Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love and Live the Life of Your Dreams

by Jeff Walker

Getting your squeeze page right is really about getting the ethical bribe right. And it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time out, since this is another thing you can test very easily. But at the end of the day, the effectiveness of your squeeze page is very much dependent on the quality of you...

So far we’ve covered: 1. Defining your avatar. 2. Creating your opt-in ethical bribe. 3. Creating your squeeze page. Now the only thing left to do to get your list rolling is drive some traffic to your squeeze page.

There are a number of ways to drive traffic. The first one that most people think about is from the search engines, such as Google.

Another way to drive traffic is through “paid search.”

Another way to send traffic to your site is through Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Again, this is a big topic—far too big to cover in any real depth here, but I would have loved to have something like Facebook available when I started out. You can create a Facebook presence in minutes and start gathering followers there almost immediately. You already know that my preference is always going to lean toward building an email list instead of a social media list, but you can use your social media presence to drive traffic to your squeeze page. In other words, you can use your Social Media following to build your email list. There are many other ways to drive traffic to your squeeze page, such as creating great content that attracts word-of-mouth traffic (this has always been one of my personal favorites), other forms of advertising, and online forums.

And, of course, there’s my all-time favorite source of traffic, which is affiliates and Joint Venture partners.

This is when other people with lists send you tons of traffic, and it doesn’t cost you a single penny upfront—you pay them out of the sales that are generated by that traffic. This is ...

In fact, I’ve personally added more than 50,000 people to my list in a matter of days using this method. But this is an advanced strategy, and we’re not ready to talk about that one yet...

The Secret to Having a List Is to Just Get Started Okay, by now I hope I’ve got you convinced of the power of lists and the absolute necessity of list building in your business. It drives me nuts that there are still people out there who don’t do this. The bottom line is that this is all about your bottom line. Your lists of prospects and clients are the biggest asset in your b...

Of course, since I’ve started teaching the Product Launch Formula®, the number one question I get is “What if I don’t have a list?” Or sometimes people whine about it: “Jeff, that’s great for you because you have a big list, but I don’t have one.” The truth is that’s exactly where I began—with ZERO people on my list. But I went to work building my list. Slowly, methodically, diligently. Some days I would get a single new subscriber, some days I would get none. My efforts gradually started to pick up momentum, and I would get three or four subscribers a day. I kept at it, and...

The bottom line is that if you want to build a viable business online, you NEED to focus on list building. That’s why I put this chapter so early in the book—it’s a core principle.

And it’s part of the Product Launch Formula story, because there is no better way to maximize the results you get from your list than with a product launch. And here’s an advanced secret: There is no better way to build a list quickly than with a product launch.

Think about it. When you buy almost any type of hard goods, you can instantly pull up real user reviews on Amazon.com. You’re about to go on vacation, you can quickly look at reviews on TripAdvisor.com. You’re looking for an entertaining movie to go to, you can check out the ratings . . . well, pretty much everywhere.

And with greater connectivity, people have become more highly tuned to authenticity. They’re more skeptical. It’s like everyone is walking around with a giant super-sensitive “BS Detector” that’s always on full alert.

Before I can explain the Sideways Sales Letter, I need to give you some context. There’s a traditional tool in direct marketing going back many decades simply called the “sales letter” (also known as the “long form sales letter”). Basically, this is a lengthy printed advertisement written in the form of a letter. These sales letters can be eight pages, 12 pages, 24 pages, or even longer. When most people first encounter a long form sales letter, they have one of two reactions. If it’s a topic they are interested in and it’s a good letter that’s been written by a pro copywriter, they’ll start reading it and soon get sucked right into the narrative of the letter. On the other hand, if it’s a topic they don’t care about or the letter is poorly written, they’ll wonder why ANYONE would ever read such a long and boring advertisement. But the important thing for you to remember is that these form sales letters have been used for decades, and they have generated billions of dollars in sales for all kinds of different products. The development of long form copy and the sales letter was one of the most significant advances ever in sales and marketing. It was, to borrow an old phrase from advertising legend Albert Lasker, “salesmanship multiplied.” You could effectively make a complicated sale without being face-to-face with your prospect.

An Old Tool for New Profits So what happened to the sales letter when the Internet came along? Well, it made the jump to the online world pretty easily. In fact, within a few years sales letters became really popular online. In fact, they got even longer on the Internet, because you didn’t need to pay for printing. It didn’t cost any more to use a 40-page sales letter than a 12-page letter, so the length of many of the letters got longer. And in the last few years, another change has been the use of video. The long sales letter has morphed into a long sales video. Think of it as a 20- or 30-minute commercial.

You’ve probably been to a web site with a long form sales letter or sales video. These sites are very simple—there’s generally only a single page on the site. That page is a very long page of sales copy for a single product. There are no other links on the site other than a “Buy It Now” or “Add to Cart” button. You either buy the product or you leave. Alternatively, the page might have a sales video instead. In that case, the page will be very simple, with a sales video th...

Enter the Sideways Sales Letter™ The secret of the Sideways Sales Letter™ that I stumbled onto was this: Instead of taking eight or 12 or 20 pages to tell the story in a long, vertical sales letter, I flipped the sales process on its side. Instead of pages, I used days. Instead of a 10-page sales letter, I used a 10-day sequence. Instead of one super-long letter, I split it up into a series of contacts over a number of days. We call those contacts “Prelaunch Content” or “PLC.”

Instead of hoping that I could somehow weave such magically spellbinding sales copy that could keep people reading for page after page, I used great sequential content and the power of story to pull the prospect into my sales message. Instead of delivering the equivalent of a super-long monologue, I turned the whole process into a conversation . . . a launch conversation. Instead of betting everything on one point of contact when the prospect landed on the sales page, I used the power of multiple “touches” and a sequence to drive my prospects wild with anticipation and turn my marketing into an event.

At its core, the Sideways Sales Letter™ is a sequence of Prelaunch Content, followed by a sales message. The typical sequence will have three pieces of Prelaunch Content, which you share with your prospects over a period of up to 12 days. These days, the content is often online video, but it can take any number of forms, such as email or blog posts or PDF reports. The Prelaunch Content is structured so that it’s compelling, valuable content . . . and it naturally leads into the sale of y...

I want to emphasize that part about valuable content—this isn’t just about taking a sales pitch and stretching it out over a couple of weeks. That’s not going to grab and hold anyone’s attention. Through...

The real pain point that Barry addressed in his prelaunch (i.e., his Sideways Sales Letter) is that the average entertainer is terrified that they might be forced to get a real job. It’s a nightmare for someone who is a talented magician, ventriloquist, comedian, or juggler to think they might end up waiting tables or driving a truck. And possibly even worse—that they would be forced to acknowledge that their parents or teachers or friends were right—they couldn’t make a living as an entertainer!

So Barry’s first piece of Prelaunch Content showed his prospects that he really understood them, because he had the same hopes, dreams, and fears as they did. And then the video went on to paint the opportunity for them to build a serious business (and income) with their skills. The basic theme of the video was this: “I’m a lot like you. I found a passion for juggling when I was a kid but was told I couldn’t do it for a living. My high school guidance counselor, Mr. Pavliga, said that if I continued to pursue a career as a juggler, that by the time I was 22 I would be broke and probably homeless. Right then, I swore to myself that I would prove him wrong.

Barry Friedman “A few years later, I had just turned 23 when I performed on my first Tonight Show. I was standing behind the curtain and thinking, ‘I hope Mr. Pavliga is watching.’ It was all I could think about while I heard Johnny Carson introducing my partner and me. I was told I’d never make it as a professional juggler, but I didn’t listen to them and now I’ve been on over 100 television shows . . . and you can do that too! Now, I want to show you how.” Of course, there was a lot more to the video, but that gives you the overall tone. Basically, Barry was establishing his credibility, he was creating great affinity with his prospects, and he was delivering a very inspirational message. He was also delivering real value, because he was showing his viewers that it really was possible to get great, high-paying gigs. It showed that sel...

And nowhere in the video was there any hint of a sales message or a pitch. You can see Barry’s first video at this lin...

One really important part of the Sideways Sales Letter is what I call the “Launch Conversation,” because when you post your Prelaunch Content, you will generally do it on a blog where there’s a place to leave comments below the video. At the end of your videos you ask for your viewers to respond in some way, such as asking qu...

He answered questions and engaged with his prospects. When you do that, you begin to change your launch from a monologue into a conversation . . . and conversations are almos...

And those comments also give you some incredible insight into what your prospects are thinking and feeling. Their questions will help you identify the biggest objections, which gives you a chance to answer those objections, both in yo...

In Barry’s second prelaunch video, he revisited the potential pain of failing at the business, then he really focused on teaching. The overall basic message was this: “What if this all falls apart and your parents were right? What if you can’t make it as an entertainer? If you want to make it in this business, you need to treat it like a business. You’ve spent hundreds of hours working on your craft, but that’s only part of the equation. It’s not enough to be able to put on a great show. You also need to work on mastering the business. You need to master how to market and promote yourse...

Here’s what works and what doesn’t work. And if you’re making these common mistakes, here’s how you fix them.” And at that point Barry started teaching his audience the fundamental principles ...

Lots of times people worry about giving away too much of the “good stuff” during their prelaunch. They worry that if they give away too much, their prospects won’t need to buy their products. But in my experience this is rarely a problem. The mistake I...

In this case, Barry’s launch was for a super-premium offer; no one else in the market was charging anywhere near $2,000. If you’re going to sell at the premium end, the best way to attract high-end clients is to delive...

Remember, even though Barry was a very accomplished juggler, and even though he had traveled the world with his business and had even appeared on TV and at the White House, he was still primarily selling to people who had never heard of him. He had no official credentials when it came to teaching people about business. He had no letters after his name. He had no degrees or certifications. He was going to be teaching from experience (which, ...

But by sharing great content in his prelaunch videos, he established the authority he needed. He showed that he had the experience to teach his prospects how to get ...

And just like with his first video, there was no hint of a sale in his second piece of Prelaunch Content. Just solid, great content. Barry was building his authority, and he was building great reciprocity with his audience. (Oops . . . I just jumped ahead a little bit. In the next chapter I’ll show you the magic of the mental triggers, which build enormous influence with your audience. Authority and r...

Before I leave the question of possibly giving away too much of the good stuff in your prelaunch, let me say this: If you’re worried that lots of people won’t buy after they watch your prelaunch, then you’re absolutely right. Most of your prospects won’t buy. In fact, in almost all launches the vast majority of your prospects won’t buy. That’s just the way the math works. That’s how direct marketing works. However, the ones who do buy make all the difference—after all, how many $2,000 sales did Barry need to make a serious impact on his life? The answer is: not that many. So in his third prelaunch video, Barry reviewed his launch story and he stepped up the teaching even more. He actually reviewed web sites for various entertainers, and he showed the mistakes they were making. And he showed how those mistakes could be easily fixed. And then Barry started to make a pivot to the sale. He talked about how he was going to personally guide 15 people through his Showbiz...

Making the pivot to the sale in the final piece of Prelaunch Content is critical, and leaving out that pivot is a mistake a lot of people make. Often people who are putting together one of these launches get so caught up in delivering great content that t...

The three videos were delivered over a period of six days. And when Barry opened up registration, he sold out all 15 spots almost immediately for a total of $29,955 in sales. His costs were almost nonexistent—basically just the fees to process the credit card orders. And between the buzz that the launch built up and the results that his clients got, Barry had enough momentum to fill another entire class after he finished the first one. That meant his total sales were $59,910 . . . and he did that with an email list of fewer than 1,000 people.

I’ve already teased you with a little introduction to the mental triggers—those things that directly influence how we act and make decisions. They’re incredibly powerful, and they act on a subconscious level. These mental triggers have roots that go back thousands of years, and they are present in all of us to varying degrees. And unless there is a fundamental change in the way our brains work (highly unlikely!), these triggers will continue to exert massive influence over our actions. Part of the power of the Product Launch Formula is that it gives you a canvas on which to activate these mental triggers as you move through your launch.

The mental triggers (along with your sequences and your launch story) form the very cornerstone of your successful product launch. Hit these triggers over and over in your Prelaunch Sequence and your Launch Sequence, and you can create a nearly hypnotic spell over your prospects (and even your entire market).

Okay, let’s get started—here are nine of my favorite mental triggers:

1. Authority People tend to follow others in positions of authority.

Think about doctors in their ...

We probably feel at least a little intimidated to disagree with anything the person in that white coat says. This isn’t unusual. We often look for others to help guide our decision. Like so many other mental triggers, the authority trigger helps us shortcut the decisionmaking process.

As we move through our everyday lives we have thousands and thousands of tiny little decisions to make all the time. Every action we take requires some level of thought and decision. Following people with authority is a way in which our brain has evolved to make those decisions more efficiently.

If you want to be more influential in your business and marketing, it pays to ...

And the good news is that it can be shockingly easy to create authority. When I was a teenager in high school, I learned a ve...

Three of my friends and I were driving home after a school football game—just like a few hundred other people—and got stuck in a traffic jam in the parking lot. There were so many cars trying to get out the exit that no one was moving at all. One of my friends, who understood a lot more about authority than I did, found a flashlight rolling around on the floor of the car and immediately knew what to do. He jumped out of the car, turned on the flashlight, and started directing traffic. Actually, he didn’t really direct traffic; he mostly just walked in front of our car and waved us forward t...

The only authority he had to direct traffic came from the flashlight. But people saw that flashlight, and they assumed he was in a position of authority. And I learned a big lesson that night:...

The Product Launch Formula is a perfect tool for establishing authority. As we move through the prelaunch and share high-quality content with our prospects...