You know webinars are a great way to sell products. Hop on a webinar, talk for 30 to 60 minutes and sell some products right there on the spot. Then rinse and repeat as many times as you like, buddying up with a different list owner each time. It’s simple, it’s fairly easy, and the more you do the better you’ll get.
But for many marketers, it’s scary to get on the Internet and talk to tens, hundreds and maybe even a thousand people at one time. “Me? Talk for an HOUR? To PEOPLE?”
Here’s something to consider: You don’t need your own list to run webinars. If you have a great product or service, you can go to list owners and split the money with them. What an outstanding way to get access to other people’s lists and make money doing it!
And most list owners love doing webinars because it’s almost hands off cash in the bank for them. All they do is send out one or more emails to their list, and you do the rest of the work. This means that webinars are an excellent way to get your foot in the door with people who have big, active lists.
Another thing to consider is that webinars mean almost instant and highly targeted traffic for you. Your partner promotes your webinar to their list and their people flock to your site to sign up.
Webinars create instant products in themselves. You can SELL your webinar if it’s packed full of good info. Think about that – what better way to create an instant product than by talking to an audience for an hour?
Or you can give your webinar recording away as a list building incentive of your own.
Plus, webinars can be REPLAYED to make even MORE sales. Again, you record it once and you can set it up on your own website to make more sales. You can also let your list-owner partner put it on their site as well, or send more traffic to your site to listen to the webinar.
And here’s the kicker you probably never even considered: Webinars are one of the best ways to build your own list. You partner with someone, they send traffic from their list, you get (for example) 500 sign-ups and 150 of those attend the webinar. 15-30 of the attendees buy your product, and now you have sales AND a new list of 500 people!
Webinars provide quality traffic, high conversion, partnerships and quick product creation for both free and paid products.
Webinars are truly great for selling products because nothing gets people more excited to buy your product than hearing from you – the expert – on how they can achieve their goal.
And they’re also one of the best ways to build your list.
Imagine if you do just one webinar a week or even once per month – how much more you could accomplish in your business… Believe in yourself and go for it!
Here’s a sneaky little underused tactic for making money before you even create your product: Decide what your product is going to be and write an outline for it. From this, create a list of bullet points that presell the product.
Now using these bullet points, offer your upcoming product to your list as a Beta test.
Tell your list:
The product is being created right now
They will get the product the moment it’s finished – expected delivery date is ___
They are getting a killer deal because you want and need their feedback
They are your beta testers. If it’s software, they will look for bugs. If it is written material, they will let you know about typos, what they think should be added, etc.
Once you get their feedback, you will fix any bugs, add what’s missing, fix typos, etc. and send them the finalized, polished version.
You will then offer the product to the public for a significantly higher price than they paid.
Not only does this give you some money up front to work with – it also provides you with valuable feedback you can use to make your product even better than you originally planned. Guaranteed a handful of your beta testers will give you suggestions you never would have thought of by yourself – suggestions that can greatly increase your sales later.
In fact, the feedback aspect alone makes this technique well worth doing. One caution: Do not be tempted to give away your Beta product – 9 out of 10 people you give it away to will never get back to you with feedback because they have nothing invested. When you charge something, even if it’s only a paltry sum, the number of users who give you feedback will greatly increase.
The one exception to the previous rule is people you personally know, like friends and JV partners. Because you already have a relationship with them, they don’t need to financially invest in order to feel vested in your success.
Special bonus for using this technique: Ask your Beta testers for testimonials you can use in your sales material.
Let me ask you a question: Are you on a certain marketer’s email list? You know the one – he sends out an email every day or two telling you to go check out “X” product because it’s new, revolutionary, exciting and the most amazing thing ever? Yeah, that guy. I’m on his list, too.
In fact, I’m on the list of a couple of dozen marketers who fit that description. And the fact is, I seldom open their emails anymore, much less buy their recommendations. And I bet you’re the same way.
So who do you buy from? The marketers you trust, right? Me too.
And here’s who I trust the most: The marketer who actually USES the product they promote to me, and then records a video of them using it, or writes an HONEST review of it.
It’s so simple. It’s so easy. And yet 99% of marketers never do these things.
You want to promote a product to your list. You get the product – maybe you buy it, maybe the product owner gives it to you. You open the product up and consume it. You read the pdf, you watch the videos and you take some notes. Then you implement the strategy and you see what kind of results you get.
Then you write a review telling me about the product. What you like, what you think sucks, what is missing and so forth. You tell me who should buy this (ie: newbies, website owners, etc.) and who shouldn’t. Maybe you record a little video showing either what’s in the product or how you used it or both.
You send me an email with this info. Wow! Talk about doing me a service. Maybe I buy, maybe I don’t, but you have now earned my trust. I open your next email and your next email and the one after that. I read your REAL reviews (notice the word ‘real’) and the more I read, the more I trust you. Pretty soon I’m not buying anything unless YOU recommend it.
Congratulations – you have just risen above 99% of email marketers out there. You have earned my trust and my business and as long as you keep it up, I will continue to buy from your links.
But you know what? 99% of list owners who read this will never do it. They won’t USE the products they recommend. They won’t write HONEST reviews. They won’t record videos of the results they’ve achieved through using the product.
And in the long run, they won’t build the audience or make nearly the sales of the few marketers who take the time to do these things.
If you market to Internet marketers, you might consider the following: 60-80% of your prospects are currently going through or have just gone through a major life change.
Maybe they were downsized, fired or retired. Maybe something at their job changed and now they want out. Maybe they’re going through a divorce or mid-life crisis. Maybe they have money problems or the opposite – They’ve come into money and want to invest it into an online business.
People who are suddenly looking for ways to make money online have experienced a major shift in their life. They’re probably unhappy with the way things are. They’re looking for guidance on how to make a change. Many of them want money FAST – as in yesterday. They want solutions now. They want to push a button and have it done for them. And if that’s not possible, they want to be told EXACTLY what to do to make it happen.
You can use this information to better communicate with your prospects, to let them know you know what they’re going through, and to show them that it can indeed be done.
And you CAN offer them “push button” solutions, too. The legitimate kind. As an example; “We’ll set up your WordPress site, create your first product in 3 different formats, build your squeeze page, write your autoresponder series and so forth, all for “x” amount of money.” That is truly a push button solution, because they push the “buy now” button and you do everything for them.
Of course, it will be too expensive for many, so you can also offer a downgrade, like this: “Too expensive? Then we can teach you how to do it yourself.” By offering two dramatically different price points, you can appeal to both the people who can afford the real push button method, and those who will have to invest their own work to make it happen. In fact, by wording your offer this way you will often get more sales. Your second option will look so low in price compared to the first option, they will find it difficult to say no.
Another great way to market to new Internet Marketers is to offer micro-continuity products that anyone can afford. For example, instead of charging $100 for your product, charge $9.99 a month. Then give them the option of receiving the entire course now for $89 more. Most will opt for the monthly charge, and a percentage will go for the $89 option because they don’t want to wait.
Once they’ve signed up as members, market other affordable products to them inside your members’ area. Plus, make an offer of a big ticket coaching program where you work with people personally.
You might use the Pareto principle when marketing to the Internet Marketing Community. 20% of your prospects are knowledgeable and perhaps even making money online. The other 80% are new, don’t know a great deal and haven’t yet made their first Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen, Franc or Rand.
Which brings up my last point – unless you specifically target one geographical area, your market is GLOBAL. Yet the needs are very much the same. People who lose their job in China or Switzerland or Brazil or The United States all have the same concerns and fears – “How do I pay the bills and provide for my family now? What if I can’t? What if I fail to land on my feet?”
It’s scary for them, and what they want most of all is someone to take them by the hand, alleviate their fear and show them the way out of the dark and into the light.
The need for money is universal. Your target market is in distress, and they’re desperately hoping you can provide the very real and legitimate guidance that will see them through their financial crisis. Do so, and you will never want for business or income yourself.
Even the smallest changes can sometimes result in the biggest increases to your conversion rate. Take the headline split test, for example. Headlines A, B and C are tested against each other. Headline A converts at 1%, Headline C converts at 2.5%, and Headline B converts at 4.9%. Hmmm, which one should you pick? The choice is obvious, you go with Headline B.
But what if you hadn’t split tested? You would never have known. Just imagine: You write a terrific headline, which happens to be Headline A. It looks like a sure winner, so you don’t bother to test. And sure enough, it converts at a respectable 1%.
BUT, if you had tested, you would have chosen Headline B. And for every 100 people who hit your site, you would have made 3.9 more sales. If your product sells for $47, that’s another $183.30 you would have earned for every 100 visitors. But you didn’t test, and so you didn’t know, and so you lost thousands of dollars. Ouch.
Testing might seem like an irritation, but there are few things that can pay off as handsomely as a simple split-test.
That’s why I’ve made a list of things you might want to test in your next sales letter or even in your next email. I’ve left out the common things like headlines, pre-headlines, sub-headlines and calls to action. You already know about those. But have you thought about testing these?
Various bonuses tested against each other and against no bonus
Person next door tone versus formal business tone
Header versus no header
Placement and look of testimonials
Adding more images, arrows, underlining, etc.
Adding/changing the text underneath the images
For low priced items – Placing the price at the top (beginning) versus at the bottom (end)
A soft sell versus a hard sell approach
Adding more call to actions throughout
The design of the page itself
Wording directed to your best customer versus more generic copy
Changing the color scheme
Changing the color or text on the order button
Variations on your product image(s)
Variations on your product image size
Variations on your product image location(s)
Renaming your product
Focusing on benefits versus focusing on the pain of no solution
Placing bullets closer to the beginning versus further into the page
Focusing on one major benefit versus a laundry list of benefits
Having all copy or video on one page, versus using steps with a progress indicator
A trial offer versus asking for the entire sale up front
Sales – a percentage off versus a dollar amount off
Coupons versus sales
And perhaps the most interesting of all: Using dark emotions like jealousy or revenge to get the sale [“You know that snobby woman at your child’s school who thinks she’s so terrific? Right now she is praying you NEVER get this program, because if you do you’ll lose that weight and look ten times better than her. Imagine how envious she’ll be then!”] Heh heh.
Mind you, this list is to get you thinking and moving in the right direction. There’s no way you’re going to test all of these things unless you’re a compulsive profit-seeking entrepreneur who can’t rest until you’ve got the most finely tuned sales presentation in the history of the world.
For the rest of us, pick and choose what you test. If you haven’t already, start with the basics like your headlines and calls to action. Then choose something from this list and see if you can’t boost your conversion rate even higher.
To stay motivated, do the math to find out how much more you will earn on every 1,000 visitors for every tenth of a point you increase your conversions. Write this number down and post it where you’ll see it. Then every week, or every day if you’ve got the traffic, test something new. There’s no easier or faster way to give yourself raise after raise than continually split testing.
Here’s how a typical Internet business works – you pick a niche, create a product and then find the audience to sell that product to. If it doesn’t sell, you do it all over again. If it does sell, you make more products to sell to those same people. Sounds logical, right?…
Maybe not. Suppose – just suppose – you decide to sell NOTHING for the first two to three months of your business. Not a gosh darn thing.
Instead, what you do is focus on building and nurturing your audience. Once they know you and are confident you know what you’re talking about, then and only then do you sell them something.
“But I need to make money NOW!”
Okay, what if you had started the entire process 3 months ago? They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is today. So bear with me for a moment while we plant a tree in your mind right now…
Let’s say you’ve taken up a new hobby. Maybe it’s golf. You’re cruising the Internet when you find this offer for a free golf book for newbies, “10 Ways to Take 10 Points Off Your Game Today.” You enter your email address and get the book.
And next thing you know, this author is sending you golfing offers on a daily basis. “BUY THIS!” “BUY THAT!” And on and on. What do you do? Maybe you buy something, maybe you don’t. But do you lose faith and trust in the person? Yes. This is just some guy who used a bait and switch on you. “Get my free book!” turns out to really mean “Let me sell you a whole lot of stuff so I can make money!”
This is how Internet marketing typically works, and the days of it being a magic bullet are long gone. Sure, the money is in the list, but if you are continually going for the sales before you even establish the relationship, you’re doing it backwards.
I say it’s time to adjust.
Second scenario: You sign up to get the free ebook, and here’s an email introducing the author. The next day, s/he sends you a great golfing tip. And the next day, and the next. Maybe the author throws in some personal golfing stories, a few golfing jokes, some golf news, etc.
Now this author feels more like your email golfing buddy and golf expert than a sales person. In fact, in 2 whole months s/he hasn’t tried to sell you a single thing. But maybe they have sent you a few videos with cool tips, so you can get to ‘know’ and like them even better. In fact, you trust this person and feel they have your best interests at heart.
They’ve built a REAL relationship with you.
Now then, what do you think is going to happen when this author starts sending you the occasional offer? Odds are you’re going to take a very serious look at buying it, because your new golfing friend/expert is recommending it. And if they’re recommending it, you know it must be really GOOD!
And as long as this author continues to send you only the best advice and best offers, you’re likely to continue buying, too.
So is it worth it to invest 2-3 months to build relationships that create super high conversions and subscribers that are loyal to you for a long, long time? Is it worth it to build such a tight bond, they never unsubscribe? Do you want to be their go-to person, the one they know and trust for advice, tips and recommendations? Or do you want to be just another sales person pitching the latest product until your subscribers flee your list?
“But 2-3 months before I make a sale??!”
Yes. I know. It takes a real commitment and investment of your time.
But let’s try putting it into perspective: Let’s say you want to open a business in your town. You scout a location, make the deal to rent the building, get your business licenses, get the equipment you need, order the inventory, hire staff, get insurance, etc. How long would it take? And how much would it cost? And how much would you clear after all of your expenses?
What I’m talking about here is a viable way to build a six figure business in less than 12 months, with almost no out of pocket expense. To begin with, all you need is a good autoresponder. You don’t even have to put up your blog right away, because in the beginning you can do everything via email.
This is a business model you can start today. It helps if you have expertise in your subject – if not, you’ll want to start reading and learning immediately. Your topic should be one you’ve got a measure of passion for, because you’ll be writing and talking about it a great deal. You’ll need 10 or more hours a week to devote to this.
And you’ve got to be ready to sacrifice a small amount of short term income for an abundance of long term income. Long term beginning in about 2-3 months, and the potential to grow fairly large around the 6-8 month mark.
This is all about your audience. It’s all about what they want. And here’s the kicker – you know how experts tell you to research what people want before you create a product? In this case, you’re going to be so in touch with your audience, you will know exactly what they want before you ever offer it.
You’ll have people standing in line to buy your products before you even produce them. Think about that – you’ll know IN ADVANCE that your products will sell and sell well, because your audience trusts you enough to tell you what they want. Maybe it’s not in so many words, like, “Could you sell me a product about this or that,” but rather, “How do I _____?” When you keep getting the same questions, you know there is a market for a product that solves that need.
To sum up – old school method: Spend weeks creating a product nobody buys. Then do it again. Or build a list and then fry it to death.
New school method: Spend 2-3 months building an audience that LOVES you and trusts you, then create products and make recommendations based on what they want.
Times have changed. If we, as marketers, don’t change with the times, our customers are going to leave us behind.
You’ve probably heard that commenting on other people’s blogs is a good thing to do. But do you know why it’s so important?
Yes, it can get you traffic. People see your blog comment, like it, and click on your name to go to your website. But that’s not the biggest reason to comment on blogs.
Leaving blog comments might also give you backlinks, which could potentially increase your standing in the natural search results. But again, this isn’t the biggest reason to leave comments on other people’s blog posts.
Leaving blog comments also gets you seen by others in your niche. Leave enough great comments and people might start to remember you and your brand.
But again, that’s not the biggest benefit to leaving well-thought-out, interesting blog comments.
The biggest benefit? Whether you realize it or not, consistent blog commenting builds relationships with other bloggers.
Think about it – you go to Joe’s blog once a week and leave a well-thought out comment on Joe’s latest post. Joe keeps noticing you, and pretty soon the two of you are building a relationship that can eventually lead to:
Guest posts
Product endorsements
Joint ventures
Introductions to other movers in your niche
And so forth…
Here’s how to be effective at blog commenting:
Post on blogs in your particular niche
Read the entire post thoroughly before commenting
Share your specific thoughts and opinions
Don’t be general or vague. “Nice post” doesn’t cut it
Use a great avatar – a photo of your smiling face is usually best
Use your real name, not “Mary6504”
Never be rude and never be mean
Be genuine and thought-provoking – Add value to the conversation
Use Google Alerts to be alerted to new posts so you can be one of the first to comment – more readers will see your comment this way
Subscribe to RSS feeds and to email lists of your favorite bloggers – again, this helps to alert you when someone makes a new post
If you’re not the first to leave a blog comment, then scan the other comments to make sure you’re not repeating a thought or comment
Use personal stories where applicable
Quote the post itself in your comment – for example, “When you said ____ it gave me a great idea”
It’s okay to disagree if you do it in a way that totally respects the blogger’s opinions and thoughts
Ask questions of the blog owner. This will get you more engagement and shows you’re interested in their opinion – very effective for relationship building.
Always double proofread your comment for spelling and punctuation before submitting
And remember to be patient – you don’t develop a relationship with a blogger over one blog comment. Continue to come back and comment on new posts and you will gradually build real relationships with these bloggers.
Here’s an experiment for you to try. If you don’t already, get a year’s worth of issues from any one magazine. If possible, make it a business magazine such as Entrepreneur. Now go through each issue of the magazine and see which full-page and half-page ads repeat month after month, and which ads are only there for one month before they disappear.
Notice the difference between the two types of ads. The ones that appear once and never appear again tend to be feature based and devoid of emotion. The ones that appear month after month are benefit and emotion based.
Why is that? Because ads that run month after month are working. Those that run once and never run again aren’t working. And ads that only highlight features without benefits or emotions do not work.
Now then, there are hundreds of different emotions and you can’t hit every one of them in your ad. So which are the very best to target? According to author Robert Imbriale, you can’t go wrong when you include as many of these 5 motivators as possible into your sales process:
Fear. Fear of missing out, fear of making a mistake, fear of loss, fear of failure – all of these things can work in your favor to get the sale. Show your prospect what will happen to them if they don’t buy your product. A life can completely change and take an entirely different course simply by making the right decision at the right time. Let them know how your product can make that difference, and then show them how awful it would be if they didn’t take that next step.
Every market has a set of fears that is shared by a large percentage of your prospects. If you have the solutions to those fears, or even to just one of those fears, you simply need to tap into the fear and use it to market your product.
For example, use news stories to tie your product in as the solution to a fear. You might use the story of a man who once had everything, got laid off and is now homeless. “Don’t let this be you. Buy our course on how to start your own business today and never worry about your future again.”
Love. Are you surprised? Real, genuine social contact is at an all-time low. Most people don’t even know who their neighbors are. Families are no longer living close to each other. Television and the Internet have become a poor substitute for human contact.
More than ever people need a sense of connection, and you can provide that connection in a myriad of ways. Have a video blog (vlog) where you speak directly to your audience. Host calls and interviews. Create a community around each product, through a Facebook page or forum. Do live calls where people can ask you questions. Become the expert in your niche that your prospects feel they KNOW, and you will get their business.
Example phrases to use:
Join us
Meet people just like you
Be a part of
Connect with others
Want to take it even further? You’ve heard it a million times – sex sells – and it does. Incorporate a sexy message into your marketing and sales will go up.
Words to use:
Join us
Meet people just like you
Be a part of
Connect with others
Free Things and Hot Sales. This one needs very little explanation – everyone loves to get a great deal. So for example, if you can offer your latest product on sale with an older product thrown in for free, you’re probably going to make a lot of sales.
Give something away to build your list. Give something else away to get referrals. Give away tidbits of good info. But don’t give away the store. Offer special deals that are time limited – if they snooze, they lose. Your customers will learn to buy quickly or miss out – a good way to combine hot sales with the #1 motivator above – fear.
And one of the most potent of all freebies – the free (or nearly free) trial. Let them try your $197 product for just $10, and then 3 easy payments of $67. Or your monthly membership for just $1, and then $39.99 a month starting in 30 days. Yes, you’ll get cancellations, but you’ll also get a great many sales, too, as more people get to experience your product and decide they want to keep it.
Easy Money. You’d think this powerful motivator couldn’t be applied to every business, but if you try, it’s nearly always possible. For example, if you’re selling a dating book for guys, you might talk about how much more confidence they’ll have when they’re able to date beautiful women – confidence that will greatly enhance all aspects of their lives, including their ability to make money, get a promotion, etc.
If you’re selling an organic gardening guide, you might mention that with their greatly increased yields they’ll have tons of produce to sell beyond what they need for themselves. And of course organic produce is in high demand, so it’s a money maker. If you’re selling a weight loss product, you might talk about how much more energy and confidence they’ll have, leading to more productivity and better opportunities, and so forth.
Be their fairy godmother and make wishes come true. Everyone has dreams. Everyone wants something. Show your prospects – better yet, prove to them that you can grant their wish when they purchase your product, and you’ve got the sale.
Don’t believe it? Think of the one thing you want more than anything else. Now imagine I can prove to you that you can have that very thing, and the way to get it is to simply purchase and use my product. What’s it worth to you to make your dream come true? Probably just about every cent you have.
Here’s your task: Find a way to incorporate four or all five of these motivators into your next sales piece, and watch your response soar!
Quickly now – why do people buy from you? “Find a need and fill it, and you’ll be rich,” right? Probably not. People rush to buy what they want, they often delay to buy what they need. Think about it…
Look at food – does anyone need spicy nacho corn chips? No. They need fruit, vegetables, grains and meats. They don’t need corn chips or snack cakes or cookies or candy. But what do they buy? Junk food. LOTS of junk food.
No one needs fast food, either. 5 minutes of planning in the morning and you can pack a nutritious lunch that’s actually GOOD for you. But what do millions of people do? They stand in line or sit in a drive-thru to buy a meal that is likely to make them feel bad, both after they eat it and again when they step on the scale, all because they WANTED the fast food. They didn’t need it. They would be better off without it. But that doesn’t stop them from going out of their way to get it because they WANT it.
Now then – are you selling to people’s wants, or their needs?
They need to brush their teeth, they want to have a sexy smile. They need to add gas to their car, they want to get to work without being stranded by the side of the road. They need to make money, they want to be rich without working. They need to lose 50 pounds, they want to have the energy to keep up with their kids during the day and still connect enthusiastically with their partner at night.
Are you in the Internet Marketing niche? Marketers need to get traffic, have products to sell and maintain an outstanding reputation online. But marketers WANT to make more money, have more time, worry less, work less, stress less, and be the envy of their ex-coworkers and a hero to their family.
See the difference?
Success is found when you sell what people WANT, not what they need.
