Click here to see the “Opt-in Form Clinic” blog post and submit your own opt-in form!
Leave a comment below, answering today’s question and let’s get a discussion started.
Click here to see the “Opt-in Form Clinic” blog post and submit your own opt-in form!
Leave a comment below, answering today’s question and let’s get a discussion started.
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Hi,
I would like to have discussion with you.
Best regards,
Marjetka
I’ll send you an email. :)
Yep, started a product a while ago after paying for a private coaching course. Partly through fault on the coach’s part, (well… there was a little bit of communication breakdown) things fizzled out and I have a bunch of notes and content that is partly completed and unused!
However, I will say I am also to blame in that I partly became overwhelmed and partly lost a bit of impetus… must be a familiar story…?
Anyway, if I can help, get in touch! Cheers.
Thanks for your reply, Lyndon!
I’m sure you’re not the only one with a story like that. For me, I had a few unfinished books on my hard drive, before I ever got into online business..
I’ll get in touch so we can talk.
http://shopbizi.com/blog (just installed HC) My obstacle now is dev. an effective/entertaining auto-responder series/promo campaign after they subscribe.
Hi Meredith,
I think I might have just the thing for you… I’ll send you an email within the next day or two. :)
Hi Shane,
Just as you are doing with your “Let’s have a conversation” campaign, I know it’s vital to know my target audience’s pain/needs before I can offer a solution. I understand it’s foolhardy to come up with a solution before you know the problem.
Where I’m stuck is the “finding-out-what-they-are-desperate-for” phase. Uncertainty is my downfall.
Michael
Hey Michael,
That’s actually a pretty decent place to be stuck. Better than building a product first and then finding out nobody wants it (which is what most people do).
2 quick questions:
1) If I asked you to tell me characteristics of your target audience or your ideal customer, could you name at least 5 of them?
2) If I asked you to tell me 3-5 places, online or off, where your target audience hangs out, what would those be?
started creating a membership site and got the free course created but didnt finish the membership site. The unfinished part is the training that people will pay for as a one time investment.
Thanks for your reply, Art!
How come it’s unfinished? Is it a problem of finding the time to create the content, a problem of coming up with content or something else?
I have been thinking about creating products for quite some time now, but I still haven’t done one yet. I get stuck for different reasons. The many possiblities with regard to type/format of products, for example. Or how to do/find good quality design (for example for ebook covers, layouts, etc). Or how deep/comprehensive the content should be. I often feel that I have too many ideas, but not enough focus to implement one.
Thanks, Rafael!
I know that feeling too well. I’ve been stuck with loads of product ideas but no products, myself. Not a nice place to be.
I’ll get in touch, if you don’t mind. :)
Hi Shane,
I’m running the Founders’ Guidebook blog, where entrepreneurs can learn the secrets of creating a successful startup. I’ve been posting for about an year now, and slowly increasing my audience and my mailing list.
Although I’m an experienced technology entrepreneur, this is the first time I’m running a blog. I’m currently stuck on how to significantly and more rapidly increase my audience and how to monetize this blog (I’m a consultant to many startups, but that’s mostly coming from word-of-mouth).
I’ll be happy to chat and reciprocate with any good advice I can offer.
Thanks for all the great content,
Shahar
Hi Shahar,
Thanks for your reply!
That’s really interesting! Would love to have a chat, for sure. :)
I’ll send you an email.
Shane,
My son and I own a social media marketing in Nashville, TN. We’ve been in the game for about 2 years now. We are launching a new blog site and we’d like to create our own products to promote and sell. (We’re Hybrid Connect and WP Sharely customers!)
You said in this video that you’d like to hear from us. So there you go!
Thanks for all the value you give.
Tim Cronin
Elite Social Media
Hey Tim,
Thanks for your reply!
So, you’re looking to expand from offering a service to also offering an info or software product? If so, sounds good to me. :)
I’ll get in touch.
Hi Shane I have both WP Sharely and Hybrid Connect and they are great products. It’s been difficult to decide how to get started and which products to do first. My intent is to explain well (simply) how to use the mind to overcome physical and mental problems. The issue is I don’t have a big following on Facebook (& most of my friends are in the same line of business). So I only get an average of 10-15 unique visitors a day. I’ve just bought the right equipment for recording good quality videos and I’ve done one video so far and not sure where to place it on my website or whether to offer it as an incentive to sign up. Would love your feedback as I have loved all your informational videos so far. Thanks Steven
My video is how to remove a headache in less than two minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDiq5XqIGog
Thanks, Steven!
I’ll get in touch. Let’s see what we can do.
Hey Shane,
I’m in the process of setting up a sales funnel with my own product. I’ve already written two ebooks. One is the main product, and the other is an upsell. I’m learning how to write sales copy so that I can get that all going soon. I would rather write it myself than hire someone. I have a few different reasons for that.
Anyway, this is all still a work in progress. Thanks for the opportunity to share!
Thanks, Steve!
Would you be open to answering a few questions about your process, so far? I’d love to know more about your business. :)
I have a successul ebook biz right now that I am slowly developing systems for to free up my time so I can start a new business.
For my new business I know what I want to achieve with it, but am unsure how to start and how to position it. Analysis paralysis!
That’s an interesting situation to be in. I’d love to know more about what you have planned.
I’ll send you an email.
Hi Shane,
I have my own consulting and training business (offline) and I want to move it entirely online. I have both HC and Sharely, just the process of crafting 7 auto responder messages for my nurturing campaign.
Darren
Hi Darren,
That’s an interesting (and also challenging) transition to make. I’d be interested in learning more about this project.
Hi Shane,
I have been web site building and online selling for almost three years and consider myself quite knowledgeable now. From my first two sites which I cannot remember what platform they were based on, to WordPress and now to WP plugins. In each and every case the written instruction and later video instructions were written or produced by the developer. Every time I purchase something new and mostly now it is plugins the instruction at first seem complete and easy, but in every single case, I have come up against a stumbling block which wastes hours and sometime days to get past, because I did not know how to do something that the instructor assumed I did.
What would help make any new product better and stand out against the rest is a complete step by step video instructions tested by several newbies and if they could follow it through to the end, then it is bullet proof.
What I am thinking is some sort of plug in program that monitors your video watching and notes that if you stop and replay at any section, a little box pops up and says, it you don’t know how to do this, then watch this instruction video. This would link you to another video you created or a YouTube instruction video someone else created. Such a program would create an instruction video experience that would suit every person’s level of expertise and create a whole new level of video learning.
Could you help me develop such an add-on program?
Interested in you thoughts, Anton
Hello Anton,
Thanks for your reply!
My first thought on this is “does anyone want this?”
In my experience, such a tool is not necessary. I tend to be very thorough with my tutorial content and from the feedback we get through the support desk and other channels it’s clear that almost all our customers are more than happy with the instructions provided. Setting up a system with “branching” tutorials and interlinking them all would amount to a lot of extra work with no clear payoff, in my case.
In addition, good UI design and a tutorialized UI are what most software developers aim for (or should aim for), so that excessive instructions become unnecessary.
However, all we have at this stage are your thoughts vs. my thoughts. Both are essentially useless.
What we need is some input from the market.
In this case, input from two markets: the potential consumers who would use tutorials like this and the developers who would add tutorials like this to their products.
How can you find out if there’s a large base of consumers who would welcome this?
And how can you find out if there are many developers who would be willing to pay for a solution like this?
In this case, you should start with the developers, since they will be paying the bills. Find ways to get in touch with developers who you think would need this solution and see if they are interested. The first thing I would do is just try to strike up a conversation about tutorials and support. See what problems they have in this area. See what their frustrations are, etc. Then you can assess whether your solution is a good fit or not and maybe pitch them your idea.
hi
I have been close for awhile on launching but I’m holding back I feel … I am collecting one or two optins a day and trying to keep them warm… I don’t know if I am trying to get it too perfect or just scared it might not be what my audience expect?
I also got Penguin slapped when I was working on it a while ago so have had to gather my SEO thoughts and come up with a new ranking stratagy. I would be up for a chat.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for your reply!
So, you’ve got a product ready to go, already? You certainly shouldn’t let Google get in the way of your product launch.
I’ll send you a message so we can chat some more.
Hey Shane we spoke a few months ago so would be good to reconnect and I can update you on my progress with http://fanboom.net
I’m well into the grind now and not exactly stuck, but could always use a chat to help identify any areas for improvement or leverage points.
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
Yes, indeed! I’ve been checking in on FanBoom every once in a while and it’s good to see that you launched it. :)
I’ll get in touch.
Hey Shane,
I’ve got a lot if experience designing and managing software for the company I work work (day job). I’ve been video blogging about my passion (video marketing and how to get started with it and get results with no experience). I’ve built up a decent following over the past four years.
I’ve always wanted to create an info product, but never felt super excited about it.
A few months ago, I’ve been getting excited about the idea of creating my first software to help people to simplify and automate their video marketing efforts. For a few months, nothing has happened…until I watched your Hybrid Connect webinar hosted by a friend of mine Sean Malarkey.
I ended up buying HC (awesome product – you can see my post footer optin, light box, and sidebar widget optin on my blog), but even more exciting is that I’ve finally taken action. I’ve put together the Minimal Viable Product (as per your recommendation from one of your blog posts)and have spec’d out the product and have started working on it with my team. I expect to have a first cut of the software in about 1.5 weeks from now.
I just wanted to let you know that you’ve inspired me to take action and take the next step forward. I’d love to connect offline and get some advice on the next steps after the first phase of the software is ready).
Cheers,
Hani
http://www.EasyOnlineVideoTips.com
Hi Hani,
Thank you very much for your comment! I’m really happy to see that you were inspired to go ahead with this project.
I’ll get in touch and I’d love to talk more about what you have planned.
Hello Shane,
I was without work for 1 year and wanted to develop a program ….. and just NEVER got it done. I am very unhappy about that. That has cost me dearly (lost income).
You are a VERY good guy. If I can help you with this request and also learn from it, that would be a very good day!
To our success!
Tony
Thanks for your reply, Tony!
I’ll get in touch. :)
I have had a successful Social Media software product for a while now, but I want to move it to the next level by providing start-up entrepreneurs a membership site with real value for a very valuable product with a twist.
Although my ideas are very sound I have not been able to make the leap yet, probably partly to do with how to structure the membership site.
I have HC but I am waiting for a WP site to be able to use it for my list-building activities. Thanks for allowing me to share.
That sounds quite intriguing! I’ll send you an email, so we can chat.
Well, I’ve already been in contact with you and Paul on giving my relationship site a shake down on why it gets poor Optins and a nonexistent rate of sales for the small range of personally created ebooks and an audio. So I’d love for that to actually happen in finding out why and to move forward.
At the moment, I’ve not created a membership side due to the effort involved doesn’t match the current ROI but its certainly something I’d love the site to have, if I can get Optins and some sales.
Would definitely love input from you or anyone else, Shane. Really.
Hi Martin,
Thanks for your comment! I’ve sent you an email, so we can have a closer look at this.
May need advice regarding my optin form @ http://www.maxfreemakeupsamples.com Quite successful so far however any other methods or further suggestions will be appreciated.
Best Regards
Thanks for the entry, Kevin! I’ve added it to the list. :)
Hi, Shane–
just throwing my hat into the ring . . . would love to receive your comments/thoughts on this opt-in page (I do use Hybrid Connect for my lightbox popup and sidebar widget but not for this page):
http://members.primefitnessforwomen.com/
Thanks for your entry, Mary!
I’ve added it to the list. At a quick glance: I think the content and copy here are pretty good. The first thing I would test, for a potentially big win, is a radically different variation. I’d create one of these “mini squeeze pages” where you have a relatively small opt-in form on a large background image.
Strip out all but the most powerful benefits and keep everything smaller and shorter.
One of the two versions (mini form or current squeeze page) is probably going to have better conversion rates and that’s the one I would continue tweaking and testing.
Shane, thanks so much! I appreciate your taking a look, and I’m going to implement and test a very different version.
:-)
Mary
Testing is Key, right? I opted in to see your stuff. Personally I liked the report title and sub headlines vs. your opt-in box headline.
Also the word “Better” … could be more pointed. “Want to look “Great” Naked? IN how many minutes a day? You sue some different bullet points in the Opt-in vs the report. I like the report ones better, but you and I don’t matter. It is the people that you are attracting that matter.
Hope this is helpful.
Hi Shane,
I find your approach, presentation and content you’ve shared to date, to be both valuable and very refreshing! Thank you.
18 months ago I started researching and developing an online website to fill a need that I had identified within my existing customer base (small and medium organisations).
Lack of resources, the need to continue earning income through my established consulting business, and a myriad of other reasons, means that this project remains unfinished.
I’d be more than happy to discuss this with you if we can coordinate a mutually suitable time.
If you are interested and would like to know more, then please email me.
– Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Sounds good! I’ll send you a note.
Hi Shane:
This feels like a confession.
Yes, sure I’ve come around to understanding/believing that having my/our/your own products is both a key attractor and a point of satisfaction/accomplishment in the im space…..as long as its a good one….
I do have a product idea in mind + background research PLR but I’ve been putting it off because I have competing priorities as I also need to build my list/populate my autoresponder. I’m also hung up on how to use screencaster and little things like how to blur out information.
Hope this is my first and last im marketing confession.
Best,
Harold
Hi Harold,
Well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. :)
I’d love to learn more about this and I’ll send you an email.
Would love to have a conversation with you Shane.
You’re one of the few I pay attention to.
Best always,
Jeff
I’ve sent you a message with some more information.
Hey Shane,
I’d like to have a discussion with you…I wouldn’t say that I’ve gotten stuck so much as I’ve gotten tangled. :)
I’ve sent you a message, so we can connect. :)
Hey Hello, Shane!
I created a product a year ago with my coder’s help. I use it every day to make my life easier online so I don’t have to use the search engines as much. I have not shared it much.
After using it for a year, I came up with what if this or that so it was back at my coders for modification. I think… I will end up creating an awesome tool for affiliate marketers. The product will have many simple benefits and features. I’m wondering about the one sentence brand catch-all phrase you talk about and it’s difficult to narrow down.
I’m worried about how to monetize, but more importantly how to get traffic and customers before every guru out there copy-cats my idea and leaves me in the dust, assuming that I have in fact created an awesome product.
Your fears about your product idea being stolen are probably unnecessary. Ideas themselves are over-rated and you don’t have to worry about copy cats until well after your release.
I’d definitely like to have a chat with you, about this.
Hi bro,
I started a membership site (using wishlist member & wordpress) and it has a few weeks of content in it but I haven’t taken it further, and barely promoted it.
http://marketyourphotos.com/
http://marketyourphotos.com/members/ (members area)
Not sure why I haven’t pushed it. I am sure it would do well. Maybe I just love creating a product? Maybe taking things to the next level isn’t something I’m good at…
Be great to get some analysis on this as an experimental test model. :)
Thanks – Martin
Hi Martin,
Looks like you’ve already done most of the work! I’d definitely be interested to find out more about your process and hopefully, I’ll also be able to help you.
Excellent video and clarity; what camera and video editing software do you use – I would love to get my videos that high quality.
I use some run-of-the-mill HD cam I bought years ago. The #1 factor for making videos look good is the lighting. And honestly, my lighting isn’t that great…
In general, use either daylight or light from at least two different soft-boxes to illuminate the subject in your video. Daylight tends to look best, but you have to make sure it’s not too strong. A summer’s mid-day sun will cast very strong shadows on your face, which doesn’t look good.
For video editing, I use Sony Vegas. Not the super-expensive one, but the cheaper one. I think “pro” is the expensive one and “studio” the one I use.
Definitely interested in the chat Shane. Its always been on my mind but have never gotten around to creating my own products though its one of the to-do things on my list for this year.
Sounds like you’re exactly who I’d like to talk to. :) I’ll send you a message.
I was going to create a product from a bunch of posts on a private forum and realized I don’t know how to create a PDF with screenshots to break up all of the text. I don’t know how to create a good-looking PDF at all. I have all of the content which is already written, I just do not know how to put it together in presentable format.
Hi Tom,
That looks like a fairly minor technical hurdle. I can definitely show you how to overcome that. I’ll send you an email.
Just want an advice and comment about my optin form,subscribe rate is low,so far i have 3 optins,confirmed optins
I’ve added your entry to the list. :)
Hi Shane, would be great to chat to you, i have created a product, and now i am thinking… what are the best ways to get people in front of it.
Also always wanted to Run multiple online businesses, for different products in different parts of the world.
Hi Michael,
That’s definitely something we should have a chat about. I’ll send you an email.
I have been an online book retailer for a number of years to earn a second income while I worked as a Catholic high school teacher. I am now at home working on making the switch to building my own online membership site. I have done (and continue to build) the autoresponder, list building and listening steps. I have chosen my first products based on feedback from my list.
I find myself hesitating to create my first product. I find I easier to create free content. I have three mental roadblocks to creating a product for sale.
1. I have the feeling that creating a product is a huge commitment and I want to “wait until the time is right to start.” I know this is silly, but there it is.
2. I want to knock it out of the park with my first product, so I am trying to plan out the perfect product. I just learned about the minimum viable product concept from Teaching Sells (Copyblogger) so I’m changing my thought process on this one.
3. I lack confidence that people will pay for something I create. This is probably my biggest mental block right now. People love may live teaching so I have reason to believe I have what it takes to create a product people will like. I am creating a product based on the need I am hearing from the marketplace. But I can’t help but think, what if I put myself out there and nobody buys it? What then?
That said I am starting production on my first product next week This week we are setting up the “studio” in our new home.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the detailed comment!
I think the problems you’re facing can be solved with the right product creation process and with honesty.
Which is not to say that you aren’t already honest, but I think there are a few things you can do, that you probably haven’t though of yet, that will relieve the stress you are currently feeling.
I’ll send you a message with some more details.
Hi Shane
I wish to develop my own product but don’t know where to start.
I have been doing affiliate marketing but have a problem with SOS!
It appears that having a mentor or just someone successful to chat with makes a huge difference to online business builders.
I need a list – I know that but don’t know how! It makes me feel really stupid but there are obviously some missing pieces to the puzzle!!
Thank you so much for the great free info that you continually provide in a no-fluff manner – I appreciate the value of what you provide.
Thanks
Hi Bev,
Your frustration is tangible in your reply. But trust me: you’re not the only one who feels this way!
I’ll send you a message and I hope we can have a chat, soon. :)
Hi Shane,
I’m probably premature, but wanted to take the opportunity you’ve extended to say ‘hi’ and let you know how much I appreciate a number of the products you’ve developed and that I use.
My website is still being developed, along with my mid-to-longer term plans to author an ebook. And that’s where Im stuck. I have put up a maintenance page while I build in the backend, to capture traffic to my email list that might start coming by before actual launch. If by chance you would like to take a look inside, let me know and I can set you up.
Again, thank you for the knowledge and insight you share, and I do hope to have an opportunity to maybe chat with you one day.
Blessings,
Jacqueline
Thanks for your comment, Jacqueline!
I wonder if there aren’t a few things we can do to accelerate your progress, on this. :)
I’ll send a message.
Hi Shane,
Over the past year of running a solo ad business, I came to realize the severe problems in the usual way folks go about buying & selling solos and arranging ad swaps – there’s simply not one single great solution…
so I scoped out the requirements of a membership site that would provide only the best of presently available solutions, with none of the drawbacks.
I then solicited bids on a couple sites like elance and rentacoder, as this is a significant & complex software task…
and then I was overwhelmed by the responses I received, and stopped there without ever selecting anyone to develop the software. Seemed so risky to award a contract to someone I’ve never dealt with in some country I know nothing about… and risk all that time and money on what could easily become a dead end, especially when I might not learn of all the problems till after delivery of the project and then trying to get changes made to get it into a releasable service. Especially so since the cost of this is a significant part of my net worth at this point in my IM career, even though a successful site would definitely be the ticket to resolve my finances.
Please feel free to contact.
Daniel
skype: shareitall2
Thanks for your reply, Daniel!
You probably made the right choice with not jumping in with a random contractor, right away. I think I might be able to show you a few things to minimize the risk, on this project.
I’ll send you a message on skype.
cool of you Shane to offer to your followers here a look over the different business ideas in the works and give some helpful insights to get them to market…. Kudos..
I have a high end product offer outside of im . could use your expertise with a price point and possible profit share in this product/ service. thanks for being a genuine guy with useful quality products. reed
Hi Reed,
Sounds interesting! I’ll send you an email, so we can connect.
Hi Shane,
I started to develop my own product and stuck.
I appreciate your advise very much and, actually, I was thinking to write you an e-mail asking for help, and you just came out with this proposition!
I’d be happy to talk to you
Thx
Alexandra
Thanks for your comment, Alexandra!
I’d love to connect and learn some more about how and why you’re stuck. Hopefully, I can help you get un-stuck, as well. :)
Hello, I do not know if my message is related to today’s topic, but I’m on standby anyway. I’m at the end of completion of a project directory listing where visitors can leave their free ads in exchange for a social click through wpsharely, but I have already managed to create pages keyed, this time not to do so. Block with three links do not appear on the page. And when I create a new wpsharely of lock, the Facebook link is absent. It is true that I changed my original ID for mine. Anyway I’m a bit annoyed Can I have a help link?
Hi Max,
Looks like some sort of technical issue. You can get support from our helpdesk, here: http://imimpact.freshdesk.com/
Hi Shane
I am in the process of developing a few things. A membership site, and two plugins that also runs on membership sites.
I have a couple off problems that has anything to do from basic things such as setting up the affiliate structure from my main site to my product sites, getting the licensing to work the way I would like, as well as getting actual luanch partners, and putting the products to the market.
If you would like to have a chat, let me know and I can tell you how I am trying to make it work, and what is costing me hours to get it out.
I think alot of my problems is technical and has to do with developers, but there should be some solutions that you have to make it easier.
Hello Fritz.
Congrats on making it happen! Those are some advanced problems you’re facing. I’m sure I can give you some guidance with some of them, as I’ve encountered the same kinds of issues, along the way.
Thank you Shane for the Skype Call yesterday.
I think looking at your approach to gather information relating to products and programs, and the extend you would go to, is really impressive.
An undertaking like this is something that almost scares me. The idea of getting in touch with so many people to really understand their issues via an actual skype call is something I have not seen before.
I think most of all that made the difference for me is in understanding the commitment required to put forward good value.
Most problems I have that relate to actually putting ideas to practice, and setting up membership sites and delivery systems is actually superficual. Communicating my idea across, and not investing enough time in getting customers and addressing their needs seems to be a much larger component of products and programs than I want to believe. It is quite different to hear this advice and to actually listen.
Thank you and good luck with this massive undertaking.
Thanks for the reply, Fritz!
You’ve got it exactly right: the technical stuff is really secondary and not worth getting hung up on. If you have a solid business plan, you can always pay someone to take care of some details for you.
Hi Shane,
Does this include service?
1. I’m kind of stuck as my approach now is to build relationship with some experts in my industry and invite them to become my super affiliates – and I don’t know what is the right thing to say and follow up.
2. I don’t know how to write good Facebook ad to drive traffic to my fan page and website.
3. I have many ideas (new services) that I want to offer. I really enjoy doing them and feel that it would benefits the target market. I read your article about Lean Startup and I don’t know how to exactly test my idea. Well, as my business is not a info product, it’s service. I know there is demand but I don’t know how to really validate this opportunity, put a right pricing and turns that prospects into my customers.
Hope we are able to talk. Thanks!
Hello Hazel,
Yes, services are part of what I’m talking about when I say “products”. :)
Let’s connect and have a chat about your business.
Hi Shane,
Here’s my optin form: http://mikefrommaine.com
It’s needs a lot of work :-)
Good stuff, Mike! I’ve added it to my list. :)
Hi Shane,
Thank you for the offer.
I run an online marketing agency, helping local offline businesses with their online marketing.
I do ok, but I’ve always wanted to start an info publishing business. Once, I started writing a guide on how people can create different types of websites (sales letters, opt-in pages, blogs, etc.) by just using a particular free wordpress theme.
However, after writing a few pages, I began to have doubts. I questioned why would anyone want this. Eventually I stopped and the project was never finished.
Now, seeing your success with software, I want to do likewise. But I haven’t because of the time commitment. My offline marketing business takes up a lot of my time. I first need to systematize this business and free up more time.
Would love to connect with you and hopefully some of your insights can help. Thanks Shane!
Hello Andy,
That’s definitely a familiar problem. It’s easy to get so stuck in one business or project that you don’t have time for anything else. Happens to me, too.
I’d love to have a chat about your process and hopefully, I can help you out.
Shane,
Thank you for the offer. I am probably one of the ones that you’ll scratch your head on. I am trying to find a product, and while I’m looking, I’m trying to get in place all the tools I’ll need to do it right when I find it. As you can probably tell if you look at my blog, my interests are all over the map (one of the problems), and I’m trying to see where I get interest.
I’m now actively using Facebook and twitter to try and recruit members to my blog, and I don’t expect miracles over night, but any insight you’d care to give would be helpful.
Kent
Hi Kent,
Thanks for your reply! Looks like you mainly need to find focus, with what you’re doing. I think I might be able to help, with that.
Hi Shane,
I’m not really stuck, but I have a couple of options that I am considering at the moment, and your view on which way you would go would be useful input for me.
A couple of years ago I invested in Andre Chaperon’s TLB training, which is based around building an MVP which consists of getting people onto an email list, building a relationship with them through emails, promoting affiliate products to see if anyone buys, tweaking/improving conversion, and eventually replacing the affiliate product with your own product if the numbers are good enough.
I invested too much effort into my trial MVP (SimpleFunnels.com), which resulted in me creating an email sequence that was virtually a complete blueprint for building a successful IM business (ironic or what!).
Therefore, I decided to turn the email sequence into a Kindle ebook (Niche Marketing Expert), and use it as a paid lead magnet. That worked ok, and i got some good feedback, but I feel I could put all my effort to much better use by turning it into a full blown product (i.e. tutorial and case study), and sell it for a much higher price.
What would you do?
Cheers, Gary
Hey Gary,
First of all, congratulations on keeping it moving. It looks like instead of getting stuck, you keep transforming your product, to test new venues. I think that’s a good approach and definitely better than just giving up or jumping from one completely different thing to the next, all the time.
I’d love to have a chat with you and see what we can come up with.
Hi Shane,
of course I would talk with you, but please in Schwitzerdütsch. :)
I have an idea for a digital product, but I don’t really know where I should start.
Hey Nate,
Okay, sounds good. My Schwiizerdütsch isn’t as good as my English anymore, though. You’ll have to put up with that. :P
Hey Shane, I’ve got a membership site set up and offering video/audio products on it but have not gotten much traction with it yet. I’ve love to explore this with you, thanks.
Hi Jeremy.
Sounds interesting! Let’s connect and have a chat about this. :)
ok great, what would you like me to send you next? How can we connect about it?
Shane,
I am afraid I am in the probably large category of people who want to launch something but hold myself back for some reason. I do want to touch base with you about this and see what you have going with regards to product creation. I can certainly provide more details if you have the time.
Thanks for all the great content. You are one of a VERY small list of people I automatically read when you post something.
Thanks – Brian
Thank you very much, Brian!
I’d be very interested to know what the things are, that are holding you back. And if possible, I’ll try to help you get past them as well.
Thank you very much for another kind offer Shane.
I self-published a handbook at Amazon in the Fall of 2011, built a website to help promote it, and spent 2012 learning about current ways to bootstrap my marketing. All of a sudden my book became a new “old school” work during 2012.
The theme for my launch ironically was called adapting to change. If you look at how far I got, you don’t have to guess – I’m still “adapting” myself!
Although I would like to sell the book and my services, your recent tips of the week included doing one thing instead of many and the idea of a MVP.
Right now I would like to know how to validate what will lead and what will follow.
In the meantime I will submit my hybrid connect form so when you look at the whole picture it might make more sense.
Hello Brian,
I’d love to help you find some ways to validate your various ideas and make a decision on which one to move ahead with.
Started a video, and slow with creating other material for it. eBook, video, audio.
Hey Sean,
Thanks for your reply. I’d like to learn more about your business. What’s the ultimate goal that you are trying to accomplish?
While I do not feel “strong” enough to launch a product I already got a few ideas.
For now I try to ensure a constant minimum of online income to be able to reinvest & create something I can be proud of…
That’s an interesting comment, Joe. It may be true that you are currently not strong enough, but do you have a plan to get stronger?
That’s what I’m currently doing, myself: I have an idea for a business that I want to create, but I know I don’t have the necessary skills yet. So, I’m working on building up all those skills systematically.
I recommend that you create something smaller that the thing you aren’t ready for yet. But something that’s big enough to stretch your comfort zone.
Hi Shane,
Thanks a lot for your kind answer.
That’s right I haven’t yet succeeded in “drawing” that so useful plan.
So far it is hard to say if I have to become a full time e-entrepreneur before being able to launch product OR will it mean I jumped to the full time online career at the exact moment the product will arrive to the market…
So for now I am doing my best to build affiliate sites in order to reach the next level.
In one way I feel like a kid washing others’ people windscreen to earn & save money until he gets enough to purchase/create a larger business.
Not sure I do explain it well enough.
Regards,
Joe.
As long as the work you’re doing now somehow helps with the plan you have for later, it’s all good.
I spent a bit too long focusing on affiliate sites and lower-level activities, but I don’t regret it (not all of it, anyway). I gained some valuable insights with that work. Even just all the practice it gave me in setting up, building and customizing websites is something that’s still useful to me.
Shane,
Thanks again for your encouraging words.
I DO appreciate.
Regards,
Joe.
Hi Shane,
I’ve been following your work for quite some time now. I really relate to your content and your approach to online strategy, techniques, platforms etc. I work within the online space (in many different areas) and have recently made a key decision to focus on my own online ventures (as opposed to providing online services to offline businesses).
I would love the opportunity to chat.
Thanks.
Jeremy
Thanks for your reply, Jeremy!
That sounds interesting! Let’s connect and have a chat.
Hey Shane, I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback you gave me on my last product. You pointed out some highly insightful problems with the sales page/video and I’m in the process of making that 100% better based on what you shared.
If anyone reading has the opportunity to get similar feedback from Shane, I highly recommend doing it! Thanks again.
That’s awesome. Thank you very much for this comment and I’m very happy to know that the feedback you got was helpful. :)
I use wordpress.org for my platform. My opt-in needs work to greatly increase conversions for my ethical bribe. My mission is to save more lives by teaching people how to teach themselves (or their kids) how to swim. My book Teach Yourself To Swim Like A Pro In One Minute Steps is on Amazon and Kindle. My 4-6 hour HD DVD swim instructional series of 320 small easy-to-master steps is a complete curriculum that no has ever done. My ethical bribe is to provide a 30 step system for starting to learn to swim at home without a pool. This is good for people/parents, active lifestyles who are not efficient, competitors, etc. I also include a five page (4 articles in one) Tips to Prevent Drowning. Based on my credentials, education, and experience I regard myself as the best swimming instructor in the world today. I would love to get your ideas to enhance my opt-in squeeze box or perhaps convert to a whole squeeze page with a video introduction. My video series will be done (editing in process) May 15th, plus 24 sales and marketing videos to flood YouTube on my channel http://www.YouTube.com/SwimVideoCoach using keywords, and links to my website and on-line store. My plan is to offer a series of free webinars to show people how they can easily teach themselves or their kids so they will take action and get started. I also plan to use social media to reach out to people who join my mission that will pass along my information to their family, relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. I will of course create a sales landing page and an irresistible offer during the webinars and replays.
thanks for any help you can provide, and maybe by the time you get this I will have revised my opt-in message. I don’t create an image of pain enough for people to need to opt-in.
Thanks for your reply, Pete!
Looks like you have an awesome product on your hands. From looking at your website, the first thing that strikes me is that there’s not a lot of focus to the messaging.
What I mean is: it seems like you’re trying to cover many bases and advertise many benefits, but it’s hard to say what the main, most important benefit is.
In your position, I would try to talk to some existing customers and try to find out what their main reason for making the purchase was. If you can put more emphasis on address the main motivation of your most important customers, I think that could help a lot.
thanks, good advice. I will work on that.
Hi Shane,
I’m working and almost done with with on http://soopersites.com, a membership site that teaches people how to create free membership sites using WordPress and s2member.
Any help/advice/input on how best to market this product would be very much appreciated!
Hi Tracey,
Awesome looking site (as usual, from you)! Really like the design.
I’d love to have a chat and learn some more about your plans. :)
Hi Shane –
I have always thought it would be great to creat my own poroduct, but for whatever reason have never even got started!
Too much procrastinating and indecision on my part I suppose!
John
Thanks for your reply! I’ll get in touch and we can have a chat, if you’d like to share some more.
Hi Shane,
I’ve been running a health/ food blog for 1 year now.
I started putting together an e-book, which I haven’t finished yet. But at least I managed to install Hybrid Connect on my blog, hey, so all is not lost ;-)
To create the e-book for my audience I followed your 6 weeks to 6 figures approach.
After asking them what problems they have/ what they are interested in, I had so many ideas and so much content accumulated, that some of the earlier content was already out of date, and I couldn’t face going through it all again (adding up-to-date photos and so on).
Instead I convinced myself the blog needed a Facebook page and group, so I tackled that half-heartedly, as I really don’t like spending time on FB or twitter :(
Holdup number 3 was that the date I set for myself didn’t allow for unforeseen events, and when I noticed I couldn’t make the date I just kept extending the deadline.
Holdup number 4: I read a kindle e-publishing guide that put a lot of emphasis on knowing where within your overall business strategy the e-book will sit – Is it just a magnet to draw people in? Is it the main product? A teaser for a service? That got me questioning the long-term vision of my business… and sidetracked me for a good 2 months now.
Holdup number 5: Aweber sequence = big headache! I created one, but made it so comprehensive that it was more like an e-course product in itself, so I didn’t dare to set it live, conscious not to overwhelm my readers (and also afraid this might prompt them to bombard me with more questions, infringing even more on my time).
I also miss accountability – I used to be a member of an online course, sort of like a mini master mind group, where we each set monthly goals – that worked really well for me.
Gosh, I had no idea on how many levels I keep sabotaging my product creation efforts ;-)
Happy to have a chat with you.
But I guess, you’re snowed under with conversation offers for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for asking such thought-provoking questions though – that in itself already helps a lot.
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
Great stuff! I’m so happy to see that you took the method outlined in my report and ran with it. Congratulations on that!
I’ll send you a message, so we can get in touch and discuss your situation further.
Hi Shane,
thanks for sharing all the tips and feedback, I really enjoy reading and learning from your blog posts.
I have created a membership site and had it spammed. A userid with spaces and admin rights was added to my Blog and hidden code added to all posts.
Since lately I have been into creating Mobile websites for local businesses (directzonesolutions.com using HTML templates from SqueezeMobi group) to replace my day income (after 10 yr job just got eliminated), I had not noticed my site had issues until I was getting emails to my domain for strange names.
I am using a WP plugin for the membership part that unlocks the posts that give free IM ebooks but I might find another way to setup for people to join. Basically starting out as a lead gen for free membership and was going to add other levels later (home page has the optin form I submitted to you using Hybrid connect) – site is successresourcesite.com
we can discuss if you have better approach. Have many other sites too that I started over 6 years ago and are trying to update.
I was not focusing on one thing until now. Need the $ first, then back to others.
Thanks again for all the great content.
Peggy
Hi Peggy,
Thanks for your reply.
For the site that got hacked, the only advice I can give you is to hire someone to clean it up. I’ve had issues with hacked sites twice, so far. In both cases, I hired someone from oDesk and got it cleaned up for around $50.
As for your model: offering something free as a lead generation method can definitely work well. What’s much more important is what your membership is about and how you differentiate yourself in your marketplace. In case you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you check out this post about unique selling propositions.
Hey Shane,
I’ve got a membership site, an evergreen launch sells the membesrhip,
I think my optin form converts well, but I’d like to hear Your opinion too, my comment link is the squeeze page.
The only holdup is generating traffic :)
That’s a bloody good landing page, you have there. There’s nothing I instantly see, that I can think of improving. I’m not sure if the countdown timer might be too much on a page like this, but I assume you’ve tested that.
All in all, it looks very good to me.