Black Hat PHP

If you're wondering how the launch of Black Hat PHP went... it brought in 186 sales for the main product ($1,616.10) and 6 sales ($562.37) for the $97 upsell, for a total of 192 sales and $2,178.47. That's calculated after taking fees into account.

I priced this one slightly higher (start at 7 cents and increase by 10 cents) because I wanted to get more money out of it over a slower period of time.

I made almost exactly $2,400 in sales total yesterday.... that's from one day! If you're wondering how I'm doing for the entire month, I've brought in $8,241.26 in gross sales for February 2008 which is $7,837.90 after fees.

Factor my day job income after that and it means that even if I take the next week off, this month was yet another $10k month for me.

I can tell you right now that having the 10-comment rule on this blog has made that level of income much easier to attain than in 2007, because:

  1. I'm building a list -- I've always built a list but the blog is yet another list-building source.
  2. I'm more motivated to pump out new products and write new sales letters because if I don't, I feel like I'm letting REAL PEOPLE down.
  3. Having the blog posts available permanently, instead of temporarily when I send out a mailing to my list, means those blog posts can slowly bring in sales over time.

I can't tell you how important number three is. Before starting a blog, I noticed lots of $2000 weeks and lots of $500 weeks in my PayPal income reports. Now it is more like $1500 weeks every single week.

That's much more reliable income. When I first started making big sales on the internet, I'd have a couple of days during a launch when I would pull in $1000 or $2000 in a day, then no more money would come in for the rest of the month.

Check out Black Hat PHP if you missed the big launch. It's quickly approaching the $20 price range so act fast.

Also, can you comment below and tell me if you are making any efforts to stabilize your income, going for steady streams instead of short bursts?

  • Are you looking into AdWords or some other form of paid advertising?
  • Do you have a blog?
  • Do you have an affiliate program that's promoted directly from your e-book?
  • Do you offer upsells or one-time-offers... do you have a product funnel?
  • Do you have a membership site?

Filed in: Product Launches

Comments (17)

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  1. Janis says:

    Hey, Robert ~

    Bought your product. I wanted to get the upsale BUT… since I already have a good percentage of your products it was difficult for me to tell if I already have the things offered in your upsell. Hard to tell without going through them all. 😉

    Commenting on your questions. I am currently learning about blogging and have been working on building a blog that has valuable information posted and not just a bunch of junk. 😯 I am watching your example and learning from your tips.

    The other things you mentioned are part of my future plans.

    Thanks for your products, example, and tips.

    Janis 🙂

  2. John Taylor says:

    Hey Robert,

    You’re getting to be a prolific blogger man!

    Yes, I’m working towards a more consistent stream of income from a number of sources.

    Rather than create and sell new Info-products each month, I’m looking to work on building my list of affiliates and to promote my products through Clickbank and PayDotCom.

    I’m also developing a number of membership/community sites in a number of my niche markets.

    It’s still nice to get an extra injection of cash with a new product launch from time to time though. 😉

  3. Robert Plank says:

    John, I feel you about the extra cash from a brand new product launch.

    I have been adding videos to some of my old products. At the time I posted the offers it felt like they weren’t as profitable as launching new products (especially because I provide free updates).

    But today, I loaded up an Excel spreadsheet dump of all my PayPal transactions into an Access database that I use to query some of my product histories… I can use it to figure out how much money each individual product (and each individual customer) has made me.

    These are my top 10 selling products for 2008:

    1. PHP Uncensored: 252 sales @ $2,846.30
    2. Top Secret PHP: 343 sales @ $2,697.77
    3. Sales Page Tactics Complete Series: 40 sales @ $1,824.96
    4. Black Hat PHP: 186 sales @ $1,616.10
    5. Simple JavaScript: 82 sales @ $1,259.55
    6. Sales Page Tactics Volume 3: 45 sales @ $624.36
    7. PHP in a Box: 6 sales @ $562.37
    8. Action PopUp: 28 sales @ $366.39
    9. Action PopUp plus JavaScript on Crack: 14 sales @ $321.90
    10. Sales Page Tactics Volume 2: 19 sales @ $243.90

    The top 2 products on there (PHP Uncensored and Top Secret PHP) are new infoproducts that made me about $2500 each.

    Simple JavaScript was an old product but I added video to it and made $1250, about half as much as a product launch — not bad for recording a few videos.

    Here’s where it gets good: Sales Page Tactics Volume 3 had an upsell to the Sales Page Tactics Complete Series. That means that relaunch netted me: $1824.96 + $624.36 = $2449.32.

    Adding video to that old product pulled in just as much money as a new product launch! Even though, again, existing customers got a free upgrade so I only profited from new customers.

    Improving old products PAYS OFF big time, if you funnel it into an upsell.

    I really need to get these products into some affiliate programs like you’re doing, but I definitely agree with you that creating new products isn’t the only way to make consistent money.

  4. I bought this one as well. I will be getting all your stuff eventually.

    Ever considered doing a PHP teaching book? But from the ground up… For beginners to experts.
    I’d buy that! I know you know your stuff!

  5. Andy says:

    I am definitely working on stabilizing my income. I already use Adwords; I already have a blog. What I am working on now is a membership site. I’m also working on a product funnel. I am currently working on the upsell/back end sale system for a new software product.

    Great blog! I’ll be back! 🙂

    –Andy

  6. Ric Raftis says:

    You mention that you started out your sale at 7cents and increased by 10cents. Being an addict of your scripts Robert, I purchased immediately the email hit my inbox, but it was at $7.07. Now I’m NOT complaining about the amount. I’m just wondering why it had got to that level so quickly when I took action immediately. Or is the answer in the throttling of emails somewhere in the system?

    Cheers,

    Ric

  7. John Taylor says:

    Damnit Robert, there’s another idea I’m going to have to give you credit for. I’m off to look through a few info-products to see if they can be enhanced with video and then re-launched.

    John

  8. Bob says:

    Hi Robert,

    Thanks for sharing some great tips as always. You have given me some good ideas to start various new methods.

  9. Paydex says:

    To be honest i was scared to read about the upsell, fearing that in the meantime i would be having the price of the new product go up…

    you should write “while you browse this offer, your price is locked in should you take a minute to decide if this is for you”…

    Paydex

  10. Hi Robert

    Just wondering: when will you canonize it all into one JUMBO pack with everything in one big volume? 🙂

    Keep up the good work. 🙂

  11. Corey Lewis says:

    I’ve put a great deal of effort into creating a monthly continuity based income model.

    Launched my membership site: EasyTechVideos.com back in July and like 400+ active members.

    I try and promote recurring and continuity based offers to my list so I don’t burn them out on mailings..but still get paid monthly from the promo’s I do run.

    I invite anyone to join my list to see what products are promoted and have done the best for me!

  12. Several of my online friends and community members who have know me for a period of time, know that I
    frequently refer to a “jewel” of a PHP Programmer that I have been following for quite awhile. I believe that I own every video, book and script that he has ever produced! His name is Robert Plank and he comes from my old neck-of-the-woods…Turlock, California.

    I confess that my first attraction to Robert was a few novel PHP Scripts that he was offering and the fact that he hailed from Turlock and had graduated from CSU-Stanislaus…or as it is known to some of us as “Turkey Tech”.

    My former championship debate partner, the late Brian White, came from Turlock and his dad was the head of purchasing there in its earliest days. So I have always joked about things related to “Turkey Tech.”

    To call Robert my “Programming Mentor” may be a bit misleading…All I ever have to do with most of Robert’s out put is to “cut and paste”. It is some of the most beneficial and potentially profitable “cutting and pasting” you’ll ever have the privilege to do!

    Rather than me wax nostalgic about my fond memories of Turlock (my cousin has a law practice there still), I would rather let you grab a copy of Robert’s Black Hat PHP while you can. Robert is giving you an amazing opportunity to tap into his expertise and begin generating traffic and profits for you online.

  13. Hi Robert,

    I’m a faithful buyer of your products. I have bought 20 products of you so far! Among them are both the basic product and products with rights!

    I’m kinda friendly with javascripts, PHP and I do hack together a small program or two myself, but reading your ebooks is a pure pleasure (fun, interesting and educating) and the time I save on bug fixing, looking in manuals and in many cases just coming up with the ideas to new scripts is pure profit!

    I can read your explanation, copy and implement a script in 15 minutes from your ebooks, instead of the hours or even days It would take me to create it myself (if I’m lucky).

    I for one will keep buying your product at first glance, as I see them as pure investments!

    I’ve implemented several of the scripts in Black Hat PHP already and with your new upgrade of the “aweber Autosubmitter” upgrade this script alone is beyond value!

    I’ve already combined it with other scripts of yours on several sites and it works like a charm!

    However, It’s safe to say, that one of my secret sources of increased profit in 2008 is “the knowledge of Robert Plank” and the scripts you share with me!

    You’ll make me a number of extra thousands of $ this year Robert!

    Muchas Gracias …

    Kenth “The Designer” Nasstrom

  14. Robert Plank says:

    Awesome testimonial, Ron! What law practice is it? Maybe I’ve seen it.

    You too, Kenth! I’ll add both of those to the sales letter as soon as I get a chance.

  15. Bob Stovall says:

    Let me keep this short and sweet. Once again, a fabulous package from the fertile mind of Robert Plank!

    I have gotten so many good products from Mr. Plank that it is now only a matter of moments from when I get word of a new product until I have it in my hands.

    I’m sure I have gotten many times more in return than I have spent.

    You just can’t go wrong with Black Hat PHP.

    Bob Stovall

  16. Lee says:

    Hi Robert
    I bought the basic PHP blackhat script and sent you an email a good few days ago about a particular setup I wanted for the Aweber responder script. You may have misssed my email or it ended up in your junk mail.

    I’d really appreciate a reply, if your script cannot do what I’m considering I will have to hire someone but I wanted to hear from you first. My email was from the same email address I using in this comment

    thank you

    Lee
    http://milliondollartrainingsystem.com

  17. Robert Plank says:

    Lee, you could have been filtered. Can you resend that email? Also I released an update to black hat php just yesterday, I now provide drop-in scripts for Amember, PayPal, and Clickbank that will hook right into Aweber.

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