Author Archive | Shelli Hugentobler

While this isn’t something I’ve tried, I’ve seen others doing it for years so it must be working like gangbusters. You’re likely already aware of the concept of building a full website with sales funnel, sending traffic to it, making sales to show it works and then selling the website as a proven money maker, right? This is something simpler than that.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised this works so well. But I’ve been watching people do this over and over again, so I know it’s working.

They’re building one page websites (one page!!) and selling them at auction for $100 to $300 or more. Sometimes they’re building several of these in a week or even in a day.

Here’s how it works, or at least how I think it works. Mind you, I’ve never done this myself, but you don’t have to be a detective to figure this one out:

First you find a paid service geared towards online marketers. It could be a website offering to write packages of articles, do SEO, build websites or whatever. Ideally you want a service that is extremely reasonable in price, and frankly these aren’t hard to find.

It can be any service that is bought and paid for online, using basic info and contact details. For example, if the service writes packages of 50 articles, the details collected would be the niche for the articles and where to send them when they’re finished.

Let’s say the article writing service offers 3 packages: $35 for 10 articles, $70 for 25 articles and $120 for 50 articles. You would then create your own one page website which might even look quite similar to the original page. Insert three buttons for the three options, but increase the prices to perhaps $55, $100 and $175. The buttons don’t actually link to anything at this point.

Buy a domain name, make the site look professional with a nice layout and good headline and bullet points, and then put it up for sale on Flippa or some place similar. Remember there is no need to show stats, sales, traffic hits, SEO and so forth with these because none of that applies.

Instead, you talk about – and this is the important bit – the potential of the website to make sales. Explain that all the buyer needs to do is make the buttons active to pay into their account, take the payments and customer details, and pass the information on to the real service for fulfillment. They get to keep the difference in price.

The buyers are likely newbies looking for a way to get started online. And the sites most definitely do have the potential to make money if the buyers send the right traffic to them. You don’t reveal the real service until they’ve purchased the site. The site buyer then acts like a middleman, much like Amazon or Walmart on a much smaller scale and earns money from every sale.

You can make multiples of these sites, using basically the same website template and the same copy to sell the site. Choose a different URL each time and sell the sites one at a time on each of the website flipping sites. Do this with one vendor or several, build one website a day or 5 a day or whatever.

This can be a great part time income for not much work, and it can act as a stepping-stone to building complete, proven sales sites that fetch four and five figures, too. Or just stick with these small sites if you’re more comfortable – either way, it’s a nifty idea that can bring in reliable income when you apply it.

A chicken egg is a chicken egg and all chicken eggs of the world are the same, right? If that’s true, then how do you go about marketing YOUR eggs as being better or different than those other guys’ eggs?

For one thing, there is some differentiation between factory eggs, organic eggs, free range eggs, pasture-raised eggs and more. Personally, I like the pasture-raised eggs. It means the chickens get to roam outside like they’re supposed to, unlike “free range” which just means they’re free to walk around inside an overcrowded building full of chickens.

In my grocery store I have several options for pasture-raised eggs, and yet I always choose the same brand without even considering the rest. Is it because these eggs are cheaper? Nope. Is the egg carton better looking? Maybe, but that’s not why…

Marketers, this is where you might want to pay close attention…

The one and only reason I choose this particular brand of pasture-raised eggs over all the others is because in each carton they enclose a tiny 2 page newsletter. This is a single piece of paper approximately 4.25” x 3” or 10.5cm x 8cm. This miniature newsletter is called the “Vital Times” complete with Volume # and Issue #.

The headline on the issue I’m looking at right now reads, “Girls on Grass – and Gratitude.” The article is about ‘the girls’, with girls being chickens, and how they get to spend their day. Here are excerpts…

For Vital Farms hens, this year has been awesome. Sunshine? Check. Pastures? Check. Dust bathing with friends? Check, check, check. Our girls wake up ready to explore… What are we thankful for in this crazy, crazy year? It’s pretty simple. You.

You wrote thank yous – more than 5,000! – to celebrate the work of farmers and crew. You invested in our company and our vision. You inspired our front line to keep working through the long days and nights…

The newsletter goes on to praise their customers for the many things they are doing during the pandemic and then brings it back to how the customers make it possible for the ‘girls’ (chickens) to enjoy the simple pleasures.

Finally, it closes with a brief message of home and gratitude along with a photo of several chickens against a blue sky with green grass and the words “thank you”.

On the opposite side of the newsletter are…

•     A chicken cartoon in which one chicken is painting the barn wall and a second chicken asks, “Is that beige?” To which the first chicken replies, “Don’t be silly, it’s eggshell.”

Ugghh.

The lesson here is humor doesn’t have to be stellar to still be appreciated, since finding almost any chicken cartoon in your carton of eggs is better than finding none.

•     A bird of the month complete with photo and caption. This month showcases “Tiffany,” a beautiful red chicken with the caption, “Talented Tiffany dances in the shade, making the most of a beautiful day.”

Corny? Maybe.

Cute? Yes.

Fun? Absolutely.

•     100 words on why gratitude is healthy and how to start a gratitude practice. This is bringing honest to goodness real value to the customer.

•     The company’s mission statement is in a box with the first words in red all caps, “OUR MISSION is to bring ethically produced food to the table by coordinating a collection of family farms to operate with a well-defined set of agricultural practices that accentuates the humane treatment of farm animals as the central tenet.”

Too long perhaps, but it does give the customer a real sense of what this company stands for. Customers believing you share the same values they share can earn you a customer for life.

Just be sure to never do anything to go against these values, because these are also the customers who will tear you limb from limb on social media if you let them down.

Think of someone who just learned their mate is cheating on them – customers who love your brand will want a swift divorce if you’re ‘cheating’ on them by going against what you stand for.

•     And finally there is an invitation to show off your egg cooking skills while tagging the company on social media. This is an extremely ‘non-pushy’ way to bring people to social media and get some good mentions.

Now in case you’ve forgotten why I brought up this tiny little egg newsletter in the first place, it’s for these 3 marketing lessons:

1. People love marketing they can touch. When you see something online, it’s there and then it’s gone and usually forgotten in less than a minute.

But something they can hold in their hand? It’s right there in their home or office. It’s real. In this case it’s sitting on their kitchen counter while they make breakfast, carried to the table with the coffee and read while eating. Or at least that’s how it works for me.

2. People love things that are out of the ordinary. Is any other egg producer putting newsletters in their egg cartons? I don’t think so.

3. People love companies that align with their values. When you read the mission statement above, you either agreed with it or you didn’t. If you didn’t agree, then it might not matter to you how your eggs are produced, in which case you’re likely not the right fit for a company that goes out of their way to be humane to their animals.

And if you did agree with the mission statement, you’re much more likely to reach for that same egg brand when you go back to the store because it aligns with your beliefs and values. It says something about who you are, who you want to be and the legacy you want to leave behind for this planet.

Not bad for a tiny little newsletter. Does this inspire any ideas for your own business?

You already know that the better your funnel converts, the more money you can make. You can spend more on advertising or pay more in affiliate commissions and still make tons of money. The trick, of course, is getting your sales funnel to convert well. And to do that, you need to test… well… everything.

You need to test the sales copy that brings someone to your squeeze page, the copy on the page, the look of the page, the title of the freebie you’re giving away, the cover of that freebie, the offer they see when they subscribe, the upsell offer after that (if there is one) and so forth.

You. Must. Test. Everything.

Which is time consuming and costly. Because it could be days or weeks before you even manage to break even, much less start earning a profit – if you ever do at all.

But there is a massive shortcut that some people are taking, and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least tell you about it.

We could debate the ethics on this but we won’t. I leave that up to you. The fact is, people do this sort of thing in every single industry all the time, so it is nothing new. What is new is that the average Joe or Jane marketer doesn’t think to do this.

And if you haven’t guessed yet, I’m talking about modeling another marketer’s business. That is, replicating someone else’s sales techniques and processes. You’d be surprised how many people already do this in one form or another.

I’ve even seen marketers take pride when their own funnels have been modeled. And no, it’s not copying. At least, not if it’s done correctly.

The idea isn’t to copy the text or even use the same products. Rather, it’s to model in terms of design, options presented, layout, pricing, number of upsells and downsells and so forth.

Your headlines might be the same color, size and font. But it’s YOUR headline. Your video might be in the same location on the page, but it’s YOUR video. You’re selling your own products, not theirs.

Your sales copy will be different. Your bullet points will be different. Your key benefits and so forth will be different. But things like the layout of sales pages, colors, fonts, and so forth aren’t copyrighted.

Does a green ‘buy now’ button work better than a red one?

Does a centered black headline in Verdana that asks a provocative question do better than a red headline on the right in Tacoma that makes a bold statement?

Does having the opt in box above the fold convert better than having a long list of bullets and the opt in box beneath the fold?

There are 1,001 decisions to be made when creating a new sales funnel. But emulating a funnel that is already proven to work can make the process a whole lot easier. And faster, too.

Big time marketers can literally spend tens of thousands of dollars on traffic to test what converts best. But by emulating their funnels (not copying) you can get a leg up on what’s working.

How do you know which funnels are working the best in your niche? If you’re in the IM field, you can check their stats in JVZoo, Warrior Plus and ClickBank. In other niches, ClickBank can be a reliable indicator, as well as paying attention to which products you see promoted via paid ads time and time again. If they weren’t making sales, they wouldn’t be paying to promote these products.

One last thing… this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still test. Since this is your own funnel with your own copy and your own products, testing will give you a ton of info on how to raise your conversions as much as possible. But by emulating a proven funnel as the foundation to your system, you get to take a massive shortcut that will have you in profit that much faster.

Imagine that you’re making a video about how to declutter a closet. In the video you show the closet beforehand, you explain what you’re going to do and how you’ll do it, and then you have a montage of video clips of you working while music plays. Finally, you come back on screen and give a few parting thoughts. Not bad, right?

Except here’s the problem I see happening over and over again…

That video montage is there to show a long process condensed into a short amount of time. You could narrate over that section, but most video makers prefer to use music.

But… because it’s just music, the video makers are worried that it somehow won’t be enough and so they crank up the volume up to twice what it was. Now the viewer is reflexively jumping to turn that volume down – sometimes WAY down. In my case, I’ll usually just mute it.

And when the person comes back on video to talk to the camera and uses a regular speaking voice at regular volume, the viewer can’t hear it unless they turn the volume back up. This means that if the viewer is even still paying attention, they will need to decide if they should turn up the volume or just close the video and go on to something else. Why would anyone put their viewer in that position?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been distracted when the volume was on mute. I never did see the end of those videos, so if they had a call to action… well, I never heard it. And it’s annoying having to reach for the volume button because music is suddenly blasting forth. It’s like if someone came up from behind you with a bullhorn and you’ve got to find the volume button to make them stop.

I know it might seem ‘artistic’ to blast music like it’s a movie scene, but do you really want to alienate your viewers? Probably not.

This is truly old school and yet most marketers never do this. In fact, it can add several hundred dollars or more to your bottom line each and every month. And all it takes is a line or two of text in your emails.

What is it?

The signature line.

Place a simple signature line with a link to an offer as a footer in every one of your emails you send out to your list. This can be to one of your flagship products, such as your coaching program or a high-end course.

Yes, it sounds almost too simple, doesn’t it?

You probably won’t get a lot of clicks on this link for a couple of reasons: They’ve already clicked on the main link higher up in the email. Or your list goes ‘ad blind’ because they keep seeing this same line over and over again.

This is why you want to promote a flagship product with a fairly high price tag. For example, if you have a $500 coaching program and you only get one sale that month from your signature line, that’s still $500 profit. And it’s even more if it’s monthly billing.

You can change the line from time to time to keep it fresh.

Frankly, you don’t need to spend a lot of time on this. Just write your line, add it to your footer and forget about it for a couple of weeks until you change it.

And then see what happens. It could add thousands to your bottom line each year.

If you charge $47 for a product, will you make more than if you charge $27? Think about it… It’s not just the price that matters, it’s also the conversion rate.

If $27 converts at nearly twice or better the rate of $47, then $27 is a better price point for you. But what if you charge $37? Maybe $37 will turn out to be the winner, but you won’t know unless you test. Plus if you have any cost to fulfillment, such as if you’re providing services, then you will need to factor that in as well.

It gets complicated real fast, doesn’t it?

But years ago I heard about the magic of the ‘100 prospect test’. The theory goes that if you send 100 people to your page, you can assess the results.

Not believing this myself, I tested a squeeze page with 100 visitors and 1,000 visitors. And wouldn’t you know it? The conversion rate on the first 100 was nearly identical to the 1,000. Since then I’ve been testing a lot of things with just 100 people, and that includes pricing.

In the above example, you could send 100 people to the $27 price point, 100 to the $37 and 100 to the $47. You can buy the traffic from a solo ad or Facebook or any method you choose. Just make sure you use the exact same method for all three.

Compare and see which price point is the most profitable. If it’s $27, then you might do another test at $17. And if it’s $47, you might do another test at $67. In 24 hours you can know for a fact – without guessing – which price point will make you the most money.

If you think about a campaign that you run for the next six months, even a small increase in your income can add up to very big money. Which is to say, don’t guess. Instead, test and know for certain. Remember and use the ‘100 prospect test’ on your next campaign.

Are you entering a niche in which you have ZERO experience? Good. Actually, great! Here’s what you do…

Start a blog. From day 1, explain that you know nothing about (your new topic, such as cooking) but you’re on a quest to learn (a specific outcome or goal, like how to make the world’s best pancakes) and invite the reader to make the journey with you.

Now start reading about your topic. A lot. Buy and use the products in your niche. Write about what you learn, and tell about your experience with the products. Recommend the good ones.

Once you’ve got a dozen or more blog posts, start asking experts in the niche for interviews. If you’re too shy or nervous at first, you can start with email interviews and work your way up to audio interviews. You become the researcher / reporter, and you let the experts handle the heaving lifting.

In 1-5 years? Now YOU’RE the expert. And you never had to lie about knowing stuff you didn’t know when you got started. In fact, you have to be honest, truthful and yourself the entire time. And you’ve built a tremendous rapport with your audience who very much feel you’re just like them.

When you use this formula, your readers will trust you and they’ll act on your advice, whether that’s to buy an affiliate product you recommend, buy your own products or eventually let you coach them.

I’m not sure why I’m still getting pushback on how often to email your list. My answer is daily, or even more often if you’ve got a good reason. But a lot of marketers out there ‘know’ that the ‘rule’ is to email 3 times per week. Except… it’s not.

Picture your favorite sexy movie star, whoever that might be. Imagine that every day that sexy movie star emails you a new picture of themselves – naked.

Would you think they are mailing too often? Doubtful. I’m going to guess you would be eagerly anticipating that next email and opening it with delight.

Disclaimer: Do NOT send your list naked pictures of yourself. That was just to prove the point that if your emails are interesting enough, people will welcome them every day.

If your emails contain tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers or hot stock picks, will they get opened? You bet.

But if your emails are lame, boring or worse, then what happens? People say you’re emailing too often because they aren’t interested in what you’re sending them. Think about how to make your email content more like a hot stock pick or a naked movie star, and less about boring stuff no one cares about. Then you can email as often as you like.

As always, learn to live with unsubscribes because you’re going to get people unsubscribing no matter how frequently or infrequently you mail. Don’t worry about it.
And one more thing… if you’re still skeptical about the value of emailing every day, do this test: Take a look at how much you earned from your list in the last 30 days. Now email daily for the next 30 days and compare totals. You’ll notice a big difference.

Customers buy when they are ready. Thinking you can send one or two emails and get all the potential sales out there is naïve at best. You’ve got to keep reminding them of why they want to buy and do it in a way that makes them want to read your emails.

Tall order, right? But you know your niche and you know what makes them tick and what best grabs their interest. Now use that special insider knowledge and email your list something engaging every single day!

Here’s a quick case study that could potentially double your email profits. This marketer sends out an email to his list 5 or 6 days a week. These emails have news, information and one offer. But on the seventh day, he does something completely different, and this one simple change is doubling his income every week. I’ll bet this can work for you too!

So how does it work… Well, he calls it his “Weekly Roundup” and in it he lists all the hottest selling affiliate products offered that week. Each one gets a short section of its own with a title, description and his affiliate link.

He says that most weeks he makes as much from that one email as he does from all of his other emails combined.

I asked him if he didn’t get more unsubscribes from that email, since it looks so different from his others, but he says he makes it look and feel different on purpose. It’s his way of letting his audience know it’s the one-time weekly email, and the rest of the week they’d be getting good content and not just a sales pitch.

He also titles it, “Weekly Roundup” and uses a date such as, “January 1-7, 2023” to indicate this email will only show up once a week.

Yes, it’s simple, and often the best marketing strategies are. Implement this into your own email marketing plan and you can potentially 2x+ your income with a single weekly email.

If you already have an email list of customers, here’s an easy way to increase your profits.

One day each month, look at what your customers have purchased. If Joe bought a $10 ebook, a corresponding $47 software and a $297 course, then he might be ready for some one-on-one coaching. Email him a note reminding him of what he’s purchased and make your offer.

Or maybe Anita is purchasing $297 per month coaching from you and she’s loving the results she’s getting. Offer her an entire year of coaching for $2,500, saving her a thousand dollars and earning you a big up front payday.

What if you only sell affiliate products? If Robert purchased three different products from you and they’re all on traffic generation, do you think you can find a $497 traffic course that might be exactly what he’s ready for?

This is all about making personalized offers to some of your best customers. Some will say no, but if the offers are properly tailored, some will also say yes. And that can spell an extra four or five figures for you each month for only a day’s work.