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A
You're gonna pay with some brain sweat now thinking about the right stuff, or you're gonna pay with years of struggle and screwing around that's gonna leave you poor and dumb.
B
Yeah.
A
And so if, if I had to just hunt, if I had to sum the whole thing up, that's it.
B
And we're on our fourth episode, the Final Chapter. Yes. Jim, so happy again to have you here. Today is all about opt ins, which I would actually think is probably one of the more important ones of all because there's no point in having a sales letter or email sequences if you can't even get people to opt in.
A
Well, you know, that is handy, especially if you want to sell stuff or develop lists that can turn into customer lists or communicate with people or get people to, you know, pay attention to what you're doing without having to run an ad every single time you want somebody to click. So, yes, it's quite important.
B
So when it comes to opt ins, and I know you've been, again, you've been in this industry for many, many years and you've seen the, the version of opt ins before there were digital opt ins. Right. I'm sure there was, you know, something that was before that. Actually, let's talk about that because I don't have that experience. I want to know what was it before we had opt ins? What did people do?
A
People subscribe to a physical mailing list. I worked in a man, I worked in a mail house in, in Newport News, Virginia, where we have, where we bought lists of people or we helped people buy lists. And you had list brokers, and that was this giant business list brokers, people that had lists of people that were buyers or had expressed interest in something and then you literally had to send them physical mail. And so one of the things that people would do would be to advertise in magazines, newspapers. That was pretty much the main way. Magazines, newspapers, and then direct mail to get people to fill out a card and send to request more information. That's how you ended up on a mailing list. And you know, you laugh, but there were people making millions of dollars doing that when a million dollars was a million bucks. I mean, a million dollars seems like a lot now, but a million dollars 35 years ago was a crap ton of money.
B
Yeah, yeah, I would say I, I mean, I'm not an economic, like economics professor, but like in what I know and even in my life, a million dollars today, back then would be equivalent to probably 3 million, if not even more. Just the way of lifestyle if you talk about inflation, lifestyle, I mean, it's totally different lifestyle. Right. So I was laughing. You're watch. I was laughing only because I'm thinking about all the variables that you can't control in that old method. Like in terms of you got to send them a letter, that letter has to hit their mailbox, they got to walk out to that mailbox, they got to open that mailbox, they take all the mail within that mailbox, they come back in their house, they got to sort through all that mail. Hopefully, hopefully they sort through yours. Then you got to get them to actually open it up, take the letter out, read the letter, be convinced enough that it's important enough to fill out the card or call in. Yeah, I mean I can, I can play the situation out my head. That's how I think about sales. Although those steps. Right. That's how I think about funnels. And I, and that's why I was laughing. All to just get them to say, yes, I would like more information. And we're out here in the world of luxury, I'm gonna call it. It's a simple click of a button. Autumn email. Even you don't have to type your email anymore because if your email has like as auto, you know, input, Right. It just. Two clicks, you're in, you're subscribed. Like life's become a lot easier.
A
Yes. And the principles that worked when you had all of these physical things that went along with it are even more important than they were then. And I'll tell you why. Because there was a barrier to entry back in the day. You had to be able to find a name, be able to afford to print the piece, put the stamp on it and send it out. You know, the minimum quantity was always like at least a thousand. Unless you were doing lumpy mail. And then you're, you know, it could be one. But if you were doing mass mail, type stuff it just to get in the game. You were going to spend 2, 3, $4,000 just to do a test. And, and now any chucklehead for 20 bucks can start running ads on Facebook to have ads show up in front of people and send them to a funnel. Which I think it's hilarious because I don't know if you're even old enough to remember. But the thing that everybody was requesting for the more information was a free report. Do you know what a free report was? It was a freaking 10 page, 12 page sales letter printed front and back disguised as something you wanted to read.
B
Yeah.
A
So now because any chucklehead can do this. All the chuckleheads do it. So that's why your feed, your Facebook feed, and any other feed is filled with ads. Because Every chucklehead has 20 bucks a day to run ads because they heard they could make huge money with little ads, big profits. And so you have to be better than the chuckleheads. And being better means you have to know the target audience. You have to really know psychologically what's going to make them react. And you need to be able to get them to take the action you want them to take before they can have the bright shiny object squirrel moment in the next eight seconds. And so it's different, but it's the same and actually more intense now.
B
Well, I was going to say it's inundated with the market, so. And I love, I think it's so important what you said there because. And this is why I had you on. Right is this, right here is there's a mass, like there's so many more people doing this. Anybody can do it. I love you said, you know, chucklehead. So going back and understanding the true fundamentals and understanding things like copywriting, which we talked about already, and understanding avatar or icp, and understanding all those things that we've had the call about is so important. So you know exactly what to say, how to say it in their head. So they're even willing to pop up because they get inundated every single day. So opt ins. I'm pumped. Let's get into it. I mean, here we are. Let's. I can see it on the screen. I can't wait to see what this comes up to be.
A
So, so basically, when you think about an opt in, at its most basic form, an opt in is asking somebody to give you their email. Okay. At the most basic form, I'm asking somebody to give me their email address in exchange for something. Now, an opt in is an exchange of I get your info and you get something back. So it can be an email. It could be name and email. I pretty much don't do anything without getting name and email. There's a lot of people, you know, you will get fewer responses without the name. But I like getting the name so that I can actually address the communication. And this also, I don't know, kind of cuts down on getting just their porn email, you know, the one they use for, for the stuff they have no intention of paying any attention to.
B
Yeah.
A
So but you can also get phone.
B
Yeah, I was going to say why not get the phone or at least have the option for phone you can
A
get their physical address. Okay, now what's the difference between just getting an email versus getting name, email, phone and address and frickin blood type for, for, just, for, for anything. And that comes down to a connection of. And I want to make sure I'm not that you can see this with the way the screen is and stuff, but it's, it's a difference between risk and perceived value. So right now in their mind they're thinking themselves. Oh shit, they're going to spam me. All right, so you're going to spam me. Their risk of being spammed versus the amount of value that you're offering in exchange for the opt in. And so what you gotta do is reduce the risk and raise the value so that they're like, okay, yeah, you can have my email, all right, you can have my information. I mean that's it. At the most basic thing that's all you're doing is overcoming all the negatives that they're thinking could happen if they opt in with the promise of the value that's on the other side of them. Filling out a form and whacking the button. Whether it's as simple as offering a lead magnet, a report, a checklist, an assessment, something like that, all the way up to filling out a detailed form that would be in an application funnel, which. An application funnel is still just an opt in. Yeah. So when you think about this, it actually simplifies it a lot because when you're coming up with your offer page for the opt in, you just got to make sure that what you're offering is more valuable than the risk that someone might be thinking. So how do we do that? Well, there are about three things that you can control that are going to do that. The first thing is the hook or the headline package. And headline package, which I think we've talked about before, is basically the pre head, the headline and the sub headline. And the pre headline typically calls out to the audience, you know, attention frustrated homeowners or it calls out to a situation or a problem. Attention anyone suffering from, you know, erectile dysfunction. So then you said, you said, yeah, awful quick there, man. No, I'm just playing. So the next thing is the headline which contains a big payoff. Typically it's some sort of payoff of a result or resolution of a problem. You know, how to write and publish your own outrageously profitable ebook in as little as seven days. Even if you can't write, can't type, and failed high school English class, you know, some Sort of a headline that again, just to reinforce it's a result resolution of a problem. And then the sub headline typically ties whatever it is you're trying to get them to opt in for to the benefit. So. Or to the main headline. The result payoff of the headline. So new report reveals how to overcome erectile dysfunction without pills, you know, strange massage or large quantities of money. That's. So what are we doing here? We're grabbing their attention. We're hitting them with a benefit or resolution. Promise of a benefit, a resolution of a problem. And then we're tying the thing that we're offering to that with the sub headline. So pretty much this does. Especially if it's a free opt in. Okay, we're typically talking about a free opt in. The best opt in is when someone buys something. That's why we talk about the difference between a lead magnet and a tripwire. A lead magnet is typically something that's free. A tripwire is something that they pay a little bit of money for. Okay, so I'm assuming right now when we're talking about all this that we're talking about something that is, that's free. We're making some sort of a free offer here. So when we do that. Now this, this does the majority of the work. Are there other things? If we're thinking about our opt in page, I have seen where, you know, a basic opt in page, you got your pre head, you got your headline, you got your subhead and then a button for them to hit. And this is more of a mechanical thing. So, you know, send my report. Let's say, let. We'll just pretend like this is a report for right now. So what's not on this page is a form. Because as soon as somebody sees your page and they see a form, they immediately go, shit, they want me to opt in. They're going to spam me. Oh my God, I'm going to end up on porn lists and all this other stuff. And I'm just go, I just don't have time for that. Okay? They, they see the form, they're like, the hell with it. They don't see your cool pre head, your headline and your sub headline. They're gone. So that's why you have a button that says, you know, send my report or download your report or something like that. They click it and then that pops the little window that says, hey, where can we send your report? You know, give us your best email. We promise not to spam you, abuse you or otherwise, you know, whatever. And what this does is they've, when they click this, they've made the decision that they want it, whatever it is. And so that's why you use this in conjunction with the little box. That's why you get so much higher rates of opt in because they've in their mind that yeah, screw it, I'll take it. And then they're like ah, I just gotta do it.
B
That's I, I want to make sure for those that are listening that can't see this because this is actually very interesting because like I, I've been in the space for a while myself and talking about split testing and you just gave, you just basically said you've split tested and you've, and you've seen this actually be way more effective. So typical, right? Opt in page is everything you said. You got your pre headlines, you had your header sub headline and then usually it's right there, it says email, you know, name, email, phone and then press submit. You're saying take that out, only have the headline, the stack, then a button that says download or whatever. The call to action is when they hit that, then a pop up happens for them to put their email in because you've already made the commitment, they've already made the commitment. And what I love what you said is when they first land on that page they don't just bounce right off going oh they just want my email. They, they actually sit long enough to read the headline. This is Matt, that little nuance, I would love to split test that immediately with my guys.
A
Yeah, it's huge. So then the next thing when you're talking about the page is some people, they're just like, okay, it looks legit. So I mean you got to have a page that looks like it's part of a legitimate website, maybe have a logo up here and some other stuff but don't have a bunch of other crap. I mean the only thing that you want is for them to be able to hit the thing. Now for some people they're going to be like, okay, well let me see what this is. They're like the stray dog that's like what's going on? Is this going to chop my head off? So then what you want to have down below that you can have, there are other elements that you can put onto the page. So one thing that's cool that you can do down here is it's all about credibility and trust. And this sounds good. So this is where you'll see stuff like you know, as seen on, you know, and you'll NBC or this is
B
below the fold at this point.
A
It pretty, it, it, yes, pretty much. It's. Or, or it's just going to be slightly visible or what have you. Okay, but you got credibility stuff. And then you have, you know, again, depending on what it is, if it's a report, a checklist or whatever, then you're going to have something like, you know, about your, your, you know, who, who are we or something like that. And then you're going to have like a picture and a couple of bullets about you or about the company. This is also where you can have testimony, you know, a couple testimonials with actual pictures and stuff. Just, just anything you have that increases credibility. That this isn't Chinese frickin hackers that are taking your stuff and you're going to end up in a work camp or something. I mean it's just this, this is where it's all just, this is real, this is credible. You also want to make sure that you have all your disclaimers and all that other stuff at the bottom. Contact information, all that other stuff, which is important for, I mean, unless Facebook has changed their rules again, I mean this is the kind of stuff that they want to see at the bottom of any page. Plus you want to have your disclaimers, disclosures, links, all that stuff. But that's how we kind of transform this from just some offer thing from 1996 into something that looks like a legit page. But it's just, here's the thing. So that's at its most basic, how your opt in page is going to be structured effectively. Because what this other stuff does is remember the whole purpose here. Decrease risk, increase perceived gain. And so all of this other stuff is decreasing the perception of risk. You're not just putting your email into some blind webpage. You know, this has got the thing, they got a report, they got all that stuff. Okay, it looks like they've been on here. All right. Looks like a legit dude got some testimonials. You know, this report was, this free report was worth more than stuff that I've done that I paid $2,000 from, says Sally from Dubuque. And at its most basic, that's your starting point. Okay, that's where we start from. Now what are some other things that you could do to this to make it more effective, to make it so that maybe it converts a little bit better. You asked about split testing stuff. What are some things that you could split test?
B
Well, as you're going through that, let Me ask you a question here because we've done a lot of split testing on our end and it was interesting to see that you're, you're putting stuff below the fold because with our split test we've seen the most minimum actually be the like if the headline copy is done properly, all the stuff below the fold ends up actually being more of a distraction.
A
So that's why I'm not telling you to put a shitload of stuff on there. Okay, this is that it's most basic. That's a real basic page. Okay, so other stuff that you can do depending on the audience. Now you're selling a bunch of wanna preneurs high on Hopium that are up at 2 o' clock in the morning eating Cheetos and drinking Jolt Cola. It's very different than going after engineers or if you're familiar with the disc scale, going after the high D's versus the high C's. So again knowing your audience, but some things that you can do that I have seen make a difference is having like a bulleted list of 3 payoffs of whatever it is the thing that you are trying to get them to opt in for and then having that either before or after the download my report or access my. Whatever that, that can have a real impact especially if you have an audience that you know, we try and focus on the one big result. But I can remember a specific case where we had a thing that we were doing that, you know, I told people, you know, how to get a positively unfair advantage in business and in life and that represented different stuff to different people. So I had a bullet list that said, you know, whatever that means to you, a fat bank account, a new house, a better relationship, a better career, whatever it is, this will help you do it. And so, and that really helped with conversion because it, I mean some people, I'm sure in their minds, yeah, we'll take all of that. So. So that is the one thing that is definitely and definitely would be above the fold that you, you want to test. And then the stuff down here with the who you are and what you got that try it with it, try it without it. I've had one of my most successful opt in pages was literally had a cartoon character of me right here. And all it said next to it was the, the copywriting guy didn't. No, no author of this. 30 years of doing that. It's just the copywriting guy. So yes, some of this stuff can be a distraction and that's why you got a test. It's going to depend on your audience. It's going to depend on what you're doing. Okay. Now you can also build some of this stuff into up here. So if I wanted to say something like, you know, attention, attention, entrepreneurial authors. How to turn your book into a lead machine without giving away a single copy. Best selling author Jim Edwards reveals secrets of turning your book into a lead machine learned over the last 30 years. You know, download your report. So I've built a bunch of stuff in there and I'm spitballing that. I mean, obviously I would spend at least a half a cup of coffee on thinking that through, but that you can kind of fold that stuff into it. So that's again, that's your basic opt in page, when that's available. That's kind of like your 247 vending machine on the Internet available for anybody to opt in anytime. And what you're hoping for is that the urgency of their problem gets them to sign up now instead of waiting. So I don't know if you have any questions before I move on because they're going to kind of go on to the next.
B
Yeah, no, I think it's, I think the key here. I'm going to say this even though you're the expert. I think with the opt in, the whole philosophy of Kiss now has to be very important how you use that philosophy. But less is more with opt ins and it's more about how you write that copy and knowing your audience. You do that right, everything else becomes easy, right?
A
100%. I mean, this, that's why this headline package basically does 90% of all the heavy lifting for you. And the rest of this is just kind of dialing it in so that you have a nice smooth Runway landing, depending on the audience. So again, this part down here, who we are and, you know, testimonials and stuff, I mean, I would get rid of the testimonial thing first and then boom, boom. And then it could even, you know, brought to you by guaranteed response marketing, helping people since, you know, 1997 to be amazing and overcome their edge. So again, it's more about thinking in terms of the building blocks than it is exactly how much verbiage goes here. What's the word count? You know, should those be single line bullets and all that other stuff? No, what we're trying to do is capture the attention, build the desire, tie it to the thing that we're doing and make it easy for them to do their thing.
B
All right, at this point, I want to Just say this. Anybody that's listening, watching this and that might feel confused or say, okay, this is all great, but how, where? Jim, why don't you tell them, I mean, put a plug in here. Because this is a perfect opportunity for your software. Because I know your software does this exact thing for them.
A
Oh yeah. So our copy and content AI, this helps. We help you define your avatar, define your offer. Then you load those into the software and it'll create your opt in page copy. It'll help you create your titles for your lead magnets. It'll actually help you create your entire lead magnets. I just did a class on this yesterday. It does everything you want to do and you don't have to wrestle with CHAT GPT in order to get it to do what you want to do. Which if you're like, oh, I'll just do that with ChatGPT. You know what, go ahead. Yeah, you know, just do your thing if you want. I mean, just make sure it's Wesson oil wrestling with, with ChatGPT. If you're going to wrestle with it, make it entertaining.
B
Yes.
A
So, so now this again, thinking in terms of, you got two options for doing lead generation and I like to think of them in terms of the vending machine, which is really what I just described to you. Okay, this thing's available 247 and the person puts in their email address and out the bottom pops something that they want the more effective way to do it. But some people don't want to do this because they perceive it as work is to do an event. And an event is a webinar, a training, a workshop, a one day challenge, an intensive, whatever fricking word you want to use for is a time, a date and a place that all have to coincide for this to come off. But if you have a great promise and you tell somebody, hey, I'm teaching a workshop on Thursday at 1:00 clock that shows authors how they can develop 12 distinct streams of income from their book. And if you're an author, if only if even one of those worked for you, it could totally change your life and your financial future. And you can attend for free. All you have to do is sign up. Why would you want to sign up as opposed to waiting?
B
Well, that's the, that's the key. Yeah.
A
So I'm asking, you have to sign up in order to get it because it's happening on this date. If you want to be there at one o' clock on Thursday, what do you have to do? Sign up Everybody Understands that if I want the thing, if I want to attend the event, I have to sign up for the event. I got to have a ticket. I got to have a link. Link. I gotta be able to get the link to be able to show up to the thing. They just. People understand. They don't fight with it. Rather than, well, you know, are they gonna spam me or. No, they're doing this event. I want to go, well, what if I can't attend live? Well, you know, we intend to have a replay. And. And, you know, as long as nothing goes wrong. But you definitely want to be there live so that you can ask questions. But at a minimum, you gotta sign up if you want to be able to access, like, okay, I'll sign up. And it's just a different psychological thing that goes on in people's mind. They're. They're not like, I'm becoming. I mean, for you, they're becoming a lead, but for them, they're just getting a ticket to the event. And also, people will sign up for events where they might not sign up for your lead magnet or whatever. Because an event, a training, carries with it the promise of a passive reward. In other words, if I download this checklist, I got to read the thing and figure out how to use it. Same thing. If I download the remove shoot, I got to read this report. I mean, it's just. I want to choke them, but it's just human nature. But with their event, hey, I'm doing this workshop. You can show up, and I'm going to show you all this stuff, and you just have to sit there, and it's going to be amazing. And I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. Well, it's kind of like, what would you rather do? Watch the movie or read the book? And so that's another reason why I much rather do an event than do a lead magnet. Always had better luck with events. And like, well, can I make the event evergreen? Sure, as long as the event worked live. Yeah. You know, and so I've just. What's the difference in the opt in page for an event? It's got a date on it. Okay. That literally, it has a date. You know, Join me for this workshop on this date. And this time, grab your seat now. Limited availability. And is it really limited? Yeah, at some point, it can't hold all 7 billion people on planet earth. So, yes, there's limited seating. Grab your seat now. You know.
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
And that's.
B
Let's talk about that. Because I know, like, I could tell that you've worked with clients just in that, that don't want to do events. And, and we know, and I think, let's just talk about this because you've been in this for so long, instead of trying to convince people why they guess you do an event versus the vending machine. You know, typical opt in vsl, all of that. Let's talk about the success or what we know, what we split test. Like, why psychologically, like why is the event way more powerful if done right than just evergreen? You know, vending machine that sits out there, not saying that doesn't, that doesn't work, or you can't do that as well. But if you want impact and you want, you know, if you want to make money in the next 30, 60, 90 days, running a small event will probably be more effective than the vending machine. Why is that?
A
Because doing an event several times allows you to gauge people's reaction in real time as opposed to creating something and going, well, obviously they're stupid and they're not going to pay. You know, it's not working. Not my fault it's not working. These people are just stupid. They just don't understand. And it's, it's literally, that's what people do when we're talking about the person trying to gather up the leads as opposed to, if you say, okay, I'm doing this on this day, I put 15 people in the event, I do the event, I sell one. Great, I know this works. What can I change? What can I do better? What can I do to get more people to opt in? You're, you're dialing the stuff in. Rather with the vending machine approach. It's, you're buying into the bullshit that people are selling out there saying, you know, just create this lead magnet's amazing. Then use my magic formula for creating Facebook ads and you're able to turn $50 into $250 every single day. And if you want to scale it up, it's amazing and it's all bullshit, okay? If that was true, they'd be doing it and not teaching you, okay? And so the other thing that's happening is there's so much AI stuff out there now, and there's so much bullshit that people are craving a connection with another human being. And so that's another thing that events do for you now. Once you've really dialed the thing in, then you can make the event evergreen. And there's tons of stuff out there that you can kind of simulate that it's live and, or have the first part of the event be, you know, pre recorded or evergreen and then you kind of pop on at the end or it's, it's doing its thing, but you're in the chat dealing with people or you know, your assistants in there in the chat. There's, there's all kinds of different stuff you can do. But until you've got this thing dialed in and you know it's working, you're just kidding yourself. Yeah, you're, you're, you're. Anyway, I know.
B
I, I, I agree. I think, I want, I want to, people are listening. I just want to make sure they understand what you're saying here. And, and I say yeah, which is a bad thing because I understand this because I've been doing this myself and I've seen and the same wrestle you have with clients I have myself is them really understanding the power of a live event and why you may have to suffer, let's call it in their eyes, you're going to suffer for the next three, maybe six months of doing live events. So you can literally dial in every little detail, understand every nuance, which also helps you get the understanding of the copy that needs to be updated at the ad level. And then once you've done that pain, then you can go evergreen. But unless, again, just in life and business, unless you're willing to go through the pain and really do this, the split testing and really see what's working, what's not working, what kind of messages are working, what's landing. This hook, that hook, you're just going to be spending way more money than you actually need. You're going to do pain two ways. Your time and energy or your money. And it's, which one do you want?
A
Yeah, but I also, let's put it in perspective. You know, some people become little bitches about stuff that is not really painful. Painful is having to go sell blood plasma to get grocery money. Painful is digging ditches or standing at a window building a billion dollar business where you're wearing a hairnet saying, would you like fries with that? And perhaps a hot apple pie to be able to stand or sit in the comfort of your home talking into a camera and trying to help people solve their problems. If that's painful for you, you may want to reinvent or rather rethink your actual pain thr threshold.
B
Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, so I hear you.
A
Anyway, I'm just, you know, it's so that's why I just, I laugh when people, well, I just want to do this one time have it be perfect and make money. And it's like, that don't work. But what does work is knowing your audience, knowing what they really want, knowing a promise that's going to get them to pay attention, and then figuring out how to deliver on that promise. And once you do that, you figure out the exact language that has the highest number of them doing what you want them to do. And it's a win, win, win. But that doesn't happen overnight.
B
It takes time. So as I'm sitting here, I'm, I'm sad because I could feel we're coming to the end of our, you know, our four, our four day kind of sequence here. We've talked about copywriting as a whole. You and I have talked about long form, short form sales pages. We talked about email sequences today. We've talked a little bit. Well, we talked a lot about the opt in. And I love how you kind of flipped it also into the two different styles of lead gen. And as we come to an end, I, I keep coming up with this idea of if, if someone's sitting there and they're having challenges either in their marketing or challenges in offer creation or challenges just trying to get their product off the ground, what would be in, in all your years? I'm talking years of experience. What are a couple of other, the steps or things that are preventing them from actually going to where they need to go and being successful. And I love it. For those that are not watching right now and listening, he's already writing down the answer. This is why Jim himself is the God of copy over here, I think. What do they call you? The Godfather of copy? Is that your new name?
A
No, if you want to call me that, that's kind of cool. As long as I don't, I don't want a horse head in my bed or anything like that.
B
The goat. The goat of copy, ladies and gentlemen.
A
Right, so, so here's the thing. If you want to be successful, you've got to understand who it is that you're going after. What most people do that they blow the whole thing is they, they create and they, they find a product or invent a product, whether it's a course, a book, a coaching, and then they go in search of an audience. That is, that is the, the biggest sin, the stupidest thing you can do. Okay, I've seen it forever and I got the greatest thing ever. Now I just got to find someone to buy it. That's dumb. What you do is figure out the group of people that you are meant to serve. And typically, that is some group that you were either a part of or that you have somebody that's close to you, that you love, that's a part of that group that's called a native market. And that's the intersection between you and them. This is also where you can tell stories that you can resonate with them, that they'll actually pay attention. Once you know who, then you got to find out, okay, what are the problems? What are the results? What are the questions that they have that they need help with? And really know that. And then say to yourself, okay, what can I do that is unique to me, that fits with my story, that fits with this audience that only I can do? And even if you're doing the same thing that everybody else is doing, it's your story that makes you unique. It's where your soul is. Your stories, your observations, opinions, unique perspective, lessons learned. All that stuff is what's going to sell it. Because ultimately, when people buy the kind of stuff that we're typically selling, they're buying us and they're getting us as a through that thing that they're buying, they're buying a little piece of you. And so you got to know who you're going after. You got to know and what their problems, questions, roadblocks are. You got to be able to come up with an offer that has high, high perceived value. And it's all got to tie back to you so that the whole thing answers the question, why you? Why this? Why now? Why the hell should I pay attention to you? Why should I buy this thing and why should I buy it now? And if you figure all that stuff out, then you are going to be miles ahead of the chuckleheads who just, I want to sell this thing and I'm going to run some ads on Facebook and why am I not rich yet? Because you didn't do this stuff. And you're like, man, that sounds like work. Okay, but this is the thing of you're gonna pay with some brain sweat now thinking about the right stuff, or you're gonna pay with years of struggle and screwing around that's gonna leave you poor and dumb.
B
Yeah.
A
And so if I had to just hunt, if I had to sum the whole thing up, that's it.
B
I would love to. I couldn't agree. I mean, I'm not, I couldn't agree more. It's interesting. The only where you say you, I, I, I, I don't say that, but I love that. Like, and I knew one thing for sure is I tell people and this is so important. So I'm going to answer the question as well just to so people can really understand what was just said there. Understand your avatar. Who is it you're actually going after and what is the problems they have. What are. What are the deepest problems they have and what's the solutions they're looking for. And I love what you said what are the questions they're asking. Then you build an offer around that and then you tie you your story. I love you had the soul acronym. I never even heard that. I love that. But you, you tie your story. Why? What. What's so important about what you can do answering those three questions? Why you? Why this? Why now? Now I just want to say this to people. I'm going to go do that on GPT. No please don't. Or try go try and see what happens. There is nuance. There is such a high level of nuance in all of this. But once you crack I call it cracking that code. You crack the code and all these three pillars. There is no reason why anybody in today's market can't have minimum. And I would love to know if you agree on this minimum if those three things are cracked. A million dollar a year business guaranteed.
A
I think I would say that it is. It's limitless and that's why. But some people who've never made it. I mean like making a million bucks ain't actually that hard unless you've never done it before and then your brain's like eh. So why don't we say at a minimum this could turn into a really nice six figure business quickly for the. For someone who's willing to put in the thought and put in the work and all that other stuff and the difference between six figure business and a million dollar business is just a zero. It's. It's literally just doing it a little more efficiently and. And that kind of stuff. But I will tell you this. Not doing this is a guaranteed way to keep sucking hind tit the rest of your life.
B
I couldn't agree.
A
Mark.
B
Jim, I just want to say. I mean your time is valuable. The. The gold. The gold that's been given throughout this here, this series is just. It's amazing. I'm very excited about it. I know that I personally been writing down notes. I'm going to start implementing all this stuff and I just want to say thank you for those people. I. Listen to me right when I say this. Please listen to this. You can do it the hard way. And take all this free valuable information that Jim has given you and go try to plug it into GPT or whatever next LM there is or AI there is and try it by yourself. Or you can literally do it through a proven system, a proven process after I'm going to call it 4050 years of copywriting from Jim that has literally built an easy plug and play basically a business in a box. If done properly where you don't need to struggle and fight the whole GPT, you can actually get the answers you need. Jim, again, I want to make sure I get that website right it and just tell me again it's copying content AI. Is that correct?
A
Copying content AI absolutely.
B
Go right now copy and content.a I you would the money and time and energy you'll say by going there is night and day. Jim, any last departing words for those entrepreneurs, those marketers, those people sitting there on the edge waiting, waiting for someone to come and save them all hoped up on Hopium I'm using your words, all of that. What is the last departing word piece of advice that you can give?
A
Your ability to communicate your ideas in a way that get people to act, to buy, to try, click sign up or call you on the phone is the difference between having an average life and having an extraordinary life where you are pretty well insulated from all the BS that other people worry about, money, other stuff like that. You learn how to do that and there's no problem you can't solve in your life for real.
Episode Title: How to Build an Opt-In Page That Converts Without Spamming or Manipulating Anyone
Host: Kayvon Kay
Guest: Jim Edwards
Date: April 10, 2026
In this episode of The Vault Unlocked, Kayvon Kay and seasoned direct marketing veteran Jim Edwards break down the real strategies behind building high-converting opt-in pages without resorting to spammy or manipulative tactics. Drawing from decades of experience in both traditional direct mail and modern online marketing, Jim shares the fundamentals, psychological triggers, split-testing insights, and practical tips for founders who want cleaner, more effective lead generation. The conversation covers both the “vending machine” evergreen opt-in approach and the “event” model, providing actionable takeaways for founders at any stage.
A. Framing the Exchange
B. Anatomy of a High-Converting Opt-In
Three Main controllables:
Above the Fold vs. Below the Fold:
A. “Vending Machine” (Evergreen) Approach
B. Event-Based Opt-In
Live webinars, workshops, or trainings convert better due to psychological triggers:
Greater real-time feedback and optimization:
Foundational insight:
“Your ability to communicate your ideas in a way that get people to act…is the difference between having an average life and having an extraordinary life.”
– Jim Edwards (45:29)