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I do a great deal of reading and researching on the topic of online marketing. I have to, it’s how I make my living. I imagine you do the same.

Which is why you may have noticed that a lot of people tend to over complicate the whole online marketing thing.

Really, you need a product to sell, someone to sell it to and a way to persuade them to buy.

That’s it.

In fact, I said that exact same thing to an aspiring marketer the other day, and he responded with, “That’s OVER simplified, tell me how I’m supposed to do that.”

Okay, here goes:

When you get someone on your list, your job is to build rapport so they like you and your content. Once you do this, it’s a lot easier to convince them to buy your recommendations.

That’s why I start out by telling them something about me and my life. Not a full-blown biography – I’m not that fascinating. Just enough so they feel like they know something about who I am and how I think and live.

Then I send them content and offers, same as any other marketer.

Except, I don’t try to appeal to everyone.

In fact, I don’t want to appeal to everyone, because when you make that your goal, you wind up appealing to pretty much no one.

Imagine if you tried to create the perfect food that EVERYONE likes. Any flavor is going to turn off a certain segment of the population, so you’ll have to remove all flavor to make everyone happy.

Except, of course, when you remove all flavor, your dish will be as bland as paste and it will appeal to no one.

Time and again I see marketers trying not to have opinions or offend anyone. And these same marketers struggle, despite having 5 or even 6 figures of subscribers on their lists.

When you appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.

So what I do is ‘let it all hang out,’ so to speak.

I state my opinions. I give my thoughts. When I disagree with something, I politely but firmly make my case.

In other words, I’m myself. I don’t try to be an ‘everyman,’ I just work at being me.

Which I have a lot of practice at, so it’s much easier than trying to be someone I’m not.

Some people don’t like me or my opinions, and they unsubscribe. Hence the name, “repulsion marketing.”

Other people resonate with me and what I believe, and these folks not only stay on my list, but they also open and READ my emails.

And click my links.

And buy my stuff.

They’re receptive, enthusiastic, and fun to have as customers. I’m continually building my tribe, and part of that process is weeding out the people who aren’t a good fit.

I never worry about how ‘qualified’ my traffic is or what ‘quality’ it is.

My only job is to get people onto my list and then just be myself.

It’s like real life – some people think you’re a jerk, and other people become your friends and lovers.

And it works really, really well.

People love to tell you they are logical and rational, and that they make decisions based on the facts. But what people say and what they do are two different things.

Between you and me, people make decisions based on emotion – they just don’t realize it. So how can you tap into those emotions and get them to click your link or buy your product? By adding faces to just about everything you do.

Next time you run a Facebook ad, do a test. In one ad, use any image you want, as long as it’s not a face.

In the other ad, use an interesting face that expresses the emotion you want your prospect to feel.

Now notice which one gets more clicks.

Face images, whether they’re drawings or photos, work not just on Facebook ads, but also on your sidebar ads, blog posts, social media posts and so forth.

And they work especially well on all things Facebook and social media, because people are already looking for faces there. Thus your posts and ads will unobtrusively blend right into your customer’s newsfeed.

The human brain is actually wired to look for and respond to facial cues and expressions, much more so than the written word.

You’ve been wanting to start an online business, but you keep putting it off.

You want to build a new website, write a new book, create a new product, etc., but you can’t seem to do it.

Or maybe you just want to exercise more or eat better, so you have the energy to run your business.

Whatever the change is that you want to make, you might be having a tough time making that change ‘stick.’

Or perhaps you want to help someone else to make a change.

I’ve just started reading, “Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything,” by Michael Pantalon, and I want to share something with you.

It’s his formula for getting anyone to change.

Instead of telling them why they might want to change, you ask them why they might want to change, using these six steps:

Step 1: Why might you change? (Or if the person is you, ask yourself, “Why might I change?”)

Step 2: How ready are you to change – on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 means “not ready at all” and 10 means, “totally ready?”

Step 3: Why didn’t you pick a lower number? (Or if the ‘influencee’ picked 1, either ask the second question again, this time about a smaller step toward change, or ask, “What would it take for that 1 to turn into a 2?”)

Step 4: Imagine you’ve changed. What would the positive outcomes be?

Step 5: Why are those outcomes important to you?

Step 6: What’s the next step, if any?

That’s it. I invite you to try this one yourself first, before you try it on someone else.

See what happens. I know when I used it to make myself give up a certain food that I was practically addicted to, it worked like a charm.

Next I’m going to try it on bigger things and see what happens.

According to the reviews on Amazon, this simple process has literally changed lives, so maybe it will change yours.

I know a few readers are going to take issue with what I’m about to say.

That’s okay. If you don’t like this or you think it’s morally wrong, then simply don’t do it.

For everyone else, riddle me this:

What do Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby), Anne Hathaway, Ann Rice, Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, Eckhart Tolle, Ellery Queen, George Eliot, George Orwell, James Herriot, John le Carre, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Voltaire and Woody Allen all have in common?

None of these people technically exist, because they’re all pen names.

The other day on the Warrior Forum I saw an old thread with a question that went something like this:

“I’m thinking of using a pen name when I go into a new niche. Is that alright, or am I breaking some sort of rule?”

Answers ranged from a friendly, “There’s nothing wrong with that, go for it.”

…to an angry, “What’s your problem and why are you trying to hide? Are you a scam artist or something?”

If pen names are a benchmark for whether or not you’re a scam artist, somebody better tell the writers and the descendants of writers listed above – I think they’ll be surprised.

From a marketing standpoint, pen names often make more sense than using your real name.

For example, you’ve got a good reputation online as the ‘go-to’ person in a particular niche. You want to enter an entirely different and unrelated niche. If you use the same name, readers in BOTH niches will be confused. And confusion is a sales and deal killer, by the way.

Another example: You’ve got a stellar reputation in internet marketing. You build rapport with your list and you only try to sell them something now and then. But you want to try the churn and burn method of marketing, in which you promote products several times per DAY via email. Naturally you will want to use a different name for this list.

(Churn and burn is getting as many people on your list as possible, and promoting to them like crazy until they can’t take it anymore and get off of your list.)

And by the way, no matter how much you and I don’t care for the churn and burn method, the fact is that it’s highly profitable. Which is why so many big-name marketers use a pen name to run their own churn and burn lists.

Another use for a pen name: You can recommend products created by your pen name, and have your pen name recommend your products. Again, a lot of big name marketers do this. I’m not advocating this method, but it does work.

I’ve also known marketers who only worked under a pen name and never under their own name. Usually this is because they have a name that is virtually unpronounceable and unspellable by most people on the planet, so really it’s a question of branding.

And speaking of branding, you could always choose a name that fits your niche particularly well. For example, if your niche is gardening, then calling yourself Rosemary Greenfield or some such might be a nice touch.

There is one reason for using a pen name that – in my opinion – beats them all, and it’s this:

When you use a pen name to build an entire business, you can then SELL that entire business to someone else. They keep the pen name, and customers don’t even necessarily know it changed hands.

If anything goes wrong with the business after you sell it – for example, the new owner doesn’t deliver on the promises of the business – it won’t affect you or your reputation in any way because your name has never been associated with it.

Bottom Line: There is nothing unethical about using a pen name. They’ve been used for hundreds of years by some of the best writers in their field.

And there are some dynamite advantages to using one.

If you’ve been in marketing for awhile, and you cater to the online marketing crowd, then you’ve gotten an email from a subscriber that looks like this:

You’ve gotten that email, too, right? I think we all have.

Which got me to thinking…

What if you set up a squeeze page that has an offer like this: “30 day course on how to start your business and earn $X money in 30 days. Pay nothing now, and simply send me $100 when you’ve earned your first $1,000.”

Do you think you would get some subscribers? Of course. This isn’t your typical offer at all, and people will recognize this.

So, you get your subscribers and every day they get another email from you with another step in how to build their business.

For the content, I recommend getting one of those big PLR courses with 30 steps or 40 modules or whatever number of lessons that teach how to build an online business. The number of steps will determine the number of days your course runs.

Each day you email out a link to the next step / course / module.

Pretty soon your new subscribers will realize that this is a lot of work, and they’ll be wishing for a shortcut.

~~cough cough~~

And you give it to them, of course.

This is a much sexier course, such as how to earn $5,000 in the next 20 days by working one hour per day, or whatever.

You place the link in each email and on each daily page of the course.

And you will make sales.

Now then, if you’ve been paying attention, then you realize this is simply a variation of a very tried and true method:

Teach them step-by-step how to do something, then offer them an easier or faster way to get the same or better result.

You start out teaching, but when things get too hard or time-consuming, you come to the rescue with a shortcut.

People love shortcuts, and they gladly buy them every day of the week.

This is just another way to frame it, and you can use this method in other niches as well.

“Pay nothing until you find your dream spouse.”

“Pay nothing until you find the home of your dreams.”

Pay nothing until your investments earn you at least $x money.”

“Pay nothing until you land your dream job.”

And so forth.

It’s all in the positioning. And because this method hasn’t been done to death, I guarantee it will afford you plenty of traction and a good amount of sales, too.

Are you willing to work like crazy for 5 years (give or take) so you can retire?

If so, I’ve got a business plan for you. And I don’t care if you’re 20 or 70 – this can work.

One note before we get started: Anything that you either can’t do, don’t want to do or don’t have time to do, you outsource.

If you’re going to actually, really, truly retire in 5 years, taking this from zero to a 7-figure payday, then you need to get work done FAST.

And in many cases that’s going to mean outsourcing some of this.

Oh yes, did you notice how I covertly slipped that “7 figure payday” in there? I’m serious about that. Doing what I’m about to lay out for you, you can indeed retire in about 5 years with about 7 figures.

Your results may vary – in fact, they might be a whole lot better than that, I don’t know.

Let’s get started:

What I’m about to propose isn’t rocket science. It’s not even new. But it is profitable, and here’s the key:

You can do this in parallel, meaning instead of doing just ONE of what I’m outlining, you do several.

I recommend 3 – 5 of them.

What you’re going to do is build an entire business from the ground up, with an eye on selling it.

That’s right – the entire time you’re doing this, you have your exit strategy in mind.

It’s sort of like someone marrying for money, knowing they’re going to be asking for a divorce in 5 years. The money is a sure thing, they just have to put in the time and work.

Okay, that was maybe a bad analogy, but you get the point.

If you put in the time and do the work, you will get the money.

You’re going to choose a very popular and not too broad topic. For example, weight loss for busy women, dating for men, traffic generation for online marketers, etc.

It needs to be a topic that has plenty of interested people willing to buy plenty of products, and of course there needs to be plenty of affiliate products continually coming into the market.

Now that you’ve got your topic, you’re going to build a sales funnel.

Run a free offer on a squeeze page to get subscribers and place a couple of products in your funnel for them to buy.

Maybe you’ve got a $7 report and a $37 video course, or whatever.

These should be quality products that YOU own. And yes, they can be built around PLR, or you can outsource, etc.

For your high-ticket offer, create a membership site and drip feed content into it. Your goal is to get lots of people into that membership site.

I know what you’re thinking – thus far I haven’t told you anything new, except for the fact that you’re doing all of this with an eye to selling it.

Yet who does this? Very few people, but those who do end up with BIG paydays.

Do everything under a pen name.

Make no mistake – EVERYTHING must be under your pen name.

And for each of these businesses that you build, you need a different pen name.

Okay, you’ve got a squeeze page to capture names, a funnel with a low-priced product, a mid-priced product and a membership site.

Now you need a blog. Get a great logo, excellent branding and make it look super professional. Do NOT skimp on the branding and logo.

Post on the blog at least a couple of times a week, preferably more.

Link from the blog to your free and paid products.

Make each upsell in your funnel a stand-alone product, too, and promote those on your blog.

Promote affiliate products to your list to make some good money as you go along.

Now write a book. See? I told you there was work involved. You can use content from your blog to create your book, or hire someone, or just write it yourself.

Link from inside the book to a squeeze page to capture more subscribers.

Get a great book cover. I mean a cover that looks like it should be on the New York Times bestseller list. Don’t skimp on this, either.

Put your book on Amazon and get your subscribers to review it for you. Yes, the book is under your pen name, too.

Don’t worry too much about promoting the book. Your real motivation here is to build credibility. A book on your topic with your pen name on it looks AWESOME when you put the thumbnail at the TOP of your blog.

Wow! You (your pen name, actually) are an EXPERT.

Cross promote from any existing lists you have to get more people onto your new blog and get more subscribers there.

If you create a big product such as a $200 – $1,000 course, get affiliates to promote it. Or get affiliates to promote your memberships site.

Your goal is to build your list BIG, make some nice income along the way, and put together a very professional looking business which you then sell for six or seven figures.

If you do this simultaneously in 3 to 5 different niches, you will have an AWESOME retirement in about 5 years or so.

What I recommend: Start in ONE niche and get everything into place. Hire someone to write the blog posts for you and do some promotion.

Now that you know everything that is involved, take some of the profits from your first site / list / business and those profits to outsource a lot of the work in your second, third, and fourth businesses.

You see where this is going. Five years of hard work, along with rolling some of your profits back into the business, and you then get to sell them.

Sites like these that have products, big lists and a BOOK sell for a healthy six figure income. Sometimes even seven figures. Apiece. And you’re going to have 3, 4, maybe 5 of them.

Remember to keep everything separate on each site. Separate hosting. Separate autoresponders. Separate everything. This makes it super easy to turn control over to someone else when the time comes.

Turnkey online business are always in demand. From a buyer’s perspective, they pay a big chunk of money but then they get a guaranteed stream of income. All the buyer has to do is continue what you started.

You can even turn over your outsourcers to the buyer if they don’t want to do the work themselves, and often they won’t. For them it’s an investment in their future. For you it’s a major payday and a plane trip to the islands.

One more thing… if you would like to continue to make a nice, easy income after you sell your sites, then I recommend you promote your own personal site to the folks on these lists you’re building.

For example, your pen name is Jon Smith. Your real name is Abby Jones. Jon Smith often recommends Abby Jone’s product or blog or freebie to his readers.

Thus you get people subscribed to your list, too, who get to know you, not just your pen name.

You retire, and you can continue to send out emails promoting affiliate products.

So not only do you get a big payday – you also get some large lists of your own that you can continue to promote products to.

Remember – 5 years of hard work, and then you can retire.

No job in the world that I know of, offers you a retirement plan like that.

Here’s a clever idea for making money with your list:

You have a list of buyers and a list of prospects, right?

Rent out your list of prospects to product owners, advertising their “Product of the Day.”

This is different, because nearly all solo ad sellers won’t let ad buyers send traffic directly to a sales page – they have to send it to a squeeze page.

But some product sellers want to focus only on getting sales, which is where your “Product of the Day” series comes in.

Each day, you rent your list of prospects to product owners. You’re not sacrificing your own buyers, and you’re giving marketers a chance to make sales directly from your list, using your good name for added credibility.

It’s a nice way to monetize all those freebie seekers who for one reason or another aren’t attracted to your products.

Remember, just because they haven’t bought your product yet doesn’t mean they won’t be enticed by someone else’s product.

On a day that you don’t sell an ad to your list, you could promote affiliate products… The sky is the limit!

When you learn martial arts or most any form of fighting, one of the techniques they teach you is to punch through your opponent.

For example, instead of aiming to punch your opponent’s face, you aim to punch a point just behind their head.

This gives your punch much more force, because your target is well beyond their face. You need more effort to make it happen.

And in exerting more effort, you make your punch stronger.

Plus, if your target is their nose, you will subconsciously pull your punch, meaning your fist will actually slow down as it approaches its mark.

Now then, let’s say your income goal is $1,000 a week. Instead of aiming for $1,000, aim for $1,500.

You will have to work harder to reach this goal and push further, with higher expectations. All of which will lead to a better result.

And even if you ‘pull your punch’ before you hit $1500, you will still exceed the $1,000 goal. I know this sounds strange, but try it.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your results.

I don’t know what day you’re reading this.
But I do know that today someone, somewhere, just launched a brand new Internet Marketing product or course that will finally teach you the secrets to building a successful Internet Marketing business in just months.

How do I know this?

Because every single day of every single year, someone does exactly this.

And here’s the best part – many and even most of these products work.

They truly do. That is, they work as long as you do the work.

Which bears repeating – Building an online business takes actual WORK.

There is no magic button to making a million overnight.

If there were, no one would be waiting tables or working at dead end jobs because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE would be rich.

So just get thoughts of overnight wealth out of your pretty brain the next time someone tries to tell you they found the magic button and they’ll share it with you for just $97.

However, if you are willing to work, and you’re willing to invest in your business, then I will tell you the secret to having an honest to goodness real business within 3-4 months that does indeed earn you a minimum of $5,000 per month.

The sad things is, most people who read this aren’t going to actually DO it.

And that’s because it’s not sexy and it takes WORK.

Darn, there’s that 4 letter word again.

And one more thing – if you want to accomplish this in 3-4 months, it’s probably going to take an investment as well.

Now, before you get unraveled because I suggested you have to WORK and INVEST, think about this…

…what job can you get – with no formal training – that will pay you $5,000 a month to start, with monthly raises? And that calls for you to work from any darn place you choose, when you want, where you want and how you want?

Name me one job like that and I’m in.

But there’s no such thing.

Imagine for a minute that you apply for a job.

The interviewer says to you, “The only training you need will be on the job. You’ll be making $5,000 a month by your third or fourth month. Each month that you want a raise, you can have one. There is no limit to what you can earn, it’s up to you. You can work from home or any place you like. You can work whenever you like, as little or as much as you like. And if there is any part of the job you don’t like doing, you can outsource it to someone else.”

That, my friend, is a job applicant’s dream come true.

And it’s exactly what you can have, if you want it bad enough.

So what’s THE big internet marketing secret I mentioned in the title?

If you haven’t already guessed it, keep reading.

If you have guessed it, are you doing it yet? If not, why not?????

Okay, here we go, and I warn you – you have heard this before.

You may have heard this 100 times before.

But what counts is the ONE time you hear it and actually start DOING it.

That, my friend, is LIFE-CHANGING.

And it’s why I’m taking so long to lead up to this – because I’m trying to help you make THIS the time you actually DO it and make it yours.

Here we go…

What you need to succeed is a LIST.

Yes, I told you that you heard this before.

But if you really want total financial freedom, you need a list.

You need a list.

You need a list.

YOU NEED A LIST.

Whew. Sorry about that. I get a little keyed up when I see people buying every latest greatest newest product out there when all they need to do is get busy and build a list.

Having a list gives you a ready market for any products you want to develop and create.

It allows you to sell affiliate products whenever you want.

It allows you to make money on demand.

Whoa – did a big bill just land in your lap? Send an email and get the money to pay it.

Did you just find something in the store you MUST HAVE RIGHT NOW?

Send out an email and in a few hours you can have it.

Think about this… properly built and handled, a list of 10,000 people can give you an income of $5,000 a month if you promote the right affiliate offers.

This doesn’t even include promoting your own products.

Plus when you have a list of 10,000, you also have leverage.

You can ask other marketers to promote your products to their lists in return for promoting their products to your list.

And you can build your list from zero to 10,000 in a couple of months, especially if you’re willing to invest in your list building efforts.

First, choose your niche. Health, finance and business, relationships, self-improvement… choose something you enjoy yourself that’s filled with people who spend money.

The hungrier your market, the better.

Either create a lead magnet or have one created for you. It should be an offer so enticing that visitors can’t help but opt-in to get it.

Put an upsell after that squeeze page to earn some up-front money.

Run solo ads or Facebook ads to send traffic to your squeeze page. Just spend a little bit here and there at first until you get your squeeze page and upsell page tweaked and optimized for best results.

Then buy more traffic. Use the profits from the upsell to buy MORE traffic.

Yes, you will be spending money.

But done right, you will also be making money.

Worst case scenario, you spend $5,000 to build your list of 10,000 people.

Best case scenario, you make that $5,000 or more on your upsell to pay for your list building.

It’s a leap of faith to do this. Which is why most will never do it. But because most never will, that leaves plenty of room for YOU to do it.

Don’t have money to invest in traffic? Then you’ll have to use ‘free’ methods, which aren’t free. They involve spending time and effort, but again, it’s totally worth it.

Now here’s another ‘secret’ to getting this done – anything, and I mean ANY PART of this endeavor that you don’t want to do yourself, you outsource. Get someone else to do it for you.

Yes, outsourcing costs money.

You’re building a business, aren’t you? You are looking at earning a $5,000 a month income within 3-4 months, so just make the investment and do it.

Mail your list consistently as it grows. That means once you have your first subscriber, you start mailing 4-7 times per week.

This is where you’re going to put your real effort – into writing emails that make people WANT to open them and read them.

You can’t force people, but you sure can entice them.

Whatever it is that your particular list wants, give it to them.

If you don’t know what that is, hang out where they hang out, talk to them and ask them what they want, what they need, what one thing would make a big difference for them.

“But all of that sounds like so much work!”

Guess what? If you want to build a business it’s going to take work. It’s going to take going through some bad stuff, some stuff that doesn’t work, some stuff that costs you money to build your business.

But once it’s built, you have a perpetual fountain of money on your hands.

You keep building the list, you keep emailing the list and you keep promoting to the list.

Build, email and promote.

Imagine the lifestyle where you can be any place in the WORLD, send out an email and literally get money into your account that same day.

5 sales, 50 sales, 500 sales, all from one email.

But to get to that point you’ve got to do the work first.

And I don’t care how many programs you buy. The fact is sooner or later you will finally come to the realization that regardless of what else you might be doing, you should also have a list.

Because a list is security.

It’s money in the bank.

Now think about this:

A year from now something happens and you need to make serious money FAST.

Maybe you found the house of your dreams but you’re short $20,000 for the down payment.

Maybe your son needs an operation and your insurance won’t cover $20,000 of it, and they won’t do the operation until you get the money.

Maybe the IRS says you owe $20,000 in back taxes and they’re about to take your home.

Whatever it is, you need a substantial amount of cash in your hands NOW.

But thankfully, a year ago you began building a list.

Within 4 months your list was up to 10,000.

Now it’s over 30,000.

You send out one email.

And the next day you have $5,000 in cash.

So you send another email the next day, and two more after that.

And you have your $20,000.

You get the house. Or your son gets the operation.

Or the IRS leaves you the heck alone.

Now that is security. That is power. That is freedom.

And it all starts with you, right here, right now, creating your funnel and building your list.

If this is the only piece of internet marketing advice you ever take, you will succeed and succeed big.

Build. A. List.

Starting now.

It’s extremely important to understand the difference between features and benefits when you write copy. In fact, not understanding the difference can be death to your sales.

Have you ever read a sales page and thought to yourself that it was just so boring that you couldn’t even force yourself to keep going even if you thought you might want the product? I’m sure you have – we’ve all seen those terrible, ineffective sales letters.

But maybe to this point you haven’t been able to identify what really separates the effective sales letters (the ones that compel you to buy even when you didn’t originally intend to) from those that aren’t at all effective.

Maybe it’s the case that you’re really struggling to write effective sales copy yourself. Maybe your conversions aren’t what you know they could be – people are visiting your sales page but they aren’t reading or buying.

Or, maybe you’re struggling to write a sales letter at all. You know that you’re not yet a highly skilled copywriter and it scares you to even try.

Of all the elements that go into writing an effective sales page, understanding the difference between features and benefits just might be the most helpful. If you understand how to identify the benefits of a product, then all of a sudden things like writing the headline, bullet points, and persuasive copy just start coming together.

It’s about understanding human psychology. It’s one thing to know the features of a product, but it’s another thing to be swayed enough on an emotional level to move forward and buy. You’re not going to tap into those emotions that inspire people to buy unless you understand and pull out the benefits of your product. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

What Are Features?

At the core, features are what something is. It’s the descriptions and stats on a particular product. For example, you can describe a soda can as being red, made of metal, and containing a liquid.

But, who cares? You don’t see Coca-Cola advertising their product that way. Sure, it’s good to know those things and people do make features part of their buying decision. But that’s not what’s going to capture people’s attention in the first place.

If you fill your sales copy full of features and only features, people are probably going to click away unless they were already highly motivated to buy the product.

Yes, features are important to talk about, but only after people are already interested. The first focus, for you and for the customer, has to be on the benefits of a product.

What Are Benefits?

Benefits are what something does. It’s the result of using or having the product. So, in the case of having a Coca-Cola, it’s a crisp, delicious refreshment. It’s something that puts you in a moment of pure pleasure, nostalgia, relief, and happiness. At least, that’s what Coke wants you to think.

You don’t really care that it’s a red can that contains a sweet liquid. You do care that it adds pleasure to your day and gives you the refreshment you so dearly desire.

When you have your list of features for your own product, ask yourself why those features matter. Why does it matter that there’s a sweet liquid in that can? What’s the result people are looking to find?

When you ask yourself why the features matter, what really matters about the product, you can come up with a list of benefits.

The classic way copywriters describe this is “selling the sizzle, not the steak.” People are buying the hole, not the shovel. People are buying the result, not the thing itself. Once you understand this, it will be so much easier for you to write copy.

How to Pull out the Benefits of Your Product

Now that you understand more about the difference between features and benefits, it’s time to learn how to pull out the benefits of your product. I suggest you go through your product and take notes on everything that really matters about your product.

What sets this product apart? Which results are people going to find by going through your product? Write everything down that comes to mind.

After you’ve written your list, go through it again. Ask yourself what really matters… again and again. Dig deeper. If you’re selling a product that will help people make more money, it’s easy to think that money is the result people want. That’s typically not the case.

Money isn’t the real benefit… The true benefit might be freedom, living life on one’s own terms, etc. Keep digging, keep asking yourself what matters most to your audience.

By the way, some benefits will be more important than others. Again, keep asking yourself what matters most – I can’t stress this enough.

You’ll use the top, most important benefit in the headline of your sales copy. You only have a short amount of time to capture people’s attention, so you really want to make it count. Sell that sizzle, get people interested, and then you can start explaining features and additional benefits.

Using Benefits in Your Bullet Points

In addition to using the main benefit within your headline, you’ll probably also want to include benefits in the form of bullet points. Remember that people are typically skimming through copy when they first read it. Even if they’re intrigued by your headline and by the benefit you promised, they aren’t quite sold on it yet.

You want to make it really easy for people to decide that they want to buy after all. Include the rest of the important benefits you came up with in bullet points within your sales copy. Bullet points capture people’s attention. When it’s all laid out there for them, the benefits are clear and they’ll be a lot more likely to buy.

Features Are Important Too…

I don’t mean to make it sound like features aren’t important at all. You actually should include the features of your product. But,they’re not the main focus. And you don’t really want to list the features until people are already swayed by the promised benefits. Don’t leave those out, but don’t rely on them to capture people’s attention either.

I hope you’re really excited by all of this. Understanding the difference between features and benefits can help you sell your products (or affiliate products) so much easier. You’ll be able to write much more effective copy, make more sales, and make better connections with your audience by understanding what is really motivating their actions.