What’s An Upsell?

Posted on April 2, 2008

Since there are so many new marketers coming online in the last year, I thought it would be helpful to open the topic of upsells for fresh discussion. This is another ‘basic’ and well worn topic. The post below is an introductory post only and is not a formula for product launches.

The up-sell works best for instant download info products, but you can also use this income generating technique for shippable items.

If you’ve ever been in a McDonalds’ restaurant you already know what an upsell is. “Would you like fries with that?”

Internet marketers can sell three types of products as their upsell. The complimentary product. The add on, lower priced product. Or a deluxe, upgrade option.

Most info product marketers offer their front line products at a relatively low price. This breaks down the barriers to creating a relationship between seller and customer, making it easier to entice the customer to add more items to their ‘cart’.

A few years back upsells were so popular (and abused) that whenever a lower-priced report was being offered (front line) for sale, savvy surfers wouldn’t even consider the purchase. They were so certain that low price meant pitchy upsell that they’d close their browser window without further consideration.

It was a major problem in the industry because when something works, and someone writes a report about it, we all use it to extinction. However, if done correctly, and ethically, the upsell still works in niche markets or behind the scenes with follow up email marketing.

Here’s a hypothetical. Let’s say you’ve created a high priced info product and you haven’t purchased any products or are following any set rules on product launches. You don’t have a list or much money in your advertising budget. One marketing technique you might consider is to create a smaller product (from your existing content) and offer it at an introductory price. Your larger, high priced info product then becomes the upsell.

Now I don’t know what you might be selling, but this is nothing more difficult than taking two or three chapters or techniques from your high price product, and, at the end of the content, add a link “for further study” or “for more detailed training” which displays the higher priced, full feature, product. If done it correctly (your intro product is good quality and delivers on it’s promises, and your pitch within isn’t glaring and pushy), you’ll net many sales and many affiliates in the process.

Keep the promises you make, treat your introductory product as a real product delivering real information, and above all treat your customers with respect. You’ll finish with a top notch reputation, customers who happily refer your products to others, and one more product (therefore more income streams) to show for that little extra work.

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Got Products to Sell?

Posted on February 23, 2008

If you’re an internet marketer with digital content to sell you might also want to consider selling ‘rights’ to others as a way to generate some revenue.

Selling rights (resale, master or private label) is another way to get some cash quickly into your pocket. Just be sure to sell, and promote the fact that, the content is not the standard resale junk that’s known to sully the ‘net. Digital trash - littering - wasting everyone’s time and money.

One of the easiest ways to display quality is to list your digital content (i.e. info product) with re-sale rights and a high price tag. You’ll also want to, before the order button, set some basic ground rules on how the content can and can not be used.

Do not sell your content short. If it is exceptional people will have no trouble paying for quality as it saves them trouble and time in the long run. Many online business owners don’t want to go to the hassle, expense and time trouble to create their own products. Far easier to pay the price and have everything already done for them!

As for ‘rules’…pricing: suggested retail, minimum price.
Venue: no auction sites, no spam promotion.
Rights transferable: sell, transfer or promote rights to sell.

There’s more to reselling of course, and there are many good products on the topic to teach you. This post was merely an introduction to one way to generate some income for your business.

» Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Solving Problems - Great Ebook Topics

Posted on February 22, 2008

I still get emails every day from people who want to start an online business. I don’t mind - although our recent house fire has neutered my available time to assist somewhat - but most of the people who write are truly stuck, and therefore it is harder to help them.

So as I sit here, day after day, waiting for the new house to build itself so I can get back to work, I thought I’d write a series of blog posts on starting an internet business. What to sell, how to sell it, the variety of website types, and so on.

First, we’ll talk about ebook authoring and sales.

More often than not, this is what my subscribers desire more information on. Back to the very basics though - they don’t even know what to write or publish a book on!

Here’s how to find ebook ideas…. Read more

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My Teen Is Giving Marketing A Shot!

Posted on February 4, 2008

If you look to the right on every page you’ll see my daughter and I - taken 5 years ago when I started this site.

Time flies.

Not such a little kid anymore, today she’s a strong and smart young woman. In fact she’s more than that - she’s my best buddy and my favorite travel companion. (Last year we did a month long trip to Europe together and came back stronger than ever! If you ever need to reconnect with your teen, take them out of their element and devote your every moment on them for a month. Something magical happens, I promise!)

At any rate, back to her upcoming experiment…

It’s been exam week here and she’s looking for ways to make money. Because she’s a minor without skills she needs to be innovative.

So I flipped her a $5 report on how to make $1,000 to $2,000 in 24 hours that was recently updated for 2008 (it’s version 4) and she loved the ideas in it!

“I’ll never need to bother you for money again…now that I know what internet marketers do for…”

The report, on it’s own, has been causing quite a stir.

Written by a veteran in the business.

I figure if my 13 year old loves it, than any one new to the business of making money online will be able to understand and work the step-by-step action plan inside.

And since so many of us could always use some extra money I told my email list about and set up a subscriber’s only ‘ghetto’ page (ghetto means I threw the page online, am selling it for $5, immediate download).

You can read more about it or purchase it here: Really Fast Money Report

p.s. I think my daughter is going to grow up to be an online business owner or entrepreneur of some sort - she even looks the part, don’t you agree?

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Harder Times Fall On Busy Niche Marketers

Posted on November 4, 2007

This is a back-to-basics post for entrepreneurs too busy for Web 2.0 marketing…

Is it me or is everyone seeing an increase of website owners looking for solutions to their decrease in traffic?

It can’t be me.

If you’re an internet marketing trainer or operate an internet marketing website I’m sure you’re getting more emails and blog comments from frustrated website owners than any other time in your site’s lifespan. Am I right?

After a few emails back and forth, this ‘market’ of site owners aren’t the super-savvy, up-to-date, entrepreneurs - but they’re no dummies either!

These are people who had a mini-site that sold a product or two, did their due diligence at launch and used to make between $300-$1000 a month in automated sales (primarily through Clickbank but a few are solely PayPal merchants).

They were making automated sales, but not anymore. This isn’t due to any ClickBank or PayPal glitches overnight. They’re reporting a steady decrease throughout 2007.

They’ve lost their page rank. They’ve lost their traffic. They’re losing their subscribers.

And they’re missing that extra cash coming into the household!

These are the online entrepreneurs who are still working full or part-time, out of the home, and were using their online business to supplement their lifestyles. But the money isn’t coming in anymore and for a variety of reasons they don’t have time to strategize or move into social marketing. (Most promise me that they will in a few month’s time, but right now they just need their free traffic back so they can catch up on bills!)

My Solution to A Fast Return on Profit

I’ve decided to take a step back in time here, with a technique that still works to drive traffic and increase search engine ranking. And offering the best deal I can manage on the training and software that gets those niche site owners back on track with their marketing quickly and affordably.

How quick?

2 hours of reading, 2 different ebooks.
2 hours of implementation (following the guidelines and tips in the ebooks).
10 minutes of submission to over 100 sites (via included software).
7-14 days to see an increase in traffic (no promises, this is my personal experience).

How affordable?

$17 - see it here.

Not enough traffic, sales, subscribers or search rank increase?

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Hoping this helps. When it does, promise me you’ll quit your day job and start actively marketing your products, brand, ’self’, on social networking websites. It is, after all, where the lion’s share of the traffic has gone.

» Filed Under Niche Marketing, Website Traffic | 1 Comment

Over 100 Marketing Ideas and Tips (free)

Posted on November 2, 2007

56 pages.
Muiltiple contributors.
Varying markets.
ISBN: 978-1-932-353-63-1
File size: under 1mg
Load time: instant (downloading could take 2 minutes)

About Marketing Wisdom for 2007

Yes, it has an ISBN #, yes it’s free, and yes it has many valuable marketing ideas - the majority of which are related to internet marketing and testing.

Although compiled in 2006 (and much has changed in the past two years regarding online marketing), these tips and ideas are still relevant. Use them to jump start your own marketing ideas.

The title is: Marketing Wisdom for 2007. Produced by Marketing Sherpa (site). The pdf is available for your quick download, here on Smartzville (marketing idea ebook).

Right mouse click to download it to your computer. Save it on your desktop. Read it when you have a few minutes here and there.
Or, click to open in a new window and read it online. Add it to your favorites, for later reference.

Chapters include, but are not limited to: