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I have been selling my ebook on my site. Small niche in the large market of Hawaii travel. The sales page I wrote converts between 1 to 2 percent (somewhat seasonal). No refund requests or chargebacks, but then I've only sold about 100 of them.
The sales page has held top position in Google for a couple years, but I didn't know much about SEO when I created it and the keywords aren't popular enough, so it only averages about 10 unique visitors per day. My entire site averages 100 unique visitors per day, but only a couple of the pages seem to drive traffic that converts. I just added Google Analytics. So far, I think I see where most sales are originating but not sure yet. I can use this knowledge in my marketing.
I work at home as a freelance copywriter through an outsourcing company where we compete globally, so generally the pay isn't very good. I enjoy the work, but I'd like to apply what I've been learning to marketing my own stuff, starting with my ebook. Rent's always on the line, so naturally I'm looking for the quickest ways to sell my ebook. Once I have better income from it then what I get now (about $80 a month), I can take more time off from my "day job" and devote to planning for new products and longer term strategies. Right now I'd be happy to just make an extra few hundred a month to allow me to do that.
I tried Google Adwords a while back lost money, but then I didn't have much to play with either.
So I'm wondering about finding affiliates in similar niches to sell my ebook. Do you think Clickbank would be a good venue? Not sure how to find good affiliates that will be interested either. I hear 1 to 2 percent conversion for an ebook isn't bad, but I'm not so sure if that would be attractive to affiliates or even what good affiliates expect.
Am also wondering if distributing free reports that link to my sales letter might be a good way to go. I'm not sure where to distribute them. Craigslist maybe and forums?
I'd just really love to sell faster so I can afford to spend more time on this. I get very focused when I work on something, and the last time I started looking for ways to market my book better, I lost about a week from "billable work." Not good when rent's coming due.
From all the posts I've read at WWW and from what I've learned working for Internet marketers, you can't get rich in a hurry, but you can make a reasonable amount fast, say $100 a week - or more :-)
I'd love to hear your ideas - realty checks, inspiration and practical tips.
[edited by: Lee56 at 1:28 am (utc) on April 21, 2008]
On the downside to this, if you can't make money via adwords on the product where you are making 100% commission, not sure how an affiliate will make it on 60% commission. You might have to recruit sites about hawaii and offer them the chance to sell your ebook.
I've also heard 1 percent conversion is good for an ebook. I make money from the free traffic...about one to two sales per 100 visits. I just need more traffic arriving via similar searches/interests. I know over the long haul, I can add more pages to my site with links to my sales pages. And I want to grow my site anyway. But not a quick solution.
My ebook only sells for $19.95. I make $15.95 after deducting for a coupon I give away. 60 percent commission seems pretty high. I was thinking 40 to 50 just because I want to get this going already. I've fiddled around with my site since 2001 and my ebook, including an updated version for the last 3 years. But my work just doesn't allow much time for it, and it's getting frustrating. I see friends I mentored moving ahead, and I'm feeling rather sorry for myself. Whine whine.
So the good affiliates require 60 percent usually?
I like your idea about recruiting sites in my niche. I have one who will do it (a friend with a popular site). I'd need Clickbank or another affiliate program to offer them this then? I looked into a free one, PayLoadz, but the customer support was very poor. Hawaii's pretty broad, but if they have pages that relate to my niche that would be ideal.I hope contacting them via email isn't considered as spamming.
Thanks!
Start out with the % you feel comfortable with. Give it a month or two, and go higher if it seems necessary.
Firstly, you can afford to give a much higher rate of commission. You can even afford to lose money on your frontend product provided that you monetarize your backend well. For example, you can post affiliate links to other products such as a cruise in Hawawi, hotels, resorts, plane tickets etc.
As far as successful launches go. Typically, the marketeer would find suitable partners for joint ventures mainly in Internet Marketing forums. In readlity, these partners are none other than potential super-affiliates. These partners normally would promote by their mailing list. As time gets near the product launch, a buzz would be generated for your product by these JV partners. You could help in this process by providing a "leaked chapter" or bits and pieces about your eBook. On the day of the launch, the JV partners would send out an e-mail to their lists.
Of course, besides mailing list, JV partners may also do PPC or article marketing if they want. However, most of these tactics are probably best used for the money making niche and I am not sure how much of it would be applicable to your niche.
