A member on my copywriters forum started a thread on what makes my forum so popular. Everyone chimed in with some great answers, and I appreciate the feedback.

(The cool thing about it is, that very thread also reached an important milestone. It was the 10,000th one! Talk about a coincidence, eh?)

But then someone asked:

“Michel, can I ask how you initially got the word out about your forum?”

My answer revealed a bit more than what the member anticipated. Instead of talking about how my forum became so popular, I went on a tangent and explained the step-by-step process I used to book copywriting projects.

The answer was so well received that I decided to reprint it here.

Now, you may be wondering what promoting a forum has to do with promoting my copywriting services. Keep reading because you’ll soon understand why…

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I’m in Vegas right now attending three seminars back to back. I’ve been here for close to three weeks now, and we’re about to return home tomorrow. This explains why I haven’t blogged in a while.

While here, we’re looking at some properties. We want to buy a vacation home, especially during those cold winter months in Canada. (I think we found our home.)

But last week, my wife took me to see George Carlin at the Orleans Casino as my Father’s Day gift. It was a great show. George was funnier than ever. Still raw, caustic, and ranting at 71, he certainly hasn’t lost his touch.

Well, just a few moments ago I’ve learned that we, however, lost him.

When I learned about it, I was speechless. We just saw him a few days ago! I guess we caught one of his last shows if not his last. The funniest part of this? His show included jokes about dying and the afterlife.

Rest in peace, George Carlin. We’ll miss you.

In a recent critique for a coaching client, the issue of “gap analysis” arose. Gap Analysis is something I learned in sales, and it was heavily taught by sales trainers like Brian Tracy, such as in his course “The Psychology of Selling.”

Gap Analysis is an immensely powerful selling technique. It’s also an important feature of copywriting. In fact, most people will know a variation of it, which is often called “Problem-Agitate-Solve,” a term coined by top copywriter Dan Kennedy.

I prefer “Gap Analysis” because it drives home the relationship between those three elements. So what is Gap Analysis and how can you apply it to your sales copy?

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One of the many tools available that I absolutely love is Amember from CGI-Central. Amember not only manages my membership sites, it also handles digital product sales, delivery, and protection.

For instance, it protects download pages, offers backend sales and automation, allows protection of “external” folders and files, and it even comes with a built-in autoresponder. (And that’s just a partial list.)

I use Amember with WordPress for my membership sites, such as, for example, the all-new Success Chef University, among many others.

But Amember does have its flaws…

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We have all been judged at one point. But if you have ever judged others, particularly if you feel your judgments — no matter how small — were inconsequential or meaningless, you have to watch this video.

My wife shared this video with me yesterday, and I had a hard time trying to stop myself from tearing up. Watch it. Notice how even the toughest and biggest bullies react. It’s quite amazing.

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Bought myself a new camcorder (JVC Everio) and compression software to record some “whiteboard discussions” with my wife Sylvie for SuccessChef.com content.

I wanted to test the software. So I decided to place the camera in front of my drum set (the lighting was bad and my fault), and played along with “When We Were Young” by The Killers. (One of my favorite bands!)

This was recorded on the first and only take — I never played this song before, but I wanted to try out the camera and the compression software. (If you ever wondered if I can really play drums, you can judge for yourself.)

Don’t laugh, but here I am playing “drum karaoke” to the Killers. What do you think?

A recent coaching session touched upon the growing trend that some marketers have adopted to squeeze out sales from exiting traffic.

In other words, you visit a website and read the salesletter. You decide it’s not for you, so you leave. But when you try leave (either as you close your browser or simply hover your mouse outside of it), the website attempts to make a last-ditch offer.

The common practice is to offer a discount, and a recent trend is to make it through virtual sales assistant just before the prospect clicks away from the screen.

(Virtual assistant or not, it is no different than a one-time offer appearing in an exit pop-up or spawned browser window once the visitor leaves.)

Not only is the practice annoying, it can be detrimental to your sales efforts.

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