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  #1  
Old February 8, 2012, 09:04 AM
Tina
 
Posts: n/a
Default {Le Sigh}

Are any of you reminded of the scene from the movie FOOTLOOSE where the kids have fought the good fight, gotten permission to have the Senior Prom dance they wanted yet when the time comes we see them all there, standing on the sidelines? Wallflowers, every one of them.

The music is playing, but nobody's dancing.

Let me step onto the dance floor and show you my moves. Maybe a few of you will join me.

Over the past few years, I've toyed with the idea of starting a hotsheets/hot profits business. Bought a short, snappy, highly brandable domain name from which to sell my stuff. Made a logo of sorts. Got an idea for how to "run things." Yesterday, I hired a writer to do a series of products for me.

Each product will focus on a single, specific idea or problem and will provide a solution. Those should be ready soon. When they are, it's time to introduce products to a swarm of potential buyers.

Here's my plan:

Introduce the site and the first product via a special offer over on that "other forum" from whence I came. The price will be low, so getting the product works like an impulse buy. This helps me build a buyers list.

When the second product is released, I will make the first one available for affiliates to sell -- at 100% commission.

Buyers of the first product will get a notice when the second product is released. They get first dibs. Then a special offer will be run for the second product. Then affiliates get to sell...blah, blah, blah.

The cycle will continue with subsequent products with most of the profits going into the creation of additional products.

Sounds boring when you type it out, but I hear it works nicely.

Anyone have thoughts about this? Advice to offer? Comments, or even snarks about how it's too simple (or much more complicated) and will never work?

... let's dance.

Tina

Last edited by Tina : February 8, 2012 at 09:31 AM.
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  #2  
Old February 9, 2012, 12:57 AM
Ankesh's Avatar
Ankesh Ankesh is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Mumbai, India
Posts: 692
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Thanks Tina for sharing your plans with us. Its a good plan.

Few pointers:

* There is no feedback loop. No one to tell you which products to create. No one to tell you if the product is coming out to be good - before it is all done. You can dramatically increase your products chances to succeed if you create a feedback system.

- Before you start creating your 2nd product, email the buyers of the first product and ask them what problems they face. (Don't ask them about what they want. Because they won't know what they want. Ask them what problems they want solved.)

- Pre-sell. Let your current buyers buy the 2nd product at a high discount. And then send them one chapter at a time. Collect feedback and get your writer to improve the product as it is being written.

- The affiliate program. Have it open from the day you start selling the product. Not afterwards. This way, a few of your buyers can start promoting your products to their friends right away.

- Create promotional tools people can use to promote you.

- Create a marketing plan on how to promote the products besides the forum sales. Focus on doing 2-3 marketing things. And doing them well. Don't jump from one marketing idea to the next.
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  #3  
Old February 9, 2012, 07:47 AM
Tina
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Hiya Ankesh! Thanks for posting a few tips for me. I appreciate it. A few of your suggestions didn't seem relevant, like -- none of my products will have "chapters" to share for feedback. They will be very short.

I will definitely make promotional tools available. Banners, text ads, etc. I'm not very video savvy. If I were, I'd have those in my promotional toolbox as well.

Good idea on having the affiliate program available from the get-go. I'm thinking of using jvzoo for this. As for the marketing plan, I'm only planning to use the forum to "kickstart" things. After that, I have a few other directions to go.

Wouldn't it be nice if word of mouth buzz just kicked in right from the start? LOL. I'm not wearing my dream goggles, though. Which means I'll be advertising.

Thanks again, Ankesh. Good tips and suggestions there.

Tina
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  #4  
Old February 10, 2012, 07:30 AM
Cornell
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Hi Tina:

2 thoughts.

I wouldn't wait until your second product is out or ready to come out before taking on affiliates for the first product.

When you are ready to announce your first product on that 'other forum' I would build into the offer instant affiliate status....everyone who purchases immediately becomes an affiliate...some will actually promote it but most won't.

The idea would be to have some affiliate marketers in place from the first product and ready to promote the second when it is ready to go rather than starting to look for affiliates.

I am not a big fan of 100% commission going to the affiliate unless the price point is very low.....the reason being that any one who is an affiliate will expect that 100% on further products and when they can't have it they falter on promoting or just won't sign on for the product that isn't 100%.

Not to mention you have done the work and if you go 100% your only income will be from the initial sale to the affiliate...you are drying up passive income.

Without knowing your product lineup I would be tempted to go one step further and make it a membership site...if you are wanting it a no brainer to become a member then do an offer on the 'other forum' at half price entrance....regular price $12 per month ...half price entrance $6 per month. ...and offer resell rights to all the products (you will add at least one new one each month)....kicker here is that they will actually be affiliates because you will not turn over the product to them....their purchasers will have to come to your site for the purchase and the download...essentially the same as being an affiliate with 100% commission....except with a twist of words you now have a passive membership income.

We actually do it a bit different...with our software we have turned resell rights into a licensing and passive income that works quite nicely for us....resell rights sold in bundles for x amount and when the resellers have sold that number they must return and purchase another bundle...some balk at it but it does create a passive income (something that resell rights don't generally provide)....but the membership idea I think would work for you from your explanation of your plans.

Secondly I think perhaps you should explore www.pinterest.com ...a social site with a twist and growing by leaps and bounds.... and stats on it say it is populated by 60% female, 40% male at this time...so if your product lends itself more to the female buyer could be an even better fit.

In fact I believe Tiffany Dow put out a product on the 'other forum' about it within the last week.

Just things perhaps for you to ponder upon.

Cornell
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  #5  
Old February 10, 2012, 02:36 PM
Tina
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Hiya Cornell!

Thanks for your tips and for responding. :-)

You know, I'm not a big fan of affiliate marketing in the first place, although I do "get" how it helps get more eyeballs to an offer. With my idea, you're right -- I wouldn't be making any recurring income. My income would largely come from those initial sales to my list.

Several years ago, I ran a membership site. Not exactly rinky-dink, but not as pro as some of today's memberships. Nah, I set it up by putting my membership site files in a protected directory using MSFrontPage software. Users had a username and password assigned, and when anyone tried to access the directory, they had to type their credentials in a pop-up box. That was it. Of course, this was back before paid content and paid memberships on the web were "the thing."

But that's not quite what I have in mind today. Today, I'm keeping it simple - product for sale, buy button, redirect to download. Next.

Pinterest -- yes, I have heard of it and I think Tiffany is where I first learned about it. Looks addictive, which reminds me why I only look at Tumblr in my son's room when he calls me in to see something particularly hilarious. I'd stay in there for hours reading 9gag if I didn't force myself to leave (his room is a total guy room, so it's easy for me to leave -- UNLESS I'm looking at Tumblr). I absolutely refuse to go on the site from my own computer. I might never leave! lol

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll visit the Pinterest site again and look at it from a different perspective (one of marketer).

You mention "your software" and rights licensing...tell me more about those? Rights licensing information/how to could be quite useful for me in other areas.

Tina
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  #6  
Old February 11, 2012, 02:50 AM
Cornell
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tina View Post
Hiya Cornell!

Thanks for your tips and for responding. :-)

You mention "your software" and rights licensing...tell me more about those? Rights licensing information/how to could be quite useful for me in other areas.


Hi Tina:

Will respond a bit cryptically as I don't want the response to be perceived as product promotion. ( Dien,Gordon - hoe this response stay within guidelines )

Quite simply the main software is a full content management, ecommerce, membership, affiliate software plus some but we added a little twist to it....so in answer to your question.....

You would have a product you want to sell resell rights to...you would decide how many resell copies you would want to bundle - let's say 50 for a $47 fee......you would then sell the package of 50 to a reseller. The software generates a script which is given to the reseller and added to his hosted site account. The script on his account works in the background and when he has sold x number (set by you the seller of the resell rights package) the script advises the reseller that he/she is down to the set number of copies and if he/she wants to continue selling it is time to return to your site to purchase another bundle at the $47 price.

Personally I just plain got tired of doing resell rights and having the profit stop there.... so I had our developers add this option to the software to create passive income from them.

Hope that answers your question.

If you want a more complex answer please login here at SOWPub and email me from my profile.

Cornell
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  #7  
Old February 11, 2012, 09:02 AM
Tina
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Interesting, Cornell.

Thanks for the info. I'd like to know what your software is, so .. why don't you have a link to it in your signature file here on the forum? I'm pretty sure that is allowed.

As for coming off as promotional, I don't see why it should. I asked about it, you were just answering my question. It's business software and this is a business forum, so I don't think they would punt you out for being plain-spoken.

There's plenty enough "cryptic speak" on here as it is. :-) Some of it just sounds like spider-food or whatnot. Sheesh. And those cryptologists haven't been punted, so I get the feeling your plain reply would be safe.

I could be wrong, though. Next time, post it up anyway and if it gets deleted, just reply "Hey Tina, I did answer you, but the mods must have thought it was promotional, so here's the crypto-version" and I'll understand what happened.

Thanks again,
Tina
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  #8  
Old February 10, 2012, 11:36 PM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 3,471
Default Used to clean house to soundtrack....my Kirby was the HERO...

Tina,

Warrior Forum isn't a dirty word here...most of us are Warriors, albeit, not much for participating...but we learn from the WF.

Sounds like you have a good plan. Just be patient, think of a year goal, and let time build your list and profits.

Once you have a few hotsheets, you can bundle them...or if you have several of a similar topic, you have a report, then if you want, you charge more bux.

IF you have topics on IM, you'll have a winner. Warriors, especially those who have come on board in the last year, are like drunks in a bar, stuffing down peanuts, and then trying to quench their thirst.

It is a huge market, and you have a lot of "models" to follow over there.

Good luck, sounds like a well thought out plan.

Gordon

PS. In my mind, me and Kirby are as good as Kevin Bacon was, until I run it by the full length mirror...and see the reality. I think I'll write a movie script about what old people think is going on and the harsh reality...

Or short video with MeatLoaf Rock and Roll Dreams come true blasting away...as Pop rocks on the front porch while Ma rolls out in her powered wheel chair. Look out Chris Penn, I'm bustin some moves.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tina View Post
Are any of you reminded of the scene from the movie FOOTLOOSE where the kids have fought the good fight, gotten permission to have the Senior Prom dance they wanted yet when the time comes we see them all there, standing on the sidelines? Wallflowers, every one of them.

The music is playing, but nobody's dancing.

Let me step onto the dance floor and show you my moves. Maybe a few of you will join me.

Over the past few years, I've toyed with the idea of starting a hotsheets/hot profits business. Bought a short, snappy, highly brandable domain name from which to sell my stuff. Made a logo of sorts. Got an idea for how to "run things." Yesterday, I hired a writer to do a series of products for me.

Each product will focus on a single, specific idea or problem and will provide a solution. Those should be ready soon. When they are, it's time to introduce products to a swarm of potential buyers.

Here's my plan:

Introduce the site and the first product via a special offer over on that "other forum" from whence I came. The price will be low, so getting the product works like an impulse buy. This helps me build a buyers list.

When the second product is released, I will make the first one available for affiliates to sell -- at 100% commission.

Buyers of the first product will get a notice when the second product is released. They get first dibs. Then a special offer will be run for the second product. Then affiliates get to sell...blah, blah, blah.

The cycle will continue with subsequent products with most of the profits going into the creation of additional products.

Sounds boring when you type it out, but I hear it works nicely.

Anyone have thoughts about this? Advice to offer? Comments, or even snarks about how it's too simple (or much more complicated) and will never work?

... let's dance.

Tina
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  #9  
Old February 11, 2012, 09:10 AM
Tina
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: {Le Sigh}

Gordon, Hi!

Your Kirby was the hero? Oh man, I would love to see some video footage of that. I'll bet you're Kevin Bacon all over again on the dance floor.

My housecleaning soundtrack was Warrant's "Dirty, Rotten, Filthy Stinkin' Rich" album. Down Boys and 32 Pennies kept me washing, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, and folding in good spirits for years -- the cassette was a birthday gift from my sister. One I'm sure my husband was neverendingly thankful for.

Thank you for your comments on my plan. And I wasn't sure about the temperature of sentiment toward the WF over here, but I had a hunch most of you played over there from time to time.

Yes, my initial topics will be IM related, but I have no intention of sticking to only those. Rather, the plan is to offer products in niches all over the board. Time will tell how it'll work out. Right now, I'm bending my brain around just getting it started.

Thanks for popping in!

Tina
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