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Spent $12,000 on Development, $0 in Sales - Please Help

by magwoi
16 replies
I have spent a bit of money on developing a product in the make money niche on a subject I know a lot about including hiring a reputable $8,000 Copywriter and a $2,500 Direct Response Web Graphics Guy.

I have tested the product for 1 week now using both Google PPC for Search and Content. I have had over 2000 clicks so far and ZERO Sales!

I have also tested different price points from the high to the medium.

I thought I would be able to make a few test sales by directly linking my Adwords to my Sales page without capturing any emails, but NOTHING so far.

Is my failure because I am not capturing any emails using a Squeeze Page and following up on the prospects or is it probably because my Sales page sucks?

I have never sold in the make money niche, so please Warriors, any advice on what I should I do to make some sales will be appreciated.

A recommendation of any product or person who can help my situation will also be appreciated.

Sincerely
Magwoi
#$12 #development #sales #spent
  • Profile picture of the author Affiliate.Solutions
    provide details about your product, its price, the website, etc...

    otherwise we are looking at this like someone saying "how do I make money online"
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  • Profile picture of the author aaron_nimocks
    Maybe your product is not that great or there are better ones out there.

    Maybe your sales pitch is not solid.

    Hard to give a response without seeing the website.
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    • Profile picture of the author JV3STUDIO
      I don't think anybody can give any helpful advice without seeing the LP and Ads.
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      • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
        People are bombarded with "make money" offers - the stuff is everywhere -
        so the factor that really matters is whether you are on the short list
        of vendors they trust.

        You aren't. That's why your product isn't selling.

        I recommend you go out and start promoting your product as if
        you were an affiliate, building a list and going to work to win them
        over to trusting you.

        A few years back, when people were less...ah, careful, with their
        money, selling "make money" stuff was, in my experience,
        easier than it is today.

        Perhaps your salesletter is coming at the prospect from an angle
        that isn't working in today's market. That happens sometimes.
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    • Profile picture of the author magwoi
      Originally Posted by aaron_nimocks View Post

      Maybe your product is not that great or there are better ones out there.

      Maybe your sales pitch is not solid.

      Hard to give a response without seeing the website.
      I do not think it is the product that is the problem as nobody has bought it yet to give me any negative feedback.

      I have not given out the sales page URL because I did not want to break any warrior forum rules about self-promotion.

      I normally sell software products, and all I usually have to do to make sales is just direct link from Adwords to my sales page. The sales then just keep coming.

      As I am unfamiliar with the Sales Process in the Make Money niche, I was hoping for some guidance on the subject.

      I have tested price points from $77, $97, $127 and $147.

      Mag
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      • Profile picture of the author butters
        PM people the URL then, its the only way you are going to get help. Curious though, what sort of market research did you do?
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      • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
        Originally Posted by magwoi View Post

        I have not given out the sales page URL because I did not want to break any warrior forum rules about self-promotion.

        Mag
        You should put it in your signature. People can only guess what is wrong unless they can see it.
        Signature

        Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    You've never sold in the make money niche and you spent $12,000 on development? Ouch.

    Not to pour salt on your wound, but I never spend that kind of development money on a niche until I know how to make it convert. One important factor in IM marketing is knowing when to hold em, and knowing when to fold em. When you put that much money on the table it makes it very hard to fold em when you need to.
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    • Profile picture of the author magwoi
      Originally Posted by garyv View Post

      You've never sold in the make money niche and you spent $12,000 on development? Ouch.

      Not to pour salt on your wound, but I never spend that kind of development money on a niche until I know how to make it convert. One important factor in IM marketing is knowing when to hold em, and knowing when to fold em. When you put that much money on the table it makes it very hard to fold em when you need to.
      That is a which came first chicken an egg scenario. A good Sales page is what it takes to convert we are told. A good sales page costs money. So how can you test it without spending the money first? As I did not want to spend 5 years learning to e a copywriter, I figured spending the money was a better decision.

      But I hear what you are saying Gary.

      Mag
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      • Profile picture of the author garyv
        Originally Posted by magwoi View Post

        That is a which came first chicken an egg scenario. A good Sales page is what it takes to convert we are told. A good sales page costs money. So how can you test it without spending the money first? As I did not want to spend 5 years learning to e a copywriter, I figured spending the money was a better decision.

        But I hear what you are saying Gary.

        Mag

        You start out by selling other people's expensive sales page first. That way if you find you can't sell in this particular niche, you haven't lost as much.
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  • Profile picture of the author TelegramSam
    Can I enquire why you spent $8,000 for a copywriter before you had done any testing?

    Any "reputable" copywriter should be asking questions such as

    "What has happened so far?"

    "What do customers like/dislike?"

    "What price has worked so far etc?"

    "What is the conversion like?"

    "What has pulled best?"

    etc... etc...


    To charge you $8,000 with no initial testing is quite frankly a con and also reflects badly on your control of the project.

    I don't mean to be harsh, but I have to be blunt about this.

    It is definitely an expensive but hopefully a valuable lesson for you.

    Perhaps all is not lost, but unless you either reveal a bit more information, or blast your copywriter, or both, there isn't a lot we can do to help.

    If you aren't currently selling anything, then by revealing the info we need to help further, you are not exactly losing anything are you?

    Sam
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  • Profile picture of the author BigSEO
    There are a lot of possible factors: Badly picked keywords, not enough traffic, a broken sales / signup page, etc..

    PM people the URL or post it - I think enough people have asked for it so far to try to help you.
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      Here's another question, why didn't you test a sales page before you even created a product.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Spending $12000 on a project without evidently having much expertise and in a saturated, highly competitive niche, is, sorry to be rude, NUTS.

    $8000 for a copywriter? Did they write you a 500 page sales novel? They must have seen you coming a mile off. You could get a wonderful copywriter on here for $500 if you had asked around.

    This is a classic example of why people should always dip their toe in the water first rather than getting caught up in grand schemes. Getting swept away in a flood of enthusiasm, lack of focus and experience, and throwing ever more money at it to make it work is a classic example of what not to do.

    Ok, enough shooting you down. Practical advice. Have you considered selling it as a WSO and linking that into an affiliate and reseller promotion?
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Bruno
    Did you test your order links to make sure that they're set-up and working correctly?

    Frank Bruno
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  • Profile picture of the author jukeboxhero
    Though I haven't seen your salespage or anything else

    I think this might be a case of trying to develop a market for your product rather than developing a a product for your market.

    Did you do a substantial competitor analysis prior to building your product?

    Did you build the main body of your product around your competitors bullets then exploit the their weaknesses?

    Is your copywriter getting the pain and pleasures of your prospects correct.

    Just a few ideas.
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