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Louis Allport
"Hey" "Guru Name Here"
You suddenly lose all your money, along with your name and reputation, and only have your marketing know-how left.
You have bills piled high and people harassing you for money over the phone.
Plus, you have a guaranteed roof over your head, a phone line, and an internet connection for only one month.
You no longer have your big guru name or JV partners. Other than your vast marketing experience, you're an unknown newbie.
What would you do, from day 1 to day 30, to save yourself?
Joe Kumar
Answer – By Louis Allport
Day 1 - What's The Plan?
So I have no money, no business contacts, and only my marketing know how ... here's what I would do:
I would do what I know works...
I would create a membership site and I would JV with influential people to get it going quickly.
So for that I'll need hosting, a billing processor and affiliate software.
Well, since these are tough times I'm going to have to go with a third party processor which is free to sign up with, and which also includes affiliate tracking. In this case, I'll go with Verotel.
So now I need hosting. Usually, this would cost. However...
I don't need money in this case. Why? Because I know I can get a free month with Third Sphere. So I'm going to sign up for a free month of hosting with Third Sphere and I've then literally got 30 days to make enough money to pay my hosting bill (as well as all my other bills of course).
Day Two - What's The Site About? (And Why?)
Now I start to actually decide what to create a site about...
I've got to create it about something I have a track record in. If I don't have credibility in a subject, the product's not going to be sold successfully because it would be deceptive (and people are of course naturally skeptical when parting with money).
Side Note: If you don't have credibility in a subject, you can interview people successful in that subject to get started.
In this case, I have credibility from a 'past life' (so to speak - before all the bill problems), and I'll create a site from that experience...
In my case - I've successfully built up a full time internet publishing business spending very little money in the process.
So I'm going to create a membership site about that and helping people to achieve the same.
But why a membership site as opposed to simply a product?
Here's why:
A membership site is different than just another info-product and this helps it stand out from the crowd
It's often updated which people like - this keeps the information current
It's a lower up front fee so more people are likely to try it out
You can in fact make more money (and fairly predictable income) if people stay month after month
Affiliates like recurring income where they promote once, and then keep getting paid
So those are just some of the benefits of a membership site.
Okay, so I've decided on the subject for the site: "How to make at least a full time income selling information over the internet - spending very little money in the process".
So I've now got to get everything in place by the middle of the month. The site's got to be live by the middle of the month for things to stay on course.
So I'm going to begin creating content...
Day 3 to 10 - Creating Content For The Site ...
Here's how I go about creating the content...
Firstly, I create audio that people can download and listen to.
How do I create audio for free?
Well, I can record it using the default multimedia tools that come with Windows (or even Mac).
Plus I can use the free demo of a program like CoolEdit or a free program like Audacity.
So I record at least a few hours of audio and it's initially in WAV format. This is not a good way to publish audio. I need to turn it into MP3. How do I do that? Very simple...
I do a search in Google. Click here to see that search.
So what would I talk about in this audio to make it really useful?
I would talk about exactly how I built up a full time online info-business ... initially starting it on eBay dirt cheap.
How to write copy proven to sell info-products and then talking through lots of real life case studies.
How to create info-products and how to judge (as much as is possible) what will sell successfully
How to quickly and easily create multimedia products
And so on...
All these audios will cover info-product creation in depth and how to successfully sell them including getting traffic through Overture, affiliate programs, joint ventures, and other sources.
Okay, so now that I've got all this audio recorded I also want to include transcripts. However, I wouldn't have time to type them myself, and don't have the money to hire a transcriber, so I'll initially include articles which are overviews of the audio, and then I'll add the transcriptions when the money's come in for me to get them done.
Side Note: Later on in the life of the site I can include upsells to also have the audio's and transcripts delivered in physical format: tape/CD/printout for a small fee. But that's further down the line once the site grows.
And I'll also create videos that can be viewed on the computer...
I'm choosing a lot of multimedia content since it's actually quicker to create than simply text, plus it often has a higher perceived value, and many people like to learn in different ways, as opposed to simply reading. It's good to offer choice.
So, how can I record videos for free too?
I'll use a program called CamStudio.
Side Note: Of course one of the best sites to find freeware or shareware software is download.com.
For recording the audio and video, I'll need a microphone hooked up into the PC. I'm assuming I've already got one, but I could always borrow one from a friend, or scrounge the $10 needed to buy one somehow. ;-)
Okay ... so now I have a load of content. I'll also throw in some decent eBooks that I find for free by searching Google and perhaps signing up to a few people's ezines. The same goes for any software I'm free to distribute too and wish to include.
Plus I'll also add a resources page with links to good free software and forums and suchlike.
And I'll add a forum to the site too. I'm going to choose to use the free forum script from wwwboard.com.
Side Note: You can find literally thousands of useful scripts at hotscripts.com.
So finally -- I build the site around all that content, including an introduction page, and divide it up into easy to navigate sections.
I'll put this site together for free with Netscape Composer.
Side Note: Netscape Composer is a free WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor that comes free with the Netscape web browser.
And that's the membership area of the site all done.
To protect it from non-members, Verotel include membership management as part of the service.
Day 10 to 15 - Creating The Sales Tools
I now need to create a sales page for the site, and a bunch of affiliate tools to help others promote it.
So how would I write the sales page? Typically I'll do this:
I'll write down every single feature of the site, and then try to turn each one into a benefit to the visitor.
How do I turn a feature into a benefit? I look at the feature and ask "What's in it for the reader?" - in other words how would that feature benefit the visitor?
I'll also have a strong headline, an enticing introduction, some small screen captures of the videos that when clicked open the picture to full size, so the visitor can see what the video's all about.
To do this I use the free demo of Paint Shop Pro - on a PC I press the Print Screen button at an interesting point while I'm playing the video, and save the screen capture as a GIF graphic. I then create a small version of it at 15% that is used in the sales letter.
And here's a very important point...
I get lots of testimonials off people.
I would contact people asking:
"I'd love to give you free access to my web site for life ... all I ask in return is a testimonial - IF - you like the site"
If they don't like the site and tell me, no problem at all. Such feedback is very valuable. I would still let that person have free lifetime access. However, if I don't hear back after a week or so I would forget about that person since they're obviously too busy.
What's also very beneficial about contacting people for testimonials, is since this is the first contact with people I may want to JV with later in the month ... rather than approaching them cold with a JV offer I've made that very important initial contact.
Okay, finally I've got to make a very strong offer...
Obviously, my site should have a ton of valuable and exclusive content so that's a strong offer it itself. However, it will also have a no-quibbles refund of the previous month (if asked for). The member can cancel at any time at all of course.
And very importantly - the member gets full access to the site for 10 full days for only $1. This strong offer will get many sign ups, and if the site is good (I'll make sure it is) a lot of those will become full members.
In this case I'm going to choose $29.95 as the full monthly rate, and make sure that each member gets a lot more value than that every month.
Okay, now onto sales tools for the affiliates...
I'll write some articles that affiliates can use on their web site or in an ezine. I'll also create simple banners with enticing text using Paint Shop Pro.
I'll also write ezine ads - both solo and classified ... some headline tools, and also include pre-written email signatures that people can simply add to all their outgoing emails if they wish (an easy way to get affiliate traffic).
One final thing I'll do is put together a free eBook which features good content from the site. This eBook will be completely free to distribute and will be branded with the ID of the affiliate.
The problem with free eBooks is that because there's so many of them, often they're not paid attention too. So quality is very important here.
I obviously can't give away everything in the site, but I'll be sure to include very good information from the site, in the free eBook. I'll also have eCover graphics that can be used with it ... I'll create those by following the tutorial at CoverArtGuide.com.
Side Note: Another way to get quality graphics done for free is to contact a designer and offer them lifetime access to your site in return for some graphics. If they're interested in the subject matter and not too busy, that may work for you. Think of it as business bartering (it's very common).
So how can I create eBooks for free?
I'll create my HTML using Netscape Composer initially, and then I'll use either www.pdf995.com or createpdf.adobe.com to turn it into PDF for free.
And for branding this free-to-distribute eBook with the ID's of affiliates so that they can distribute it and profit, I'll have to initially do that manually since that's pretty much the only free way. That should all change though once the money starts coming in and I can afford some branding software.
Day 16 to 30 - The Big Promotion
So I'm at the middle of the month, and it's time to do some promotion...
First of all I must decide how much I am going to pay affiliates.
Well, there's standard affiliates and there's JV affiliates. JV affiliates get a very special rate, since I *really* want them to work with me.
So for now with standard affiliates, I'm going to choose to offer 50%. This means $15 recurring on the first level (after the $1 10 day trial of course).
For JV partners I want it to be a really strong offer. I'll make it irresistible so I'll say something like:
"I would like to offer you $25 on the first level, for life"
If Verotel doesn't support that level of commissions, I'll manually add $10 a month for every single member my JV partners refer, and send the extra payment to them via PayPal.
Side Note: Alternative processors that support recurring transactions, membership management, and affiliate tracking - AND - perhaps support high payout percentages are iBill.com, Globill.com and CCbill.com. However, I recommend managing everything through your own affiliate/management scripts since it gives you much more flexibility.
This really is a subject for another day - but as a quick example I run my site ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com with PayPal and Worldpay for accepting payments, AffiliateTracking.com for tracking the recurring affiliate commissions on two levels, and the script from LockedArea.com for managing membership access.
Obviously paying out $25 per member leaves hardly any money at all for me, but the point is to really grow the site and get the momentum building quickly. And this offer I'm making to a few influential JV partners is pretty strong, wouldn't you agree?
Especially since this special commission has no time limit (in other words it won't expire after two or three months). However, they will need to take it up quickly, otherwise I'll offer it to the next person with a total of five JV partners to keep the offer pretty exclusive.
So I'll make the JV offer very strong and I'll explain why I'm making it so strong. I can't make a crazy offer and then not justify it - I'll be honest and say:
"I'd love for you to promote this site to help it grow quickly ... and that's why I've chosen to offer this very special deal to a very select few potential JV partners..."
So once I've got my five influential JV partners, if they all promote it over a very short period of time, then a buzz about the site comes into effect where more and more people want to mention the site.
And what's very important: I would contact all my prospective JV partners in a personal way. I would make the email to each person unique, and approach them from the point of being an ezine subscriber of theirs, and even a customer (only if it's true of course).
I would make the email friendly but to the point. There's no point rambling on. Three or four paragraphs maximum I would say. These people are busy, they've got to understand the offer quickly or they'll put it in a folder to read later and then of course they'll never get around to it.
So I've approached these 5 people and given them lifetime access to the site of course, and if they like it they'll do an endorsement and then (speaking from experience of past promotions) that will probably get me at least 500 $1 signups very quickly.
A percentage of those signups won't become full members of course and I'm obviously making very little money even on those that do, but all this also means that I get a lot of affiliates since I've got an affiliate signup link on the front page. Plus I'll be reminding members who join the site to join the affiliate program too.
So when non-JV affiliates promote the site, I make 50%. Actually, after Verotel fees it's 35% which comes to about $10. So in effect -- I make $10 a month per member.
And let's assume that at the end of the month I've got 500 members in total. 300 of those from JV partners on which I don't make any profit (perhaps a Dollar or two), and the other 200 members on which I make $10 a month. So that's $2,000 in profits initially, and if the site keeps being promoted, that can keep on growing.
Now, that $2,000 obviously isn't a fortune, but I certainly feel it's realistic ... and is a very positive start to getting all those bills paid off...
I can then use some of that money to cover my hosting costs, purchase software for more affiliate tools to create a fully brandable eBook for example, and I could even submit the site to Affiliate Announce to grow the affiliate program faster.
So once I start getting members and affiliates, the most important thing is to fully support them, and to keep adding exclusive content to the site. Every week if possible ... at the very least every couple of weeks.
Side Note: The more exclusive content a membership site has, the more it will retain members, and the more it retains members the more affiliates will want to promote the site.
So this all begins with a single site - making sure it has lots of very high quality and exclusive content (at least a month or two's worth of content for launch with lots of updates due), then getting influential JV partners on board by making them a very strong and unique offer...
And as the site grows and gets lots of attention (because of the JV's) it starts to get known which leads to lots more affiliates, which means more traffic ... and so it continues.
Day 31 Onwards - The Future
Future plans to continue growing the site can include:
Exclusive reprint rights products that I create and make part of the site, allowing members to brand them with their affiliate links and sell. Of course all these products link back to the site.
And it's important to remember that a lot of people won't join the first time they see my site. So even though I've given them a very strong reason to try it out (10 days for $1), I've got to make sure it's often in front of their eyes ... I'll do this with a lot of continuing promotion and by building and supporting my affiliate base.
Plus, to give the site a genuine limited offer I'll choose either:
To put the price up when I reach 500 or perhaps 1,000 members. I don't need to mention the exact membership quota I have in mind, but I need to decide on a figure and follow through on this.
I could also/instead perhaps stop new signups for a six to twelve month period when I hit my membership quota (this is what I'm doing with Reprint Rights Every Month).
This makes membership pretty exclusive and helps stop people from just dipping in and out of the site and abusing the offer.
I could also implement the following to help boost retention:
Loyalty bonuses to members at three months, six months, nine months and twelve months of membership -- at those points the member gets a very valuable bonus free of charge.
And obviously the more retention my affiliates see, the more they're going to promote the site. So it's all self-compounding.
And I can then create new products (outside of the site) and offer this to my affiliate base as a new product to promote and earn commissions on. And so it grows...
So that is how you can go from zero to a full time income within 30 days.
Don't believe it can be done?
Well, that's pretty much how I did it in 'real life' with my site ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com starting around September of 2002.
It actually took me about 60 days from launching my site to go full time and I did have a (small) ezine list which was beneficial, but that really isn't necessary, and I'm living proof that the system I've described works, and how YOU really can reach internet success in 30 days. :-)
This article is supplied for information purposes only and, as experienced in this subject matter as the contributors are, the material herein does not constitute professional business advice.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and the contributors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
The reader is advised to consult with an appropriately qualified business professional before making any business decision. The contributors, Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com do not accept any responsibility for any liabilities resulting from the business decisions made by readers of this article.
copyright © Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com
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