Apr
15
Johnny Plays With Free Stuff and Affiliate Marketing
This is Johnny’s latest post in his series of attempts to not fuck up Online Business School.
Last week, Naomi referred to my new Learn To Be Your Own VA educational website as being my “niche.” And truth: I dove into it this week as if it were my niche — like it was a primary business. I worked anew to distribute my free How to Launch a Blog in Under an Hour for Super Cheap, Even if You’re a Total Idiot e-book. I wrote more info for the site. I added widgets to my blog’s layout, created an RSS feed and an email signup, added Google Analytics, and had my first webinar yesterday.
Which probably leaves a lot of you thinking the same thing that occurred to you when you heard that David Hasselhoff is popular in Germany:
“Why?”
After all, wasn’t my niche supposed to be The Diabetic Weightlifter? Wasn’t this VA site supposed to be a “by the way” venture… a thing just to fill some gaps in knowledge and get us all on the same page?
Well, sometimes a good idea sneaks up on you. That’s what happened here, when, one week, I tried to explain what I was doing and realized that a lot of people didn’t know the “do techie stuff online” things I took for granted. But, I further realized, those people did indeed want to know how to do those things. I had stumbled on a need — a burning need, I imagine, given this recession and the accompanying reticence to hire someone to do things like build your blog.
So what do you do when you identify a need? You try to figure out how to make money by filling that need. So here are the steps I’ve taken:
1. I wrote an e-book containing valuable information, then gave it away for free.
2. I conducted a free webinar.
3. Finally, I scheduled webinars to run every subsequent week. (The next one is on building a list and email marketing, by the way). These future webinars differ from the one yesterday in one key way: They will be free.
You can probably just picture my huge vault of cash at this point. With, like, pimps and rap stars chilling in it, drinking Cristal from bejeweled chalices and being serviced by fine slutty ho’s.
But hey, playa, give me some credit. Remember last week’s video, about my discovery that the best response comes when you’re providing good information that people actually want? Well, what if you took it one step further? What if you gave great information, and also made it as easy as possible for people to find and use it? If you did that, would those people eventually come to trust you — to believe that your information had true value? Would they (drumroll please, then 1970s Dirty Harry style cymbal beats, for suspense) be more willing to buy from you in the future?
Shit, I don’t know. I’m new to this. But I guess we’ll find out.
So let’s get to it. Here are Johnny B. Truant’s Top Five Reasons to Give Shit Away for Free:
1. Exposure
The more people who read what I write, the more people know who Johnny B. Truant is. By making things free, I eliminate barriers, which allows more people to read what I write and allows more people to get to know me. It lets me go viral.
2. Reciprocity
You think it’s a good gig to write for IttyBiz? Well, you’re right — it is. Naomi’s audience is far larger than mine, and it’s a good, loyal group. But the deal I pitched her wasn’t “Hey, how about you give me access to your people just for the hell of it?” It was, “What if I can benefit you while you benefit me?” So I have to provide good content that makes Naomi look good.
A guest spot here, on this blog, is part of my “payment.” I also get “paid” in free coaching because this whole thing looks stupid if I fail, and it takes coaching to minimize the chances of that happening. Naomi doesn’t want me to fail because my success makes her look good. It’s win-win.
3. Building authority and trust
Let’s say that right off the bat, I try to sell that e-book for even something ridiculous like $9. Would you have bought it? Maybe a few of you would have, but I’m guessing not many. The people who got the e-book did it in large part because there was virtually no barrier between them and the e-book.
Two hundred people downloaded that thing in a matter of days. How many would have done it if I had charged ANYTHING… like even one dollar? Maybe 10% of that? So maybe 20 people, if I was lucky, depending on the price I asked. That’s because there’s a quantum leap that has to occur if you’re going to ask that reader to stand up and get his credit card, and it’s also because I’m new here. I’m an unknown entity. You buy from Naomi because she’s given you a lot of good free info in the past. Because of that, you trust that her paid information is worth it.
You don’t trust me yet. You don’t know if I know my shit, or if I’m a good teacher, or if I’m actually “Macho Man” Randy Savage. (I’m not. OOOH, YEEEAH.) So if you don’t really know me, why should you buy from me? I haven’t given you any reason to.
And all of this, come to think of it, leads to…
4. Upsell potential
If you got my e-book, you had to join my mailing list. And if you want to keep up with the webinars, you’ll probably stay on that list.
I’m not charging anything now, but Naomi is suggesting I eventually offer premium content and charge for that “next level” of stuff. (Coaching and consulting is part of the OBS course, remember.) The more people who know me, have read my stuff, have liked it, have asked questions and gotten good answers — the more people who will potentially buy later on. That’s because they will hopefully like me and trust me and know that it will be good stuff.
So I gave the report away for free and immediately got 200 people on my list. I get the opportunity to build trust and upsell potential with 200 people instead of 20. I’ll take those odds.
5. Affiliate tie-ins
I found out the other day that my mailing service iContact has an affiliate program. I both loved and hated hearing this. I loved it because it meant I could make money by telling people about iContact. I hated it because I’ve already told countless clients about it, and did so for free.
Based on my limited experience, affiliate marketing feels like found money. If you leave it on the table, that’s your own fault.
Consider my relationship with iContact. I’ve used the service for years. I love it, it’s easy, and it’s cheap; I myself pay $10 per month. I run into people all the time who need to start a newsletter or autoresponder or send some kind of mass email. I say, “Hey, iContact is great. They even have a free trial. Why not at least try it out?” So they do.
Now, I’ve just handed a sale to iContact. If I had been paying attention, I could have accepted a very deserved “thank you” payment from iContact for the referral. Affiliate marketing done ethically (i.e. not recommending shitty products that you’ve never used) benefits everyone. The company gets a new customer. The customer gets a tried-and-true service. The referrer gets a piece of the action. You’re going to be recommending stuff to people anyway, so you might as well get paid for it.
So now you’re wondering: The iContact link above? Is it an affiliate link? You bet your ass it is. In fact, here’s another:
I want you to check out iContact if you need email marketing because it’s a great service. And since I’m out stumping for iContact, I also want credit for sending you there. From your perspective as a customer, there is absolutely no difference, so if you DO head over there, I hope you’ll be cool and do it through my link.
Here’s my point: In this past week, people have realized I know some stuff about website building, email marketing, shopping carts, and so on. So I’ve gotten some questions via email about it. (Which you should totally feel free to do, by the way: johnny@theeconomyisnthappening.com.) As people have asked my opinions, I’ve recommended iContact, AWeber, and Mozy Remote Backup because these are all services I’ve used and really like. If you’re not an asshole who recommends stuff solely for the commission (instead of because you actually believe in the product), this is a natural and very cool way to make a bit of extra cash.
(By the way, don’t let my love letter above make you rush out and sign up for iContact without perusing aWeber as well. There are key differences between the two and each has its own best use. I’m going to review both and their differences in my next webinar on Monday, April 20, so consider signing up for both of their free trials now and poking around, and then asking me questions next week on the webinar.)
(Naomi’s note: I use Aweber and like it. Then again, I used it because Dave Navarro told me to and offered to set it up for me so I didn’t even bother looking into other options.)
So hopefully that clears things up a bit. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.
NOTE: I should mention that none of the above means that I have SWITCHED niches. I’ve ADDED one. I AM still continuing with the Diabetic Weightlifter site, but there was nothing really new to report on it this week. I’m currently writing the e-book and would like to have it available for sale shortly. Maybe I can update on that next week.
About adding a niche – that’s the way to go, isn’t it? If you do something, anything – you will eventually stumble onto something that is for ‘real’, your true calling.
You wouldn’t have found out that people want to know how to do basic stuff – becuase you know it and took it for granted.
I just discovered few weeks ago with few clients of mine that even that reaaaaly basic stuff (for me now anyway) like buying domain v buying hosting seems to be confusing. They just want website, so what am I going on about? ;)
It was told over and over again, but the problem with people just starting out is that they do not know where to start, where to look, what to look for.
All of us were at this point when we knew we want to do things but we didn’t know how, and everybody was already doing it, so we felt like we are too late to the party.
I think what you are doing is great – showing how to start, how to do things yourself – and because you share the ‘money end’ as well it acts as a motivation boost for everybody ‘thinking’ about doing things.
As a German I must strongly state that David Hasselhoff definitely is totally not popular in Germany. Maybe he’s had his 5 minutes in the late 80s (bad enough), but not longer. Really. We’ve grown up since then ;)
If you know what you’re talking about, and you have an EARNED level of trust behind you, then affiliate market is a natural, almost casual tool in your box. As long as you don’t burn your trust, it should glow for a long while.
For the record, Aweber and Mozy are both awesome.
Thanks folks. And sorry for the Hasselhoff issue. Sometimes I hassle the Hoff as well.
I like aWeber and iContact, but for different applications. I’m going to put a post up about it tomorrow, actually. I’m sort of testing iContact’s capabilities now, but I think it’s great for a more casual user who doesn’t need a lot of robust functionality. And it pisses me off that in aWeber, everyone has to double-opt-in even if they’re moving from an old list they had already double-opted-into. You lose half your list!
Oh, and Mozy? Shit, like $5 a month for UNLIMITED backup? I have like 40 gigabytes up there! Such great peace of mind. I no longer have to worry about losing everything if my laptop gets stolen.
Its awesome that you’re taking ACTION Johnny. The biggest benefit you’re receiving from Naomi allowing you to write for IttyBiz is not her people hearing about you. Its you having to take consistent action because you have to post over here. Accountability.
2 thoughts:
1. You already stated in your Note in the end that you’re not giving up on the diabetes website. My thought is: that has the potential to become way bigger than your be-your-own-VA website. But because you’re into learning mode right now – you’ll come across a lot more people interested in the same stuff.
Success of both the websites depend on how consistent you can be and what kind of action you take. But 3 years down the line – if you work at your full potential – the diabetes website will be bigger than the VA one.
2. Your point # 3 about giving the ebook for free vs charging for it – you miss one point. Even if only 1% buy the ebook at $10 – thats $20. Thats $20 you can use to pump into advertising and getting 200-400 more people to visit your website. Which would lead to 2-4 more sales.
In essence – what I’m trying to say is: think deeper than just the number of visitors you get. And think Systems.
AWESOME!
It’s great to see somebody coming up in this whole “make money online from home”-world and asking himself the same questions that I do.
It’s never easy to focus on something when you are just starting off. Getting new ideas somewhere along the road, just like it happened to you, is absolutely normal. And: You would be stupid to blindly follow the path you’ve set for yourself in the beginning just because you think that you have to follow it stubbornly.
>> Flexibility ALWAYS trupms fixation!!! <<
Be open to everything new and try out whatever you can. In the end you just have to be as help-/useful to people as you can be and you will soon have more cash in your hands than David Hasselhoff has fans in Germany! Wait, I don’t really know if this is that good… Whatever, I love Hasselhoff! Well, at least I love KITT. ;)
Ankesh… SO glad you commented. You’re the shit. So naturally, I have questions:
Re: point #1: Why do you think the diabetes site can be bigger? Because honestly, while I am continuing with it, I’ve been wondering how worth my time it is. I see writing an e-book, offering it for sale, and hoping people are interested enough to buy it. I honestly have no clue how to develop it further and am not entirely sure how big the demand is.
Re: point #2: How would you go about investing that $20? I am totally retarded about getting more traffic, and getting 200-400 more visitors just like that for $20 is so beyond me.
This is one thing I’m going to ask Naomi about too, and I’ll write about what I find out next week. For both sites, I think the key is going to be traffic (yes, there’s more… but with no traffic, the “more” has no shot, right?) I suck at traffic. It’s a reason why my main blog (The Economy Isn’t Happening) is so frustrating.
SVEN: I’m fascinated by your name. Sven sounds Nordic, but Schöne sounds German. Now I’m all confused.
Excellent post. I’m reading “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port, and he emphasizes a lot of the stuff that Johnny is doing. When talking about giving value to your clients for free, he says something like “Give it until you worry you’re giving away too much, then give away a little more.” At first, that made me nervous, until I realized that I was worried about running out of my own expertise and insight. But that’s not only a pretty deep (if I do say so myself) resource, it’s also renewable! So I can give a fair amount away, because one of the focuses of my life is generating more.
I look forward to reading more of Johnny’s adventures!
Johnny! I loved your Top 5 Reasons… but I thought I wasn’t interested in affiliate marketing. I don’t yet have a self-hosted blog. But now that I’m going to read your free “how to launch a (self-hosted) blog…” ebook – for free – I am suddenly interested in iContact, etc. Thanks for the contact Naomi.
I think this free concept is really something, and it has its own momentum. I just did a whole new thing today, based on another really cool idea from Naomi, and it’s me again giving things away. It’s totally badass.
I will eventually charge for premium content. I hope by then, my visitors will trust and believe me enough to lay out for something based on the value of what they’ve seen for free.
@Johnny: Yes, you’re right with both assumptions. I’m a German who lives in Germany. ;)
Also, keep doing your “free” things. Just make sure that you are not holding too much back, the more killer content you give away for free the more likely people are going to pay for premium content, even if you do not have as much left. I completely agree with Catherine here: Running out of “resources” is EXACTLY what I fear even though this fear really is more or less unbased. I’m SUPER CREATIVE on my topic, I could write five thousand-word-articles per day. Still, the fear that I could run out of stuff to talk about runs deep inside of me.
The burning question now is: Shall that fear be taken seriously (do I know inside that I do not know so much?) or is it just silly?
Sven
Johnny,
I could not be rooting for you more. Rock your niche(s).
Thank you, kind sir. I’m rooting for me a lot too, so there are two of us at least.
P.S: Want a new blog off of Blogger? Free setup until Thursday. Damn am I a whore. I should shut the fuck up already.
P.P.S: No I shouldn’t.
i just tried Affiliate Marketing with Clickbank and Amazon. you could earn a lot from these Affiliate Marketing sites if you have lots of US and UK traffic.
Very nice information. Thanks for this. I am going to add this to my bookmarks. Keep up the good posts.
Fine Ideas, but do you have more detailed info on this topic, another blog or links to other helpful websites too.
great insight. i never would have thought about it like that