Coming across wild, sensational headlines can be very entertaining.

If they’re done correctly, you can’t help but read the story.

Here are some great ones I came across:

• The Fart That Ended in Aggravated Assault

• 21 Reasons to Hate Kids

• Why Successful People are Douchebags

• China Is Making Its Own Moon?

• Read This Or Die

So yes, using sensational headlines can be a great way to grab someone’s attention. However, your reader is going to go into your story with certain expectations.

And if those expectations aren’t met soon enough, then the reader is going to feel like he or she got click-baited.

Or if you use it too often, it’ll get old real fast.

Here’s a great example:

There’s a YouTube content creator who makes videos about real estate and investing. Now, don’t get me wrong, but the content itself he puts out is great. However, lately I think his use of sensational video titles has been overdone. And a lot of the time, the titles have nothing to do with the actual content, which is what makes this an issue. Plus, it’s gotten repetitive.

But those are just my opinions.

If the titles work and continue to work, then by all means, there’s nothing wrong with continuing.

Don’t fix what’s not broken, right?

My point is:

If you use sensational titles, make sure you meet your reader’s expectations quickly before the feeling of getting click-baited starts to seep into them, especially if you’re writing wild subject lines.

To learn more about email copywriting, get yourself a copy of How to Become an Email Titan.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

Just want to put that out there for the people who take life a little too seriously.

Now we got that out of the way, let’s talk about where that title came from.

It came from Scarface, a movie I decided to finally watch all the way through for the first time a few weekends ago.

Personally, drug and crime related movies are not really my go-to’s, but man, can they be enjoyable to watch.

And Scarface was no exception.

If you haven’t watched it, I’ll sum it up in a few bullet points (Spoiler alert):

• Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee arrives in Miami with a group of friends.

• Frank, a drug lord in Miami takes him and his friends under his wing and gets them involved in his drug business.

• Tony forms a partnership with an international drug lord, Alex Sosa, then starts his own operation killing Frank off in the process, literally.

• Tony is about to be imprisoned for tax evasion, but Alex Sosa offers to keep Tony out of prison using his connections in exchange for assassinating someone who’s trying to expose Sosa’s operation.

• Tony calls off the plan enraging Sosa and causes him to send a group to Tony’s house to kill him.

As I watched the movie, I noticed a common theme.

Trust, or a lack thereof.

It was mentioned a lot throughout the movie and caused a lot of deaths.

For example:

1. When Tony went to Bolivia with Frank’s right-hand man, Omar Suarez, to meet Alex Sosa, Alex found out Omar used to be a police informant and stressed the fact that he doesn’t tolerate disloyalty. Even when Sosa agreed to partner with Tony, he warned, “Don’t f*ck me Tony, don’t ever try to f*ck me.”

2. As Tony’s operation grew, he went to a banker regularly to help him launder his money. But as the fees grew, one of Tony’s friends suggested working with a mob, but Tony was hesitant, saying he doesn’t trust them. Turns out, he was right because the mob boss he ended up hiring turned out to be an undercover cop.

3. And finally, when Tony betrayed Alex Sosa by killing one of his henchmen who was supposed to assassinate the man who tried to expose Sosa’s entire operation, which caused a group of Sosa’s men to invade Tony’s house and end his life.

It just goes to show no matter what business you’re in (Legal or illegal, Ethical or unethical), trust is an important thing to maintain, between your partners and customers.

Of course, it has to be built first, and one of the ways to do it is through familiarity, i.e. writing and sending good emails on a consistent basis.

That’s where How to Become an Email Titan comes in. More info using the link below.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

I’ve seen young people do a lot of things to try to gain some level of clout on social media.

Doing trendy TikTok dances, life-threatening challenges, pranks that are pretty much considered harassment.

But until a few days ago, I’ve never seen anyone do this:

Faking a medical disorder for social media clout.

Specifically, one special individual who pretended to have Tourette syndrome.

Yes you read that right.

I never thought I’d see the day where faking disorders would become a social media trend, but it is what it is.

Seeing that makes me glad I don’t spend much time on social media anymore.

I deleted my Instagram and Twitter account.

Never bothered to try TikTok.

I still have Facebook and LinkedIn, but I no longer have their mobile apps installed on my phone making it inconvenient for me to use the platforms. As a result, I only spend a maximum of five minutes a week, sometimes every two weeks on them.

Nowadays, email is pretty much my version of “social media,” which is conveniently on-brand for me (Being an email copywriter).

But going back to social media trends:

I truly believe those who piggyback on trends to gain clout aren’t going to get what they want. Time has shown again and again that whatever trends emerge will disappear just as quickly. And when these people build a following through trends, they’re building a fanbase on a flimsy foundation. Unless they capitalize on the momentum, it’ll only be a matter of time before they’re forgotten.

And yes, it is possible to build a fanbase, or customer base if you want to speak business terms, through email. I’ve seen other people do it, and I’ve seen the progress for myself too (Slowly but surely).

If you want to learn more about that, check out my email copywriting book.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

-Ellisen

I remember that one of my former business coaches told me that when people enter your business world either through joining your email list or buying a product or service of yours, you shouldn’t say thank you to them.

When she told me that, I think she meant that people who are entering your business world are the ones seeking help from you, so they’re the ones that should thank you for solving their problems and improving their lives. And that it’s a privilege to be learning from you.

In a way, she’s right.

If you’re offering something that’s helpful, solves a major problem, and is taught in a unique way, then yes, it should be a privilege. I believe even something as ordinary as joining your email list should be a privilege.

But then again, these are the same people who are literally funding your livelihood. They’re helping you pay for your housing, food, clothes, and utilities. Not to mention, keeping your business alive. So in a way, you need them as much as they need you.

It’s ironic too since she preaches expressing gratitude and all that good stuff.

With that said, I’m not suggesting she’s a bad person. Quite the opposite, plus she helped me set the foundation for my online business knowledge.

And I’m pretty certain that she really is grateful for her clients.

So no, I’m not attacking her as a person, I have absolutely nothing against her. I just wanted to share that ironic thought.

But going back to the email list, I do think people should start treating their list more as an exclusive community than just an ordinary list.

For example, I refuse to keep freeloaders and people who just join my list only to take up space (Loiterers, if you will) on my email list.

And if you have your own email list, I’m sure you know the type of people I’m talking about.

Freeloaders: The ones who opt-in only to get the free resource that they probably won’t even bother to put to use anyways.

And the loiterers: The ones who opt-in…and that’s it. They don’t even open the email that contains your free resource, which I don’t understand at all.

I don’t have anything against these people, but it’s a shame on what they’re missing out on.

Not only daily emails, but my own product (Including future products), recommended resources, even copywriting client work opportunities that I don’t even charge a referral fee for, which I should, and probably will start doing in the future.

But, if you want to check out the only existing email copywriting product I have at the moment, use the link below.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

And in a podcast, she explained how she built her audience and overall online presence over the years.

She broke it down into two simple steps:

1. She used her “assets” to build an initial audience fast, because if you follow mainstream music, you’ve probably noticed that sex sells. That’s just the truth.

2. Little by little, she revealed her personality to her audience.

Now she can post whatever type of content she wants and her audience will enjoy it regardless. And the people who were initially hooked because of her “assets” don’t care whether or not she shows them off anymore.

Why?

Because they’re now hooked on her personality.

She knew exactly what she was doing, and it was smart of her to use that strategy too.

And I can already imagine some people arguing, “I don’t have the same ‘assets,’ it’s not fair!” To which I’d reply:

Tough.

But also, you won’t be needing it when it comes to building an audience in business.

Does that include email list building?

Of course. It’s the same concept.

Lure people into your email list with an irresistible offer. Free or paid. It’s completely up to you.

Then consistently send emails that are full of your personality.

Because in the end, people will join your email list only because they want to get their hands on your offer, but they stay because they enjoy your personality.

If you want to learn more about writing emails, go to the link below.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

And rightfully so because my classmates would see me with that toy in my hand every single day.

Ever since the day I saw one of my friends play with the cube, I’ve been obsessed with figuring out how to solve it and how to solve it as fast as possible.

Watching other people solve the cube in seconds was fun too. I believe the world record is just under five seconds.

As impressive as that already is, sometimes that gets a bit stale to watch too.

And just when I thought it couldn’t get better, my dad showed me this video.

It was a video of a 12 year old boy who solved three rubik’s cubes at the same time…

While juggling.

And it was definitely legitimate. He did it on stage in front of an audience with an official Guinness World Record adjudicator to witness the act.

That’s not all.

I even saw another boy from India who solved three rubik’s cubes as well, but in a different way. He solved one with his left hand, one with his right, and the third one with his feet.

His record: One minute and thirty seconds.

This just goes to show that there are many different ways to achieve something.

Who knows, maybe one day someone will hold a world record of solving a rubik’s cube with only one foot.

The same thing is true when it comes to email copywriting.

I’ve seen people write emails that are short and sweet.

Some are written in an editorial style.

Others are aggressive sales pitches.

Although some of them I’d never do, if they work for others, then that’s fine.

But if you’d like to learn my way, then check out How to Become an Email Titan.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample

I wanted to write about this for a while now, but it got buried and I eventually forgot about it. But not anymore.

Anyways, the tweet said,

———-

I heard a thing on a podcast this weekend, how Americans are really good at acute compassion, but really bad at chronic empathy.

We, without question, haul strangers out of a raging flood, give blood, give food, give shelter. But we are lousy at legislating safe, sustainable communities, at eldercare, at accessible streets and buildings.

It is the long-term work that makes the disasters less damaging. But we don’t want to give to the needy, we want to save the endangered.

We don’t like being care workers, we want to be heroes.

———-

I think there’s a lot more to it than just what was said, so let’s zoom in on this for a bit.

First off, I think one of the reasons why this is the case is that us humans naturally procrastinate. We tend to not take action on something unless it’s seriously urgent. Hence, why we want to save the endangered rather than helping the needy.

The first example I can think of is animals. People don’t establish protection programs for animals until they’re officially classified as an endangered species.

But we see this when it comes to school, doing assignments the day before they’re due.

Our health, not getting medical attention unless the symptoms become absolutely unbearable.

Or when it comes to purchasing decisions, and not buying someone with a promotional deal until the expiration date is near.

And I think the other thing is the idea of short term recognition vs long term fulfillment.

I remember one thing the Executive Director of the startup non-profit I interned at said that he didn’t like the idea of volunteering at soup kitchens and things like that because a lot of people ultimately do it to make themselves feel better. They do it for a weekend or two, but if you ask those same people to dedicate more time to helping out the lower income neighborhoods, not all of them are going to say yes.

And before you think, “He can’t say something like that, who does he think he is?”

My answer:

He is a man who’s dedicating the rest of his life to building an organization with the mission to make the world a better place. I know, it sounds cheesy and broad, but he’s definitely putting money where his mouth is.

Another example, let’s talk about the whole racial justice situation.

I remember when Blackout Tuesday happened, everyone on social media posted a picture of a black square. My friend’s friend posted a black square on Instagram then messaged my friend, “Hey, aren’t you going to post it too?”

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but question…

Out of everyone who participated in these social media racial justice movements, how many of them genuinely care about the issue, and how many of them participated just because it’s the trendy, cool thing to do and they want the attention and digital likes from their peers?

And when they’re in a situation where they have to stand up for the cause they’re supporting, will they actually do it, or will they just turn their backs?

I’ll leave that to you.

But going back to the Twitter post, it’s true it’s the long term effort that produces the greatest results, and that’s true in any case.

Especially when it comes to email marketing. It’s not something where you’ll see overnight sales. It takes time to build your email list with quality people, it takes time to master email copywriting, and it takes time to build products and services to sell, and it takes time to build a relationship with your subscribers so they trust you and the things you sell.

If you want to learn more on the email copywriting side, check out How to Become an Email Titan.

https://EllisenWang.com/email-titan-sample