A Quick Way to Put $1,000 into Your Paypal Account

[Maria Gudelis]

Hi all, just wanted to let you know on a 'test strategy' I did that got me a client paying $1,000 for about 2 hours of work (this includes getting the client and the execution of the work)

1. I noticed while doing some google searches that someone had page 1 ranking for a search term and it was a wordpress blog NOT hosted on their own domain - it was on wordpress (e.g. "thesearchterm.wordpress.com")

2. I emailed the owner of the wordpress blog 2 brief paragraphs saying basically:

- you have a nice site, ranking well on google page 1 except you have a major risk exposed to your business. Wordpress does not like companies hosting blogs on wordpress that are commercial and whether it is today, tomorrow, or in the near future, you are exposed to wordpress simply deleting your blog that must have taken a fair bit of energy to create. It happened to me once and cost me some money as I was ranking on google page 1 in number 1 position.

If you are interested, I can help you eliminate any risk of you losing your blog for a fee of $1,000. That would involve transferring it completely to your own hosted domain, you have full control now in the future and no one can then delete your blog!

Everything will be the same and as an added benefit, you can get better search engine optimization with added plug ins and I can also put an RSS feed onto your blog.

***
Now I know the above paragraphs are not 'ad copy' optimized - nevertheless, it worked,
1.The prospect said yes
2. I sent the company an invoice via paypal functionality
3. $1,000 came into my account and I got the info to log into the wordpress blog hosted on wordpress.

4. I spent 15 minutes on the phone helping him with a domain name to use.
5. He set up a namecheap acct. and a hosting acct. at dreamhost
6. I got the access info
7. I went over to scriptlance, posted a job description to transfer the existing wordpress hosted blog over to own hosted WP blog (including all the comments as his blog had a lot of user comments)
8. Cost of scriptlance resource- $80

Hmmm...2 hours of my time, net profit of $920...

Anyhow, hope it helps fire up some ideas to all of you and feel free to test out the fee you charge as one thing that is interesting, is I now am getting other work from that company so the continuity is an added benefit.

[JJOrana]

nice one miaroman

[mario2001]

That is great.

Thank you for sharing.


Mario

[Maria Gudelis]

Glad it brought value to you!

One thing I forgot to mention - be wary of the time wasters...sometimes some folks just want free consulting from you so limit the conversation to 15 minutes or so... (I learned that the hard way )

[rlnorthcutt]

Very clever idea - thanks for sharing!

[kumar]

Originally Posted by miaroman

Glad it brought value to you!

One thing I forgot to mention - be wary of the time wasters...sometimes some folks just want free consulting from you so limit the conversation to 15 minutes or so... (I learned that the hard way )

That's just what I was wondering! What if they took out a 'lot' of info from you, thank you and then do it themselves! Would this work for free blogger sites too, as in does google too hate companies who are using their free blogs for commercial activites?

Thanks!

[Maria Gudelis]

Hey Kumar - yes it would work for free blogger sites too...all are dicey to use for 'long-term" as I've known a $30k per month affiliate star lose some precious blogspots that were making some good $$$ - he hasn't touched a 'free hosted blog since!' - and he was one of my first mentors in IM...

another added 'value' pitch you could use is that they can't build up any asset value in a blogger blog or wordpress hosted blog as if they had it hosted on their own domain...then they can sell it like a real piece of virtual real estate...monopoly park place here we come!

I've personally have not seen a blogspot get taken down as fast as a wordpress hosted blog...and I've even tried with google to get a blogspot taken down myself for crazy slander of basically every famous female out there...that persons blogspot ranks on google page 1 for many names...with oodles of backlinks and strong PR...talk about reputation slander!

Originally Posted by kumar

That's just what I was wondering! What if they took out a 'lot' of info from you, thank you and then do it themselves! Would this work for free blogger sites too, as in does google too hate companies who are using their free blogs for commercial activites?

Thanks!

[Cash37]

Do you have a company name, or just sent a personal email?

[Jakehyten]

wow, that is awesome dude

[Maria Gudelis]

Hi there - u can just send a pm - I have a few company names/entities...

cheers, M

Originally Posted by Cash37

Do you have a company name, or just sent a personal email?

[jan roos]

That is a really good idea, Thanks for sharing.

One question though, Since I have noi experience in transferring a free blog to a blog on my own domain and hosting. How easy is this to do and did you outsource the whole process and all you needed was his free blog log in details and walking him through buying a domain and hosting and giving you the login details for that?

If it was that simple then I take my hat off for you my friend

Cheers

[jayden.fellze]

Amazing Idea Let me try my hand at it now.

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by jan roos

That is a really good idea, Thanks for sharing.

One question though, Since I have noi experience in transferring a free blog to a blog on my own domain and hosting. How easy is this to do and did you outsource the whole process and all you needed was his free blog log in details and walking him through buying a domain and hosting and giving you the login details for that?

If it was that simple then I take my hat off for you my friend

Cheers

Jan - hi - it really is that simple - 1. You can outsource all of it and my advice when outsourcing is pick a resource that has strong feedback (e.g. in scriptlance you can click on the bidders' userid and find feedback on that person.)

I created the namecheap acct. for him, registering the domain with namecheap (this is real easy and if you don't want to do it - just send the client the link to create. Then had him create the hosting acct. and I pointed the domain name servers of the domain (namecheap) over to the hosting account...then gave ftp access and cpanel access to the scriptlance resource...(which is basically in the welcome email) - then your resource you hired can do it all.

I do know how to transfer as it really isn't that difficult.

So outsourcing is the best way so you can concentrate on developing the relationship with the customer or market to new customers!

I personally love outsourcing as you give all the details to your outsourced resource, go to bed and wake up next morning with the work all done! Most of the outsourced Wordpress resources I use are in India, Pakistan or Eastern Europe.

Just to be safe, change the access (password) details after all done...

[jan roos]

Do you point the domain to wordpress or squarespace hosting account or can any hosting work? I guess I don't understand how he will be able to keep the blogging platform or is that what the transfer guy does?

I already found a blogger blog and i'll probably email the owner once I understand everything a little better.

Thanks for the help,

Cheers

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by jan roos

Do you point the domain to wordpress or squarespace hosting account or can any hosting work? I guess I don't understand how he will be able to keep the blogging platform or is that what the transfer guy does?

I already found a blogger blog and i'll probably email the owner once I understand everything a little better.

Thanks for the help,

Cheers

Hi Jan - you point the domain to the domain name servers of the hosting account - the hosting that works is a purchased hosting account (not a free one). You can if you want - pre-look for a resource on scriptlance or getafreelancer for instance to find a good outsourcer to help you....or I'm sure there are fellow warriors that could help in this as well!

you could also google "blogger blog on own domain"...I targetted mainly wordpress hosted sites as I learned a huge lesson when wordpress deleted my blog so felt the pain!

cheers, m

[abhinav42]

I can't believe it worked. If I had some one asking me $1000 just to transfer my blog, then he would have had it.

[jan roos]

I think I worded my question wrong basically what I am asking is if he has his wordpress on his own domain and hosting company does he still need a wordpress account in order to use the blogging tools hat wordpress offers ? I have never used wordpress so excuse me if this is a dumb question.

Cheers

[Mohsin Rasool]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your success story..
it is very inspiring...

For me, i would have saved that $80 also as i have in-house resources
to do that stuff :-) LOL

Again thanks for writing so positive post...
Mohsin Rasool

[makemoneyu]

smart! thanks for sharing!

[mookinman]

Great tip, miaroman. A nice method for complimenting my existing methods (I look for businesses using adwords that needn't be, and re-vamp/SEO their site)

[SusanneUK]

Originally Posted by jan roos

I think I worded my question wrong basically what I am asking is if he has his wordpress on his own domain and hosting company does he still need a wordpress account in order to use the blogging tools hat wordpress offers ? I have never used wordpress so excuse me if this is a dumb question.

Cheers

Jan,

Wordpress is free to download and then put up on your hosting/domain, so no they would not need an account still with wordpress.

Thanks for this great post though, I agree with someone else, that is thinking outside the box.

Sue

[Phil Coleman]

Hi Miaroman

Another Warrior gem. I keep saying how much great info and amazing ideas people readily share here.

You could have sold that idea as a WSO mate. Glad you didn't but it shows the quality of this forum.

Nice one.

Phil

[mymarketingsecret]

pretty slick, thanks for sharing

[Desray]

Now thats what i call being creative, you did very well there to get him to pay $1000

[garyv]

I guess I'm not seeing how this will work. If the blog is on the wordpress.com domain, then switching it to his own domain will change the domain name, and thus change the google placement. Am I getting it wrong here?

[naruq]

Miaroman Thanks for sharing your great strategy!

[Easy_Money]

Originally Posted by garyv

I guess I'm not seeing how this will work. If the blog is on the wordpress.com domain, then switching it to his own domain will change the domain name, and thus change the google placement. Am I getting it wrong here?

I'm not an seo person by any means, but ...

If the blog has made it to that point for keywords only, and not backlinks, it is probably quite likely that the new blog will gain rank.

I would think that he should be posting to both blogs, but personally, I would post extra to the new blog. Over time, and maybe not much time, it could quickly overtake that number 1 spot, and then he might have the first 2 spots.

If the blog is ranked for offpage optimization, he will need to build new backlinks to the new blog.

While this may be an issue to keep in mind, so you can answer the question, your focus should be on selling the control over the blog. If your blog is deleted, that google position means nothing!

[NickArnold]

Good idea, I will give you that.

However, very hard to believe that you've made $1000 doing this....

Why? Because paying $1000 just to transfer the blog from wordpress to your own host is extortionate.

Anyone who owns a site that is making enough money online to justify this, will obviously know their share about how the Internet works and such. No way would I believe they would pay this much.

Maybe $100 or $200 at most but not $1000.

If this is true, good luck and keep at it. Even if it isn't, its a great idea and informative post.

[godzillaalmighty]

Cool tip! Sometimes you just read some threads and you're just astonished to see how people come with very creative ideas! Well done!

Cheers

[tiger325]

another creative way to make money online

[awesometbn]

Originally Posted by NickArnold

Good idea, I will give you that.

However, very hard to believe that you've made $1000 doing this....

The OP is in Canada, so what is the currency? Is it CAD or USD? The $1000 invoice in CAD is equal to about $822 USD according to xe.com. I don't have a hard time believing this price, because you have to make sure you are not devaluing yourself or the services you provide. Sure it makes for competition to get someone else to do the same thing for cheaper, but that's the game, trying to get the sale as quick as possible. I like the idea about outsourcing the actual work. That means you could scale this up to handle hundreds of clients instead of one at a time.

[talfighel]

Good job man. Keep up the great work.

Tal

[Fox30]

What would be the best way to find wordpress blogs that need this service?

[Alex Sol]

Great idea!

[Maria Gudelis]

Hey Phil - thanks for the nice words - figured it was time for me to start contributing more...I found the WF a year ago and couldn't believe the quality of info here - wish I'd known about it earlier as the info here and in the WSO's here (most of them - I did get taken on one...but alas - that happens....anyway the WSO's are incredible value!

Originally Posted by Phil Coleman

Hi Miaroman

Another Warrior gem. I keep saying how much great info and amazing ideas people readily share here.

You could have sold that idea as a WSO mate. Glad you didn't but it shows the quality of this forum.

Nice one.

Phil

[ItsMoneytime]

Whatever Works

[Maria Gudelis]

Nick - in the consulting biz - it is about perceived value - believe me - that client got some good deals on the continuity work I've done for that company...and frankly I wouldn't be interested in taking on a new client that didn't have a budget for $1,000 and up....it get's suprising how your profit margins can vary on certain projects, scope creep etc.

Originally Posted by NickArnold

Good idea, I will give you that.

However, very hard to believe that you've made $1000 doing this....

Why? Because paying $1000 just to transfer the blog from wordpress to your own host is extortionate.

Anyone who owns a site that is making enough money online to justify this, will obviously know their share about how the Internet works and such. No way would I believe they would pay this much.

Maybe $100 or $200 at most but not $1000.

If this is true, good luck and keep at it. Even if it isn't, its a great idea and informative post.

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by awesometbn

The OP is in Canada, so what is the currency? Is it CAD or USD? The $1000 invoice in CAD is equal to about $822 USD according to xe.com. I don't have a hard time believing this price, because you have to make sure you are not devaluing yourself or the services you provide. Sure it makes for competition to get someone else to do the same thing for cheaper, but that's the game, trying to get the sale as quick as possible. I like the idea about outsourcing the actual work. That means you could scale this up to handle hundreds of clients instead of one at a time.

Hey there - I did invoice it in USD (losing enough on trips to Europe already with the exchange rate...so gotta make sure I can buy that Belgium beer )

[al_clark7]

Originally Posted by miaroman

Jan - hi - it really is that simple - 1. You can outsource all of it and my advice when outsourcing is pick a resource that has strong feedback (e.g. in scriptlance you can click on the bidders' userid and find feedback on that person.)

I created the namecheap acct. for him, registering the domain with namecheap (this is real easy and if you don't want to do it - just send the client the link to create. Then had him create the hosting acct. and I pointed the domain name servers of the domain (namecheap) over to the hosting account...then gave ftp access and cpanel access to the scriptlance resource...(which is basically in the welcome email) - then your resource you hired can do it all.

I do know how to transfer as it really isn't that difficult.

So outsourcing is the best way so you can concentrate on developing the relationship with the customer or market to new customers!

I personally love outsourcing as you give all the details to your outsourced resource, go to bed and wake up next morning with the work all done! Most of the outsourced Wordpress resources I use are in India, Pakistan or Eastern Europe.

Just to be safe, change the access (password) details after all done...

Pure genius! Thanks for sharing that idea. In two days I have found 2 really easy workable ideas for free. And they involve using skills I've already learned. I've made a folder on my computer named "Future Ideas" for when I get time to start another venture!

Thankyou very much!

[trioman]

great idea...I can't believe you got him to pay $1000 dollars..have you gotten someone else to pay that much?

[Imran Naseem]

Excellent idea man

I like this strategy.

[JonathanBoettcher]

Sweet idea.. my only question is then how do you get the new blog to rank highly? I guess there will be a cross over period, but all the backlinks are no good anymore....

[Mike Williams]

Way to RIP THAT GUY OFF!

Please don't take that the wrong way. I know that there is no "real" price for a product. It's just what the consumer is willing to pay. But I still have to point it out.

[JonathanBoettcher]

If he was that willing to pay, then that's a fair deal. Anyone read Adam Smith lately?

[Mike Williams]

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

If he was that willing to pay, then that's a fair deal. Anyone read Adam Smith lately?

Yup. That's what I said right after my comment. But between you and me...you know...if that guy ever finds out about elance.com he'll never trust you again and there goes a long term relationship. That's how I look at it.

[Heman Patel]

Originally Posted by NickArnold

Good idea, I will give you that.

However, very hard to believe that you've made $1000 doing this....

Why? Because paying $1000 just to transfer the blog from wordpress to your own host is extortionate.

Anyone who owns a site that is making enough money online to justify this, will obviously know their share about how the Internet works and such. No way would I believe they would pay this much.

Maybe $100 or $200 at most but not $1000.

If this is true, good luck and keep at it. Even if it isn't, its a great idea and informative post.

agreed.... hard to believe but i guess if the dude was willing to pay you then why not. But im still boggled on the fact that, the guy responded to your email on first try.

anyways, congrats.

[Janet McLean]

Great info. Thanks for sharing with us.

Also, I have to agree with Jonathan. The "value" is actually decided by the customer/client by what they are willing to pay for something.
If he agreed to the price then that's the "value" of miaroman's information for that individual at that time. Go for it!

[getsmartt]

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

Sweet idea.. my only question is then how do you get the new blog to rank highly? I guess there will be a cross over period, but all the backlinks are no good anymore....

Having never used wordpress.com I have to ask is there no way to do a redirect to the new blog to save pagerank and backlinks? i.e. alter the headers to do an html 301 etc...

[Dixiebelle]

I can see this idea producing a lot of spam mail to a lot of bloggers.

Dixie

[Maria Gudelis]

Originally Posted by getsmartt

Having never used wordpress.com I have to ask is there no way to do a redirect to the new blog to save pagerank and backlinks? i.e. alter the headers to do an html 301 etc...

Hey there, there are a few questions on the pagerank and backlinks so I'll try my best to answer:

1. It was a fairly 'young' blog (less than one year) and they had done no backlink work on it - in fact- I did 'throw' in for free a webwire press release (pr7 backlink) on the blog, and did some social bookmarking
2. The google juice for them was in their comments - they have a lot of people joining their conversation so that was critical to not lose any of the comments
3. After only 2 months since I transferred it over - it has a page rank of 3
3. So when it was transferred over - they actually get better SEO benefits for long-term as I made sure all the 'SEO loving plug ins' were there, put a widget on the right to show 'most recent comments' (google loves that!), the xml site map, created an RSS feed over at feedburner, had the images they used - added better seo descriptions to it, etc. some of the plugins were:

All in one SEO Pack
Google XML sitemap
Headspace2

Hope that helps..