As always, your numbers and results might vary, but here’s what Rainy (not her real name) is achieving with one day of work per week…
She creates a product each week which she then sells to just 25 people at $25 each. Limiting the number of copies sold creates scarcity, and she usually sells out in about half a day.
You can do this if you have an internet marketing list or an internet marketing social media group. The point is you need an audience to offer this to, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a list.
In Rainy’s case she doesn’t even have a website. When she offers the product each week, she does it through a Facebook Group and her own small list. She instructs buyers to send her the money through PayPal and then post on Facebook that they’re in.
This creates excitement as people see the copies are being snapped up. Anyone on the fence about buying realizes they better jump in quick or they’ll lose out.
The product Rainy creates each week is a directory of the top offers in online marketing for the week. She gives the names, URL’s, descriptions, conversion rates, backgrounds of the authors and her own personal insights. This information is super valuable to anyone who promotes internet marketing products to their list.
But it’s also valuable to the people on these lists, which is why Rainy gives PLR rights to the weekly directory. Buyers can give it away or sell it without rights, and they know it won’t be saturated because only 25 copies are sold.
At least a couple of her regular customers offer these reports as freebies to get internet marketers to join their list, and it’s quite effective. Essentially, they are paying $25 every week or two to provide fresh, timely content to their new subscribers.
Of course, if you want to follow this business model, you don’t necessarily need to write about the latest offering in online marketing. Anything that is timely and of interest to others has potential.
And if you find that your weekly offerings are selling well, you might consider launching them into a paid membership, too, for even more money.
I just visited the site of an EXCELLENT marketer who knows his stuff. But…
Here’s what happened. I’d clicked over to one of his blog posts. Black background, BIG long hard to read headline. Okay, it’s a little much, but I can handle that.
Wait, there’s a banner across the bottom in bright blue. Hmmm, I’m leaning towards the screen, trying to figure what it says and what it means when…
BOOM!
A bright pop up covers the entire right side of the screen, causing me to jump back from the computer. Too much.
I hadn’t totally grasped the headline when I spotted the banner. I was still trying to decipher the banner when the pop up appeared.
What next? Lions and tigers and bears doing a jig across the screen?
Three headlines and I can’t tell you what any of them said because I kept getting interrupted.
Does your site distract and overwhelm visitors?
I hope not. 😊
Remember the KISS rule for success. Keep it simple, stupid. It is principle which states that designs and/or systems should be as simple as possible. Wherever possible, complexity should be avoided in a system—as simplicity guarantees the greatest levels of user acceptance and interaction.
Your website will likely create far better results, and more conversions if you keep it simple for your users. Keep this in mind, and have a re-look at your own website and sales pages to see where you might be muddying the water for your visitors, and how you can simplify to increase the results you want.
One of the biggest obstacles holding you back from success online could be the fear that your writing is lousy. But let me ask you… can your readers understand your meaning?
Or are they as flummoxed as I was when I read this YouTube comment?
The unwieldy downtown conjecturally suffer because belt seemingly buzz vice a jumbled goose. scandalous, adhesive september
I don’t know if this came from one of the early bots, or perhaps someone who knows no English but received a dictionary for his birthday, or just someone who drank a few too many.
Whatever the case, it received two replies (both positive!) within three days and I’m betting your writing is better than that.
So, stop sweating your writing skills and just write. You’ll find the more you do it, the better you get.
And have fun. If you don’t find at least some pleasure in creating your posts and products, maybe you’re in the wrong niche.
Content marketing isn’t supposed to be that hard. After all, if you find that your belt seemingly buzzes vice at a jumbled goose in a scandalous manner, then sticking to September might be the right move after all. 😉
Refunds cut into your sales, right? And they’re darn annoying, too. You work so hard on your product and then someone tells you that it’s not worth their money. Sigh.
But we have to offer guarantees to keep our conversions high, right? Maybe not, because human psychology is a strange thing.
Let’s say you sell a $1,997 course with a full 60 day money back guarantee. What your guarantee has inadvertently done is tell your customer that it’s in their best interest to sell themselves against your course and get their money back.
And some of them will do exactly that.
But if you don’t offer a refund and instead demonstrate how valuable your product or service has been to others, how they’ve used it to get results and how there is nothing else like it on the market, then maybe you don’t need a guarantee.
After all, a guarantee is supposed to be a way of showing that your product WORKS. But if you can demonstrate that users get actual proven results, isn’t that so much better than an offer to refund their money?
It’s something to consider. You can either let your customers convince themselves that your product isn’t worth what they paid…
… or you can demonstrate up front that this is the bargain of a lifetime and you want serious buyers only.
I was talking to a guy the other day, and while I didn’t get all of the details of his business, I think I got enough that I can share it with you. This guy doesn’t have products of his own. He doesn’t have a website. Heck, he doesn’t even have a squeeze page.
Yet he’s building a massive email list using paid traffic in a self-liquidating manner. That is, he’s making as much or more money than he spends on traffic to build his list.
Have you heard of Click.org? It’s software for link tracking and I recommend you check it out. But it does a lot of other things, too, one of which is to place a pop-up on any affiliate page you choose.
So, let’s say you’re promoting the ABC product. You’ve got your affiliate page and you know the offer converts. You go to a site like Udimi.com and purchase solo ads. You send this traffic to your affiliate page to make sales to pay for your solo ads.
But on your affiliate page of ABC product, you place a Click.org pop-up that grabs the person’s email address. Essentially the affiliate page becomes your landing page. Sales of the product pay for your traffic. You don’t have to write copy, deal with customer service or any of that.
That’s what this guy is doing. He offers an awesome lead magnet directly related to the product he’s selling. His traffic grabs the lead magnet and may or may not grab the product.
But what if they don’t sign up to his list? Then he uses Click.org for retargeting. He brings visitors back to his affiliate page and back to his pop-up, and it only costs a few cents each. He gets more sign-ups to his email list and he makes more product sales.
And he does one more thing… he goes to similarweb.com, types in the URL of the sales page he’s promoting without the affiliate link. He scrolls down and finds the top referring sites to that offer. Then he goes to those same referring sites and buys the same traffic so that the offer goes through his affiliate link instead of directly to the product owner. Sneaky, right?
And again, he uses retargeting to bring prospects back to the sales page for pennies, and he makes even more sales. All you need to get started with this business model is an autoresponder to capture your new email subscribers and Click.org.
As long as the offer you’re promoting pays for your advertising, you can list build as long and hard as you like. Your profits will come from the other things you sell to your list. And of course you can do this with multiple offers in multiple niches simultaneously if you like.
To get lots of good reviews you’re first going to need a place where people can leave their reviews. For example, if you sell on Amazon then Amazon is the place to capture your reviews. If you have a review system on your website, then that’s where you’ll be sending people. Here’s how it works…
You send your product to your customer, whether that means shipping it to them or sending them to your download page.
In your product where it cannot be missed, you enclose a card or page that says something like:
How Would You Like a ___ 100% FREE with FREE Shipping?
Fill out the form, choose a product and we’ll ship it to you 100% FREE. – No Shipping Charges! – No Hidden Fees! – No Credit Card Required!
Naturally if you’re delivering products electronically, you will alter the language on this. You can either specify what product you will send or you can let them choose.
When they go to your site, there will be a simple form asking what they purchased from you, what they want to receive for free, their address and the invoice number (if applicable). Once they fill this out they are feeling HAPPY because they are about to receive a free product, and who doesn’t love FREE?
This exact moment is the PERFECT time to ask for feedback (a review) on the product they already have. Simply take them to the next page where they are asked for feedback on the product they purchased.
Naturally, many of your customers will want to reciprocate your goodwill and leave a review, and more likely a good review due in part to the positive experience this process is providing for them.
Imagine if just 2 tiny words could completely change how you look at things, how you feel about your day and even how happy you are in the moment.
These 2 tiny words can literally change your life if you employ them in everything you do throughout your day.
And here they are…
(Where’s the drumroll when you need it? Or maybe even a cowbell?)
“…get to…”
That’s it. The words are “get to” as in, “I get to do this next thing I’m about to do.”
Next time you’re thinking you have to do something…
• I have to finish writing this email • I need to create this product • I must pick up the kids from school
Change your language like this…
• I get to finish writing this email • I get to create this product • I get to pick up the kids from school
This tiny change in vocabulary can have a subtle and sometimes very dramatic effect on how you feel and thus the actions you take and what you are able to accomplish in your life and business. Just 2 little words can make all the difference.
I have a theory that the #1 thing holding online marketers back from major success is being afraid to make mistakes, look stupid or just plain screw up. That’s why I want to tell you the story of Pinnacle Airlines Flight #3701 – not because it’s something you should emulate, but to illustrate just how safe it is for you to totally and completely screw up in your online business.
October 14, 2004, two pilots are ferrying an otherwise empty CRJ-200 aircraft from Jefferson City, Missouri, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. This should have been a simple, routine flight. But because of multiple errors by the pilots, it was anything but routine.
Just a few of the mistakes made by the 2 pilots included performing several non-standard maneuvers including pitch-ups that induced stall warnings, exceeding the manufacturer’s recommended climb rate, using an excessive angle of attack and over-stressing the engines. They climbed to the highest altitude the plane was rated for (41,000 feet) where they cruised at a rate barely above stall speed.
During all of this the anti-stall devices repeatedly activated but the pilots overrode the automatic nose-down that would increase speed to prevent a stall. In fact, they did this no less than 4 times.
All this time while they were climbing to the outermost reaches of altitude and overriding safety features of the aircraft, they could be heard on the cockpit recorder laughing.
A lot.
So much so, that when they commented they had never been so high, a person might wonder if they were referring to altitude or something else.
After the fourth override, both engines flamed out and shut down. The plane then stalled, the pilots recovered from the stall and tried repeatedly to restart the engines.
Now on the cockpit recorder, instead of laughing you can hear a great deal of swearing as nothing the pilots try is working. Most notable is when the pilot repeatedly tells the copilot to put the plane into a nosedive to attain a speed of 300 knots to restart the engines, and yet the copilot never does it, nor does the captain take over control to make it happen.
It was later discovered that through their antics of climbing to 41,000 feet, the crew had already damaged the engines badly enough that they could not be restarted. It was all laughter and joking until these pilots lost both engines and couldn’t get them back.
The crew glided for several minutes, trying to restart the engines by any means possible. Finally (FINALLY!) they told Air Traffic Control (ATC) that they had a single engine flameout, and ATC offered them 4 possible diversion airports. At this point I’m picturing two scared children in the cockpit, afraid to tell mommy and daddy what they’d done.
For 14 minutes more, they glided while unsuccessfully restarting even one engine. When they still could not start the engines, they finally told Air Traffic Control that they had in fact lost both engines. The final words on the flight recorder are the captain and first officer talking about whether or not they would make it to the assigned diversion airport, with the final words being, “Ahh sh** we’re gonna hit houses, dude.”
Both pilots died. Thankfully no one on the ground was injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board would have been justified if they had said, “These pilots acted like complete idiots,” but of course they were not allowed to be that blunt. What they did say was the pilots’ ‘unprofessional behavior, deviation from standard operating procedures and poor airmanship’ caused the crash.
Now then, I’d like you to take a moment and picture the absolute WORST mistake you can make in your business. In fact, picture the top 5 worst mistakes all happening simultaneously.
Let’s say they are…
• You somehow lose your entire email list. • Someone steals your product from you and sells it as their own. • Your website is hacked, stolen or otherwise falls into a black hole and you have no backup. • You make no sales on your big launch or every sale you make is refunded. • You are blacklisted from every social media site on the internet – for life.
The odds of even one of these things happening is remote, while the odds of all them happening are infinitesimal.
But even on your very worst day, where you have made every stupid mistake you can possibly make, can it be even a thousandth as bad as the last flight of these two pilots?
These ‘professional’ pilots laughed through all of their mistakes and poor decisions right up until they lost both engines, at which time they probably would have traded places with almost anyone else on the planet. Even their own plane tried repeatedly to save them from crashing, and every time it did, they overrode it.
There is simply nothing you can do and no mistake you can make in your business that will result in you being 41,000 feet in the air with two locked engines.
Which is why I say full speed ahead in whatever it is that you’re doing. The worst that can happen is a tiny bump on the road and the best that can happen is a 6, 7 or maybe even 8 figure income.
Get out of your own way, get busy, welcome your mistakes and revel in your successes.
Remember: The greatest mistake you can ever make in your business is being afraid to make one.
I just clicked onto a webinar a few moments ago and I had to almost immediately leave to write you this quick note. As I watched the two people on screen I found myself physically moving away from my device. In fact I could not seem to get far enough away from these two people. Where I had been hunched over my laptop, my back was now pressed into the back of the chair, my head was turned away like I was about to flee, and I realized something was terribly wrong.
So the question is, why am I having this physical reaction to these two webinar presenters? What is it in my primitive brain that is causing me, without conscious thinking, to put more physical space between them and me?
And what does it mean for their odds of making the sale at the end of this webinar?
My best guess is my subconscious brain – which is always on the lookout for threats – thinks they are putting on an act or pretense in order to somehow take advantage of me.
Here’s a paraphrased excerpt of what they were saying: “THIS IS AMAZING! WE’RE GOING TO HAVE AN AMAZING TIME! YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE THIS AMAZING INFORMATION! IT’S GOING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE IN AMAZING WAYS!”
Their hands are waving in the air, their faces bobbing up and down, they’re just so… I don’t know… ENTHUSIASTICALLY PHONY.
Don’t get me wrong… real enthusiasm for your niche, for what you teach and for your products is commendable and a trait you should cultivate. But come on, it’s got to be REAL and not contrived.
People who put on webinars are almost never professional actors and they shouldn’t try to be actors. They’ve got to be themselves. Real. Authentic. Someone the viewer can relate to.
Right now I’m about as inclined to stay on the webinar and buy their product (whatever it might be, I don’t have a clue) as I am to deliberately run my car into a brick wall.
Which begs the question… how do you display enthusiasm on a webinar without alienating people? The same way you sell to people. You start where they are and you walk with them to where you want them to go.
Picture yourself looking at a used car on a warm summer day when two salespeople approach you. The first salesperson says, “THIS IS THE GREATEST CAR EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE AND IT IS AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN AND YOU WILL LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS AMAZING CAR!”
Gulp.
The second salesperson says, “This car is 3 years old, it’s got 45,000 miles on it and a small ding in the back bumper. It’s also rated as being one of the most reliable cars on the road, the interior looks almost brand new, it drives like a dream and the air conditioner blows the coldest air I’ve felt all summer.”
Which salesperson do you trust?
It’s a no brainer. The second salesperson started out where you are, looking at the reality of the situation. It’s a used car. It’s got some miles. It has a small ding you’ve already noticed. This person is standing right there beside you like a friend, telling you exactly how it is. You trust them because they are telling you what you already know.
That’s why when they start telling you all the good points of the car, you believe them. They are taking you along step-by-step from where you’re starting out (skeptical prospective buyer who doesn’t want to get ripped off) to where they want you to be (confident buyer who knows you’re getting a fair deal.)
The first salesperson is standing apart from you, shouting at you to come across this gulf between the two of you. This causes natural resistance on your part and a desire to flee the scene and never come back.
Now that I’ve written all of this, that webinar is 20 minutes in and I don’t plan on going back to it. I only want to work with authentic people who understand that I’m not going to fall for hyped up fake enthusiasm.
Just tell me like it is. Give me the truth. Point out all the good reasons why things can be much better if I’ll just follow along with you, and I guarantee I’ll stay right there and listen to your every word, and I’ll probably buy, too.
Your prospect opens your email… Reads the first few sentences… And then DELETES your email IN FRUSTRATION.
Why?
Because your first few sentences didn’t match the subject line and it confused and frustrated them.
The email felt like a waste of time…
Like maybe the subject line was clickbait.
It’s like opening the door to a chocolate shop and finding lawn mowers.
YOU WERE PROMISED CHOCOLATE!
“Where’s the chocolate??!”
“This can’t be the right place… let’s get out of here!”
I just opened an email that promised… “How to get budget approval for copywriting school.” Yes, this was written not just by a copywriter, but by someone who TEACHES COPYWRITING.
And yet the first 33 lines of that email don’t say a word about getting budget approval for copywriting school (I kid you not!)
Halfway through the email the writer finally (FINALLY!) states:
So what’s getting in the way of you joining 9 gazillion (my number) copywriters and marketers in my fantastic copywriting school?
Most likely:
Budget approval.
Chop off the entire first half of the email, start with these three lines and then go from there, and it could be an effective email.
But what did I do when I first received this email? After reading several lines that appeared unrelated to the subject line, I closed it.
Then I reopened it and scrolled down because I was thinking this could make a good lesson for all of us. As I was scrolling I found a totally unrelated large gif of a woman closing her eyes and shaking her head. Guess what? That only confused me more.
We shouldn’t have to rewrite emails written by someone who teaches copy. And yet, here we are.
Received within the same hour from an online marketer I KNOW is pulling down a minimum of 7 figures was this subject line and first two lines of this email:
Subject Line: System to add 30K to 100K per month
First line of email: Want to work together to add [30K to 100K+] per month to your monthly bottom line?
Second line: My system produces this type of revenue for winners who add in “big-fee” or “high-priced” programs to what they do… or to those who need a more compelling and irresistible offer.
Notice the first line expands on the subject line. No confusion here, and we get more clarification, too. The second line explains how this is possible, building credibility that he knows what he’s talking about.
I’m two lines into this email and instead of confusion I have a VERY good idea of what’s going on, how it works and why I would benefit by reading the rest of the email.
Notice it’s not even written all that well. Adding 30K per month to your monthly bottom line? No English teacher would let that go, and yet the reader knows exactly what he’s saying.
I’d lose the “for winners” and instead say something like, “for smart marketers”. But that’s just me nit-picking.
The fact is, you’ve only got seconds to make your subscriber GLAD she opened the email. Don’t confuse her. Don’t make her slog through 30 lines to get to the point. Respect her time and get to the heart of the matter FAST.
This doesn’t mean you can’t tell stories, either. After that second line above, you might launch into a story of how you helped poor miserable Marketing Mavis do this exact thing. The point is, your reader now knows what the devil you’re talking about and she’s now willing to go along on the journey with you because you TOLD HER exactly what this email is all about.
Whew.
Sorry, I know sometimes I go off on a rant when I see shoddy marketing like this, but I just get so frustrated at how people get in their own way.
Keep it simple. Make your first line expand on your subject line. Lay out the foundation immediately so that readers know they are in the RIGHT PLACE. Then and only then should you launch into your fancy stuff, stories, details and so forth.
Try it and see if your click-through rate doesn’t improve dramatically.
