The RIGHT Way To Market Information Products And Make Your First $1000 And More

Well this should generate a lot of heat!

I would agree with the part about not thinking about selling. I think that puts you in the right frame of mind to really help people.

But there are many ways to have people know, like and trust you, which includes blogs and autoresponders for example.

I know some of my most successful campaigns have been when I invited people to check out a blog post or article first as a way to get to know me.

Still, I can see you are a Super Active Warrior, and I know that counts for something. I will give your ideas some serious consideration.

Thanks for posting.

From my experience, when it comes to social networking groups and events, people don't just meet to talk and have a meal.

Or even be friends.

But simply to find out which are their best prospects they can reach out as customers.

Since they are marketers themselves and are in business of making money.

Thanks amuro. Some good advice. I really like Alex Jeffreys. I learned a lot from him as well

By his own admission got his start "sending spam."

Which took them many years and a lot of work to build.

Everyone has to start somewhere. I suggest you start by selling something people want and/or need. Hungry markets are far less concerned with who you are then what you can do for them.

Most of the people I sell to don't have a clue who I am, the size of my "following," or how much I "care." All they want to know is if I have what they want/need and how they can get it.

Telling newbies they need a huge "following" to make money online is doing them a disservice.

Brent

Amuro,

From my experience, I think that waiting to market until you have a group of followers is not a sound approach.

Why? Many people will get frustrated, tired of being in this game with no money to show for it, and they will not be able to show that their info products are in demand.

I know a number of very successful business owners that have never built a following or a list.

I'm not saying that list building is not necessary . . . I'm just suggesting that there is no need to wait until you have a large following (or even a small one) before you put your info products up for sale.

"Alex Jeffreys, Eben Pagan, Frank Kern and Ryan Deiss" all had to get their start somewhere. They didn't just become overnight celebrities.




If you don't set these things up when you first begin, how are you ever going to build up this big following and list that you're saying should be the first step?

Yes, I agree that market research is critical - but that can be done in a day or less. Where I think your advice fails is when you suggest that a new IMer should wait "until you have a list of say at least 1-10K."

Building a list of even 1,000 subscribers, especially in a small tight niche, can be a daunting task that takes many months, even years, for new IMers that have no experience.

Steve

Sometime over the last few years, someone jokingly suggested a new forum rule to combat spam. It was something like this: "New members can't post until they have 100 posts."

How can they post if they can't post? LOL

While I understand the point you are making about a following, how do you build that following unless you are doing the things to build the following? Things such as putting up a website, sending emails, etc.?

Jeff Walker suggests a way in his book and program about how to do both at the same time. It's called a seed launch.

You start to build a following while you are making money and learning what it is your following wants. He suggests starting with 300 (I think) emails on your list but you can start with any amount. There again, where do those 300 emails come from? A squeeze page, a website, a blog, etc.

And don't quote people as examples to look up to, such as Ryan Deiss, and 100% ignore what he teaches which is to get a squeeze page up, create a cheap product, start driving traffic, etc. - all the things you say lead to mediocre results.

As far as reaching out and getting to know your potential following I agree.

Mark

I market info products. I have already made my first $1k and even $10K sales. I am in the process of training some new marketers to duplicate.

But for the newest ones...I only want them to focus on one thing...generating targeted traffic into an already existing sales sales funnel that we provide.

Don't want them to create sales funnels, products, following, or even focus on email marketing.

Just want them to do one thing...traffic into a lead capture page and to keep doing so.

Some of them have started making money.

One of them made a $2,300 sale just yesterday based on a buyer keywords marketing strategy that I gave him 60 days ago.

In the past I used to train people to do multiple things that established marketers do but found most people get overwhelmed really fast and end up quitting.

I'll say what you left out...if you are new...keep things simple!

Wow - you are confusing MANY things here...

1. You do need to decide on a market and angle before you can attract anyone...you attract people by providing useful instruction helping someone realize a desire for transformation in their life (from being in debt to being financially free, from being a parent who's teen kids ride all over them to a parent who is in control and who's kids respect them, from carrying 4 inches of extra belly fat to looking like they did in their twenties, etc...) When you have an audience and have solutions to desires they have, they will follow you

2. Guys like Eben, Frank, Ryan make EXTENSIVE use of autoresponders - they were masters at running webinars, videos which captured leads into - wait for it - autoresponders which allowed them to own a significant enough portion of their market's email eyeballs that others JV'd with them and they JV'd with each other so that they eventually shared a mass majority of their market's eyeballs (via autoresponder lists). Some have augmented that via social, others not so much. Frank's use of social is really paid ads - does very little organic. Others have done much more organic content to augment their lists. The key here is that they took more action than others (in terms of launching webinars, free content that would help build their lists), went high-end with their products (instead of $27 ebooks they offered $1000+ training programs) and leveraged speaking/events to reinforce their brand

3. You now see a new generation of guys who built their main market engagement around social (podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Insta, etc...) - they typically monetize in two different ways...they either make it really big and leverage audience for paid sponsorships (Ex Logan Paul, Even Gary Vaynerchuck does this via Nike sponsorships for running shoes, etc...) or they drive traffic back to products and sales funnels (Grant Cardone drives Millions of followers back into training programs as an example)

Please, before you jump into giving advice, know the background of the marketers you speak of and understand the space on a more macro level - beyond just the Frank Kern's and Eben Pagen's - there are many others out there with interesting and highly profitable businesses

Reading this thread seems like there is more arguing to be "right" than to be helpful.

There are too many marketers on this forum who are new but trying to 'do it all right away'. Most of them are not making any money at all. They set up a blog, added an email landing page, jumped on social media and made a bunch of short videos.....and have no idea who their target market is because they skipped many steps along the way.

It's not bad advice to remind people they AREN'T gurus - and truth is, very few will become 'gurus' with names that are mentioned again and again on marketing forums.

Learning to manage a blog before you try to do eveyrthing else to build a business is not a bad idea - especially for someone totally new to working online.

I've unsubscribed from hundreds of email list owners who had no CLUE how to manage or approach a list....but had been told 'build your list from the start'.

For many newbies, doing it 'all' at one is not a good idea. It used to work but now there are so many more moving parts to growing business online. There is nothing wrong with giving people options - and a lot wrong with simply promoting the same dry 'this is what you do a,b,c' in every thread.

The OP suggests becoming totally familiar with your market before you add all the bells and whistles - and for many newbies that's a good suggestion.

He doesn't say 'don't build a list' - he says 'know what you are doing before you add other features'. Do you know how many 'marketers' on this forum run a list completely by blasting email promotions of the latest product? How many don't set up an auto-responder series at all?

Do you know how many have unresponsive lists because they didn't take more than 'a day' to research their niche, the target audience, to understand the market for the products they plan to sell in the future?

Everything you do online should have a plan to tie it to your site/blog/promotions/products, etc. The OP is suggesting a method that may be slower and more deliberate than you advise - but that doesn't make it wrong.

While it's true there's a new generation of marketers who focus only on social media - I think that's a risky way to build a long term business.

I understand what you are saying. However, other than using for market research, IMO the approach would be slow and have limiting results.

I agree - it could be slow. But - for marketers new to everything they are doing....slowing down a bit and getting it right is not a bad idea. It's not for everyone but there is no one 'right' way to get started and we all know that.

If you learn the steps thoroughly the first time you build a site or blog or enter a niche...you will have your own blueprint to use next time and to refine and add to as you go.

Slapping up a clickfunnels landing page is what 80% or so of new marketers here seem to be doing (as evidenced by sigs I've checked) - and many of them don't seem to understand what they are doing - or why.

Amuro...

The advice to look for "low competition" keywords in the Google keyword tool has probably led to a lot of failures. "Competition" in the GKT means the number of people competing for the available ad slots, and has nothing to do with the difficulty of ranking for any keyword cluster.

As such, high competition keywords are far more valuable in my opinion. If lots of people want the ad slots, and are willing to back that up with cold hard cash, it's a sign that there is money to be made.

Steve...

I'm not doubting your ability to at least form a preliminary assessment of a market in a single day.

But think about it. How many years were you in business before you were confident in those assessments?

Kay...

What you say makes sense. Starting with a niche blog coupled with an email newsletter (not necessarily an autoresponder) will let the noobie gain both competence and confidence. Putting content out there, and encouraging interaction with an audience will teach more about a market than all the keyword tools put together.

And that doesn't preclude making recommendations for affiliate products they use and believe in when it's appropriate (and how to tell when it isn't).

Too many people want to start where Pagan and Deiss are now. Better they should start where the gooroos of today started, and come up the ranks the same way.

Hi, I m from Singapore too but I think that it is important to have a landing page, autoresponder and a product that u want to promote in order to start building a list.

I agree with a lot of what Amuro has said and what others have said. How many newbies are setting up a squeeze page, collecting email subscribers, and the first email they send out is simply asking the reader to buy their product.

If you were talking to someone offline and you simply ask them to buy your product without having a valuable conversation or engaging them, would anybody take you seriously?

There are too many people trying to do business online who don't realize that just because they cannot see the face on the other side it does not mean they don't need to be engaged.

Some people get the part of engaging the person on the other end and that some of the same rules that apply offline also apply online and may not have to go through the slow process that Amuro mentioned and may benefit more from Steve's approach mentioned above.

However, you have some people who really don't get it and are feeling like victims after 2-3 years or more of doing the same thing expecting different results.

They may benefit from Amuro's strategy above and just maybe, it's not even guaranteed but just maybe have an aha moment and realize that ok.... these are real people on the other side.

They like to read quality, they like to be engaged, and I kind of understand them now, I think I can write an email now that may actually convert some prospects into buyers instead of having them click on the spam button.

Regarding of what you guys and gals think, I still stand by what I said and do.

To sum it up all and save each other's time, I only have these to say.

People don't buy from people just like that.

People buy from people they KNEW, LIKE and TRUST.

Based on their NEEDS and WANTS.

And to do that, you need to come up with a USP even it means breaking some of the conventional IM rules which used to work 4-5 years ago but are no longer applicable now and in future.

I will be creating a brand new coaching course and membership site next year.

And what I teach may seem unconventional at the start but practical in today and tomorrow market.

The strategies and tactics are based on what I learn from 6-and-7 figure Japanese internet marketers in both digital and e-commerce having attended their webinars and programs.

As well as all the points I highlighted in my first thread.

I don't mean to sound sarcastic.

If you think you know everything about affiliate marketing, e-commerce and product creation, you may want to rethink again.

Sure, I can come up with a squeeze page and send traffic via FB ads, solo ads, blog commenting and forums like this.

But here is a problem.

Because most of those subscribers do NOT know you,

There is no connection.

There is no relationship.

Hence there is no trust.

So say for every $100 you spent on paid and solo ads and you are getting only $60 and less, you have wasted $40 which you could have reinvested into your business to generate more leads and sales.

Even if you have 1000 subscribers, over time some will unsubscribe and you have to spend and restrategize again to get new subscribers.

Even it means borrowing and getting a job to make up what you spent.

I didn't do any of the social media stuff and I became very successful.

I always saw it as a big waste of my time, plus I'm lazy and didn't want to mess around on Facebook or making videos.

Here's what I did:

1. Picked the "make money online" niche because there are so many new prospects to pluck every day.

2. Did ad swaps and JV giveaway events until I had about 5000 subscribers. That took about 6 months.

3. Started using all the money I made from from my existing list to buy solo ads.

4. Built my list up to 25,000 in the next 6 months.

5. At this point I'm a little more than one year in and have a list of around 25K. I'm now making anywhere from $100 -$300 off of one broadcast. BTW, the whole thing about "Every subscriber is worth $1 per month in revenue" is a bunch of BS. Whoever came up with that was sniffing glue when they invented it.

6. Took 50% of all profits and reinvested into solo ads and other "MMO" friendly paid traffic.

7. Within another 6 months time my list is around 50K.

8. Dropped down to re-investing around 10% of my profits back into solos.

9. Started networking with vendors now that I'm making lots of affiliate sales and asked for "bonus spots" on their download pages. Scored thousands of buyer leads doing this.

10. Rinse & repeat.

Using this method it took me about 2 years to reach sales of $300 -$500 per day. 8 years in I'm making killer money, and hardly ever launch any of my own products.

Why do that when I can let someone else do all the product creating and I can swoop in, do a broadcast to my list, and make hundreds or thousands off their hard work?

The OPs method is great, if you want to wait 10 years to make any real money.

I'm sorry but it's simply not realistic to think that you are going to become the next Frank Kern or Ryan Deiss. Definitely get your slice of the pie, but don't try and get the whole pie, because the chances of doing that are slim to none.

I'm happy with where I'm at. I make low 6 figures from my business. Good enough for me.

No, the guy that came up with it wasn't sniffing glue.

Like a lot of things in IM, it's something that has been repeated so many times that it's like a game of "Chinese whispers", and taken as "fact".

The origin was a marketing seminar, and $1/month/subscriber was pulled from thin air to use as an illustration, simply to keep the math easy. (I use the 'just to keep the math easy' technique a lot).

It's not a bad benchmark for newbies to shoot for, but you're right about the existence of an email in the list not automatically being worth $12/yr. Based on what you do with that list and how well you do it, each sub could be worth nothing, or they could be worth a multiple of that $1.

Another good example is the whole "prices ending in 7" thing. What started as copywriter Ted Nicholas reporting the result of a single test has become IM gospel. Even though you rarely see a price ending in 7 outside the IM/MMO arena.

Just sell the damn thing.

thanks for this buddy,

For those of you who don't agree with me and buy traffic, let me ask you a simple question.

1. How long and much money have you spent on paid traffic and -

2. What is your ROI?

Doesn't matter if it is FB ads, solo ads or some other form of paid traffic.

But if your ROI is less than the amount of time and money you spent, then it is not an ROI.

But LROI.

Which stands for Lesser Return Of Investment.

If this is being done offline in brick and mortar businesses, you could go bankrupt.

Sorry if I break your hearts and offended you deeply but that is how it is in real world.

The best form of traffic - the way I see it and Adam Short of NPC see it -

is Cultivated Traffic.

Meaning a group of people who are highly motivated as in like, trust, buy from you as well as recommending their friends to do the same.

That to me is the BEST and most sustainable traffic source.[/FONT]

I have that zig ziglar quote on my website :-) it's so true