It’s possible to add another $1,000 – $2,000 a month or more to your bottom line if you live in the right location and own a car or truck.
In fact, some people actually lease a car or two in order to take advantage of these opportunities. And it makes sense: If you can lease a car for, say, $400 a month and make $2,000 a month, why not do it?
No doubt you’ve heard of Uber and Lyft, both of which allow you to start your own taxi service. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
Instead, we’ve researched peer-to-peer sites where you can rent out your car to travelers for days and even weeks at a time while you focus on your internet business. Newer cars earn the most, as do popular travel destinations.
Turo – you can rent out your car, truck, SUV or minivan. Most rentals are at least a week. You might need to pick the person up or drop them off somewhere. Turo carries a $1 million liability insurance policy on every vehicle which covers damage and theft. turo.com
GetAround – similar to Turo, with reports of car owners earning up to $10,000 a year. www.getaround.com
Outdoorsy – do you have an RV sitting idle? Rent it out and earn $150 to $350 per day. The company handles bookings and payments and again carries $1 million in insurance. www.outdoorsy.com
EasyCar Club – this is the UK-based peer-to-peer car hire service. carclub.easycar.com
Do you use your car too much to rent it out? Then try a vehicle advertising service.
Wrapify – your car gets covered with a giant advertisement and you earn based on how much you drive. A typical commuter might earn $50 to $100 a week – which may potentially cover your car payment. www.wrapify.com
Carvertise – been around since 2012 and works like Wrapify. www.carvertise.com
None of these will make you rich, but they can add significant income to your bottom line while you’re growing your online business.
The Streisand effect is the name given for a phenomena that can be used for good or evil – for your own advantage or against you.
In 2003 Barbra Streisand’s lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to the California Coastal Records Project regarding an aerial photo of her Malibu beach mansion on the website. The website operators rejected that letter and all follow up letters and the Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed the frivolous suit.
Here’s what happened: The previously little-known CCRP website includes more than 12 THOUSAND overlapping aerial photos of the entire California coastline. Plus they house an additional 55,000 photos that date back as far as 1972.
Streisand was upset that her mansion was visible in one of these 67,000 aerial shots.
Had she done nothing, likely no one would have ever noticed or cared. But because of the lawsuit, now everyone heard about the site and the photo. Today, you can find that exact photo distributed all over the Internet.
Anytime anything is censored on the Internet, it’s immediately picked up by other websites. Get it removed from one site, it shows up on 10 new sites. Get it removed from those, and it’s on a hundred sites and in the news.
Banned books become highly popular. Movies that get protested see box office surges. Comedians, musicians and magazine publishers prosecuted for “obscenity” become folk heroes. (Lenny Bruce, Jim Morrison and Larry Flint, for example.)
Watergate wouldn’t have made much more than a ripple if it hadn’t been covered up. But six months of lies brought down an entire presidency.
Now then – why is this important to you and your business?
Two reasons. First, it can bite you if you’re not careful. Is there something you don’t want known? Did someone say something really rotten about you or your business that people could believe? Then it might be in your best interest not to make a big deal of it.
In the same vein – did you make a major mistake? Rather than trying to cover it up, it might be best to admit it immediately so it never becomes an Internet sensation.
Second reason and food for thought: How can you use the Streisand Effect to build your business?
Every year PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) submits an over-the-top TV advertisement for inclusion in the Super Bowl. It’s often highly sexually-suggestive, and usually the network flat out refuses to run it.
PETA lets it be known their commercial was banned, and overnight it becomes an internet sensation. And they didn’t have to pay the outrageous Super Bowl ad fee, either. Now that’s smart.
Greenpeace wrote a pamphlet critical of McDonald’s. McDonald’s sued and the case was in the news for over 10 years; the longest libel trial in English history. Thanks to the lawsuit, that little pamphlet and its contents became famous.
And the icing on the cake was when the court ruled the activists had not engaged in libel – now the claims McDonald’s fought to suppress had the tacit backing of the English courts.
Books, albums and movies that are banned by churches, religious groups and so forth nearly always see their sales skyrocket with the ensuing publicity.
Are you getting any ideas? I can’t give you a step-by-step here on what you might do – that depends entirely on your business. But you might keep the Streisand Effect in mind.
Sooner or later you’ll find an honest and ethical opportunity to use it to your advantage, and it’s up to you to grab that opportunity when it happens.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, a Zambian chimpanzee named Julie stuck a piece of grass in her ear and left it there. And she did this over and over again. Why? Scientists say the “grass in the ear behavior appears to serve no discernible function.”
While chimpanzees have “culture” and traditions, including unique behaviors and tools, these things usually have a concrete function. The grass in the ear doesn’t. Best guess by scientists – it’s some kind of a fashion statement.
But here’s where it gets interesting…
After Julie began placing a piece of grass in her ear, her fellow chimpanzees copied her. Mind you, no other chimp group did this – only Julie and her followers.
So what’s this got to do with online marketing?
Everything.
You can tell your readers to buy a product. You can tell them it’s the greatest product ever. You can tell them it will rock their world and change their life.
And some will buy.
But if you purchase the product yourself – if you USE the product yourself – and if you tell your readers about your experience – you will be far more likely to make sales.
Imagine if Julie had tried to force grass into her fellow chimps’ ears. Do you think they would have bought the concept? Not likely.
Obviously your readers and customers aren’t chimps. Humans are better for marketing purposes than chimps because humans are even MORE likely to copy what you do.
If your readers like you, trust you and even suspect you know what you’re doing, they’re going to want to be like you.
And if that means buying and using certain products, they’ll do it. Just be a leader and respect your readers enough to make their own decisions, and many of them will be glad to do what you do. Plus it gives you a ton more credibility. After all, you’re telling them about the products and services you use, not trying to force products down their throat…
You drive by a restaurant and it doesn’t look like it’s been painted in a decade. The flowerbeds are full of weeds, the sign is dirty, the parking lot is full of trash… do you stop in and have lunch? Probably not, but why not?
What does outside paint, weeds and trash in the parking lot have to do with what kind of meal you’re going to be served? Frankly, none. It could be that the world’s greatest cook is inside, waiting to make you the meal of a lifetime.
But you’ll never know because you didn’t patronize the place.
What’s this got to do with your business?
Everything.
I see folks working for months to get their products just right. And then they only spend one afternoon writing the sales letter or making the sales video.
They think if they get the product perfect, it won’t matter if their sales letter looks like it was written by a third grader. But it does matter, because if no one buys, no one will ever know what a great product you have.
This might blow a few minds and cause some controversy, but… when it comes to online sales, your sales copy, graphics and sales funnel are all more important than your product.
No, I’m not saying it isn’t important to have a great product that delivers tremendous value.
But I am saying if you don’t spend just as much time on the funnel that takes people from strangers to buyers, you won’t succeed, no matter how terrific your product might be.
You get the point.
Now to suggest something even more radical – write your sales copy first.
Then create the product.
This isn’t a new idea, yet to this day it’s seldom used.
Look, it’s a lot easier to write great copy when there are no limitations to what can be in the product, and then fit the product to the sales copy.
If it turns out any of the claims in the sales letter went too far, you can always pull them out. But you will still increase your odds of creating a hot selling product when you use this method.
Remember – spend as much time building your sales funnel as you do creating your product. This will get the people in the parking lot, through the door and sitting at your table, ready to enjoy the fantastic product you’re about to serve them.
When I got started in online marketing, I was lucky. Someone told me exactly what to do, and I didn’t know any better than to follow his instructions to the letter. I looked at it this way – the guy was a self-made millionaire. I was broke. So what was I going to do – take what he told me and ‘fix’ it?
Somehow make it better? Improve upon it? There’s an old expression: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I took his instructions as gospel and did what he said. Soon I was making so much money, I was frankly astounded.
The biggest mistake I see new marketers making is they try to innovate. They have a better idea. A better system. A better method. And they almost always fail.
Look, there is a place for innovation once you know what you’re doing…
… But not when you’re first getting started.
Imagine you’re teaching someone to drive, and they get a great idea: ‘Why not just beep the horn when they’re about to hit someone? This way that person can get out of the way, and they never need to step on the brakes.’
See how crazy that is?
But it’s exactly how new marketers tend to think: “Forget the old ways, I’ve thought of a better way no one has ever thought of before.”
Uh-huh.
Instead, if you want to meet success quickly in this business, take a system that is already working and copy it.
Yes, that’s right – I’m advocating that you flat out copy what’s already working.
Are you in the diet niche? Then do this: Purchase the top 5 or 10 diet information products. Pay close attention to every step of the funnel. Take screen shots and notes. Pour through the products and see what’s good about them and what’s missing.
Then create your own product based on what you’ve learned, and set up a sales funnel based on the funnels you went through. Do this and I almost guarantee you’ll have a good selling product.
Online marketing isn’t hard if you’ll simply do what’s already working. But being human, we tend to think we can do better. Or we think we should do better and that it’s not right to copy systems that others are using.
But all industries are built upon the knowledge of those who went before – even those that innovate like crazy.
I’ll give you an example: It’s July 2003 and you’ve just co-founded Tesla Motors with the intention of building cars.
Are you going to start from scratch, with zero knowledge of cars and engines and how they run?…
… or are you going to take all of the knowledge accumulated over the last century and a half of car making, and then BUILD UPON this knowledge to create your own cars?
See?
Even companies like Tesla don’t reinvent the wheel – they make it better AFTER they’ve learned everything they can about what’s working now.
When you’re just starting out, find a system you like that you know is working, and then copy it. Once you’ve got it working, then and only then do you start innovating.
This only takes a few minutes to apply, and it can result in a nice bump in your sales…
Here’s how it works:
When you create a product download file, put it in zip file, and add a “Read me first” document to it as well.
In the “read me first,” place another offer for your customer to check out. Or even more than one offer…
It can be as simple as a sentence or two directing them to the link where the additional offer can be found. Or you can get more creative and elaborate if you have time. Either way, you should see some additional sales using this simple, easy technique.
And you can add a “read me first” file to lead magnets and free offers, products you sell, and even add it to the bonuses you give away when selling affiliate products.
Apply this simple technique to products you sell online and you can significantly boost your bottom line, while also adding value for your customers in the process by including additional resources for them.
You see it – and possibly even do it – all the time. A product launch is announced. The date is set, affiliates are lined up and the process begins. Prospects are driven to a squeeze page. They watch a video, watch another video in a day or two, watch a third video a couple of days after that, and finally the product goes live.
For a week affiliates are working hard to get sales and everything goes great. Then comes the deadline. Only 48 hours left! Only 24 hours left! Only 6 hours left! The sales come pouring in, and then it’s over. Done. Finished. History.
Sigh.
Sort of feels like the day after Christmas, doesn’t it?
No more sales.
Sure, you (hopefully) made a mint.
But that’s it.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Maybe I could reopen it in a month or two.” Sure. You can. Of course by then you will have lost all momentum. And if you said you would NEVER reopen it, then you’ll lose your credibility, too.
There is another way – and I’ll give you a clue as to what it is:
What do you do when your new customer buys your $10 product, but turns down your $97 upsell? Usually, you offer a $47 downsell, right? Well, why don’t we do this with product launches?
Let’s say you’re launching a $997 coaching program. The very day after it closes, why not do a second launch of a $297 or $497 version?
Here’s how it might work:
The day after your product launch ends, send an email to everyone on your list who opened at least one of your emails promoting that product launch. Tell them, “I see you didn’t grab my XYZ product. No problem. Maybe the timing just wasn’t right for you.”
“I’ve got a more economical version for you that’s just as powerful.”
And then you launch into a problem that needs solving, and you’re going to solve it on an upcoming webinar, and here’s the link… On the webinar you give great information, and then you offer the downsized version of your original program that just closed.
Nice.
Your prospects are still warm from the big launch. Some of them really did want your product but couldn’t afford it. And they’re grateful for the opportunity to learn more on your webinar. Done right, you can make a lot of extra sales this way.
Things to know:
– Be sure NOT to send this email to people who bought your initial product. They might get irritated that you didn’t give them a choice between the two versions.
– You’ve already created the product – it just makes sense to repurpose the information into a second, smaller product to make additional sales.
– Make sure your more economical version does NOT contain everything your expensive version contains. It’s only fair that it doesn’t. For example, if your expensive version contains one-on-one coaching, you might leave that out.
– Deliver real value on the webinar. As always, tell them what to do but not HOW to do it. They have to buy your product for that.
– If you have a HUGE list of prospects who looked at your first product but didn’t buy, you might need to do more than one webinar to get them all on. It’s a good problem to have.
– It is entirely possible to double your initial sales using this method. Of course, since you are charging less, you won’t be doubling revenue. But still it can be a very nice second payday.
– Be sure to have everything in place for this second launch prior to initiating the first launch.
– Let affiliates know they will be earning commissions on both the first and the second launch.
This is a technique that doesn’t take a lot of extra work and can make your customers, your affiliates and your bank account very happy.
Of course this is just my opinion, but I think you’ll see the logic… As online marketers, if we build our business correctly then we can create money whenever we decide to do so.
For one marketer, it might be sending out a terrific offer to her list and getting orders back within hours.
For someone with a highly popular site, it might be putting an unbeatable offer on their site and collecting the cash.
For a membership site or software as a service site, it might mean offering a year’s membership for a low price.
For someone offering services, it might be offering a special deal to clients for the next 7 days.
You’ll notice that all of these boil down to one thing – keeping a list of customers, members or leads, and having permission to contact them at will.
There it is again… you need a list.
Because a list is and likely always will be the online ticket to cash on demand.
There are a lot of things in life and in your business that you can’t control.
You can’t control what other people do.
Or what they don’t do.
You can’t control what regulations come down the pike.
Or what happens to the economy.
Or who or what wins elections. (Brexit, the US presidential election, etc.)
So what can you do?
Focus on those things that you can control.
Fix the problems that you can fix.
And for everything else, stand back and be an observer.
As best you can, remove your emotional stake in those things you cannot control.
If you are able to take this liberating attitude, you’ll notice your anxiety reduces ten-fold.
You’ll be calmer, you’ll think more clearly and you’ll get more done.
And you’ll be happier.
One more thing – when you’re calmer, clear-headed and feeling positive, you’ll begin to see solutions to problems that previously seemed insurmountable.
And you’ll discover you can control more things in life than you thought you could.
Only then can you begin to truly make a difference in the world.
Rule number one of getting your emails opened is be the person your list knows, likes and trusts. When you’ve accomplished that, you won’t need to put as much energy into your subject lines and ‘from’ fields. But until then, try these hacks to improve your open rates and get your emails read…
1. Catch the eye with the ‘from’ field.
If you go to your own email program and scan the emails, which ‘from’ fields stand out? And why?
Udemy (4) – Looking at my own inbox, the first eye catcher I see is from Udemy, the (4) indicating they sent the same email 4 times. Perhaps not the best idea, but it definitely pulls the eye in. You can duplicate this by using a number in your ‘from’ field.
Actual Email Addresses – The next eye catcher in the ‘from’ field is from Amazon because they used their actual email address with the @ sign in the middle of it. So few people use their email addresses in the ‘from’ field anymore, that if you choose to do this you will stand out.
The downside – it can look a little amateurish. Then again, if Amazon is doing it…
Academy Sports + Outdoors – Of course, it’s the ‘+’ that draws the eye.
~ PayPerClickSearchMarke – notice the symbol (do you see a trend here?)
Fab – crazy short, thus eye catching
The Email Fairy (via Tel. – This is from Tellman Knudson, who employees the unique strategy of using all sorts of different names in his from field. Still, it’s the ‘(via Tel.’ that catches my eye.
chintimini – one word, no capitals. Everyone else uses capital letters which makes this stand out.
Don @ EnginesPlus – This is a good one because it has the person’s name, their business and the ‘@’ sign.
2. Catch the eye with your subject line. Not with the actual words – we’ll cover that in a moment – But with symbols, capitalization and so forth.
Check your inbox and you will likely notice a few fancy symbols and emoji. These might be check-marks, snowflakes, hearts, faces, etc. These are actually Unicode symbols, and they’re easier to install into your subject lines than you may think. Here’s a brief tutorial on how to do it… Just Google it.
One note: Don’t go symbol crazy. Generally one per subject line is plenty, 2 is questionable and with 3 or more and you just look like spam.
About using capitals – If you use all-caps, you will stand out. But use this tactic sparingly since it’s tantamount to shouting. Best bet – use all-caps on your keyword only.
3. Use specifics.
First, you need to be absolutely clear on what your goal is. Are you promoting something? Are you giving helpful information? Do you have a story to share?
Let your customers know what they’re about to read. Being honest and upfront will get you opens. “Coupon Inside, today only” “Free Report: New Killer Traffic Source” “Twitter’s Dark Secret: The Real Story”
4. Ask a question in the subject line.
This is a great way to raise curiosity and get the customer involved with your topic before they even open the email.
For example, for a Christmas email involving Santa Claus, you might ask, “John, have you been good enough?”
Or if you’re promoting a book on persuasion, you might ask, “Who will you persuade with your new powers?”
5. Whenever possible, personalize the subject line.
Not just with names, but with other pertinent information as well.
For example…
“John, getting the most out of your new XJ524 Printer” “Day 1 of your Jump Purple Hoops program, here’s what to do first” “Sshhh… Special one day offer for our UK friends only”
6. Mail a series and let them know which day they’re on.
For example, maybe they joined your list to get a series on building more traffic. You could title each email with, “[Day 1] – Traffic Builders Course” This also makes it easy for them to go back and find the emails they missed.
7. Optimize the preview text as well.
Remember that the first line of text shows up in most desktop email clients. This means the recipient sees not only the ‘from’ field and the subject line – they also see the first sentence.
The last thing you want is to have it say, “To unsubscribe from our list” or any other housekeeping type of content.
Instead, think of your first line as an extension of your subject line and keep it interesting, intriguing and highly relevant.
One last thing: Become a fanatic about testing. You hear it time and again; test, test, test. But are you doing it? If you’re really serious about improving your open rates, testing is definitely the way to go.
