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Russell Brunson’s book, DotCom Secrets, is a guide to building high-converting sales funnels.
This book is a go-to for many digital entrepreneurs, so we just had to review it.
In this DotCom Secrets review, we’ll explore who Russell Brunson is and why his secrets are worth sharing.
We’ll also discuss the core topics DotCom Secrets covers and show you how you can start applying them today!
Let’s start uncovering those secrets!
Source: Inc.com
Russell Brunson has always been obsessed with sales and marketing; even as a kid, he’d go through advertising materials for fun.
His unusual hobby must’ve paid off because, in 2003, he created ZipBrander — a viral marketing tool.
He kept creating products, keeping a careful eye on the marketing and sales.
From coupons to software, Brunson cut his teeth in a variety of niches, which ultimately allowed him to understand how sales funnels worked across industries.
ClickFunnels was Brunson’s big break into the more conventional digital marketing space.
ClickFunnels’ features
We’ve got an in-depth review of ClickFunnels if you’re interested in the features and benefits.
What matters is that ClickFunnels is currently the fastest-growing, non-venture-backed software company in the world.
Brunson has sold over 400,000 copies of his books and earned over $3 million during the 10x Growth Conference in 2018.
All in all, Brunson is definitely an experienced entrepreneur who focuses on traffic and funnels.
He has all the credibility needed for us to take his book seriously.
First things first: It’s important to know that DotCom Secrets is meant for the same audience that would use ClickFunnels — so both established and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Since DotCom Secrets deals heavily with ecommerce, you may not find a lot of value in the book if you have a brick-and-mortar store.
However, the sales guidance and techniques can still be applied to a business that isn’t strictly limited to a digital space.
If you’re a newbie, this book might just blow your mind.
If you’re an old hand at digital marketing, it’ll improve the strategies you already have.
No matter your level of experience, Brunson’s easy-to-follow explanations and detailed funnel scripts will take your sales funnels to new heights.
Example of the Value Ladder from the book
Brunson is predominantly practical, so DotCom Secrets is an actionable book.
So much so, that the first chapter primarily deals with exactly how to set the right foundations for sales success.
Unlike other entrepreneurs, Brunson recommends starting your audience research by asking yourself the following 4 crucial questions:
You’ll immediately start thinking about the benefits of your product for your target audience.
Otherwise, you might create a product first and then try to find the right audience — this can be a real waste of time.
But if you start with your audience and create your product with them in mind, you’ll save time and increase your sales.
Here’s how you can implement your market research:
The Value Ladder vs. Sales Funnel from the book
Brunson describes the Value Ladder as the path your customers take from subscribing to the lead magnet towards achieving their goals with the help of your products.
This is a really good paradigm:
“As entrepreneurs, we’re not in the business of selling our products. We’re in the business of helping our customers solve their problems.”
Here are some ways you can implement the Value Ladder in your business today:
After building out your Value Ladder, it’s time to create your sales funnel.
Other “secrets” you’ll find in this chapter include:
And more!
Example of the Attractive Character from the book
In this chapter of DotCom Secrets, Brunson uses his own take on the buyer persona concept to help you visualize your ideal customer.
Instead of thinking of thousands of potential customers, you can simply think of one.
This is the main benefit of this approach; it’s much easier to create your sales funnel for one person that shares characteristics with all of your customers.
You’ll also learn the 5 methods Brunson uses to build instant connections with his leads.
However, the best part of this section is where Brunson talks about lead qualification:
Example of the Seinfeld Method from the book
Brunson also elaborates on the Seinfeld Method — a method in which you email your leads daily but without boring them to bits.
Here’s how you can use this to make your marketing more engaging and hook your leads:
Brunson follows all the best practices of direct response marketing.
These methods are tried and true, so they’re definitely worth taking note of.
Example of a Sales Funnel from the book
Now we’re getting into the thick of it!
The first two sections helped you establish your value and identify your target audience.
Now that you know what you need to do, it’s time to structure it with a sales funnel.
You’ll get quite a few sales funnel scripts, which are great for these 3 reasons:
The 7 phases of a funnel from the book
Brunson also touches on others’ success formulas:
To get hold of the above data for yourself, you’ll need to reverse engineer the sales funnels of successful online businesses in your niche.
You also want to take note of all the different funnel steps and see how your competitors use the above choices and information to tailor their funnel — then follow the same formula but improve on it!
All in all, this is a great chapter — primarily because you can get a script and test it out on your audience, so there’s no need to start from scratch.
It saves time and money.
Finally, the last section of DotCom Secrets helps you create your own funnel.
By this point, you’ve already learned plenty about the makings of a good sales funnel, so you’re ready to apply the knowledge to your own business.
The 23 building blocks of a funnel from the book
Brunson discusses the universal building blocks of successful funnels, such as:
He also shows you how to “stack” funnels, depending on your target audiences.
This is a great way to maximize your earnings out of every customer, instead of just focusing on a particular group.
For example, a lot of people will respond well to email marketing and upsells
However, some won’t want to purchase your standard product or offer, so without a downsell opportunity, you’ll lose revenue.
Source: GIPHY.com
Honestly? Yes.
While Brunson’s motivations are pretty clear (he shows you how to build a sales funnel with his sales funnel builder, ClickFunnels), he at least offers plenty of strategies and actual scripts you can follow to boost your sales.
There are a lot of books about sales and marketing out there.
In general, a lot of books for entrepreneurs are only there to be lead magnets.
When you dive beneath the surface, they’re just repurposed blog content.
DotCom Secrets offers fresh, practical information.
At the core of his theory, Brunson isn’t reinventing the wheel. He’s actually talking about principles observed in the field.
We all have a way of finding new products — that’s a sales funnel in a nutshell — and each of us responds differently to offers.
We certainly share characteristics of ideal customers who buy certain products.
This isn’t just a theory — this exists in the real world.
Example of the 100 visitor test from the book
What Brunson did with DotCom Secrets was structure the knowledge and turn it into an actionable principle.
He offers scripts and methods that cover a lot of ground — from copywriting to increasing your product value and systematizing your target audience.
Even if you don’t use ClickFunnels, you can still absorb this knowledge and put it into practice.
If you want to find out more about sales funnels and apply them to your business to increase your sales, we wholeheartedly recommend this book.
Source: Medium.com
Russel Brunson is a prolific writer, so if you’re interested in his other books, check out our reviews of Expert Secrets, and Traffic Secrets.
Both books cover traffic and funnels and offer plenty of actionable insights.
Finally, once you’ve learned all the lessons from DotCom Secrets, it’s time to build your sales funnel.
The first option, using Brunson’s own ClickFunnels, seems intuitive.
However, if you want a lot more features or the pricing seems too steep, you should consider systeme.io.
systeme.io’s dashboard
Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing platform that allows you to:
And much, much more!
systeme.io’s pricing options
The cheapest ClickFunnels plan is $97/month, and it doesn’t include email automation.
Conversely, the most expensive systeme.io plan is $97/month, and our Freemium plan gives you everything you need to create a tightly integrated sales funnel — website and email marketing included.
Systeme.io is a powerful platform for marketing your business and increasing your sales.
Reading Russell Brunson’s DotCom Secrets is a good idea.
The book is available for free in its digital and audio versions, so get the book but don’t feel obliged to jump on the ClickFunnels bandwagon as well.
We think $97/month is too high a price to pay, especially if you’re just starting your online business journey.
That’s why you should start with systeme.io, an affordable and scalable all-in-one digital marketing platform.
Sign up now, and enjoy all the benefits of our Freemium plan, no credit card details are needed.
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