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Build List ($0 Revenue) vs Sell Product ($50 Revenue) Need Your Opinion...

by blueboxer
11 replies
I am selling an ebook that I wrote that teaches people how to make money selling a particular consumer electronic item.

I sell between 2-5 ebooks on about 200 visitors per day. The guide I sell is priced at $10.

I was wondering if just gave away the ebook in exchange for the readers opt-in, is that more valuable in the long term than make $20-$50 per day now?

So I could continue to sell the ebook and make $20-50 per day
Or
I could just give the ebook away and hopefully build a list of 200 emails per day. All my traffic is organic and is EXTREMELY targeted, so I'm pretty sure my visitors will opt-in to receive the guide.
#$50 #build #list #opinion #product #revenue #sell
  • Profile picture of the author espresso
    first off contradictions on making that money
    Is it all profit?

    Could you do both make another ebook and drive separate traffic to that fo email opt ins
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  • Profile picture of the author Tech19
    There are a few different things you could do, it doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other. Offer the first couple pages free on the front end then sell the rest on the back end.
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  • Profile picture of the author blueboxer
    All money is profit. I use no paid traffic techniques. All organic.
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    • Profile picture of the author premiumonlinewriting
      Yes, in theory, you'll make more money in the long run from a list than selling a one-time ebook. In theory. It all depends on your conversion rates, your sales copy versus your email marketing strategy, etc. But why are you viewing the two as mutually exclusive? Do both. When they buy the ebook, they sign up for an email list. That way your list is already highly qualified and you can sell bigger-ticket items to people who you know are willing to buy from you.
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  • Profile picture of the author godinu
    you could always give people a different free report as an opt-in, something similar to the ebook you sell, but without as much information, then sell your ebook as a more complete version of the free info -- sort of the "demo" vs. "paid" version of many products/programs out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author lotsofsnow
    Originally Posted by blueboxer View Post

    I am selling an ebook that I wrote that teaches people how to make money selling a particular consumer electronic item.

    I sell between 2-5 ebooks on about 200 visitors per day. The guide I sell is priced at $10.

    I was wondering if just gave away the ebook in exchange for the readers opt-in, is that more valuable in the long term than make $20-$50 per day now?

    So I could continue to sell the ebook and make $20-50 per day
    Or
    I could just give the ebook away and hopefully build a list of 200 emails per day. All my traffic is organic and is EXTREMELY targeted, so I'm pretty sure my visitors will opt-in to receive the guide.
    Giving the book away is a bad idea. You would wind up with a bunch of freebie seekers.

    Make sure that you capture the email addresses of your buyers; the people that bought from you will buy again and again and again...
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    • Profile picture of the author chansgrose
      Originally Posted by hpgoodboy View Post

      Giving the book away is a bad idea. You would wind up with a bunch of freebie seekers.

      Make sure that you capture the email addresses of your buyers; the people that bought from you will buy again and again and again...
      hpgoodboy made a very good point! There's nothing worse than a list with a bunch of freebie seekers, capturing the email of the buyer and building a list of buyers is a better idea. If your product delivers, and is of quality, they will buy again and again!
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  • Profile picture of the author blueboxer
    If I choose the free route, I would just use the list to promote other products not necessarily my own at this point.
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  • Profile picture of the author tweakr
    First let me say that I'm no expert but here's what I think.

    Don't give the book away because as hpgoodboy mentioned you would end up with a bunch of possibly junk email addresses/people just looking for free stuff.

    Just keep selling the book and as the others are saying keep the email addresses (add a newsletter opt in form to your sales). Something else to consider is changing the price, perhaps if you feel your book is worth it raise the price. This might actually cause more people to end up buying the book because they feel that there will be more value in it for them.

    I was once told a story about a guy that had a wonderfully informative product that he was giving away for free. However, because the people were getting it for free they were treating it like garbage. The guy grew tired of his product being treated like this, so one day he decided to start charging for his product. This caused people to stop treating his product as garbage. As an added bonus and much to his surprise it had a secondary effect in that even more people were coming to his shop and buying his product, because of the perceived value that his product now had because of the new price.

    Thought I would share this here as it is somewhat related.
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    • Profile picture of the author blueboxer
      I heard that too. I continue to raise the price and haven't noticed a decrease in sells. I think I'm going to raise the price put to $27 for a week to see how the sales are once I come to a conclusion on this issue.

      But if I could get 200 plus email addresses from people who are interested in making money online vs 5 per day(from sales), that's a big difference in my list. I understand the freebie mentality though.
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    • Profile picture of the author MattVit
      Originally Posted by tweakr View Post


      I was once told a story about a guy that had a wonderfully informative product that he was giving away for free. However, because the people were getting it for free they were treating it like garbage. The guy grew tired of his product being treated like this, so one day he decided to start charging for his product. This caused people to stop treating his product as garbage. As an added bonus and much to his surprise it had a secondary effect in that even more people were coming to his shop and buying his product, because of the perceived value that his product now had because of the new price.

      Thought I would share this here as it is somewhat related.
      You know what? My mother is a qualified dietitian who only wanted to help people lose weight. She didn't charge a cent. Guess how many clients she saw? One or two a week. Then she was told a similar story to yours, charged about $50 per session and instantly started seeing 25 per week. (had obviously risen since then, helped by the fact that she works in a doctors clinic now).
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