Muse is up and automated - what do you think?

[Tommy]

After reading the book, I was motivated to finally accomplish something I had on the 'to-do' list, and also turned it into a potential money maker.

My freshmen year in college, I joined a Fraternity my first semester. I was young and stupid, and picked the worst one on campus. It was my worst nightmare. After a few huge fights, me and 2 of my close friends/pledge brothers quit.

Long story short... we quit, started our own Fraternity, and had an unbelievable experience. I just recently graduated from college, and the Fraternity is still in existence, and has 42 brothers. It's been an amazing ride.

The last 2 years, I had always thought about writing down this entire experience. While I was creating it, it was incredibly difficult to find information on what needs to get done in order to develop a frat. I remember always thinking "man, I wish I could just buy something that tells me what to do".

The trick is... there is no 'guidebook' on starting one. The only guides you can get are from organizations that already exist, that want you to start a chapter of theirs.

So, I wrote one. I had written my story down months ago, and brought it back to life. I made huge edits, added more sections and precise directions, and added more of my own experiences. I finished it a few weeks ago, and it's a full 67 pages.

I bought a website, did some light html, and automated the entire thing. It's simple, and only 2 pages. Once you pay through paypal, a link to download the book is emailed to you. I have it set to expire after 3 download attempts, or 2 hours after payment. This way, people cant get to the URL and post it on forums or message boards. I am offering 4 chapters for free on the website, in order to drum up some interest.

I am still optimizing it with google, and trying adwords. I have spent $47 in facebook ads, which has been an interesting experience.

I started selling my book at $10, and no one bought. So I did the oldest trick in the book, and raised the price to $50. I have had 2 buyers in the last 4 days, and I have officially broken even.

Costs:
Domain registration w/ private registration $14
Hosting $3/month
Facebook/Google Ads: $47
Writing labor: Free

Total cost:$64 ($3 a month in hosting)
Sales: 2 - $98

$34 profit


I had friends/relatives write me testimonials. A few of them already started fraternities based on the advice I gave them a year ago, and they all read the book last week and loved it. All the testimonials are real.

I would love some criticism from fellow members of the new rich. What can I do different? What can I do better? What do you think?



start/a/fraternity/.net ( take out all the /'s )

- Tommy

[kamakiri]

Welcome to the board. You are further along than most people get. There are literally thousands of things you can do to increase sales and awareness.

I am by no means an expert on any of them, but there are some low hanging fruit out there that you can do to instantly increase your sales. Using tools like google analytics, social networking, and posting in related forums will give you an almost instant hit.

You can move on to SEO, better PPC ads, and a whole range of other tools that you will start to see pop up all over the place. Even picking one thing a week to work on and make one concrete inprovement will set you up for further sales.

Ths sad thing is that you will also need to start working on your next muse. College campuses and the greek system is well known for file sharing. Just open up any bit torrent tracker site, and you will find every Carlton Sheets course available. Kids will spend $50 on a report then load it right up on a file sharing network. Knowing in advance that it will happen at some point and preparing for your next muse (be that version 2 of the book, or Beer Pong for Idiots).

Do you have a newsletter sign up? That has the potential to be a gold mine as well. Even though people don't buy your products, if you get their details and send out monthly or weekly newsletters with remotely entertaining stuff, a lot of which you could puick up here (like custom beer pong balls, how to sleep less courses...). You will also find it easer to sell to people who already purchased your stuff.

[Tommy]

Yea... I'm not sure. The market is terrible. I am 22 years old and just graduated, and I can tell you right now, that my demographic doesn't have money, haha.

You're right about filesharing, but at the same time, this isn't a hit mp3, or a movie, it's an ebook I wrote, that doesn't exist anywhere else. Anyone who buys it is paying $50... I don't see too much incentive for them to upload it to everyone else for free. In addition, if they're buying it, then they have an incentive to start their own Fraternity. Why would they want to give away the blueprint to potential 'rivals' on campus? You're completely right about uploading, but at the same time I feel like its an expensive, niche product that would be less likely to get uploaded.

I personally never sign up for "free" newsletters like that, and I see affiliate marketing or any other kind of demographic selling like that kind of corny, and not worth the time.

I started the muse because it was a personal experience of mine that seemed to have no competition in the market. Not because I thought college kids were a good market.

I have done some SEO with forums, directory postings, wiki edits, and backlinking. I will continue to make improvements.

Thanks for the advice! Anyone else?

[andyYY]

We have more or less the same age,but I would say something about our demog. buy strategy,it's obvious that someone will search first for free tips,but if you go deeper you may reache the real niche place,where people find something very interesting and just share with 2-3 intimate friends

Share monsters usually never read a book,they just find something and upload everywhere (bt,emule,etcetc)

My suggestion to fight the shareware (wich I support IF done correctly and safely) it's to provide extra bonus only with registration and password (and cookies enabled)

[AntonTheKhan]

Hey you are up to a great start.
I have to agree with kamakiri about the opt in list. I would say ask people to opt in before getting to the free Chapters page. You might not think that it is a good idea, but I will tell you that I personally sign up for many newsletters like that and love recieving info and being bombarded with 2-3 emails a week does work to eventually get you to buy. Don't neglect that. You can build up a nice list and soon start pushing other products to it. Right now you are letting potential dollars slip through your fingers.
I would also do the old bonus stack trick. Create 2-3 bonuses that give the perception of increased value to the buyer.
I love how you have cited exact statistics with exact numbers, thats a great sales tool.
My only other suggestion is to pick up Joe Sugarman's Adweekly Copywriting Course and read it cover to cover. He is one of the most successful copywriters and what he teach is you is priceless. I think your copy doesn't start as good as it can be, but then gets really good. You have to really get people in to read your first sentence, then the second, etc, etc.
On the other hand, people interested in starting a fraternity would definitely read the whole thing.
Good luck. Don't worry about file sharing and such. Maybe get some password protection and what not, I know there are programs that will encode the ebooks for you and send out passwords to buyers.


Yea... I'm not sure. The market is terrible. I am 22 years old and just graduated, and I can tell you right now, that my demographic doesn't have money, haha.

You're right about filesharing, but at the same time, this isn't a hit mp3, or a movie, it's an ebook I wrote, that doesn't exist anywhere else. Anyone who buys it is paying $50... I don't see too much incentive for them to upload it to everyone else for free. In addition, if they're buying it, then they have an incentive to start their own Fraternity. Why would they want to give away the blueprint to potential 'rivals' on campus? You're completely right about uploading, but at the same time I feel like its an expensive, niche product that would be less likely to get uploaded.

I personally never sign up for "free" newsletters like that, and I see affiliate marketing or any other kind of demographic selling like that kind of corny, and not worth the time.

I started the muse because it was a personal experience of mine that seemed to have no competition in the market. Not because I thought college kids were a good market.

I have done some SEO with forums, directory postings, wiki edits, and backlinking. I will continue to make improvements.

Thanks for the advice! Anyone else?

[Stallion]

I have to applaud you on doing this. Very unique product and I think you captured what Timothy Ferris wanted people to go after.

I've been doing affiliate marketing with other people's products because I felt I needed to learn how to sell first before I get into a muse. I should probable get to work on my own product.

The suggestions about having someone opt in to mailing list is a good idea. Statistics show that you can convert much better if you have people opting in to a mailing list. By right, by the 7th email, they should buy.

Think of it this way. People come to your site, they buy or leave. Most people leave.

Wouldn't you want to have a chance to try selling to these people over and over again?

[FrozenCanuck]

Tommy - my next muse will be an ebook for a particular niche market that I have also have no competition for.

The idea will be virtually the same implementation as yours, just a totally different niche.

Can you tell me exactly who's software you are using to manage the automated download links? That is the part I want to learn next.

Is it something like DL Guard? How did you decide which solution to use?

[nghs22]

looks really good man. I don't give 2 shits about frats, but for those who do, you will do really well. I would buy it :)

[zhongguohua88]

Your squeeze page is good but there are a few things that you should change. You should put photos in it; it has been proven that squeeze pages with photos in them sell better.

[Tommy]

Wow, you guys are so helpful! Thanks!

You're right... as much as I hate email lists... I am leaving dollars on the table. I even hated the "Long, winding sales copy pitch" style of the website, but read that it was insanely more effective for selling ebooks than anything else. I guess I'll go with what makes money, not with what I like!

FrozenCanuck - The program I am using is E-Junkie, and its been great so far It's $5 a month, and they hold your product for you and automate downloads. They allow unlimited space, and unlimited downloads. I initially just had the file on my website, and had the paypal link go to the download page once they paid. I discovered that it's easy for average hackers to get this file, and forgo paying in paypal. The coolest part about E-junkie is that you can set the download expiration time. Right now I have it set to expire either 2 hours after payment is made, or after 3 download attempts. You could set it to 24 hours, and 100 attempts, or even set it for a time period, like July 20th, 2008 at 8:03pm. They hold my file, and I can also set a commission on it and have people sell it for me, for any commission % I want. I haven't done that yet, because I want to fully SEO my site, before any commissioners beat me to it :P when they click the link, they get sent to paypal, pay me, and then ejunkie emails the customer a link to the download. All I do is get an email that says "$49 has been deposited into your account". It's pretty badass

you can sign up at e-junkie.com (http://www.e-junkie.com)
or, use my referral link (http://www.e-junkie.com/?r=27117) and I get 20% of your $5 a month

I am not worried about filesharing.

You are right Anton... I should create some more 'bonuses'. I'll do that right now!

What does everyone think of my sales copy? Anton you mentioned that you didn't like it. I made it very similar to a wall street journal sales copy. People call it "the best sales copy of all time" and has brought the WSJ billions of dollars, check out this site http://www.dennyhatch.com/billion/

What do you think? Does my intro sales copy need a big change?

- Tommy

[AntonTheKhan]

No, I like it quite a bit. It was just my opinion that the first couple of paragraphs could be just a tad bit more engaging. That's just me. Otherwise, it is very good and I think it really serves the purpose well.
One suggestion that I actually read in the Joe Sugarman book and that had to do with fraternities. The story is that when he was in college he joined the worst fraternity on campus and wanted to turn it around. So they organized a party with the idea to show that they had the hottest girls around and that there was great comraderie among the brothers. Since no girls wanted to partake in their party, they hired local strippers, invited everyone else and had a blast. Soon their fraternity became the biggest on campus.
So you can put that "marketing" method in your ebook as a bonus.

Wow, you guys are so helpful! Thanks!

You're right... as much as I hate email lists... I am leaving dollars on the table. I even hated the "Long, winding sales copy pitch" style of the website, but read that it was insanely more effective for selling ebooks than anything else. I guess I'll go with what makes money, not with what I like!

FrozenCanuck - The program I am using is E-Junkie, and its been great so far It's $5 a month, and they hold your product for you and automate downloads. They allow unlimited space, and unlimited downloads. I initially just had the file on my website, and had the paypal link go to the download page once they paid. I discovered that it's easy for average hackers to get this file, and forgo paying in paypal. The coolest part about E-junkie is that you can set the download expiration time. Right now I have it set to expire either 2 hours after payment is made, or after 3 download attempts. You could set it to 24 hours, and 100 attempts, or even set it for a time period, like July 20th, 2008 at 8:03pm. They hold my file, and I can also set a commission on it and have people sell it for me, for any commission % I want. I haven't done that yet, because I want to fully SEO my site, before any commissioners beat me to it :P when they click the link, they get sent to paypal, pay me, and then ejunkie emails the customer a link to the download. All I do is get an email that says "$49 has been deposited into your account". It's pretty badass

you can sign up at e-junkie.com (http://www.e-junkie.com)
or, use my referral link (http://www.e-junkie.com/?r=27117) and I get 20% of your $5 a month

I am not worried about filesharing.

You are right Anton... I should create some more 'bonuses'. I'll do that right now!

What does everyone think of my sales copy? Anton you mentioned that you didn't like it. I made it very similar to a wall street journal sales copy. People call it "the best sales copy of all time" and has brought the WSJ billions of dollars, check out this site http://www.dennyhatch.com/billion/

What do you think? Does my intro sales copy need a big change?

- Tommy

[Tommy]

Hahaha that's a sweet idea.... but what change should I make to the beginning paragraph... you think its too slow?

[Tommy]

Also... what's the best way to ask for an email address? Should I offer free material.... or make them put it in, in order to get to the next page? or should I just ask for their email address?

What's been successful for you? Do you have any sources that say the best way to do it?

- Tommy

[AntonTheKhan]

I offer free tips. However, since you are offering some of the chapters for free, I would say, ask them to sign up in order to continue reading and also offer maybe a free newsletter and tips. I think both will work, because once you get the email but the person didn't buy you want to keep sending them emails with good info, so finally they say, this guy is dope, i need this ebook I will buy it.
I don't know what to tell you about the opening. Maybe you can test it by telling an interesting story and then go into your pitch.
You can maybe replay the picture - like say you just came back home from a wild orgy with your fraternity where there were the most beautiful girls, bla, blah, blah, how you got a job offer from a frat brother, etc, etc.
Again, don't get me wrong. I think your copy is superb as it is, it is just my opinion that the begining can be made even better. Honestly if it is working for you, I wouldn't change it, although it is good to experiment just to see if you can better your conversion rate.
Good luck.

Also... what's the best way to ask for an email address? Should I offer free material.... or make them put it in, in order to get to the next page? or should I just ask for their email address?

What's been successful for you? Do you have any sources that say the best way to do it?

- Tommy

[Grayman]

Definitely put a few images on your sales page. A picture of a kick ass party with hot girls out on the deck would work well I am thinking.

Most of the internet marketing "experts" I have seen ask for your first name and e-mail address, and then once you submit that you're either redirected to a page with the extra goodies or e-mailed a Welcome letter with a link to the goodies.

Cool product though, and very 4HWW! Very niche and very automated. Best of luck.

[Stallion]

You got a great looking page. Simple, but effective. I'm not sure if I like your opening statement. I know starting the fraternity is the key to what you're doing, but I think it should be more attention grabbing. If you look at ads in magazines (and other sales copies), they have something really attention grabbing at the top.

I know jack about fraternities, so I can't think of anything. "Don't be a Pledge! Spank the Asses of your Pledges!"

lol

Also I think you should do those ebook boxes/book images that they have. I know it doesn't mean much, but it just gives the surfer this feeling that this is tangible. Like they'll know it's an ebook, but people just like to "see" things.

I'd like to congratulate you again. I think you really captured the essence of what Tim wanted you to do. It's very unique and I've never heard of anything like it, so I know it's definitely in the right direction.

[Tommy]

Thanks so much!

Quick question, are those 3d ebook things proven effective? I absolutely HATE THOSE, I GET SO ANGRY when I see them, but is that just me? Again, if it's proven to sell more, I'll do it!

I am adding pictures now... I'm using facebook pics from old parties we had, that way I don't have to pay some image wholesaler, haha.

What do you guys think, should I remove the free sample, and make them submit an email address to get to it? I'm a little afraid, because I'm hoping that people read the 4 chapters, and then it pushes them to buy. If they were reluctant to give me their email (like I am) they would never read it.

Should I offer something else instead?


Hmmm... that's two people that have said I should change the intro.... if one more person does than I think I will....


- Tommy

[Tommy]

Also, I was considering grabbing a microphone, reading my book, and offering it as an ebook/audiobook pacakge. It wouldn't be that hard to do... but is it worth my time? Is there any data out there that proves an audiobook will sell better than an ebook, or that when they're packaged it sells better?

- Tommy

[Tommy]

Okay members of the new rich, tell me what you think:

I changed the table of contents on the second page by putting it at the top of the page, and put "free" next to all the chapters I am giving away

I added a few pictures from my facebook photos on the site, some of the guys and some of the cute girls we've had at parties

I added "free bonus" stuff at the bottom. I'm not sure how I feel about this... is this immoral? I am not misleading anyone, all the stuff I am offering as a bonus is included in the downloaded, but it was there already. Is it immoral to offer this as a bonus? Does it work for inspiring more buyers?

I just changed the intro paragraphs into some of my own copy.... I just read a quick tutorial on how to write good copy, what do you think of it? does it keep leading you down the page? PLEASE give me feedback on the first 3 paragraphs... they are vital!

I have one thing left to do, according to your responses:

1. Add an "enter your email now!" button. How should I do this? I am thinking about offering another chapter of the book. Maybe I'll place it right when the last chapter ends? What do you think?


Also, what do you think about creating an audiobook?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I know I am micro managing this right now.... but thats the beauty of automation... tinker with it for a little while until it starts padding the bank account, then walk away and start a new one!

- Tommy

on his way to the NR

woops, forgot to add the site again!

sta/rt/afra/ternity/.net (take out the /'s ... i don't want this post showing up on google! :P)

EDIT: Wow, this is really annoying... I can't believe how many people are on here just viewing posts, and not actually contributing. All you lurkers are racking up hits on my website, but not giving me any feedback! boo that man! boooooo

[AntonTheKhan]

Honestly, I liked the beggining of your copy before better. I'd just test out a few different ideas and headlines and see which convert best.
Also I don't know why you feel so bad about these things. It's called marketing. I can see that you enjoyed writing the book, but to successfully make it into a product you have to implement some old and tested ideas. The opt-in, the free bonuses, these are a must. You are not misleading anyone, you are making your offer more attractive.
As for the opt-in, I use a simple FORM SEND script that comes with my hosting. You download this thing, enter the email where you want info to be sent, then add forms on your website through your html editor. You have to make sure they are redirected to an email you want. Then when someone opts in, an email with their info is sent to you. It is not the most automated way to collect emails, but it will work in the beginning.
The other one is of course something like AWeber for autoresponder. This will automatically collect the emails and build a list and you can send emails to your list automatically.

Okay members of the new rich, tell me what you think:

I changed the table of contents on the second page by putting it at the top of the page, and put "free" next to all the chapters I am giving away

I added a few pictures from my facebook photos on the site, some of the guys and some of the cute girls we've had at parties

I added "free bonus" stuff at the bottom. I'm not sure how I feel about this... is this immoral? I am not misleading anyone, all the stuff I am offering as a bonus is included in the downloaded, but it was there already. Is it immoral to offer this as a bonus? Does it work for inspiring more buyers?

I just changed the intro paragraphs into some of my own copy.... I just read a quick tutorial on how to write good copy, what do you think of it? does it keep leading you down the page? PLEASE give me feedback on the first 3 paragraphs... they are vital!

I have one thing left to do, according to your responses:

1. Add an "enter your email now!" button. How should I do this? I am thinking about offering another chapter of the book. Maybe I'll place it right when the last chapter ends? What do you think?


Also, what do you think about creating an audiobook?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I know I am micro managing this right now.... but thats the beauty of automation... tinker with it for a little while until it starts padding the bank account, then walk away and start a new one!

- Tommy

on his way to the NR

woops, forgot to add the site again!

sta/rt/afra/ternity/.net (take out the /'s ... i don't want this post showing up on google! :P)

EDIT: Wow, this is really annoying... I can't believe how many people are on here just viewing posts, and not actually contributing. All you lurkers are racking up hits on my website, but not giving me any feedback! boo that man! boooooo

[Tommy]

Also I don't know why you feel so bad about these things. It's called marketing. I can see that you enjoyed writing the book, but to successfully make it into a product you have to implement some old and tested ideas. The opt-in, the free bonuses, these are a must. You are not misleading anyone, you are making your offer more attractive.

Dude... you are so right. It's funny, because it has taken me longer to write a 2 page sales website than it did to write up a 67 page ebook! I am very proud of my book, because it was an unbelievable experience, a unique book, and I can't wait to see people apply it to their lives and change their entire college experience!

I also have to give credit to the 100mg of adderall I went through in order to finish it, lol

Back to work on making my offer more attractive! This is a very unique product, and I'm not sure I have the capability to give it the reach I am looking for. I may be looking for affiliates to help sell it later. It's a $50 book, so maybe I'll put a nice commission on it or something. Anyone interested?

- Tommy

[zhongguohua88]

It's a $50 book, so maybe I'll put a nice commission on it or something. Anyone interested?

- Tommy

Check your PM.

[camdengirl]

Or to get round the file sharing - how about playing on their greed by getting them signed up as an affiliate and making money from selling your book?

That way they will be less likely to give it away...

[moonfish]

You are doing something something very similar to me, but I have been using some of the other methods suggested by forum members as well. It sounds like you are onto a winner to me.

I've been selling software and audio products online for some time now with some success but I've only recently started to make some good money. I'm just a regular guy and I have limited experience of marketing, but some of my ideas sell pretty well.

I changed my business approach though, less than two weeks ago and after releasing a new information product I started to receive sales within 7 days.

I am using a system which is 99% automated and only requires a little input from me, the product is instantly delivered to the customer and the sales paid directly into a Paypal business account.


Outline of costs


Domain Name:about $10 through Godaddy
Web hosting through Hostgator $4 per month
Scripts $35 (one off payment)
Paypal fees $2 approx recurring

Advertising costs

I didn't invest any money in advertising, although I am about to try several free resources which will increase my web visibility.

Time

I used this system on an established website and also on a new site. The new site has had hardly any promotion and has made $94 so far whereas the established site has made $400 approx.

Sales since implementation 2 weeks ago $400 approx

Adsense revenue approx $200 a month

Estimated earnings for the first month of sales $1000

Estimated earnings for a typical month $1200 Minimum

Less start up costs $1151 Profit

The projections are based upon what I've earned so far, I can only be completely sure when the product has been live for a full month. It looks to be the basis of a good cash cow, what do you think?

I've purchased some more web scripts for the system (which although I've installed, I haven't yet implemented) it will be interesting to see if they increase profits.

The beauty of this system is that it can be easily duplicated and sold as a product in it's own right or used for selling information products, or sold as a cd package on Ebay ( I am just about to test this).

Do you think that this looks like a recipe for success? Do you have any ideas about how I could make the system make more money? I'm considering using Adwords to take it to the next level or maybe Text link ads, but the fact is I'm getting good traffic just from free promotional methods.

Now that it's running pretty well I am about to release another new information product in a different niche to see how it goes.

What would you do in my shoes? Any suggestions and critique would be appreciated.

The site in question is http://www.moonfish-design.co.uk/members/special.html

Thanks Rob

[andyYY]

1.000 US $ it's no bad.

Few suggest since my muse testing said all,add pics and colours,your sales page it's pretty boring and the span attention of the reader may go down.

A normal person,in a conversation totally loose concentration after 6 minutes,Immagine only reading if not sure yet on what you're selling what can happens


Btw,nice kick off ;)