Nothing I Do Seems To Work-I Know I Am Missing Something

Hi Stephen

Ok to me it all takes time

PPC is expensive unless you know exactly what you are doing. Yes we hear stories that people say get a product stick up a few ppc ads and then you're sorted.

Problem is that takes money. I've seen people run ppc campaigns and burn thru a few thousand in 6 - 8 weeks with no return.

What niche are you focusing in?

Try to stay away from the obvious - ie making money online. Firstly in order to sell this, in my opinion you need to have made money online. Too many people sell ebooks about making money online without ever having done it. IT's a big market but also a lot of people trying to work it.

Think of other niches, is there anything you can take and put a spin on it?

Are you using PLR out of the box, when you say you've repacked them exactly what do you mean? Have you redone graphics? Redone the sales page etc?

One "problem" with plr is that people sometimes buy them, get a domain and put them up for sale. Just go to ebay and you'll see that people are selling plr for pennies on the dollar. Therefore the question is how can you compete with that? You can't as it is, you need to make your plr stand out.

Here's my thoughts:
Pick a niche and do your market research - dm for details of a free site that will actually research niches for you to enter.
Find a plr product and change it
* this can mean changing the graphics, sales page, contents of the product
* think about recording the audio - you've a new product there
* where and how are you marketing it bar thru ppc?
Create an opt-in page that will give people a taste of the product,

Above all test everything

One way to build a list is to join one of the multiple giveaways that are on the net. The "leads" you get are not always good but it's up to you to build a relationship with them in order for them to get to know you better.

When you say working your ass off, perhaps what you are doing is not working and you need to see what you are doing and what is not working. For example if you are promoting via safelists, forget it they don't work.

Find the forum or forums for the niche you are targetting and see what people are asking about, what do people want to know.

If you want to dm or post the niches you are working in myself and others can then give you some more advice.

Key is don't give up!

Richard

You say nothing is working.. not even the list building? This is about the easiest thing to do with ppc there is - if it "isn't working", there's something seriously wrong. Either the landing page is really off, or your traffic is not targeted.

I think you're doing all the right things for this to work - the problem must be in actual implementaion. My guess is either the sales pages are bad, or the traffic isn't targeted.

Are you selling to a hungry crowd?

Do you solve a problem?


I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
Thomas A. Edison

Send me a PM and I will partner with you and you can make money as I follow you up...

Hi Stephan,

I see a lot of different activities mentioned in your post.

But I don't see anything at all about who you are.
Nor about who you'd like to have as customers.

Do you have any interests? Skills? Hobbies? Personality traits that might relate to your choice of a business? Maybe you love to write? Maybe you hate to write, but you're a great photographer? Maybe you don't care for writing or photography, but you can start a winning conversation with anyone?

I can sympathize with the frustration in your post, but it's like reading someone who says they tried to open a hotel - they polished the silverware, vacuumed the rug, put 20,000 cartons of eggs in the kitchen fridge, yet still no guests!

Look at Clarissa's writing thread for a lot more discussion that might help you.

Regards,
Allen

Stephan, You have gotten some good advice from the guys above, the only thing you missed in your post were a few examples of sites or pages that could be checked out and critiqued!

Advice has been given to me, which I found true: When you quit trying to "sell" is when your sales will pick up. If you try to solve a problem that people need solved, that is when you will become productive.

Bobb30

Hi stephan_c,

It's good that you're not giving up. I know how it can be when your family doesn't agree with what you're doing. Hang in there and believe in yourself.

One of the things that I see from your post is that you're trying to tackle too much at once.

This is just me, but I think it would be helpful if you stuck to one thing say affiliate marketing and try your best to make your first sale.

That way you're multi-tasking everything at once. You're attention is focused on one thing. Then when you get that one thing accomplished, move onto the next thing.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi Stephen,

All I can say is that you should keep going and keep learning. Never give up.

That is the best advice I can give you.

Tal

thanks to all that replied.

work today was dreadful. everything that could go wrong or happen did today. i work in a casino as a pit boss, the scary guy in a suit watching over table games. if there was a cheater today, they all came to my watch. but we caught them all.

all of the replies were very insightful. i hope that it is always like this here. i am new so i dont know.

a few asked for links to the sites so they could critique, so that is what i am about to do.

i want brutal honesty. i want to know exactly what i am doing wrong. i like to think of myself as a decent writer, but that is where most people generally get into trouble, they think what they have to say is good yet what is being said is not being heard.

i have zero previous skills as a sales copywriter. what you are about to see is from what i have seen, how i interpret what other sales pages look like, and incorporate my own words.

if it sucks, great! lead me in the right direction. i am here to learn.

this one focuses on the how to make money with a blog.

bloggingmoneymachine.com

this one is for the how to beat the recession crowd

recessionsurvivalclub.com

this last one is what i have used to get that google quality score back up to 7. i use this domain as a beta testing ground since i read where google likes product reviews. the page you will view is for the plr (private label rights) seekers but i get no action. it is written for those who already know about this subject and those who may have just heard about it and are curious. i have found that this is a very tight niche. not many searches done a month on this topic as say make money online. very focused.

productreviewclub.com/PLR-Products-Ebook-Rights-With-Resell.htm


i will appreciate all feedback. please do not hold back. thanks

is email marketing dead? or is it just me not being able to provide what people are actually interested in.

i have managed to get a few to sign up, but it is not more than a few. have people become that gun shy with their information?

looking for secrets here

Working hard and persistence has absolutely nothing to do with it. Billions of people work hard and are persistent.

Your problem is that you have not connected enough interested, clicking, web-based buying users to the right product or affiliate program. That's it.

I get 30 to 50 optins a day in one of my niches.

The key is to give them EXACLTY what they are wanting. That's all.

If you advertise a course on blogging for dollars - then GIVE it to people that sign up and dribble it to them over time from your autoresponder. Put in a few funny things, some personal experiences, and hint at a few other things that could help make them money - like an autoresponder (through your affiliate link of course), or an adwords course - again - with your affiliate link.

You FIRST have to have an audience to preach to - take your best product, give it away for free over time through your autoresponder - and sell with a link here and there in your course.

You should get hundreds and hundreds of sign ups, and sales too.

Stephan, I see you posted some examples to check. Thanks. I checked out your E-Book offer...You could definitely use a header for the page, I didn't see any reviews, and I (personally ) thought the price was a little too high. I just started a membership site dealing expressly in PLR/MRR, etc with the very latest in products offered and a great price and I'm not setting the world on fire either...But

You have to have patience, If something isn't working, find out why - tweak it and try again, you will get there, I can tell you have what it takes, it's simply, just like me It took too long to get active at the WF. But, now that you are, you can get some very good, honest advice and go from there!

It will come. One point I'd like to make here that I don't think too many would own up to, but the market right now is tough! It will get better, so hang tight!

What is it you WANT to DO, Stephan?

It it to be a writer? a copywriter? a blogger? a rich man?
a self-employed job-holder? a wealthy entrepreneur?

What is your vision of your life in a year? in 2 or 3?

What skills will you be known for? In what area will you
be distinguished in your excellence?

Is it just to be a button-poker who makes money online?

Expand your vision. Design a business plan to get from
where you are to where you want to be. Then work on
the skills to get there. Persist.

My insight is the real money is in SPEAKING and LISTENING
to people. Human relationships. Not button-pushing.

Stephen you remind myself of me when I first got started. LOL so understand everything will be alright.

Focus on one marketing method. Since you are new I would NOT recommend PPC at all unless you are rolling like Donald Trump.

Learn a low cost or free method of advertising and then work your way up.

Those books are not going to have "ALL YOUR ANSWERS" in one place. I used to think the same thing. A shift in your mind has to happen.

Now just focus on getting at least one golden nugget from a book and use it in your arsenal.

Of course this is not the answer to all your issues but it seems like everyone else did a great job addressing them.

I checked out all 3 sites...
I think you need to grab a good book on writing sales letters.. check out stuff by Dan Kennedy over at amazon.

What does PM stand for? I have very little knowledge and want to learn.

Just keep trying and testing. Stick with what is working for you so far and improve on it. I agree with some of the posts we don't really know much about what you are looking for and your aim. Making Money Online is a Niche and the buyers are people looking for opportunity and if you believe in a product it will show. If you are just trying to get rich that will show too. Develop relationships and contacts by joining social networks such as business ones and forums like this one. Research online because there's TONS of free information. Most importantly Don't give up. I started out with information overload and learned from testing different opportunities believe me there are A LOT! I have narrowed my choices of which ones are the best in the long run and I'm still exploring different opportunities. It takes some time to see results in any selling business unless you are one of the lucky ones. Don't worry just stick with what works and you WILL see your hard work pay off.

great thread. Thank you stephan_c for putting it up and thanks for everyone for your inputs.

That might turn into a good offer you could make to other Internet marketers, for some extra money on the side. I don't see it growing into a substantial business. For that you'll need a bigger plan.

And the bigger plan really should start with you, not with chasing after techniques.

Please think about the ideas Loren and I are trying to express to you.

Also, please think seriously about this absolutely brilliant post from Dan:
If you have a product or affiliate offer that fits in with your own interests, and your own personality, and your own ideal lifestyle... won't you be naturally motivated to work on it more? And won't it be easy for you to say things about the offer that nobody else could say, that inform your prospects and inspire the personal connection Terri discussed? And, couldn't all of that happen in a fast and easy way?

Regards,
Allen

You know,

Here's a different angle that only comes out once in a while, and lots of people will say this isn't a factor, and what they mean is that it isn't a factor for THEM, personally.

I can't seem to make progress in ANY area that I'm not really interested or enthused in. The problem is, you'll hear IM gurus all day long telling you about finding the best selling niches and all kind of niche strategies, and they certainly have got a point.

I'm 39, and since I was 17 I tried many different areas of wealth-building from authors some of you have probably heard of to lots that you probably haven't (from no money down real estate to stock options to pre-internet direct marketing to...yes, probably that one too). And even though I worked 12+ hours per day in those things, I never had any great measure of success.

What hit me like a ton of bricks is that I was FORCING my own inner energy, my own "inner self" to go in a direction CONTRARY to my own fulfillment. Some IMers, some people on this forum WON'T CARE and maybe it's because it simply doesn't affect them at a personal level.

But for me, and I know others that have this "affliction" too - if we're not going in the direction that our HEARTS want to go, and not just our BANK ACCOUNTS...BOTH of them stay flat.

Again, this might not be an issue for anyone reading this, but take some famous musicians - both Barry Manilow and KISS finally "made it" when they STOPPED TRYING TO MAKE IT and focused on what they loved and then SHARED THAT WITH THE WORLD.

I don't want to make this a long post, but once I narrowed down my MAIN interests I got two potential niches out of them that I was WILLING to work on non-stop and would love every minute of it no matter what.

For myself, this was rock guitar (I've played rock guitar for 20+ years) and something a little more esoteric - teaching people how to connect to their Angels (hence my forum name), which is the one I decided to focus on.

(By the way, any interest in this should be PM'd to me. Please don't use forum space as it's too off-topic.)

As far as this goes, my site and material isn't even online yet, and yet just from word of mouth (with no effort on my part) I'm getting calls from Austrailia, Canada, and of course the USA, where I'm located.

Suffice it to say, this is a stellar example of success coming only AFTER I totally shed any preconceived ideas about going into niches that SEEMED profitable. Once I made the commitment to only do those actiivities (subject matter wise) that are totally in line with my own "inner self" or even just basic interests, success is coming out of the proverbial woodwork.

So I would suggest to take all the advice you get but add the additional component of interest and enthusiam related to the subject matter you're wanting to profit from.

Hope this helps someone, and no, I don't expect many people to resonate to the importance of this, especially if you're making money in a topic unrelated to your interests. But it can be a deciding factor in some people.

I hope this helps someone.

Have a good day, all,

- Paul

Hi Stephen,

Congrats for making such an intense effort!

One thing that really jumps out to me is the grammar errors and lack of capitalization in your post here -- hopefully that's not happening on your sites? Unfortunately that makes me click away immediately.... just a thought....

Good luck and hang in there ---

Angel Guy, Very well put. If your hearts not in it, it will definitely show through in everything you do! Stephan...Just listen to what everyone has said, pull from it what you need and go make yourself some moolah....Just be patient! It will come.

Hi Stephen,
I would like to say that I admire your ability to say and I quote:
"what am I doing wrong" if every one would do this we would all get some great tips! I've really decided to "keep it real "on my part too so I could find what really works! I believe what everyone here said was great. Especially about what miked was saying interviewing top people and making a product on it .(E-Rock) made his first product doing this and it was a big hit.
I also agree with people saying stick with one thing and make that 1 thing profitable and move on to the next,but get something profitable first.
By associating yourself with other top marketers you become one yourself.From my perspective I noticed when I was looking at your page ,it looks real good except that the alexa rating is low and it's probably because your targeting keywords with too much competition.other than that! I think your page is good quality it just needs to be on the first page of the search engine because that's where the money is! It's hard work getting it there though and like others said don't give up.send links to your site from every direction possible social bookmarks forums etc for lower competition keywords with googles keyword tool:
h**ps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

lower competion meaning from 200,000 to 600,000 or so and at least 100 to 1000 searches per month.
I wish you well !

Stephen,

I'll give you my blunt response as a potential buyer. Trying to be helpful, so please don't be offended.

- Have you tested your headline? It's too wordy. Doesn't grab me.

- I stopped cold with the first two paragraphs. They sound like they were written by an accountant.

- The whole theme is negative. Can't you spin this in a more positive way?

- $147 seems like a rip off for a 31 page ebook. Have you looked at the competition?

- No bonuses. $147 for a 31 page ebook, and no bonuses. Am I supposed to get excited and reach for my wallet for that?

- The green box (text above Paypal button) says $27, and doesn't mention the 6x$20 payments (although you mention them elsewhere). So is it $27 or $147? If I'm confused, I'm not buying.

- The URL says this is a club (recession survival club). OK, how do I become a member of the "club"? What do I get as a member?

Good luck. Keep getting feedback from prospects and customers!