The weekend before last, I launched WordPress on Crack… a set of video tutorials (5 hours worth) showing you how to write your own WordPress plugins… most of them easier to write than a standalone PHP script because you don’t have to deal with most of the install, data storage, and templating issues that you’d normally deal with in PHP.
It also included three bonuses: Techie Howto WordPress by Joel Holtzman, Install SEO WordPress by Pawel Reska, and Advanced WordPress by Quentin Brown… also videos.
Total, the WSO grossed me over $8,000. Yes, $8,000 from one launch… that didn’t involve any joint ventures or any advertising aside from a single forum post and a mailing to my list.
Here is a quick video from last Thursday showing the $7,000+ balance in my PayPal account (this is when the sale was still going on):
I sold 33 copies at 13.33 ($439.89), 33 copies at $16.66 ($549.78), 88 copies at $33.33 ($2,933.04) and 88 copies at $44.44 ($3,910.72). The last 12 discounted slots are selling at $66.66, so far 3 are gone ($199.98). That brings our grand total to: $8,033.41.
Take away a couple hundred dollars in PayPal fees, plus the cost of obtaining the resale rights to the bonuses, but you can add those back in when you accounted for “sidetracked” sales… getting my name out there caused people to buy a few more of my products.
“WordPress on Crack” made May 2008 my best month EVER! Even beating out June 2007 where I made $3,000 in a day. In May 2008, I made over $14,000 from PayPal (before fees). For the ENTIRE month, taking into account fees, Clickbank and day job income, I cleared over $16,000… in one month.
How did I do it? Easy. I acted like a marketer. I had something to market so I wrote a sales letter for it that explained everything (so many people post a WSO with nothing but a payment link… or even worse… a “buy me a beer” link… and wonder why it doesn’t sell).
I created a product relevant to my e-mail list so I could market to that list. I gave them a unique offer — the limited quantity — which was something I actually tried last year with Push Button PHP and you know what? It pissed people off just as much then as it does now.
I had so much traffic going to that offer (opt-in list of 11,500 subscribers — most of them paid) that the offer closed up quickly and people got angry because they couldn’t get in.
Some of my subscribers told me they were unsubscribing for life because they were used to getting everything for $1.00 and could buy in at any time they wanted.
I had people saying I shouldn’t resort to gimmicks because the product should sell on its own.
Guess what, most of the people who said that would never have bought anything from me over ten dollars, and have probably never done any serious marketing on the internet.
In 2008 alone, I’ve posted 31 special offers and earned $62,000. In the past 12 months? Fifty Warrior Special Offers!
I stick to one project at a time, I put myself under time constraints — like having to get in my car to go to my day job or come off of my break.
I act like a real marketer… I try to over-deliver, and not in that generic cliched way. I added an e-book, scripts, and videos, and went out and bought resale rights to augment my original product.
I followed up with my list every day throughout the launch explaining what the price was that day. I hit them with a different angle every time and saved each mailing so I could use it as an automatic follow-up later. You know what people always say… it takes an average of 7 follow-ups to make a sale? How come almost NO ONE follows that rule?
What’s your opinion on this situation? Was I wrong to limit the number of sales? Or was I a smart marketer by taking a WSO that would have normally made me $2,000… and turned it into $8,000?
Please take a moment to comment below.
