Proof from yourself VS. Proof from others

Definitely from others. It lets your viewers decide for themselves and it doesn't make you look arrogant.

~Mike Cowles. <><

First off, these photos are generally stock photos without the "you." Screenshots of earnings are easily mocked up in PhotoShop to read whatever.

That said, you-proof could be improved several orders of magnitude, just to be considered poor. There's very little of what Gene Schwartz called belief structure to the you-proof of most sales letters.

Arrogance really is more the fault of lazily or poorly written copy than real hubris. As the saying goes, "it ain't braggin' when you can really do it."

When you-proof is poorly written, expect third-party proof to suffer. The non-entities giving testimonials like Michael A. and Laura B. are less than worthless. They come off as fraudulent to the reader looking for credibility.

BTW did you know a university did a study of credibility in web design elements -- complete with a handy checklist?

Anyway, what's to say you couldn't take a picture of the testimonial giver, instead of the stock photo of someone else's mansion? And, if you're so fond of your stuff -- why wouldn't you put yourself smack dab dead center, standing in front of the obligatory mansion or car?

This still misses the point that the reader is looking for the ability of your how-to advice to successfully earn them their own income. Too many made their money selling the how-to -- not actually doing the thing they teach.

What it comes down to is having the expertise to write with belief structure.

Want a headline that is totally you-proof, yet still works?

"Send me to any city in the United States. Take away my wallet. Give me $100 for living expenses. And in 72 hours I'll buy an excellent piece of real estate using none of my own money."

This headline breaks several rules. First, it's a mega headline -- yet it has the one thing mega headline writers always leave out. Next it's totally "me, myself, and I" exactly opposite of what you're supposed to do -- and still retains the point of you. For all that, it is fairly dripping with you-proof because it is written with what most copy isn't: Belief Structure.

There's an old copywriting technique which could totally change the perceived falseness of the screen shots and sales record ....too bad nobody I've seen online yet has used it. (Pity, as I think the technique reaches its full potential online).

There is no reason you couldn't adapt this to any product or service. Trouble is, when people can't even conceptualize what belief structure is, even their third-party proof suffers for it.

Yes, it is Robert Allen.

Once again, the point is this headline deals with the perception (and handles the unstated objection) the money is made selling the info, not doing the thing the course is about.

Yet another thing this headline gets right that most don't. Now that you mention it, most headlines actually foster the objection rather than handle it.

Proof comes in many forms. Testimonials and endoresements
from celebrities function as social proof. "As Seen On TV"
functions as proof, as does "As seen in U.S.A. Today" and
other such statements. If you ran a 1/4 page ad anywhere
you can put a picture of it on your site and puff it up like
your business is a big deal or as if you had some sort of
news coverage when all you did was buy space.

Proof can be statistical. People love bars and graphs.
They are impressed by official-looking graphics. If you
can use statistics from a 3rd party source like the U.S.
department of commerce or an article in Time magazine
then that can be a sort of proof.

There is a science called Heuristics. Basically, people
avoid real decision-making and they look for cues that
allow them to make a decision that seems "safe" based
on evidence of proof of safety and their past experience
with decisions that felt similar.

This is a big topic. Some good stuff on this has been written
by Herschell Gordon Lewis in his books and recently Drew
Eric Whitman published a book:
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=zerodol...1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

...that covers some of this stuff. I would say get Cashvertising
and your understanding of advertising will increase a lot.

I think that you shouldn't need as much 'proof' as you think you should.

If you're marketing to someone who's never read your writing, never seen one of your products, and has never previously purchased anything you've sold before, it's going to be a tough sell regardless of other factors.

But if you've had that person on your list for a few weeks, and they've read samples of your past products, been satisfied with the quality, and gained your trust, proof from outside sources - and even from yourself - won't be nearly as crucial. You've already pre-sold that customer.

I think it's all about gaining trust. Anyone could put up a testimonial or two from someone they know their potential buyers have never known. But what if there was an entire base - an entire network - of people who've been satisfied with your product? What if you could point your potential buyers to a place where others are already discussing your product? What if you took real excerpts from posts made in some place or another about your product, and even went as far as linked back so your customer could see that post in its entirety, as well as countless others?

That's trust.

i think including them both is exceptionally powerful - I have always had better conversions with actual people testimonials - especially voice over