(Takeaway selling is based on fact that "people don't know how much they want something until it's about to be taken away from them." It's supply-and-demand mentality: rarer or less available something is, more people want it. And it's also one of reasons behind success of private sites.)

Add a deadline to your offer, or limit number of products you sell (or number of new members you allow to join). But there is a caveat: to make sure that people believe your need to limit offer, give a reasonable, logical explanation to justify your time-sensitivity -- or else your tactic will be instantly discredited. (How many "time-limited" offers have you seen on web that are totally false or misleading?)

If you add a deadline or limit number of members, you must explain why you're doing so. Here's an example of what I put on some sales letters I've written -- they sell memberships to private sites and offer personal consulting to their members:

Example #1:

"To be candid with you, I don't know how long I'm going to keep doors open to new members because this information is extremely sensitive and limited. I don't want to dilute value of this information for my paid members. If you were a member, wouldn't you want same, too? So, I must restrict number of users for quality control purposes."

(In this case, it is very true. The author sells access to a limited number of "hot" real estate opportunities that he finds through his unique system, which he also teaches his members. If too many people join and get their hands on opportunities or system, it will surely lower value of information to member-base, and contradict purpose of site. Otherwise, why would one join?)

Example #2:

"We're only human, and there are only so many hours in a day (and so many people we can physically attend to)! So, in order to limit number of hours we do provide, we must put a cap on number of new members for obvious reasons. We can only guarantee that people who sign up through [date] will qualify for membership, completely custom-tailored consulting support and this incredible set of free bonuses worth over $[amount]! 'You snooze, you lose'. So, don't wait. Join NOW!"

(This example demonstrates importance of support they offer private members and, at same time, drives home idea that such a service is limited. I'm sure owners can hire part-time help if need ever arose. But nothing can replace expertise that comes from straight experts -- more people join, less time they have.)

3) People are instinctively curious. And nothing piques curiosity more than something that's secret, rare, private, unavailable, exclusive, limited, scarce, uncommon, prohibited, hidden, etc. The unknown drives people's interest. They love having dibs on something that's not readily available (especially if it gives them an edge over competition before they know about it).

So, use words like "private site," "exclusive members area," "insider access" or "restricted vault." Moreover, people love not only hidden information but also idea that it's all put together into a single place that's easy to access, learn and digest. It all comes down to a matter of convenience.

Expressions like "secret formula," "custom checklist," "unique process," "specialized system" and so on all help to heighten perceived value because they imply less time, money and effort in finding that same information. As an example, when I write copy for private sites, I use terms such as: "Proficiency Program," "Secret Formula," "Inner Circle," "Hidden Vault," "Mentoring System," "Treasure Trove," "Coveted Toolkit," etc.

Even though such phrases are truly qualifying product as a whole (i.e., entire private minisite) and not one specific item, formula or system, it still helps to make product a little more tangible and convenient in visitor's mind. It also adds a certain mystique to it. Use it to your advantage!

4) Finally, put a numerical value on any benefit you promise, be it in dollars or hours. And make it an odd number, for they are more believable than even or rounded numbers. (That's why, for example, Ivory said it's "99 and 44/100% pure." If Ivory had said "100%," it wouldn't have been as believable.)

In fact, here's a rule of thumb. A true benefit is one that's:

1) Quantifiable, 2) Measurable and 3) Time-bound.

One private site, whose copy I recently critiqued, offers golf training to its members. But originally, one benefit promised, "You will hit stronger drives." I told owner to replace it with, "My unique, mentoring system will show you how to boost your drives by as much as 27 yards in less than 30 days."

The word "yards" makes benefit measurable, word "27" makes it quantifiable and words "30 days" make it time- bound. Now, that's a clear, cogent and compelling benefit!

Nevertheless, if you're an Internet marketer or entrepreneur, private minisite may be product for you. But realize that number of memberships you successfully sell will hinge greatly on words and expressions used in your sales copy. If you ignite your site with killer copy, you will detonate your response rate.

Do you want to continue joint ventures? Were you making money on all these pop-up windows?

There are other ways to cross promote without abusing pop-up windows:

- Try a Resource Center on your site. Do link exchanges with other businesses. Even charge some money for a leading sponsor of your resource center. You can promote this on your main page, or even have one small pop-up window reminding your potential client to visit your resource center.

- Design your site with a column to left or right that you can trade links with other businesses and add them to your main page on columns. This is eye catching, and much less annoying then tons of pop-up windows

These are just a couple things you can do to get rid of those pop-up windows. Do you realize how many businesses are losing customers by abusing these pop-up windows? It will astound you.

If you DO over use pop-up windows, please get rid of them, and if you don't use them but are thinking about it in order to gain promotion, DON'T DO IT.

We all want to attract customers and get them to surf our site. The best way to do this is to keep it simple. Have easy navigation and no distractions. People know what they want and what they are looking for. That is why they are at your site in first place. Do not make it confusing for them.