Selling stuff online can be very challenging, especially if you’re a beginner. So, is it mandatory to read DotCom Secrets in order to be successful online?

 

Well, there are basically 2 options: either you try to figure everything out on your own (i did this unfortunately) or you find someone who has already done it and learn from them.

 

In my opinion, the reason why people decide to do everything on their own is their ego. It takes a huge effort to just say: “OK. Maybe I am not that smart. Maybe I should look for advice from someone with experience.”

 

I know I did. And i’m happy I didn’t waste more time smashing my head against the wall and not understanding why what I was doing wasn’t working.

 

After approximately 1 year of trying to sell stuff online (unsuccessfully), I found Russel Brunson’s first book, DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook For Growing Your Company Online. 

 

To be honest, the thing that convinced me to order it was the price ( $0 ). Yeah … I was a cheap bastard. Was it worth it?

 

Make sure you stay until the end to find out.

DotCom Secrets Review

 

Russell Brunson’s first book is divided into 5 sections. Each of them is meant to teach you a different aspect of a sucessful business.(1)

 

Let’s jump right into it:

 

1st Section: Ladders and Funnels

 

Right from the start, Russell introduces you to his concept, the value ladder. 

 

 

As you can see, this is a visual representation of the products you offer to clients in relation with the level of price you ask.

 

Of course you want people to buy your most expensive product. But offering that right from the start is probably not a good choice.

 

That’s why you offer something small, yet valuable at the beginning. Not only you can get people in your funnel, but they will also be more committed and receptive to what you have to say.

 

Why? Because they already bought something from you.

 

People get scared of high price points, and that’s why you need to offer something cheaper. They are more willing to out their wallets.(2)

 

After you show them that what you have is valuable, you can go up the ladder in order to sell them your more expensive (and valuable) products.

 

After that, you will be introduces to the concept of sales funnels. In short, this is a series of pages that your customers go through.

 

You can’t get people up the value ladder without a sales funnel.

2nd Section: Your Communication Funnel

 

Russell starts this section by introducing you to another one of his concepts, the attractive character.

 

This is your “online personality” that is meant to draw people in your sales funnel. The reason why you need to create an “attractive character” is that of building a loyal subscriber fanbase.

 

 

 

The 4 elements of the attractive characters are:

 

• Backstory (sharing your story)
• Parables (speaking in “parables”)
• Character flaws (revealing your flaws to your audience)
• Polarity (being “polarizing”)

 

Russell then shows you a couple of examples in order for you to have a better understanding of these elements, as well as seeing the big picture of your online persona.

 

After that, he goes into email marketing, showing you some strategies that will help you keep your subscribers engaged.(3)

 

The first strategy is your Soap Opera Sequence. This is a series of emails (typically between 3 and 5) that your subscribers receive after they sign up to your list.

 

It is meant to bond your audience to your attractive character.

 

 

 

 

The big purpose of this sequence is for your audience to want to open your emails and be happy when they receive them.

 

The next email marketing strategy is called the Seinfeld Sequence. This is a never-ending series of emails that is meant to keep your audience engaged and entertained.

 

 

 

If you don’t have a Seinfeld Sequence, your prospects will slowly unsubscribe from your list. Why?

 

Because they will forget about you. That’s why you always need to keep them entertained. Kind of like Seinfeld, right? 🙂

 

Russell says that each email from the Seinfeld Sequence should be about 90% entertainment and just about 10% content. Crazy, right?

 

Try it and see your open rates skyrocket.

3rd Section: Funnelology

 

Here, Russell will take you through the aspects that make a sales funnel successful. It is crucial to understand these aspects, or you will just waste time and money.

 

Russell starts this chapter by saying that you shouldn’t start your funnels from scratch, and to leverage other people’s successful funnels. He then continues with explaining how you should do that.

 

 

 

After that, he takes you through the 7 Phases of a Funnel. In my opinion, the most important phase was the 2nd one, where Russell teaches you how to get your prospects in the right state of mind before offering them something to buy.(4)

 

As I said before, it is crucial to understand these phases in order to maximize your profit from each subscriber, in the same time as offering the maximum amount of value.

 

 

4th Section: Funnels and Scripts

 

Here is where the coolest tips are shared. Russell shows you his most successful sales funnels and takes you through his thinking proccess regarding each step.

 

He introduces you to yet another concept, the OTO (One Time Offer). This is very important to understand because you can really bump up your profits by using one time offers effectively.(5)

 

the 7 funnels that Russell introduces you to are:

 

1. Two Step – Free plus shipping Funnel (this is the funnel that he uses to sell his DotCom Secrets book)
2. Self Liquidating Offer Funnel
3. Continuity Funnel
4. The Perfect Webinar Funnel
5. Invisible Funnel Webinar
6. Product Launch Funnel
7. High Ticket, Three Step application Funnel

 

As you can see, there’s a lot to unpack here. And Russell does an amazing job at explaining the psychology behind each funnel.

5th Section: Clickfunnels

 

Here is where Russell basically pitches you his funnel software, Clickfunnels. This is the next step of his value ladder. Cool, huh?(6)

 

It’s good that he does what he preaches.

 

 

DotCom Secrets Pricing

 

You can find the book on Amazon for $11.34, but in my opinion, it’s better to buy it from Russell’s website for $0 + Shipping. The shipping costs only $7.95.

 

Not only you will buy it cheaper, but you will also be able to see his “two-step” funnel in action.

 

Like this, you will be able to reverse-engineer his funnel with more ease.(7)

 

Again, the best advice I can give you is to start paying more attention when people are trying to sell you stuff online. You can really learn a lot.

Conclusion

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s definitely in my top 3 marketing books.

 

The biggest takeaways for me were the email sequences and the psychology behind the funnels. Russell definitely  provides a lot of value here.

 

If you think about it, this is how you get successful in any business. By giving more than what you receive. For $0, Russell goes above and beyond to teach you about online marketing.