Author Archive | Zed Debebe

Almost any marketing coach can tell you stories of students who came to them for help in launching their product. The student has the product ready to go. Maybe it needs a few tweaks, but they are small things that could be done in a few days or maybe even in a few hours. We’re talking about products that in many cases are better quality than 90% of products out there. But they won’t launch the product. They keep telling themselves the product isn’t ready, that it needs improving, the time isn’t right, etc…

They’re deluding themselves. The real reason they’re not launching? Terror.

Stark terror that someone, somewhere, will say something BAD about their product.

Or worse yet – people will hate their product AND the product won’t sell worth a darn.

But here’s the fact to focus on instead: A product that is never launched makes no money. Period.

Yes, someone might not like your product. So what? In fact, there could be HUNDREDS of people who don’t like your product. So what? If the product is selling, does it matter that some people don’t like it?

Look at radio talk show hosts and commentators. They have thousands or in some cases hundreds of thousands of people who don’t like them. Yet they also have a loyal following and LOTS and LOTS of money.

So how do you get over the fear of launching? Here’s one way:

Agree with yourself that your product isn’t finished. That’s right – it isn’t done yet. But you’re going to launch ANYWAY.

As you improve your product, you will send your customers updated versions. What’s that? You forgot to add a section about managing gophers to your gardening product? Add the section and send it out to buyers.

Then add it to the product itself so all new buyers get it automatically. And then add a couple of bullets to your sales letter that let prospects know you cover gophers, too.

Easy, right?

In fact, this gives you an entirely new way to look at criticism. Instead of cringing and wishing you had done the product differently, you can objectively look at the criticism and decide if you want to make a change based on that feedback or not. This is a much more empowering point of view than hiding in the corner, fearful of any negative comment that might come your way.

Now then, let’s look at a worst case scenario: You launch your product and the very first feedback you get is, “This product sucks, I want a refund!” If this happens, there is one of two things going on, and the next few days will tell you which one it is.

If more people write back with similar comments, then maybe you do have a poor product. In that case, pull it, fix it and relaunch it. Or pull it and create something else.

But if sales are good and refunds are low, then what you encountered on that first feedback was likely a chronic ‘refunder’ – one of those people who buy products with the intention of asking for a refund. Another name for those folks? Sorry, I can’t print it here.

Just know that the vast, VAST majority of buyers don’t do this. Most buyers are good, honest, decent people. The few who do chronically refund are just a minor annoyance that ALL product sellers have to put up with, including the big, big names in your niche.

So don’t sweat it. Give them their refund and if you have the capability, block them from buying from you again, just to avoid aggravation down the line when you launch your next product.

Fear of launching your product is a fear of leaving your comfort zone. Comfort zones are… well… comfy. Cozy. Warm. Secure.

But sometimes you have to take a deep breath, hit the button and launch your new product to the world.

Don’t worry – it gets less scary each time you do it. And you’re not alone. Even product creators who have made millions still get plenty nervous when it’s time to launch their new creation. It’s natural. The point is, you can’t let a case of nerves, no matter how bad they are, get in the way of moving forward and launching your product.

Find out what you need to use to get yourself to launch. Is it a reward? Blackmail? A psychological trick? A reminder of WHY you are doing this?

I know one marketer who imagines hurling himself into battle each time he launches. Another one keeps photos of his family at his desk to remind him of why he needs to overcome his fear. And a third bribes herself with a 4 day vacation for each product she launches. Whatever it takes to get you to launch – just do it.

You want your home page to capture just as many email addresses as possible. But using a squeeze page is not nearly as effective as it used to be. If your squeeze page isn’t pulling in stellar results, it’s time to update and improve your conversion rate in a big way. So how do you do it? By creating what you can call an upside down home page.

Here’s how it works:

Above the fold at the top of the page (this is the portion of the page the visitor sees without scrolling down): This is where you place your first call to action. This is a big box that goes all the way across the screen with no distractions. In the box you will place just enough copy to ‘hook’ visitors into subscribing, along with a call to action.

For example, the headline might be, “Double Your Website Traffic in 22 Days.” Your sub-headline could be, “Get the Good, Bad and Ugly on Every Traffic Method from Proven Marketers.” And your button copy could be, “Get the 5 Top Methods Now.” That’s it. No need for long copy. Be direct and let them know exactly what they can learn on your site and what they get if they subscribe to your list.

Use a two-step for capturing emails. That is, only show the button on the home page. Once they click the button, then they are taken to a second page where they submit their email address. This alone can increase sign-ups by 10% or more.

Directly underneath that big box you’re going to put something that lends to your social proof. For example, you can do an “As seen on…” box with the logos of all the sites that have written about your business. Or you can put a short and powerful testimonial from a happy customer. Or you can even use a quote from someone famous in your niche. Even though this famous person doesn’t know you, it still lends credibility to you and your business by association.

Underneath the social proof is the area that is hidden until the user scrolls down. Here you will place one of your most popular pieces of content. If you’re not sure what that is, just take a look at your analytics to find out which post of yours had the most social shares.

But you’re not going to simply copy and paste that post. Instead, you’re going to reformat it like this:

First, tell the result. You’re telling visitors a story about someone who got great results from what you are teaching.

For example, tell how an unknown website went from being a ghost town to generating “x” amount of traffic and “y” amount of subscribers and “z” amount of sales in a certain time period, using just 2 methods they learned on your site.

Second, tell the story. But not the whole story. You’re going to focus on the before and after, and what a difference it’s made and so forth. But to get the details of how it was done, they’ll need to subscribe. Give them just enough to hook them in so they urgently want to get the rest of the story.

Third, tease them with bullet points on what they will discover in the full article or interview.

If by now you’re thinking this is something like a sales letter, it definitely does borrow some of the techniques without being a full blown sales piece.

Fourth, place your final call to action. It might say something like, “Discover how to get non-stop traffic to your website using Angela’s secret,” or “Discover how Angela took her income from $0 to 5-figures with these two simple traffic methods.”

Lastly, place your website navigation at the bottom for those who do not subscribe. That’s right – navigation buttons go on the bottom, not on the top. That’s why it’s called an upside-down home page.

Set your page up so that once a user subscribes, they never see that sign up page again. Instead, they see a welcoming or home page on subsequent visits.

Try this set up and see if you don’t improve your list building efforts dramatically. It really can make a huge difference.

There’s a Shakespeare quote you’ve heard: “To thine own self be true.”

And here’s another one (not quite with the Shakespeare flair, but still quite eloquent): “You can’t fit a round peg into a square hole.”

People online will tell you what to do. How to do it. When to do it.

They’ll tell you to get up two hours early and work on your business before work. Or set a timer for 30 minutes and work without distraction. Or enter a niche just because there is money there. They’ll tell you all sorts of things. And they’ll even get righteously indignant when you don’t do what they tell you to do.

So now I’m going to tell you what to do. Seriously.

Know yourself first. Yes, you can get round pegs into square holes, but it does a tremendous amount of damage to the round peg. If you like to sleep in until 10:00 am, then maybe that’s what you should do. You probably do your best work in the afternoon and evening anyway.

If you have a flair for an odd niche, maybe you should find a way to monetize that, instead of going into a more popular and overcrowded field that everyone is telling you to enter.

If you don’t like speaking to people in person, why are you buying that course on how to do marketing for local businesses?

Figure out who you are and what you’re good at. Then build your business around YOU.

For example, if you’re great at seeing the big picture and hate details, then focus on what needs to be done and have other people do the actual work through outsourcing. If you love to write but hate to deal with websites, have someone else set up and run your blog. If you hate writing but love talking, make a vlog instead of a blog. Or do a podcast. Or both.

Just don’t do the thing you hate to do, because guess what? You cannot force yourself to do the things you don’t like for any real length of time. It just isn’t going to work.

To be successful, figure out who you are and what you like. THEN figure out how to build a business around you, instead of trying to mold yourself to a business you simply aren’t suited to.

If you haven’t yet had a big launch of your own, then it can be hard to relate to how things work, what needs to be done, and especially the results you can get. It all seems a bit foreign and out of reach. But the fact is, anyone has the potential to create a product that people love and launch it with tremendous success.

Imagine spending the next 2 months working on your new product and the launch itself. Then the big day is almost here. You’re lying in bed the night before, wondering if you did everything you can do to make this a big success. You’re worried it will flop. You’re thinking, “What if I just wasted the last two months of my life?” But the fact is, no matter what happens, it’s impossible to waste that experience as long as you learn from it.

Do you know what else you’re feeling? Excitement. It’s like the night before Christmas when you were a kid, times 10. Or maybe times 100. You can hardly sleep. What will tomorrow bring?

And let’s face it – you’re also proud of yourself. Regardless of how many sales you make or don’t make, you did it. You stuck with it and saw it through to the end. And that is priceless.

Do you see what we’re doing here? We’re imagining what it will be like when you launch your first BIG product later this year. Wow. What a great way to get motivated, huh?

Now then, I’m going to show you how to add a hefty sum to the bottom line of your next (or your first) product launch, and increase your chance of success in the process.

Let’s say you’ve done your work. You’ve built a nice list of buyers and prospects by offering terrific info on your topic. Now it’s time to take the next step and offer a course of instruction for the advanced players. You’ve even got some terrific affiliates lined up. You press the button and POW! Your new product is launched to the world.

Sales on the first day prove that you have a winner. For the next few days, sales continue to come in at a slower rate. Then on the final day of your launch, WHAM! Sales flood in like crazy. Why? Because people have trouble making up their mind, and it’s your deadline that will get them over the fence and clicking the buy button.

Your launch wraps up and you’ve done a very satisfying amount of sales. It might be $20,000, it might be $200,000, I don’t know. The point is, your launch was a success.

Now here’s how you make it even BETTER:

After your deadline passes, open a new, special enrollment period for 24 hours. Offer this special enrollment period ONLY to those who have clicked through to your sales page during the launch, but never enrolled. This way you are only sending it to those who have basically pre-qualified themselves.

Offer them something new. For example, if you were offering your product for one big price, offer them a payment option. Let’s say your course was $297. You could offer them 3 payments of $99.

Or if you were offering a payment option during your launch, now you can offer them a better payment option. Instead of $99 a month for 3 months, offer $49 for seven months.

When you send an email to tell them about this special enrollment period, thank them for their interest. Let them know that you understand they might want a better payment plan, and this is their one chance.

If you don’t want to offer payments, consider offering something else instead. Maybe a one-on-one Skype call to answer questions after they’ve gone through the course. Or a critique of their work after using the course. Or a special bonus that ties in nicely.

Here’s the bottom line: By clicking through to the sales page, these people have shown that they are indeed interested. Some of them very nearly bought. But ‘nearly’ doesn’t make the sale, and if you don’t get them to buy now, they never will.

What you’re doing is providing them with one more opportunity, along with an additional incentive, to get your course. If your course is good (and we certainly hope it is) then you are doing them a major service by making this offer.

And in return, you can put an extra 4 or 5 figures into your pocket, simply by sending a couple of emails. Of course, you’ve got to do all the work that comes with having a product launch. But the point is, in the world of online marketing there are no limits to what you can earn, if you’re willing to do what it takes.

Now for some motivation…

Think about what you want most in your life right now. Is it more time? More money? More freedom?

You can have all of this and more. And once you start making money, a funny thing happens. It gets easier and easier as you discover more and more techniques like the one we just described above. You’ve just got to do the work to get it, whether you feel motivated or not.

I’ll leave you with one last trick: Make a list of what you need to do in order to launch your next product. Find one thing on that list you can do right this moment, and then spend the next 15 minutes getting started on it. That’s it, just 15 minutes. Once you get started, you’ll probably discover you don’t want to quit.

And there’s your motivation. As the shoe company says, Just Do It. Just get started. That’s truly the hardest part. Everything after that? Is all downhill and will build momentum, almost automatically.

Want to KNOW your product will be a hit BEFORE you make it? This is simple and easy to do. And it can save you a ton of time and frustration. Validating your next product idea is crucial if you want to be sure you’re going to have a winning product on your hands.

Here’s how to do it…

Create a pre-launch page.

On the pre-launch page, give a short summary of your up and coming product. This is like a mini sales page with a headline, bullet points, benefits and a call to action. In this case, the call to action is a waiting list to buy the product when it comes out.

Once they join this list, send them to a second page that again talks about the product, but also offers them the chance to buy it right now at a lower price.

Structure it with your offer at the top. “Buy your copy now and get $20 off, plus this extra bonus.” Then reiterate the benefits of the product, and make the offer again at the bottom. Some people will likely click the buy button at the top without ever scrolling. Others will want to review what’s in the product before they buy.

Send the offer to your list. Gauge your response. Obviously, if you get no or very few takers, refund anyone who did order and move on to your next project. If you get a lot of people joining the waiting list and quite a few pre-ordering, you have a hit on your hands.

If the response rate is somewhere in between then you’ll have to make a judgement call. In this case, you might want to survey people who did join your list to see what they like about it, and survey those who didn’t join to see what they don’t like. Then make adjustments.

That’s it! By using this simple system you can accurately forecast whether you should go ahead and create that product you’ve got in mind, or move on to another, better project.

It’s tempting to send offer after offer to your list in the hopes of making the most money. Yet this is also a sure fire way to alienate your readers and send them packing. If all you ever do is pitch them in every email, they’re either going to stop opening your emails, or simply unsubscribe. In either case, you are no longer relevant to your list. So when it comes time to promote your own products, no one will be listening.

There is a better way, and it’s to provide content along with the promotions. The problem is in knowing what kind of content to give them. What do they want to know? How long is it going to take you to research it and write it? And will it even be read?

The key is to think ‘engagement’ over selling. If you can continually engage your audience, then you can continually sell to them as well, at a reasonable pace.

Think of it this way: Every engagement email is like building your goodwill account. Every promotional email is like cashing in on that account. Both are equally important.

Here are 4 reasons to send engagement type emails:

1. They take the pressure off of you and let you have fun with your list. Let’s face it – if every email you send is trying to convince people to buy yet another product, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to continually SELL SELL SELL. And you know in your heart of hearts that your list does NOT want another email telling them to BUY BUY BUY. Which means you are having NO FUN writing nothing but promotional emails. Who can blame you?

Even a born sales person likes to take some time off and just shoot the breeze, talk about sports, do some gardening, whatever. Well, you and your list need time off as well. And we don’t mean time when they don’t hear from you, but instead time when you have something to say that doesn’t involve them reaching for their wallets yet again.

2. You can be their go-to person in your niche. If all you do is sell, then they always have their guard up when they open your emails – and with good reason. But if you can show them how to do things without buying, and even how to buy better, you can become the authority they like and trust.

3. You can email more often. If you only send promotional emails, you better either keep the frequency down or expect to burn your list. But if you’re sending engagement type emails, you don’t have to worry about how often you email (within reason.) Who doesn’t want to hear the latest news or tips or tricks in their favorite niche? Send it out, they WANT to read this stuff.

A funny thing happens when you send out engagement type emails and then you take a few days off – your list will write to you asking where you are and if you’re okay. When this happens, you know you’ve created magic.

4. You can cheat. Big time. What I mean by this is you can reuse material you’ve already written. Did you write a dynamite blog post earlier this year that got rave reviews? Break it up into several emails and send it out. Do you have a report on how to do something that is full of great tips? Break it up into several emails and send it out.

You don’t always have to come up with new material for engagement emails – you can reuse stuff from your articles and posts. Nice!

Here are 10 topics you can write about besides the usual ‘buy this’ stuff:

1. The latest news in your niche AND how it might affect your readers. Don’t just give the news – personalize it with your own take and your thoughts on how it might impact your list.

2. Tips, tricks and great ideas on how to do things in your niche. Everyone wants the latest hack on how to do something easier/faster/cheaper/better. So let them in on the secrets.

3. Teach your list how to be a savvy shopper in your niche. What should they look out for? What features are must-have, and what should they avoid? This is a great way to make yourself into the authority.

4. 3 minute interviews. Send email interviews to authorities in your niche and create emails from those interviews. These don’t need to be long – 1 to 5 questions is all you need.

5. Spotlight your customers. Show how Bill bought your product and used it with good results. Talk about the obstacles he had to overcome, the problems he solved, and anything else that might interest your readers.

6. Show your list how to USE your product. If they’ve purchased, this is helpful. If they haven’t, they get to feel what it would be like if they did purchase. Either way, it’s a win-win.

7. Stuff for your list only. Give your list benefits that people can get nowhere else. This might be free products, insider information or special discounts. Make these special benefits expire to train your list to open your emails as soon as they receive them.

8. Stories. People LOVE stories. Don’t get wordy, do start in the middle of the story where the action is, and always make it entertaining as well as relevant to your niche.

9. Seasonal tips. If you’re in a niche that changes with the seasons, this is perfect. For example, if your niche is sports then fall is the time to talk about the upcoming ski season, while spring is when you can talk about baseball, soccer, etc. Is your niche cooking? Talk about seasonal foods. Even if your niche isn’t seasonal, with a little creativity you can still use this angle.

10. Personality and humor. You don’t want to ramble on about yourself or your business, but injecting your own personality is terrific and highly recommended. And anytime you can make your readers smile or even laugh, you’re sure to get them to open your next email.

What not to talk about in your emails:

– Too much personal info. A line or two about yourself is fine, but unless you’re telling a story that is of particular interest to your readers, don’t overdo it. No one wants to know your life history, at least not in a broadcast email.

– How terrible your competition is. There is an exception to this rule: If one of your customers has a personal story of their experience with your competition, you can use it. But YOU cannot trash your competition. Even if every word you say is true, it still makes you look like a jerk.

By sending out engagement emails, you won’t burn your list, you’ll build rapport with your list, and in the end you wind up selling more than if you simply sent promotional emails. Plus your list will actually LIKE you and say nice things about you in social media, which is always a plus.

Guaranteed, you’ve been on the customer side of this equation. You buy a product and you think you’re going to be directed to the download page. Instead, you find yourself on an upsell page trying to sell you another product.

No problem, you scroll to the bottom and click the ‘no thanks’ link, thinking you’re about to get to the download page.

No such luck. You’re on another upsell page. You scroll down and click ‘no thanks’ again, and you’re taken to…

… yet another upsell page. Now you’re getting irritated. You scroll down, click the ‘no thanks’ button, and you’re finally taken to…

… another upsell page! @#$%&

You’re no longer just irritated, you’re annoyed, mad and even downright ANGRY. Odds are you are talking to your computer and what you’re saying is not very nice.

Who can blame you?

Now then, let’s look at this from the marketer’s standpoint: The more offers you as the marketer can make, the more money you will make.

Today, that is.

But when you make your customers angry, what happens? They remember how you made them feel. In fact, they will remember how you made them feel long, long after they’ve forgotten your product. And the next time you try to sell them something, they’ll decide they’re going to stay far away from your offers because they do NOT want to get caught in upsell hell ever again.

So what’s the solution? Offer ONE upsell. Just one. Then take your buyers straight to the download page.

On the download page, you can offer them another product with a nice discount. You’re not holding their purchase hostage at this point because they’re able to download it. So they’re not going to resent you for making them another offer, especially if they get it at a reduced price.

Then in your autoresponder sequence, you can offer them all the upsells, down sells and cross sells you like interspersed with helpful info, news and so forth.

The bottom line comes down to this: If you want to be a flash in the pan and make all of your money today, use a ton of upsells. No one will buy from you again, but it won’t matter because you’ll be living on the beach somewhere carving coconuts.

But if you want to build a long term business, then respect your customers and never, ever put them through upsell hell again.

Stuck for ideas on what to write in your next blog post, article or email? I’ve made a list of what readers want most to see from you. In fact, this is exactly the content that people crave, so get ready to make your next content a smash hit with your audience.

Your readers want content that:

– Reminds them that they matter
– Reminds them that they are one of a kind
– Tells a story
– Takes them on a journey
– Surprises them
– Shows them that dreams can come true
– Has unexpected twists and unforeseeable turns
– Reveals awesome secrets
– Shows little Davids beating big Goliaths
– Confirms their thoughts and beliefs
– Challenges their assumptions in a respectful manner
– Gives a fresh point of view
– Takes a stand
– Reminds them that life is short – really short
– Gives them faith to believe in something BIG
– Reminds them to get back to the “basics”
– Makes them smile and laugh
– Makes them cry
– Educates while entertaining
– Inspires them to take action
– Encourages them to never, ever give up

This is the sort of content your readers never get tired of and always have time to read. If it’s really good, they remember it long after they’ve read it. And even if it’s only somewhat good, if it meets any of the above criteria, they are very likely to share it with others.

In other words, this is the kind of content that has the power to inspire, influence and move your readers to ACTION.

The fact is, most people have an expertise that would make a good product others would happily pay for. But some people either don’t feel confident enough to charge for what they know, or they really don’t know enough to charge.

So what kind of product can these folks create? That’s easy – software.

With software, you don’t have to record videos and write PDF’s and give case studies and examples and so forth, other than what you need to sell the software.

All you need to create a software product is basically two things: A good idea and a coder. Coders are easy to come by – just go to any of the freelancing sites and take your pick.

So how do you get a good idea for software? Study your market. See what people need. Make a note when you wish you had software that would do ____, because odds are other people are wishing for the same thing.

Look at the new software introduced in your niche – how could you improve it?

What are the latest, biggest, fastest growing trends? What software can you make to piggyback on these trends?

The fact is, new ideas for software are everywhere if you’re looking for them.

And software generally has a higher perceived value than information. This means you can either charge more than an information product, or keep your price low and get more buyers.

Either way, you’re making sales and building a list of buyers.

All you need now is an idea and the guts to see that idea through.

Which one would you remember: “Pete and Earl’s Hair Salon for Men,” or “Best Head Salon?” How about “The Best Irrigation Installation and Repair” or “Dirty Boots Irrigation?”

Choosing a memorable name for your business, service or product can actually increase your business, for 3 reasons:

– People can remember it in conversation with others. “Check out the “Stealth Remodeler,” he does work during off-hours so he won’t bother your customers.

– People remember it each time they see it. They might forget a generic name and not realize they’ve seen it over and over again online in forums, on blogs and so forth. But a memorable name they will remember. “Hey, I see that product or service everywhere, it must be good!”

– People can remember it when they need your product or service. “I’ve got to get a new window, so I’ll call the one window place I remember: ‘Peek-a-boo Windows.’” Or, “I need help with my website SEO, I’ll Google ‘Naked SEO’ because I remember their name from an article I read.”

Everything else being equal, the catchy, memorable name will win the business.