter offering him the same percentage (no up front fee) deal I originally started out with. He called me back and we got along (he is an old school direct marketer and perfectly understood what I was talking about).

Anyway, all was good until a few days later.

I got a call from some lady at the company telling me the owner, who understood direct marketing, retired and now his daughter was in charge.  They were putting together a committee and all this other corporate nonsense and wanted updates with the ads, etc.

I was still kind of new to the whole thing and went with it.

However, a pit in my stomach told me not to.

Something was big time wrong.  And I just knew it.  When I was talking with the owner all was cool.  But I didn’t know his daughter from Adam.  And this whole committee approach was really annoying — especially since they didn’t pay me anything up front.

Well, I sweated over the ad and sent it in.

This new owner chick was just clueless.

She tried picking it apart and it was obvious (even to a newbie like I was) she had no clue what she was talking about.  And after asking her some questions, the REAL truth came out — she didn’t really understand the deal I’d made with her dad. So I spent all this time writing a sales letter on pure commission, on their deadline, for someone who never had any intention of ever running it in the first place.

Still, it was an extremely valuable experience.

I learned 1.) Never deal with a client who doesn’t understand direct response marketing and 2.) Always, Always ALWAYS trust your gut.  I believe God designed our minds and bodies and spirits to sense danger and when things are “off.”

It’s like a geiger counter seeking out toxic people and danger.

Ignore it at your peril.

7. Gary Halbert is famous for claiming that “All clients suck!” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

I think it’s both incredibly genius and incredibly stoopid at the same time.

I think it’s genius because I know what Gary Halbert was up to after talking to Doberman Dan Gallapoo recently.  Doberman Dan used to work with Gary and he told me it was Gary’s way of getting clients.  It was the ultimate take away.  People go crazy when you tell them they cannot have something.  Gary would (according to Doberman Dan) spend a lot of time in seminars telling people not to bother even thinking about hiring him, he’s not taking clients, doesn’t want to deal with clients and leave him the hell alone.

The result?

He’d often have a line of people practically writing him checks on the spot!

So in that sense it’s genius.

On the other hand, if you don’t have Gary’s posture and positioning and reputation for writing big winners, it’s absolute stoopidity.

If you can’t walk the walk then don’t talk the talk.

And besides that, your clients are paying for your car, your house, your kids’ college and all the toys you play with.

So why not treat them that way?

Frankly, anyone who outright resents the people who write their paychecks, ought to pick a more compatible career.

Like, for example, as a government bureaucrat.

8. Who is your #1 role model in the copywriting field? Why do you look up to this copywriter more than all others?

I’d have to say it’s a tie between Gary Bencivenga and Gary Halbert.

I learned a LOT about using drama, story-telling and structuring an ad from studying Gary Halbert.  At the same time, I learned all the really cool mental game about overcoming skepticism, proving my claims and the exact psychological process people go through when buying from Gary Bencivenga.

When I merged it all together, my response starting taking off.

Especially in the more competitive niches like self defense and golf.

9. What’s one thing you wish knew about copywriting before you got started?

That it’s all about the market first, and not the tricks and tips.

Most copywriting is about the fireworks — the “killer” guarantees or the “cool” headlines or whatever. When, in reality, it’s your market that matters most. What do THEY think?  What do THEY want?  What are THEIR hot buttons?  What do THEY find cool (as opposed to what other copywriters find cool)?

It’s not as glamorous as the sales choke holds and magic phrases.

But it’s far more important.

10. What is the best book you’ve read during the last 3 months? Why did you like it?

Ken McCarthy’s “The System Club Letters.”

Not only have I read it over the past 3 months, but I’ve read it (almost non-stop over and over) for the past year and a half.

Maybe that sounds like overkill.

All I can say is there’s a lot going on in that $20 book.  A lot of solid tips and fundamentals that are lost in all the big guru fireworks displays. Plus, each chapter is bite-sized — easy to read, digest and implement.

11. What one daily habit has contributed to your success more than any other?

Writing daily emails.

I’ve more than doubled my productivity, write probably 5 times faster than I used to, get more ideas with less strain, have attracted lots of cool marketers to my site, bonded myself with my list in ways I never dreamed possible before and, in a lot of ways, it’s been therapeutic.

There’s something about writing that does that.

It clears the cobwebs, helps you formulate your ideas and thoughts, and lets you get things “out” like if you were paying a psychologist.  I think I heard Stephen King say something like this in the past, and now I finally know what he means.

It also keeps me thinking about my list 24/7.

How can I serve them?

How can I help them?

What can I say to them to brighten their day?

What do they WANT?

12. Where can people learn more about you?

They can find me at www.BenSettle.com.

And, if they sign up for my daily tips, they’ll get a free eBook with 30 powerful and entertaining selling tips they can use for whatever they sell and for whatever media they use (face to face, phone, copywriting, emails, blogs, etc — it’s all about selling in the end no matter how it’s “dressed”.)  Not blatant, endless pitches, either.  I usually link to something I sell, but the vast majority have value whether your click anything or not.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, my email tips are daily.

If you don’t want a daily tip, then please do us both a favor and don’t sign up.

Otherwise, you’ll probably just end up complaining and I’ll have to send you over to: www.byebyelardass.com

******

If you enjoyed this interview with Ben Settle, you may also want to check out the interview I did for him. He grilled me with 12 tough questions and, seeing as we’re good friends (and he answered my questions), I was obliged to respond in kind.

Check it out here: How to Get Lots of New Clients in Hard Times

-Ryan M. Healy

I got more traffic to this web site last month (October 2009) than any other month since I started writing this blog.

Part of the reason for this is I have some truly great people in my social network. And they have graciously shared and linked to some of the posts I’ve written in the last month. (If that’s you, THANK YOU!)

And then I realized… I don’t believe I’ve ever formally invited you to connect with me on the social networks I’m active on. So without further adieu (all links open in a new tab or window)…

• Ryan Healy on Twitter
• Ryan Healy on Digg
• Ryan Healy on Delicious
• Ryan Healy on StumbleUpon
• Ryan Healy on Disqus
• Ryan Healy on YouTube
• Ryan Healy on LinkedIn
• Ryan Healy on MyBlogLog
• Ryan Healy’s Facebook Fan Page

If you are active on any of these social networks, please connect with me.

What’s in it for you?

No promises (obviously), but I do try to reciprocate when I know somebody has helped me out. So I’ll Stumble or Digg an article of yours… or leave a comment on your blog… or retweet something you share.

In other words, I try to pay attention and respond to people who engage me — and help them out when I can. It’s just good netiquette.

Furthermore, I’ve found that when you’re online, there is strength in numbers. The larger your network, the more influence you have… and the easier it is to attract new readers, subscribers, etc.

With that in mind, I look forward to connecting with you on the Interwebs! ;-)

-Ryan M. Healy

Another issue of Five on Friday — issue number 13, in fact, on the eve of Halloween! Now there’s a coincidence.

Not to worry though… no tricks here, only treats. Enjoy!

Website Redesign Pulls in More Sales? – by Michel  Fortin

I love test results. And while Michel doesn’t reveal any actual sales figures or conversion rates in this post, he does let you in on a little secret that most copywriters and online marketers don’t know. Must read.

How to Outwit a Den of Thieves – by Martin Howey

The Internet in many ways is still the “wild, wild west” of the business world. Here Martin exposes the dangers of doing business on the Internet and what you can do about it.

Beware of Copycat Credibility – by Brendan Regan

Is it really possible that building credibility the same way everybody else does can actually hurt your credibility? This is the argument Brendan puts forth in this brief but fascinating article. (You know what? I think he’s right…)

8 Reasons to Have a Membership Site – by Robert Plank

Ever wondered why you should not have a membership site? Robert gives you 4 reasons. Every wondered why you should? Robert gives you 8 reasons. (I also love how Robert uses scarcity to get comments on his blog.)

A Simple Way to Write Your First Sales Letter – by Ryan Healy

I’ve just started writing articles for Charlie Cook’s “Marketing for Success” blog. The articles I’m submitting are not published anywhere else, so I’m linking to the first article here in case you missed my “tweets” about it. In this post, I share a super-simple way to write your first sales letter. Retweet it if you like it!

Have a safe Halloween and a wonderful weekend.

-Ryan M. Healy

Here is what my morning looks like:

I wake up between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m., get dressed, go downstairs and make coffee.

Except for Wednesdays, of course. If it’s a Wednesday, I’m on the road by 5:45 a.m., headed to Panera Bread where I’ll buy coffee instead of make it.

Coffee is one of those great rituals (addictions?) that makes the writing life just a little more enjoyable. And although I’ve tried on more than one occasion to curb my coffee intake, I’ve finally reconciled with myself that between two or three cups of coffee a day is okay.

Confession: I’m kind of picky about my coffee. Too weak is terrible; too strong is okay. Not a fan of Folgers et al., but I love Starbucks’ Kenya, Rwanda, Cafe Estima, and Ethiopia Sidamo blends.

Every once in a while I try a different coffee and really enjoy it. For instance, my friend John Thomas from Georgia once sent me a bag of Indian Monsooned coffee beans, which is very distinct. I now associate it with Watchmen, because I was reading that book at the time.

But this post is not all about coffee and copywriting (a.k.a. “coffeewriting”)… it’s about the magic of routine.

Coffee and writing are part of my routine. I expect it every day. And that expectation helps me stay disciplined and productive day after day after day.

Dan Kennedy has publicly said that he spends the first part of every day writing. Uninterrupted. On page 64 of No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, he writes:

First, I write for at least one hour every morning, virtually no matter what. The first hour of my morning, sometimes 5:00 to 6:00, often 6:00 to 7:00, occasionally 7:00 to 8:00, I write. At home, on the road, doesn’t matter. Weekdays or weekends, doesn’t matter. If I am under a tough copywriting deadline for a client, I’ll give the hour to that task. Most days, that first hour goes to my own books, tapes, and newsletters.

I believe this is one reason Dan Kennedy has had so much staying power: his daily routine.

What do you do every day that helps you succeed? What healthy routines do you have that boost your productivity? Identify them… and celebrate them.

-Ryan M. Healy

I hate to put it so bluntly, but people are dumber than you think.

No, I’m not some misanthrope (I really do like people)… and yes, there will be a marketing lesson here. So please bear with me for a moment as I present a few seemingly unrelated pieces of information.

In the past few weeks, there’s been a firestorm of controversy about Google Sidewiki.

Those who are against Sidewiki argue that most Internet users will mistakenly assume that the comments on Sidewiki are actually on the “host” web site itself. This naturally opens the door for much misunderstanding and miscommunication.

On the flip side, people who are in favor of Sidewiki say that you’d have to be an idiot not to know the difference between the web site and the Sidewiki… that the difference between the two is patently obvious.

Unfortunately, I think the latter group is overestimating people’s intelligence. I would like to believe that the majority of people are highly educated and blessed with uncommon discernment, but something tells me otherwise.

Which brings me to Twitter…

What You Can Learn from Twitter’s Trending Topics

Twitter measures the popularity of memes and publishes the most popular ones in a column labeled “Trending Topics.” This column is constantly changing as memes come and go.

For instance, just a few days ago, “No God” became a trending topic when (it appears) a well-meaning person tried to get this phrase to become popular: “No God, No Peace. Know God, Know Peace.”

The good intentions backfired… Twitter only picked up “No God” as a trending topic… and the trend fed on itself for the better part of a day.

Anyway, have you ever clicked these trending topics and perused the tweets of strangers? I have often done so out of sheer curiosity, the “No God” meme being a perfect example.

What I’m consistently shocked by is the number of illiterate people using Twitter. When I click on a trending topic, half the time I can’t even understand what people are saying. It’s practically gibberish — even though the majority of these people are native English speakers!

Next time you’re on Twitter, click on one or more of the trending topics and you’ll see what I mean.

But maybe Twitter is not the best place to look for intelligence and is poor evidence that people are lacking in the IQ department. So let me give you another example…

“My Hard Drive Won’t Accept My Credit Card.”

Last week, at my weekly Wednesday morning breakfast, I was reading the back page of Tidbits because there were some humorous anecdotes. One stood out to me as being illustrative of the ignorance that pervades modern society.

A lady was seen at work putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for her credit card number, so she was using the ATM “thingy.”

And in spite of stories like this, are we to believe your average Internet surfer is going to understand Sidewiki and how frames work? Puh-leeze.

Most people think you’re speaking a foreign language when you give a basic instruction like, “Type this URL into your browser bar.”

If a person doesn’t know what a URL is, there is little chance he will even remotely understand Sidewiki, much less how it works.

Lesson: Keep It Simple Stoopid!

Which brings me to the marketing lesson of this post. That is, as much as possible, keep your sales message and ordering process simple.

The simpler they are, the more sales you’ll get.

Use plain language (plainer than what I’ve used in this post). Use a simple checkout process and, if possible, reduce the number of clicks between your sales message and the final checkout page. Never assume that your prospects “should be able to figure it out.”

You must always simplify because most folks on the Internet are not as smart as you are. They don’t understand things like HTML, URLs, frames, cookies, Javascript, plug-ins, etc. Some of them don’t even understand the basics of shopping online.

Are there times when you might want to “upgrade” your language? Certainly. But for most products sold on the Internet, the advice to use plain language holds true. (And a simple ordering process is good no matter who your target market is.)

The fact is, the Internet is crawling with people of average and less-than-average intelligence. This is not something you should be upset about. Rather, I suggest you make peace with stupidity — and even cater to it.

After all, as a marketer, it’s not your job to change the way people are… your job is to meet people where they’re at. And so you work with what you’ve got.

What do you think? Do you agree with my premise, or am I going too far here? Leave a comment below and let me know.

-Ryan M. Healy

This is a guest blog post by Codrut Turcanu. You can learn more about Codrut by reading the author bio included at the end of his article. Enjoy! -Ryan

******

Oprah got a super twitter traffic increase via her TV show, 3 million followers to be more precise.

You don’t need to be a super star to drive traffic to your twitter profile though.

Don’t let competitors scare you either. If you’re just starting out online, twitter might be the missing piece to the puzzle.

And if you’re an experienced copywriter or online entrepreneur, then twitter will give you the edge to outsmart even your fiercest competitors.

Here are two simple methods to increase twitter traffic.

Increase Twitter Traffic – Simple Method #1

Idea — add your twitter account details to your EzineArticles.com author bio. Each time you’re publishing a new article, it’ll be sent to your twitter followers, without you lifting a finger!

How to do it –  log into your Ezine Articles account and select “profile manager,” then “edit author bio,” then fill out “twitter URL” field.

You’d copy-paste your personal twitter profile link.

Now you’re set to notify your followers each time you publish new articles in your Ezine Articles account, on auto-pilot.

Increase Twitter Traffic – Simple Method #2

Idea — add your twitter URL in your Ezine Articles resource box.

Each time you publish a new article, you’d get a spike in traffic to your twitter profile.

Ezine Articles allows two self-serving links within your resource box. So you could include one link pointing to your blog/site, and another link to your twitter profile.

That’s how you get more followers, and those followers will click on your links.

How to do it — you simply add a strong call-to-action and/or benefit-oriented message at the bottom of your resource box.

For example, to make it easy for you, just copy-cat this template.

Want to follow me on TWITTER? – [and here you include your twitter profile link]

And by the way, you should be using your link not only in Ezine Articles, but with all the article directories you’re submitting content to.

You have eHow.com, GoArticles.com and plenty other free article bank resources.

Try these two simple methods and you’ll definitely boost your twitter traffic, perhaps by as much as 50% and maybe more.

About the author: Codrut Turcanu entered the Internet back in Nov. 1999 and started from scratch, with no site, no domain name and no money down. Yet, he succeeded against all odds.

The secret to his success? Sheer determination and perseverance.

He owns three popular sites: CodrutTurcanu.com, RemarkableBlogging.com, and Web-Traffic-Club.com.

First there was the Great Wall of China. And now there is the Great Wall of Google.

China built its wall specifically to keep out the invading Mongol hordes.

Google, on the other hand, seems to have built its wall for nothing more than graffiti.

The “wall” is called Sidewiki.

Sidewiki puts a frame around any web site you visit so it appears that you’re on a particular site… when you’re really just on Google.

Furthermore, Sidewiki gives you a free license to say whatever you want “on” any page on the entire Internet — without notifying the site owner.

This is the equivalent of graffiti. And it doesn’t matter if the graffiti looks good or not; it’s still graffiti!

In case you’ve not read anything about Sidewiki, you might start here because of the screen shots. Then you might want to jump on over to Michel and Sylvie Fortin’s web site and check out The Google Sidewiki Controversy.

This is an important issue. And even if it doesn’t affect you yet, it probably will. So I recommend you take some time to learn about Sidewiki.

Of course, the way Google is marketing Sidewiki is fairly innocuous: “Contribute to the web by publishing your comments.”

“Contributing to the web” sounds so nice and inclusive, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, Sikewiki is inclusive for everybody except the site owner. It hijacks the conversation that might otherwise happen on a blog, forum, or customer support system — and puts that conversation on Google.

It effectively cuts the site owner out of the social fabric of the very web sites he/she has created!

As Sylvie so eloquently points out, Sidewiki could easily be used for many nefarious activities. For instance:

• Bad-mouthing a competitor.

• Offering your own product for sale right beside a similar product.

• Posting download links for paid products right next to the sales page.

• Redirecting traffic from a popular site to your own site.

• And you can do all this without the site owner’s immediate (or eventual) knowledge!

What makes Sidewiki so bad for web site owners is that there’s no good way to see what people are saying about your pages. You would literally have to check every page on every site you own — every day! — just to be on top of what was happening on Sidewiki.

In a word, impossible.

I’m generally a big fan of what Google is doing, but I have to say that Sidewiki is one of the worst ideas they’ve ever had. I sincerely hope they’ll reconsider the impact of this tool — and either redesign it or remove it from the web completely.

Let me know what YOU think by leaving a comment below.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Sidewiki makes DL Guard more important than ever before. DL Guard protects your information products from thieves who would try to steal your paid content from you.

I bought a copy of DL Guard and have been using it for 2+ years, so I highly recommend it. You can learn more about DL Guard here.

If you take the time to look, you’ll discover you already have a number of untapped resources that could be put to work to grow your business immediately.

Unfortunately, most of us get caught up chasing shiny new courses — when the course that’s sitting on our shelf is probably just as valuable.

What assets do you already have that could be leveraged into something more than what it currently is?

Here’s an example to illustrate. Over the last few months, I’ve been getting a steady stream of traffic for the search phrase “interview questions for copywriters.”

But the article that is ranked in Google is my interview with Stephen Dean, so for a couple months I considered writing a new post that would be a better fit for the search phrase.

Finally, I did. And I published that new article as a page here on this blog. You can read the article for yourself: Interview Questions for Copywriters to Ask Their Clients

I then went back to my interview with Stephen Dean and put a blurb at the top to direct traffic to the new page. The result?

Now Google has BOTH pages ranked for the same search phrase. Take a look…

The new article may not displace the original article that got ranked — but a double listing in Google never hurts. And now, I’m noticing even more traffic from the search phrase.

This is just one unique example of an untapped resource in my business. (In this case the resource was “SEO traffic intelligence,” and it was being underutilized.)

How about you? What’s not being fully utilized in your business?

Figure it out and get busy. It won’t cost you anything but a little sweat equity.

-Ryan M. Healy

Want to get some programming done and help out a good guy at the same time?

My friend Ken Gary is a top-notch programmer, and has worked for NASA and multi-million dollar companies. And he is currently offering a 20% discount on his time for 10 new clients (I believe he’s already sold 6 slots, so there are only 4 left).

The reason he’s doing this is twofold: 1) He’s trying to grow his book of clients, and 2) make some money to pay some medical bills. I’m sharing his offer here because I want to help him out.

What kind of programming can Ken do?

Well, he knows PHP, Amember, and Wordpress inside and out, so you could hire him to create a new plug-in for you, set up a new offer funnel using Amember, or even set up and optimize a blog.

Or… want to upgrade your Wordpress blog with the Thesis theme? Ken is very familiar with Thesis and can help you upgrade quickly and painlessly.

He’s also a quick study, so he could probably do just about any programming you need done. (He’s got 9 specific ideas listed on his site.)

In fact, Ken has helped with the design of this blog, as well as optimizing the Wordpress / Amember interface on my still-in-development Copywriting Code membership site.

What’s more, Ken is a really fast programmer. So he can get a lot done for you in 5 hours.

BTW: This is not an affiliate link, but it helps Ken know where his clients are coming from…

Want to help out and save some money at the same time? Click here to hire Ken at a 20% discount (buy 4 hours, get one free).

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. If you’ve thought about hiring out some programming work, now would be a great time to do it. And, to be completely honest, it would help Ken a lot. Thanks.

Doesn’t matter what market you’re in, you’ll always be competing for the attention of your prospects and customers.

They’ve got a million things going on… oh, and they just got distracted by thing number million and one. (Was it a new email, a text message, an IM on Skype, an incoming tweet? Whatever it was, they’re probably not paying attention to you!)

But imagine for a moment the prospect of witnessing a man brandishing a red hot poker in the middle of a mall. You’d ignore everything else — for a few minutes, at least — to focus all your attention on him. You’d be compelled to find out, “What’s going on here?”

On Saturday, I published a post that got a lot of attention. I even rewrote the post (prior to publishing it) to get less attention, if you can believe it. And still, it’s quickly become one of the Top 5 most popular posts I’ve written on this blog.

And that got me to thinking. What made it stand out? Why was that one post so popular when many others I’ve written haven’t been popular at all?

With that in mind, here are three keys for getting people’s attention in hyper-distracted markets.

Red Hot Poker #1: Controversy

Hardly anybody can stay away from a good controversy. That’s one reason my post was so popular: It speculated about Perry Belcher’s real reason for retiring from Internet marketing.

Is there a controversy among your prospects? Or is there a subject most people consider controversial? (It will probably be different in every market.)

For instance, if I were a doctor, I might publish my thoughts on the recent universal health care legislation. And if I were a dentist, I’d be all over the fluoride controversy. Just the mention of it — for anybody who is “in the know” — can raise the temperature of people’s emotions like boiling water in a tea kettle.

This is the power of controversy if you are willing to step up and put yourself in the middle of it. A good controversy is like the proverbial train wreck: It’s hard to look away.

Red Hot Poker #2: Challenge Tradition (or, Tip a Few Sacred Cows)

It’s time to go cow tipping!

Is there something in your market that’s always been done a certain way — but you feel could be done better? Or is there an accepted dogma that you could challenge and perhaps even overturn?

If so, you may have a ripe opportunity for getting people’s attention.

And right now, I can think of no better example than the JK wedding dance. For years, wedding parties and brides-to-be have solemnly marched down the aisle to the alter of holy matrimony.

Then, one day, a couple decided to do it differently.

They danced.

And they got the entire nation’s attention. (If you haven’t seen the JK wedding dance, go watch it. I tear up every time.)

Red Hot Poker #3: Piggyback on Popular News

Probably the most familiar form of “piggybacking” is holiday sales. Everybody in the U.S. knows when Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas happen. It’s an easy way to piggyback on what’s already on everybody’s minds.

But you can piggyback on other news events, too.

For instance, tax day on April 15. The Superbowl. July 4th. These are all predictable events that you can bank on.

But there are also unpredictable events as well. Many times you can get better results from piggybacking on a big news item that pops up unexpectedly.

For instance, when the movie Dark Knight was suddenly popular, lots of smart marketers piggybacked on its success. Same thing when Barack Obama beat John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

The key here is twofold: You not only want to capitalize on what your market is already thinking about… you also want to be entertaining. By combining these together, you have the perfect recipe for getting — and keeping — your prospects’ and customers’ attention.

(Hint: Any news items that show up on Saturday Night Live or become jokes on the late-night shows are usually things you can piggyback on to get your market’s attention.)

And with that, you now have three ways to get your market’s attention as if you were brandishing a red hot poker. Of course, what you do what that attention once you have it is up to you. ;-)

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. What techniques do you use to get your prospects’ and customers’ attention? Share by leaving a comment below.