The Art of the Start or "From Zero To Hero - getting started in IM with only 100US$..."
Hello Fellow Warriors,
as I just thought about launching a new product and actually don't have any reputation and list (I made money online by doing consulting services and website creation for offline businesses in Germany the last 8 years and spend all off it for traveling and drugs (chainsmooker, not that anybody will tell the police ;-))), I thought it would be an interesting approach to limit myself to 100US$.
There was that video from Anik Sigal, where he promoted one of his new products. It started with something like "what if I would lose my business by tomorrow and would stay back with 200US$ in my pockets, how would I start again - with now list and now contact". Sounds familiar to many fellow warriors, so I think about to give it a real shot (and no, I'm not just starting a nasty presale for my 6 figure launch next week ;-)). I'm also not interested in becoming the next GURU (I hate that word), but my surname sounds a little bit like Kern (just replace the e with an o, don't want to leave my full name here ;-)).
So back to topic. As said I know many ways how to make money online, but I won't use anything I achived in the past. Only the above mentioned 100US$.
My first step will be that I buy a single ad from a fellow marketer (I did't know him by yesterday, so it counts ;-)), that promissed me a couple of houndreds of clicks for less then 70US$. Actually it was the kind of list that interested me and so I´ll "build" a product that is exactly tailored to them.
I'M not sharing the oppinion of a lot of warriors here, that PLR products are eval, so I'll get one, that is exactly tailored to the list my email will be send to! This is huge if you are starting out. It might be a gold mine or leave me "flat broken" by next week, haha.
I have an autoresponder account with aWeber for sure, but getting a new one is only $1 for their 30 day trial, so I'll "get" one and discount it from my 100US$. So now I'm back with only 99US$.
My frontendproduct normaly would have costed me 47US$, but to be hounest I bought a whole bunch of high quality PLR from another internet marketer and got a 30% discount on it (yes, you might be true if you are saying that I´m cheating ;-)). But as I´ll use my own name, I don't want to get some rubbish product, only to save some money. Hope that is fine with everybody ;-) So my frontend product is $32.9 and I wouldn´t be ashamed sending it out with my own name. It also came with PSD files, but to be hounest I suck when it comes to grafics... I might do what I always do and pimp it up when I have some cash flow coming in. When ;-)
The product I am promoting is in the internet marketing niche and so is the mailing list, where I got the single ad on.
You might have aleady figured out, that I keep some details back. I won´t tell you my niche and won't tell you where from whom I got the single ad. Sorry for that, but it is an experiement and not a business plan ;-)
I already have a copy of the $7 script and you can get your's for free, when you are shop around. There is a service offering installation services for the $7 script, that might have it as a free gift for signing up for their mailinglist (I purchased mine with MRR, so you could also send me a PM, explain me why you don´t have $7 to spend and I might send you a copy ;-))
So time to calculate our actual spending:
Autoresponder - $1
High quality PLR product - $32.9*
Stand alone email ad - $40**
-------------------------------------
Actual spending: $73.90
* (short hint, some product owners don´t mind giving you a discount, just tell them why - and as said, I prefer paying the price asked).
** paid a little bit more, but as mentioned above you could use your negotiation skills or ask for a smaller package, that fits into your budget.
So we have $26.1 left in our pocket. Great. What else do we need? Webhosting and a domain name. I prefer buying domains with Namecheap and have my Hosting at Hostgator. Namecheap offers coupon codes, so fire up Google and get the code. Safes you something like a Dollar on each domain you purchase. Hostgator has a Babyaccount or something like that, that should be around $5 a month. And no, no matter how deep you are in debt, you won´t get some "free" hosting. I have no glue, but I guess you might end up with some banners or something else, that would make your site look pretty nasty ;-)
Now comes the catch: Should you use the free report you bougth with your PLR package for building your list or not?
First have a look what could happen when you do so:
a) You get more sign-ups, as it is for free. You could build up a tiny list and start doing ad-swaps, for getting more exposure. It might take time, but there is a chance that you would make it.
b) You could use the full guide (that buddy has about 17K words, so more then 50 pages in Verdana, font-size 10 and some line spacing) for an OTO, which is supported by the $7 script. Sell it for 27US$ and you might make your initial investment back. I don´t like the idea of a freebie list at all, which brings us to the next point of view...
You sell the guide for some bucks ;-)
a) You have the chance to build up a buyers list. This will be tiny, that´s for sure.
b) You then spend the $12 you have left in your pocket for a video training course with RR (resell rights). I´m not kidding, this is nothing that is hard to find on the internet. This will be your OTO. You then use one of that "wait, I have something special for you" exit pop-ups, that you use for building up your freebie list from everbody that was just about to leave. I hate them, but they seem to work, as nearly everybody uses them.
What happened? You just created your first sales funnel. The most simple one! Dirt cheap frontend product, that is very likely to convert and some backend product, that you could sell for $27. You don't offer a money back garantuee for the frontend product, but offer 100% affiliate commissions. Now you just set the butterflies free! What could happen is, that your customers will start promoting your frontend product, as you are offering such a lovely commission. You could also include that in the single ad mailing, and tell them, that only existing customers can "resell" (should read refer sales) the product for 100% commissions. This is something that can be done with the $7 script. This increases the chance, that your frontend product gets viral! After they bought it, you would just replace the guide and mention that you offer 100% commissions for every refered sale in it ;-) Don't forget to remove that "customers only as affiliates" setting or don't include it at all. In love and IM everyting seems fair.
So now you have the chance to build up a buyers list! You also cash in on each backend sale and might end up with some refunds. The backend product for 10US$ is good quality and your pricing reasonable, so refunds shouldn´t skyrocket.
Before you send out the single ad mailing, you adjust your autoresponder with some follow up sequenze. Shop around in WF, as their is plenty of information available for FREE. After some follow ups with a little bit of meet you start sending them affiliate offers ;-) and cash in.
Now you rinse and repeat and get your first product renovated. Buy some new minisite design, find somebody to rewrite your guide and freebie report and purchase new products ;-)
In 2 years from now you are the next Frank Kern, haha. You also might end up starving by next week!
You also might set up google alerts, to monitor WF for the word "review". Have a close look on your email programm and ask in a friendly way for a review copy, whenever any is given. I don´t like that WSO threads that have tons of "may I ask for a review copy" replies, but this is a free world (Alan, the owner of WF doesn´t like it either...).
So, enough for today, I need a last cigarette and some sleep, as said I´m thinking about giving it a shot, but might go to Hong Kong or Germany on the weekend for getting a new visa or seeing my family, so don't push me on it,
to your success struggeling newbie warriors,
Sven
Ps: As said, nothing to sell from my side and the advice from sbdy. that wasted thousands of hard earned US$ on BS that you should follow the advice above and just bring 'em out ;-)
Pps: This is NOT my thread, so feel free to post your oppinions about the art of the start in IM here, haha.
as I just thought about launching a new product and actually don't have any reputation and list (I made money online by doing consulting services and website creation for offline businesses in Germany the last 8 years and spend all off it for traveling and drugs (chainsmooker, not that anybody will tell the police ;-))), I thought it would be an interesting approach to limit myself to 100US$.
There was that video from Anik Sigal, where he promoted one of his new products. It started with something like "what if I would lose my business by tomorrow and would stay back with 200US$ in my pockets, how would I start again - with now list and now contact". Sounds familiar to many fellow warriors, so I think about to give it a real shot (and no, I'm not just starting a nasty presale for my 6 figure launch next week ;-)). I'm also not interested in becoming the next GURU (I hate that word), but my surname sounds a little bit like Kern (just replace the e with an o, don't want to leave my full name here ;-)).
So back to topic. As said I know many ways how to make money online, but I won't use anything I achived in the past. Only the above mentioned 100US$.
My first step will be that I buy a single ad from a fellow marketer (I did't know him by yesterday, so it counts ;-)), that promissed me a couple of houndreds of clicks for less then 70US$. Actually it was the kind of list that interested me and so I´ll "build" a product that is exactly tailored to them.
I'M not sharing the oppinion of a lot of warriors here, that PLR products are eval, so I'll get one, that is exactly tailored to the list my email will be send to! This is huge if you are starting out. It might be a gold mine or leave me "flat broken" by next week, haha.
I have an autoresponder account with aWeber for sure, but getting a new one is only $1 for their 30 day trial, so I'll "get" one and discount it from my 100US$. So now I'm back with only 99US$.
My frontendproduct normaly would have costed me 47US$, but to be hounest I bought a whole bunch of high quality PLR from another internet marketer and got a 30% discount on it (yes, you might be true if you are saying that I´m cheating ;-)). But as I´ll use my own name, I don't want to get some rubbish product, only to save some money. Hope that is fine with everybody ;-) So my frontend product is $32.9 and I wouldn´t be ashamed sending it out with my own name. It also came with PSD files, but to be hounest I suck when it comes to grafics... I might do what I always do and pimp it up when I have some cash flow coming in. When ;-)
The product I am promoting is in the internet marketing niche and so is the mailing list, where I got the single ad on.
You might have aleady figured out, that I keep some details back. I won´t tell you my niche and won't tell you where from whom I got the single ad. Sorry for that, but it is an experiement and not a business plan ;-)
I already have a copy of the $7 script and you can get your's for free, when you are shop around. There is a service offering installation services for the $7 script, that might have it as a free gift for signing up for their mailinglist (I purchased mine with MRR, so you could also send me a PM, explain me why you don´t have $7 to spend and I might send you a copy ;-))
So time to calculate our actual spending:
Autoresponder - $1
High quality PLR product - $32.9*
Stand alone email ad - $40**
-------------------------------------
Actual spending: $73.90
* (short hint, some product owners don´t mind giving you a discount, just tell them why - and as said, I prefer paying the price asked).
** paid a little bit more, but as mentioned above you could use your negotiation skills or ask for a smaller package, that fits into your budget.
So we have $26.1 left in our pocket. Great. What else do we need? Webhosting and a domain name. I prefer buying domains with Namecheap and have my Hosting at Hostgator. Namecheap offers coupon codes, so fire up Google and get the code. Safes you something like a Dollar on each domain you purchase. Hostgator has a Babyaccount or something like that, that should be around $5 a month. And no, no matter how deep you are in debt, you won´t get some "free" hosting. I have no glue, but I guess you might end up with some banners or something else, that would make your site look pretty nasty ;-)
Now comes the catch: Should you use the free report you bougth with your PLR package for building your list or not?
First have a look what could happen when you do so:
a) You get more sign-ups, as it is for free. You could build up a tiny list and start doing ad-swaps, for getting more exposure. It might take time, but there is a chance that you would make it.
b) You could use the full guide (that buddy has about 17K words, so more then 50 pages in Verdana, font-size 10 and some line spacing) for an OTO, which is supported by the $7 script. Sell it for 27US$ and you might make your initial investment back. I don´t like the idea of a freebie list at all, which brings us to the next point of view...
You sell the guide for some bucks ;-)
a) You have the chance to build up a buyers list. This will be tiny, that´s for sure.
b) You then spend the $12 you have left in your pocket for a video training course with RR (resell rights). I´m not kidding, this is nothing that is hard to find on the internet. This will be your OTO. You then use one of that "wait, I have something special for you" exit pop-ups, that you use for building up your freebie list from everbody that was just about to leave. I hate them, but they seem to work, as nearly everybody uses them.
What happened? You just created your first sales funnel. The most simple one! Dirt cheap frontend product, that is very likely to convert and some backend product, that you could sell for $27. You don't offer a money back garantuee for the frontend product, but offer 100% affiliate commissions. Now you just set the butterflies free! What could happen is, that your customers will start promoting your frontend product, as you are offering such a lovely commission. You could also include that in the single ad mailing, and tell them, that only existing customers can "resell" (should read refer sales) the product for 100% commissions. This is something that can be done with the $7 script. This increases the chance, that your frontend product gets viral! After they bought it, you would just replace the guide and mention that you offer 100% commissions for every refered sale in it ;-) Don't forget to remove that "customers only as affiliates" setting or don't include it at all. In love and IM everyting seems fair.
So now you have the chance to build up a buyers list! You also cash in on each backend sale and might end up with some refunds. The backend product for 10US$ is good quality and your pricing reasonable, so refunds shouldn´t skyrocket.
Before you send out the single ad mailing, you adjust your autoresponder with some follow up sequenze. Shop around in WF, as their is plenty of information available for FREE. After some follow ups with a little bit of meet you start sending them affiliate offers ;-) and cash in.
Now you rinse and repeat and get your first product renovated. Buy some new minisite design, find somebody to rewrite your guide and freebie report and purchase new products ;-)
In 2 years from now you are the next Frank Kern, haha. You also might end up starving by next week!
You also might set up google alerts, to monitor WF for the word "review". Have a close look on your email programm and ask in a friendly way for a review copy, whenever any is given. I don´t like that WSO threads that have tons of "may I ask for a review copy" replies, but this is a free world (Alan, the owner of WF doesn´t like it either...).
So, enough for today, I need a last cigarette and some sleep, as said I´m thinking about giving it a shot, but might go to Hong Kong or Germany on the weekend for getting a new visa or seeing my family, so don't push me on it,
to your success struggeling newbie warriors,
Sven
Ps: As said, nothing to sell from my side and the advice from sbdy. that wasted thousands of hard earned US$ on BS that you should follow the advice above and just bring 'em out ;-)
Pps: This is NOT my thread, so feel free to post your oppinions about the art of the start in IM here, haha.