1,000 prospects come to your site or sales page. 1% of them buy a $50 product. You’ve made $500.
You invest 2 days trying a few different ways to increase your conversions, and 3 are successful. You only increased your conversions by 1%, yet you’ve doubled your income, selling 2% of the prospects who come to your sales page.
Now for every 1,000 prospects, you make $1,000.
And you send 1,000 prospects a day, meaning…
Well, I’ll let you play with the numbers. The point is, even a 1% bump in conversions can mean a significant pay raise for you.
Yet so many marketers never bother to do any of the things I’m about to suggest.
Why? I suppose it’s one of those things they’ll “get around to” but they never do.
So here’s what I recommend: If you don’t want to do any of the following, then OUTSOURCE it.
Let’s get started on boosting your conversions:
1: Create a compelling and clear value proposition.
Your value proposition can be the #1 element that determines if people will bother to read more on your page.
And it’s also the main thing you need to test.
The less known your company is, the better your value proposition needs to be.
In a nutshell, your value proposition clearly states:
How your product solves the customers’ problem or improves their situation (relevancy)
Delivers specific benefits (quantified value)
Tell why they should buy from you instead of your competition (unique differentiation).
2: Do A/B testing
You create two alternative versions of your page, each with a different headline / color scheme / call to action, etc.
You do a split test to see which one works better. When you find out what converts better, then you test something else.
Generally you only want to test one element at a time – otherwise, it just gets confusing.
The more elements you test, the higher you can boost your conversions.
Things to test: Headline, page layout and navigation, the offer itself, using different media (such as a video) and even a radical change if you think you might want to start over.
You can use Google Optimize if you’re looking for a free A/B tester, or Optimizely if you want more options.
3: Set up a Proper Sales Funnel
Sometimes your conversions are taking a hit because you’re asking for the signup or the sale too soon in the process.
If people are still in ‘browsing’ mode, they might not be psychologically ready to subscribe or buy.
The general rule is, the more expensive or complicated the product is, the more time people need before they are ready to commit.
If you’re looking to improve conversions on a squeeze page that only asks for their email address, your focus should be on improving the reason why they would want to sign up. Making your offer more compelling – something that will immediately spark their desire – should do it.
But if you’re selling a product, it’s possible that you need to do more to build trust, develop a relationship and prove your expertise.
Remember, the longer and deeper the relationship with the prospect, the more likely they are to buy from you.
4: Address Objections before They Arise
No matter what you’re selling or how much you’re selling it for, there will be objections.
If I tried to sell $100 bills for $1, there would be objections (and you know what they are.)
Of course, since you can’t hear prospects speak their objections, you’ve got to know in advance what can kill your sale so you can make what you might call, ‘preemptive strikes’ on the objections.
Make a list of all the possible concerns your prospects might have.
And then address each one of those in your presentation / webpage / sales funnel.
5: Build Trust
People won’t buy from you if they have no need for your product, if they have no money to buy your product, if they’re not in a hurry, and if they don’t trust you.
There’s not a lot you can do about the first 2 items on that list.
You can create urgency by limiting the number of products to be sold or the duration of your sale.
But trust is a big factor you can definitely use to increase conversions.
So what makes people trust your website?
Several things:
You’ve got citations and testimonials clearly visible.
You’re endorsed by well-known people in your niche.
You’ve got a physical address and maybe even a photo of your office.
If you or your business has relevant credentials, you’ve got them displayed.
You’ve got clear, easy to find contact information that includes a phone number.
Your site looks professional – not something a kid whipped up on his Intel 486 in the 1990’s.
Your site contains plenty of useful information.
You update your site’s content often. If your latest blogpost is from 2016, you’ve got a problem.
You show restraint with hype, blinking banners (please don’t!) ads, popups and such.
You have zero or nearly zero errors (when it comes to trustworthiness, one error is forgivable, two aren’t.)
6: Stop Trying to Sound Smart
If I were to give you a value proposition that reads like this…
“Revenue-focused sales automation and marketing effectiveness solutions unleash collaboration throughout the revenue cycle,”
…would you have a clue what I was talking about?
Because I sure don’t. It’s not useful to the person reading it, unless your goal is to chase them off of your page. Then I suspect it’s highly effective.
Don’t use fancy or complicated language – instead, write the way people speak.
Just remember, clarity is key. If they don’t understand exactly what you’re saying, they’re not going to convert.
7: Remove Distraction
Your goal is to get people to focus solely on the action you want them to take and nothing else.
Take a look at your page for anything that might divert the visitor away from what you want them to do.
Minimize distraction, unnecessary product options, links and extraneous information.
Get rid of sidebars and big headers if they’re not helping your prospect take the desired action.
Remove irrelevant images, or replace them with images that help you make the sale.
And ask yourself if there is anything else you can remove that is not contributing to the conversion.
Increasing your conversion rate isn’t hard, but it does take effort…
Effort that will be well-rewarded in increased sales and revenues long after you’re done making the necessary changes.
I received an email the other day from someone who asked, “It’s so hard to get influencers to take notice of what I’m doing – got any tips?” Yes.
First, change your thinking. Online influencers have a constant need for interesting content to share with their readers.
Create the right content, send it to influencers and I guarantee some of them will take notice and send you traffic.
Here are 9 tips to make that happen:
1: Build Relationships with Influencers – This is the old school method, and frankly also the best method of all.
Rather than trying to find a ‘back door’ route to their audience, you might take the long-term approach of building a relationship.
You can start by supporting the influencer in what they’re currently doing by mentioning them on social media and your blog.
Do round-ups, where you send an interview question to several different influencers and then include them all in a featured post.
Quote them in your blog posts – this is hugely flattering and will get you noticed, especially when you call their attention to it.
Support them and their brand, and you’re well on your way to building a two-way relationship in which they reciprocate and mention you to their audience as well.
2: Actually MEET Them at an Event – Again, this is an old school method that works really, really well.
If you think about it – who are you more likely to support: The stranger who sends you a few emails, or the person you had lunch with at your last conference?
This is the number one reason to attend networking events and look for influencers that you can help, and that can potentially help you.
Always approach them with the attitude of what YOU can do for them and not the other way around.
I say this because 95% of people who approach them at these events are asking for favors.
So, when you offer to HELP them, they will be relieved to have finally encountered a true professional and not someone who is just out to use them.
3: Provide Free Samples – First, you find the industry influencers in your target market.
Next, you reach out and offer them a free product in exchange for their review.
In the beginning, target mid-level influencers. They don’t get approached as often and will likely be more willing to try your product and write a review for you.
And make sure your influencers are following the FTC guidelines for disclosing they received a free product in exchange for their review.
4: Give Free Products to the Influencer’s Audience – Once your influencer shares their review, they can host a product giveaway on their post.
How this works is up to you and your influencer. It could be a contest where people have to enter, such as joining your list, publicizing your contest on social media or submitting a reason why they should get the product for free.
The influencer can be responsible for picking winners and you send out the free products.
Personally, I like to simply ask for their email address to enter the contest, and then I give them the option of sharing the contest on social media to gain themselves several more entries.
This builds my list and makes the influencer happy, especially if I’m giving away several prizes to their readers.
5: Publish Unique Research – According to Sumo, only 20% of visitors will read your entire article.
Worse yet, the average visitor will only read 25% of an article.
Ouch.
Which is why you’ve got to stand apart from the crowd. What’s trending or new in your industry? Can you create a study or poll around it?
You might take polls on social media or your email list, creating unique content for your readers. This will make influencers take notice and possibly even create a viral effect of getting mentioned by others.
6: Niche it Down and Go Deep – Anyone can post about broad topics like, “How to be a better gardener.”
But “How to Grow Miniature Roses indoors in Northern Climates” will stand apart from all the other info in your niche because of its specificity.
Find ways to go beyond the basics and create several pieces of content that cover different angles in depth.
7: Be the Devil’s Advocate – Somewhere inside your niche or industry are controversial topics. This is your chance to find unique perspectives that no one else has covered before.
Tips on how to do this without alienating your core audience:
Write from an angle that resonates with your readers
Back up what you say with data
Write in the tone of, “Have you thought about this…” rather than, “This is how it is, period.”
Be open to different views while standing by your own. In other words, believe in what you’re saying and be prepared to defend your stance without acting like a jerk.
8: Sponsor a Post – Some blogs will accept a ‘paid-for’ post that’s written either by you or the influencer herself.
You might do a walk-through of your product, showcasing the value to the audience.
A great way to do this is to explain how to do something step-by-step, and then offer your product as the easy, ‘done-for-you’ solution.
9: Be a Blog Sponsor – Some influencers also accept sponsorships for their website.
You can negotiate what this covers, but it could be a sidebar ad, mentions on specific pages, or even mentions on social media and through email.
As a sponsor you have an easy ‘in’ to talk to the influencer about additional ways your products or website might be featured, as well as potentially doing joint ventures.
No matter which methods you choose, consistent action is key.
Not every blog owner you contact will be open to your proposals, but when you…
contact enough of them
remain consistent in your efforts
always think in terms of what you can do for the influencer first
You can take an awful lot of those “how to market online” courses and sometimes still not learn the truly groundbreaking stuff.
I’m talking about the seemingly unimportant things that turn out to be so important, it’s like a scene in one of those adventure movies:
The hero fights through obstacle after obstacle to get to this secret cave that hasn’t been entered in a century.
He pries open the heavy door, sweeps away several inches of cobwebs, and by the light of his torch he sees something shiny. He picks it up… it’s a gold coin! Nice, but not that earth-shattering, right? It’s just one coin…
Taking a step forward, he sees a small chest. Opening it, he sees a couple hundred gold coins. Yeah! This is pretty cool.
But then he catches just a glimmer of something deeper in the cave. Opening the door wider to let light in, he sees more gold. And priceless statues. And gemstones. And… the treasures go back as far as the eye can see.
Holy cow. That one gold coin turned out to be the beginning of more wealth than the GDP of most countries.
Well that’s how I feel about what I’m going to teach you here. To the uninitiated eye, these three lessons might seem small, like a single coin.
And they might almost appear trivial. But I promise you, if you follow this advice, your online income can become almost limitless.
And by the way, some people have paid literally thousands of dollars to discover what I’m about to show you:
Marketing Lesson #1: Make an irresistible offer
You’ve heard the term irresistible offer before, but what does it mean?
First, it’s an offer that’s better than anything your competition has.
Second, it’s so good that it’s truly hard to pass up.
For example, if I were to sell you a brand new car for $1,000, that’s an irresistible offer.
Most marketers have trouble getting their marketing to convert because they’re offering the same stuff as everyone else. Yes, they try to make it sexy, but it isn’t.
You can dress a pig up in a lovely, low-cut evening gown, or even a tiny bikini and high heels. But it’s still a pig.
(Not trying to pick on pigs here, btw – I think they’re kinda cute and definitely smart.)
You can have weak marketing and a great offer and make it work.
But great marketing will never compensate for a weak offer.
If you don’t have the right offer, then it doesn’t matter how great the copy is, what the headline is, who is promoting it and so forth.
If you want to make sales, you’ve got to have an absolutely superior, irresistible offer that the prospect simply cannot turn down.
And you’ve got to back the offer up with a product that delivers, too. I’ve seen offers that blew me away, but once I got into the product, I realized it was 80% hype and 20% substance.
As you might have guessed, I asked for a refund – as did close to 50% of their purchasers.
So make them an offer they cannot refuse, and then deliver on every promise you make.
Do this and you cannot help but make a fortune.
Marketing Lesson #2: You’ve got to have a big marketing idea.
Just having a bigger promise or using a hyped headline isn’t going to work anymore.
If you’re going to be seen and heard by your prospects, you’ve got to cut right through all the shouting online and present something brand new.
Think of it this way: A regular marketing idea is doing what’s already been done, except maybe it’s 10% bigger or 10% better.
That used to work, but these days it just blends with everything else.
But a big marketing idea is something new, something revolutionary. It could be an entirely new approach, a new way of looking at something or a new way of doing something.
Take cars for example. A regular marketing idea is to make a car 10% more gas efficient, or 10% sleeker/bigger/smaller/curvier/boxier etc.
If you think about it, most of the cars today just sort of blend. They look a lot alike, work a lot alike… it’s always been like that.
Then there’s Tesla. Put a Tesla side by side with any other car, and you’ll notice a difference. Talk about how a Tesla runs, and it’s revolutionary.
Don’t let your idea be the latest model of Ford or Chevy.
Make it a Tesla.
Give your prospects a feeling of discovery, of something completely new that gives them an AHA! Moment.
Offer them hope that this is finally THE solution they have been searching for.
It’s powerful, indeed.
Marketing Lesson #3: Customer acquisition is simply about good math.
I know you keep hearing about free traffic. But free traffic isn’t free; it costs you time and work. And more time. And more work.
If you want to make serious money, then you’ve got to learn some math and be willing to invest some money to make that money.
Online marketing in the six and seven figure range is all about buying new customers – not hoping they eventually find you on their own.
Buying new customers is how you grow big and fast.
Think of customer acquisition as an investment.
You’re investing in the acquisition of assets — customers.
And to do this wisely… like the best marketers in the world… you need to know some numbers.
For example, one of the absolute most valuable marketing numbers for you to understand and use is the Maximum Allowable Acquisition Cost (MAAC).
MAAC tells you the most you can pay to get a new customer.
And to know your MAAC, you also need to know the lifetime value of your customer. Which in the beginning is hard, so do this instead – know the 3 month value of your customers.
How much do they spend with you in 3 months? Whatever that number is, you need to spend less than that to get a new customer.
Most entrepreneurs and marketers don’t know their MAAC or their customer’s lifetime value.
Of if they do know the numbers, they don’t use them to determine their traffic generation budgets.
But if you want to earn six or seven figures a year, you’ve got to know and USE this stuff.
Once you know these numbers, you’ve got to focus on increasing the value of your customer, so you can increase your MAAC, so you can get more customers.
Very few average entrepreneurs and marketers understand this, but now you do.
So, did I just hand you three gold coins?
Or a vast and unending treasure trove?
That’s up to you and what you do with this information.
What I’m about to say might sound contradictory at first.
And you might think I’m nuts. But stick with me…
…I want you to not only accept, but embrace your weaknesses.
That’s right – I’m not about to blow air up your skirt and tell you that if only you stick with it and persevere, you can learn how to do everything your online business needs you to do.
Hate website building? Stick with it and you’ll get good at it.
Don’t have a clue about SEO? Take a bunch of courses and eventually you’ll be a master at it.
Does writing make your skin crawl? Spend 4 hours a day, every day writing, and in a year or two you’ll be good enough to get by.
Nope. All of that is lousy advice given to new marketers by seasoned pros and amateurs alike.
And it’s nonsense.
If you hate cooking, should you really spend the next year of your life in the kitchen? I don’t think so.
If you’re a lousy mechanic who hates working on cars, do you really want to learn what every part under that hood does, and how to maintain and replace each one? Not on your life.
Yet we tell new marketers that if they don’t like building websites and don’t want to learn how to do it, they should just do it anyway.
And in fact they should learn every single aspect of their business, because once they do, then they can make tons of money.
And I’m here to tell you it’s poppycock.
You are really, truly good at maybe 2 or 3 things.
4 things tops.
5 if you’re a direct descendant of Leonardo DaVinci.
But that’s it.
Everything else? You don’t have the knack or the inclination.
And guess what? That’s OKAY. In fact, that’s GREAT.
Because one of the very first steps to going from online millionaire wannabe to actual online millionaire is to embrace what you are good at AND what you’re lousy at.
Here’s what happens when you think you have to do everything in your business – you procrastinate.
You don’t really want to learn how to write a squeeze page and lead magnet, so you procrastinate.
You don’t really want to work on your website building skills, so you put it off.
You don’t really want to do social media, so you set it aside for later.
A ‘later’ which, by the way, almost never comes.
But I can tell you for a FACT that the day you begin to become super successful online is the exact same day that you decide you are ONLY going to focus on what you’re good at, and you’re going to delegate everything else to somebody else.
Are you an amazing coach who is clueless about anything technical? Then delegate your website to someone else.
Do you love building sites and flipping them, but you hate writing the content? Outsource the content.
You get the idea.
When you hire someone else to take care of all the things you don’t like doing, you free yourself to focus on two things – what you’re truly good at, and working on your business instead of in your business.
Still skeptical?
Here’s a list of benefits to outsourcing everything you don’t like doing or you’re not good at performing:
Benefit #1: You can make fast progress because you’re no longer being held back by the things you don’t want to do.
Benefit #2: Your income skyrockets because of benefit #1.
Benefit #3: You’re happier. MUCH happier, because you’re not doing all the things you hate doing.
Benefit #4: You now have the benefit of other people’s work, which means you can scale much faster and easier than if you were still working alone.
Benefit #5: You have much more free time because again, you’re not having to do all those things you don’t like doing.
Benefit #6: Because you have more free time, you can take a step back and really see what direction you want to go in next.
Benefit #7: You can spend more time working on your business rather than slaving away in your business.
Benefit #8: You can take advantage of spur of the moment opportunities, because you have a team that can quickly mobilize and do what you need.
Benefit #9: You are now working and acting like a person of wealth. There is a reason wealthy people delegate like crazy – it makes them money on a much larger scale.
Benefit #10: You’ve got an entirely new mindset. You’ll have to experience this to fully understand it, but I can tell you that it’s the difference between being a foot soldier on the ground, versus having a bird’s eye view of your business, your market and your future.
“But that’s going to cost a lot of money to outsource all the things I need.”
If I offered you $7 for every dollar you gave me, how much would you give?
All you have, right?
Outsourcing works the same way. You are paying these workers, but in return you are making multiples of what you’ve paid.
I can’t emphasize this enough – if you are really, truly, absolutely serious about making six or seven figures online, then you need to start outsourcing everything you’re not good at or don’t like to do.
Do you remember the television series, “The Odd Couple?” You might have seen reruns of it on one of those channels that broadcasts old shows from the 60’s and 70’s.
The Odd Couple, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, was a smash hit and one of the most beloved shows of all time. But its creator and executive producer, Garry Marshall, was young and terrified:
At the time, I was pretty new to television and I went to work every day of the first season scared to death. I desperately wanted to do a good job.
Unfortunately, I didn’t even know what a ‘good job’ looked like. One thing I did know was that people were looking to me for answers and I had to be ready with them. I had to make a decision right or wrong.
And time and again he did make those decisions.
You might be new to online marketing, and you might be terrified of making a wrong decision. That’s okay.
Any decision is better than no decision. Any action is better than no action. After all, you can’t learn from mistakes you never get a chance to make. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket, and you can’t get rich online if you don’t DO something.
Just learn to make decisions and carry those decisions out, and you’ll be fine.
A little terror is a good thing – it keeps you on your toes.
Last month my friend moved into a new place. Little did she know that the window frames were covered in mold – something she’s deathly allergic to.
Within days she goes from vibrant young woman to bedridden sick person with sinus pain so bad she wanted to cut her own head off. (Sorry, that’s a bit graphic – her words, not mine.)
At first she had no clue what the problem was, but once she realized it was a mold issue, she grabbed her laptop and started desperately searching for answers.
It took her several days to find out exactly how to get rid of the mold, as well as what she should be doing for herself to get better.
Now then… wouldn’t it have been great for her if there was an instant download information product she could have purchased to help her with her dilemma? That’s what she thought, too…
…so as soon as she was better and had taken care of the mold and herself, she started putting together all of the information she learned into an info product to sell.
Talk about turning bad into good.
Thanks to her bout with mold, she now has a new residual income source.
So tell me… what problem have you faced this month?
And how did you solve it?
Because there is a very good chance that you, too, have the makings for an instant info product people would pay good money for.
And if you don’t have a problem that needs solving, I guarantee one of your friends do. Ask them. Ask everyone what they need, what they want, and what problem is driving them crazy.
Then invest a day or two in research and putting an info product together. Then get it online.
Never stop looking for opportunities, because they are literally all around you every minute of the day. When you find them, prioritize, and take action on your inspiration!
First things first – what’s a ‘sticky’ continuity course?
A continuity course is basically a membership where you drip feed the information to the members.
Maybe it’s on how to build a list of 10,000 hungry buyers, or how to generate super targeted traffic, or how to use social media to get new fans, prospects and customers.
The ‘sticky’ part refers to keeping your members from leaving.
The biggest hurdle most memberships and continuity courses face is in keeping their members once they get them.
And the higher the price point, the more difficult it is to get them to stick month after month.
So here’s what you do:
First pick your topic. Okay, you knew that already.
The next thing is either write your sales page or outsource it.
Next, write the first module, or outsource that, too.
If you’re hot to trot and want to launch tomorrow, you can do these things in a day. Just put on your blinders, turn off all distractions and get busy.
Now then, how are you going to make it ‘sticky?’
By asking your members what they want to see next.
Set up a private Facebook page and ASK them what they want.
Everybody wants to feel like they are part of a community (hence the Facebook page) and EVERYONE wants to give their opinion and feel important.
So make your members feel important because – guess what – they are.
Ask them what they want and then give it to them… guaranteed they will stick around.
I’ve seen plenty of marketers (myself included) make thousands of dollars doing this.
And all you need to get started is a sales page and your first lesson. Everything else comes later.
Once your course reaches its inevitable conclusion, you’ll have a complete membership that you can continue to sell for a long time to come – maybe years.
When you get tired of selling the memberships, you package the whole thing and sell it as a one-time deal.
When you get tired of that, you sell the rights to the course to other marketers.
And it all started with one lesson and one sales page that you can get started on today!
One of the problems of working with brick and mortar type businesses is continually having to work on things like SEO. Sure, you charge a monthly fee for the services, but that makes it harder to sell, too.
But what if there was a quick and easy way to make offline cash, AND generate a monthly recurring income, too?
One gal I know is doing just that. She makes excellent money upfront – generally $1,200 or more before expenses, and she gets a monthly recurring fee, too, paid to her automatically.
Here’s what she does:
She chose a niche – in her case, local contractors who work directly with homeowners – and focuses exclusively on that niche. However, she does this all over the country, not just in her home city. This way she never runs out of prospects.
When it comes to local contractors, she works with plumbers, electricians, handymen services, carpenters, yard care services, roofers and painters.
She’s looking only for contractors that homeowners hire one-on-one. This is important, because contractors that work mainly as subcontractors and get all their work through other contractors aren’t a good fit for her business model.
She picks a city and starts searching for each of the different types of contractors, looking for the ones that have a lousy looking website or even no website at all.
When she finds these contractors, she contacts them and offers them a ready-made website. Now here’s where it gets really interesting – when I say ready-made, I mean the site is already made. She’s already had it built, complete with the contractor’s info, photos, contact numbers and everything.
The contractor, who generally knows nothing about websites, is typically blown away. Here’s a gorgeous website complete with all his info, ready to go. All he has to do is pay for the site and it’s live within 24 hours, ready to send him new customers.
Now here’s the trick: The sites are all built using the same WordPress theme. And even more importantly, every site can easily be switched from one business to another.
So for example, if Bob the plumber doesn’t buy the site, it’s no problem. Simply swap out the photos, name and contact information to another plumber and offer it to him. It takes less than 30 minutes, and probably half that amount of time after you’ve done a few of them.
Let’s talk numbers:
How many contractors buy the website? Usually about 4 to 5 out of 10. This means you might have to contact 2.5 contractors to make one sale. Still, those are excellent numbers.
What should you charge for the website? Totally up to you, of course. It’s going to partially depend on the niche you choose, but $1,000 to $1,500 is reasonable. But even if you only charge half of that, you’ll do fine.
Outsourcing?
Yes, you can outsource the website building and the website ‘switching’ if a site doesn’t sell. Find someone who can turn these around quickly and pay a little extra – it’s worth it.
If you sell one of these a week, you can profit about $1,000, depending on what you charge and your outsourcing costs.
But of course, who says you should only sell one? Sell 20 if you like.
Residual income?
Yes, you can charge a monthly fee for hosting, and also for the URL if you own it. Keep the fee reasonable – $25 to $50 a month, for example. Sell 100 sites and you’ve got a $2,500 to $5,000 a month residual income.
Remember, what you charge is between you and the customer, and it’s negotiable, too.
How to sell a site:
If you’re comfortable calling on the phone, then simply call them up and let them know you’ve built a website for them. That will get their attention.
If possible, have them go to the URL while you are on the phone with them, and verbally guide them through all the features of the website, explaining how it will grow their reputation and business.
If you’re not comfortable on the phone, then you can use email. This isn’t quite as effective, but it can still work. Email them and let them know you built them a website, giving them the URL.
Be sure to put your phone number in there, so they can call you and you can get it transferred over to their domain. When they call, walk them through the website, explain the features and benefits and close the deal.
Third option: If you are one of those folks who HATES selling ANYTHING on the phone – and you know who you are – then you can visit them in person and show them the website on your laptop.
Fourth option: If you are one of those folks who just plain hates SELLING, then hire someone to do the selling for you. It should be someone already in sales who is looking to make a few extra bucks.
Obviously this won’t be a full time gig – not even close – but for every sale they make you’ll pay them $X amount of money.
If you go with this fourth option, I suggest the following: Build several sites at once for several different businesses. This way you can send your sales person several jobs to sell at once, making it much more lucrative for him or her.
And of course you will still repurpose the ones that don’t get sold, tailoring them for other businesses so nothing ever goes to waste.
Things to Know:
Adding 3 to 5 short articles makes the site even more powerful. For example, for plumbing you might have articles on ‘how to choose a good plumber,’ ‘how to know when you need a plumber and when you can fix something yourself,’ ‘how to do an easy plumbing job yourself’ and so forth.
The articles should be 90% helpful and at most 10% salesy. The point is to make the contractor look like the helpful, honest person he or she hopefully is.
Take photos from their current website and use those on the new website. Yes, it’s that easy. You can also throw in stock photos as well.
And of course if they don’t already have a website or a Facebook page, then you’ll need to use all stock photos.
Once you sell them a ready-made website, it’s easy to also sell them things like SEO if you want to.
Niches to consider:
Contractors, obviously. But restaurants are good, too. Any service industry is good – for example, massage therapists.
Some people will want to target chiropractors, lawyers, doctors, etc., but keep in mind that professionals who make a lot of money often already have great looking websites.
Your ideal market is one where the business reaches out to customers, not to other businesses. And where they often have lousy, out of date websites.
Now just imagine this:
You have your website builder make a dozen or more sites each week.
You or your sales person makes the calls to sell those sites, and 6 of them get sold at $1,200 each.
You pay your website builder $100 to $200 per site, and if you’re employing a salesperson, you pay them the same.
At the end of the week you have grossed a cool $7,200 minus fees paid to your website builder (and your sales person, if you use one.) Plus you have six or more sites already built that simply need to be switched over to new businesses.
Of course, you can always build and sell the sites yourself, in which case the entire $7,200 is yours.
The following week, you get 12 more sites ready, plus you have the six repurposed sites. Half of them sell – making 9 sales – which is $10,800 gross. Plus you have 9 more sites that simply need to be repurposed, and so forth.
And you’re also charging small monthly ongoing fees for hosting, too, which adds up over time.
Do you see the potential?
Of course your results will vary. You might only charge $1,000, or you might charge $1,500. You might sell 50% of your sites, or you might sell fewer than that.
Regardless of the details, this is a powerful formula for making excellent money in the offline world without having to sweat things like local SEO.
And of course once you build a relationship with your new customers, you can always sell the other services as well.
NOTE: Some of you might be wondering how difficult it is to sell a ready made website for a business at $1,000 to 1,500, so I’d thought I’d share what happened to me yesterday…
I was talking to this guy who is a professional manager. He wants to start a personal political blog (nothing to do with his regular job) and wanted to know who he could hire to build this blog for him.
I asked what his budget was, and I kid you not… he said he “knew” he would have to spend at least $1,000 to get someone to set up a blog for him. And he didn’t want to go higher than $1,500.
For a WordPress blog!
I told him I thought I knew someone… 😉
A suggestion:
Focus your energies on building this business, rather than working IN this business. Unless you are already super fast at building great looking websites, hire someone who is fast and very, very good.
You can use the same one or two WordPress themes over and over again to streamline the operation.
And pick one main niche to focus on. Don’t start out trying to build sites for chiropractors AND plumbers AND massage therapists… just pick one and get really good at it.
Then and only then do you branch out to other professions.
Take careful notes of what works and what doesn’t. Go back to your customers and ask what specifically made them buy the website. Also ask what made them hesitate, too. You want to find out their objections so you can overcome them before your next sales presentations.
Don’t sweat it when someone says no. You are going to get plenty of no’s, but as you do this you’re also going to get more and more yes’s. It’s just part of the sales game.
Don’t focus solely on your local area. You can build sites for any professional anywhere in your country. Don’t go outside of your own country, at least at first, because people tend to have a greater mistrust for anyone outside of their country.
Build a website for your business. Your website should explain who you are and have plenty of photos of you and your team.
Write short articles for your site that explains the importance of having a great looking, professional website if you’re a plumber, or massage therapist, or whatever profession you’re targeting.
Tips to building a great professional looking website:
Have a consistent brand identity. Use their logo throughout, as well using the same colors, fonts and so forth. Let them know you can change the colors, too, if they like.
Capture inbound leads. Many small business people still don’t know the importance of capturing leads, so place an optin form on every page. Then explain to the prospect why the form is there and how it will increase their business. If they choose to keep it, you can even maintain their list for them, for an additional fee.
Be mobile-friendly. This just about goes without saying, but we thought we better add it to the list. Your websites MUST look as good on mobile as they do on other devices.
Tell their story and make them the hero. Perhaps nothing will sell your sites faster than telling their story. Now of course, you might not KNOW their story, but you can certainly take a guess. “I became a massage therapist because I love making people feel great. And when they feel great, they can accomplish so much more. Their interactions with their family and friends are better and more loving, their…” You get the idea. Make your professional or small business person sound like a hero and you will sell the site.
Use as many photos of their actual business as you can. If they already have a website, pull photos from that, as well as their Facebook page and anything else you can find online.
Oddly enough, your first goal is to impress the person you’re selling the site to (your customer) and not their end user. If you keep this in mind, you’ll do fine. For example, use any motto, slogan or headline they already have, such as “McGuiver and Sons Plumbing, Serving Cincinnati Since 1984.” They’re proud of this and they want to see it plastered big and bold on their site.
If you find testimonials online for their business, copy and paste them onto the website. You might find these on any of the review type of websites, such as Google, Yelp, Yahoo and so forth. Obviously you will only use the positive reviews and not the negative ones.
If they have social media accounts, go ahead and link to those on the website.
Place a strong call to action on each page, such as “Call 800-555-1234 to schedule your consultation today.” When you talk to the future site owner on the phone, you can point out how this can increase their inbound calls.
Finally, keep it fairly simple and do it the same way each time. If you’re continuously having to invent a new website every time, it’s going to take too long.
Instead, spend time coming up with the perfect site, and then simply swap out the information each time for each site. Switch the info, the colors, the testimonials, the photos, etc., so that each site looks unique, yet it’s really the same ‘formula’ used over and over again.
This will keep it simple and fast for you or your website builder, and you won’t forget elements from one website to the next.
Now Let’s Make this Business Model Even MORE Lucrative:
I always like to have an upsell. Sometimes an upsell to my upsell, even.
But in this case, what I’m about to suggest can be used as an upsell OR even as a downsell.
For example, you contact a business owner and show them the groovy website you made for them. They decide not to buy. But hey, you’ve established some rapport with them, so…
You offer them something just as valuable, only cheaper. They may feel bad that they didn’t buy the website that you spent hours and hours building for them (hey, they don’t need to know it took your outsourcer 30 minutes to do it.)
Plus, you’re offering such a terrific value, it would be stupid for them to say no.
Or… they DO buy the website you built for them. They have visions of how their business is going to take off now because of the website. They’ve agreed to a low monthly hosting fee. They’re definitely in a buying state of mind, so why not offer them an amazing deal that doesn’t cost much, right?
Of course!
So what is this upsell / downsell I’m talking about?
Okay, first let’s assume that you are targeting only contractors, or only restaurants, or only massage therapists… in other words, you are focusing on ONE niche.
And let’s further say that you’ve done your research on this niche.
You’ve Googled their profession, learned all about them, and maybe even Googled “Contractor marketing advice” or “Restaurant marketing advice,” etc.
You’ve also developed (okay, this does involve some work) an online marketing membership site just for their niche.
For example, “Marketing for restaurant owners,” or “Marketing for massage therapists.”
Mind you, 95% of your marketing advice is going to be the exact same advice you would give to any business or professional. You’ll just be inserting their language and terminology, as well as tailoring it a bit to their niche.
You teach social media, list building, SEO, lead generation, etc. Most of your content can come from quality PLR sources; just remember to customize it.
Add a private Facebook page or forum where they can ask questions and network.
You sell this monthly membership for whatever you want. I recommend $47 – $97 a month, because it’s a good price point for a business. It’s not so much that they worry about it, but it’s big enough that you are making a good profit, even in the beginning when you only have your first handful of members.
You might even make them a deal where if they remain an active member for a certain length of time (a year?) then from that point on their membership is FREE.
What a deal!
You are teaching them everything they need to know about marketing their business at a price that is truly affordable. How can they say no?
Remember, you offer this to EVERY business person you contact, regardless of whether or not they buy the site you built for them.
So even if they don’t buy the site, if they take the membership offer at $97 for 12 months (and then it’s free) you’ve still made $1,164, which is probably close to what you’re charging for the sites.
Wow!
But wait, there’s more…
What if you approach offline marketers who deal with people in your niche, and let them act as affiliates for your membership site?
They make sales and you split the monthly residual 50/50 with them.
This move alone can put another 5 figures into your pocket each year.
And by the way, you can outsource the entire thing.
What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂
So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)
Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?
But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.
Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?
There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.
And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.
1: Build a Relationship
I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.
If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.
This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.
Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.
Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.
Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.
And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.
But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.
And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.
Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.
Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?
Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.
Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.
Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.
2: Use Your Own Voice
How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”
Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.
There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.
Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”
People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.
Same phrases, same message, same B.S.
If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.
Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.
Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”
I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.
But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.
Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”
The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.
Weird but true.
My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.
3: Email a LOT
This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.
You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?
After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.
Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.
Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.
Here’s why:
First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.
Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.
What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.
Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.
Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.
And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.
4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS
This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.
Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.
You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.
With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.
Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.
