That darn Travis Sago
Saturday, May 30th, 2009When I signed up for Wealthy Affiliate ages ago, I didn’t know just who the hell Travis was. All these noobs were extolling the virtues of this so-called “Bum Marketer”. I wonder what this Travis was like…
He’s one of those rare kinds who possessed the grit, determination and natural talent to start off with to be a marketer. You know, someone who is good at connecting with people. I just looked up “Bum Marketing” on Google… like, 5400 hits/month! How’s that for a heap of awesome affiliate sales for Kyle & Carson?
Anywho…
I just got one of his emails. Yeah, I’m subscribed to his list. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the guy’s alright. But I’m sure it’s not just me who gets tired of his constantly happy tone in his emails. I don’t know… how many people actually feel appreciated when he finishes off his emails with, “Hope you know how much you mean to me!”
Yeah, that’s what they teach to you to be a better list marketer, but I’m not biting, you know what I’m sayin’? Sorry, I just watched “Take The Lead” with Antonio Banderas. =p
I’m not a fan of gurus. Not saying that Travis is one but yeah. Anywho, back to the email. How many people just received one called, “YOU may be in VIOLATION…” I’m sure a fair few number of you. He talks about three things in there.
Well let me backtrack a bit first. He says this:
- I want the audience to say to themselves, “this is exactly what I’m looking for” or, even better, “it’s like he read my mind”.
- Add value!
- Let them leave the site, feeling positive.
- This is what you want your audience to say to themselves because once they FEEL this, they are going to read on. If within the first 8 seconds you don’t have their attention, you’ve just lost money. A point I like about what Travis says is that it’s much more effective writing something that saves them time vs writing something hyped up. Noob affiliate marketers are prone to choosing the latter, which unfortunately is driving visitors away from their site. His example is having a title like “Reviews of sausage makers under $100″, as opposed to “the bestest sausage maker in the world!!!!! OK, maybe not those exact words, but yeah. This sort of leads to something else I read from StomperNet which I subscribed to earlier and that was to write for people and not search engines. Both agreed!
- This leads on from 1. Your title should ideally imply that what they’re going to read is going to add value. That’s the only way you’re going to draw them in. Again, I like what Travis has to say here. You don’t have to buy the product itself to be able to offer the people value. You just have to be able to save them something. Time or money or both ideally.
- This is important and shows that me and him are in the same boat. He wants to make the world a better place. I want to make the world a better place. He’s an ethical marketer, as am I. Even though he doesn’t seem it. Maybe because of his country accent. I am being too harsh on him, aren’t I?
So in the end, the people are coming in cautiously, having a change of attitude in the first 8 seconds and clicking out of the page out of hope and a positive attitude. That’s what you want! If I were you, I’d just subscribe to this list, because chances are, you won’ t be able to understand much of this blog post. I’ve got a lot to learn about how to write cleanly.