Philosopher Vernon Howard once said, “ If we believe in the necessity of trying to win over others, we will also believe in the need for wearisome scheming. ”

Let’s not scheme. Let’ s not try to win people over to our web sites. Instead, let ’ s focus on what They Want. Let’ s focus on their pleasure, not their pain. The more you can deliver the good that people long for, the more people will almost hypnotically be drawn to you and your website.

Remember, we said we don ’ t think we need to add to the bleakness of the world. So we ’ re going to be bold and say let ’ s delete step one altogether.

If you focus on pain, you surely get people ’ s attention. You are speaking to their greatest concern. Have you noticed how often ads on television and in newspapers focus on pain to get your attention? The method works. But we don ’ t want to add to the pain in the world. Since a basic truth in psychology is that people get more of whatever they focus on, we don ’ t even want to mention the pain. So let ’s try creating a basic hypnotic message with just the other three steps:

1. Promise

2. Proof

3. Price

Here ’ s how it might work. In step one, you round up your audience by focusing on what they want. An example might be “Want to play the guitar fast and easy? ” You then go to step two and offer proof.

For example, “ Amy ’ s Stripped Down Guitar Method promises to teach you how to play your favorite song in one weekend flat.” Finally, in step three, you ask for their order by mentioning the price: “ For only $ 19.99, you can be playing the guitar at the end of this weekend. Just click here. . .”

There you have it. You created a basic hypnotically written message and didn ’ t cause people to feel bad at all. Your fi nal piece of writing might look like this: “ Want to play the guitar in one weekend fl at? Amy ’ s Stripped Down Guitar Method e - book shows anyone how to do it, guaranteed or your money back. Click here to pay $19.99 and download it right now. ”

Not bad for a few minutes work. But is that good enough for your web site?

And how do you apply this to your website, anyway? Just keep reading. . .