Reviewing DotComSecrets By Russell Brunson
A Manual for
Selling Anything
Online (or Not)?
Starting with a fun fact…did you know that the first online purchase was made in 1994—and some news outlets referred to it as a ““tele-shopping magical experience”? Fast-forwarding to just 2 decades later, this so-called “magical experience” is the norm. | Russell Brunson
Online shopping is arguably the revelation of the 21st century. From a novel concept marred in criticism, it’s now a trillion-dollar industry—that keeps expanding. According to recent statistics, e-commerce sales skyrocketed from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.2 trillion in 2020.
Why is this relevant? The same way the Gold Rush defined the 19th Century, online shopping is set to define the 21st Century—and beyond. Taking advantage of this lucrative trend demands a certain level of finesse, skill, and knowledge. In other words, selling online is an art and science! This is where Russell Brunson and his DotCom Secrets book come in—claiming to hold tried-and-tested “Secrets” to make it big.
The book—which is the first installment of a “Secrets” trilogy—aims to provide readers with actionable information to make the online marketplace your playground. It’s touted to offer the secrets to selling anything to an
online market of over 2 billion shoppers. But as much as e-commerce is an industry that’s ripe for the taking, succeeding as an online entrepreneur is easier said than done.
The Issue with Selling Products and Service Online
According to several sources—including Forbes and HuffPost—up to 90% of online startup fail within 4 months. This points to a serious challenge in the industry. Why are so many online entrepreneurs giving up? And what can be done to change the narrative?
One of the main “thorns in the side” of most online businesses is the lack of conversion and traffic generation. Make a mistake with your digital marketing technique or sales model—and you’re doomed to be part of the “failure statistic.”
It’s imperative to understand that times have changed—along with traffic generation and SEO practices. Some common traffic generation mistakes include:
Content that Doesn’t Offer Value
Content is king! This is a phrase that was popularized by the late Steve Jobs—and it still holds true today. But when it comes to digital marketing, content creation can be a complex endeavor.
When people first learned of the importance of content, many churned out blog content in a factory-esque zeal—paying little regard to the quality of the value of their posts. But as expected “checks-and-balances” soon followed in the form of improvement to the Google algorithm. Those who focused on quantity over quality endured the full wrath of the search engine.
My point is that the content you share should be of great value to prospects – i.e. if you hope to generate traffic. Russell Brunson’s DotComSecrets highlight this issue through the concept of a funnel.
Using the Wrong Conversion Strategy
Unscrupulous SEO Practices
Sure, keywords are important for search engine optimization—but just like most things in life, overdoing it does more harm than good. Stuffing keywords into your content or using any other “Black Hat” SEO practices might seem like a fast and easy route to ranking higher for traffic generation—but is it really the best way to go about it? The harm such practices can do to your SEO tactic is immense.
When you use keywords, make sure you approach the subject strategically – unless you want to risk receiving a spam flag. Instead, opt for tried-and-tested SEO tactics that improve your odds of attracting traffic. Case in point, the purpose of Russel Brunson’s “Secrets” trilogy of books.
Failure to Act on Best Practices
Luckily, Internet Marketing books are readily available to anyone who has an interest in making it big with regard to selling online. There are different books that offer different success strategies to perfect your marketing skills. However, these resources can only help you overcome low traffic and lead generation problems if you leverage and actualize their lessons – which brings us to the main point of this article. What “lessons” does DotCom Secrets provide? And if there are valuable as advertised, how can you make the best of them?
DotComSecrets in a Nutshell
1st Edition (2015): Dotcomsecrets—The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online
2nd Edition (2020): Dotcom Secrets—The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online with
Sales Funnels.
Author: Russell Brunson
Website: dotcomsecrets.com
E-book ISBN: 9781401960605
Audiobook ISBN: 9781977309679
Hardcover ISBN: 9781401960469
What Makes DotComSecrets Different from Other Internet Marketing Books?
There are tons of internet marketing books—each with their own perspective and nugget of wisdom. So, what makes DotCom Secrets worth my consideration? Well, I was first attracted to the book due to its backstory and underlying factors. In particular, the author’s experiences and the purported purpose of the book.
A Sneak Peek into the Author – Russell Brunson
Born in the 80s, Russell grew up as a normal kid. His father (Ross Brunson) and mother (Marde Brunson) made sure they supported him in every way—as any good parents should. But despite his typical upbringing, Russell showed a unique passion for collecting junk, and venturing into any business offer that came his way made him differ from other kids his age. Some of his notable achievements that make his proposition even more convincing include:
At just the age of 25, Russell created a product— “How to Create A Potato Gun”—which was purposed to help its buyers and act as an upsell. This was his first venture into the online marketing industry. After his college graduation, the potato gun project earned him decent figures—and poised him for a future in online business.
In 2003, his prowess in online marketing manifested through a one-of-a-kind marketing tool known as Zip Brander. Its purpose was to automatically increase backend profits and boost the number of prospects visiting a website.
In 2014, he took a big step in his career by co-founding the company, Clickfunnels (also known as Etison LLC) along with Todd Dickerson. The software company grew into a million-dollar one and had over 100,000 paying customers in the first three years since it was launched.
He later decided to share his success stories and inspire people. He wrote and published his “secrets” books—one of them being DotCom Secrets, which became a best seller with 250,000+ copies.
In 2018 he coached over 206 ordinary people into millionaires using his software, training, and teachings and later assembled as part of the “2 Comma Club” (PS: The club’s name is derived from the commas on $1,000,000).
Purpose of the Book
Do you want to excel in the lucrative e-commerce industry? Of course, you do! Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this post in the first place. DotComSecrets claims to offer a solution to this universal goal by targeting the most common challenges facing online businesses – generating traffic and converting prospects.
Over the years, the question of why a website gets low traffic—or has traffic but generates low leads—has on several occasions, gone unanswered. Russell realized that there were too many companies going to a fall due to low traffic and conversions.
But with Russell encountering the same problems many of us encounter and succeeding, DotComSecrets gets a point. As highlighted earlier, the book Dotcom Secrets aims to provide the secrets to getting more traffic and increasing conversion rates. The author includes sales scripts, marketing funnels, and other strategies to sell online.
If you have been active in the online industry or digital marketing, you might have heard whispers of Russell and his books. Although DotComSecrets was originally released in 2015, the book still causes a stir in the industry to-date. Unsurprisingly, it has racked up quite a number of positive reviews—partly due to the relevance of the information, which is relatable to most.
Why Read DotComSecrets in the First Place? – Potential Benefits
Just like a recipe book, Dotcom Secrets is organized in a step-by-step format—making sure you have all the ingredients and instructions necessary. The book not only contains “how-to” questions, but also the guidelines to conquering the questions. Here are some benefits of reading the book (based on my personal experience/opinion).
The book is for all businesses, whether a new one or an already existing one.
For the new businesses, you get to learn the importance of a funnel and the book goes to show you how to create one.
For the social media “holics”, you get to learn how you can use your social media hobby to attract your ideal customer.
It will help you understand your clients’ needs so that you can major in offering the best.
Once you know the type of client that can benefit from your product, you can devise better ways to reel them in.
You will learn the importance of quality over quantity—and how you can score loyal customers in the process.
However, the benefits above are merely my take on the book after combing through its page. The key question remains; is DotComSecrets valuable for YOU? Is worth buying, reading, or incorporating it into your business strategy? Read on for a summary of what is in the book.
What Should You Expect inside Russell Brunson’s Dotcom Secrets (1st Edition)?
Now to what really matters—the actual content housed between the covers of the book. As elaborated below, the DotComSecrets is structured in five sections—with each of them addressing a different purpose, style, or strategy.
Ladder and funnels – SECTION 1 Here
We always want to sell the most expensive product or the best services to our customers. But in a practical online setting this more of a fairy tale. In reality, clients often don’t have the courage and trust to take on high-value products.
Russell Brunson begins by introducing the value ladder. This is designed to help you visualize the services or products you offer—starting from the lowest to the highest in terms of prices. On the lowest point, the customers are more willing to purchase your products/services, but as they get comfortable, they turn to your most expensive products—which of course have more value than those lower in the ladder.
The sales funnel model proposed by Russel is designed to help you capture customers in ascending order. But before this, he insists on the need of knowing who your dream customers are. Russel goes ahead to divide website traffic into 3 different parts—which I’ll only mention since I don’t want to spoil the fun for you.
The traffic you control
The traffic you don’t control
The traffic you own
Your Communication or Follow-up Funnel – SECTION 2
The same way you are “attracted” to Brunson and his ideas is the same way your customers should be “attracted” to you. Brunson describes an attractive character as an important aspect of making your sales funnel strategy thrive. In this case, the attractive character refers to someone that the target customers or rather ideal clients can relate to.
In my opinion, the most interesting part of this section is the last bit. He gives scripts of how you can send emails to the customers who have already signed up for your offering or proposition. In particular, he elaborates his “daily Seinfeld sequence” email strategy.
Funnelology – SECTION 3
A successful funnel is one that has been designed based on tactics derived from what works – i.e., other successful funnels. This section is meant to encourage you to take advice from experienced professionals who have succeeded funnel-wise—and leverage it for your growth Russel highlights 5 elements of different campaigns that are successful—including lessons on reverse-engineering the structure of your competitor’s funnel. He also highlighted 7 more phases associated with a funnel:
To make you understand the different phases he states that: “The real difference between having a six-, seven-, or even eight-figure business is whether you understand the phases of a funnel and can successfully monetize the different points along the line” The last part of the chapter covers all the twenty-three block builders of a funnel. He compared creating a funnel to matching different blocks together. I really found this part more practical and workable.
Funnels and Scripts – SECTION 4
This section consists of extremely amazing ways that you can use to promote your funnels or product offerings. Russell Brunson states that the offers should follow a specific rule to emerge into a perfect One Time Offer (OTO). He goes ahead to give the trick he uses to create his funnels and how they work.
The final part of this chapter covers the different types of funnels i.e.
Frontend funnel
Middle and value ladder funnel
Backend funnel
Clickfunnels – SECTION 5
This being the last section, Russell Brunson takes the opportunity to advertise his product – Clickfunnels. If you happened to miss what Clickfunnels is, it’s a multi-million-dollar SaaS software company that Russell Brunson—in partnership with Todd Dickerson—brought created. I believe this section also serves to motivate readers to strive for similar height as ClickFunnels.
How Does DotComSecrets Compare with Other Books by Russell Brunson?
Dotcom Secrets vs Expert Secrets
Dotcom Secrets majors on people who have companies that need more traffic conversion and online sales growth. On the other hand, Expert Secrets is primarily focused on helping new and established businesses cement themselves as experts.
Dotcom Secrets vs Traffic Secrets
Dotcom Secrets elaborates on the processes that you need to follow to understand your customers’ price range using a “value ladder”, how you can create good communication with them, and how you can create or grow your funnels. Traffic Secrets on the other hand majors on how to know your dream customer and fill your funnels—plus several growth hacks you can use.
DotCom Secrets Pricing
Official Website: FREE (you only cover shipping costs of $9.95 in the U.S. or $19.95 internationally)
Amazon: $21-74 (Hardcover) or $12.99 (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble: $26.99 (Hardcover) or $12.99 (NOOK Book)
Wait, why is the book free only if you purchase it from the official website? This is actually part of what Russell Brunson teaches in his books and seminars. It’s a way to engineering successful funnels by offering the book free—and effectively luring you into his “value ladder” with the hope that you’ll climb higher.
Only $7.95 and you have a book that could change your life status forever.
Bonuses
As an added advantage, DotCom Secrets comes with Free bonuses as shown below:
The 3 Core Funnels eBook ($47
Network Marketing Secrets eBook ($47)
Funnel Audibles ($97)
108 Split Test Winners eBook ($47)
30-Day DotCom Secrets Challenge ($97)
Pros and Cons of Dotcom Secrets
Why should you order DotComSecrets? And why shouldn’t you order the book? Here are some advantages and disadvantages I picked up on while reading the book. This information is also based on information from the views of other readers on the internet.
PROS
- One of the biggest advantages of using Dotcom Secrets is the fact that you get to know the value ladders and sales funnels that can add value to your marketing strategies and scripts.
- The book is free if ordered from the official website! Having such a wealth of knowledge for with little-to-no dent on your budget seems too good of a deal. Of course, you have to cover the shipping fee—but it’s still pocket-friendly at $9.95.
- The book has simple strategies that are clear and precise—making it easy to understand and enforce in a practical setting.
- You learn ways of communicating with your audience thus improving your relationship with customers.
CONS
- The fact that it majors on online businesses is a bit of a disadvantage to brick-and-mortar stores.
- The book will be of great help only if you have an existing business—although it can somehow suit start-ups.
Testimonials
There is no better way to rate a book or determine its suitability than from the horse’s mouth – i.e., previous customers. If you care to know that actual buyers think of DotComSecrets, here are snapshots of a few examples:
All in All, Should you Get a Copy of DotComSecrets?
If you have invested several cents on your online marketing platform and you are currently not yielding the results you expected, then yes! DotComSecrets is loaded with actionable strategies—or “Secrets” as Brunson calls them—to sell products online.
The book contains valuable information that you will need to make your funnel, pull valuable traffic, and generate leads, and convert them into paying customers – i.e., sell products by pushing them down the funnel. The tips offered by Russell can also help startups pick up the pace for long-term sustainability – hence evading the 90% startup failure rate highlighted earlier in the article.
In short, I believe Russell Brunson is a great author and an inspiration to aspiring online entrepreneurs. As an expert in the field of online marketing and an individual who has endured similar problems to his readers, his books are worth reading.
With all this in mind, consider ordering a free copy of DotComSecrets. Preliminary information from this review gives the book a thumbs up – now it’s up to you to determine whether the “Secrets” are applicable to your business model and unique needs.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Please note that this Expert Secrets review contains affiliate links. I am an independent affiliate of Expert Secrets products and not an employee. The review and opinion highlighted in this article are my own and they are in no way official statements by eBusiness4us or Expert Secrets. | Russell Brunson
Gary is the founder and owner at Digital Review Boss & Snappy Sales Video, a Brighton-based video production companies, who has a deep obsession with making videos as often as possible and how to optimise websites for brand awareness and conversions.
sales funnel, Russell uses the example of someone visiting a grocery store. Let’s assume that your website is the grocery store. The conventional website (i.e., one that does not leverage the power of sales funnels to nurture leads and improve conversion) is like someone wandering around in a messy grocery store. The right goods are available, the services are great—but the customers are overwhelmed and they don’t know what they need. Such a customer may leave without checking out – i.e., leads leak out of the sales funnel.
The HubSpot Growth Platform delivers everything you’d expect from a typical sales funnel—plus tools to accommodate all your marketing and service needs. All-in-all, it’s a great resource for attracting leads, delighting, engaging prospects, and retaining customers.
It’s a SaaS solution that gives creators all the tools they need to launch their products. The platform houses a truckload of templates to build webinar pages, sales pages, or landing pages. As a sales funnel software, Kajabi offer features to guide users through your course in a step-by-step format. Like the other platforms on this list, it also provides one-click upsells, email automation, and customizable checkouts. Its pricing starts at $119 per month—which is relatively higher than its competitors’ and may not suit startups or small businesses.
If so, LeadPages might be the sales funnel solution you need. It offers an easy-to-use interface (ideal for beginners or web design novices) and dozens of engaging templates.
Traffic is key to the success of any online business, period! You may have the best products, services, and conversion process—but if you can’t generate traffic, your funnel is useless. Brunson reiterates this statement in the synopsis to his latest book (Traffic Secrets). “The biggest problem that most entrepreneurs have isn’t creating an amazing product or service. It’s getting the future customers to discover they even exist. Every year tens of thousands of businesses start and fail because the entrepreneurs don’t understand this one essential skill, the art, and science of getting traffic or people to find you.”
Resource: Learning about how value ladders and sales funnels can add value to different marketing strategies may prove to be a game-changer for most businesses.
perk is self-explanatory. It’s the perfect bait—and we’re willingly going to bite the hook. For a book with as much value as DotCom Secrets, a 
you’ll realize in the next section, DotCom Secrets has managed to amass tons of positive reviews and sold hundreds of thousands of copies over the years. For most, this is the only proof they need to buy the book.
Sales Pitch: As you progress towards the final pages of the book, you can’t help but notice Brunson’s attempt to sell his ClickFunnels Software. While it’s understandable from an objective point of view, not all readers take kindly to the approach (*check out
What about offline business? Huh? Even as businesses relocate to online markets, there are those that rely on brick-and-mortar stores due to the nature of their industry. DotCom Secrets does not offer an actionable solution for 
Well, this depends on your answers to the next questions. Do you think your business could benefit from techniques and strategies used by an expert in online business? Do you want to learn how to build sales funnels that convert? Are you willing to read through, even with the author’s evident attempts to sell ClickFunnels through the book? If yes, then