Dotcom Secrets Review By Russell Brunson: Is It Worth Reading in 2025?

Hey there! Welcome to my Dotcom Secrets review.

The majority of reviews on the web are outdated (1st edition), sugar-coated, or misleading.

This is NOT one of them.

I’m going to be brutally honest, and I hope it’s helpful to you in making a decision. By the end, you’ll know everything necessary to make an informed decision. Personally, I think you’ll understand why Dotcom Secrets is the best marketing book on sales funnels for small businesses, even if it’s a bit aggressive upselling.

Now, let’s get started!

Quick Verdict: Is Dotcom Secrets Worth It?

Yes. Dotcom Secrets is worth reading for small business owners who want to grow their business online with sales funnels. But ONLY if you’re ready to change your mind and take action on what you learn.

Look, 9,000+ customers gave this 4.7 stars on Amazon and 4.2 on Goodreads. Either they’re all drinking Russell Brunson’s Kool-Aid, or the book actually teaches something useful. (Spoiler: it’s useful. Even bots couldn’t manufacture that many legitimate reviews without getting caught.)

For just $9.95 for the shipping cost. That’s less than one wasted Facebook ad.

Here’s what you get:

• The proven frameworks Russell Brunson (the author) used to grow his software company (Clickfunnels) from $0 to $100M in just 3 years.
• 10 proven funnel types and sales scripts at each stage in those funnels, so you can model or tweak them to better fit your business.
• Real examples from e-commerce stores, software companies, coaching businesses, and local services. You’ll see how businesses like yours implemented these funnels and frameworks.
• Psychology principles that explain why people buy and how to guide their decisions

The frameworks still work in 2025 and beyond because they’re based on human psychology. People don’t change how they make buying decisions. You’re learning principles that will work 5 years from now, not some trendy tactic that will be outdated next month.

Yes, Russell sells ClickFunnels inside the book. Some people complain about the $9.95 shipping when he says “free book.” I get it. That feels weird. But it’s cheaper than buying from Amazon and other booksellers.

Get this book if you run an online business and need to understand funnels. You don’t need it if you are a professional marketer or own a local business, such as a bakery or coffee shop.

What Is Dotcom Secrets? (Book Overview)

Dotcom Secrets, by Russell Brunson, is a comprehensive sales funnel guide that converts visitors into customers. It was first published in 2015 and updated in 2020.

Does this sound familiar?

• You’re offering good products.
• You’re working 60-hour weeks.
• You’re modeling what successful businesses do on their websites and landing pages.
• You’re burning through your ad budget, hoping something clicks.

But nothing works. Your bank account isn’t growing.

Your ad costs keep climbing. One algorithm change from Google or Facebook kills your traffic overnight.

You feel like you’re doing everything right, but you’re still losing.

That’s not your fault. You don’t have a TRAFFIC or CONVERSION problem. 

The problem is you can’t spend enough to acquire a customer.

Ultimately, the business that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.

Dan Kenedy

Dotcom Secrets shows you how to win that game by fixing your funnel.

By the way, you can spend more money than your competitors while gaining more traffic, customers, and sales.

Inside the book, you’ll learn:

• Offer stacking strategies: Make dream customers can’t refuse your products or services by adding more value to them.
• Product structuring frameworks: 2X or 3X your revenue from the same traffic, which means you multiply your income without spending another dollar on ads.
• Funnel Communication: Guide customers naturally to ascend your value ladder from entry offers to premium products while giving them more value at each step.
• 7 phases of a funnel and building blocks: Move strangers to buyers without confusion, which means more of your visitors actually complete their purchase instead of clicking away.
• 10 Battle test funnel types and sales scripts: You’ll know exactly which funnel to use for each price point in your business, so you can stop reinventing the wheel and avoid expensive mistakes.

Unlike other books that complicate things and make money teach people digital marketing strategies they learned about online, Dotcom Secrets is well-detailed, easy to read, and created based on real experience. 

Ready to create sales and marketing funnels that exponentially increase your sales online? Get the Dotcom Secrets book here.

Who Is Russell Brunson?

Russell Brunson co-founded ClickFunnels, which is now valued at over $1 billion. He’s built multiple 8-figure online businesses using the same funnel strategies he teaches in Dotcom Secrets.

Russell has been building online businesses since 2003. That’s over 20 years of direct, hands-on experience.

Before ClickFunnels, Russell sold software, supplements, coaching programs, and information products. He tested hundreds of funnel variations.

He tracked which page sequences converted best and which ones flopped.

The frameworks in Dotcom Secrets came from this real-world testing, not from reading other marketing books.

You’re learning from someone who built the businesses first, then taught the strategies. Not the other way around.

Russell wrote two other books: Expert Secrets (about positioning yourself as an authority) and Traffic Secrets (about finding customers). 

Together, these three books form what Russell calls the “Secrets Trilogy.” Think of it as a complete playbook for an online business.

His teaching style? Visual learning. 

Russell draws diagrams while explaining concepts. He makes complex marketing strategies into digestible and actionable steps.

Besides, Russell’s writing is clear and engaging.

This approach makes the content accessible even if you’ve never built a funnel before.

👉 Here’s the thing: ClickFunnels grew from Russell implementing these strategies successfully. He needed better software to build his funnels faster, so he co-founded ClickFunnels in 2014. The software now serves over 100,000 businesses.

His track record proves the strategies work at scale. Not just for small tests.

Cool. So is this book right for you? Let’s figure that out.

Who Should Read Dotcom Secrets?

I recommend the Dotcom Secrets book for:

✔️ Solopreneurs and small business owners: You don’t have a large budget to run brand advertising and hope someday, somehow, sales will just happen. Dotcom Secrets teaches you direct response marketing principles, which means every dollar you spend makes sense. You get results immediately and measurably. No guessing. No hoping.

✔️ Course creators and coaches who sell information products: The Dotcom Secrets book gives you a complete marketing plan. Over 90% strategies inside the book work for you. (Spoiler: Russell Brunson used the same strategies and tactics in the book to sell his course and get MASSIVE sales)

✔️eCommerce, Supplement, or Dropshipping: Dotcom Secrets helps you survive in a competitive market, where people sell the same thing and continually reduce their prices. Understanding sales funnel principles and offer stacking techniques, so you can create an offer customers love to buy, which means you will get more sales and avoid a price war.

✔️Service Businesses, Marketing Agencies, and Consultants: Do you have an offer priced over $2000 that is impossible to sell online? Dotcom Secrets shows you how to generate high-quality leads and get them offline as quickly as possible. Also, you will learn scripts to close your dream clients on the phone.

Who Shouldn’t Read Dotcom Secrets (Save Your Money)

Here’s who should skip this book:

❌ Advanced marketers running 6-7 figure funnels: The strategies and frameworks in Dotcom Secrets may not be new to you. The book could feel basic and a waste of your time.

❌ Affiliate Marketers, Bloggers, or those who don’t have their own product to sell: You can still benefit from the book. It teaches you how to create irresistible offers and develop lead funnels. But many funnel types require control over the shopping cart, which most affiliate marketers lack.

❌ People allergic to sales promotion: The book includes ClickFunnels promotion and upsells. If this bothers you, the constant selling will distract from the valuable content. The strategies work with any tool. But you’ll need to mentally filter the promotional stuff.

❌ Readers needing platform-specific tactics: This book teaches strategy, not tool tutorials. You won’t find “how to set up Facebook Ads” or “building landing pages in WordPress” instructions. Russell focuses on what to build, not the technical how-to. If you need step-by-step software training, look for platform-specific courses instead.

❌ Local businesses: Hard to implement the funnel types and strategies inside the book for your local store.

If you’re still reading, here’s exactly what frameworks and strategies you’ll learn inside.

What You’ll Learn Inside Dotcom Secrets (Quick Overview)

The 2nd edition of Dotcom Secrets contains 28 lessons organized into four chapters.

• Chapter 1: Sales funnel secrets
• Chapter 2: The Funnels In The Value Ladder
• Chapter 3: Funnel Scripts
• Chapter 4: Building your funnels

In this section, I’m going to show you the core frameworks and lessons from the book.

Finding Your Dream Customers

This chapter teaches you to identify exactly who you want to serve.

Nothing new here, right?

But here’s the problem: most people skip this step. I get it. It’s boring. It takes time. You just want to build your funnel and start making money. That’s why most funnels and marketing campaigns fail.

In Dotcom Secrets, Russell breaks it down into four questions (he calls it the Secrets Formula):

• Who is your dream customer?
• Where are they congregating?
• What bait can you use to attract them?
• What unique result can you create for them?

What happened next?

You stop wasting money on the wrong people. You attract customers who actually want what you sell. Your headlines hit harder. Your offers convert better. Your ads cost less because you’re targeting the right people with the right message.

Hook, Story, Offer Framework

This framework is the key to your success online.

Every step of your funnel uses it. Ads, emails, landing pages, webinars, phone calls. All of them.

• The Hook grabs attention with a compelling headline or opening statement.
• The Story builds connection by sharing a relatable experience and demonstrating value.
• The Offer presents your product with a clear call-to-action and removes purchase friction.

Learning the “Hook, Story, Offer” framework can change the value of your product by turning it into an offer, increasing its value using a story, and grabbing your dream customer with a hook.

But here’s the real power: This framework lets you identify exactly which element is underperforming.

Your ad isn’t converting? Maybe your hook is weak. Maybe your story doesn’t connect. Maybe your offer has too much friction.

You can fix only what’s broken instead of guessing.

That means you save time and money by making surgical improvements. No need to scrap your entire funnel and start over.

The Value Ladder Framework

The Value Ladder is also known as your business plan. It shows you how to serve your dream customers and where you want to take them. 

Many guides online teach the Value Ladder as just arranging your offers by price.

That’s not enough.

In Dotcom Secrets, you’ll learn how to create the Value Ladder the right way. You start with your business mission statement. Then you build offers around that mission.

Here’s what this means for your business:

• You build offers that actually connect: Your Value Ladder delivers transformation at different levels. This keeps your business focused. You stop creating random products that don’t fit together.
• Your ladder is unique to your mission: Two businesses selling similar products will have completely different Value Ladders. Why? Because they serve different missions. A fitness coach helping busy moms lose weight creates different offers than a fitness coach helping athletes improve performance. Same service. Different missions. Different Value Ladders.
• You solve bigger problems at higher price points: Each level increases the value and results you deliver. Price follows the size of the problem you solve.
• You can spot exactly where customers drop off: The Value Ladder shows you where you’re losing customers.

If people buy your entry-level product but nobody upgrades to your premium program, you know there’s a gap. Either your value isn’t clear, or your messaging needs work. You can fix that specific step instead of wondering why your business isn’t growing.

10 Core Funnel Types

Russell Brunson analyzed thousands of companies and their successful sales funnels. He built hundreds of funnels for his own businesses. He worked with 10,000+ students and clients to build funnels in every market.

From all that experience, he found 10 types of sales funnels you can use in your business.

Front-End Lead Funnels

• Lead “Squeeze” Funnels
• Survey Funnels
• Summit Funnels

Unboxing Funnels

• Book Funnels (free plus shipping offer)
• Cart Funnels
• Challenge Funnel

Presentation Funnels

• Video Sales Letter Funnels (VSL)
• Webinar Funnels
• Product Launch Funnels

Back-End Phone Funnels

• Application Funnels

Following Russell’s proven funnel structures saves you from the trial-and-error phase that costs most entrepreneurs thousands of dollars. You launch profitable funnels faster and avoid the expensive mistakes beginners make.

💡 Pro tip: Russell Brunson shares 32+ virtually unknown funnels (not found in the Dotcom Secrets book) in his Dotcom Secrets summit. You can watch it for free to increase your options when building your own sales funnel.

The Attractive Character

The Attractive Character (or brand archetype) is the personality and persona you show in your marketing. It’s how you build a relationship with your audience instead of being a faceless company.

People buy from people they know, like, and trust. The Attractive Character framework shows you how to share stories that build a relationship with your dream customers.

In Dotcom Secrets, you’ll learn how to build an Attractive Character for your business based on 3 things:

• Element
• Identity
• Storylines

Because you need to share your real stories, you need to pick which identity you want to be. There are 4 types of identities of attractive character you’ll learn in the book:

• The Leader
• The Adventurer
• The Reporter
• The Reluctant Hero

Can’t decide which identity fits you? There are actually up to 12 types of attractive characters beyond what’s in the book. Each identity connects with different audiences in different ways.

Pick the one that feels most natural to you. Your audience will sense when you’re being authentic.

Soap Opera Sequences and Daily Seinfeld Emails

Now you understand which funnel to use on your value ladder.

Sales funnels can increase your average cart value. But that’s just the surface.

When people purchase your product or join your list, they become traffic you own. This is where the real money lives. You need an email system that wins back customers, builds relationships, and moves people up your value ladder.

The best part? You get more revenue from the same number of people without spending a dollar on ads.

In the Dotcom Secrets book, you’ll learn two types of email campaigns:

• Soap Opera Sequences (Follow-Up Funnels): A 5-email series sent to people who enter your funnels. The goal is to build a relationship with your Attractive Character, pull your prospect through the initial funnel, and ascend them to the next funnel on the value ladder.
• Daily Seinfeld Emails (Broadcasts): Send to people who are not currently in one of your follow-up funnels to re-engage them and get them back into your value ladder

Most businesses leave money on the table because they don’t follow up properly.

Someone opts into your lead magnet.

You send one email. 

Maybe two.

Maybe a series of 5-10 emails.

Then nothing. That person forgets about you and moves on.

Russell’s email frameworks fix this problem.

The Soap Opera Sequence keeps new subscribers engaged during their first 5 days when interest is highest. You build a relationship before you sell. By email 5, they trust you enough to buy.

Daily Seinfeld Emails keep you top of mind after the sequence ends. You show up in their inbox every day with entertaining stories. 

The chapter shows you how to use open loops and cliffhangers so people have to read your next email. You’ll discover the Hook-Story-Offer format that makes selling feel natural instead of pushy. You’ll understand which stories to tell and how to connect them to your offers.

Finally, you’ll see real examples of emails ClickFunnels uses to generate millions in revenue. You can model these for your own business and start seeing results.

Funnel Hacking

Funnel hacking is the process of studying successful funnels in your niche to understand their hooks, stories, offers, and structure, then adapting those elements to your business.

Funnel hacking is NOT copying someone’s funnel exactly. Russell makes this clear. Direct copying doesn’t work because your audience, offer, and voice are different. It’s about understanding WHY a funnel works, then applying those principles to your unique business.

The funnel hacking process is in 4 steps:

• Step 1: Identify 3-5 successful competitors who target your dream customer. Look for businesses running ads consistently (that means the ads are profitable). Find people with large email lists or strong social media presence in your niche.
• Step 2: Buy their products and go through their entire funnel. Experience every email, every upsell, every page as a customer. Don’t just browse their website – actually purchase so you see the complete sequence.
• Step 3: Document their hook, story, offer on each page. Screenshot everything. Note their price points, the order of their offers, and the timing of their emails. Create a map of their complete funnel structure.
• Step 4: Adapt the structure to your business. Keep the psychology that makes it work, but change the specifics to match your brand voice and offer. Use their framework as inspiration, not a template to copy.

How do you find funnels to hack? Look for competitors running Facebook or YouTube ads consistently. If they’ve been running the same ad for months, it’s working. Join their email lists. Buy their product. Screenshot everything you see.

Funnel hacking is smart market research, not plagiarism. You’re learning from winning strategies the same way musicians learn from other musicians or chefs study other restaurants’ menus.

For a complete guide to funnel hacking and finding the best funnels to study in your niche, read our funnel hacking guide.

Funnel Scripts

Each funnel type includes scripts you can adapt to your business. It includes:

• “Curiosity-Based Headline” Scripts
• “Who, What, Why, How” Script
• “Star, Story, Solution” Script
• “OTO” Script
• “Perfect Webinar” Script
• “Product Launch” Script
• “Four-Question Close” Script
• “Setter” and “Closer” Script

First, you get exact headline formulas that convert.

Russell uses Question-Based Headline formulas (by Jim Edwards) throughout the book.

Different formulas work for different traffic temperatures (cold, warm, hot). If someone just discovered you (cold traffic), you need a different headline than if they’ve been on your email list for months (warm traffic).

The webinar funnel chapter includes the complete “Perfect Webinar” script. This is Russell’s signature sales presentation that breaks false beliefs and stacks offers.

He’s used this exact script to generate millions in sales. You get the full outline with time stamps for each section.

You’re not starting from a blank page, wondering what to write. You see the pattern, then customize it to your offer and voice.

Use the structure and psychology, then customize the specifics. Russell shows you the pattern, and you fill in your details.

Instead of spending weeks writing and testing copy, you start with proven frameworks that already convert. This saves 20-40 hours per funnel. You skip the trial-and-error phase and go straight to optimization.

What I Like About Dotcom Secrets

After reading Dotcom Secrets three times and implementing multiple funnels, here are the 5 things that make this book valuable.

These aren’t generic “it’s a good book” praise points. These are specific benefits that save you time and money when building funnels.

Let’s break down each strength:

1. Complex Funnels Made Simple with Action Steps

What makes Dotcom Secrets stand out is Russell’s ability to make complicated concepts easy to understand. He breaks down complex funnel psychology into simple frameworks with actionable steps you can follow immediately.

Each concept includes a story or example that helps you grasp it quickly. Instead of vague advice like “build trust with your audience,” he gives you the exact Soap Opera Sequence: 5 emails, specific subject lines, and the emotional arc to follow. You finish reading and know exactly what to write.

You don’t need to graduate from business school or marketing college to learn these concepts. Russell explains everything, assuming you know nothing about marketing.

2. Complete Sales Funnel Blueprints

Dotcom Secrets is one of the best sales funnel books out there, and here’s why: It gives you actual blueprints you can use right away. No confusing theory or fluff.

The book walks you through the complete customer journey—from people who’ve never heard of you to paying clients. You see exactly how to guide them through each step.

Here’s what you actually get: proven funnel structures and scripts that work for different stages, goals, and product prices.

Whether you sell cheap products or expensive services, there’s a blueprint for your business. Each funnel shows you what to say, what to offer, and when to do it.

Think of it like getting the exact recipe instead of someone just describing what chocolate cake tastes like. You follow the steps, and you get results. No need to hire an expensive consultant or waste months figuring it out yourself.

3. Visual Learning Through Doodles

Here’s something cool about Dotcom Secrets—the whole book is filled with simple doodles that explain each concept. These aren’t fancy graphics. They’re basic drawings that stick in your brain.

This makes a huge difference when you’re actually building your funnels. You glance at a doodle and instantly remember the concept. No need to re-read entire chapters or dig through notes.

Let’s say you’re creating an upsell page and can’t remember what to write. Just flip to the “OTO script” doodle, and boom—it all comes back to you. The structure, the flow, the key points you need to hit.

These visual aids work like mental shortcuts. Your brain remembers pictures way better than paragraphs of text. 

It’s like having cheat sheets scattered throughout the book. You don’t waste time searching for information—you just look at the picture and know exactly what to do next. This speeds up your implementation and keeps you moving forward instead of getting stuck.

4. Real-World Examples and Scripts

Russell Brunson teaches from the trenches, not from theory. Everything in Dotcom Secrets comes from his actual experience building funnels that made millions. He’s not one of those people who learned something online and now sells courses about it without ever doing it themselves.

That’s a massive difference.

Throughout the book, you’ll find real examples from his own funnels and businesses. He shows you what worked for ClickFunnels, his supplement companies, and his clients. These aren’t made-up case studies—they’re actual campaigns that generated real revenue.

When he gives you a script, it’s one he’s used. When he explains a funnel structure, it’s one he’s built and profited from. You’re learning from someone who’s been in your shoes and figured out what works through trial, error, and millions in ad spend.

This matters because you’re not getting outdated textbook knowledge. You’re getting battle-tested strategies from someone who’s still actively running funnels today. He knows what works now, not what worked ten years ago. That’s the kind of real-world insight that actually moves your business forward.

5. Evergreen Strategies

Even though the first edition came out in 2015, the core strategies still work in 2025 because they’re based on human psychology, not platform hacks.

The Value Ladder, Hook-Story-Offer, and Soap Opera Sequence work on any platform – email, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok. The tactics adapt to new platforms, but the strategy stays the same. People still buy based on emotion and justify with logic. That hasn’t changed.

You won’t learn Facebook ads tactics that died in 2018. You’ll learn the timeless psychology of why people buy, which works regardless of the algorithm changes. This means you’re not wasting money on outdated information.

The 2020 second edition updated some examples and added new case studies, but the core frameworks remain unchanged because they work.

What I Didn’t Like About Dotcom Secrets

No book is perfect. Here are 3 legitimate downsides to Dotcom Secrets that you should know before buying.

These aren’t dealbreakers for most people, but depending on your situation, they might matter to you.

Let’s look at each criticism:

1. Heavy Self-Promotion and Upsells

The book promotes Clickfunnels as the solution to funnel building. Russell Brunson highlights how ClickFunnels makes it easy, shares examples of students using ClickFunnels, and encourages you to try ClickFunnels.

To be fair, Russell is teaching you HIS business model, which uses his software. It’s like Apple writing a design book – they’ll mention their products. But it feels aggressive at times, especially if you’re not planning to use ClickFunnels.

Here’s the truth: You don’t need ClickFunnels.

The funnel strategies work with any landing page software. I’ve built these funnels with WordPress + OptimizePress, with Systeme.io, with Gohighlevel, and even with basic email platforms and simple landing page builders. The concepts are software-agnostic.

If you can look past the promotion, the core content remains valuable. But if aggressive selling bothers you, this book will frustrate you. Know that going in.

2. Some Repetitive Content

If you read the other books in the Secrets Trilogy, you’ll see the same concepts and stories repeated across all three books. Such as:

• The Value Ladder
• Attractive Characters
• Or Russell’s potato gun origin story

This repetition is partly intentional. Russell wants each book to stand alone so you can read them in any order. But if you’re reading the complete trilogy, it feels redundant. You’ll find yourself skipping paragraphs you’ve already read twice before.

If you’re planning to read all three books, expect overlap. The core frameworks repeat across the series. Each book adds new tactics and strategies, but the foundation stays the same.

3. Free Plus Shipping Is Confused

Dotcom Secrets is promoted as a “free” book. But when you opt in, you discover you need to pay $9.95 for US shipping or $19.95 for international shipping.

Many people don’t like this approach. It feels misleading.

Here’s why this bothers people: When you see “Get Your Free Book,” you expect free. Then the checkout page asks for $9.95. That’s not free. That’s buying a book for $9.95.

Russell calls it “free + shipping” but you’re paying either way. The book costs money to print and ship, so charging shipping makes business sense. But calling it “free” when you pay $10 creates confusion.

Some people feel like it’s a bait-and-switch. The marketing says one thing, the reality is different. You came for a free book and now you’re pulling out your credit card.

Then come the upsells. After you pay shipping, you face offers for the audiobook ($37), video training ($97-$197), and software subscriptions ($97-297/month). The “free” book suddenly becomes a $400+ purchase if you say yes to everything.

To be fair, Russell is demonstrating his own funnel strategies. The free-plus-shipping model IS a funnel type he teaches in the book. He’s showing you how it works by using it on you. That’s actually clever marketing.

But know what you’re getting into. The book isn’t free. You’re paying $9.95-19.95 for it, plus you’ll face aggressive upsells. If you hate feeling sold to, this process will annoy you.

The content inside is still valuable. Just don’t expect “free” to actually mean free.

Dotcom Secrets Pricing Breakdown

The Dotcom Secrets book is actually Free; you just pay $9.95 US or $19.95 International for shipping/handling. This is an excellent example of the free plus shipping offer that Russell Brunson teaches in his book.

Buying Dotcom Secrets on Amazon costs between $13 and $17, excluding shipping. The “free + shipping” offer is cheaper compared to other booksellers, although it includes an aggressive upsell sequence.

I highly recommend you buy the book from the author so that you can buy it at a low price; also, you can buy the audiobook on the upsell page (it’s not available anywhere) and get his bonuses.

• 3 Core Sales Funnels eBook: The 3 types of funnels that bring the most money for Russell Brunson.
• Follow-Up Funnels eBook: It provides “plug-and-play” follow-up funnels you can directly integrate into your business, saving you time on trial and error.
• 108 Split-Test eBook: Split testing is expensive and time-consuming. This compilation essentially gives you the “cheat sheet” of what works, allowing you to skip the testing phase and go straight to implementing winners.
• Funnel Audibles: You get a clear, actionable process to follow to fix your funnel. By the way, you are avoiding the need to hire expensive funnel consultants or repeatedly invest in new funnels that might also fail.

3 Other Sales Funnel Books Worth Reading (After Dotcom Secrets)

1. Sell Like Crazy – For Advanced Paid Advertising

Sell Like Crazy by Sabri Suby focuses on the paid traffic side of funnels that Dotcom Secrets barely touches.

You learn specific Facebook ads, Google ads, and YouTube ads tactics – complete campaigns with budgets, targeting parameters, and scaling strategies. Dotcom Secrets tells you to “get traffic.” This book shows you exactly how with real ad examples and spending data.

Read this if you have a funnel built (using Dotcom Secrets) but struggle to get consistent traffic. It’s more tactical and less strategic than Russell’s work. Sabri gives you the day-to-day execution that Russell skips.

Sabri’s writing is more aggressive and less “story-based” than Russell’s. Some people prefer the direct approach with less fluff. Others find it too intense. The information is solid if you can handle the tone.

For our complete review of Sell Like Crazy, including who should skip it and the best chapters to focus on, check out our Sell Like Crazy review.

2. No B.S. Direct Marketing – For Direct Response Fundamentals

No B.S. Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy is the “grandfather” of direct response marketing that influenced Russell Brunson’s work.

Dan teaches the psychology of direct response, copywriting principles, and why customers buy – the foundation underneath all funnels. More theory and principle-based than tactical. Less about “which funnel to use” and more about “why funnels work at all.”

Read this if you want to understand WHY the Dotcom Secrets frameworks work. It’s drier and less modern than Russell’s books, but the principles are bulletproof. Human psychology hasn’t changed.

Russell credits Dan Kennedy as a mentor. Many Dotcom Secrets concepts come from Dan’s earlier work, just updated for internet marketing and software platforms. If you want to go deeper on the psychology behind the tactics, this is your book.

3. $100M Offer – For Creating Irresistible Offers

$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi focuses entirely on crafting offers so good that customers can’t say no.

Alex breaks down the value equation: How to make your offer 10x more valuable than your price through bonuses, guarantees, urgency, and scarcity. It’s the “Offer” part of Russell’s Hook-Story-Offer framework on steroids.

Read this if your funnel gets traffic but doesn’t convert. The problem isn’t usually the funnel structure – it’s a weak offer. This book fixes that with specific formulas for pricing and positioning.

Alex’s writing is tactical and no-fluff. He gives you math formulas for calculating value and pricing your offers. No stories, no entertainment, just direct frameworks you can use immediately. Pairs perfectly with Dotcom Secrets’ funnel structures.

For a complete list of books and which to read based on your business stage, check out our guide to the best books on the sales funnel.

5 Common Mistakes When Implementing Dotcom Secrets

After watching hundreds of people try to implement these funnels, here are the 5 biggest mistakes that waste time and money:

Mistake #1: Building all 10 funnels at once

People get excited and try to build a lead magnet funnel, webinar funnel, high-ticket funnel, and product launch funnel simultaneously. Each funnel takes 20-40 hours to build and test properly. You spread yourself thin, and nothing gets done well.

The fix: Pick ONE funnel that matches your current business stage. Master it. Get it profitable. Then add the next funnel. Most businesses only need 2-3 funnel types max. Start simple.

Mistake #2: Copying funnels exactly without understanding why

Russell says “funnel hack,” so people literally copy competitor funnels word-for-word. They swipe headlines, email sequences, and entire page designs without changing anything. Your audience, offer, and voice are different. Direct copying feels inauthentic and often underperforms.

The fix: Study the structure and psychology. Then adapt it to YOUR business, YOUR voice, YOUR offer. Keep the framework, change the specifics. Understand WHY each piece exists before implementing it.

Mistake #3: Skipping the “boring” customer research

People rush to build funnels without answering the Secrets Formula questions about their dream customer. They skip the research phase because it feels slow. You build a beautiful funnel that talks to the wrong person in the wrong way.

The fix: Spend 1-2 weeks interviewing customers, analyzing competitors, and understanding your dream customer’s exact words and problems BEFORE building anything. Your funnel messaging will be 10x more effective when based on research, not guesses.

Mistake #4: Changing the funnel too quickly (or giving up before testing properly)

Most funnels don’t work the first time. That’s normal. Even Russell’s funnels fail on the first attempt.

People build their funnel, send 100 – 200 visitors, see one sale, and panic. They assume everything is broken. They rebuild the entire funnel from scratch or quit completely. You waste weeks rebuilding when the funnel just needed proper testing.

Here’s what Russell actually does: He builds the funnel quickly and gets it to market fast. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is speed. Most entrepreneurs fail because they run out of time or money before their ideas reach the market, not because their ideas are bad.

The fix: Test your funnel with enough traffic to get real data, then let the numbers tell you what to change.

Russell’s testing strategy: Invest the amount of money you’d make if one person bought your product. If you sell a $1,000 course, test with $1,000 of traffic. If you have a book funnel with two upsells, add up the price of all products in the funnel ($20 book + $197 upsell + $297 upsell = $514), then spend $514 on ads for your first test.

The goal is a breakeven funnel. You spend $514, you make $514 back. You didn’t profit, but you didn’t lose money either. Now you have a machine that acquires customers for free. Every optimization after that creates profit.

After your test is done, look at the numbers. They tell you exactly what needs fixing. Low opt-in rate? Fix your headline. High opt-in rate but no sales? Fix your offer or price. People are buying the first product but not the upsell? Fix your upsell page.

Change ONE thing at a time. Test again with the same traffic investment. Compare results. Repeat.

Don’t rebuild everything. Don’t quit after 100-200 visitors. Test properly first.

Mistake #5: Asking Someone’s Opinion

This sounds weird, but many people fail because they ask for opinions before testing their funnel with real money.

Building sales funnels is different from web design. You post your funnel in a Facebook group asking “What do you think?” Everyone says it looks great. Then you launch it and… nobody buys. This happens constantly.

Even if you asked Russell Brunson, he couldn’t tell you if your funnel works. But your dream customer can. They vote with their credit cards.

People giving you feedback destroy your funnel because they’re not your market. Your designer friend isn’t buying your $297 course. Their opinions mean nothing. The only opinions you should care about belong to your actual customers.

Don’t trust other people’s opinions. Don’t trust your own opinion either.

The fix: Build the funnel. Invest the amount of money you’d make if one customer bought everything. Wait for the market response.

The market never lies. If they buy, your funnel works. If they don’t, fix it based on the numbers.

Stop asking for feedback in Facebook groups. Launch it, send paid traffic, watch what real customers do with their wallets.

Other Russell Brunson Books to Complete Your Funnel Education

If Dotcom Secrets helped you, the other two books in the Secrets Trilogy fill in what’s missing. Get all three books together so you also receive the Unlock The Secrets workbook for free, so you can understand exactly what to do after reading those books.

💡 Learn more: Unlock The Secrets book review

Expert Secrets Book

Expert Secrets is the 2nd book in Russell Brunson’s Secrets Trilogy. While Dotcom Secrets taught you WHAT funnels to build, Expert Secrets teaches you WHAT TO SAY in those funnels.

This book is about positioning yourself as an authority, crafting your message, building a mass movement around your ideas, and creating your “Big Domino” statement that breaks false beliefs holding customers back from buying.

You learn the Perfect Webinar script (the #1 way Russell sells $1M+ from a single presentation), how to tell your origin story that builds connection, how to stack offers so irresistible people buy immediately, and how to price high-ticket services without feeling gross.

Read Expert Secrets if you have funnels built but struggle with messaging. It’s valuable for coaches, consultants, and course creators who need to position their expertise clearly. Less useful for e-commerce stores selling physical products.

💡 Learn more: Expert Secrets book review

Traffic Secrets Book

Traffic Secrets is the final book in the Secrets Trilogy. It teaches you WHERE to find your dream customers and HOW to drive them into your funnels.

This book explains the three types of traffic: 

• Traffic you control: This includes paid advertisements. 
• Traffic you don’t control: This refers to organic reach on social media. 
• Traffic you own: This includes your email list. 

Additionally, it provides specific tactics for major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google.

Unlike other traffic books, Traffic Secrets focuses on evergreen strategies rather than trending tactics that become outdated when algorithms change.

Want to know which chapters to focus on and alternatives for specific traffic strategies? Check out my Traffic Secrets review here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Start Your Funnel Journey? Here’s Your Action Plan

You’ve read this review. You know what Dotcom Secrets teaches and who it helps. Here’s what to do next:

• Decide if it’s right for you: Re-read the “Who Should Read” section above. If you’re building online funnels for courses, e-commerce, or digital services, get the book. If you’re just curious about marketing theory or not ready to implement, skip it. Watch Russell’s free YouTube videos instead.
• Order the book strategically: Go to the official Dotcom Secrets page and order the book for $9.95 shipping. When you see the upsell pages for audiobooks, video training, and courses, click “No thanks” unless you want those extras right now.
• Read with implementation in mind: Read the entire book once to understand how the pieces connect. Start with one funnel done well. Don’t try to implement everything at once.
• Send 100 visitors before judging: Once your funnel is live, send 100 visitors before making changes. Track your conversion rate. If it underperforms, review the Funnel Audibles chapter or watch the video bonus to fix the issues.
• Consider the Secrets Trilogy: After you have one profitable funnel running, read Expert Secrets and Traffic Secrets. But master Dotcom Secrets first. Get one funnel working before expanding.

Bottom line: If you’re serious about building online sales funnels, Dotcom Secrets is worth $9.95. It won’t teach you everything about online marketing, but it gives you the blueprint to start building profitable customer journeys.

Order it. Read it. Implement one funnel. See results for yourself.

The frameworks work. Will you do the work to make them work for your business?