Need a little direction/encouragement!

by Lunar

Posted: 15 years ago 15 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hey everyone! I can't believe I've only just now found this forum. It seems like a great community to be a part of, and I look forward to getting to know everyone here.

So, my dream is to own my own business that generates enough cashflow for me to quit my 9-5 and become an entrepreneur. My current tack is information products, because of the high margins and easy distribution (DVD's, etc). I've worked in the video game industry, so I figured that was a good topic to write about, especially considering there was already some competition in the space so there must be a market.

My website and product is BreakIntoGamesCareer.com. I've been working on it for about 8 months now, improving my strategy, copy, layout, etc a little more every time, however...

To date I have made exactly $20, when I sold an e-book to a friend of a friend. Translation: 0 sales from online leads.

So, I'm trying to build a business here, but there is NO business without sales. I believe that to succeed you need a good product + good marketing, but I don't know which one I'm missing.

Some questions I'm having are: is this a marketing issue (do I need to just focus on developing the website, getting better traffic, keep hammering away)? Or is this a product issue (I should drop this product and find something new that shows it can sell from the get-go, throw something else against the wall and see if it sticks)? Or is there something else fundamental I'm missing? I've been putting my free time into trying to sell this product for so long; where should I go from here?

My goal is to generate sales, but I also want to know what I should be focusing on to grow as a future entrepreneur.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this (if you got this far). Any advice from successful entrepreneurs welcome.

Jose 15 years ago

Lunar,

May I suggest, no, I strongly suggest that you consider enrolling in a mentoring program?!

What you've learn so far you'll see falling in place when the mentor lays out the whole picture. Then you'll start making real progress!
- Thanks
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Ayrtonx5 15 years ago

HI Lunar

Here are a couple of suggestions to consider:

1. Use Google insights to research top keywords/phrases by country

2. Set up a survey using surveymonkey . com - Create a survey asking for comments, ideas, key frustrations and get at least 50 responses using keywords from step 1 (google adwords) - Find out what your market wants!!!!

3. Review your adwords results and carefully review the keywords with the largest number of impressions and clicks

4. Start with the top 5 keywords and research existing organic sites, ppc ads and blogs and see what's going on here

5. Committ to daily action and use a planning tool

All the best.
- Thanks
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Roy Carter 15 years ago

Lunar

Are you tracking your website stats? If not you need to start doing so using Google Analytics. Are you driving targeted traffic? If you feel that you are and you are making no sales it may be that you need to tweak your copy on your homepage.

The answer is to test and test again and fix what needs changing.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
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- angela99 15 years ago
  
  Your site's great; it's a good start, especially since you're new to info marketing.
  
  I sell products online, so here are some quick thoughts:
  
  * Who's your market? Yes, I know it seems self-evident to you, but trust me, it will help if you write it down -- be as specific as you can...
  
  This helps in all kinds of ways. You can go to where your audience hangs out, and can contact them there. I've no idea where they might be --- games sites? MySpace?
  
  Make a list of where they are, and go there. Join discussions, and link back to your site.
  
  * Think about the keywords you're using. I did a quick check with Google's keyword tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and discovered that "games careers" has 2900 searches, which isn't bad, but "career planning" has 165,000.. you should be able to sell to this market.
  
  Find lots of other keywords you could target with your content, so that your traffic constantly increases.
  
  * Add more content to your site. If I were selling this kind of material, I'd add lots of content -- honestly, you can NEVER have enough content.
  
  * Use article marketing to direct people to your site. This will build links, and traffic.
  
  * Increase the number of products you have. A $50 product is a considerable purchase (I imagine) for students who would be attracted to your site. Your testimonial is from a gamer's mom, which is great, but perhaps you should have a range of products at several price levels.
  
  * Build a list. Give away a freebie, and get people onto the list, so that you can contact them as new products are released.
  
  Re the forum, if it were my site, I'd delete it, but that's just my opinion. A great forum takes a huge amount of work, and you would be better off adding content, and developing new products.
  
  I wish you every success -- you'll get there. You've got the basics of a good business (because you can add all kinds of products), so get to work. :-)
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  elaine drennan 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by angela99
  
  * Build a list. Give away a freebie, and get people onto the list, so that you can contact them as new products are released.
  
  Hello!
  
  Angela has made a very good point here.
  
  It is very difficult to sell to first time visitors to your website - they will be reluctant to give $50 to someone they feel they do not know.
  
  If I were you I would create a simple squeeze page which offers a good quality free product in return for a name and an email address.
  
  You will need an account with an autoresponder like aweber. Once someone opts-in their name goes on your List with Aweber.
  
  You then send out regular automated emails to your List to build up a relationship with them. They will be far more likely to buy from someone they know & have learnt to trust.
  
  Hope this helps...
  
  Elaine
  
  Thanks
  
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Rob Hall 15 years ago

I agree with Roy's comments. When people start out it's rare that they track their website stats. These stats contain bundles of information that can be used to jump on opportunities.

For example, it's often the case that you'll find people finding your site through keywords you didn't think to optimize for, it's the just a case of optimizing on them keywords :-)

There's so many tips to be given, I hope other's will try and contribute to help you out also
- Thanks
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Justin F Banned 15 years ago

[DELETED]

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- eaglechick 15 years ago
  
  Hi Justin
  
  At least you've got your own website. product etc. That is a good
  foundation. May I suggest NickB in this very forum. I'm not an
  affiliate but signed up for his mails and so far I'm very impressed.
  It seems that he will go the extra mile to help you and use videos
  to market his products. Easy - simple - effective.
  
  Keep on going - let us know what happened.
  One of these days it is all just going to fall into place,
  Pick one mentor and follow him closely.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Aitor Astobieta 15 years ago
  
  My personal step-by-step recommendation:
  
  As previous posters have said, build a list.
  
  How do you do this? Simple:
  
  Create a free report in PDF format, where you deal with some aspect of the video game industry. Keep it simple: under 20 pages if possible. The purpose of this report is to get people interested in your product. Don't spill all the beans, though! Give good information, but tell them that if they want to know more, they should look at your product.
  
  Create a squeeze/opt-in page. These are simple to create.
  
  Get an autoresponder. I recommend Aweber because that's what I use but there are others like GetResponse.
  
  Use your autoresponder to put an opt-in form into your squeeze page. An opt-in form is where people give you their name and email address.
  
  Drive traffic to your squeeze page through PPC, article marketing, video marketing, classifieds, traffic exchanges, etc.
  
  Once you get visitors signing up to your list, give them good, FREE content, and they will begin to trust you.
  
  Once they trust you, you can begin to "warm them up" to your product or an affiliate product you want to promote. Don't use too much hype, or they will be skeptical of your intentions. Be honest with them.
  
  Rinse and repeat with other products you want to promote or sell.
  
  You see, the problem you are having is you are trying to sell to people right away. Rather, you should give them some free information, build a trust-based relationship with them, and then you sell to them without any hype. Also, you are creating a permanent asset by building your list, whereas now you are just losing visitors to your site who may never come again.
  
  I almost forgot:
  you can use your free report to create a viral marketing effect. Submit your free report at free ebook sites like scribd.com, esnips.com, freeiq.com, etc. or torrent sites like onlytorrents.com, extratorrent.com, etc. Turn your free ebook into a step to step tutorial and submit it to ehow.com. Create articles and submit them to ezinearticles.com. As you can see, this whole thing can spread like wildfire!
  If you do this, they will be buying your products like hot cakes!
  
  I wish you success,
  Aitor
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Aitor Astobieta 15 years ago
  
  Also, do you have your own affiliate force?
  
  In other words, are there affiliates of your ebook out there on the web promoting your product to the four corners of the world?
  
  If not, maybe you should put your ebook in Clickbank, so that affiliates can begin to promote your product.
  
  I have already seen several video game testing products on Clickbank, and they seem to be doing rather well.
  
  In fact, I once bought a game testing guide from Clickbank, so you should definitely check it out.
  
  Thanks
  
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waihon 15 years ago

I don't consider myself as a successful entrepreneur yet so please take this as my observation & opinion instead of advice.

I visited your website and I believe you have a decent product. So if you're not getting the sales volume that you desire then it might be an issue of marketing and traffic generation.

By the way, I noticed that most info product websites have the following marketing features which are lacking in your website:

* Opt-in mechanism: Most info product sites offers something valuable for free in exchange for the permission to email them related info in the future.

* Minisite: Most info product sites adopt minisite approach and focus on selling and selling only. Your site is more like a portal in that it provides quite a lot of content. It's good in driving traffic. You may want to link out to a dedicated minisite just showcasing your paid program.

* Affilliate program: Most info product sites offers an affiliate program that allows other marketers to promote your product for a share in your profit. It's almost always on pay per sale basis so it's a win-win approach.

* Affiliate network: Most info product vendors join one or more affiliate networks such as ClickBank and PayDotCom. An affiliate network will take care of payment processing and commission payment to affiliates in exchange of a fee per transaction.
- Thanks
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Lunar

15 years ago

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the mountain of replies!

I paid to become a War Room member, and also purchased a WSO, the "COPY My Exact Blueprint For Making $11,390..." since the replies seemed very positive.

Several people suggested enrolling in a mentor program or finding a mentor. I would LOVE to have a mentor (or two!), but where should I go to do that? Is there a formal thread or anything or do I need to find someone to PM? I don't really know anyone yet.

Other than that, I'll keep plugging away setting up some lower-end products like an e-book, setting up an affiliate program, and getting a newsletter together. This has been so encouraging!

Thanks
1 reply

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Jose

15 years ago

Consider Jason Dinner or Dean Holland --google up the names-- for mentors. Their programs are affordable, I would say. I am going with Alex Jeffreys, but I think he mentioned he is not doing coaching anymore. But not sure, try him also.

Thanks
1 reply

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krull

15 years ago

My site has cpanel with simple tracking but it isn't enough for me. What would you use for detailed stats on visits regarding keywords and how people find it, etc?

Thanks
1 reply

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waihon

15 years ago

Originally Posted by krull

My site has cpanel with simple tracking but it isn't enough for me. What would you use for detailed stats on visits regarding keywords and how people find it, etc?

I have been using Google Analytics for that purpose. It's a web-based application.

Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience.

With this information, you can improve your website ROI, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.

It's a 'free' tool and you only need a Google account in order to log in.

Thanks

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diro 15 years ago

Hi Lunar,

As has been mentioned here already, it is hard to sell anything, let alone a $50 item, to a 1st time visitor without you having a track record in their eyes.

Might I suggest a series of cheap/free "reports" to get your visitors used to you. It seems to me that you've got at least 20 topics already started with your article titles. Expand one of the articles into a short report (3-5 pages) and give it away in exchange for their contact info.

That report should get your visitors comfortable with you and your information, which would allow you to sell a few of the "reports" for a few dollars ($7.00 or under).

It would then just be a matter of time before the full blown book begins to sell, but in the meantime, you should be making a few dollars here and there with the reports and building a list with the freebie.

And by all means, get a mentor or a coach...or both. Even Tiger Woods has a coach and several mentors.

Just my thoughts and two cents worth...

Rog
- Thanks
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