What if you had an entire membership site full of the latest videos in your niche? And what if you gave access to that membership site for just the cost of an email address? Do you think you could build your list?
Obviously, the more value you offer your visitors for joining your list, the more likely they are to say yes. And while a report or a single video can work well, an entire membership site that is continually updated can work even better.
But how do you do it in just a couple of hours per month? By using YouTube videos. As you know, there’s almost nothing you cannot find on YouTube. So if you’re willing to do the research, you can find videos that fit your niche perfectly. Embed them into your membership site and add your own introductions to each.
That’s it! You can make this as simple or as extensive as you like, but in either case it’s not going to take you all that much time. And in return, you’ll have what might be the ultimate list building incentive.
Let’s say you have a product for brick and mortar businesses on how to get more customers. If you take the exact same information that is in your product, but customize it for a specific niche, you can charge more AND make more sales.
For example, you customize the info for chiropractors and market it exclusively to chiropractors. Sales will actually be easier to make for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s easier to reach your audience when you are being specific. Second, chiropractors will see the info is just for them, and be far more likely to buy than if it was generic. So it’s easier to reach your audience, and easier to sell to them when you find them.
But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that you can sell your product for more money because it is geared specifically towards chiropractors. And you can do this in multiple niches: Contractors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc.
Let’s use another niche – weight loss. You have a generic product on how to lose weight, which means you are competing against every other weight loss product out there. But if you focus your product just for men over 60, or just for college women, or just for people in cold climates who can’t get outside to exercise, you’ve created more opportunities to target and sell your information. And you can continue to customize your info as many times as you can find markets. If you can reach your specific audience, you can do this.
This could be a business all on its own. You can go to any product owner and strike a deal where you take their info and customize it and then sell it. If you do, be sure you negotiate for a high percentage of the profits, since you will be doing the customizing and the work.
Or better yet, simply buy rights to the information and then you can keep all the profits for yourself.
Humans are insecure in nearly everything. For example, there’s the mother who’s worried she’s not being a good mom, the manager who suspects his career has stalled and the internet marketer who thinks everyone is doing better than she is.
You can play on these insecurities to build your list or sell your product. And by doing so, you can actually help these folks to get over their insecurities.
For example, every mom worries she’s either doing things wrong, not doing things she should be doing or in some other way totally screwing up her child. So if you use a headline such as, “Find out what other moms do when their child misbehaves” or “Discover what the best moms know that you don’t,” odds are you’re going to get a great response.
In the case of the manager, you might use: “Learn what other managers are earning” or “Discover how other managers get promoted in record time.”
And for the internet marketer: “Find out what other marketers are really doing to make money” or “Discover what other marketers know that you don’t” will probably work really well.
Then of course, be sure to deliver whatever you promised. This not only works well to get your prospect to act – it also positions you as a knowledgeable authority they can turn to for information and products.
There are two methods for making money in the “make money online” niche when you’re new, you’re broke and you’re just getting started.
The first one is to fake it until you make it. Fake screen shots, fake your income, fake your expertise and hope no one notices. The problem is, someone is guaranteed to notice – you. And who wants to start a business as a faker? Hopefully not you. It doesn’t feel good, for one thing. It probably messes with your head and makes you doubt that you will ever be a REAL success.
Instead, try method #2: Be real. Instead of selling “how I made $100,000 in 30 days” type of info, sell tools. Or be an affiliate. Or start a blog and give your opinion. And let others watch as you build your business for real.
Let’s look at each of those.
First, sell tools and be an affiliate. This means offering software and info that you are either using or find to be valuable. Give your opinion and why it’s worth buying. Be sincere. Don’t offer junk. This is your good name and reputation you’re building.
Next, start a blog and give your opinion. Yes, some will say you have no right to have an opinion until you’ve made $1,000,000 in the business, or whatever. Who cares? When you’ve made a million they’ll still be saying that. And they’ll still be broke, too.
People like to read opinions. You’ll resonate with some, and those folks will become your loyal followers and customers. The rest? It doesn’t matter.
Lastly, let others watch as you build your business. People who want to start a business are fascinated to watch others do it. Those who already have like to help out those who are trying.
So by being real, by being honest, by showing what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and the results you’re getting, you’ll get even more loyal followers. And you might just get a helping hand now and then as well.
Almost any marketing coach can tell you stories of students who came to them for help in launching their product. The student has the product ready to go. Maybe it needs a few tweaks, but they are small things that could be done in a few days or maybe even in a few hours. We’re talking about products that in many cases are better quality than 90% of products out there. But they won’t launch the product. They keep telling themselves the product isn’t ready, that it needs improving, the time isn’t right, etc…
They’re deluding themselves. The real reason they’re not launching? Terror.
Stark terror that someone, somewhere, will say something BAD about their product.
Or worse yet – people will hate their product AND the product won’t sell worth a darn.
But here’s the fact to focus on instead: A product that is never launched makes no money. Period.
Yes, someone might not like your product. So what? In fact, there could be HUNDREDS of people who don’t like your product. So what? If the product is selling, does it matter that some people don’t like it?
Look at radio talk show hosts and commentators. They have thousands or in some cases hundreds of thousands of people who don’t like them. Yet they also have a loyal following and LOTS and LOTS of money.
So how do you get over the fear of launching? Here’s one way:
Agree with yourself that your product isn’t finished. That’s right – it isn’t done yet. But you’re going to launch ANYWAY.
As you improve your product, you will send your customers updated versions. What’s that? You forgot to add a section about managing gophers to your gardening product? Add the section and send it out to buyers.
Then add it to the product itself so all new buyers get it automatically. And then add a couple of bullets to your sales letter that let prospects know you cover gophers, too.
Easy, right?
In fact, this gives you an entirely new way to look at criticism. Instead of cringing and wishing you had done the product differently, you can objectively look at the criticism and decide if you want to make a change based on that feedback or not. This is a much more empowering point of view than hiding in the corner, fearful of any negative comment that might come your way.
Now then, let’s look at a worst case scenario: You launch your product and the very first feedback you get is, “This product sucks, I want a refund!” If this happens, there is one of two things going on, and the next few days will tell you which one it is.
If more people write back with similar comments, then maybe you do have a poor product. In that case, pull it, fix it and relaunch it. Or pull it and create something else.
But if sales are good and refunds are low, then what you encountered on that first feedback was likely a chronic ‘refunder’ – one of those people who buy products with the intention of asking for a refund. Another name for those folks? Sorry, I can’t print it here.
Just know that the vast, VAST majority of buyers don’t do this. Most buyers are good, honest, decent people. The few who do chronically refund are just a minor annoyance that ALL product sellers have to put up with, including the big, big names in your niche.
So don’t sweat it. Give them their refund and if you have the capability, block them from buying from you again, just to avoid aggravation down the line when you launch your next product.
Fear of launching your product is a fear of leaving your comfort zone. Comfort zones are… well… comfy. Cozy. Warm. Secure.
But sometimes you have to take a deep breath, hit the button and launch your new product to the world.
Don’t worry – it gets less scary each time you do it. And you’re not alone. Even product creators who have made millions still get plenty nervous when it’s time to launch their new creation. It’s natural. The point is, you can’t let a case of nerves, no matter how bad they are, get in the way of moving forward and launching your product.
Find out what you need to use to get yourself to launch. Is it a reward? Blackmail? A psychological trick? A reminder of WHY you are doing this?
I know one marketer who imagines hurling himself into battle each time he launches. Another one keeps photos of his family at his desk to remind him of why he needs to overcome his fear. And a third bribes herself with a 4 day vacation for each product she launches. Whatever it takes to get you to launch – just do it.
You want your home page to capture just as many email addresses as possible. But using a squeeze page is not nearly as effective as it used to be. If your squeeze page isn’t pulling in stellar results, it’s time to update and improve your conversion rate in a big way. So how do you do it? By creating what you can call an upside down home page.
Here’s how it works:
Above the fold at the top of the page (this is the portion of the page the visitor sees without scrolling down): This is where you place your first call to action. This is a big box that goes all the way across the screen with no distractions. In the box you will place just enough copy to ‘hook’ visitors into subscribing, along with a call to action.
For example, the headline might be, “Double Your Website Traffic in 22 Days.” Your sub-headline could be, “Get the Good, Bad and Ugly on Every Traffic Method from Proven Marketers.” And your button copy could be, “Get the 5 Top Methods Now.” That’s it. No need for long copy. Be direct and let them know exactly what they can learn on your site and what they get if they subscribe to your list.
Use a two-step for capturing emails. That is, only show the button on the home page. Once they click the button, then they are taken to a second page where they submit their email address. This alone can increase sign-ups by 10% or more.
Directly underneath that big box you’re going to put something that lends to your social proof. For example, you can do an “As seen on…” box with the logos of all the sites that have written about your business. Or you can put a short and powerful testimonial from a happy customer. Or you can even use a quote from someone famous in your niche. Even though this famous person doesn’t know you, it still lends credibility to you and your business by association.
Underneath the social proof is the area that is hidden until the user scrolls down. Here you will place one of your most popular pieces of content. If you’re not sure what that is, just take a look at your analytics to find out which post of yours had the most social shares.
But you’re not going to simply copy and paste that post. Instead, you’re going to reformat it like this:
First, tell the result. You’re telling visitors a story about someone who got great results from what you are teaching.
For example, tell how an unknown website went from being a ghost town to generating “x” amount of traffic and “y” amount of subscribers and “z” amount of sales in a certain time period, using just 2 methods they learned on your site.
Second, tell the story. But not the whole story. You’re going to focus on the before and after, and what a difference it’s made and so forth. But to get the details of how it was done, they’ll need to subscribe. Give them just enough to hook them in so they urgently want to get the rest of the story.
Third, tease them with bullet points on what they will discover in the full article or interview.
If by now you’re thinking this is something like a sales letter, it definitely does borrow some of the techniques without being a full blown sales piece.
Fourth, place your final call to action. It might say something like, “Discover how to get non-stop traffic to your website using Angela’s secret,” or “Discover how Angela took her income from $0 to 5-figures with these two simple traffic methods.”
Lastly, place your website navigation at the bottom for those who do not subscribe. That’s right – navigation buttons go on the bottom, not on the top. That’s why it’s called an upside-down home page.
Set your page up so that once a user subscribes, they never see that sign up page again. Instead, they see a welcoming or home page on subsequent visits.
Try this set up and see if you don’t improve your list building efforts dramatically. It really can make a huge difference.
When I suggest to Amazon authors that they seek reviews, the biggest objection I hear is, “But the more reviews I get, the greater the chances that I’ll get negative reviews.” Understandably, negative reviews are scary. But if you write a good book that either helps people or entertains them (or both) then two things will happen…
1. The positive reviews will greatly outnumber the negative reviews, thereby ‘negating’ the negatives.
2. The negative reviews can actually help sales.
For one thing, if you have negative reviews then your positive reviews become much more believable. Have you ever landed on a product with 400 positive reviews and NO negatives? Pretty hard to believe those are all real reviews, isn’t it?
And for another thing, ‘an enemy of my enemy is my friend’ Meaning, some negative reviews, when read by the right prospects, will actually convince prospects to purchase your book.
Here’s an example: Someone from political party ‘A’ writes a book. A member of political party ‘B’ writes a bad review, citing things in the book they didn’t like. But those things appeal to the prospect (who happens to be a part of Party ‘A’) and this is enough to nudge them into buying the book.
In other words, if you’ve written a good book then DON’T worry about negative reviews. On the other hand, if your book stinks then you might want to pull the book, rewrite it and relaunch it under a different title.
Lastly, why do you want more reviews of your Kindle books? Two words – more sales. The more reviews you have, the more popular your book looks, the more sales you will get. Plus, reviews are some of the best kind of social proof you can get.
Here then, are 8 ways to get more reviews of your Kindle books
– Write a good book. Seriously. If you write junk, your readers will be inspired to tell the world in reviews. But if you write a great book, again some of them will be inspired to tell the world in reviews.
Tiss: Practice makes perfect, so write a lot and you’ll get better and better. Add your own voice and personality – this makes it far more interesting to the reader. Get someone to edit and proofread the book for you.
– Write a short book. Most people finish reading a book before they write a review. Thus, if you have an 80,000 word book versus a 10,000 word book, all else being equal the 10,000 word book will get more reviews. Of course if you’re writing fiction, you might have to make it long since it’s expected.
Tip: If you already have an 80,000 word manuscript, break it into 4 or even 8 smaller books and charge less per book. Then cross promote your books for more sales.
– Ask for a review. Okay, this is really basic but most authors still don’t do it. At the end of your book, ask your reader to help you out and write a review. Remind them that they got the book at a great price, and if it helped them or entertained them, they can return the favor and really help you out with a review.
Tips: Let them know it will only take them a couple of minutes to do it. Provide the link where they can leave the review.
– Build a following. If you don’t already have one, build a list. Then when you put out a new Kindle book, ask them to review it.
Tips: Give your book away for free to your list and ask them to review it. OR give your book away for free to strangers on Amazon and ask them to sign onto your list – then ask them to review it. Either way, once you’ve got some great reviews, stop giving your book away for free and start charging for it.
– Use an email signature. If you have a separate email account just to answer questions about your book, then use a signature to ask for reviews. People will write to you with questions about your topic. When you write back, it’s the perfect time to ask for a review in your email signature. Be sure to give the link, too. And even if you don’t have a separate email account, you can still copy and paste a request each time you answer an email from your book’s readers.
Tip: When someone writes just to praise you and your book, ask them in your reply email to post what they wrote to you as a review. Be sure to give them the link to make it as simple as possible. When they do post it, THANK them.
– Give your book away for free. Strange but true, the way Amazon’s algorithm works you can get a real boost to sales after giving your book away for free for 5 days. Plus you can get a lot of good reviews when you give your book away, which will also boost sales.
– Run a countdown deal. This is the new ‘free’ and can have the same boost to sales as giving your book away. Again the added downloads will boost you in Amazon’s search results, plus you should be getting added reviews as well, which will also help sales.
Use social media. Post reviews of your book on your social media accounts to promote your book. This will get eyeballs on your books and usually sales, too. With more sales you can ask for more reviews.
Tip: When you have a loyal following, post a negative review now and then to social media to get your fans riled up. Your fans will go to Amazon to vote the review ‘not helpful,’ and often times they’ll even post a new review themselves.
One more reason to increase your reviews – publishing deals. If you get two or more books to each garner several hundred reviews, you might have a chance at getting a lucrative publishing offer.
If you do, think hard before you sign. Often times you can make more money by self-publishing than you can by going through a publishing house. But if they’re offering a large sum up front and a great marketing plan for your new book – then you might want to take it.
There’s a Shakespeare quote you’ve heard: “To thine own self be true.”
And here’s another one (not quite with the Shakespeare flair, but still quite eloquent): “You can’t fit a round peg into a square hole.”
People online will tell you what to do. How to do it. When to do it.
They’ll tell you to get up two hours early and work on your business before work. Or set a timer for 30 minutes and work without distraction. Or enter a niche just because there is money there. They’ll tell you all sorts of things. And they’ll even get righteously indignant when you don’t do what they tell you to do.
So now I’m going to tell you what to do. Seriously.
Know yourself first. Yes, you can get round pegs into square holes, but it does a tremendous amount of damage to the round peg. If you like to sleep in until 10:00 am, then maybe that’s what you should do. You probably do your best work in the afternoon and evening anyway.
If you have a flair for an odd niche, maybe you should find a way to monetize that, instead of going into a more popular and overcrowded field that everyone is telling you to enter.
If you don’t like speaking to people in person, why are you buying that course on how to do marketing for local businesses?
Figure out who you are and what you’re good at. Then build your business around YOU.
For example, if you’re great at seeing the big picture and hate details, then focus on what needs to be done and have other people do the actual work through outsourcing. If you love to write but hate to deal with websites, have someone else set up and run your blog. If you hate writing but love talking, make a vlog instead of a blog. Or do a podcast. Or both.
Just don’t do the thing you hate to do, because guess what? You cannot force yourself to do the things you don’t like for any real length of time. It just isn’t going to work.
To be successful, figure out who you are and what you like. THEN figure out how to build a business around you, instead of trying to mold yourself to a business you simply aren’t suited to.
If you haven’t yet had a big launch of your own, then it can be hard to relate to how things work, what needs to be done, and especially the results you can get. It all seems a bit foreign and out of reach. But the fact is, anyone has the potential to create a product that people love and launch it with tremendous success.
Imagine spending the next 2 months working on your new product and the launch itself. Then the big day is almost here. You’re lying in bed the night before, wondering if you did everything you can do to make this a big success. You’re worried it will flop. You’re thinking, “What if I just wasted the last two months of my life?” But the fact is, no matter what happens, it’s impossible to waste that experience as long as you learn from it.
Do you know what else you’re feeling? Excitement. It’s like the night before Christmas when you were a kid, times 10. Or maybe times 100. You can hardly sleep. What will tomorrow bring?
And let’s face it – you’re also proud of yourself. Regardless of how many sales you make or don’t make, you did it. You stuck with it and saw it through to the end. And that is priceless.
Do you see what we’re doing here? We’re imagining what it will be like when you launch your first BIG product later this year. Wow. What a great way to get motivated, huh?
Now then, I’m going to show you how to add a hefty sum to the bottom line of your next (or your first) product launch, and increase your chance of success in the process.
Let’s say you’ve done your work. You’ve built a nice list of buyers and prospects by offering terrific info on your topic. Now it’s time to take the next step and offer a course of instruction for the advanced players. You’ve even got some terrific affiliates lined up. You press the button and POW! Your new product is launched to the world.
Sales on the first day prove that you have a winner. For the next few days, sales continue to come in at a slower rate. Then on the final day of your launch, WHAM! Sales flood in like crazy. Why? Because people have trouble making up their mind, and it’s your deadline that will get them over the fence and clicking the buy button.
Your launch wraps up and you’ve done a very satisfying amount of sales. It might be $20,000, it might be $200,000, I don’t know. The point is, your launch was a success.
Now here’s how you make it even BETTER:
After your deadline passes, open a new, special enrollment period for 24 hours. Offer this special enrollment period ONLY to those who have clicked through to your sales page during the launch, but never enrolled. This way you are only sending it to those who have basically pre-qualified themselves.
Offer them something new. For example, if you were offering your product for one big price, offer them a payment option. Let’s say your course was $297. You could offer them 3 payments of $99.
Of if you were offering a payment option during your launch, now you can offer them a better payment option. Instead of $99 a month for 3 months, offer $49 for seven months.
When you send an email to tell them about this special enrollment period, thank them for their interest. Let them know that you understand they might want a better payment plan, and this is their one chance.
If you don’t want to offer payments, consider offering something else instead. Maybe a one-on-one Skype call to answer questions after they’ve gone through the course. Or a critique of their work after using the course. Or a special bonus that ties in nicely.
Here’s the bottom line: By clicking through to the sales page, these people have shown that they are indeed interested. Some of them very nearly bought. But ‘nearly’ doesn’t make the sale, and if you don’t get them to buy now, they never will.
What you’re doing is providing them with one more opportunity, along with an additional incentive, to get your course. If your course is good (and we certainly hope it is) then you are doing them a major service by making this offer.
And in return, you can put an extra 4 or 5 figures into your pocket, simply by sending a couple of emails. Of course, you’ve got to do all the work that comes with having a product launch. But the point is, in the world of online marketing there are no limits to what you can earn, if you’re willing to do what it takes.
Now for some motivation…
Think about what you want most in your life right now. Is it more time? More money? More freedom?
You can have all of this and more. And once you start making money, a funny thing happens. It gets easier and easier as you discover more and more techniques like the one we just described above. You’ve just got to do the work to get it, whether you feel motivated or not.
I’ll leave you with one last trick: Make a list of what you need to do in order to launch your next product. Find one thing on that list you can do right this moment, and then spend the next 15 minutes getting started on it. That’s it, just 15 minutes. Once you get started, you’ll probably discover you don’t want to quit.
And there’s your motivation. As the shoe company says, Just Do It. Just get started. That’s truly the hardest part. Everything after that? Is all downhill and will build momentum, almost automatically.
You might want to print out this page and keep it close to your computer – it’s a little goldmine of power words that capture attention and get your messages read & acted on:
– Free – Sale – New – Tested – Guaranteed – Immediately – Powerful – Popular – Special – Affordable – The truth about – Absolutely lowest – Daring – Pioneering – Unsurpassed – Obsession – Lifetime – Strong – Sizable – Confidential – Alert – Energy – Rare – Famous – Unparalleled – Superior – Bottom line – Special offer – Wealth – Last minute – Timely – Unconditional – Profitable – Emerging – Breakthrough – It’s here – Just arrived – Growth – High tech – Innovative – Exclusive – Valuable – Discount – Endorsed – Under priced – Launching – Reduced – Enormous – Now – Fortune – Authentic – Announcing – Introducing – Portfolio – Urgent – Proven – Weird – Surprise – Excellent – You
Start using these words in your marketing and sales copy today, and then stand back and watch as your business soars to new heights!
