Help! My site is a successful failure - suggestions?

Thats pretty much how it works. There are samples availabe at the free level and three paid stages above that. I only have stage 1 available at this time, but its hard to justify working on stage 2 and 3 unless I can get more conversions at the low price level.

Russell,

With all due respect to Kenneth, I would disregard the above comment.

If you need a deeper understanding of PLC interfaces my guess is that your site is of tremendous value.

You do indeed have a tight niche.

Perhaps if you become (maybe you currently are) active on manufacturing and automation forums you can position your website more proactively. Trade schools may also provide good leads.

1700+ users is nothing to sneeze at in this niche. Your views per video are very good, as well. (I didn't register or log-in, so my comments are cursory, to say the least.)

Additionally, machinery manufacturers in the automation niche may be good candidates to JV with on some level, as would product mfrs who need to train new operators for their lines. Factories and job shops that utilize those specific PLCs would no doubt have a need to invest in an instructural DVD set if your videos are what I think they are.

Very nice website.

KJ

Your site is a no-brainer to me as well...

A large difference between the kind of marketing we do as IMers and the kind of marketing that will reach your potential clients is in its' extremely narrow demand.

By and large, the demand for information that is found on forums like the WF has broad appeal, even to those who are just curious.

There is absolutely no curiousity factor in what you are selling. Hence a shotgun approach has little value. You not only need the rifle approach, you need a scope on your rifle.

For the sake of discussion, let's say I'm a plant manager who has several machines that use PLCs for control. I'm also likely to have a moderate employee turn-over rate that requires me to train operator candidates and get them up to speed ASAP. If I'm running three shifts, my needs are compounded.

Since I'm a plant manager, the likelyhood of me finding you on the internet is diminished. I'm hardly keyword savvy. I'm much more likely to find you at WESTEC or some other SME function, as an example.

And while it is true that IMers use networking as an addendum to their marketing arsenal, you would most likely use networking as a cornerstone for your marketing efforts.

As for relying on a membership site for revenues you need to keep in mind that the desired outcome of someone who joins and sticks with a membership site is 'growth'.

Your target client, on the other hand, doesn't care one iota about growth. They care about productivity - The machines need to keep running, and someone needs to know how the PLC functions. Again, without the curiousity factor, joining a membership site to learn about PLCs that aren't even in house is nebulous at best.

So yes, to answer your question I do think you will need to hit the bricks as well with your sales efforts to find paying customers.

Here's one more thought...Perry Marshall has put out a ton of good information about using White Papers as a marketing tool for niches such as yours. I would encourage you to seek that information out. (You can go to his site, just add .com)

Much success,

KJ

I would redesign the site and have a few videos available for free that are surrounded by other protected content. Meaning if they click on the protected video it will redirect straight to the order page with a message saying this content is protected and then the membership details.

That way they get to see the quality of the training and yet if they want to continue and watch the other training videos then they would have to get a membership.

Mike Hill

PS. This may do well as a diret marketing campaign offline and direct them online to the site.