Archive | November, 2023

The U.S. elections are over now, but the impact they had on many people still resonates strongly. Thinking I might like to revisit a U.S. show about the White House called ‘The West Wing’, I found it on Netflix and started binging.

The West Wing was a serial political drama series that ran from 1999 to 2006 and it enjoyed a large, enthusiastic audience.

The funny thing is, the #2 actor on the show, Rob Lowe, doesn’t appear in many of season 4’s episodes. And by season 5 he’s gone. Why did he leave?

It’s rumored that he was disappointed the network wouldn’t raise his salary. It seems the $75,000 per episode they were paying him wasn’t enough to hold his interest.

And if you think that was a lot of money… Years ago, Martin Sheen the lead actor was earning $300,000 per episode.

I bring this up for one reason: Are you possibly thinking too small?

I realize it’s good to have realistic goals that are achievable. But if your goal is, for example, another $1,000 per month, what would happen if you make a second goal to be earning $1,000 per week? And then $1,000 per day?

Odds are you are providing as much value to your customers as actors provide to their audience. In fact, if you are teaching new skills then you are providing more value than someone who merely entertains. You’re just not doing it at the same scale… yet.

Please realize that you are indeed worth more than you realize. Think of this as permission to raise your goals considerably, and take the action needed to get there.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, then you know I advocate testing everything to see what works rather than simply taking the advice of others. In fact, I tell my readers to test what I preach as well. Just because I say something works for me doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you.

For example, let’s talk about bonuses – those things we’re all told to attach to offers to increase conversions. We sometimes spend as much time building bonuses as we do creating the product itself. But did you know that bonuses don’t always increase sales?

And that sometimes they can actually HURT your sales?

I’m not sure why that happens, but I can remember a time or two when I’ve been tempted to purchase a product and then noticed the bonuses. Inside I groaned… “You mean I have to download and read all that stuff, too?” It’s too much, and I close the page rather than make the purchase.

Bonuses can distract from the main product, dilute the main product’s value and even make the whole product package too big and too complicated.

Plus, bonuses sometimes cause confusion or point out a flaw in the product. “Why are they adding the bonus on getting traffic? Oh my gosh, that’s right, I’ll need to get traffic to make this work. How hard is it to get traffic? It must be difficult or they wouldn’t add that bonus. Forget it, I can’t do this…”

This is why the smart marketer tests out each bonus. Try making your offer with and without the bonuses and see what happens. If you have more than one bonus, you might also test having more or less of those bonuses until you find just the right combination or no bonuses at all, whichever converts the best.

And here’s a bonus for you: The next time you create a product, don’t assume you have to make a half dozen bonuses, too. Maybe you can save time and increase sales by simply offering your product as is. Now wouldn’t that be great?

Because competition is a real factor here, I’m not allowed to reveal the exact niche for this case study. Luckily, this method will work in any niche where you can save people money on something they’re already buying. And it will work in a lot of other niches, too, but for now let’s talk about the whole money saving deal.

For purposes of discussion, I’m going to change the niche to air travel, and we’ll assume it’s not during a pandemic.

This person – we’ll call him Vinnie – set up an information email list giving away free info on cheap flights. Again, I’ve changed the niche, but let’s roll with it. When airlines get cancellations, make mistakes and so forth, they sometimes offer crazy good deals just to get the seats filled. Vinnie keeps tabs of these offers and sends his list info that can save them a lot of money on their airline tickets.

But here’s where it gets good: While anyone can subscribe for free, he also has a paid version. The cost is low, about $40 for 3 months or $90 for a year. The savings on just one deal alone can be several hundred dollars, making it an easy sale to air travelers.

The difference between free and paid subscriptions is the free subscribers only get about one third of the deals in their inbox.

Paid subscribers get ALL the deals.

Here’s what’s great about this business model:

•   The content writes itself. All you would be doing is passing along the info that your readers want. Essentially it might sound something like, “Delta is offering 2 for 1 discounts for the next 24 hours for transatlantic flights. Here’s the link to their site.”

•   Readers can easily afford the subscription price. If they have the money for plane tickets, they can afford a $90 subscription.

•   Getting just one deal a year more than pays for the subscription. People who continue to fly do not unsubscribe.

•   Paid members get an ego bump because they have ‘inside knowledge’ they can brag about to others. “My guy saved me $400 on my ticket.”

•   It’s easy to get new subscribers. Since he has a free version and because people want to save money, his conversion rate on his squeeze page is extremely high.

•   Once free subscribers see how valuable the info is and realize they are missing two-thirds of it, upgrading is an easy sell.

He made $140,000 in just the first six months alone. He wouldn’t tell me how much he’s made since, but I do know he bought an expensive new house and he’s hired 3 people to handle most of the business for him.

One more thing: Once he realized how big this was going to become (and please remember, I have not revealed his true niche) he decided to bring on affiliates with a referral program. This made things explode and kept his competition to a minimum.

Here’s what you can do: Be on the lookout for any niche where people need quick, up to date info on something. It might not just be about saving money on a particular item. Maybe they need the latest news or methods in their niche such as investing and so forth.

When you find a good possibility, verify that people are paying money in the niche. Obviously, people pay for airline tickets so that would be easy. And some niches will surprise you. I’ve heard of a guy who is making a killing writing a monthly newsletter about collecting arrowheads. He works maybe 5 to 10 hours a month and pulls in $10,000 in monthly subscriptions in his one man operation.

Create a free version of your newsletter, find where your audience hangs out and get them signed up. Show them why it’s to their benefit to become an insider and upgrade to the paid version.

Learn your numbers and start advertising to scale the entire operation up. Vinnie advertises online and in publications.

Remember to sell your readers other stuff, too. If your niche is golf tips, sell them golf equipment and golf packages. If your niche is dog training, sell them high end dog food and so forth.

This is so simple, you can get started almost immediately, just as soon as you choose your profitable niche.