Also, if you happen to know any of the major publishers or anyone else looking to hire a direct response copywriter with an NLP advantage, let me know that too at writing@louisrburns.com.

The letter is here:

www.louisrburns.com/writing

Let me know which techniques you recognize.

And of course if you’d like to learn NLP copywriting, hop over to my course:

http://hypnoticwriter.org

The reason I didn’t go into depth last time was that I was also using that post for article marketing. I wanted to give you, my dear blog reader, a more exclusive look.

Also, as a disclaimer, let me say I haven’t reviewed the actual course. My comments here are based on the sales letter and his “Confessions of a Hypnotist” book.

The page I referenced is here:

Jonathan Royle’s NLP Master Practioner Course

The paragraph I was referring to came about 1/4th of the way down the page after the subhead:

HOW BAD DO YOU FEEL FOR MISSING THIS COURSE?

You can look and see the rest of the blatant attempt at manipulation there. I want to point out a couple of other observations I had in reading his sales letter.

Hypnotic writing aside, there are a few basic copywriting issues with this letter. Namely, 1) poor headline, 2) fonts are all the wrong shapes and sizes and 3) unconvincing testimonials.

Poor Headline

Here’s the headline:

YOU ARE ABOUT TO SAVE MANY THOUSANDS OF ££££ – $$$$ ON OTHER INFERIOR – LONG WINDED AND OVERPRICED NLP MASTER PRACTITIONER COURSES AND YOU’LL SAVE A FORTUNE ON TRAVEL & ACCOMODATION COSTS WHILST ALSO LEARNING SECRETS NEVER BEFORE TAUGHT ON ANY OTHER NLP MASTER PRACTITIONER COURSE – SO FOR YOUR FUTURE HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS YOU WOULD BE WISE TO READ ON…

First off, the headline is too long. It’s a paragraph rather than a headline. One marketer who did extensive testing said the outer length of a headline can’t be past 131 characters and this one is 353. Ironically, he’s comparing his product to the others by calling them “long winded.”

Secondly, never put your whole headline in all caps. Caps mean you’re shouting. You can put individual words or phrases in caps for emphasis (or maybe to embed a command) but not whole sentences and definitely not for a whole paragraph.

Finally, the benefit statement is weak. To sum it up, he’s saying save money and my course is better and save money and I’ll tell you secrets you won’t hear anywhere else and you better buy it because you won’t be happy if you don’t. Hmm… really? Some questions then come to mind:

• People know you typically get what you pay for. Why is he selling something that you might expect to pay thousands for for 150 pounds?
• How did he compress weeks into a weekend? (Not answered in the sales letter either)
• What kind of secrets could only he know? (Turns out, probably nothing he didn’t repackage and/or rename himself)
• How does this compare to a legitimate master practitioner course?

Now typically, you want to generate curiosity with a headline. This one though generates questions all right… but the skeptical kind, not the interestingly curious kind.

Inappropriate Formatting

People who have tested fonts will tell you the bigger, the better for headlines. In my Firefox browser, the headline looks the same size as the body copy.

Typically, you’ll want your subheads to be smaller than your headline but larger than your body copy. Again, in my browser, the subheads look bigger than both.

For readability, you usually don’t want paragraphs to be longer than 4 lines. One line is okay here and there especially if that line is a complete idea. I count one paragraph with 11 lines in it. Scanning through the letter you see that about half the paragraphs are more than 4 lines.

Also, you want to use a san-serif font for  headlines and subheads and serif font for body copy. The default on Microsoft Word is the opposite of that and that’s what this letter did as well. Serif fonts are what you see in books and newspapers and what we’re used to seeing in paragraphs. San-serif is slightly faster to read because there are less shapes involved for your eye to identify. That’s probably why they’re for headlines.

Testimonials

When I first read this letter, there was one thing I wanted to see in the sales letter AND backed up by a testimonial… how does this course compare to accredited NLP practitioner courses? While the letter talks about a regional UK accreditation (which I wasn’t able to locate in Google),  no one in a testimonial says it’s better than real NLP courses.

Here’s what the sales letter says to that effect:

Some of the delegates were already ANLPTA and ANLP approved & certified NLP Practitioners, Master Practitioners and Trainers, and even many of them made comments such as “Blimey I would never have thought it would be possible to learn NLP & Hypnotherapy to this level in just two days if I had not seen it with my own eyes, what’s even more amazing is that I learnt more from Royle in the past two days than I ever did on my original “Approved” NLP course which took Seven days for the first level of training alone!”

No one is quoted. None of the testimonials are from anyone with an NLP designation following their name. In fact, they’re many if not all the same testimonials he uses for all of his products.

He uses the argument that even NLP Trainers attended his seminar. What that’s an argument for is that NLP Trainers understand the value of continuing their education, not that his course was better than accredited versions.

His Book

A final piece of evidence I have was that I read his way too long book, “Confessions of a Hypnotist.” While the personal anecdotes are entertaining, I was left feeling he has a limited understanding of NLP. His forte is as a stage hypnotist. His only reference for learning NLP was to read Tony Robbins. Tony’s stuff is good but it’s far from the gold standard for NLP.

Overall, I’d say Jonathan Royal may be one of the closest things we have to a modern day PT Barnum. He does crazy stuff for public relations which was Barnum’s most well known attribute. No doubt he’s a good stage hypnotist. I have serious doubts though that his master practitioner course reviewed here is worth the money you’d pay.

And if you’re thinking of taking NLP courses to buff up on your marketing, look no further. My “Be A Hypnotic Writer” home study course includes all of that for a marketing context. To get the first lesson free, go to:

http://hypnoticwriter.org

Eban Pagan is having a info product course launch this week and some of his free materials have inspired me to revisit how I do products. If you haven’t seen any of his videos or reports, go to:

http://www.gurumastermind.com/homestudy/voodoo_video.asp

Before I switch my course over to a 12 week delivery, I’m going to be writing an autoresponder script to encourage opt-ins. I plan to do that this week. Once that’s done, I’ll switch the course. Until then, you can still save a little money and time buying the whole thing at once at:

http://hypnoticwriter.org

http://nlpcopywriting.com/

Another thing I’ve noticed lately is that if you’re putting an Aweber form on your website, it’s best to use the html instead of the script. For someone like me using Firefox, the script doesn’t appear on the page. It may be the ad blocker I use, I’m not sure. I had to open up the page in Internet Explorer.  The page I was viewing is a free ebook from Joe Vitale:

http://www.givetolivebook.com/

I actually have 3 completed models I’m working on turning into products. The first – graphic design – I’ve mentioned here before. I’m using the new ability myself to create some better covers for my products.

The second is a model from David Gordon. He agreed to let me use the one in his book on modeling as a free downloadable product here. I figured more people would be interested in my products if they knew exactly what kind of thing they’d be getting. That ability is “how to be passionate about something.” I’ve written the script for that already too.

The last one is one I’ve done over the holidays. My brother is finishing up his masters degree in mathematics. He’s pretty much a genius as I often hear of him solving problems that no one else could. I modeled his problem solving ability for a math context. I’d like to see if I can install it in some school kids who might otherwise think they’re “bad at math.”

My experience as a math teacher was that being “good” or “bad” at math was entirely up to the attitude and strategies of each individual student. I’m scheduled to help some kids with their science fair projects in the next couple months so I’ll see about working with them on their math as well.

The final update is that Arton Baleci is using modeling to see if he can turn himself into a professional soccer player (footballer) in one year. His site:

http://www.thebeautifulaim.com/

Thanks to Steve Bauer for alerting me to the Riggio Model and The Beautiful Aim.

Stay tuned for some comments on some recent experiences with Diego Norte.

I’m going to be selling it for $100 but for the next 24 hours you can buy it for $35. That’s my way of thanking you for reading this blog.

If you missed the discussion below, I used David Gordon’s NLP modeling protocol (enhanced by some other modelers) to create a model of direct response copywriters. There were about 68 copywriters worth of interviews that I combed through with an eye to the essential features required for a complete model.

If I were to name the copywriters, you would probably recognize many of their names. If you want to know if a certain top copywriter was included, I can say there’s a 95% chance they were.

What I ended up with is a complete model for anyone who’s ever wanted to learn copywriting. Normally you’ll read a book or take a course and pick up some skills and techniques but you won’t really have the ability or the confidence that a pro has. This model bridges that gap.

In addition to it being a model, I took the acquisition protocol and turned it into a dual induction hypnosis session like Paraliminals. One ear has the modeling protocol and the other has a therapeutic metaphor containing the optional strategies, beliefs and emotions. While most people will go into trance easily with a dual induction session, I made sure of it by overlaying the audio with theta brainwaves. As long as you’re really listening and using headphones, your brain will go into that meditative state.

Since the sequence matters and the copywriters I modeled use a set procedure or checklist, I included one as well. It will help activate the model that your subconscious learned while listening to the audio. As with hypnosis, it’s possible that it might take more than one listening to get the full effect. I’m really not sure.

If you’re not a fan of hypnosis, you can use the included model and acquisition instructions to run the the entire process consciously. You can also listen to one track at a time of the audio. So whatever your learning preference is, there’s a solution for you here.

The link to Copywriter’s Mind is:

http://copywritingmind.info

The sales page says $100 but if you click through to Kunaki, you’ll see the 24 hour special price of $35. Once the special is over, I’ll change the price to $100. I intend to do that around 10 am CST tomorrow.

Specifically, I:

• Added a strategy checklist to tie everything together
• Added an audio to put your brain into a relaxed/flow alpha state
• Added an audio to put your brain into a brainstorming/creativity theta state
• Turned it into a physical product through Kunaki

If you’ve already purchased the course, I’ll be sending you the upgrades sometime this week. If you took advantage of the previous $1 trial offer and you’re still in the trial period, I’ll send it after your trial is over.

The upgraded version is at:

http://hypnoticwriter.org

I plan to release the copywriting model this week sometime too. I plan to offer it for $100 with a 24 hour $35 special. Watch this blog for the announcement. That’s my thanks to you for reading the blog.

If you’d like to see the sales page so far, it’s at:

http://copywritingmind.info

I find it really interesting that not may top copywriters do multivariate testing that I’m aware of. They’ll split test things but generally speaking they write one good letter and that’s that.

I’m planning to install MuVar on my hypnoticwriter.org site to get better conversions but also to see which NLP language patterns work better. I don’t know if anyone is doing that. So far, opinions of what works better seems to have been based on what works better in speech or guesses about what the reader might think.

I’ll be posting some of the results here. I anticipate releasing some of the results to customers who’ve purchased the Be a Hypnotic Writer course.

The main thing to know is that I’m also going to be multivariate testing the $1 trial offer. If MuVar decides that the traditional full payment up front converts better, that’s what I’ll go with.

If you’ve been waiting to take advantage of the $1 trial offer, I recommend you do so before Monday. I’m going to set up some variables by then. After that, MuVar may show it less often and even stop showing it all together.

Again, that link is: http://hypnoticwriter.org

[EDIT 9/29: I'm having a terrible time setting MuVar up. Evidently it has some "features" that aren't explained in the set up videos and I don't know how to get it to work. And then James doesn't offer support on any of his products so I may be out of luck until I can hire someone to straighten out the php code. Ugh.]

I’d previously downloaded the shareware program, Mind Sync. Following the directions, I created a track. When I went to save it, it gave me some strange message saying it couldn’t find the file so could save it.

Given the fact that it was created in 1992, I guessed there was probably some problem with it that I couldn’t fix.

I went to http://www.transparentcorp.com/ that I’d bookmarked previously and found they had a trial version of their software, Neuro-Programmer 2. I downloaded that and it’s been very easy to use compared to the other.

I mentioned to someone I met yesterday that I do some work with hypnosis and she asked if I could help her loose 5 lbs before her wedding. Since I was playing around with Neuro-Programmer 2, I created a track with the appropriate tones, added some prerecorded scripts to make a dual induction track, and set it to Pachabel’s Cannon… all in about 20 minutes.

Another interesting feature of NP2 is the screen flashing. Evidently the way it works is that beats or pulses can create brainwave entrainment more effectively than the two wavelengths way (binaural) except when you want to go down to the delta frequency. Since I’m mostly working with alpha and theta, beats will work.

Screen flashing is supposed to work the same way the beats do. The only caveat is that if you’re in a public place like I was when I was working on this, people are going to wonder what you’re watching with your eyes closed and light flashing on your face… not easy to explain.

Obviously I’m pleased with the Neuro-Programmer 2. I’m still using the trial version but I anticipate buying the commercial license so I can market the audios I prepare.

I recently finished viewing a DVD course put out by Target Focus Training (TFT) called, “Surviving the Most Critical 5 Seconds of Your Life.” It occurred to me as I was watching it, that some of the participants were asking questions that indicated that they weren’t understanding any of the principles that had been explained. [Cue superhero music] I thought this would be perfect for matrix learning.

On the TFT blog, they just posted about how it’s not the techniques but the principles that make the difference in this system. Principles can be absorbed and integrated fairly well with this kind of matrix learning. It would also make sense to include something along the lines of the permissions protocol so that listeners get over their aversion to violence when their life depends on it. So that would be a fun product to create.

Another topic I’m considering is an ability to “do math.” During my time as a math teacher, I often heard adults tell me they weren’t “good at math.” By that I imagine they mean they aren’t as fast as they’d like to be with arithmetic and don’t have effective problem solving strategies when facing numbers or conceptualizing a live word problem. Again, that’s an easy thing to model. It’s really a set of attitudes rather than memorizing formulas.

Some other matrix models I’ve considered are public speaking, impromptu speaking, business building (online or raising private capital for example), athletes (how about an instant soccer pro product?), artisans (musicians, cooks, illustrators, etc), or different social skills. The list is really endless.

I also got the book “Know How” that contains a number of models. I’m hesitant to do the ones on weight loss (ie having effective nutritional strategies) because I don’t know how I’d distinguish it from other weight loss hypnosis products. Maybe by the time I get to it, it won’t be an issue.

If you can think of any other cool ideas for matrix learning, let me know.

Of the “syncs” I’ve heard of Holosync, Hemisync, Brainsync and Mindsync. None of the links below are affiliate links.

Holosync: brain wave exercises that take your brain into deeper and deeper delta brain waves as you progress through the program. The short of it is that deeper brain waves force your brain to reorganize. It’s basically automatic meditation on steroids. I’ve been doing it for at least an hour a day now since 2004. I’ve noticed significant changes in my life that I can attribute to this program. I’ve also found that I have an easy time doing trance work because of this meditation experience.

Hemisync: if Holosync goes deep, Hemisync goes wide. It’s a series of exercises in meditation and visualization. I’ve only heard parts of the program but I must say it’s been an interesting experience.

Brainsync: topical meditation sessions. I have a very limited experience with this one.

Mindsync: a shareware audio editing program. It can overlap multiple tracks and add brain wave frequencies so you can create your own dual inductions or meditation audios. As of this writing, I haven’t used it yet but I’m planning to create my copywriting acquisition audio with it.

Paraliminals: topical dual induction NLP (and now theta brain wave) audio sessions. I’ve used a number of these with good effect. My first experience was in 2000 when I worked for an outsourced sales/lead generation company. I’d cold call into businesses all day and it was fairly nerve racking given that I’m mostly an introvert. I’d take my lunch to eat and listen to the audio, “Self Esteem Supercharger” and face the rest of the day with renewed confidence. Learning Strategies that creates these also has a number of other great programs I recommend as well like Photo Reading.

There are probably a number of other programs similar to these. These are just the ones I’ve used before. I recommend you check them out.