Joe Vitale
Video Blogs: The next big trend?
I’m a late bloomer when it comes to blogs but Nerissa, my love, sure isn’t. She’s had a video blog online for me for months now. She keeps putting up short clips of me doing the oddest things. See them at http://drjoevitale.blogspot.com/
Nerissa also sees that video on blogs is the next big trend. Her recent newsletter describes how some blogs are editing news video to support their perspectives. Pretty wild. In many ways, that’s all the media does anyway. See her thoughts on video blogs at http://www.thevideoqueen.com/newsletter2_7.html
Joe
What is my writing process?
People often ask me about my writing process. They want to know how to write a business letter. Or how to write a news release. Or how to write a book. Or about creative writing software. Or even how I’m able to write so many posts in this blog when it hasn’t even been up one week yet.
How do I do it?
There are two ways of writing anything:
1. The first is when you have a clear goal and you know what you want to say. This could be a research paper for a professor or a sales letter for a new product. You know what the purpose is and you know you need to get it done. You might outline your thoughts or story board them to help you keep on track. But you pretty much know what to write.
2. Or you have no idea what to say but you’re going to explore the writing process anyway to see what comes up. Ray Bradbury, the legendary science fiction writer, got up every morning for decades and wrote a short story, never knowing what the story would be that day. Out of that process came some classics of literature, including The Martian Chronicles.
Here’s my secret: I use a combination of the above.
For example, today I had a vague feeling to share about my writing process in this blog. But I wasn’t at all sure what I would say or how it would take shape. I figured I would state my intention (to write about my writing process) but that I would also trust the actual creative process to deliver something relevant (which is what I’m doing right now, as I type these words). This post is a discovery, even to me. I’m being surprised by what I write as I write this.
Yes, there is software out there to make this easier. My own http://www.HypnoticWritingWizard.com is a cool Windows based tool you should grab. The Swipe File in it — a hypnotic collection of proven words, phrases, and sentences — is priceless for improving your writing. I use it all the time.
I think most people who have a problem writing are doing one thing wrong: They are editing as they are writing. They write a few words, question them, change them, struggle with them, and finally give up, saying “Writing is hard!”
Actually, writing is easy. It’s trying to write while you’re trying to edit that is the pain. Separate that process and writing can be as much fun as any activity you can name. The rush comes from the mind, from discovering what you’ll write as you write.
I’m sure everyone has a different writing process. I’ve just given you a peek into the window at mine. Since I’ve written about 30 books and more articles than I can count, I think this process of mine is working.
So I’ll keep it.
For now.
joe
Why so many websites?
Somebody wrote me today and asked why I have so many one-product focused websites. Couldn’t I put them all on one site?
First, they all are on one website: www.mrfire.com
Second, in general, product focused websites sell better than catalog focused websites.
For example, my www.mrfire.com site gets a lot of traffic, and has for over ten years, but it doesn’t lead to that many sales. There are too many products there. The rule of thumb is, the more choices a consumer has to make, the more confused he or she will get. They end up not buying anything at all.
Everyone is quick to point out that www.Amazon.com is a giant catalog and they make sales. Ah, it took Amazon well over seven years to see their first profit. (!) And even today most of their “wealth” is on paper, not in the bank. Amazon is not a good role model for a money making site, and neither is www.mrfire.com
Sites that focus on one product are the ones that work today. For example, here are just some of my websites that are one-product focused:
http://www.7dayebook.com
http://www.HypnoticWriting.com
http://www.AdvancedHypnoticWriting.com
http://www.CreateAdvertisingThatSells.com
http://www.HypnoticWritingSwipeFile.com
http://www.HypnoticSellingTools.com
http://www.subconsciousinternetmarketing.com/
http://www.ImpulseInternetMarketing.com
http://www.TheMillionaireMind.Net
http://www.howtowritehypnoticendorsements.com/ http://www.howtowritehypnoticarticles.com/ http://www.howtowritehypnoticjointventureproposals.com
http://www.anything-fast.com/?fid=outrageous
http://www.hypnotictraffictools.com
http://www.HypnoticSellingStories.com
http://www.HypnoticWritingWizard.com
http://www.MAKEMONEYFROMSCRATCH.com
http://www.BeyondPositiveThinking.com
http://www.StampedeSecret.com
http://www.EndSelfSabotage.com
http://www.AttractANewCar.com
http://MoneyBeyondBelief.COM
http://www.DadsHomeMadeWine.com
Whew. And that is just a partial list of my sites.
Pick any one of them, study it, and you’ll get a handle on what a direct selling website looks like today. They are one-product focused, hypnotic in style, long in copy, and destined to do one thing: Make the sale.
There’s nothing wrong with information sites that are designed to share data and build relationships. www.mrfire.com falls into that category. So do my sites www.Catarium.com and www.GladiatorGym.com and www.HypnoticMarketingInc.com and even my little known site http://www.SafeAphrodisiacs.com
But to make sales, a site should be product specific.
Of course, you could always up-sell people at checkout.
For example, if you are selling a vitamin, as people are checking out you might have a page that comes up telling them about another related product. But telling them about the related product on the same page as the vitamin may confuse people. Stay targeted.
Gee, this was a long answer to a simple question, wasn’t it?
joe
Meet my friends on the cruise
Now here’s a happy team, aboard the Carnival cruise ship Imagination 11-05: Mike Filsaime, Joe Vitale, Brad Fallon, Tom Beal (taken with Tom’s Treo 650). 
Long or short copy?
After writing copy for over thirty years, you’d think I know the answer.
In other words, if you are giving away something for free, you don’t need to write much to get people to ask for it. For example,
FREE: Get my free email course called
Recession-Proof Marketing. Just send an
email to [email protected] and it’s yours.
Based on those few words, most people will act. Why? Because the item is free. There won’t be many objections to asking for it.
But what if I wanted you to send me $1,000 for my course on Hypnotic Selling Secrets? You’d want to know more, wouldn’t you?
But most people fear no one will read their long copy.
People read entire books. Why wouldn’t they read your long copy?
This is why legendary copywriters like David Garfinkel, or Yanik Silver, or even me, are paid $25,000+ to write a sales letter. Our job is to write interesting copy that sells. That ain’t easy. Anyone can fill up twelve pages with words. But to fill them with words that hold interest and lead to a sale, ah, there’s the Holy Grail of marketing.
And notice this very blog entry.
