Why Sell Something, When You Can Give It Away FREE?

A warm welcome from the Yorkshire dales, I believe the technical word for this weather we are experiencing today is “Summer”, it’s making me feel the need to go outdoors but I’ll resist the temptation whilst I write this blog post.

In todays post I’m going to look back at the events of the past few weeks, as it’s given me some food for thought, and I’m in two minds about what to do, so I’d appreciate it if you could have a read through what I’m about to write and give me your opinions.

It all started a few weeks ago when Socrates Socratous asked me if I’d consider giving away a copy of my Boomerang List Builder software to all people that signed up to his Resale Rights Fortune pre-launch list, so without much hesitation I agreed.

Why Did I Agree To It?

Quite simply because I knew the launch would be huge, and if I had a “soft opt-in” in place, I would get a ton of new subscribers – and I did!

Take a look at the new size of my mailing list:

And I would like to point out that this is probably one of the only times I’ll ever show you a screen shot of my mailing list numbers, so make the most of it!

And I’m not posting the numbers in a “my penis is bigger than yours” “my Dad is better than your Dad” sort of way, I’m just showing you what I gained from giving it away for free – a ton of new mailing list subscribers.

So fast forward a couple of weeks to the end of the launch, and I’m still getting a few new subscribers each day from Resale Rights Fortune.

So here’s the dilemma, what would happen if I got rid of the $47 Boomerang List Builder price tag, and gave it away for free ALL THE TIME?

If I gave it away for free, I’d be losing upwards of $10,000 each year in sales, but I’d be building my mailing list like there’s no tomorrow, and I could implement a OTO type system so there would still be the potential there to make money from OTO sales, and it would still let affiliates earn commissions for promoting.

I know as a customer you will be leaning towards the “Free” option – and I don’t blame you! But put yourself in my shoes, what would you go for?

Would you keep everything as it is and charge $47 to anyone who wishes to purchase a copy of the software, and have a steady trickle of sales every month?

Or would you give away the software for free in return for an email address, so you’d lose out on the income from sales, but you’d be building a huge mailing list that would potentially be a much bigger earner in the years to come?

And I’ve just had a brainwave…WE SHALL HAVE A POLL!

Possibly the first ever poll on the El Passo Blog, what a joyous occasion – so go ahead and vote in the poll, then tell me what you think in the comments section below!

Welll….we were going to have a poll until the plugin decided to stop working, so we’ll have to make do with just leaving your thoughts in the comments section instead, sorry about that, I was really excited about the 1st El Passo Blog poll as well 🙁

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Regards,
Dan

How I Dominated Google For Resell Rights Fortune

How I Dominated Google For Resell Rights Fortune

Hello, welcome, greetings, good to see you etc, etc, etc.

Today I come bearing gifts, it’s not gold, frankincense and mur, but it’s something that could be just as valuable in the long run. I’m going to show you how I “took over” Google during the launch of Resell Rights Fortune.

Just a bit of background info before we get started.

Resell Rights Fortune is a product from Socrates Socratous, that was released on the 9th June. The product allows you to save time, by searching through a database full of different resale rights and private label products – eBooks, scripts, software, videos and so on.

Socrates asked me to promote the product for him a couple of weeks before the launch, so I put my thinking cap on and decided upon a plan of action.

As there was still 2 weeks until the launch, I decided to use a method I’d used in the past. I’d create a simple WordPress Blog, purchase a related domain name, and add some good content to the blog that relates to the product, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll end up with a good placement on Google.

I’m pleased to report that my plan worked, take a look at the image below!

As you can see, I take the first, second, fourth and fifth position on Google for the term “Resell Rights Fortune“, I even pushed down the actual Resell Rights Fortune site into 3rd place. (Sorry Socrates:-))

You are probably thinking that’s all well and good, but does it actually get any traffic?

Simple answer, yes, it does. More proof for you below:

As you can see, the site received 207 hits from Google during the launch period, all of these people looking for more information on the Resell Rights Fortune product.

The site that took me less than 2 hours to setup, has helped to bring in over $2,000 in sales of the product so far, so it does work! Yes, I did send out a mailing to my list that also contributed to the sales total, but the number of clicks generated from the email was 182, so even if we say it was a 50/50 split between the list and the site, it’s still $1,000 which can’t be sniffed at for 1 simple site.

So hopefully I’ve given you enough evidence there to show you that what I did does actually bring back results, so here is EXACTLY how I did it:

1. I purchased the domain name www.resellrightsfortunereview.com from D9 Hosting. ($9.99 per year)

2. I found a WordPress theme that I liked, and then set up a blog on the domain which again, I hosted with D9 Hosting. ($6.95 per month)

3. I created a quick “sneak preview” video showing you what it was like inside the members area. I then distributed the video to a network of video sites using Heyspread.

4. I wrote some posts that I could put on the blog, each showing the reader different aspects of the Resell Rights Fortune (RRF) Product.

5. I put a link to the RRF blog on this blog, so Google could find it.

6. Once Google had indexed the site, I posted a new article every few days to keep the content fresh.

That’s it!

There really is nothing to it, so why not give it a try next time there’s a big product launch coming up? It’s a lot easier to get a few hundred hits from Google than to build a few hundred new mailing list subscribers 🙂

I’ve also just realized that I did make a blog post similar to this way back in October…..although in that promotion I used a slightly different method, so if you want another twist on the method check out the following post:

https://elpassoblog.com/how-one-video-dominated-google-for-john-thornhill-coaching/

And that just about wraps it up for this weeks blog post, I know a lot of you are first time readers, so I hope you found the information useful, and do let me know if you have any questions or feedback by leaving a comment in the section below.

Cheers!
Dan

What Came First – Quality Service Or Money?

Good news, lambing time is almost over! The bad news is that now it’s time to reseed (is that how you spell it?) some fields so I have mind numbing days of sitting on a bumpy tractor seat to look forward to. But on the plus side I did find an i-pod Nano on a footpath that some careless walker dropped so at least I have something to listen to whilst I do it.

Yes, farmer talk ladies and gentlemen, farmer talk. If you type exactly what’s in your head does it make things more readable, I think it does.

Here, have a picture of a sheep and new born lambs:

If you think the gunge looks tasty, it isn’t.

For those of you that love structure I apologize, but writing an introduction is always a bit of a stumbling block and I can’t not have an introduction, it just aint right!

Have a picture of the Tina Turner concert I went to on Saturday. If any of you get chance, BUY TICKETS to the remaining shows, probably the best live concert I’ve ever been to and I wasn’t exactly a huge fan before I saw her live.

And if you do go to one of the remaining shows, take a good camera with you. Mobile phone cameras just don’t cut the mustard.

Phew, the introduction is done, and I’ve managed to write it without giving you any clue whatsoever as to what this blog post is about, great introduction Dan, great introduction.

**End of BS (maybe), start of content**

When you are starting a new project, be it a website, or a new product, what do you think of first? Do you think how the project is going to make you money, or how the project will benefit the people it’s designed for?

When I look around, I see a lot of people take the money making idea and then try to build a site/product around that without giving much thought at all to what website visitors actually want from the product/service.

Should you provide the product/service first and then think about the ways of making money from it after?

That’s what Google did.

I remember back in the day when Google didn’t have adwords or adsense. They had millions of users because they provided a great service, but they didn’t start making money until bright spark in California came up with the paid advertising idea.

The same goes for pretty much all of the top sites on the Internet – Facebook and Twitter just to name a couple of them.

But if you don’t have an idea of how to make money from the site, then you may end up with a site/service that gets loads of visitors and as such your costs go through the roof and as you have no “money making” plan the awesome service you provide isn’t sustainable.

I’m rambling, I have a point in my head but I’m failing to get it across.

So I’ll turn to examples that we can all relate to.

Butterfly Marketing (BM) seems to have a buzz around it at the minute, and I’m sure a lot of you jumped on the BM 2.0 freebie offer, so I’ll talk about Butterfly Marketing sites.

If you are new to this, the BM model, if you strip it right down to the basics is this:

1. Give away product for free in exchange for email address
2. Show visitor special offer after they enter email address
3. Some will buy, others won’t

That’s it, in a nutshell.

The system works, simple as that. BUT only if you put thought into the service you are actually offering, if you use the Butterfly Marketing system as the “money maker” and then throw in some shoddy product as the “service” you are delivering to the customer it won’t work.

People don’t just want any old crap from you, they don’t care what system you are using. All they care about is what they are going to get out of it, give them a botched up package of resell rights products you sourced in 30 minutes won’t cut it.

You need to spend the time researching, planning and implementing what you are going to deliver to your visitors and the money will come.

Here’s another real life example, this is (probably) one of the most successful Butterfly Marketing sites out there:

https://elpassoblog.com/recs/free_website.php

It’s successful because the creators of the site thought about how they could provide a service to keep the customer coming back for more, rather than looking at it from a purely financial point of view. And because they provide such a good service, everything else falls into place and I’m sure it makes them a very good amount each and every month.

Am I getting there yet…..no…..I think I’ve got out of the way of writing, give me a couple of blog posts for me to get back up to speed 😉

Instead of rambling, I’ll sum it up in 1 sentence.

Think about providing a good service to the website visitor, if you do, the money side of things will fall into place, provide them with a crap/product service and they’ll click away from your site and go somewhere else to find what they are looking for.

It’s something I do feel quite strongly about, too many times I find myself looking on Google for information and rather than clicking a link and finding what I want, I’m presented with some BS marketing page that has no relevance to what I’m looking for.

Stop destroying the Internet Marketers! (double meaning, and it wasn’t intentional)

I might even give you a real life example of my own next week, you’ve probably heard me mention this before, but my most profitable sites provide top quality information that the visitor is actually looking for, and a single one of these sites has made well over $20,000 in just over a year – it can be done!

And that brings to an end a pretty terrible blog post from a purists point of view, but there are some points in there. You just have to do a bit of digging around to find them 😉

Many thanks for reading, and I promise the next blog post will be better!
Dan

$100 Email Competition – Winners Announced

Before I start, you have to promise me that you’ll imagine the Rocky training music from Rocky 1 playing in the background. If you have a rubbish imagination, go to youtube then come back here whilst it’s playing.

It was March 5th and an open challenge had been laid down to Internet Marketers from all over the world.

The prize was what every marketer dreams of, $100 in their PayPal account!

The challenge was immense, an email had to be written to promote a top quality product that was available for $100 less than normal.

/Tempo increase

As expected, hundreds (well, not quite!) of warriors turned out to do battle, they shed blood, sweat, tears and virtual ink, but they all had one common goal.

The knockout rounds were tough and the quality of the entrants was immense, round by round some fell by the way side until we were left with 2 final warriors ready to do battle for the ultimate prize.

In the red corner: Elmer “hurt machine” Hurlstone

And in the blue corner: Pippa “punch you in the gut” Guppy

Who would climb those famous steps and emerge from the competition as the champion.

The opening rounds were close, but in the 12th round the experience of the “Hurt Machine” took the advantage and scored a decisive points decision to claim the ultimate prize, $100!!!!

By now the music track has probably finished, so I can stop pretending to be Ian Darke.

If I translate the above into something you can actually understand, it goes like this:

Last week I set a competition with a prize of $100 to the person that could write the best email promo for John Thornhill’s eBook website business.

There were loads of entries, but I managed to narrow it down to 2 finalists. And before I go on, THANKYOU to everyone of you that sent in an entry, even if you didn’t make it to the final 2, THANKYOU for taking time out of your day and taking part, I’ll see if I can come up with some sort of discount on some of my products as a prize of something!

So…the final 2 was down to Pippa Guppy and Elmer Hurlstone.

Both emails were really good, and it goes without saying that they were better than my attempt, but the winner just had slightly more content in there and just seemed to have the “edge” for me.

And the winner is:

ELMER HURLSTONE!

And also a very well done to Pippa Guppy who finished in 2nd, I’ve sent you a free copy of my Boomerang List Builder as a prize – check your email inbox and it should be there waiting for you 🙂

So congratulations to Elmer, the $100 is your’s and it would be rude not to show you the winning email so here it is:

***Start of email***

“Hi {firstname_fix},

Some things make so much sense it’s hard to believe that anyone could, or would,
ignore them.

If you really wanted to find out how to build beautiful cabinets you’d try to
hook up with a master cabinet maker…

If model railroads and electric trains were your passion you’d hang out with
the folks that make elaborate layouts…

If you really wanted to increase the amount of money you’re making online you’d
look to truly successful marketers for the information and systems that would
put you over the top…

When it comes to using “systems” and online marketing one of the
absolute best people and most experienced is John Thornhill.

If you don’t know about John let me, sort of, introduce him to you.
A few years ago John made his living plunking parts on cars in a Nissan factory
in Northern England. Not particularly exciting work. John wanted more.

In 2002 John discovered how to make a living online. And he hasn’t looked back
since. Using the system he’s developed he currently brings in six figures a
year. And he does all from home. On eBay! Doing what you’re doing or are
interested in doing. Selling information products.

John is both my mentor and friend. Since 2005 he’s shown me how to use the same
system and methods he uses, on a daily basis, to minimize work and maximize
profit!

For a limited time John is permitting me to save you $100 on membership in the
same program I’ve been a member of since 2005. John is not offering this to the
whole world. Just you, because you’re my valuable subscriber!

I personally thank and credit John for my success. His advice, over the years,
has made all the difference to me and my business.

Take a look at what John Thornhill is offering. By carefully reading the
information you’ll make an informed decision that may change your life and
business forever! For the better.

Here’s the link: http://elpassoblog.com/recs/sms_discount.php

(If you prefer you may simply copy the link and paste it into the address bar
on your browser.)

Regards,
Dan

PS. Please remember, the $100, limited time, discount is only available to you
as my subscriber. It’s not available elsewhere. This offer may be rescinded
without notice.”

***End of email***

Thanks again to everyone that entered, and well done to the winner.

I think the competition went really well so I’ll try and put some more together for you sometime in the future.

Thanks for reading, and apologies for getting the Rocky theme tune stuck in your head.

d d d d d, d d d d d, d d d d d d d d, da da da da, da da da
Dan

Something Really Annoying Gives You The Chance To Win $100

Hello everyone, and welcome to this very unique blog post. It’s unique because I’m from Yorkshire, I’m a farmers son, and I’m giving away money :-0

But I’m not totally stupid, you do have to do something in order to get the $100 prize, so I’m going to run a little competition for you all. Anyone can enter, there are no restrictions apart from the work has to be your own. Anyone found to be using copy/paste will be thrown down a well.

So then, what’s this madness all about?

Well, it all started a few weeks ago when I found something more annoying than my ingrowing toe nail.

I was looking through my auto responder follow up mails that get sent out to you guys after you’ve signed up to one of my mailing lists.

If you are reading this blog then there’s a good chance you will have experienced these follow up messages first hand, and for that I’M SORRY…really…SORRY, they are incredibly badly written and to put it bluntly, they suck big time.

Take a look at the following example that gets sent out promoting a top quality product that I have an exclusive $100 discount on, you’d think the email would write itself wouldn’t you?….Nope, take a look:

Email Subject: [$100 Discount]

Email Body:

Hi {!firstname_fix},

I hope that you have enjoyed your e-books.

Just a quick email to let you know that after months and months of
nagging my good friend John Thornhill has agreed to give you (my
subscribers) a massive $100 discount on his award winning membership
website.

This discount can’t be found *ANYWHERE* else on the Internet so it’s
definitely worth checking out:

http://elpassoblog.com/recs/sms_discount.php

(If the link wont load please copy/paste the URL into your browser)
Hope you enjoyed the email,

Regards,
Dan

All emails sent out using http://elpasso.aweber.com“

What you have there is an example of what not to do, why would anyone want to join the site after reading that email? All I’ve told them about is the $100 discount, how do they know what the site is about, why should they know who John Thornhill is – and why should they care?

And I only have myself to blame, I WROTE THE EMAIL!

I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote it, but I do cringe with embarrassment when I look back at it now.

So now we get to the competition part.

As you’ve already guessed the email needs rewriting, but instead of me doing it, and instead of hiring a Ghostwriter, I thought I’d give you guys a chance to get some experience and earn some decent money in the process.

So here are the “Rules” for my $100 Email Rewriting Competition!

What you have to do:

1. Write an email (and a Subject line for the email) promoting the exclusive $100 discount for John Thornhill’s eBook website business membership site.

2. Send it to me via this blog – Click on the “Contact” link at the top of this page.

3. The closing date for entries is a week today – Thursday 12th March, 5pm GMT.

4. The winning entry will be chosen by me and the prize money ($100 USD) will be sent via PayPal

And that pretty much covers it! I know there’ll be loads of questions so rather than trying to think of them all and answer them here, please post a comment and I’ll reply to the questions as they come in!

If you need to find out more about the product the email is promoting, you can view the sales page here:

http://elpassoblog.com/recs/sms_discount.php

Good luck to everyone that enters, fire away with any questions!

Regards,
Dan

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