$100K in 12 Months (Part 1)
InternetIndependence.com is about reviving the American Dream – globally – by harnessing the power of the internet to create YOUR financial freedom – at any age, by anyone, anywhere.
You’ll discover daily guidance that will light your path as you build your internet business from your kitchen table or spare bedroom, so that you can create and design the life of your dreams, and the one you deserve for all of your hard work.
It doesn’t matter where you live, or what your government is doing to interfere in your financial situation, by using the Internet to create value for others, you can be rewarded with not only financial freedom, but a business that allows you to dictate the schedule, the workday, and the vision.
YOU are now in charge. And over the next 4 posts, I’m going to show you EXACTLY what you need to get started, based on my own personal experience.
But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Craig Ballantyne (you may have read my fitness articles in Men’s Health or Women’s Health magazines), and I got my start online all the way back in 1999 when I started a fitness newsletter.
I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t make any money online until 2002, when I made a few hundred bucks selling custom designed workout programs.
When I started selling my flagship fat loss info product, “Turbulence Training”, back in September of 2003, the price was $9.95. That’s it. It’s since gone on to sell tens of thousands of copies at $39.95, but let’s consider that $9.95 price point right now.
These days I see people launching products at $77 or $97 (or more), and yet they don’t have good answers to my challenging questions:
“Why do you deserve sales and traffic and affiliates? What sets you apart from the dozens of other programs just like yours?”
And for that reason, they struggle, often not making a single sale for weeks. It’s a lot easier to get the sales snowball rolling and build confidence with a low-priced product. As you add value to the package, you can increase the price, as I did.
So today, tomorrow, and for the remainder of the week, I’m going to give you..
“The Ultimate Blueprint to Making $100K Online in Just 12 Months”…
…guaranteed, or your money back. (Haha. Joke. It’s free.)
I guarantee you’ll find these emails to be worth much more than the latest $1995 internet product being pitched. Heck, what are the gurus selling these days…a “magic bullet” something? Really? Do they sit around and laugh at us when they name these things? Anyways…
We’ll also cover the mindset that you MUST have to succeed, and end the week with a complete $100K business checklist. Let`s go…
Your First 3 Months Towards $100K
Here’s are the 7 steps you have to take – in order – to get well on your way to $100K.
1) Identify Your Best Customer
Grab some paper and a pen, and answer these questions about the people you want as customers:
– What fears & hopes do they have that your product can help?
– What do they want back in their life that your product can provide?
– What in their life do they want to stop – that your product can help?
– What do they long for that your product can provide?
– What pain & disappointments do they have that your product can end?
– What do they hate that your product can fix?
– What comforts & cover-ups do they use in place of a real solution?
– And how can your product be the REAL SOLUTION they desire?
Answer all of those, in addition to designing the traditional “avatar” of your best client (giving them a name, age, gender, job, income, location, etc.).
The better you answer these questions, the easier steps 2 & 3 will be.
2) Product Creation
Two of the biggest mistakes of internet businesses lie here. First, people create the wrong product that no one wants. Second, they take forever to finish their products and never have anything to sell.
Do not create anything until you answer this:
POWER QUESTION: What does your prospect NOT have?
Once you have the answer, along with the detailed description of your best client from exercise #1, you are ready for product creation.
And when you create your product, I want it done in NO MORE than 2 weeks. Seriously. Enough of these 6 month delays. Set a deadline. You’ll meet it.
POWER MOVE: If necessary, fork out $100-$300 and rent a hotel room or conference room, lock yourself in it, and complete your product.
That will light a fire under your butt!
And remember, as my friend Yanik Silver says, “It has to be a BIG idea that your prospects can get in seconds.” They must be able to immediately see how your product can solve their problems and ease their pain.
3) Create Your Sales Page
Writing sales copy is quite simple. It just requires you to set aside a block of creative time and use a proven set of copy principles. You might also want to model another successful sales page.
(NOTE: Modeling does not mean copying. Big difference.)
The keys to good converting copy are your headline, your offer, and getting in front of the right audience. Each of these deserves a stand-alone lesson, and we’ll cover those in the future. Until then, consider the following:
POWER STRATEGY: Create a high-value $19.95 offer that comes with a $19.95 upsell. If possible, include a recurring-billing product.
The $19.95 offer “goes against the grain” of high priced products, and your readers will be eager to get on board because they are likely sick of shelling out $77 for ebooks (or more for software, etc.).
If you have good sales copy plus high converting copy, this will be a simple sell to affiliates who will be happy to offer this low price point product to their list – because a smart affiliate will know that their readers will jump all over it.
As a result, this gets your “sales snowball” started, boosting your confidence and building your customer list.
I used this power strategy successfully multiple times in 2010, and here’s a proven example:
=> http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com/BurnFatAtHome
4) Build Your List
Once you have your product and copy established, its time to start building your list. As you know, doing that with a free report is the simplest and most effective way of doing that.
Your success will depend on the value offered in the free report. A free report doesn’t need to be complex. In fact, you just want to follow this one simple rule:
You must provide an immediate solution to ONE major problem.
That’s it. You don’t need to give away a 45 page document that promises to give 317 tips to do X, Y, Z. That just adds to much complexity to your prospect’s already busy life. Instead, stick to providing the one immediate solution to a big problem.
POWER QUESTION: What gives them simple & instant value?
Once your list begins to grow, you’ll now contact them with great content once or twice per week. In most industries, Monday & Thursday would be the best days…of course, you’re results may differ depending on your audience.
5) Offer More Value To Current Clients
A growing list + valuable offer + converting copy = Clients.
Simple formula for success. And the next step is even simpler. You must make new valuable offers to your clients to increase profits.
Every experienced marketer knows that the best customer is a past customer, and in the book “Drilling Down”, the author, Jim Novo, makes a distinction that the BEST customer is a RECENT customer, not just a past customer.
So when someone buys, the chance of them buying again is highest.
POWER PRODUCT: If your market allows, consider offering personal coaching. This allows you to charge a higher price for a premium service that provides extreme value. You could really ramp up your business to $100K in even less than 12 months with this approach.
6) Crush the Catch-22 of Affiliate Recruitment
The Catch-22 of affiliate recruitment goes like this:
“When you’re getting started, you don’t have affiliates. But you need affiliates to get started. But if you don’t have affiliates, you can’t convince other affiliates to promote your products. And that means you won’t be able to get any new affiliates.”
You must break that cycle…and the best way to do that is to create a brain-dead simple offer for a small affiliate to promote. And that offer is what I described above. The $19.95 front end plus $19.95 upsell. This will get a few affiliates to make a few sales.
And that starts the sales snowball rolling that crushes the Catch-22.
POWER MOVE #1: Offer 100% commission to affiliates on every front end sale. Yes, you won’t make any money on the $19.95 offer, but you will build a customer list. Plus, if you have an upsell that converts, you’ll make money there…and on all the follow up sales you make.
You must have the right mindset when it comes to building a list of customers. You must be willing to pay for them, and just break even on the front end, knowing that the real money will be made selling them even more valuable content in the future.
7) Test & Track
Finally, while all of this is going on, you should be Testing & Tracking your results.
Don’t worry, this is very simple. Here’s what you need to know:
– How many people come to site
– Where do they come from (Google Analytics)
– How many sales do you make
– Where do the sales come from (Google Analytics)
– When you send an email, how many are sent, how many are opened, & how many sales are made? (Give best emails to affiliates)
– When an affiliate makes a sale, send them an email…ask them what worked for them and how you can help them make more sales
These numbers will identify valuable patterns that you can pursue to find more of the right customers.
Testing and tracking is not rocket surgery and does not take more than a few minutes per day at first, and then it becomes just a few minutes per week in a simple business.
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Alright, it’s now guaranteed that the next 3 months are going to be the best ever in your website business, and I know this list has made you some money. But we aren’t done yet.
So be back tomorrow as I outline Months 4-6 where we’ll continue “Good Whale Hunting” for top affiliates. (Haha)
Click here to read Part 2 of Your $100K in 12 Months plan.
Oh, and do me a quick favor?
Please tell your friends who would also be interested in building their online business to check out this blog post.
Greatly appreciated.
You’re now on your way to $100K,
Craig Ballantyne
“Take full control of, and responsibility for, your conscious mind and every aspect of your life.” – Kekich Credo #30