Haven't made a penny off a list with 350 subscribers ... help!

by Sharpe
23 replies
Hey everyone,

For the last couple months I've been building a list from Google AdWords on keywords that focus on members of a certain high-stress profession that want to switch careers.

With a background in job placement, I started the list thinking I would sell my services. I even put together a great video course with step-by-step expert advice on the best strategies for these folks to take their skills to another career. The site has plenty of high-value blog posts, guides, quizzes, and all kinds of other stuff. I figured I could at least break even on e-books.

With a great lead magnet, I'm getting anywhere from 5-15 subscribers a day at VERY low costs but sure enough, nobody wants to buy squat!

I don't have the time or money to "start over" or build some cheesy "make money at home" webinar series in the hopes that MAYBE someone MIGHT be interested in it after I spend three more months digging myself into a deeper hole.

Plus, there's no interest or hobby that ties these people together ... I know their professional and educational backgrounds and genders and I know they're unhappy at work, but I have no idea what they might be interested in.

So, what would be the smartest way for me to go from where I am right now to figuring out how to monetize this ever-growing, but useless list ... and then actually doing it?
#350 #list #made #penny #subscribers
  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I assume there must be job sites that you could signup to as an affiliate or possibly CPA offers, where you drive your subscribers to the site/offer and get paid on a per lead basis.

    I'm not in the job search market, so I don't know what exists. I do know that is far easier to get someone to fill out a form (generate a lead) than to get them to take out their credit card and make a purchase.
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  • Profile picture of the author girishdkale
    Few comments on ideas - How often are you mailing the list? Are you sending emails which provide value to the list or is it that all emails are promoting your product?
    May be you can host a webinar with the list and explain your value proposition.
    Do you have any success story till now (even though the person is not on your list)?. You can create a testimonial from that person and also bring him in the webinar.
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    Girish Kale

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  • Profile picture of the author Career
    Maybe because the list is not Buyers list but Giveaway list?

    There is a similar method of building a list but free method, plus the list keep growing bigger and bigger every single day.

    And that is by using instagram

    I have more than 10 instagram accounts, with the highest account approaching 200k followers. Similar to solo ads, with instagram, we can sell shoutout (post ads) to advertisers. With one account, I had been paid from $15 to $69 on a single post to promote advertisers products.
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    • Profile picture of the author Trevor Pace
      Can you link to an account please? How long did it take to get to a couple thousand followers? I grew an account but realized too late that it wasn't good for monetization
      :,(
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    • Profile picture of the author jenny115
      Do you work with CPA?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    The list is not useless. You are learning how to be useful.

    The people signing up are not really into what you are offering. No emotional bond. Because if they emailed you, and asked questions, and you shared answers, and your subscribers bonded with you, they'd literally buy in.

    Example; you are getting them at a low cost, meaning, they are cheap leads. Cheap leads are cheap subscribers. Cheap subscribers don't spend money on offerings.

    Do yourself a favor: grow a list of folks who sign up based on the steady, helpful, inspired knowledge you share through your self-hosted Wordpress blog. Build authority. Gain trust. Monetize your list effectively.

    I may have 3 to 30 folks sign up for my list depending on how many guest posts and blog comments and Warrior answers I left that day. But I know those 3 to 30 human beings want what I have to offer and more than a few will buy what I have to offer.

    Ryan
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    • Profile picture of the author Frosy
      Love it! Good to read when someone just says it as it is. Provide consistent regular content to your list, help them with their problems, get to know (they are real people). If you do that well you shouldn't need to sell them anything they will trust you and buy form you. Nice blog Ryan!!
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  • Profile picture of the author hittjw
    Nothing in your message describes the possible services you could offer or the promise of your original advertisement that generated the lead. It is known that 65% of employees hate their jobs, only 31% are engaged at work.
    From what you are describing in your post, the customer profile seems to be:
    1. High-stress profession,
    2. Desire to change career,
    3. <<YOU NEED 10 MORE CHARACTERISTICS>>
    Nothing is said about income levels. You also don't mention what level of engagement you get from the content you've created so far. Plug-in the demographics items mentioned below and you can figure out what hobbies motivate them.
    Assuming you are getting click-through on follow up e-mails, then here is a simple formula that works to convert cold lists to hot buyers. How are you structuring your e-mails? Are those who opt-in even paying attention?
    If your leads are simply jumping on your list then laying around like a dead fish, then tune your front end to what I'll share here. Build on your original advertisement -- that's the reason they are on your list in the first place.
    I've made money from job boards, career coaching, and information products. A list with growth of 5-15 subscribers a day can be profitable if those folks want what you offer.

    1. Start your funnel with a prospect survey. Either use Frank Kern's Survey Siphon, Alex Mandossian's Ask Campaign, Ryan Levesque's Ask Method, or what Glenn Livingston teaches. They all work to help you understand pain points.
    2. Make sure all your Google Analytics conversion tracking is setup. You'll use it for demographic targeting. Also have remarketing, Facebook cookies, and one of the audience monitoring tools like Quantcast. Use for tuning marketing to buyers.
    3. Pull back some of your content into a members only area with a dollar offer. This is primarily to test all your conversion tracking. Start developing other offers, but keep it simple. Choose something really expensive, moderate, and entry level.
    a. (Real offer) A three-tier resume rewrite. Top levels includes coaching and LinkedIn profile updates. Guarantee is interviews in the next 30 days. $399 to $999.
    b. (Real offer) One-on-one career coaching with back end administrative support for high income professional who want to upgrade six figure job. $399 to $600 /month.
    c. (Real offer) Toolkit that walks professionals though discovery and job search process. Step by step approach to getting dream job. $497.
    4. Write public content about the pain, what + why, and objections to getting started with the desires your audience identifies. Be a news reporter in public, a problem solver in private. Use Frank Kern's Results in Advance, but provide your short micro-problem solutions behind a paywall. Use micro-actions.
    5. Niche as quickly as possible both on topic and audience. If you notice a large number of high income professionals wishing to change their career, then write for them. If the job is okay, but the stress is unbearable, then focus on solving that problem.
    6. Do everything you can to capture postal addresses, telephone numbers, and social media details in addition to e-mail. This lets you stalk them on various channels. More importantly you can reach out to them in the real world at home without competitors seeing what you are doing.
    7. <<GET TO 5 FIRST>>

    The objective is to move up the income level on the demographics side while marketing specifically to 2-3 segments that convert. It is possible that less than half of those who sign up will ever buy anything.
    Any content you create will be around solving various angles of the core problems expressed. Be as interactive as possible using group calls where you answer questions, interview experts, or platform sell larger programs.
    If they don't understand how crappy their current situation is through hearing stories of how miserable those are with unfulfilled lives -- after working stressful jobs after 20 years -- they they won't buy anything.
    They need to understand that extra 20 pounds they carry around, that they never seem to be able to lose, is the result of their job. No exercise problem, diet pill, or weight loss program will get rid of it as long as the stress exists.
    Tell them about those who drop dead at their desk. Dedicated to their job but secretly hating it for so many years. It becomes all they know. Chained to their desk they fade away, red stapler, in the basement full of hate.
    The connecting thread is how these people have dreams that may never be seen as they slave away in corporate America. Until you have exhausted stories about jobs sucking in popular culture, sex problems due to high-stress professions, and the feelings of not being able to switch careers -- then you can start solving problems.
    Without seeing your content, I'm guessing it is solving a lot of problems your readers don't give a damn about (right now.) You need to whip them up into a frenzy, drunk on anger and fear that they will get stuck with the devil they know -- if they don't take immediate action.
    What they need is a savior, someone with a background in job placement who can work on their behalf to get them into the next opportunity. You can even poop all over business opportunities to niche down on those who want to work for someone else, just not where they are at today.
    The list itself isn't useless, I'm challenging your approach. For the sake of space you may have omitted any challenging of beliefs, fears about living paycheck to paycheck, or making good money as the devil's whipping boy.
    Blame every one of their marriage problems, financial issues, health risks, problem children, and sexual impotence on that damn job they drag themselves out to everyday. If only they had a job or career they love. Imagine 20 years of this crap only to discover they lost everyone along the way and don't have a pot to piss in at retirement.
    And worse, they opt-in to all these lists that tell them what to do. Not even understanding that after 50 to 60 hours a week, including that stupid commute, they still don't make enough to keep up with increasing costs.
    Have you told them about that ... nearly all employees (unless they are a big wig executive that has a cost of living built into their contracts) make less money every year. Even members of unions have less net year over year despite higher hourly rates.
    Of course their job sucks. It is modern slavery minus being forced to perform sexual favors on mob bosses. At least that is what I feels like because they don't know their {Personality Style, Strength Finder, Kolbe Traits} to find the right fit for them.
    Last one is to be sure to parade all those who love their jobs in front of them. You know, those people who followed your advice (that is only available after buying something) to find positions they love. Even feature those who glow over their fulfilling career, packed with achievement and weekends on the golf course, who have used methods similar to what you teach.
    Research every newspaper, short video, ..., to use Frank Kern's Newscaster Method, to feed your list a whip saw of emotions. Then if they aren't buying anything after the five steps above and 10 to 15 really targeted stories, ... if they aren't at least writing in questions, then toss the whole project in the trash.
    And you don't need a fancy website. Focus everything you've got on discovering the big problems this list faces, then niching down to speak specific to their needs. Get in front of them on e-mail, by letters, and if possible through target publications. Webinars are great, just get the basic frameworks in place to know who is taking action.
    You'll gain trust and credibility through what is shared above. It doesn't require hundreds of articles, and you'll primarily write sales letters that get spun into lead generation content. What you do from the problem solving side can be built from Jeff Walker's Seed Launch.
    I mention "guru's" because details about "how" to make money from lists is pretty much readily available. It sounds like you have already figured out how to get people on a list. I stress niche because on the career side you can make offers pretty much direct via LinkedIn, Facebook, and PPC. Social platforms can be mined to gather background information quickly.
    What you have is a disengaged audience that needs to be woke up.
    If I expand this reply into a special report, then I'd go into successful marketers moving people out of "high-tech stressful city jobs" to "six-figure farming rural jobs." Or how "stressed out under appreciated employees" are becoming "their own business owner or freelance." Even "tired of your long commute only to work longer hours" to the "work from home 4 hours a day and make millions."
    Anyway, I'll take questions here. You have a pretty common problem that won't get better by increasing the number of leads. There is something about your market to message match that is off. Breakeven on cold lists is long off the first couple of interactions, you need a herd as Dan Kennedy describes it.
    Best,
    Justin
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    • Profile picture of the author Sharpe
      Amazing post, Justin! I really appreciate it. Give me some time to digest what you're saying and I'll get back to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Sharpe View Post

    ...I know their professional and educational backgrounds and genders and I know they're unhappy at work, but I have no idea what they might be interested in.

    So ask them.

    Now it's not a mystery.

    BTW, how do you have a forum profile from 2011 with 1 comment?
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    • Profile picture of the author Sharpe
      That's probably back when I first started reading WF once in a while. I didn't get active in digital marketing until the last few years, so I didn't have anything to contribute.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Rodburg
    Check out this thread:
    'Hacking Growth' with Sean Ellis

    He did mention a time where they experience (not related to your line of business) a lot of signups but no improvement and how they eventually surpassed that. You might find your solution through the Q&A.
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  • Profile picture of the author Simoun Crisostomo
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author prepper
    This happens when you have small list. I recommend that use CPL offers. And send mail your list daily. You will see the magic.
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  • Profile picture of the author aduttonater
    Keep sending them value and P.S. and offer in there each time. Stay in touch and they will eventually buy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Neal01
    It depends what you are selling, if your services are what people can get for free this maybe one problem.

    Secondly, how badly do people want what you have? 90% of the working people are probably unhappy with their job but most won't do anything about it because they are comfortable or they need a secure job.

    If your service is something that people really need or could benefit from then sell the benefits but more sell the pains of what may happen if they don't take action.

    People will do more to avoid pain that they will to gain pleasure, as crazy as that sounds it's true.
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  • Profile picture of the author mavricks
    Could have a FB page for certain cities or states only. I've seen that. People go from FB page, to a lander to sign up on your email list and then you can promote it that way.

    I have an email list of a Fortune 500 company and have no clue what to do with that.
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  • Profile picture of the author deaton
    You need better landing/engagement method, obviously people don't find it valuable or worthy to spend money on whatever you are trying to sell.
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  • Profile picture of the author CB Elite
    get people into a call and sell on the phone. you'lll close higher and more expensive
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  • Profile picture of the author depotgang
    Sorry you need a LOT of leads to really make money....350 is just not enough...The sad truth is you need THOUSANDS! just a fact. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Isaiah Jackson
    Well what are you sending them?

    How often are you emailing the list?

    Important.

    Had a customer who built an email list of 1100 subscribers and he was mad that he wasn't making any sales from them - asked him the same questions above and the answers were...

    1 - Content
    2 - Daily

    See the issue?

    Wasn't offering something to sell to his subscribers to help solve a problem but sent them to blog posts and stuff.

    Sell a solution the problem your subscribers are having.
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  • Profile picture of the author flopitdown
    Subscribers have to be targeted traffic, otherwise you won´t be successful. And it does cost money to make a bsuiness successful, so if a person does not have a budget, even for things that do/did not work, they will have a hard time. Cheap = cheap, realistcally it cost money to make money, even online.
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  • Profile picture of the author depotgang
    You will need thousands of list members and they better be active and engaged in your email content.
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  • Profile picture of the author godsonechezona
    There are many factors that may lead to poor conversion

    1. Low quality leads
    2. Not targeted leads
    3. Promotion techniques
    4. Kind of offers
    You must segment and know your subscribers, build relationship with them by offering them some free service, advice and help.
    They will trust you and go by any recommendation you gave them.. whala
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