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Inspirational Success Story (An Extra $68,785.20/Year!)

by doop
28 replies
Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to share my success story over the past few months in the hope it might motivate a few people here and show how if you stick to something you can grow an online business reasonably quickly.

What I'm going to describe is effectively free money - and actually helps to sell more of my products!

Ok... here we go!

6 months ago I started selling a $4.95/month newsletter.
Here are the stats:

A few points:
1.The newsletter is offered as a backend upsell with a free 14 day trial ('hits' reflect people hitting the thank-you pages of the ebook)


2.Each newsletter is 20 pages long:
a. 2 pages make up the cover/contents pages
b. 2 inner pages have ads/reviews of my other products (Upsell Opportunity!)
c. 2 pages have subscriber generated content/competitions
d. 2 pages are reviews for various affiliate products
e. 12 pages are content with pictures (probably 6-8 pages of written content)
f. 80% of the content is available freely available online (If you know where to look!)

Why $4.95? How much content do you have to deliver to get value for money? I believe I give my subscribers AT LEAST 10X-20X the value they expect – the stats above show that I’ve got the formula pretty spot on!

Also - most people won't bat an eyelid for $4.95/month - so cancellations are SUPER low - you effectively have a person paying you $4.95/mo forever!

Takeaway:

1.Sell your own products/services (This doesn’t mean you have to personally create them! Outsource, partner with someone, buy an existing product….)

Personally I believe affiliate marketing is great as a SUPPLEMENT to your own products. Just look at all the “Guru’s” – even if they are making a killing online selling affiliate stuff – You know about them because they are trying to sell you THEIR OWN PRODUCT/SERVICE!

2.Don’t expect to get rich online quick! If you are serious and depending on your goals, you CAN make a full time income within 12 months (if you do it sooner great!)


I hope someone finds this useful - you have 100% permission to rip off the idea and implement it RIGHT NOW!!!! Good-luck!

Feel free to ask me any questions - I'll do my best to help you out!
#$68 #extra #inspirational #or year #story #success
  • Profile picture of the author doop
    Originally Posted by cjmo75 View Post

    I love selling cheap ebooks and reports. I have several on my blog that I sell for $2-$5. I don't make sales on the scale that you do, but it's still great money. Usually amounts to an extra $200-$300 per month. I'm a little confused by how you sell it. It's on a thank-you page they get sent to for subscribing to your list?
    These are already customers - after they purchase and login for the first time they go through a few One Time Offers / Upsells - the newsletter is in this sequence.
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  • Profile picture of the author tribros
    It's always nice to look at the real life examples. Thanks for sharing. And Yes I do agree with - "Don’t expect to get rich online quick! If you are serious and depending on your goals, you CAN make a full time income within 12 months (if you do it sooner great!)"
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  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    Nice. Are you using Paypal for subscriptions?

    Thanks,
    Andrew
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    Online courses
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    • Profile picture of the author doop
      Originally Posted by rondo View Post

      Nice. Are you using Paypal for subscriptions?

      Thanks,
      Andrew
      Not for this newsletter. At the time of setting it up - PayPal didn't allow free trials.

      This has since changed so you can now use PayPal which really makes this easy and attractive to even more people - it's my experience that PayPal is almost "play money" to some people and the decision to purchase can be more impulsive.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimG
    I'm doing something similar but actually taking it one step further. After an initial purchase the customer receives a monthly update for free.

    The monthly updates are chalk full of quality content but there are opportunities for me to spinkle in some affiliate links along with ads for my own upcoming products and ads for other products should I opt to sell advertising space.

    Respectfully,
    Tim
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    You must be kicking out some good content. Good job! I wish you continued success.
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    Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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  • Profile picture of the author richgrad
    Awesome... thanks for the great idea... it just shows that as long as you follow through, you're gonna get results!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bicycle Cat
    Good job, doop. I love success stories like these.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Turner
    Hey Doop,

    Awesome! Thanks for sharing this, a lot of warriors can benefit greatly from this post. It goes to show that you don't need to sell a $197 product to get started in any niche.

    And you're absolutely right, most people won't even think twice about spending $4.95 a month and I can only imagine the average lifetime value of your customers would be very high... I wouldn't be surprised if it were 3+ years. So that's about $180 per customer over 3 years, not to mention additional product and affiliate sales you could make over that time.

    The great thing about these customers is that you know they already buy online. It's now just a matter of building that existing customer base (try and make it viral if you can) and developing an effective sales funnel in whatever niche you're in.

    I do have a question though. How did you "sell" these customers to subscribe to your newsletter? Did you use a typical salesletter? Was it an upsell to a free newsletter? Or something totally different?

    Cheers mate, love your work!

    Brent
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    • Profile picture of the author doop
      Originally Posted by Brent Turner View Post

      And you're absolutely right, most people won't even think twice about spending $4.95 a month and I can only imagine the average lifetime value of your customers would be very high... I wouldn't be surprised if it were 3+ years.
      Fingers crossed!!

      Originally Posted by Brent Turner View Post

      I do have a question though. How did you "sell" these customers to subscribe to your newsletter? Did you use a typical salesletter? Was it an upsell to a free newsletter? Or something totally different?
      It's a one page sales letter with "sneak peak" of the current month's issue on a "thanks for ordering page" which appears on logging in to get their product download.

      Glad this has been so helpful to people - I remember when I first started out it was people with stories like this one which kept me going!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author jitterbug978
    Awesome, proof that one time offers and upsells really can make some serious cash. It also proves you can make good money without having to sell a $99+ product!!

    Best of luck to you!
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    • Profile picture of the author ronr
      Congrats on your success. Sounds like you have a winning formula for you.

      You provide a physical 20 page newsletter for only $4.95/month? That is a good value for your subscriber. You certainly aren't making much on the subscription fees vs. fullfillment costs, but of course you are making money on their purchases. the fact that they are already paying for your newsletter shows them as vaulable prospects for your other products.

      I'm toying with that model more myself with an online membership site. I used to charge more but have found over time that people are more hesitent to pay. Since my hard fullfillment costs are about zero, I'm going to test lowering my prices way and see if i can get and keep more subscribers and sell more on the back end.

      Ron
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  • Profile picture of the author lindaingleson
    That was great of you to share that nugget of inspiration. I set up a membership site and only charge £9.95 per month for full online life coaching, including NLP training and personal life coaching questions answered. Yes, they get a lot for the monthly subscription but I have many products to sell, such as my book (fully published) and audio CD book, hypnotic CDs etc. I worried that it was too cheap and no one would find it useful, but your success proves the fact that its not the price, its the perceived value.

    Well done and thanks for the reassurance.

    Linda Ingleson
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  • Profile picture of the author stephan231
    great job, it is indeed inspiring... I do agree it is always best when you combine affiliate marketing with your own products not someone's else
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  • Profile picture of the author cantfigureout
    Great Idea but it probably isn't that easy. Getting people to know it's a trustworthy site offering legit x bucks product- Not an easy task
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  • Profile picture of the author GetItDone
    I love to read success stories. It keeps me in the game. wondering how to get a 20 page newsletter done each month. do you hire others to help?
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  • Profile picture of the author perfectlovehere
    Very inspirational! Thanks so much for sharing! I especially like the fact that, with every passing month, your income increased! Congrats! You should feel proud!
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  • Profile picture of the author clg21
    Thanks for sharing your story with us! It goes to show that as long as you over-deliver on value, you'll always have customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeterDunin
    That's very impressive,well done!
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  • Profile picture of the author Seantrepreneur
    I love these kinds of posts! Thanks for sharing doop!
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  • Profile picture of the author biggsy
    It's nice to see people earning while giving others something worthwhile. Great example shared and I appreciate the encouragement.
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    • Profile picture of the author jerrick
      Nice story. I am so inspired!!

      I have some questions, was wondering if you can elaborate further....

      a) Can you share a bit more on how you get traffic? Do you go by paid or free methods?

      b) What about payment? I suppose paypal is the easiest for you? Do you delete those people who have desubscribe?

      c) Do you have any outsourcers to create the newsletter content for you?

      Great work!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Pettit
    No kidding, "spot on"! You said it!
    Awesome job! Great post! Thank you for sharing!
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  • Profile picture of the author Denizen
    Great information here, very inspiring. I'd be interested in hearing a bit more info on how you drive traffic?
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  • Profile picture of the author TheSEOSniper
    Wow God Bless
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