Jump to content
Blog
Courses
Post
  • Sign Up

    Blogs

    The S.T.U.P.I.D. Email (Friday July 8th, 2022)

    • Neville
    • Neville
    • Last Updated:

    (Swipe, Thought, Uplifting, Picture, Interesting, Drawing)

    This is a fun email for Friday July 8th, 2022. Hope you like it 🙂

     

    🎤 Listen to this email here:

    #1.) Swipe:

    I love the use of "negative space" in this old typewriter ad that showcases its new “erase” feature by leaving the top part of the page blank:

    typewriter-ad.jpg

    #2.) Thought:

    I made a list of 90 different questions to ask about your own business. I posted the first 20 here last week, here's another 20:

     

    "Is your income one-time or recurring? Is there a way to make it more steady through a recurring product?"

    "If you were starting over, would you start this business again?"

    "Which book influenced you? Can you re-read it and implement strategies?"

    "Which person in your company could you NOT get rid of? What are their good qualities?"

    "Which person in your company can you get rid of? Can you divert their pay into something/someone more useful?"

    "What would Warren Buffet do with your company?"

    "What would Elon Musk do with your company?"

    "What would Mark Zuckerberg do with your company?"

    "What natural advantage do you have over others? Can you double down on that?"

    "What are YOU truly good at that few others can do? Can you double down on that talent?"

    "Which industry could you make more money doing what you do now?"

    "You only get to keep ONE customer…who would it be? What about them makes them ideal? Can you find more like them?"

    "Where do you think your industry will be in 5 years? 10 years?"

    "If you wanted to sell your company today, would you be able to do it? What’s holding you back?"

    "Do you track all your numbers properly? Do you review them?"

    "You only have 1 hour a week to grow your business….what would you do during that hour for most impact?"

    "What makes customers smile when they buy your product?"

    "Define your ideal customer in one word…."

    "What outcome do you want in 5 years from this business?"

    "What about your company are you proud of?"

    "Do your customers tell their friends about you? What do they say?"

    #3.) Uplifting:

    image for step 3

    This was a hot week of podcasts.....as a very large consumer of podcasts, I was impressed by these three conversations this week:

    1 🎙Marc Andreesen on Joe Rogan [Link]

    2 🎙Demis Hassabis On Lex Fridman [Link]

    3 🎙Balaji Srinivasan on Tim Ferriss [Link]

    I started college in 2001, and the only way to hear high-level talks from billionaires and heads of industries was go to conferences.

    Only a few people could attend these, afford these, or be in close proximity to these.

    Now with any phone you can listen to the smartest people in the world talk for hours.

    I'm still in awe of this, and can't believe podcasts like this are free...you get to be a fly on the wall in an amazing conversation.

    **Side-Note** The image of the podcasting bear above was AI generated by Dall-E 2 with the prompt: "Photo of an oversized grizzly bear wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket being interviewed on the Joe Rogan Podcast Experience."

    #4.) Picture:

    I did a handstand in The Hamptons over 4th of July weekend 🙂

    nev-handstand-hamptons.jpg

     

    #5.) Interesting:

    I don't know much about Kylie Jenner.
    I don't know much about makeup.

    But these KylieSkin vending machines I saw at the airport seem like a great idea:

    kyile-makeup-sale.jpg

    Selling makeup products via vending machine at an airport seems like good biz:

    • Product doesn't go bad.
    • Selling only popular items.
    • This stands out at the airport.
    • No permanent retail staff needed.
    • When on trips people willing to spend money to look good.

     

    #6.) Drawing:

    It’d be cool if there was a product that’s a cold plunge, hot tub, and sauna in one. This combo is becoming very popular.

    Something that combines them all into one unit would be awesome:cold-plunge-hot-tub-sauna.webp

    This combination has become increasingly popular. The circuit I've seen most described is:

    1.) Sauna: Get really hot.
    ⬇
    2.) Cold Plunge: Get out when really cold.
    ⬇
    3.) Hot Tub: Feels good after cold
    ⬇
    REPEAT

    Each one of these products is good on it's own, but as a combination they are amazing. I wish someone would make a single product that combines this!

     

    Hope you enjoyed these little tidbits, have a happy Friday!
    Sincerely,
    Neville Medhora -     CopywritingCourse.com | @NevMed

    nev-head.webp

    Continue reading

    Content, Copywriting, and the future of Online Learning with Peep Laja of ConversionXL

    • Neville
    • Neville
    • Last Updated:

    Peep Laja is the founder and CEO of CXL, or ConversionXL, which is a top name in the marketing world. In 2011 he started blogging specifically about CRO “Conversion Rate Optimization” and quickly grew to the most respected name in the game. He also runs a software company CopyTesting.com. He lives in Austin most of the year, and Estonia the rest of the year.

     

     

    Changing domain names and brand name. “Did you see any effect at all?”

    • You changed name from ConversionXL.com to CXL.com…why, and what did you learn?
    • I did a little spying, it took you about a year to get back to your organic traffic levels. Is this true?
    • June 2019 you were quoted as saying “CXL.com is owned by a Chinese company who wants too much money.” Now you own CXL.com. How much did CXL cost?
    • Overall do you think changing the name changed anything?
    • Does it change morale? Your own view of it? Do customers care?
    • “If you’re buying from a Chinese company, make sure to use a Chinese broker.”
    • “We paid $47,000 for a 3-letter domain.”
    • How long till your organic rankings came back to the new domain?
    • “We strategically switched the name in December.”
       

     

    What do you think of online learning and how is it changing? “Course completion rates are low, but does it matter?”

    • Starting a thing called “Adeft.”
    • Crowdfunding Adeft to start.
    • Course completion rates are low, but does it matter?
    • I admire how you turned courses into an “institute.” Smart move. Why do you call it an institute, and does that give it more cache.
    • Started with in person learning, then through books, then on tape, then through pdf and articles, then on video, then through software, then through community ….now what?
    • Where do you think the industry is going?
    • “We found people take courses when they are assigned a task.”
       

    Why did you create Copytesting.com, and what are the most common mistakes you see?

    • I published a post about using Copytesting.com on our own sales page.
    • You have an awesome service called copytesting.com. I’ve used it, and got others onto it too.
    • Why did you start that?
    • I’m assuming you can see some of the tests, what have you learned?
    • What is the most common thing wrong with pages?
    • “Fastest growing demographic using it are B2b SaaS companies.”
    • “People use a lot of buzzwords that mean nothing.”
       

     

    UX Design, avoiding “chasing analytics” and understand “The Hippo.”

    • How much time do ya’ll spend on UX design. Meaning the overall look and feel of site.
    • You see hundreds of tests, is design important?
    • What about someone like me, who knows good design when I see it, but can’t MAKE IT myself?
    • You’re a super analytical person, do you just go off numbers or intuition? Apple story.
    • “Chasing Analytics.” Do people often go wrong just chasing the data. YouTube example BeardBrand.
    • “It’s super effective up to a point, then diminishing returns.”
    • “The Hippo” is the “Higher Paid Person’s Opinion 😂”
       

     

    Content Marketing, SEO, and avoiding the “Sea Of Sameness.”

    • How much of your business comes from people consuming your content first.
    • Have you ever seen a company really crush content marketing, where the founder was NOT good at it? AppSumo, TheHustle, HubSpot etc….they crush content marketing, but the founders were all great at it.
    • “The Sea of Sameness” – So you did original UX research studies. You did crazy studies most people can’t (or won’t) do.
    • We lost a lot of SEO, but revenue wasn’t really impacted. We did lose email signups.
    • Have ya’ll started focusing more on social or YouTube than content? Thoughts?
    • “There’s an interesting site called Growth.design that’s just so different from other content.”
    • “Social media is more about an individual rather than a company.”
       

     

    “Does running an agency ssuuccckk?”:

    • You are interesting in that you have all sorts of irons in the fire. Saas, Agency, Conferences, Institute. Can you explain all the different prongs of business CXL is in?
    • Does running an agency suck?
    • What exactly does the agency side do?
    • The whole Estonia thing. Why are they good?
    • “You get great people, who speak perfect English, for a better price.”
       

     

    Happiness, living in two countries, and disconnecting:

    • You leave the US and stay in Estonia for months at a time. What do you get out of that?
    • When you are so absent from the biz, do you feel left behind or out of the loop?
    • How does an analytical Estonian as yourself view life. Any purpose or just live?
    • What’s the purpose of life? “I’m a big traditions guy. I like having tasks. I like finding meaning in any work.”
    • “You need to be happy. You need to do things that give you joy. And you find meaningful work.”
       

    Listen to the audio interview here:

     

    We’ve also chopped up this interview into little clips:
    ▶️ Copywriting Course YouTube Channel
    ▶️ Copywriting Clips YouTube Channel (new)

    Changing domain names and brand name. “Did you see any effect at all?”

    • You changed name from ConversionXL.com to CXL.com…why, and what did you learn?
    • I did a little spying, it took you about a year to get back to your organic traffic levels. Is this true?
    • June 2019 you were quoted as saying “CXL.com is owned by a Chinese company who wants too much money.” Now you own CXL.com. How much did CXL cost?
    • Overall do you think changing the name changed anything?
    • Does it change morale? Your own view of it? Do customers care?
    • “If you’re buying from a Chinese company, make sure to use a Chinese broker.”
    • “We paid $47,000 for a 3-letter domain.”
    • How long till your organic rankings came back to the new domain?
    • “We strategically switched the name in December.”

    What do you think of online learning and how is it changing? “Course completion rates are low, but does it matter?”

    • Starting a thing called “Adeft.”
    • Crowdfunding Adeft to start.
    • Course completion rates are low, but does it matter?
    • I admire how you turned courses into an “institute.” Smart move. Why do you call it an institute, and does that give it more cache.
    • Started with in person learning, then through books, then on tape, then through pdf and articles, then on video, then through software, then through community ….now what?
    • Where do you think the industry is going?
    • “We found people take courses when they are assigned a task.”

    Why did you create Copytesting.com, and what are the most common mistakes you see?

    • I published a post about using Copytesting.com on our own sales page.
    • You have an awesome service called copytesting.com. I’ve used it, and got others onto it too.
    • Why did you start that?
    • I’m assuming you can see some of the tests, what have you learned?
    • What is the most common thing wrong with pages?
    • “Fastest growing demographic using it are B2b SaaS companies.”
    • “People use a lot of buzzwords that mean nothing.”

    UX Design, avoiding “chasing analytics” and understand “The Hippo.”

    • How much time do ya’ll spend on UX design. Meaning the overall look and feel of site.
    • You see hundreds of tests, is design important?
    • What about someone like me, who knows good design when I see it, but can’t MAKE IT myself?
    • You’re a super analytical person, do you just go off numbers or intuition? Apple story.
    • “Chasing Analytics.” Do people often go wrong just chasing the data. YouTube example BeardBrand.
    • “It’s super effective up to a point, then diminishing returns.”
    • “The Hippo” is the “Higher Paid Person’s Opinion 😂”

    Content Marketing, SEO, and avoiding the “Sea Of Sameness.”

    • How much of your business comes from people consuming your content first.
    • Have you ever seen a company really crush content marketing, where the founder was NOT good at it? AppSumo, TheHustle, HubSpot etc….they crush content marketing, but the founders were all great at it.
    • “The Sea of Sameness” – So you did original UX research studies. You did crazy studies most people can’t (or won’t) do.
    • We lost a lot of SEO, but revenue wasn’t really impacted. We did lose email signups.
    • Have ya’ll started focusing more on social or YouTube than content? Thoughts?
    • “There’s an interesting site called Growth.design that’s just so different from other content.”
    • “Social media is more about an individual rather than a company.”

    “Does running an agency ssuuccckk?”:

    • You are interesting in that you have all sorts of irons in the fire. Saas, Agency, Conferences, Institute. Can you explain all the different prongs of business CXL is in?
    • Does running an agency suck?
    • What exactly does the agency side do?
    • The whole Estonia thing. Why are they good?
    • “You get great people, who speak perfect English, for a better price.”

    Happiness, living in two countries, and disconnecting:

    • You leave the US and stay in Estonia for months at a time. What do you get out of that?
    • When you are so absent from the biz, do you feel left behind or out of the loop?
    • How does an analytical Estonian as yourself view life. Any purpose or just live?
    • What’s the purpose of life? “I’m a big traditions guy. I like having tasks. I like finding meaning in any work.”
    • “You need to be happy. You need to do things that give you joy. And you find meaningful work.”

    Follow Peep Laja:
    🖥 Website: Conversion XL
    🖥 Website: CopyTesting.com
    🖥 Website: CXL Institute
    🐦 Twitter: @PeepLaja

     

    This was a really informative conversation with one of the top conversion specialists in the field, I hope you enjoyed and learned as much as I did!

    Sincerely,
    Neville Medhora – Copywriting Course

    Continue reading
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...
    Guest