New to Information Selling

The focus of the blog will bring certain traffic. Who are they and why would they come to your blog, how will they find it, what do you offer that might interest them?

I'm hesitant about offering advice, even with over 67 info products the last 20 years. I'm hesitant because, you already have violated the first principle I teach. THE HUNGRY CROWD theory, as once defined by Gary Halbert, who said the only advantage he wanted was to build his hamburger joint in the middle of a starving crowd.

Sure, there are examples of build it and they will come, IF there is a good enough reason and they KNOW about you, but will they stay, and more importantly will they BUY?

Your 'funnel' is pretty typical and nothing wrong with it as funnel concepts go, but unfortunately it is like most of the 80% failure type set-ups...you want to fill in the blanks as you go along.

In other words, you are looking at what YOU are going to get. What the steps to your income are. What you will SELL.

So, in my opinion, this is BIG mistake number one, pounding on the calculator keys before you even have a clue as to what...

VALUE

you will be offering to those whom you see as customers. Right now, you see $$$$$ dollar signs.

Change your view, try to see PEOPLE, better yet, a PERSON who wants the information you will have at your blog.

GIVE your visitors what they want. Develop your information empire via feedback and fulfillment and provide high value info your SATISFIED customers will want to buy.

But, hey, good luck.

GordonJ

Learn to turn advertising into profit. Don't rely on any traffic sources you can't control. You can control advertising.

And don't build your business on someone else's land. If you're building your blog on a free platform then you're forced to play by their rules. They can shut you down anytime.

Spend the extra $5 a month and get some proper hosting

Hi A3element,
I like the inputs from Michael Meany - I once had a Blogger blog shut down that had over 10000 visitors a month and that was disappointing!

Long term it is best as Michal says to own your own site - then you have control over it.

GordonJ has made some great points about finding out where there is demand and fulfilling it - as he has over 67 info products he must know what he is talking about!

What I liked about your post was that you said you have created a community/blog.

There is a lot of value in creating something that encourages a community - so I think you have produced something of value there - whatever your community is about.

People love community websites - Facebook - based on community - one of the most successful websites there is.

A suggestion I have is that if you start a facebook page have community somewhere in the title - I have heard that facebook community pages do very well - and you can get a lot of visitors from them and a lot of interaction between members.

You can also find out from your communities what sort of things that they will be interested in purchasing and create products for them or sell to them as an affiliate.

Good luck! I am sure you will make a good business out of this.

Ged

I do agree with the hungry crowd observation that has already been made. I think that for subscribers to become paying customers and then big ticket paying customers that you have to provide a quality product. If the freebie does not measure up people will not want a paid product and will probably unsubscribe from the list.

If the free product has a wow factor people will want more.

Another tidbit is: don't carve your initial plan in stone. Write it in chalk on a blackboard.

As you complete each step, find a few members of your community to give you feedback, and, if it makes sense, incorporate that feedback into your product.

This does two things for you. One, it makes your product more of exactly what your starving crowd wants to order. You do not want to open a hamburger stand among a crowd of starving vegans. Two, it creates a sense of buy-in from your community. It's not just your product, it's their product, too. Not yours, ours.

Last, but not least, comb through Jeff Walker's PLF content looking for information on his "seed launch" - or plunk down a few bucks for his "Launch" book. If Walker isn't your thing, check out Pat Flynn's "Will It Fly" book instead (or, if your smart, in addition).

I Think,If you are a salesperson, Selling To The Point can radically improve the way you work.

Selling To The Point begins by showing that the whole idea of "selling" something to someone is over, finished, dead. yes, it Wright be true that using your old ways, your buyer might eventually purchase something. But have you noticed how hard that's getting?

The problem is not about you. The fact is, this is a new world. In Selling To The Point, Jeffrey Lipsius reveals what your buyers really need from you in this new world--even if they don't know how to ask. Lipsius removes most of the old unquestioned assumptions basic to traditional sales training. Instead, you will learn to see your professional life in a new and refreshing way. Before long, you too will think of "selling" as a completely outmoded way of working. Instead, you will be focused on the Point of selling. And what is the Point of selling? It's amazingly simple.

Unlike a lot of boring "how-to" books, Selling to the Point is fun to read because it's told as a story. Here you will meet real people, people who may be quite a bit like you and your customers. You'll experience how they go through the transformation of becoming better buyers, with the help of their salespeople. And as soon as you have read only a few chapters, you'll be able to put Lipsius's powerful new concepts right to work. It's actually that easy, and maybe even fun to change your understanding of the selling process.

Also I think it important to realize there will be peaks and valleys and at times lulls to which you might question your existence in the IM landscape.

Most at one or another have gone through this in some form. So do NOT panic. Sometimes it can be part of the growing process

The important thing is to have confidence in yourself and your Plan that is solid and well thought out