Michelle L. Evans walked away from her global marketing strategy role at Microsoft in 2012 after a successful 16-year corporate career spanning many industries and now works with a fantastic community of business owners - coaches, consultants, experts, speakers, authors and solopreneurs - helping them go from simply surviving to predictably SOLD OUT. Using her 20+ years of successful marketing experience she helps her clients create income-producing, client-generating, stress-reducing marketing funnels. Michelle has been featured in Mirasee, Huffington Post, Online Marketing Made Easy and 30+ other places over the internet and worked with household names like Microsoft, LinkedIn and others as a well-paid employee and consultant.
Michelle talks to us about her strategy of creating mini-offers to find hot selling product ideas, training your list, creating upsells and funnels, and how to emotionally connect with prospects.
Quotes:
“When I'm doing market research, I learned my lesson—don't do market research on free stuff if people don't have to whip out their wallets and even give you a tiny amount of money.” – Michelle Evans
“You did all this work to get them excited, they come in, engaged, and continue this discovery process. Thus, the best thing you can do is to hook into their curiosity and even if you could have a small offer, you have to keep that conversation going.” - Michelle Evans
“Start those conversations regardless of how big your audience is. Start solving problems for people because that's what they'll pay for.” - Michelle Evans
Takeaways:
06:36 Funnels don't need to be complicated; focus on understanding the problem you solve and the results customers want.
20:15 Creating low-ticket mini offers helps entrepreneurs test market demand without massive upfront investment.
22:06 Always include an upsell or next step after someone opts in or makes a small purchase to keep the conversation going.
29:25 When transitioning from a 9-to-5 job, start building your side business gradually with simple, quick-to-create products.
31:57 Testimonials and market research can come directly from customers who buy your initial low-cost offerings.
Jonah Phillips is the founder and CEO of Crossword Hobbyist and My Word Search. He’s here to talk about starting your own business, and explain why you should ignore most business advice you get. He also explains how he was able to grow the audience for his crossword and wordsearch tools, as well as the audiences he's broken into in order to expand his user base.
Quotes:
“If you're making something for an anniversary gift, you want the absolute most premium.” – Jonah Phillips
“The price is always worth it if it’s the best option and exactly what they’re looking for.” - Jonah Phillips
“You have to be a certain kind of crazy to want to create a crossword puzzle. Even with intense focus, your first newspaper-style crossword could take around eight hours to complete.” - Jonah Phillips
Takeaways:
01:32 Sometimes the most valuable customers are those who weren't your original target audience.
02:19 Finding a unique market niche can turn a seemingly simple tool into a successful business.
05:19 Successful businesses adapt by closely observing how people actually use their product.
15:43 Future-proofing your business means anticipating technological integrations before they become mainstream.
20:40 Pricing isn't always about being the cheapest, but about providing the best value for specific user needs.
His background includes touring with Guns N' Roses, as Axl Rose's personal assistant, and Air Supply, as the band's personal assistant.
After touring, Craig opened his marketing firm, Green Room Design and Advertising, which was named the 2002 SCV Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year.
Craig then combined his backgrounds in both music and marketing, and is now a professional speaker, author and podcaster, promoting his RockStar Marketing Program all over the world. He is known in the industry for putting on high energy, 3-Day RockStar Marketing BootCamps every Spring and Fall in Los Angeles.
Craig is here today to share with us how to use outside the box marketing techniques to generate leads, attract clients and how to stand out from the competition — Like a RockStar.
Quotes:
“If you want to make more money, be a rock star in your business, stand out from the competition, establish yourself as an expert, and have people buy from you because of your excellence, then you must rise above the rest.” – Craig Duswalt
“We need to start thinking like five- and ten-year-olds again—letting go of the fear of judgment, putting our ideas out there, and trusting that what we create has value.” - Craig Duswalt
“The key is to create raving fans, just like rock stars do—by doing things differently and standing out.” - Craig Duswalt
Takeaways:
14:30 Creating unique marketing approaches, like selling a single album copy, can generate massive attention and buzz for your brand.
20:53 No one will market your personal brand for you, so you must put your own picture and face everywhere.
28:36 Negative feedback is inevitable, so develop thick skin and focus on the positive responses from your audience.
30:13 Having fun with your marketing and letting go of critics helps you connect with passionate, supportive fans.
31:54 Standing out from competition requires delivering unique value and making personal, extra touches.
Bret Ridgway is co-founder of Speaker Fulfillment Services, a company that works for speakers, authors and information marketers. His unique, behind-the-scenes perspective allows him to see what is working and not working in the industry. He is the author of 5 books in the niche, including the Amazon bestseller "Mistakes Authors Make" and most recently "The ABCs of Speaking." He stops by to tell us what we need to know about selling products from stage at events, what's working now, and what physical products we should be creating and selling in our businesses.
Quotes:
“It's really all about relationships. I mean, the people you know—when you get out to live events and meet others—you just never know where it's going to lead.” – Bret Ridgway
“Consumption is what it's all about. If you can't get them to read your book, watch your video, or listen to your podcast, the chance of them coming back to you for other products and services is almost nil.” – Bret Ridgway
“A good seller can make a lot more money selling at the back of the room than by getting paid for a keynote speech.” – Bret Ridgway
Takeaways:
01:07 Event selling strategies have shifted from pure pitch fests to more balanced content and sales approaches.
10:21 Successful speakers create multi-modal learning experiences that cater to different learning styles and preferences.
12:47 Physical products remain crucial in marketing, even in a digital world, as they provide tangible value and credibility to customers.
16:41 Offering personal access or coaching can significantly increase the perceived value and pricing of your products.
20:16 Books should be strategic marketing tools that guide readers to additional products and services, not just standalone revenue generators.
Bailey Richert from Virtual Summit School has made a living by creating online training courses based on website creation and product creation skills. She shares not only how she comes up with product ideas, but how she develops sales letters by re-using the "language" prospects give her. She also explains her 90-day process for running a virtual summit, including:
Alex Genadinik, whose Android app is ranked #1 in the Google Play store for the term "business" has 87 courses on uDemy and has sold to over 66,000 students. He's going to tell us how he sells on a high traffic platform called uDemy (which is as "hot" as the iTunes app store was years ago), how he comes up with ideas and gets traffic to his video courses.
[showhide type="transcript" more_text="Display Transcript" less_text="Hide Transcript"]We have a really special guest today, he knows a lot about this platform called uDemy.com, his name is Alex Genadinik. He's a three-time Amazon best-selling author, creator of some of the top mobile apps for entrepreneurs, and a prolific online instructor with over 80 courses on uDemy. You know what Alex, I'm looking at your uDemy page and I'm seeing you have 66,000 students, you have almost 1800 reviews, that's pretty dang crazy so welcome to the show.
Alex Genadinik: I'm excited to share everything that I know about uDemy with your audience.
Robert Plank: Awesome, so just to make sure that we're all on the same page, could you explain to us what uDemy is?
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, uDemy is this really rapidly growing place where their model is anyone can learn anything. It's basically the idea of elearning that's been around for maybe the last 20 years, but they've really taken it to the next level and they're making it mainstream. It's high quality, really good learning, things like that. Whereas I think everybody is familiar with elearning here and there, but before it was kind of hacky you know, it was spotty, you didn't know what you were getting, maybe you got it in a university, but this is like ... uDemy is legitimately ... They have I think over 20 or 30 thousand courses on all kinds of topics and they're high quality courses so it's a fantastic marketplace for ... Literally anyone can learn anything but also anyone with expertise can teach and make money.
Robert Plank: That's pretty cool because I think that sometimes I'll want to learn a new skill or a new piece of software, I'll want to know Photoshop or Google Analytics and the choices in front of me used to be either to try to go through some free YouTube videos and I would get sometimes old information or I'd buy a Kindle book and sometimes get just words and no screenshots, or something like Lynda or something. I've used uDemy a few times as a buyer, like I'd pay $10 or $20 just to learn something really specific. As far as you selling on uDemy, what kind of stuff are you selling? What's your favorite course on uDemy, I guess, that you're selling?
Alex Genadinik: For me, my favorite course is, I have a course ... Mainly I teach people entrepreneurship, business, and marketing, and my favorite topic is marketing. The more advanced the marketing technique, the more they are my favorite. Because it takes more creativity and more insight and more experience to really become proficient at them. My favorite course that I teach is it's called "Marketing Strategies to Reach a Million People" and it's got everything, right? It's got social media, it's got SEO, and it's a really long, like 14 hour course with I think over 120 different lectures.
I really take a person from being a new marketer and take them through almost everything, like offline marketing, social media marketing, SEO marketing. Often the combination of those things, right? Because sometimes social media platforms have a big search component, right? YouTube for example, or iTunes for example, and not only search, but there's secondary algorithms like the recommendation algorithm right, like in podcasts. If you like this podcast you will also like this one, on Amazon if you like this book you will also like this one. I take a person from very beginner to pretty advanced and understanding how to leverage those SEO and even more complex algorithms online and really get as much traffic to their business as possible.
Robert Plank: Okay and I'm looking at that exact course and you had 6200 students take that course. When I see you doing courses on that and things like that, I've seen some people, and especially internet marketers put out uDemy courses and I see that sometimes the course has thousands of students have gone through it. Does that mean that if I'm looking at the page right now, 6200 times $20, does that mean that all of those thousands of students have paid you $20 or is there some kind of strategy to make it free first and then charge for it or ... What's the deal with that?
Alex Genadinik: You can make a course free. In the case of that particular course I only in the very beginning gave away a few copies for free so most of the students there are paid students. None of them paid probably exactly $20 because at different times this course was different prices. Sometimes this course used to be $500, and then uDemy said courses can only be $300 and then the course was $299, and then uDemy had another price change and now the top possible price on uDemy at the moment is $50. I think that might change soon too because they're also experimenting on their platform. I'm kind of just rolling with the punches of uDemy and what I do is often people who enroll in my courses, they get emails from me with discounts to my other courses. Usually if the marked price is $20, anyone in my other courses can get this particular course at a discount. I like to give discounts so it's nicer for people, there's less risk for them and they buy more and I'm happy.
Robert Plank: That's pretty cool and I think that when you look at platforms like this and uDemy and it's great that ... From what I understand it makes it easy to put some videos online, it's easy to have it hosted, so you don't have to make your own website, but I think that, and let me know if I'm right or wrong here, but it seems like the biggest advantage to uDemy is there's just so much traffic, right? There's so many people looking to buy something from you, right?
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, exactly. That's the main draw of uDemy as an instructor. By the way one point I forgot to make is that if it makes sense for your audience maybe on your show notes page we can post a link, I have a page on my site where I have a very steep discount to all my courses so even your listeners who are not necessarily students of my courses can get pretty steep discounts if they're interested in any of courses so maybe we can have a link to that.
The main draw is the buyers, right, because it's an elearning platform, but it's also eCommerce just like Amazon is eCommerce, and just like on Amazon, right, where are you going to sell your book? Of course you're going to sell it on Amazon or the Kindle so the same things happens for uDemy. uDemy is like the Amazon for courses.
Robert Plank: Okay. Speaking of Amazon, I resisted Amazon for a long time because I saw people selling books there and I'm thinking well why would I want to sell a book on Amazon for $0.99 or $2 and the same way on uDemy I say well why would I want to give away like ... You have that course that has twelve hours for $20 but I mean if you make $20 sales times, or $200 sales times whoever knows how many students then that's great. The other thing too is you don't have to live on uDemy. That kind of leads me to wondering okay, so you have a course on uDemy, for example, this marketing strategy to reach a million people, does that have to be specific to their platform or are you allowed to sell it other places?
Alex Genadinik: Their terms of service dictate that as an instructor you are 100% allowed to sell anywhere else.
Robert Plank: Cool. But it seems like from a marketing point of view you could, like you said, you have your discounts and things like that, you could have your same exact course for sale for $200 off of uDemy, but then someone finds it on uDemy and it's at a huge discount so they can jump and buy it, right?
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, exactly.
Robert Plank: Where did you specifically find out about this and find out how to put these uDemy courses online?
Alex Genadinik: Years ago ... I mean I've been on uDemy for over two years and years ago I had some apps for entrepreneurs that were successful and I wrote a book and people liked the book but a lot of people literally were telling me ... I got the same line from a lot of people, they were like, "Hey your book is great and your tutorials are great but can you make a video? We don't like to read." So I started dabbling in YouTube and it took me a while to become proficient with video and once I became proficient with video, to a degree, because video, it's almost endless, there's always room to become better, but I became kind of good enough. YouTube unless you're a mega star and unless you have millions and millions of views a month, it's really hard to make significant money there. You have to be like above the top 1%, right?
Robert Plank: Oh yeah.
Alex Genadinik: I was looking to monetize my videos better, and especially like I'm not viral, I'm not a cute cat, I'm not an elephant-
Robert Plank: You're not a hot girl, right?
Alex Genadinik: Right. There's not that much chance for a boring guy like me who talks about business to become tremendously successful. My channel has over a million views on YouTube, but still you need so much more there to do well. I just kept looking for better places to monetize video and I came across uDemy, which even at that time, I felt it was mature at the moment ... At that moment it felt mature, it felt competitive, it was hard to get ahead, not different from how I feel about it now. It took me a while to fully understand how uDemy works with all their ins and outs and all that stuff but I just stumbled upon it really as a ... It was necessary for me because I was searching for a better way to monetize video that's better than YouTube.
Robert Plank: Right, because I mean like we were saying a few minutes ago, usually when I'm on YouTube I'm looking to get some information for free. If you had your videos on YouTube and you made money from ads, like little two cent ... Two cents of income every little now and then. What I like about, we're talking about Amazon and uDemy, is that literally everyone on Amazon, everyone on uDemy, is looking to buy something, right, there's nothing for free on uDemy. I guess there are some free courses but in general, it's not like YouTube where's it an entirely free site. You mentioned some of these things about getting started. Is there a place to find out the rules or ... Because you can't just throw up any kind of video you make you have to abide by what they want, right?
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, there's a lot of rules. The most basic things are every course is a minimum 30 minutes of video and five different lectures, meaning five different videos. There's some topics that are off limits like something like guns are not allowed, porn is not allowed, but almost everything ... Gambling might not be allowed, but almost everything else is allowed. Once you get into creating the course, there's really a tremendous amount on how to create a good course, how to promote a course. uDemy has their own courses that they make to help aid instructors on it.
Also sometimes I actually coach people who are new to uDemy but they have some knowledge, maybe they're software engineers or maybe they know about business or some other life skill and they want to be able to monetize that but they don't want to spend six months learning uDemy, so sometimes I offer pretty affordable coaching. I do an initial consultation call for fifteen minutes for just $5 just for a person to get a sense if it's right for them. That's also an option because there's a lot more that I can explain in a conversation. There's also free resources like uDemy Studio Facebook group, where there's I think there's 30,000 uDemy instructors and aspiring instructors so it's a fantastic place for free and it's a community where anybody can ask any question and get answers to almost all their questions.
Robert Plank: Okay cool. I'm kind of clicking through some of the courses you have and I mean you have courses about podcasting and Kindle and stuff like that, but there's you know Bit Coin, yoga. Just out of curiosity what's the weirdest or craziest uDemy course you have?
Alex Genadinik: I don't do too many crazy things. I have some health and fitness courses that I did with a few of my fitness instructors. Just as an experiment and I think those courses came out okay, you know, people seemed to like them, but that's not really my focus. I do have one unique course that's really unique. When I was in college I really liked philosophy and I was a computer science major so I mostly had to learn on my own, it was a passion thing. I have a course that's like a philosophy course, it's a philosophy of religion, but it's not a religious course.
It's more like I took all the philosophers through the last 2500 years and I took their perspectives on religion, largely emphasizing existentialism, because that's where the big crux happened where instead of people asking, "What should I do with my life?" Instead of getting the answer from religion most people started looking inside themselves and looking for the answer ... There is no answer, right? Everybody has to create that. That was a big switch in how people thought about it. That course I really like because it's like a passion project from my own passion. I mean, religion can always get weird, but it's really a philosophy course first and foremost and it just talks about religion.
Robert Plank: I mean if you have the knowledge anyway and you were going to have a conversation about it anyway why not just make a video about it, or make a video course about it, right?
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, that thing I just wanted to share. That course doesn't, philosophy, doesn't make a lot of money, but it's just for me to kind of share something I myself was passionate about. I think it came out pretty cool. I quote different people from the best philosophers to Bob Marley, because he has some things to say about it in his songs. He has some good quotes there. I think it came out to be a well-rounded course and I aimed for it to be the equivalent of a couple of college courses. The main takeaways that you would get from a couple of college courses that I got. I think it came out okay.
Robert Plank: Awesome. Speaking of that, I'm looking, I mean you have courses on all kinds of crazy stuff like Android apps and LinkedIn. Is there a method to the madness? Do you just wake up one day and have an idea for a course or is there any kind of research involved or what's the deal there?
Alex Genadinik: Well largely I try to share things that I'm an expert in. Because how I got here is I made some successful mobile apps so I do have a deep understanding of the app business, I am a software engineer. It made sense for me to make those courses. Especially since one of my apps did really well on Android. If you search for the word business on Android my app has been number one for the last three years or something. I teach people how to do the same thing for them, right? But it's something that I literally accomplished on my own and I'm like here are the exact steps so that made sense. For the most part, my goal is to help people kind of start and grow their businesses. All the courses they kind of help people with some aspect of it. Maybe personal branding, maybe like you mentioned LinkedIn.
Lately I've been focusing on soft skills like motivation, and motivation is funny because sometimes people are not motivated because they chose the wrong path for themselves, right? Sometimes somebody else chose the path for them and suggested it and they just went with it, right, but it's not necessarily the right thing for them and then half of them is not into it so they're not motivated. They're wondering why am I not motivated, why am I procrastinating, you know? It's like goal-setting, motivation, how to find your own life purpose rather than having it handed to you by society or your parents or somebody else.
Because no one really knows as deep as you do what really will drive you and it's important to find that because if you, let's say started a business but it's not really your thing, or even if it is your thing, but you're starting a business in the wrong ... Dealing with the wrong people, in the wrong niche, wrong industry, you're not getting motivated and you'll be like why am I not motivated, what's wrong with me, why is my business failing? It's not even any hard business skill, it's like a soft business skill, almost like life skills first. Now I focus on that because I see a lot of people failing in business precisely because of a mental issue, mental process, motivation issue, right, nothing to do with the actual business.
Robert Plank: Right, it's like they have a bad foundation so no matter what they do, the foundation's still bad so they're still failing.
Alex Genadinik: Precisely.
Robert Plank: I mean, this is crazy. I thought that uDemy as far as it got was like PowerPoint, like as far as it got was like photography. I didn't know that you could make it as, like you said, as soft skills as, like motivation or philosophy, and it seems like what's cool about those topics is that they stay evergreen, right? As opposed to if you teach like WordPress or Facebook or Android apps, five years later the whole video has to be different, right?
Alex Genadinik: Yes, it's totally right. Although, you know, there's something to be said about the balance of evergreen versus super, hyper demand, right. Every year iOS development has some change, right, so it's not evergreen, but at the same time it's the most lucrative niche on uDemy, I think. Programming, things that are super current and things where people can take it and get a job, that's the most lucrative and money-making thing on uDemy so if you know anything technical from JavaScript to HTML to WordPress to Android development to whatever, all those things. That's the number one niche. The software engineering kind of tech, that's the number one niche on uDemy so it's not evergreen at all but that's actually ... It's hyper in demand, you know.
Robert Plank: Is there a problem with that? If you want to make a course about Android apps and you go and look at the existing courses and there's hundreds of courses already, do you just go ahead and do that anyway or do you try to make yours unique or what's your thought process there?
Alex Genadinik: Any time in the marketplace you want to be unique. What's your differentiation, right, like in any business. That's an important part. You want to have something catchy, for example like my course "How to Market to Get a Million People," well, that course used to be just "Marketing Strategies," it used to be just called "Marketing Strategies" which is like a name that does not stand out as well, and it wasn't selling. As soon as I renamed it to the million people thing it became very catchy and started selling. You definitely want to stand out and be catchy at all times. That's not it. You also want to be discovered, Boolean search, all that kind of thing. There's a lot of components, really, to making a course successful.
Robert Plank: You keyword stuff the title so that it shows up on search. You kind of add a hook or a promise so that when they're scrolling through the search yours kind of grabs the attention, I guess.
I mean, what are basically the steps to putting something on uDemy, is there a special link to click, is there a fee? I guess you have to upload videos and get it approved. What are the steps there?
Alex Genadinik: It's really easy. You really just go on uDemy, you have a profile there, you say you want to become an instructor, you start uploading your videos, you click I want to make a course called XYZ, they take you through a step-by-step asking for your experience and filming experience and then they just take you to a screen where you start uploading lectures and it's really that simple.
The hardest part is to come up with a good course topic and create the lectures that cover the course well. You have to be relatively good at presenting it. Make sure that when you plan the course that you cover the course in a complete way so that when a person ... They start at maybe zero but when they finish your course they feel accomplished, they feel like they know what they're doing. You really took them from a to b. That's really important to achieve for the student.
It's really important and it's something that I guess took me a lot of time, is to cut the fat from a course, so I used to repeat myself a lot, I used to adjust to make sure people really picked up on the important details, but that kind of made the course longer. It added extra time in the course and then people got bored and then they quit the course. Now I also focus on making the course kind of quick and delivering information really quickly and moving on and moving forward and moving along so that it's entertaining for the student and not boring, that's important as well.
If you're starting out, you've just got to get the recording equipment, which is not expensive, you can record with your computer, so you don't even need recording equipment really, like you don't need a camcorder, it's really cheap to start, uDemy charges nothing. All you do is just upload the lectures, submit your course, they have a review process, most of the time your course will pass the review process. For a first time person there's another process of becoming a premium instructor, but that's also only a day or two that it will take and then you're off to the races with your course.
Robert Plank: Along those lines, what big mistake are you seeing these other uDemy course sellers making?
Alex Genadinik: There's two mistakes that I'm seeing right now that are very flagrant. First, poor quality courses. Let's say if you're making YouTube marketing course, there's over a hundred YouTube marketing courses on uDemy so you better make a really great course or something really unique, because if you just give the basics of YouTube, then-
Robert Plank: They've already done that, yeah.
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, any kind of intermediate student, half of them have probably already either taken other YouTube courses or they've gone through the whole thing themselves and they're going to be irritated by your course. Your course doesn't offer that much value and they're just going to give it a bad review. That's one thing, so your course ... It's in a marketplace, it's not in a vacuum, so you're going to have to make sure, do your market research. What are the existing courses and how can yours stand out and be different and what can it really deliver? That's one thing and it's very important.
The other thing is sometimes people teach for the purpose of making money rather than really teaching something that they're really an expert in. Because I see sub par experts, novices teaching, saying hey I'm an expert, and making a course and teaching ... Again, in a marketplace that doesn't hold up. If you're a novice and maybe you're delusional or maybe you're hoping it will squeak by, you can't teach half a topic or the basics, it just doesn't fly anymore. I see a lot of people teaching something where they're truly not an expert in that. It probably can be said something like that about my courses, like am I a philosopher? No, right, am I a PhD in philosophy? No, but I did take ... That course I think the defense is that there's almost no ideas of mine in that course. I just took a survey of the great thinkers, so I didn't need to be a philosopher myself. I just summed up the works of other philosophers, but if you're trying to show your stuff, you better be a super expert.
Robert Plank: That makes a lot of sense and it's like you're teaching philosophy because you know it and you love it and you've done it for years. As opposed to if someone said, "Hey I'm going to make a philosophy course," and they open up Wikipedia. Or you have your course on WordPress and I saw that there's things about how to hire someone to get it developed, how to do technical support, as opposed to if someone said ... They just opened up WordPress and clicked through the tabs and said, "Check out this tab, check out this tab," I guess that's the big difference, right, is that you kind of have a mastery to some degree?
Alex Genadinik: In WordPress, my course doesn't promise a lot from the get go, for example. I'm not the number one WordPress guy and my course didn't intend ... That particular course is a very niche WordPress course, it's basically how to get up and running in a day. Just how to get your hosting set up, how to get the domain name, how to get it all set up, how to be up and running in a day or two. That's the goal, because I see a lot of people taking months to get their website up or something.
By no means did that course intend to be some super duper WordPress advanced course. It's a very beginning course so I only promised a certain amount and I delivered that limited amount in that course. It's for some people. For people who are intermediate for advanced, it's not for them. That's another thing, you should be clear in your course what your course promises. Because a beginner, like a super duper dense course, it's not right for them, it's going to overwhelm them, so my course is like a niche WordPress course for my audience because my audience specifically they struggle with setting up their business. For them it made sense because they need to set up all the basics. I either kind of limit the premise of the course or make it a niche course. Sometimes some topics, they're limited, in WordPress you literally can just walk people through how to set it up to a certain degree and it's black and white. Here's how you do it, follow the steps, but what about, some topics they have more gray areas.
Social media marketing, why does something go viral and another thing does not? That's more like a voodoo slash gray area slash a lot of creativity involved there and there's so many different approaches to it. Different courses you really have to approach them in different ways. Some are black and white, some are totally gray area, but in all cases you have to be an expert enough to teach to the degree that your course promises.
Robert Plank: I like that way of thinking and I like a couple things about uDemy and about the way you title your courses. First of all, I like on uDemy that when I search something I can narrow it down by beginner, intermediate, or expert, so that if I'm searching on YouTube, I guess there's boxes to check where I can be like okay only get the expert courses. The other thing I like about the courses that you have, you have your courses like ... I saw one somewhere where it was like how you got on like fifty podcasts or something. If I get that I'm like okay, Alex is going to show me exactly the steps that he took to get this result, but it's not like you're saying, "how to get a billion views," and it's just some kind of foggy idea, right?
Alex Genadinik: Exactly. If there is some promise that the course makes, I make sure that the course really delivers on the promise. That's super important. Otherwise people will just complain. If you bought a watermelon at the store and it was blueberries ... It's an impossible example but you know what I'm saying, right?
Robert Plank: It's a bait and switch.
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, certainly people should get what they think they are getting, at a high degree of quality.
Robert Plank: I mean, that makes a lot of sense. If you sell a lot of courses on uDemy and if you're courses get rated highly, does uDemy reward you? Do they kind of make you appear higher in the search results, kind of like Google and stuff?
Alex Genadinik: Kind of, yes. It's interesting. On different websites like Amazon, YouTube, there's different paths to generating a lot of sales and views or whatever. One way to think about it is on YouTube, and Amazon too, there's on the right side of YouTube other people liked these videos, right? You might also be interested in these videos, and very often videos which get a lot of views, it's not from search. Because if you think about it, search always has a limit. You cannot get more views than the number of people searching.
So search actually, it's something that we see and it's something that's on the forefront of our minds because we see it and we want a rank, but the true secret of getting a lot of views on YouTube, a lot of sales on Amazon, a lot of sales on uDemy, or any of these kinds of things, even a lot of discovery in podcasts, or whatever, even apps. Almost all of these things work on this principle that the stuff that's really good gets recommended a tremendous amount. Because all the search terms have a certain limit. You're not going to get past that but there's almost no limit to how much the platform can recommend you.
If you become one of the top sellers within your category, like one of the top podcasts or one of the top books on Amazon, your book is always going to be recommended in your category, like people who bought this book also bought this book and that recommendation will appear on thousands and thousands of pages everyday. That's the better thing than SEO but almost nobody focuses on it because it's not as visual, we rarely see our products there and we don't picture, it's not viable for us, we don't aim for it, but that's really where people become wealthy.
Robert Plank: I like that, and I hadn't thought about that before. You're looking to get ranked on recommendations not on searches. As far as you moving forward with uDemy and making your courses and things like that, do you have any big plans, you have anything coming up that has you really excited?
Alex Genadinik: Yes, I have a couple of things. I am slowing down my new course creation and I'm going to be focusing on improving my existing courses and really improving my own speaking, my own presentation style, because it's infinite how much you can improve that. That's one thing I'm doing.
One really exciting thing that I'm doing is I've set up a coaching program of sorts where I kind of set people up with a website, an eCommerce website, and allow them to license courses from me and sell them on their site so they can have their own mini uDemy. Basically it's, like I mentioned earlier, it's an eCommerce business so it's directly, somebody buys something, they get revenue. It's transactional, money comes right away. Essentially I set people up with their own small uDemy and all they have to do is just sell the courses and keep the profits. I think it's a great business because elearning is a rapidly growing young market.
I kind of equate this market to maybe how the mobile apps were in 2009, people were like what the heck is this? They kind of knew what it was, but the people who got into it early, a lot of them made significant money. Then of course once the app marketplace became crowded and everybody else got on it, but it was a little late. Now I feel like the elearning market is that early time, like 2009 for apps.
This is a way for people to get in on having their own eCommerce platform which they can grow, have more courses or grow their students and just make a lot of money out of it. I think it's a lucrative business and I'm excited because I can help people get set up with the whole thing, the courses, the website, and even teach them how to sell.
Robert Plank: Do you have a web address for that?
Alex Genadinik: It's really just people have to email me and like I mentioned I do that fifteen minute, $5 consultation, and during the consultation I have to talk to a person and ask them what they want ... Do they want to teach themselves, do they want to license existing content? I have to get a whole bunch of things in a conversation from a person to really see what makes sense for them. I really should make a written program for it, almost like a coaching program. I don't have that at the moment, but I'm in the middle of going through it with a few people, but I really should make it more formal.
Robert Plank: Well there's only so many hours in a day, right, for you to do those fun things? Well cool, I'm really glad we had you on the show, Alex, and we'll put the links that you want at robertplank.com/102. Pretty much every course, especially of yours, that I click on, I'm just seeing thousands and thousands of people took these courses and so there's got to be crazy traffic on this and I'm just blown away by how many reviews things have and how many people are clicking around. It just seems like a huge marketplace where it's still growing.
Alex Genadinik: Yeah, it's a fantastic market to get into. Either by teaching on uDemy or having your own small uDemy of your own. It's one of the good businesses of today. One of the things that's still growing. It's saturated but it's not saturated at the point where it's over. There's still room.[/showhide]
Marketer of the week: Teresa King. She Taught me how to keep it simple. One of the first people I knew with a membership site (1999) -- BoxedScripts with me. Redirect Pro.
Feature Presentation: The Penny Test
Does your business pass these three tests?
Penny Test (what happens if you set your product's price to 0.01, actually purchase for real, then change the price back to normal later? Can you completely pay, check out, and create an account in your system? What about logging back in?)
Login Test (upsell, test user, MG user masquerading, dashboard page, login-logout)
Opt-in Test (single-double-triple optin, re-optin with existing address) fill in contact form)
Ten Bonus Tests
1. Is your mailing address on your website? 2. What about a contact form? 3. What do I see when I google your name? 4. Search your name on Amazon? 5. Search on YouTube? 6. Search on iTunes? 7. Do you own the .com? 8. Where can I optin on your site? 9. What can I buy? 10. If I only buy one thing from you, what should I buy?
Bonus test: where's the one place that I can find your "best stuff"? (best of page on your blog, blog post listing all your products, etc.)
Marketer of the week: Stu McLaren from stu.me and Wishlist Member. Rather than share a "breakthrough" I picked up from Stu, I want to tell you that when I present (a webinar or podcast), I imitate his speaking style.
When you speak, speak deliberately! Especially if you're an American and your natural tendency is to slur your words like I do.
Is there anyone in your life who speaks slowly and carefully, without becoming monotone? Then I would suggest you imitate that person's speaking style when you present.
(That's us a few years ago at Inc. Magazine headquarters at 7 World Trade Center in New York City.)
I often "channel" Stu to slow down my speaking, enunciate, and speak more clearly, focus, calm. You can be intense but still make sense. See also: Ray Edwards, Armand Morin.
Fourteen Key Principles: The Common Thread That Runs Through These Successes & Failures
Finishing everything that I start, less notebook doodling
$997, $47 every 2 weeks, 5 payment option, experimenting! Charging high ticket AND low ticket.
Investing in myself: attend conferences instead of stock trading which is gambling and a distraction. Dave Ramsey instead of Jim Cramer.
I don't trust myself: get to the Minimum Viable Product because of the 3 day window.
I'm not smart: I don't know what's going to sell without experimenting and I'm open to new ideas.
Weekly focus: email for the same thing all week. Stick to your guns, don't psych yourself out or let customers bully you
Membership sites: organize both high and low ticket, group multiple sites (but no all-in-one site)
Pitch webinars: do something unexpected, teach a lot and sell hard. Give them a wow moment and not necessarily an aha moment.
Re-marketing: phase out what's not selling and go back in future weeks to promote what's selling (Backup Creator)
Don't delete old sites or content
Your most popular content, marketing and products are the "beginner" stuff
It's ok to repeat your most "powerful" ideas and phrases. How many times have I mentioned Income Machine in podcasts and blog posts? A lot!
Don't be a timid marketer. Welcome pitch emails, upsells, ads. Don't have a buyers only email list or a monthly digest email list. Be on the lookout for what you can absorb/apply, for example, an affiliate bonus package.
Three Biggest Failures
ClickSensor: should have made it an online service
WPLetter (now Paper Template): should have built it out more and controlled the market faster (16k overnight from a 12 minute video)
Action PopUp: should have got the entire marketplace using it, added tons of templates
Bonus: all the PHP products, which made money, but not enough. Lesson: keep publishing things to get to "the good stuff."
Three Biggest Successes
Bulk content creation: books, Daily Seminar, Webinar Crusher monthly, blog, podcast. Just make 12 pieces of content to last you an entire year.
Must-have tool for everyone's business such as Backup Creator: pitch is all about what you can do with it, 100k sites, tie in with our other stuff (Membership Cube) -- yearly renewals, developer license
Pain of disconnect in Membership Cube: selling high ticket, playing with the payment plans, pitching on webinars! (35k in a couple hours)
Bonus: platinum coaching program. Lesson: the first step is getting the button online!
Wise Words to Live By
When you can't change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails.
If you don't change the direction you're going, then you're likely end up where you're heading.
Albert Einstein: "Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value."
Napoleon Hill: "Keep your eyes and ears wide open--and your mouth CLOSED, if you wish to acquire the habit of prompt DECISION. Those who talk too much do little else. If you talk more than you listen, you not only deprive yourself of many opportunities to accumulate useful knowledge, but you also disclose your PLANS and PURPOSES to people who will take great delight in defeating you, because they envy you."
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. -- Winston Churchill
When people say mean things about you, it's a reflection on themselves.
You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. -- John C. Maxwell
INTERNET MARKETER OF THE WEEK: Marlon Sanders
He's from TheTrafficDashboard.com and the best piece of "strategic" advice I ever heard from him is to: Absorb the changes. This means, if you put out a great product, service, app, etc. and someone copies you, adding a few features, then copy them right back and make it even better. Use their copying of your idea to make your idea one step ahead of theirs.
People give "cliched" advice like: just serve one person, imagine a customer avatar, success leaves clues. Model successful people. What do you do when you're burnt out? Someone "steals" your idea? (No, they copied. Stealing suggests you don't have it anymore.) The best ideas are combinations of 2-3 things. iPhone, Facebook.
Most people have too many ideas, too scatterbrained, pulled in different directions. Most people can't tell the forest from the trees.
Successful FUNDAMENTALS to Model from Other Marketers
High ticket course (profit margin)
Low ticket solution or software (list)
Warm up: free blog posts, YouTube videos, autoresponder sequence with a blend of pitch and content. A short book couldn't hurt.
Platinum coaching program: easy money
Be a thought leader, speaker, innovator, teacher, even if it doesn't come "naturally"
Knock these out one at a time (series) and not all at once (parallel)
Things Angering Me This Week
No real mailing address on your websites? What are you afraid of?
Linking directly to an order form from an email? At least show the "contract" of what I'm getting.
Trying to piece together a solution (i.e. podcasting) when you should have just bought a damn course (Podcast Crusher, uDemy)
Get it working now and connect the pieces later, so you can whip up the interface when you're in that frame of mind. You don't want to over-engineer software OR your business.
8-Step Software Iteration Process (That Also Works for Non-Software Membership Sites)
psuedocode / "ugly" basic interface (text and buttons)
proof of concept
mock-up interface
test cases
working interface
connect it all together
debugging
interface again based on use-cases (iterate)
You might have to do 10-20% more "work" in the long run, but you'll have a more stable product, make the money faster. You sometimes have to "see" a design or interface in action.
Non-software example: first get the results. Show how you can get consistent AdWords traffic. Keep a swipe file. Develop a checklist. Make it easily do-able and easily relatable.
Resources
WP Notepad (Checklists and Fill in The Blank Forms for Your Membership Site)
Are you annoyed that an Internet marketer is marketing to you? Instead of looking at other marketers as people who are "serving" you as a consumer, why don't you look at what successful things they repeatedly do, like consistent products, blogging, and webinars? And model what they do!
Dennis wrote the book from 5BucksADay and has the membership site Earn1kaday. Like me, actually leaves his money-making websites online. What a concept.
If a site makes me money, I'll keep maintaining and promoting it. He has lots of irons in the fire such as a new product and new Kindle book every month.
Complaints of the Week
I'm at your sales letter. Where do I go to login to your membership site?
I bought the "lite" version and I login. Where can I go to upgrade? Marketers delight, 5 site license to unlimited license.
What about an in-your-face upsell or interstitial ad? I want something else you're selling.
You're supposed to "sell the click" in emails but what the heck am I clicking on? You're only telling me about the Pro and Basic packages, launch deadlines, but what it is, in one sentence?
Feature Presentation: Course, Blog, Podcast, Book, DVD
I once found an internet marketer "coach's" page but I couldn't find 1 product, 1 video, 1 book by him or even his last name.
What do people find when they search for you? What about on YouTube? Amazon? You should always be URL dropping or off-handedly mentioning the things you sell on your blog and podcast. Who needs testimonials? Use yourself as you own examples, testimonials, and case studies.
Course: Four milestones for $997 to get in the "high ticket" mindset, then drop that price SLIGHTLY (MembershipCube.com)
Blog: content marketing, cannibalize your Facebook re shares, 5 minute YouTube content: what pisses you off (your opinion) or something helpful (video to create a PayPal mass pay file, or resize an image without Photoshop) (IncomeMachine.com)
Internet marketer of the week: Ray Edwards. Creator of the Rapid Writing Method. He absorbs what Brendon Burchard, Michael Hyatt, Dave Ramsey all do very well -- branding and unification.
A huge breakthrough I got out of his "Writing Riches" book was that just taught straightforward copywriting. Not a lot of silly stories or parables mixed in like others teach you "should" have in a book. What a concept!
Common Cop Outs (That We Just Solved in Today's Show)
My niche is people with money! Who wouldn't want it?
My niche is young people because they're smart, or old people because they have all the money
Split test it!
I'm going to provide value and give everything away for free
I'm still learning
I have an idea but it's already been done before
I have an idea but I'm waiting on someone else to do the work
I'm "waiting" for the right time
A Confused Mind Never Buys!
Delayed buy button and I can't buy, or I can't buy on an iPad
I optin and I can't buy right away, I have to wait for your sequence
I have to buy 3 upsells just to get the thing I actually wanted (Lance says: sell what you sell)
Blogging or posting without purpose (Add Signature plugin and URL dropping)
Too many choices: 2 or 3 at the most. More choices = "experimental" pages (yearly and trial)
Optin page: headline, 3 bullet points, call to action, optin form (no video, no testimonials)
Sales letter: have you noticed they're way shorter? very few words, even. Software is all about the screenshots and features.
Short & To the Point Landing Pages: Keep it Shippable
Make the buy button first, before anything else
Then headline and subheadline
Then the offer stack (what's in it)
Then flesh out the bullet points (dream product), story and transitions
Then create the product after all that!
(PLR placeholder is optional)
Quick Questions Answered in Today's Program
To replay or not to replay?
Non fast forward video?
Squeeze page? What's the exact structure?
What niche? Healthy, wealthy, or wise
What product? Solve an actual problem that's easy for you, tough for others, that people are willing to pay money for, that's repeatable in checklist form, but there's still enough wiggle room for people to be creative. It gets them there and delivers a FAST result
Testimonials? Don't let that hold you back from launching. No review copies, but have an email sequence asking how they like it. When people use it and respond, piece together a testi from their response.
Upsell? This is another "goodie" you don't need right away. It shouldn't "just" be something "bigger" or something lazy like resale rights. It should be "the bigger picture."
Five Dimensions of Knowledge from Jonathan Wells of AdvancedLifeSkills.com
What we actually know
What we think we know
What we would like to know
What we don't need to know
What we used to know
Let's add two more (the hardest ones to sell to you have to "sneak them" inside other ones: what we don't know we don't know, and what we need to know
Internet Marketing
World's largest taxi service owns no taxis (Uber)
Largest accommodation provider owns no real estate (Airbnb)
Largest retailer has no inventory (Alibaba)
Most popular media company creates no content (Facebook)
Largest movie house owns no theaters (Netflix)
Largest software vendors don't write the apps (Apple & Google)
Today's Quotes from Henry Ford
You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
Attributes That Should Be Running in Your Head all the Time, Consistently
New Things Coming Down The Pipeline: There is no such thing as luck. (Scientific studies have disproved luck.) You just have to keep putting offers out there and promoting them.
Follow-Through: Finish what you start (focus, minimum viable product, iteration, debugging, refactoring)
Self-Actualization: Know the difference between a lost cause, an offer that's "close" but needs tweaking, and a "home-run" that you should keep rolling.
Creativity: New ways of solving the problem bigger and faster while working under limitations (and making old tired concerts new and exciting to prospects)
Easy & Repeatable Solutions to Your Current Problems
We created it because there was no good way to manage all our WordPress sites from one location. The other solutions that "tried" to do it, sucked!
Solve a real problem. It doesn't matter if "a" solution already exists. It probably sucks. Yours will be better.
When we put Website Remote together, and had our new affiliates sell and market our existing Backup Creator plugin, I had a few realizations...
Realization #1: Get Out More
You don't have to confine yourself to little sites like the Warrior Forum. You can use other peoples' land to build a list, but don't live there.
This is true when it comes not just to pricing and positioning your products, but also what advice or training you listen to.
Your business is your business. You're free to charge whatever price you want, limit the number of sales, email as often as you want. Update your blog or submit podcasts as frequently as you feel like, because you can. You don't need any reason for why you're doing what you're doing in your online business, other than because you can.
Realization #2: Eat Your Own Dog Food
If you actually use the products you create and sell, then you can't use because it's something that helps your business regardless of how slow or quickly it sells.
The programming term "eating your own dog food" means that if you use the thing you sell every day, then you'll transform it to a piece of crap into something that's useful.
To make our tool useful, we iterated. I created a simple version of our tool, and had Lance login sight unseen and show me how he was using it, and where he got stuck, to see his thought process. This is called hallway testing.
Because of "dog-fooding", we added SSL support for our Paper Template, Member Genius, and Video Player plugins this month, and made them all compatible with WordPress caching plugins, because we needed those things in place for our launch.
This past couple of weeks, we launched our new version of Backup Creator (3.0) and had an army of affiliates make us a bunch of sales, without us using our list at all. We gave away 100% commissions, and the point wasn't to make money but to recruit some new affiliates and build a list of buyers.
Realization #3: Treat Your Business Like a Real Business
We created the minimum viable product (version 1.0) and the launch deadline pushed us into gear and got our priorities in order.
Get that first version out there, and market the hell out of it. Don't make any rash moves like offering discounts or lifetime access which shouldn't be on your radar for a long time until you can "run the numbers."
Price your offers where there's buying resistance. Don't give into the mob. You might just need better marketing.
We need to do a little better with the positioning on Website Remote to compete against free, inferior, and generally worse "similar" products (not necessarily competitors).
Realization #4: Follow the "Four Daily Tasks" in Order to Get Everything Done
Four Daily Tasks means you should complete four business-related tasks, each in one sitting (three 45 minute sessions and one 10 minute session). Every day, complete the four tasks that get you closer to making more money.
I'm at my best when I alternate days between proactive business-building tasks (traffic and product creation), and on alternate days, business-maintenance tasks like answering support desk tickets.
Automate your business as much as you can, for example, queue up autoresponder emails for the week so there are no distractions.
Simple Words of Advice
It takes the same amount of energy to feed your dreams as it does your fears. Make a list of things that make you happy. Make a list of things you do every day. Compare the lists. Adjust accordingly.
12 things successful people do differently:
They Create and Pursue FOCUSED Goals
They Take Decisive and Immediate ACTION
They Focus On Being PRODUCTIVE, Not Just "Busy"
They Make Logical and Informed Decisions
They Avoid The Trap Of Trying To Make Everything "Perfect"
They Are Willing To Work Outside Of Their Comfort Zone
They Keep Things SIMPLE
They Focus On Making Small, Continuous Improvements
They Measure and TRACK Their Results and Progress
They Maintain a Positive Attitude and LEARN From Mistakes
They Spend Time With Successful and Motivational People
They Always Maintain a Balance In Their Life
And finally, be sure to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (link below) and grab your Website Remote account to remotely manage and control your WordPress sites.
Find a new product idea, build a course and implement a repeatable system for a constant revenue stream.When you're creating a product, you need to have WWHW in place.
WWHW is your "system." You need to have a system in place so you stay on point, lay out each point you promised in your sales letter, and know when you've gotten to the finish line.
What-these are the steps you're going to take. For example, you're going to show how to log in to a site, you're going to show how to install a plug-in.
Why-this is why the customer wants to use it. For example, to make money.
How To-this is your media component. For example, a video on how to use WordPress. You will be showing your customers from beginning to end what the process looks like.
What If-this is the challenger at the end.
When you're making your membership site, you want to lay it out in modules.
Four modules are ideal, at about an hour each. Each module is a milestone in the process.
You want to be 100% clear what the end goal is going to be in each module.
Now, let's put these into practice by doing a case study of Robert's Graphic Dashboard (www.graphicdashboard.com)
Graphic Dashboard Case Study
Graphic Dashboard is a course on how to use Pixlr, which is a free software program for graphics creation (www.pixlr.com).
For reference, we are going to point out that some time ago, Robert bought a course on how to create graphics in PhotoShop. It was full of useless and/or very advanced topics such as how to rearrange toolbars and a long explanation on how to do 3D graphics. This product was meant for people who didn't even know how to do 2D yet!
You don't want to do what "PhotoShop Guy" did so that's why Robert and Lance didn't spend oodles of time on how to make 1000 different shapes.
Instead, you want to show your customers something they can actually use today.
Think of it like this: You want to teach them the equivalent of making $1 million in 5 minutes. Okay, that sounds a little far-fetched but the point is, your goal is to tell your customers how they can use your product right now to make money.
That means not playing around (like "Photoshop Guy" and the toolbars), but doing something practical and useful like making a logo or a banner.
If you teach someone how to create a banner, you've given them the heads-up on creating affiliate banners. They can start getting affiliates to make money!
Creating Your Modules
Next, you take that goal (i.e. teaching them something practical that earns money) and use that to create your modules.
Each module is going to have the WWHW elements and each will have a measurable milestone the customer will reach by the end of the module. For Graphic Dashboard, the modules are:
Module 1 is how to create affiliate banners.
Module 2 is how to list your graphics-making services on Fiverr to make some money
Module 3 is how to make digital 3D product covers
Module 4 is how to make book covers and DVD graphics
The 4 Stages of Figuring out Your "Hook" for your modules are:
The Hobby Mindset
This is playing around and researching to see what will sell.
"Crack the code" to start making money from it
Once you've figured out what will sell, this is how it can be applied to start making money with it.
Systematize It
"Template-ize" your service and your delivery system.
Trim the fat the fat to make it fast, fun and profitable.
Get it down to a 1-2-3 system that can be duplicated time and again for quick, achievable results.
The Sales Letter
Now, you put together your sales letter outlining your 4 modules and how customers can quickly benefit from each thing you're teaching.
Important Point: Why is Robert not using PhotoShop instead of Pixlr?
PhotoShop is a paid product belonging to someone else. The customer would already have to have PhotoShop.
He doesn't want to have to convince someone to use PhotoShop in his sales letter because then they would have to leave his site to go buy it. It gives them time to hesitate.
Tip: If you don't have an alternative, like Pixlr in this case, your best bet would be to bundle that product into your course (and then price accordingly).
What just happened? We went from a boring PhotoShop course with a lot of blathering on about nothing useful to how to use Pixlr to make money with short, to-the-point, easy to follow steps!!
With this repeatable system, you could teach all kinds of stuff, everything from how to become an Uber driver to how to rent your home using AirBNB.
The "Now What" and Going "Evergreen"
"Evergreen" means that your product can be sold perpetually.
Now, with the Internet and how quickly software and sites change, this can be a little tricky.
But, that's okay! It just means you might have to go in now and then to update some of your slides or update some of your features to reflect changes and make new iterations (i.e. version 2.0)
Every time you make a new iteration, you also update your sales letter and pitch and this product can be sold again and again to your list.
When you have a system, like the WWHW, that you apply to producing your courses, it is an easy matter just to make some updates because your approach is reproducible each and every time.
Today's Takeaways and Tips
Have a system. Don't ramble. Don't go off-course. Make something that can be reproduced over and over.
Have a defined Point A and Point B. ‘Show' AND ‘tell your customers how you're going to get them there.
Do video-not just audio, especially if your course involves how to do anything online. Imagine if you were trying to learn MS Excel from a CD!! Your customer won't be able to use it effectively.
Additional Links
Master Resale Rights: www.master-resalerights.com
This is a great resource to pick up additional courses that you can include on your own membership site.
If you love this show, please go give us a review on iTunes at www.robertplankshow.com/itunes
If you have any questions or comments OR you would like to be interviewed on this show, please contact Robert via his email Robert@robertplank.com.
Don't be another statistic! Run your online business model, product, and sales letter through "The Mom Test" to discover how to sell faster and easier without resorting to painful "copywriting" or piling a lot of extra money into your business. It'll simplify your internet marketing...
Bad situation: A lot of internet marketers too caught up in ‘jargon’ and reinventing terms for concepts that already existed + a lot of people not wanting to look stupid and admit that they don’t know what something is = missed sales .
Too many marketers get too involved in making simple concepts difficult OR they are so vague and oversimplified that they sound ‘sketchy’.
Your marketing should ideally be able to pass "The Mom Test"...
Piece #1: Can You Explain What It Is That You’re Doing Online In A Way That Your Mom Could Understand It?
In other words, can you explain it to someone who isn’t "stupid" but is not necessarily internet-savvy and has zero interest in "internet tech stuff."
Piece #2: Are You Solving A Real Problem?
Figure out what people want to know and where they are personally stuck and how you can help them.
Example: Your niche is the stock market. Most people just want to know how to get started, how to trade some simple stocks. They want to learn how to buy a stock, read the stock quotes and make some return on their investment. They don't need to know the inner workings of Wall Street. THAT is not a real problem you are solving.
Piece #3: Can You Explain It In Less Than One Minute Or In One Sentence?
Just "state the facts."
Uber is a good example. Instead of saying, "I am a freelancer for a website that facilities transportation and is in direct competition with more traditional ways of hiring drivers for important events", etc., you would say, "Uber is a Peer to peer taxi service that costs less than traditional taxi service."
Piece #4: Do You Have A Physical Item?
Tangible items tend to lend credibility, especially to people who are unfamiliar with internet technology and feel that they need to see and touch something for it to be legitimate.
Let’s say that everything you have for sale is 100% online and is in the form of digital downloads.
You can put this internet-based digital information (ex: a 4-module course) on a physical product like a DVD and puts it with a service called Kunaki.
Robert uses Sony DVD Architect to create the DVD and Kunaki is company that specializes in DVD replication, packaging and distribution.
Another option: take several of your blog posts, cut and paste them into Word and then turn those into an e-book.
Go to Amazon KDP to create a Kindle format version of your book, and CreateSpace to create physical/printed copies of your book.
Robert's course, Make a Product, has a lot more information for you on how to publish your own e-book in less than 24 hours. Go check it out!
Piece #5: Is This Something That Can Change A Life Within 1 To 30 Days?
If it takes longer than 30 days it’s not exciting and you’re probably not doing a very good job marketing.
You need to have a set goal in mind of what your customer is going to achieve or will have been able to produce, as a result of their learning from you, WITHIN 30 days. Will they be able to play guitar? Will they have their own membership site up and running?
Closing Thoughts
The average person, whether they’re a mom or not, does not understand a lot of the "technical stuff" and think that everyone on the internet is a "crazy new start-up."
This is not about having an elevator pitch or a customer avatar.
This is about explaining things in real, simple language and understanding that just because something might be exciting to you or seem simple to you, it might be going over your customers’ heads. Play it safe and dumb it down.
Ask your list and get feedback. Probably 80% of your list thinks that you’re too advanced.
Newbies are going to outnumber experts. The things that are going to keep bringing in leads are your simple things, the ones that are the "first step."
Yes, you want to have high-ticket items that are more advanced but don’t forget about your lead generation, introductory products. People want to know the basics.
The Product: This is a solution to a problem. Also called an "information product" The Offer: Is the whole package grouped/stacked in a way that's really "sexy"
Let's Break Down Information Products
Here's a little exercise for you:
Go to ClickBank.com. At the top there is a tab that says "Marketplace." Click on the magnifying glass. It shows top offers on this site. These are real things that people are looking for-i.e., infertility cures, how to play piano, etc. Since people are looking for them, you know now that these are subjects that people are willing to pay for if you provide an "information product" that will help them fix it.
An Information Product can be an E-book, a video, or a PDF file. It just needs to be digital.
An Information Product is a step-by-step repeatable solution to a problem many people have.
Let's Break Down Offers
An offer is how you "package" the Information Product.
Most solutions involve combining 2-3 things, if not more, so those become your "offers."
This is the "extra stuff" that people will find exciting and desirable.
For example, if your Information Product is an E-Book on "How to Play Piano", your "extras" could be that you're going to teach them how to read sheet music or you're going to teach them how to play the most popular 5-10 songs right off the bat. You could include a monthly video meetup (via Skype or Google Hangout) to talk about what they're learning.
Now, they're not getting "just a book." Anyone can go buy a book and they probably already have and didn't find the answers they were seeking. You are here to take it to the next level and give to them what other's didn't.
What Do You Need To Sell Effective Offers? Good Copy!
Here are Robert's "Geeky Copywriting Terms"...
Product-see above.
Features-what it is. In this example, it is an "extra" on how to read sheet music.
Benefits-what you can do with it once you learn it. Once you learn how to read sheet music, you can literally read limitless songs. The benefit is WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH IT. What people are REALLY looking for is what THEY can get out of your training.
The Hook-what the offer hinges on. This is where you boil down your offer to the coolest thing you have included and inform about it in a short, concise sentence. This is what most of your marketing and your follow up emails and your sales copy is going to hinge on. Most people are going to be sold on the one thing because it's the coolest thing you have going on.
Let's put ourselves in the mind of your prospect . Someone just wants to play the piano. They want the shortcut. Your "Hook" would be: PLAY GUITAR TODAY.
That's an easy way to find a hook-take something that people expect to take months or years to learn and show them how to do it in a REALLY short time.
On his IncomeMachine.com, he teaches the 8 things you need in under 3 days. Shows people how to stop spinning your wheels and get something completed.
The formula is: How to get something big in value for little in money in a short amount of time without a lot of unnecessary stuff and fluff.
The Magic Wand-what would you add into this package if you could wave a magic wand, if anything was possible? It doesn't have to be practical. Think big and open up that creativity.
A Short Little Break for Some Quick Thoughts from Robert
Dunning-Kruger Effect: intelligent people tend to underestimate themselves while idiots tend to be overly confident and very often loud. That's okay. Just rest in the knowledge that if you're quiet but very capable that's okay too.
Facebook: Everybody's Facebook persona is better than real-life. When you see someone on there who's bragging every day, just know that they're more than likely overcompensating.
Thank You: Just say "Thank You" when you receive a compliment. It's that simple.
And, now…back to the show!
Let's Talk About Consistent Passive Income
This is your goal in Online Marketing. You want to get to a point where people are continuing to buy from you but you are not working harder than ever to keep up. The goal is to work less and continue having income and grow and excel.
People make a lot of mistakes in this area. Here's where they fall down:
People think that you can just create a membership site at $5 or $10 a month. They believe they will get 50k customers at a tiny monthly cost who will never remember to cancel it. That's not a way to make money. The way to find real money is to find solutions for people, price it reasonably, have happy buyers on your buyers list and continue to sell to them.
People just load up their site with interviews, articles and tidbits, etc. That's a lot more work for you and it has no substance and more fluff for them. Again, the way to find real money is to find solutions for people, price it reasonably, have happy buyers on your buyers list and continue to sell to them.
People want to give a "bulk discount" or a short "free trial" with a payment later on. That's just gimmick-y. You only want to price low (and it needs to be a high value product) if you're trying to build a list to sell higher-priced products later.
People use "geeky" research tools. Doing all this research on your competitor's blog posts and ads and pricing is not productive. You don't want to look to your competitors just for their pricing. To make this productive, you need to be concerned with what their hook is and come up with something better. The core of your marketing should be fixing a problem your customer has in a unique and fresh way.
People load up their site up with 20 bonuses, 1000 hours of video, etc. No one cares how many hours or years you worked at something. What they care about is "is this solution going to fix my problem?"
People get too close to their offers and too in love with their own stuff. They are so worried about having stuff and more stuff, that they end up just churning out crap. Again, think of a problem you're solving, create a product to solve that problem, throw in some offers that mean something and that you can keep active on a consistent basis for people to continue to buy packaged just as it is.
Okay, I've had enough problems! Let's Talk SOLUTIONS!!
What Makes Good Offers... What You Need to Know:
Not all websites can be recurring membership sites. For ex: "Dollar Shave Club." You're not a startup. You're here to start making money, not invest millions.
You need to solve a real problem 1-30 days. This is why Robert likes FIXED TERM membership sites. It's easier to make the course and sell it over and over again. The average attrition rate for membership sites is 3 months. If you charge someone $10/month and they only stay for 3 months then you've only made $90 and you constantly have to come up with new content to hopefully even keep them on your site. INSTEAD, solve their problem in a shorter amount of time, package it that way, that's what's on your sales and membership page(s) and you can keep selling that same product over and over again for $150. It's easier to sell once than to keep people engaged indefinitely.
Sell what you sell. Sell what you sell at the price you always sell it at and make it really easy for the customer to buy it. No one wants to wait 2 hours on a video for a "buy button" at the end and no one wants to pay $100 today and see it discounted to $50 the next day. Both of these tactics will just annoy potential customers.
Stomach buying from your competitors. That's right, buy your competitor's product. See what they're leaving out and how you can maybe do something better than them. If they're champions, then figure out how you can emulate them.
Eat your own dog food. Use the products you sell. Make it clear on your site to your potential customers that you use them.
The Magic Wand (yeah, it's that important we said it twice!) Do something fantastic. If you're Information Product is teaching them how to have their own membership site, do the initial set-up for them and your information product is how they can "run it."
How Do You Present an Offer?
First is The Core Offer. Tell them how many modules they're getting (the ideal number is 4). Every 60 to 90 minutes they get to the next milestone.
Tell them about the bonuses (which are also digital, like PDF checklists). Then, here is the physical bonuses (it could be anything from a DVD to a handheld video recorder, depending on the product you're starting with and the cost).
The FOUR Questions that will determine what you include in your total offer package:
What do people need to fill in the gaps? Could you send an iPod or camera to record video? Can you hook them up with an adwords coupon to help get them started?
What new problems do they have now that they solved the first problem? For example, they set up the membership site, now they need content. So, now you have a training on how to record and publish PowerPoint content using a video player.
Is there anything that can be a shortcut for them? An external service, a "Done-for-You" or even a simple calculator For example, in DropshipCEO.com, Robert offers a built in software tool that generates an email to all the customers requesting them to leave an Amazon review.
Is there something huge and cool that you could put in the offer that makes them say "Gotta Have It." For example, In Robert's SpeedCopy.com, he includes his huge swipe file.
The "Ultimate Offer Master List"
You need to go "Deeper Focus." Really hone into those things your customer desires.
Template or Checklist or a Swipe File: For example, a Checklist with How to Play Guitar would ask, "what kind of guitar do you have/plan to buy? Do you plan to play acoustic or electric? Did you buy extra strings?, etc. etc. You want to group these in 10-question sections by break-down of the subject. One guy who does real estate includes a swipe file of all of his successful real estate ads
Software (can be Web-Based or External): For example, WPNotepad.com lets customers track their own progress through their program on your membership site.
Or, you could offer a coupon for an external service, like a coupon for Camtasia Studio software.
Or, it could be a bundled service. Customers who purchase the program at WebinarCrusher.com, get automatic account with "GoToWebinar."
"Done- for- You": Just like it sounds... do something for them. If you're teaching them the Amazon FBA program (Dropshipceo.com), offer to make their first call to a supplier WITH THEM.
Go for the Low-Hanging Fruit (stuff that's pretty easy to do)
Mixed modalities: Make audio and/or video for things that are also written. Or, if your Info Product is already in video, provide them with an accompanying manual (use Lulu.com for this)
Resale Rights: This is a right to resell this and that part of your course. Don't sell the entire course. But, you can give sell them re-sale rights on maybe 3 of the videos in the program.
Personal coaching: Statistically, only about 5 -15 % of your customers will actually talk to you. Use TimeTrade.com to put up a special link in your site where they can schedule a time to talk to you. Or, give them access to text you with questions (use a Google Voice number for this). Extra content: interviews with experts. Extra resale rights you bought and re-packaged from a site like Master-Resale-Rights.com. (just don't tell them you did that)
"Go Large" with Enlargement
Extra Live Webinars: like a monthly recurring webinar where your customers can have a Q & A session.
Physical items like DVD's: (use Kunaki.com) or cameras, etc as discussed above
Offer them "community": Facebook Groups or Forums (the tricky part about forums is either a ghost town or a mess that you have to moderate).
Certification Directory: Dr. Charles runs membership sites for different surgery procedures. As part of other doctors paying him monthly for access to the instructional videos, they're part of a directory. Then, when Dr. Charles advertises, and someone seeks him out, they will find a physician near them trained in his methods.
Live event: "I'm going to teach you how to do this at this time and this place" on't offer this without an actual date or hotel booked. Or, you can rent out a smaller space, like a loft (check out AirBNB.com).
"Bundle It": Buy a program from this site and get access to an additional site.
10 Built-In Benefits that Should Come with Every Offer
Proof and results
Customer support
Uniqueness
Up to date
Price
Guarantee refund
24-7 access
Lifetime upgrades
Access to course forever
Community (means what you want it to mean as much or as little as you want)
Robert's Closing Thought: When someone google searches your name what comes up? Make sure it's what you want them to see!
Tune in today (in fact, right now) to discover how to "get your head on straight!" Get your business built up to the level you want, as fast as you want, while you're excited each and every day and growing bigger and bigger every day...
Someone who hates you normally hates you for one of three reasons: 1. They see you as a threat 2. They hate themselves 3. They want to be you
Today's program is going to be very different than the normal format because we're going to jump around between real money-making case studies, mindset, mistakes I've made and the things YOU PERSONALLY can do to incrementally improve your business as your income increases and you gain simplicity and clarity along the way -- finish now and revise later!
How do you get the results and the income you want from your internet marketing business?
Tip #1: Self-Actualize
Be aware of the little crutches you fall back on daily that keep you from achieving your goals and keep you from being confident. When someone asks how you're doing, instead of saying "Good", change it up to "Fantastic", "Wonderful", etc…
Also, be aware of these "negative" words, Robert's 3 pet peeves:
Try: sounds like you're not even going to attempt it, whatever "IT" is. It is like you are giving yourself permission to fail. Instead, say "I'm going to do"
Work: sounds like something you don't want to do, like labor. Instead, say "I am (doing) this today", for ex. I am formatting my website today. Use an action.
Start: just like "try." Sounds like you're only going to get halfway done. Instead, use action again, such as "I am meeting a client today about my product."
If you complain all the time, you cement your ideas. If it's your belief that internet marketing is a scam or that you have to make only minimum wage, or someone else has to lose for you to win, anything you discover or new information, will only reinforce that. If information comes in that contradicts those beliefs, you're going to find a mental block/way around it instead of being inspired by it.
Tip #2: The Rule of FOUR: The Best Way of Increasing Productivity
Complete 4 tasks every day. They can be 4 big things or 4 small things but the best combination is 3 things at 45-60 minutes and a 4th thing at about 15 minutes. Fancy planners and endless to-do lists get so bogged down and leave you feeling unmotivated.
Successfully finish 4 tasks today, call it a day, and you are ready to succeed again tomorrow!
Robert's program, www.incomemachine.com, has a Facebook group where each member posts their 4 things for today, every day.
Tip #3: Finish Now, Revise Later: The Substance of Today's Podcast
You do NOT have to wait for something to be perfect. Finish it for NOW and you can make revisions later. What matters is that you have something on the table NOW that you can offer customers.
Why does Finish Now, Revise Later work?
You will start earning money to keep motivated and productive and inspired to keep growing and developing your business.
You can see what sells and what doesn't. You want to concentrate on your best sellers.
It's very important to start selling your product so you can see how people use it. You don't want to keep adding elements to it that people may not use and therefore waste your time and effort.
Example: Netscape Navigator "Blink Tags." Developers did this because it was "fun" to develop-but it doesn't make any money. In the same way, a lot of internet marketers spend entirely too much time on business cards, fancy logos, building Twitter followings, but those things do not make money. Get a product out there that does!
Let's talk about "Backup Creator" (www.backupcreator.com)
This is a WordPress plug-in that allows you to back up your WordPress site, as well as clone it so you can keep using it to make new sites.
This took about 3 days to make and it was not perfect but Robert and Lance put it out anyway because it was finished ENOUGH. It functioned and it did what it promised to do. Along the way, there were little hiccups and de-bugs they've had to make but if they had waited the last 3 ½ years until they thought it was perfect, they would have lost 3 ½ years of income PLUS the opportunity to see what worked and didn't. Along the way, they've made some upgrades and now it's just a matter of maintenance. At time of airing, Backup Creator is powering about 85 THOUSAND sites-imagine if they had lost all that opportunity by constantly waiting to "finish."
Tip #4: Avoid the "Money Zone"
What is the money zone? It is the zone of your lowest to your highest income.
If you are in the "money zone", you are either in a situation where you will make a certain amount of money no matter what happens in your life, which is holding you back AND the flip side of that is when you have an upper limit, no matter what you do, you'll always find a way to self-sabotage getting past that point.
You don't want to be TOO tactical OR too strategic.
Tactical: you're only looking ahead to your next installment, say $100. Strategic: you're planning 10-20 years down the road
The first step to fixing this is realizing you have this mindset and start to think differently. Just TODAY, think about what you can do differently to increase your income NOW.
For example, with Backup Creator, Robert and Lance thought what else can they do to increase money on the success they were already having with this product?
They started the Developer License that people can purchase as an add-on after purchasing Backup Creator. It is no extra work for them to maintain, it is simply a license for buyers to use it with their own clients to keep producing new sites. This is an additional income stream. They thought not just about their next $100, they had ideas of increasing their success, but they didn't get so far ahead that they got bogged down in details and couldn't make another move.
One final thought:
Be very careful with lifetime memberships. You really have to analyze the averages that people pay, how often they renew, etc. You do not want to offer a lifetime membership on a product that people would continue to renew on a yearly basis because in the end you will sell yourself short, have to keep working to add new upgrades and content, and start working on a less by less hourly basis.
For more great guidance and tips on Robert's system, you can also visit www.incomemachine.com.
This will help you get something out there, get to your first $100 or $1000 and get yourself motivated!!
If it's important, you'll find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse. -- Jim Rohn
If you don't build your own dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs. -- Tony Gaskins, Jr.
Join us on today's episode of the Robert Plank Show where we discuss passive income, your point and click online funnel, and more, including:
8 things to give up: 1. self rejection, 2. negative self-talk, 3. criticising others, 4. being a people pleaser, 5. fear of failure, 6. procrastination, 7. holding onto grudges, 8. expecting perfection
Three areas of your business: list, traffic, and offers
Selling any kind of physical product online is easy, and FREE -- "they" usually just take a cut -- if you know where to look...
If you want to sell a box of physical DVD's or CD's, Kunaki.com is the cheapest (and IMO easiest) place to do it -- just upload your DVD and artwork for the disc and case -- or use their built-in artwork creator
To sell a physical book (softcover or hardcover) that's at least 25 pages in length, whether it's 6x9 or 8.5x11 or any weird size, use CreateSpace.com -- upload your interior (Word document), graphics for front cover, back cover, and spine (they also have a cover creator)
If you need to get some books and manuals printed PRIVATELY, such as manuals ("textbooks") as a bonus for something like a paid course, use Lulu.com. Once again, upload Word document, upload cover or use their editor -- but the difference here is your books are NOT out in the open publicly. You order them on your own and set your individual customer's address as the shipping address
To sell just about anything else, from a product like a supplement or kitchen utensil you sourced from China, or "As Seen on TV" items you picked up at the local discount store, use Amazon FBA. What's great about Amazon is you can either ship the items yourself, or mail them all at once to Amazon's warehouse and THEY will handle delivery to those individual customers
If you want me to walk you through the exact process, claim your access to our Make a Product course for Kunaki and CreateSpace, and Dropship CEO for mastery on Amazon FBA.
Avenue #1: DVD/CD Boxes with Kunaki
Avenue #2: Physical Book with Amazon CreateSpace
Avenue #3: Sell (Almost) Any Physical Product Using Amazon FBA
Can I see what you are selling these days? What is the URL to your physical product?
If you take longer than three days to go from having an idea for an information product to having a buy button online, then you're doing it wrong. I want to ask this to you today, but you don't have to answer it:
If you HAD to put that info-product online within the next three days…
if you absolutely had to, were required by law,
faced death and the loss of your family if you didn't…
you'd find a way, wouldn't you?
REAL Information Products (Most Info-Marketers Miss This)
Let me explain an information product: people have always and will always want to discover how to play golf or learn the guitar…
But they don't want to walk into a music shop and have someone pitch to them, they're afraid of looking foolish, they don't want to pay hundreds of dollars a week to a guitar teacher… they don't want to a commit to a community college class or have a family member teach them…
They need you to give them a "package" usually of pre-recorded videos that get them from point A to point B. You're cutting through the "academic" crap and actually SHOWING the simple way (you actually explain a part of guitar playing and then play it on-camera).
Because you're ROCKETING towards the goal of them being able to play these three popular songs on guitar, you can avoid the long tedious "intros" or fanfare about the history of the guitar. You just get right to it. Get right to your system.
Fear of Launching
It frustrates me when I meet someone at an offline event, for example, and then I "run into" them a couple years later on a forum or Facebook group and I see that they're still not making money yet…
I don't have to tell you why this is:
Reason #1: no real sense of urgency: this person has another stream of income so there's no real motivation to make any money online
Reason #2: fear: it's as simple as that. I remember having my first information product (a collection of PHP scripts like a calendar plugin, quiz plugin, basic email autoresponder, etc.) ready to go and WAITING for a week. I asked this person and that person if I should put it out now, or wait longer? What if it was a flop? Shouldn't I add more bonuses? Was the price right?
In reality, I was asking around for the answer I wanted all along. I was hoping someone would tell me: don't put that product out yet, wait 6 months until this happens, or spend 3 months adding these bonuses so you can double your sales. Yeah right.
Let's say you had that guitar course. What's the harm in buying up what's called "private label rights" (just do a Google search) about guitar? Someone's already recorded videos doing what you want to teach, that you can buy for $20 or so.
After it's COMPLETE and selling, you can go back and decide if you're unhappy with the existing videos. Maybe you want to change the course to recommend the ONE specific guitar for beginners? And provide your Amazon affiliate link and also get them to buy a specific tool to make learning the chords easier -- or perhaps you mail this to them as part of the course…
Do you get it? Get something simple online (as simple as possible), focus on making sales NOW and improve later. It'll never be perfect, just improve incrementally.
"Lack of time is actually lack of priorities."
-- Timothy Ferriss
Reason #3: confusion: that all sounds great, but how the heck do I buy these resale rights? How do I record video? What do I use to host my site or my files?
24-Month Shortcut: Use PayPal to Take Payments
What about taking payments? Seriously, I've seen way too many people LOSE OUT on their internet marketing success, or have it delayed by TWO YEARS or longer just because they were confused about how to take online payments. I can't use PayPal… they don't have a 1-click upsell and they don't let me take offline credit cards! Maybe I should use Stripe, InfusionSoft, Ontraport?
Question: do you have a 1-click upsell ready to go? No you don't… that's something you can add later and it's not going to make or break your initial product sales…
I understand… you "might want" to take direct credit cards someday. But how about you forget about that for today and cross that bridge when you come to it?
The answer: use PayPal. Just do it! Not because it "has the most bells and whistles" but because you'll have something up and running today.
Income Machine System
As far as hosting your site, our Income Machine shows you how to register a domain name with NameCheap, get a Baby Account with HostGator, point your domain to your web hosting, now someone can type in Example.com (get a dot-com and not a .net or a .biz or anything like that) and end up on your (blank) website.
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
-- Vincent Van Gogh
What do you put on that website? WordPress, so that you don't have to learn HTML coding or how to upload files, and then our Paper Template so you can have one of those "piece of paper" looking sales letters…
With Paper Template, you can click one button and create a sales letter (pre-written, just fill in the blanks and delete what you don't need). Click another button to create a simple download page (hidden from your navigation and the search engines).
If this all seems confusing, it doesn't have to be… inside our Income Machine course, we give you a clone that you can stick on your site so you have SOMETHING setup that you can edit…
At this point you have a "template" of a sales letter (the front page of your site or the .com) and a "template" of a download page (one single page). Now what???
Step 1 of 3: Resale Rights & Download Page
As I said before, resale rights are a great starting point for your product because it means you can setup something for now and improve later. You can pay somebody a one-time fee (usually $10-$20) and in exchange, get the rights to place their videos and sales letter on your own site, keep all of the money, and make any changes you want including putting your name on it, rename the product, edit it as much as you want.
I know what you're thinking. Resale rights, only 20 dollars, it must be crap. A lot of resale rights are low-quality, especially things like written articles, but in my experience, PLR video is usually decent. Sometimes you get stuck with a bad PowerPoint-based product, but most of the time the videos show them actually taking some action.
For 20 bucks they'll give you a large 400 MB sized zip file with videos. Download, right click and unzip, verify that you're allowed to sell them and do what you want with them. Then re-zip JUST the video files. They're usually MP4 or AVI files. In Windows, select the files you want, right click, Send To, Compressed Folder.
What do you do with that zip file? WordPress has a way for you to upload SMALL files such as images, but for a larger download, you can use your web host's cPanel File Manager to upload right into what's called your WordPress "upload" folder. You don't need to install any software to upload files to your site.
Then you can browse to the Download Page on your WordPress site and link to that zip file for someone to download. As a bonus (if you know how to do this) you can upload the MP4 files individually to your YouTube account and set them to "unlisted" so they aren't public but you can place them right there on your download page.
Step 2 of 3: Sales Letter & Payment Button
You have a way for someone to claim and get their download, now let's create a way for someone to pay you money and get access to that download. (It's a lot easier by going backwards in this way.)
PayPal allows you to create a "buy now" button (we also show this inside our Income Machine course) where you basically tell PayPal: I want to sell a product with this name (what people see on the checkout page and on their payment receipt), for this price (i.e. $7.00 one-time), and send them to this specific URL only if they pay. This is your download page.
Once you've created the button (hosted at PayPal), they give you a special link or button you can place on your page. Guess what? If you had nothing else but a "piece of paper" template with nothing on it other than that button, you still have something for sale!
If you have five minutes of free time, stick a headline at the top of the page. Paper Template has dozens of headlines built in (I've distilled all of the various headlines that make sense on the Internet down to just a few). We are the only sales letter plugin out there with a built-in swipe file.
If you have five more minutes, add ten bullet points under the headline giving people just ten good reasons to buy your course on guitar, or ten things they'd walk away with after completing your paid course.
Step 3 of 3: Membership Site & Email Sequence
Notice I deliberately left out the "fanciness" that comes later. You have two choices: either try to ten things in "parallel" (at the same time), get tripped up, eek along and have ten things at 10%, ten things at 20%, ten things at 30%... or do it in "series" (one after another). Knock out your download page. Knock out your payment button. Knock out that basic sales letter.
THEN you can add in fancier stuff later. An easy example is your membership site. Create a separate WordPress installation in your "members" folder, create a SINGLE PAGE download area, and create your new payment button and switch it out onto the sales page. (Income Machine includes our Member Genius membership plugin.)
Keep in mind this is a membership site where people only pay ONE TIME and only get access to ONE PAGE. The only improvement is that they now create an account to login and get back to that single download if they need it. If you want to add a 2nd page, other levels such as an upsell. That comes later.
Most people are setting things up in the wrong order. They create the "nice-to-haves" first instead of the "must-haves." They create their opt-in page first, their email autoresponder sequence, then they get tired and don't actually create something to sell. Complete things that make money first!
Templatize It!
What makes money: sending paid traffic to that sales letter, breaking even on the ad cost, and building a list of buyers. Joint ventures and affiliate traffic. Building your list. Mailing offers to your list.
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
-- Chinese Proverb
What good is the best information product in the world if no one actually buys it to see it? Get it online, get it selling, and when you're looking to improve that product… instead of throwing out the whole product to start over, think about this instead:
What step-by-step checklist or template can you give someone to make better sense out of those existing PLR videos?
No one cares about how many years you've studied guitar, how many hours the videos are (in fact, if you say there are 100 hours of videos, it talks me OUT OF buying), or how many pages are in the transcript.
They don't even care about "work" or "learning." They care about getting the result they paid money for, while having the most fun, doing the least amount of work, and getting it in the shortest amount of time!
That means your guitar course can have an additional checklist that says… buy this specific guitar, buy these strings, buy this pick, buy this equipment. Master these finger positions. Show you can properly mark time in this way. Play the background part for these five very simple songs. Play these five simple guitar solos.
Give people some easy tasks to check off. You can create any kind of checklist or fill-in-the-blank component in your membership site using our WP Notepad plugin.
If you can get rights to a piece of software or app that helps people to play the guitar, or recycle your early profits into outsourcing such a thing, that's another component you can use to improve your offer. Add in a 30-minute video Skype consultation (using TimeTrade to schedule the appointments) keeping in mind that only 10% of your customers will take you up on it, you'll record it and add it to a section of the member's area, and it's something you probably would have done for free anyway!
"There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing."
-- Elbert Hubbard
The easiest way to start making passive income is with an information product. The quickest and simplest way to sell that kind of product is with a piece of paper looking web page such as Paper Template.
My question to you today is: Where is your sales letter?
Be sure to post a URL below with a page of yours that has a WORKING buy button.
I'm curious and I'll be checking it out soon. Thanks.
Henry Ford says, "Whether you THINK you can or you can't, you're right!"
I turn 30 years old in less than 24 hours (be sure to leave me a quick "happy birthday" below) and I'm sure when you yourself turned 30, 40, 50 you probably got a little too nostalgic and made yourself feel bad about all the progress you didn't make while ignoring the progress you DID make...
I don't have all the answers, but I know that when I was 20 years old I was barely scraping by (trading time for dollars), when I was 25 I made some of the easiest money I'd ever made in my entire life (products and membership sites) and after age 25 I saw the cashflow cliff approaching... our niche getting too crowded and "tired" and I adjusted by making our courses high ticket and software low ticket to build the list...
I was introducing Lance Tamashiro (my business partner) on one of our webinars and I literally had no idea what to say to introduce him. Suddenly it hit me...
We all go through four stages in our online business: (1) bright shiny object mode, (2) learning mode, (3) fed-up mode and (4) making money from a "real" business
It's okay to build your test sites and goof around with WordPress or PHP plugins for the first few weeks... or maybe 1 day a week... but if you aren't making money from your online efforts, it's going to get boring FAST...
Most business owners also don't realize that they can BACKSLIDE from Level 4 (a real business that makes money) and fall way back into Level 2 (learning mode) -- for example, deleting old sites that no longer get traffic or spending 6 months moving everything to a new shopping cart system, eek!
I go through growing pains in my business all the time and I want to help you with those CHOICES you'll make (that no one else can make for you):
Decision #1: Fastest Way to Make Money?
The cop-out (but truthful) answer is: solve real problems that are hard for others, in demand by others (meaning lots of people already pay money for it) easy for you, and fun for you!
That means if you can show someone how to improve their golf game, you need to be firing on all cylinders. Setup a worker account on Fiverr.com and offer to critique peoples' golf swing (they send in a video). Record and post a quick 5 minute video every day about something golf related. Publish a quick article every day with something golf related. Buy other golf instructors' $97 courses and find what they're missing, or what unique twist you could bring to your own future "how to" golf membership course...
Decision #2: What Niche Do You Choose?
(a marketable skill like real estate, stock trading, playing guitar, dating, losing weight). This needs to be a "desperate" but not a "poor" niche. For example, coupon collecting and debt reduction seem like poor niches to me (unless you can find someone making good money with it).
A better alternative would be a course on people who want to build $500,000 of wealth into a million dollars or the 1 million dollars they saved for retirement into 5 million, don't you think?
Decision #3: What Price to Charge for Your Course?
Make it $97 with a 90 minute 4-step video plus a bonus report just to reduce the number of decisions you have to make at this point. The cliche is to have 10X the value and I agree with it. So sell a $97 course with $970 of value in your video and report
Decision #4: How Often and What Time of Day to Mail?
Controversy time. There's a Chinese proverb that says, "The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago." The way it applies to you with internet marketing is that you should have made that information product (membership site, course, whatever you want to call it) 3 months ago, you should have started building a list 3 months ago... but!
Today is close enough so get to it now and clear everything out of your schedule THIS WEEK other than making that product so you can start to make money from it. A piece of advice you're not going to like, but you're going to follow if you want money: send an email to these subscribers (even if it's only a list of 100) at LEAST 3 times a week, preferably 5 times per week or every day.
I won't go off on a tangent here, but you will lose 1% of your subscriber list every day, that's just how internet marketing works, and if it's up to you to generate enough traffic to MORE than replace that 1% of your list. People unsubscribe, that's just what happens.
Be CAREFUL of this: when people say... you email too much. Or I'm unsubscribing from you because you're trying to sell me something. In my case, didn't these people join my list because they wanted to be better marketers and site builders? And yet they don't like it when I'm marketing to them? Or showing them how to solve this problem they signed up to my list to solve?
I hear all the time, "I like such-and-such marketer because he didn't have anything for sale and he didn't try to sell me anything." Is that really the person you want as a mentor? Just something for you to think about.
Decision #5: Best Way to Build a List and Get Traffic?
The toughest question of all, right? Once you create that site, how do you get people to see it? I'm always reluctant to answer this question because 80% of the time, people don't even have something for sale so they're trying to put the cart before the horse: looking at a problem they're going to have in 30 days to avoid doing anything TODAY.
The easy "traffic" answer is to use a site like Fiverr to get 10 articles written, submit them to article sites, setup a free blog where you post these articles with links back to your sites. Setup AdWords ads, Facebook ads, retargeting, find a marketplace like a forum where people can trickle in every day. Setup an affiliate program, recruit your buyers into affiliates and also contact at least 5 people per day for either you to interview them about their product or you to be interviewed about your product (I use TimeTrade for this).
Decision #6: How to Tie it All Together?
I'm probably getting ahead of myself AND revealing too much at the same time, but inside our Income Machine course, we show you how to get it all setup and we basically say...
Use NameCheap to register a .com domain name (don't register this before joining our course because there are a few things to keep in mind that we don't have time to show here)
Use HostGator to host your website itself and WordPress to make it point and click easy
Inside Income Machine, we have a 1-click clone that will setup Paper Template on your "front-end" site (.com) to hold your opt-in page at Example.com/free (build a list) and sales letter at Example.com (sell a product)
Next, you setup another WordPress blog at Example.com/blog to hold your free articles and videos, and link back to that optin page
You 1-click clone our "back-end" site at Example.com/members to deliver your products, upsell and manage your members
You can now do the fun "traffic" stuff like article marketing, joint ventures, an affiliate program, podcasting, paid traffic, and more...
These Are the Pieces of Your Income Machine Once It's Setup
Niche & hook (domain name)
Web hosting (online presence)
Optin page (lead capture: Example.com/free)
Autoresponder sequence (automatic email followups in case they don't buy)
Blog (search engine traffic: Example.com/blog)
Sales letter (something to buy: Example.com)
Membership site (deliver what they bought: Example.com/members)
Do you see what I mean that you have to crawl before you run? Once again, thinking back to my "not making money" days vs. making money now (I have been full-time since 2009) -- when I wasn't making money, I wasn't "really" trying and my focus was split 1000 different ways. Compared to now, when I do just ONE thing at a time.
Productivity Milestone #1: Four Daily Tasks
It frustrates me when people use productivity software or crazy mindmaps, grids, and schedules to complicate their lives. What ALSO frustrates me is when people say they took 3 weeks off of their business to "rest" or "clear their head." Here's an idea... take that vacation when your business is cranking out money for you!
Just complete three 45-minute tasks and one 15-minute task that moves you closer to you making more money. Multitasking is a MYTH. Checking Facebook and LinkedIn doesn't actually move your business forward, does it?
Our Platinum coaching students tell us that these two things are what revolutionized and boosted their income. If you're selling a high ticket course (over $197) then you need to deliver it as one live session per week for 4 or 8 weeks...
If you want to sell several copies of that course, run a free webinar where you teach for 45 minutes and sell for 15 minutes at the end. You're also going to need a membership site to manage all those members. After paying you, they create an account and can login forever.
Productivity Milestone #3: The Right Mindset
Zig Ziglar says, "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Neither does showing, so that's why we recommend it daily." You are going to be your own worst enemy, but if you can nip your problems in the bud you can be one of those "entrepreneur" people with a good attitude who can also think themselves out of a problem even if the deck is stacked against you (i.e. small list).
Make Some Dang Money!
Beware of comparing yourself too much to others (you don't know what goes on with that "happy family" behind closed doors), keeping up with the Joneses (i.e. too big of a house with 3 cars), or living the nomad lifestyle (visiting a new foreign country every week) -- pay off your mortgage instead.
If someone's criticizing you, it's probably because they're deeply insecure about that subject.
Be careful of the "good" and "bad" language you use. I'm not saying you need to be in denial about a problem, but minimize complaining and only complain about something if you have a way to solve that problem, because we all have problems and it's up to YOU as a PROBLEM SOLVER to decide either how the problem doesn't matter or how to break that problem down and solve it!
80% of your activities are a waste so do a bunch of different things: coaching program, membership site, low ticket product, service... and figure out which 20% makes you the most money so you can increase that. HINT: you need to actually COMPLETE these projects and websites and get TRAFFIC and BUYERS to find out what makes money and what doesn't.
Separate the forest from the trees. If you've found a way to make $1000 dollars per week, that's great. But if you're working 50 hour weeks and you're scrambling to "launch" the next money making biz-opp that doesn't really help anyone and only makes money because people can't figure out how to cancel or refund... that's not sustainable.
What IS sustainable is solving a real problem someone has, AND you can do that most effectively by figuring out what makes you the most money. What makes the most money for our business... emailing the list and running pitch webinars. Things like podcasting and blogging, or even speaking at events... makes SOME money and it's fun to do on occasion but it's not the MAIN 20 percent, you see?
Model what you see the money makers doing in your niche. That means you need to "rise above being a geek." Instead of teaching some obscure traffic loophole or even a course about how to get better grades in school (who is really going to buy something like that?), how about you sell something that people are going to use every day?
Why do you think I stopped selling "how to learn PHP programming" courses and instead focused on how to add these things to your sales letter, or a popup plugin like Action PopUp? Or plugins like Backup Creator, Paper Template, and Member Genius? (Those three all available inside Income Machine, by the way.)
Because I experimented with services, coaching, products, and software and after seeing how each one sold, I was able to figure out what the BUYERS (and not just what the complainers) wanted, and moved our business into selling items that people use in their business every day...
If you too want to discover how to create a REAL online business that lasts through age 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 for you, so you don't have to "scramble" or "reinvent yourself" every 3 months, you'll want to check out our Income Machine course right away and setup the system and funnel that all successful online businesses have:
Check out today's exciting edition of the Robert Plank Show to find out why some people seem to make all the money and others don't -- and of course quickly apply it to your own online business...
QUICK THOUGHT #1: no one wants to buy tips or tid-bits
QUICK THOUGHT #2: gang members make $3/hr (Freakonomics) -- you're not going to get just "one big break"
QUICK THOUGHT #3: You need an Income Machine (niche, website, optin page, autoresponder, blog, sales letter, membership site, traffic) -- just YouTube, Twitter, podcasting isn't going to cut it (it's just traffic that points back to your Income Machine)
Eight Components to Selling a Complete Course
Eat your own dog food (actually use what you sell, i.e. if you're selling an article marketing course, at least have a handful of articles under your name)
Magic trick -- even in the course, something cool that only takes 2 minutes (think Siri or GPS)
Join us for today's exciting edition of the Robert Plank Show where we uncover AND discover:
what quickly beats stress and gets the creative juices flowing (hint: exercise)
what Napoleon Hill has to say about finding success when it comes to writer's block or anything else (hint: find people that have already done what we want to do, and copy what they did to get there.)
Forget what you learned in school about "writing" to impress your teacher
Help me in welcoming our brand new sponsor, Membership Cube (they will pay for your membership software out of their own pocket)
And our eight techniques to explode our creativity and churn out that content:
private label rights as a starting point
sales letter first -- combining things = creativity, problem/alternatives -> only solution
four milestones -- document your steps/notes
question that needs to be answered (title of this podcast) -- get angry and find a solution -- ask more than you need and cross out
WWHW each chapter (i.e. book)
RATGUM
video/audio instead of writing (you won't agonize about it)
enhancements: checklist, membership site, challenge, case study
Webinar Crusher (product creation with pitch webinars and webinar classes)
Email me at robert@robertplank.com for feedback or ideas for the next episode of the Robert Plank Show
So tune into the latest and greatest episode of the Robert Plank Show right now, and while you're at it, register for our upcoming membership training:
I almost wish I could say the clichéd line, "I don't know where this industry is headed..." But the fact is, we always have been, and probably always will be, distracted by at least 1000 new ideas and concepts every day when we're trying to build an income and a lifestyle online.
The biggest trap to avoid is the "herd mentality." If you've visited message boards in your niche you know what I'm talking about. Someone asks a question like, "What's the best membership software?" Gets a couple answers, doesn't get the exact answer they were looking for, waits until there are at least 20 different answers. You probably had one good answer in that heap somewhere but it was out-voted by the 20 other answers of the mob mentality.
You can't always tell who's telling the truth and who's making it all up. Who's actually teaching you what works or talking about something just because it's "hot right now" (like Google Hangouts).
I saw someone post on a forum the other day that just ran their very first webinar. I was about to post a congratulatory message... until I read further. The first webinar this person had ever run, was about how to run webinars! (Wait, what???)
Another very high profile marketer has taught, for a long time, to locate 20 competitors in your niche, buy all their products, then release your OWN products basically combining all their ideas together. Then this person bought one of my high ticket products... I quickly, quietly, and politely refunded the person.
For some reason,
many people label "untested" as "new"
and "proven" as "old."
"Creating an optin page, selling a product online, getting affiliates on my affiliate program, that's old stuff... I want something new and exciting." There's nothing wrong with new and exciting, as long as you have the BASE SYSTEM IN PLACE! (Lance and I call this the "Income Machine.")
Here are the biggest "strategy" problems or mindset problems I'm seeing today's marketers make...
Mistake #1: Can't Separate the Forest From the Trees
Mistake #2: Going Down the Rabbit Hole
Mistake #3: Risky Marketing
Mistake #4: Ignoring the 80/20 Rule
Mistake #5: Not Understanding Why People Really Buy
Here's what I mean...
Mistake #1: Can't Separate the Forest From the Trees
The next time I hear someone teaching that everyone needs to sell at exactly $97, and have a $37 upsell with another $27 upsell and a $17 downsell, or use a big orange button on their sales letter with the text "Add to Cart" ... I just might throw my computer out the window.
Using your own success as a case study template for others to follow is just great. But did you make 1,000 sales at $97 just because the product was at $97 and that reason alone, or was it because...
You had a clear compelling offer that people really needed that was the right thing at the right time
You had a list of subscribers that trusted you
You followed up with them multiple times
For me, it comes down to "must-haves" versus "nice-to-haves." Sure, maybe you said 1000 copies available, 34 copies remaining (and you were telling the truth) and that gave you a BOOST. Or you said offer closes Friday (and you were telling the truth) which gave you a BOOST. But it improved something that was already selling.
Mistake #2: Going Down the Rabbit Hole
The next logical thing that happens when people try to teach how they made money online... a new twist on an idea, which leads to a spinoff of one hair-brained idea after another.
Someone thinks, how can I improve the conversion rate on my sales letter? I know... charge people a few dollars to read the sales letter... then they end up with a page with almost NOTHING on it, asking people to pay money, when people have no idea what they're getting...
The modern day version of this is a thing people have tried called a "paid webinar." I've seen a few people do it every few years. They say, I'm doing a webinar, it'll cost you 50 bucks to attend, I won't tell you what you're buying exactly, just trust me.
It might work ONCE. But it sells based on the novelty and curiosity, and maybe a little bit on the trust you've built up with your subscribers... so it won't work with new traffic.
The solution? Add more detail to that sales letter explaining what they're getting for their $50, so now you need a free webinar to explain the details on that sales letter... you're back to selling a regular $50 product.
(It reminds me when "non fast-forward" videos were popular. Remember those? I ran a few, and tracked about a 2% conversion rate across the board with webinar replays with videos where you could fast-forward to the end, and 3% for non fast-forward videos. Meaning... that boost in conversion from 2% to 3% made it an OPTION for me, but not always an option I choose to take.)
Mistake #3: Risky Marketing
But it gets even worse. About three years ago I saw a marketer run a "trial" webinar. Basically, get people to sign up for a $0 3-day free trial (which gets them access to the webinar). The idea is they get your free training, they get access to a product at the end (so there's no pitch), if they don't want it they can cancel the "trial" before it rebills, if they do like it, they do nothing.
It's almost as if everyone forgot how scary things were a few years ago when there were new FTC rules, Visa/MasterCard rules, PowerPay rules.
For example, people seem to have forgotten that most popular payment processors FORBID a countdown timer on a sales page! Or that using the term "cure" anywhere in your marketing puts you in Kevin Trudeau land.
If you have any kind of rebilling, to clearly state the price and frequency on your sales page itself -- don't just rely on the terms spelled out on the order page.
And one-click upsells... the customer must confirm that extra charge TWICE, meaning no 1-click upsells.
For some reason, people either forgot, weren't around back then, or think "the coast is clear" and are falling back into the trap of having multiple upsells and downsells...
Mistake #4: Ignoring the 80/20 Rule
The good news about this thing called the 80/20 rule is that if you have just 20% of the skill you can get 80% of the results. When I started I was a terrible copywriter.
You know what else... I don't always choose the "best" headlines. I forget many times to speak with "bucket brigades" (starting sentences and paragraphs with words like "Because..." or "And then..."). I don't know anything about rhythmic hypnotic language or appealing to different senses (do you see what I'm saying, hear me out, this is what it feels like).
Put together an offer that solves a real problem that real people are having right now, make a convincing argument to why you're the best and they need you right now... get it out there... you can always tweak "clever wordage" later (but the dumber, simpler sales letters always convert better for me).
Mistake #5: Not Understanding Why People Really Buy
This leads me to the real triggers that get people to buy. Many people wrongly think that limiting the number of copies available, increasing the price, dropping the price, adding a deadline on it... is what gets them extra sales. All it's doing is WINNING OVER those people who already know they should buy, but are on the fence and need one more reason TO buy...
Off the top of my head, here is a quick list of the reasons people buy from you...
It solves their problem right now (value)
They're ready to solve their problem (timing)
They know they need it now (urgency)
Bad things will happen if they wait or if they go to your competitor (scarcity)
Basically, if you know what brought people to your website, you know the state of mind they're in, the problems they've had leading up to discovering you and what they've tried in the past... plus knowing what they know and don't know... is a GREAT starting point for your sales letter... which leads me to what I think is the first rule of internet marketing...
Rule #1: You're Not Your Market
Remember earlier how I said someone ran their first webinar ever, and it was all about how to run a webinar?
Here's the problem: if you create a business around teaching weight loss, or webinars, or WordPress site building, you yourself don't stay "intermediate" for long. Either you're brand new to it and know nothing about it (so you shouldn't be teaching it) or you know it so well that you're an expert (and then you can't relate).
This is the big reason why I see these guys teach "advanced" internet marketing topics like automated webinars, 1-clicks upsells, funnels, traffic arbitrage. They're bored with the simple stuff. Not realizing that the majority of their market is not advanced. They're newbies, they just don't want to admit it!
Right off the bat, if you talk about running weekly webinars where it filled up all 1,000 seats every time... you make $100,000 every time you run an event... you're in the top 1 percent... you don't know where to stash all this extra money... and don't even bother asking "dumb questions"... you're not relatable!
On the other hand, if you dumb it down and talk about running webinars with 10 people where you make $100 or $1,000... that's not exciting enough.
The solution? Before and after... empathizing and connecting by saying, "I was just like you."
"I was just like you. I ran webinars and no one showed up, I was nervous and scared, I did everything wrong, until I developed a system for doing it the right way and here it is."
Rule #2: People Are Easily Distracted
Speaking of your pitch and your story... you SHOULD run these things called 1-hour no-cost pitch webinars where you demonstrate value, share some knowledge, introduce your offer and ask for the money and close it down.
The easiest way to simplify it so that you'll actually do it, have fun doing it, and continue doing it? Or the easiest way to make them more effective if you're already doing them?
Compress it all down to 1 hour. People don't need to know your life story, you don't need to start the webinar late ("to make sure everyone shows up" -- I guess???) You also don't need to unmute anyone else during the call, not even a business partner. This is a big one.
And if you're going to "launch" a product of yours (I've been doing them since 2001) limit it to 1 week, 2 weeks at the most. Meaning... you don't need 4 videos dripped out and a blog post with 2,000 comments and a PDF report or a mindmap.
Mail every day for several days leading up to a free webinar you're running. Run the webinar pitching your product where they can buy that night. Mail for several more days to the replay where there's a link to buy from the replay. Mail for a few more days directly to the offer. Done and done.
The reason for all this is because people are easily distracted. This is the same reason why, on a webinar, we mention the URL we're promoting multiple times... ideally, 10 different times, because most people are only half paying attention.
When it's a product with a payment plan, I list the exact dates they'll be rebilled when they join today, because most people aren't looking that closely.
If there are two payment options (like pay full price vs. a payment plan) I'm sure to list them side by side (NOT one on top of the other) and list out identical bullet points so it's 100% CLEAR that whether someone pays full price or a payment plan, they're buying the same thing.
We put the contents of our entire offer compressed into one single table, an offer stack, because people aren't going to scroll around or skip through the video to find out what module 3, 4, or 5 are.
Rule #3: Build the Damn List
Remember when Senator John McCain had the campaign slogan, "Build the damn fence?" Kind of an angry, almost immature thing to say but my attitude is the same with list building. Build the damn list!
Lance and I have private discussions over and over again about this marketer, or that marketer, who made it big in 1999 or 2004 or 2006 or 2008 or back in 2010 and are hurting big time, but don't want to admit their income has dropped drastically... and they have no idea how to get back to where they were...
I know the answer. Build the damn list! What happened back then was, everyone had "launch calendars" and when it was your turn, all these affiliates of yours would send massive traffic, massive sales, enough money to live off for a couple of years.
What happens when the money runs out? Most of these guys didn't email their list after their big launch, not really. Maybe once a month or once a year. The list ran out and the cashflow stopped.
You need to keep your list alive. If you treat your list well it'll decay at 1% daily and if you ignore it, or email too much, that will drop off even faster. But best case scenario, if you build your list up to 10,000 subscribers and aren't adding 100 leads a day, your business is slowly shrinking and dying. 50,000 subscribers and less than 500 leads a day, shrinking and dying. 100k subscribers and less than 1,000 new leads, dying.
Most people don't have the urgency that I think they should for building their list bigger, for some reason they think a small "tribe" of 1000 or even 100 or 10 people is going to support them. Not long-term it won't.
Rule #4: It's All About the Joint Venture
You need those little things like forum posts, articles with your name on them, blog posts, podcast episodes, paid ads but those are all just tiny trickles of traffic.
To get real traffic you need to tap into other peoples' lists.
The only realistic way to make that happen is with an affiliate program.
Setup an affiliate system with tools they can use to promote, actively get people to join and then regularly contact those affiliates to promote -- another big step people miss.
Once you have that affiliate program setup, you're going to want to do a bunch of things to get your name out there. This includes doing things that the majority won't do (but are easy) like attending offline events. Connecting with people on Facebook groups and legitimately helping them without asking for anything in return.
Contact people one on one (make a schedule for X number of people you want to contact per day) with a PERSONAL message. See if you can get THEIR affiliate link for YOUR product on THEIR download page or membership site. Schedule a 20-minute interview with them if they have a blog or a podcast.
Get your affiliates on a mailing list so you can broadcast to them and remind/encourage them to promote. Give them lots of tools like pre-written emails and banner ads. When new affiliates join, they get on a timed follow-up sequence so they've given instructions on what to promote for those first 30 days. We run specials like prizes or increased commissions for short periods of time.
Anything to break even on our sales or even take a slight loss, because every one of those affiliate sales builds our list for us.
Speaking of joint ventures... the ULTIMATE joint venture that many people seem to miss is..
Rule #5: Get a Mentor
I'm not talking about JUST becoming a busybody on a forum or Facebook group. Or even attending offline events (which is good but not enough). Or even joining a mastermind where everyone is an equal. I'm talking about paying for a COACH who will tell you what to do to get you where you need to go. And to SOLVE all the problems that creep up on you!
Look, I've seen far too many people fall into the traps we've talked about today such as... giving away their best ideas before they've taken action on them. Next thing you know, you aren't as motivated to take action (because you talked about them so much), or someone copies you before you had a chance to implement. Or the strength in numbers from the inexperience mob drowns out the real answer you should have listened to. Or just maybe... you have actually been asking the same question over and over until you get the answer you were looking for. Don't do it!
Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes a coach will tell you, you're doing too much of this and not enough of that... or... throw this part of your business out because it's not working. It all comes down to this: do you want to be "comfortable" (and continue getting the same results you've always been getting), or do you want to be "temporary uncomfortable now and comfortable later" (get new and different results) with someone who's helping you?
I know what I want.
I think these five tools combined will really help you with your internet business:
Rule #1: Understand you're not your market and sell to the mass newbies in your niche
Rule #2: Make your marketing and offer as clear as possible because people get distracted
Rule #3: Build the list so that your business is growing and not dying (maintenance is a myth)
Rule #4: Recruit people into your product's affiliate program to take advantage of the "real" internet traffic
Rule #5: Get a mentor who's already achieved what you want so you can follow their path
Now it's your turn. If you had to add just one extra "rule" to your personal internet business, what would it be? Comment below with your one-sentence "rule of internet marketing" right now.
Product launches have been on my mind the last couple of weeks, not just because Lance and I run a 1-hour webinar launch just about every week, but we have recently come off of a "tear" of lots of NEW product launches (as opposed to us running webinars to promote existing ones)...
Our Product University live event
Updating our Webinar Crusher course to version 5
Updating Setup a Fan Page to version 2
Updating Newbie Crusher to Income Machine
Plus of course re-launching those old classes that we created initially as live webinar courses, then repackaged into home study courses – including a member's dashboard, transcripts, affiliate program, evergreen webinar replay, post-sale autoresponder sequence, all the usual "product" stuff.
And when I see other internet marketers try to do the same for their business, they fail to think and act in strategic terms. They incorrectly focus on the MECHANICS they think they need, like creating a blog post with 2000 Facebook comments. Making 4 pre-launch videos. Creating a report (or whitepaper) about the product they're about to create.
These are things that DON'T make the difference
between a successful and unsuccessful product launch!
Things No One Cares About
How much time you spent creating your product
How many pages, megabytes, or minutes of video you have
A too-big 3 to 5 hour webinar
A too-long launch sequence of videos that takes 4 weeks
How great, smart, or rich you are
Wordplay, hypnotic language, the confusion close
"Tricks" That Get People to Buy (Sometimes)
Time running out
Offer closing
Price increasing
Limited seats
Disappearing bonus
Price (high or low)
What Actually Works
What they'll know
What they'll GET and HAVE
Cost of NOT doing it
Repeat success or exponential success
Speed
Ease of use
Power and effectiveness
Hungry crowd
Compelling magic super-offer that combines logic (and proof) plus emotion
The Answer You've Needed All Along
Here's how to think "strategically" about your product sales and launches.
I keep scouring books, courses, and the internet for something better than WWHW, Eugene Schwartz, and Robert Cialdini but I haven't found it yet.
Basic sales copy tells us to structure a sales argument in this way:
Attention (promise)
Interest (problem)
Desire (solution)
Action (buy it now)
High school English class told us to structure our writing like this:
Why (why is this important)
What (what am I going to discover)
How-To (how do I do this thing)
What-If (what are the possibilities once I take this action).
Eugene Schwartz tells us there are five levels of marketplace sophistication: novelty, enlargement, uniqueness, sophistication, and abandonment. But if you think about it, you can combine #3 and #4 so it's just...
Novelty (something is new to the marketplace)
Enlargement (bigger claims)
Sophistication (faster and better)
Abandonment (too complex and back to the original)
Robert Cialdini tells us there are six social weapons of influence to get what we want. Let's organize this as well...
You use Authority (why people should listen to you) in the Attention phase of sales copy
Liking (why you are similar) and Reciprocity (I'll give you something, like free information, now you owe me in return) introducing a Problem
Desire, which is where we explain our solution, uses Consistency (get people to agree with you every step of the way), and Social Proof (how have others used it)
In the final phase, Action, where we want people to buy, we use Scarcity the most (buy this now or else something bad will happen).
AIDA, WWHW, Eugene Schwartz, Robert Cialdini,
all just different ways of saying the same thing.
What's a "Strategic" Product Launch?
It's where your email sequence, videos, sales letter, pitch webinar, everything all matches up to a consistent message and MOST people think they have to flood the marketplace with information, list 53 different components potential buyers need to have. Nope, you just need to walk them through the FOUR STEPS.
The only way I've found to do it, that works every time, is to list out the ALTERNATIVES people might take (but you make fun of them) so that the only logical and emotional course of action is to buy from you.
Let's take our Webinar Crusher product for example...
Alternative #1: Don't run webinars. Alternative #2: Run webinars from free services. Alternative #3: Run evergreen webinars.
Alternative #4: Run webinars using our Webinar Crusher system.
At each point along the way we make fun of each alternative and point out its disadvantages to the extreme. There actually is a method to this madness:
Alternative #1: Not Doing It ("Novelty" or "Attention” or "Why Is It Important")
Alternative #2: The "Too-Big" Solution ("Enlargement" or "Interest" or "What Do I Do")
Alternative #3: The "Too-Complex" Solution ("Sophistication" or "Desire" or "How Do I Do It")
Alternative #4: Your Solution ("Abandonment" or "Action" or "What-If I Use Your Solution")
Just by listing these four things, we've structured most of our sales letter, the webinar pitch, the email launch sequence, everything. We didn't brain-dump a laundry list of alternatives that sent people elsewhere. We didn't jump in with our solution right off the bat. We've LOGICALLY listed out the possible avenues while EMOTIONALLY exhausting people with the pain and frustration of those other guys without specifically calling them out.
Too many times, I see people in an uninteresting niche, with a boring product and offer, or the wrong positioning, just trying to make it work. For some reason they think that more traffic, more subscribers, more affiliates will help... a slick sales pitch, fancy videos, or amazing sales letter graphics will help. They won't.
What will help? Having the right offer, in front of the right crowd, and presenting it in this (4-step) process.
Please comment below: Do you think that 4-step sequence will make it easier for you to come up with sales copy, webinar presentations, email sequences, and more?
Go ahead right now and check out the reason why I was able to quit my job, create a full time income and shortcut months into minutes by clicking the record button, showing a few things on my screen, clicking the "Save" button and turning it into money.
How to create a video sales letter (plus the 3 things most video sales letters leave out)
Technical details (the software and hardware I use for everything from small tutorials to full blown products)
How to even turn scary things like "presenting webinars" into a total breeze and repeat the formula over and over again
How to personally connect with your best customers, clients, prospects, mentors, joint venture partners, and more!
Listen right now and leave a quick comment letting me know what you thought of this week's show. Comments will be closed after 50 comments, the transcript will be posted after 10 comments (although it may take a few days for the transcriber to deliver it for me).
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About Robert & The Podcast
The Marketer of the Day Podcast interviews entrepreneurs who have been through “the struggle.”
They’ve experienced the headaches of repeat failure, trial-and-error, scaling, delegating, course-correcting, and getting their online businesses to succeed beyond their wildest dreams… and want to help you get to where you need to go.
