This is why Seth Godin has sold 10 BestSellers!

Originally Posted by Marc Rodill

Let me go ahead and play devils advocate, real quick...

"Ebooks" are not "dead."

As long as people have information that others can benefit from, information they WANT, a merchant account, and a way to get people to their sales page (ie. using the internet, or sumthin')...

...then "ebooks" will be sold.

Call me crazy.

Originally Posted by Marc Rodill

I got curious, and saw you mention a high bounce rate on your blog.

Now, I'm no rocket scientist, or anything, but I think I know part of the reason why. It's part copywriting, and part too much going on. I know you didn't ask for a critique, but I'm a jerk.

Onward.

I would like to dissect your first post, and it's lead in. Let's begin:



BAM! Man, that's a blow to the ego. The "Rich Jerk" aside, insulting your potential audience/customers isn't a great angle. Plus, since this is a fitness/bodybuilding blog from what I gather, I don't think your target audience is "tiny weaklings" at all. People who buy this type of information are usually fanatics and love working out, and are looking for that "edge."



I'm sure they want some of these things, but this last sentence is a bit over the top. It's too much, too fast. You're promising the moon ...they will get all of that, just by reading your blog? That raises skepticism. Try a more humble approach.

EDIT: Or get PROOF. But still, humble + proof kills it.




There's nothing wrong with claiming to be high quality, but you need a reason why. Are you really the best? If you're not, don't try to be something your not. People will see right through it. Aside from that, you need a USP. The unique reason they should read your blog, aside from the others. Is it your knowledge, your personality, your experiences, your real-world point of view, your x number of years, etc?



"Get that body of your dreams." That statement has been killed because it's been used so many times. It's a big claim. It may be a bit too soon to offer this as a benefit to a first time visitor.

The second part: basics. No one wants to learn the basics, whether they will admit it or not. Frank Kern talked about this when dissecting his InfoMillionaire launch. He *did* in fact give out basic information. He even named the techniques and strategies he was going to teach in the product, and they were, in fact, very basic.

But, he called them "advanced" tactics/techniques/strategies. In every niche, people want to know the "advanced" stuff. And they want it broken down into easily digestible pieces, so they can "get it" and be "better than everyone else."

He discovered this after numerous split tests. What people WANT and what people NEED are two totally different things. Appeal to what they want, while giving them what they need, and you got a winning formula.

Just sayin'.



I think that's a nice way of saying, "if you're too lazy to do what I tell you, then you suck. So if you want to find out how much you'll suck when you don't listen to me, here's where you can find out:"

That's a bit over the top, but I'm dead serious.

Subconsciously, you're telling them that if they read your posts, they better be ready to take action on it, or they'll continue to be "spaghetti weaklings." It's not a pretty picture.

EDITI don't know if you saw how those two link together before, but as feedback, that's the first impression *I* got after reading it.)

What if they don't like you (for any reason?) Maybe they won't like your writing style, the words you use, the techniques you talk about, or maybe they'll be on a different level, physically and emotionally. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

...

Instead, you need to come from all of this as "it's not your fault, I did it, and so can you" type of thing. It'll lower that 70% bounce rate.

But you didn't ask for this critique, so I understand if you don't want to take action on it. It's not your fault that your copy is pushing people away, you just haven't learned the secrets to attracting people to your sales messages like bees to honey. Keep at it, and you'll learn that people do, in fact, buy information all the time.

PRESENTATION OF THAT INFORMATION IS KEY.

You just have to present it the right way, give away really good information, and talk to their emotions/desires/wants.

I think you would do well to learn how to build a list the right way. Auto-responder messages are really nothing more than blog posts, and it's obvious that you can write blog posts.

Anyway, just my two cents. Hope I didn't piss you off (too much) :-)