How To Pick A Money-Making Niche!
A few days ago my buddy Jeff Walker, the creator of the Product Launch Formula (www.ProductLaunchFormula.com) asked me to put together a camtasia video for his PLF2.0 customers on the topic of "how to pick a money-making niche".
What you're about to see below is that video I made for him.
It's about 30-minutes long, and contains a very deep overview of the methodology that I personally use when choosing a new niche for one of my companies.
*Pay close attention to the story I share (a few minutes into the video) about the BIG EPIPHANY I had about niches. It will save you lots of frustration!
Other "Niche-Related" information I thought you might find useful:
In-Depth Internet Marketing Audio Interview
A couple of months ago or so my buddy Chris Brisson (who happens to be a super nice guy and savvy marketer himself) got me on the phone and grilled me for about an hour or so on internet marketing.
We talked about acquiring new customers, building the lifetime value, backend marketing, and everything in between. It turned out to be a great interview that Chris just posted on his blog (www.ChrisBrisson.com). I think you'll find this interview pretty instructive.
As always, let me know what you think by sharing your comments below.
Enjoy!
This Reduces Refunds & Gets You Testimonials And Referrals!
I'm so excited that I was able to find this video for you.
It shows the exact system I use in my business to regularly generate incredible testimonials, virtually eliminate refunds, get loads of referrals to my sites, and turn one-time customers into repeat buyers.
Seriously... that's not hype.
And, as always, there's nothing for sale in this video... it's just pure content.
Watch This Video By Clicking Here
Advice To My Buddy Damian
So, my good buddy (and the Godfather to my youngest daughter), Damian, emailed me this morning in a sort of panic...
"It's been 21 days since I've had a sale on my website", he says.
"I'm trying to keep cool enough since I am making very big changes that I think will make a difference. But, in the interim, do I slow down my marketing to save money until it's fixed or do I just ride out the storm? What do I do??"
Now, you've got to understand...
I've totally been in that situation before.
Granted, it may have been a couple of years ago, but nevertheless, I know exactly how it feels to check your email everyday just looking for those one or two sales.
Not a good feeling, to say the least.
Fortunately, there are some pretty straight-forward things you can do to turn almost any website into a money-maker.
Let me share with you the NUMBER ONE thing you can do and exactly what I shared with my buddy.
Keep in mind, my buddy is using an forced opt-in page and is then selling one product.
As well, what I share with my buddy is based on knowledge of certain key details within his business.
Nevertheless, you can use everything I share with him to improve your own business.
"If it was my business", I said to him in my response, "and my website wasn't converting visitors into customers, here's what I would do first..."
I would immediately go to work improving the offer in the sales letter.
Remember, the offer is more important than any other sales element on your website.
It's more important than the copy (with the exception of the headline), it's more important than the follow-up autoresponder sequence, and it's certainly more important than the graphics or layout or format of the website.
The key to having to a website that converts visitors into customers like crazy, is having an offer that is so good, it's viewed as a no-brainer.
In other words, when visitors see the offer you're making them, they should say to themselves, "I'd be an idiot not to do this. Only a knucklehead would pass up on this".
And, if your offer isn't eliciting that type of response, it's an indication that you need to go to work on it, improving it significantly.
Remember, at the end of the day, what determines the success of your website, is how good the offer is that you're making people. It needs to be irresistible.
So, how do you improve your offer?
Well, I would do two things...
First, I would figure out how to add more value to what you're offering.
Think about how you can add more to your offer so the value proposition becomes ridiculously slanted in your prospective customer's favor.
Do this by adding fantastic, high-value bonuses. Real-deal bonuses, not just fluff so that you have bonuses. I'm talking about stuff you could easily sell.
Next, I would spend time crafting a killer risk-reversal offer.
Here's also where a lot of marketers fall short.
They add a money-back guarantee and think that's good enough to reverse the risk in a transaction.
It's NOT!
Think about it like this...
If you're selling a digital product and you offer a money-back guarantee, how have you reversed the risk, taking it off the shoulders of your visitors and put it on your own shoulders?
A simple money-back guarantee may take the risk off the shoulders of your visitors, but it's not REVERSING the risk and putting it on your shoulders. You're not risking anything.
Instead, show visitors that you're putting your money where your mouth is, not just by taking the risk off of them, but also by taking on the risk yourself.
Do this by offering something on top of just an ordinary money back guarantee.
Test a guarantee that includes customers keeping the bonuses, even if they ask for a refund.
Test a guarantee that includes a 150% refund of their money.
Test a guarantee that allows customers to keep the product even if they ask for a refund.
As well, name your risk-reversal offer something that conveys huge benefit.
For example:
"The $3,000.00 in 30-Days 150% Money-Back Guarantee!"
"Your investment in the $299 widget either brings you an extra $3,000.00 in sales in the next 30 days or you get all of your money back, PLUS an extra 50% ($150.00) just for giving us a try. That's how confident we are you'll make
more money from this..."
Once you've added value to the offer and crafted a killer risk-reversal offer, I would immediately create a second version of the offer, and put the two to the test to see which converts better.
I would use Google's Web Optimizer to rotate the offers.
Once that is set up, I would then go to work improving the email autoresponder follow--up sequence for all opt-ins.
I would make sure that the follow-up messages clearly communicate with prospects what makes your product/service unique.
Don't just have autoresponder messages for the sake of having follow up.
That's ridiculous.
Instead, make sure that every email follow-up serves the purpose of furthering the sale.
Remind prospective customers of the different benefits they stand to gain from your product that they won't get from any other product.
Remind them of why you're able to offer such a great guarantee and why people have nothing to lose by trying it.
Bring to life the real-deal benefits prospective customers will experience by using your product.
Just be sure to focus on them, not your product.
Lastly, always remember, if the offer isn't converting it's because people aren't seeing the value in what you're proposing.
In essence, what they're saying is, "I'm not willing to trade you my big pile of money for your little pile of value."
The way you fix this is by adding more and more and more value to your offer, so that the value proposition is so lopsided in the customers favor, they'd be crazy to pass up on it.
Then, totally reverse any risk... and you've got a money-maker!
Got to it.
The Funniest Internet Marketing Video Ever!!
With all of the 'how-to' video tutorials floating around on the Net, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to make a spoof.These guys are hysterical!
My Entire Membership Site “Launch” Case Study
About a year ago or so I was invited as a guest expert to attend and share some of my marketing insights at Jeff Walker's live Product Launch event in Denver.
If you who don't know Jeff or his Product Launch Formula, I would urge you to go take a peek at his stuff. His website is www.ProductLaunchFormula.com.
Anyway, I was invited as a guest expert because of the success I had launching several products in several different niches, non of which had anything to do with Internet Marketing. (Our most recent launch... starting with NO LIST... generated a 5 figure per month business for us the first day of our launch).
Jeff asked me to submit a little case study of the launch, with my emails and screen shots and what not, for the attendees who each paid a few thousands dollars to be there. I want to share that exact case study with you I shared with attendees.
You can see all of the emails I sent out, web pages I used, videos, etc. Please keep in mind as you're reviewing the case study, the main website I used as part of this launch is NO LONGER ACTIVE.
We let it expire since it was only used as part of the launch.
To view the entire Case Study, click the image below:
(When you're done, share your comments or questions on the blog. I'd love to hear from you.)
Alternative to Google Analytics
I recently came across a fantastic alternative to Google Analytics if you're looking for a simple, but very cool, website analytics program.
It's called GoingUp! and it's not only really simple to use, but it also comes with some super-user-friendly reports.
I just started testing this system a couple of weeks ago, so I don't have much to report right now. However, being that it's FREE, it's definitely worth a little test run. If you try it out, let me know what you think.
Take a peek here: www.GoingUp.com
A Truly Elite Internet Marketing Secret
When I first got started in Internet Marketing, I had $800 to invest in getting my business started.
I used that $800 to form a corporation, get a merchant account, register a domain name, and get started with an email autoresponder system. I never invested another dime of my personal money in the company ever again. Each month, as I generated profit, I reinvested that profit back into the company in the way of new and better marketing. If I didn't have the profit, I didn't spend the money. It was a true example of "boot strapping" at it's purest.
Anyway, as I look back at how I went from that first $800 investment to a business that generates hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, I think of the first couple of years, experiencing such ridiculously slow growth. What was the cause?
Today, I believe I understand completely why my business was growing so slowly back then, and... frankly... why most Internet marketers experience such slow growth within their own businesses.
You see, I believe it's directly linked to how most marketers think about and treat their marketing budget.
For most, they think the goal within their business should be to spend the LEAST amount of money every month on marketing their business. Personally, I believe a bit of this stems from the bragging we've all seen some gurus do when they talk about the money they've made "without spending anything on marketing".
But, mainly, I think the idea of spending the least amount every month on marketing comes from looking at the money invested in marketing the wrong way. You see, most novice Internet marketers look at the money they spend on marketing as an expense... similar to the way they look at the money they spend on their hosting or autoresponder or graphics design or something. For most new marketers their marketing really is an expense.
In other words, if they spend $300 on Google Adwords, for most, they either don't make back at least that $300, or if they do, they don't know it, because they're not tracking their metrics. Either way, the only thing they know for sure is that they're seeing that $300 go out of their bank account and not sure how much money is coming back in return. Hence, the label for the money they've spent on marketing of "expense".
But, truthfully, marketing done right should never be viewed as an expense. Marketing done right doesn't cost you money. It makes you money.
What I mean is this...
For the marketers that are not using proper direct response marketing techniques, most likely their marketing IS an expense. They're probably not positive on their marketing efforts. In that case, if they're using the wrong marketing, they need to treat their marketing dollars as an expense. Because it is.
As well, if they're not tracking the return on investment for each individual marketing piece they're using, they also need to treat their marketing as an expense. Because they don't know whether it is or it isn't. So, they've got to lean in the direction of being safe and viewing their marketing as an expense.
But, if you're using the right marketing, and you're tracking everything, there's an entirely different approach that will allow you to grow your business by leaps and bounds. Please pay attention here.
**This is how you radically speed up the growth of your business.
Done correctly, here's what should happen:
1. First, commit to continually investing in any marketing source that breaks even for you each month.
In other words, if it costs you $300 and it brings you back at least $300, it's breaking even for you. Do NOT restrict your marketing only to sources that bring you a profit. Remember, if you break even on the front end when acquiring new customers, you're actually gaining new future customers for free, at no cost. As well, if you spend $300, for example, and make back $300, that's not an expense. It didn't cost you anything.
2. Second, each month commit to allocating a certain amount of profit to finding new, productive sources of leads, customers, etc.
In other words, every month you should be trying new marketing spots to find more places you can acquire new customers at at least break even.
3. Lastly, as you try new marketing methods, medium, etc., be sure to track your return on investment.
If you have something that is not allowing you to break even on the front end when acquiring new customers, dump it for now. Allocate the money next month to a different location, method, etc. Once you find a new source that is allowing you to break even, continue to use it every month, and then move on to finding another source.
Eventually, what will happen is you'll have a whole bunch of sources that you invest marketing dollars into every month, that allow you to break even or better when acquiring new customers. In other words, imagine for one second having 10 different marketing sources that each cost you $200 a pop every month, but each bring you back at least $200 of brand new customers every month.
That means, even though you'd be investing $2,000 a month in your marketing, it really wouldn't be costing you anything. If you spend $2,000 to get new customers and it brings you back $2,000, it's NOT an expense. It's an investment in your business.
And right there is a very elite secret of Internet business growth.
Your goal should not be to spend the least amount of money every month on marketing.
Your goal should be to invest the MOST amount of money you can every month on your marketing.
The key is investing this money into sources that allow you to at least break even on the front end.
I'll leave you to think about it like this...
Assuming all else being equal, which Internet business is going to grow faster, the one that invests $500 a month in marketing and breaks even on new customer acquisition, or the one that invests $10,000 a month in marketing and also breaks even?
Which Internet business has a greater advantage, the one acquiring $500 of new customers every month at break even, or the one acquiring $10,000 of new customers every month at break even?
You'll unleash the growth potential within your business when you start optimizing your marketing by eliminating the campaigns that don't allow you to break even, continue using all of the campaigns that do allow you to break even, AND trying to invest MORE AND MORE every month on new break even campaigns.