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Newbie Advice: Next steps?

by AndyMcD
5 replies
Hi all,

I've just started up in this game (7 weeks) so got light years before I catch you with all of you but hey, you have to start somewhere right? I would be grateful, therefore on advice as to what should be my next steps. Here's the quick story:

1. I'm from the UK and my background is IT (web programming not a prob) and Finance. Marketing is minimal so I know I have bundles to learn here. Speak English, French & Spanish fluently; lived in different countries (US, Asia, Mid-East) most of my professional life and now settled in Europe. Fed up of corporate nonsense. Got to get out before I go cuckoo.
2. Got site-up & running mid-Feb. Got to page 2 of Google and have made about $100 on a 25% comm software product. Only had about 224 visitors, 55 of which went to sales page and 5 purchased. So that's 2% conversion from my site, 9% from sales page. Don't know if that's any good.
3. SEO: Am learning this one but have done article in eZine + forums to help boost site.
4. Not done list building yet but figuring on trying that out soonish.
5. Not done PPC either.
6. Understand principles of keyword research.

Have bought a few courses: Afflliate code, Google Sniper, CopyNProfit and few others but I seem to spend more time watching videos / reading promos in this market. Now cutting down to try and get some work done ;-) Spending vast amount of hours on this but that's not a problem, I don't give up easily (!).

My questions are:
1. Where can I get advice on pre-selling a product I know nothing about? I don't need big abs, for example. At least, that's what my wife says.
2. Seem to be many styles out there: US & UK, for example, have different advertising styles (just look at TV ads, for example). At the end of the day, isn't it just better to be yourself? Or is it better to adopt style (copywriting, etc.) to the market size / potential? For example, US is huge. Luxembourg is, errr .. small.
3. Any specific courses or subscriptions you'd recommend given my current level?

I realise you're all busy people but if you have a moment, I would very much appreciate your advice or ideas on any of these.

Kind regards, Andy

p.s. apologies if post is a bit long....
#advice #newbie #steps
  • Profile picture of the author NikkiG
    Sounds like you've made some very good progress so far.

    I would actually recommend not buying any other courses or subscribing to anything until you really start to make some good income.

    At the moment you've got a great base, you've made some money and those conversions are actually not bad.

    Fact is you've already made it far further than 99% of any would be Internet marketers.

    My advice is to start asking very specific questions here and you'll get some good replies and different advice from lots of marketers.

    I believe in sticking to your true natural style when marketing, sometimes a little fancy salesmanship is good but ultimately what makes you stand out from the crowd is you...so pick a voice and style and run with it. Later on you can make changes and keep testing and tweaking things and find what works best.

    As for pre-selling, I stick to products I have bought...even if I don't use them I buy them. That way I can honestly talk about the quality of the material, the delivery, what I liked and what I didn't.

    A pre-sell doesn't have to be hyped up, it can be nice and factual and really that is what many customers want. They are looking for that one reason to jump into buying mode or that one reason not to. So make it nice and easy for them to make the call, either way.

    Focus first on providing value to them and the sales will come naturally.

    A lot of people start out totally focussed on the money, the commissions and trying to figure out how to "make" people buy. I'm not saying that is wrong but often the most successful simply give valuable, honest pre-sells.

    Buyers buy for all sorts of reasons and some pre-sells and reviews etc turn off a huge section of the market. It is difficult to appeal to all types of buyers at the same time so sometimes you'll get better results by narrowing your focus and talking directly to that sub-group of buyers.

    There are the dreamers who want to know how it feels "Imagine sitting on the beach with that sexy six pack attracting all the girls".

    The techies who want to know how it works "this program breaks the workout down into progressive sets where each day you increase one or more of the metrics...load, time under tension (TUT), reps, stretch-pause duration" or "it has 695 pages, with three 20 minute videos"

    The providers who want to know how to use it to the benefit of others "you'll be in better shape to provide for your family" or "get your kids out of that unhealthy lifestyle and have a fit happy family"

    etc etc

    Point is there are so many emotional and logical triggers to work with there really is no right and wrong answer. If you aren't naturally salesy and able to pump up and promote then don't. Help your customers by cutting through the sales page and laying it out for them in language they understand.

    Anyway, a bit of a novel this is turning out to be.

    Start looking at other products to promote and tweaking the ones you have. You'll get there in no time.
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    • Profile picture of the author AndyMcD
      Wow, that was very quick & thank you so much for your answer & time. Very interesting response and gives me PLENTY to think about! Thanks again, Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author NikkiG
    Andy, you'll get plenty of advice here...and if you wait 10 minutes someone might come along and contradict me totally.

    All part of the fun!

    Just keep asking questions.
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    • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
      no i agree nikki with all of that.

      Whether brand new or been in the game a long time, you need to continue to think of yourself as a marketer of your product/services versus.

      Also Andy a lot of people get caught up in how much money can I make from this next person versus how much value can I provide.

      When you keep getting the right knowledge, take immediate action, deliver phenomenal value, and continue towards your goals, you will definitely have the edge on a lot of people and make way more money.
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      • Profile picture of the author AndyMcD
        Thks for the comment. Yes, it's kinda feeling that way for me. Don't get me wrong, I want to make decent money at the end of the day, but for me I find it almost impossible to believe this is possible without providing solid value to people....and I want to build a proper sustainable, competitive (and profitable!) business,....Thks again, Andy
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