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Self-Publishing For Marketers / Internet Entrepreneurs (Very Tough/Competitive Niche - Watch Progress LIVE)

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Black_Dragon43

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Hey Fastlaners,

This is a PROGRESS Thread... unlike any other progress thread you've seen before.

How so?

Because I will keep nothing hidden from you. You will read about everything I do, you will know who I am, and you will know my numbers.

As some of you already know, I founded and am still running a leading direct response agency. We've worked with some big names, including Inc. 500 entrepreneurs.

But this thread is not about the agency per say.

It's about the expansion of the agency on a new vertical.

So far we're addressing and serving only high-powered entrepreneurs who have big cash cows to play with.

It's now time to enter a different kind of business to address entrepreneurs at the start of their journey.

That's what this thread is about. It's about the process of serving beginner entrepreneurs and taking them from making very little to making a killing in their niche.

And we'll do that through self-publishing.

Why self-publishing?

I believe that out of all the assets entrepreneurs can control today, knowledge is the most powerful and the most valuable. With the right knowledge, followed by application, nothing can stand in your way.

If you think about what sets us apart, and why we're able to work with the best of the best, it all comes down to knowledge. It comes down to understanding what makes markets and people move, and then using that to get real business results.

And these same skills are required to start and scale a business. Apart from mindset, it is the biggest roadblock beginner entrepreneurs have.

By reading this thread, buying the resources, and following the progress you will be able to understand the mechanics of skyrocketing your online sales.

Why You MUST Follow This Thread...

If you want to see how to conquer a new market with very high competition and where there exists very little trust, then you should totally follow this thread. The very same skills you see applied here, you can apply to any other market.

The Strategy

We will cover topics in the order of importance for entrepreneurs. The first topic is sales funnels.

Why?

Because this is the most important topic. Understanding sales funnels means understanding the process of selling. Even if you don't have a traditional Clickfunnels funnel, so long as you're selling online, you're using some kind of funnel, whether you know it or not. Even if it's just a 1-step funnel. Still a funnel.

Nothing can help you get better results than understanding sales. And sales funnels are at the heart of that.

So we will approach issues topic by topic and publish on that topic until we have "conquered" it by fully covering everything. Topics will be announced only after the current topic is exhausted.

In addition, we will also actively coach people who buy our resources to make sure they can be provided with any knowledge that we haven't put down in writing or on video.

We plan on reinvesting a large part of the profits to develop more resources to help beginner entrepreneurs. So whatever money is spent paying us will come back not just in the value you get out of the initial purchase, but in everything we will publish after that.

What Kind Of Resources Will We Publish?


It can be whatever we determine as the best kind of resource to address the topic. It could be eBooks, video courses, mentoring, videos, PDFs, cheatsheets, etc.

What Have We Done So Far?

We have published one eBook called 5-Steps To Create A Money-Making Machine which details the entire process of selling online, centered around sales funnels.

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We have also created a thread which you should read before you even think about buying the eBook called: You Won't Make Big Money Until You Understand This... Even If You're Providing Value

We will keep updating the thread linked above. The thread is meant to contain stuff that you need to know PRIOR to understanding the stuff you read in the eBook.

Why have we chosen the eBook format?


eBooks offer a much greater degree of random access than video. Random access is the capacity to easily find what you're looking for directly, without having to wade through other stuff. A search function does the job really well in an eBook, as does the table of contents.

This is in contradistinction to sequential access. When you're watching a video, you have to watch what comes before to find the piece of information that you're looking for. That's why when teaching something that doesn't require lots of visual aid, written documents are higher value.

It makes it easier to access the info. Enough on that, I'll actually open a thread discussing this.

The eBook has been made available on The FastLane Forum Marketplace, Sell-Me-Saturday, Warrior Forum WSO, and our own website.

We plan to update the eBook once a year based on your feedback.

Our Marketing Strategy

1. We started by offering the eBook to our email list. That's how we got our initial purchases and reviews.
2. We then started offering the eBook on our website, built a landing page, and sent Facebook ads to it.
3. We proceeded to request the input of some members here.
4. As a result of the discussions we posted the eBook on Warrior Forum as a WSO.
5. We began reaching out to some Warrior Forum members and handing out free copies in exchange for honest reviews.
6. We put the ebook on offer on The Fastlane Forum on Sell-Me-Saturday.
7. As sales started coming in, we expanded our teaching effort with a high-impact thread on The FastLane Forum.
8. This was followed by posting the eBook on The Fastlane Forum Marketplace.

So our strategy has evolved to this: we have stopped all media buying/advertising until we can close ~50 sales or so. The goal is to get to 50 sales based on the fundamentals: reputation building, providing value, helping people, developing trust and making a direct impact on a few people's lives. We believe that this will ripple outwards, and as we gain momentum we will be able to bring in media buying to scale. We are dedicating our efforts to helping individual entrepreneurs directly.

Our Results So Far (Month I Results)

We have been actively selling the eBook for 31 days.

Revenue

Facebook Advertising: $47 (1 sale)
Email List: $329 (7 sales)
Warrior Forum: $188 (4 sales)
The FastLane Forum: $235 (5 sales)
Organic: 0 sales
TOTAL: $799 (17 sales)

Costs

Production Costs: $500
Forum Listings: $149
Media Buying (includes FB): $800
Refunds: $0
TOTAL: $1,449

Profit/Loss: -$650


So currently we're losing money.

What We Learned So Far
• The marketer/entrepreneur market requires a high degree of trust to close sales. This means that people are naturally skeptical in this market because of having been ripped off in the past, so they're not easily willing to flip out their wallets. It's a very well educated and smart market overall.
• Success in one industry/area doesn't translate directly into another. Just because we're a successful direct response agency doesn't mean that we can move to the self-publishing market and be successful instantly here. Work is needed.
• When you're new in a market, the first cold sale is the hardest. Don't give up. We almost gave up and threw in the towel after Facebook wasn't working out. That would have been a mistake. So persevere, and try to score your first sale.
• Unlike in other markets, in a market where the level of trust is generally very low, you shouldn't try to do any media buying until you can solidify a strong market presence / reputation.
• Selling online in these tough markets is similar to how you sell offline - it's all about building relationships and helping people in the longterm.

Next Up
Continue providing value and impacting the lives of individual entrepreneurs.
Publish more reviews from current readers.
Continue organic marketing until we reach 50 or so sales.
Help other entrepreneurs by being transparent and sharing the journey.

Any questions, advice, suggestions, comments, criticism - feel free!
 
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Black_Dragon43

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What landing page builder are you using? It looks awesome.
Thanks, glad you like it :)

We've built it using Leadpages. It's the software we recommend most often to beginners & people who don't need to build more complex funnels (such as would be permitted with something like Clickfunnels).
 

Icecreamchild

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I thought of buying your ebook. But, I have got a few questions:

1. How many pages are there in your ebook?

2. What kind of online business would your ebook help building funnels? (Info biz? Dropshipping?)

3. Do you have examples of successful funnels you've implemented for your clients inside the ebook?

4. Does your ebook cover everything step by step with screenshots (including technical things) or it's only high-level stuff?

5. If you cover technical stuff will you keep updating your ebook since websites like facebook keep changing their interfaces & algorithms?

6. What can I learn from your ebook that I can't learn from reading "DotCom Secrets"?
 
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liero1

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Don’t know if you wanted feedback or not - but for me personally this is very uninteresting and I am probably in your target group. Sounds and looks dodgy / unprofessional and I wouldn’t want to spend money to get content I can google and educate myself in...
 

Black_Dragon43

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Hey @Icecreamchild , thanks for your well-thought out questions. Answering you below:

1. How many pages are there in your ebook?
As stated on the sales page (or Marketplace thread), the eBook has a bit more than 75 pages.

2. What kind of online business would your ebook help building funnels? (Info biz? Dropshipping?)
The eBook outlines different types of funnels that can be used for different businesses, and provides the info you need in order to make a choice between them. This can be helpful for dropshippers, other eCommerce sellers, coaches, consultants, SaaS, and service businesses amongst others.

3. Do you have examples of successful funnels you've implemented for your clients inside the ebook?
No, not inside the eBook, but I've had people message me privately, and I've shared some with them. I am limited with regards to what I can share in some cases because of NDAs (funnels are public, but it is often the case that clients don't want others to know a marketing agency built their funnel for them).

4. Does your ebook cover everything step by step with screenshots (including technical things) or it's only high-level stuff?
It's not as high-level as DotCom Secrets, but neither is it technical in terms of "covering everything step by step with screenshots". The point of the eBook isn't to teach you high-level principles and whatnot. Neither is it to teach you how to use a particular software step by step with screenshots to build a funnel.

For teaching you high-level principles we have this thread, right in the forum: You WON'T Make BIG MONEY Until You Understand This... Even If You're Providing Value

And there will be other threads, not to mention we will keep updating the thread above with new content. Our plan is to launch an entire business around helping beginner entrepreneurs get started with funnels. Part of this is the process we also go through in learning what content is valuable to you, and then providing it.

Back to the book. The eBook teaches you the 5 steps -

1. How to identify a target market & learn their hidden desires / pain-points, frustrations, etc. and use this to build a Buyer Persona using a two-step process that we also use.
2. How to analyze the competition, identify gaps in the market, and build the right kind of lead magnet to steal away customers from your competitors.
3. How to choose the right kind of funnel for you, the key elements to include in your landing page, the softwares you can use to build funnels/sales pages, and our blueprint for doing so.
4. The principles of advertising as a method of generating traffic. How to choose between search engine advertising (Google, Bing) and social media advertising (Facebook, Instagram). An understanding of the numbers involved, a/b testing, and what you can do to get started in generating and converting the traffic.
5. The principles of email marketing, software you can use to automate it, the type of campaigns you should consider, and the methods of using email to maximise the lifetime value of your customers.

As you can see, this is not general stuff. It's very practical. But it isn't the "here you drag this element in whatever builder to create a countdown timer" practical. So it's a level down from DotCom secrets in terms of generality, and a level up from a Udemy course on how to build a funnel with Clickfunnels.

Now, I don't claim that the book is the final word on sales funnels. It's not. We have a LOT of other information we want to publish that isn't in the ebook yet. For example, traffic sources other than advertising through social media / search engines aren't covered. A reputable marketer we were discussing the eBook with mentioned this. It is a valid point, and we will cover other traffic sources at some point. But keep in mind this eBook is simply meant to give the minimum necessary to get you earning lots of $$$ . Other details will be provided along the way or by asking me.

5. If you cover technical stuff will you keep updating your ebook since websites like facebook keep changing their interfaces & algorithms?
We don't cover technical stuff that would require the eBook to be updated.

But as we build out our process of teaching funnels (and this is a learning experience for us too, since we don't know exactly what people don't know - we're too familiar with the subject), we will likely add new information or remove existing information. People who buy the ebook will receive a new copy every time we update it. As I mentioned, this is part of a larger program to teach beginner entrepreneurs how to be successful with funnels and build thriving online businesses.

For example, one thing that will be added in the next few months is how to see the ads your competitors are running through Facebook specifically, without using any paid software. This is public, so I thought most people know it, but I've had a few people, one of them from TFF, ask me about it, and they were surprised when I provided a link to the ads their competitors were running. I didn't know that people don't know this, so this will go into the eBook at some point - or if it doesn't, it will go into one of the threads.

6. What can I learn from your ebook that I can't learn from reading "DotCom Secrets"?
Does DotCom Secrets teach you how to create a Buyer Persona with a method that involves both a qualitative and quantitative analysis? Does DotCom Secrets show you some of the tools you can use to uncover the pain-points, frustrations, and desires for your target market? Does DotCom Secrets show you what types of lead magnets you can use, how to choose between them, and why you should use them? Does DotCom Secrets lay out a multitude of email marketing sequences (apart from the Soap Opera/Seinfield sequence) that you can choose to employ (for example abandoned carts) and shows you how to use them? Does DotCom Secrets discuss the software you can use to build funnels (of course they don't - they want you to use Clickfunnels - my book doesn't even mention Clickfunnels because we don't often recommend it to beginners). Does DotCom Secrets give you access to a FREE 1-hour call with Russell Brunson so that he can coach you (we usually sell this for $500/hour, and we have clients who have paid even multiple hours - I can blur our the client name from the invoice and show you)? Does Russell plan to update DotCom Secrets and send you a free copy when he does? Does DotCom secrets cover A/B testing? Does DotCom Secrets cover competitor analysis and provide actual tools?

And I could go on.

Not to mention that, in the end, buying this eBook is about a lot more than the info you get inside its covers. It's about getting started on a journey to financial independence by building funnels and providing value. And it's about entering a relationship together through which I guide you towards that desired destination - where you get to ask questions straight to a professional.

So DotCom Secrets is, if you want to put it that way, a complimentary good, not a substitute for what is offered here.

Hopefully that answers the question. If you have any other questions, just let me know :)
 
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Black_Dragon43

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Don’t know if you wanted feedback or not - but for me personally this is very uninteresting and I am probably in your target group. Sounds and looks dodgy / unprofessional and I wouldn’t want to spend money to get content I can google and educate myself in...
Hi @liero1 ,

Thanks for your willingness to provide feedback to us. This means a lot, and it can definitely help us provide more value and help more entrepreneurs.

Do you mind if I ask you why you think it looks dodgy and unprofessional?

As for not wanting to spend your money on content you can get for free from Google... well, I can assure you that some of the content you DEFINITELY cannot get from Google. For example, the quantitative/qualitative method we have developed for creating Buyer Personas - you won't find that anywhere on Google. It's our own procedure. As are a lot of the other methods/advice we share in the book.

Some of the information you will be able to find on Google. You will be able to find, for example, the tools you can use to build funnels. But will you find them compared, and littered with advice as to what you should choose?

And even if you were to find all that information online - would it be better to spend 100+ hours researching and sorting the wheat from the chaff, or would you rather spend $47 to get it all sorted for you in a single place that you can refer back to, not to mention enjoy a 1-hour FREE consultation call with a leading direct response agency that has even worked for Inc. 500 entrepreneurs? Which would you rather choose? Personally I'd go for $47 - even if there was no call involved. I'd rather spend the time learning the info and applying it, then needlessly wasting the time to search for it when that job has already been done for me. Not to mention the money-back guarantee we offer in case you find that it's not for you... and there will be some people who it's not going to be for. Nobody so far, but I'm sure that there will be some.
 
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liero1

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Hi @liero1 ,

Thanks for your willingness to provide feedback to us. This means a lot, and it can definitely help us provide more value and help more entrepreneurs.

Do you mind if I ask you why you think it looks dodgy and unprofessional?

As for not wanting to spend your money on content you can get for free from Google... well, I can assure you that some of the content you DEFINITELY cannot get from Google. For example, the quantitative/qualitative method we have developed for creating Buyer Personas - you won't find that anywhere on Google. It's our own procedure. As are a lot of the other methods/advice we share in the book.

Some of the information you will be able to find on Google. You will be able to find, for example, the tools you can use to build funnels. But will you find them compared, and littered with advice as to what you should choose?

And even if you were to find all that information online - would it be better to spend 100+ hours researching and sorting the wheat from the chaff, or would you rather spend $47 to get it all sorted for you in a single place that you can refer back to, not to mention enjoy a 1-hour FREE consultation call with a leading direct response agency that has even worked for Inc. 500 entrepreneurs? Which would you rather choose? Personally I'd go for $47 - even if there was no call involved. I'd rather spend the time learning the info and applying it, then needlessly wasting the time to search for it when that job has already been done for me. Not to mention the money-back guarantee we offer in case you find that it's not for you... and there will be some people who it's not going to be for. Nobody so far, but I'm sure that there will be some.
thanks for taking the time man,

I really hope it will be success for you - good start that you took criticism professionally :)

Well I am just allergic to everything that promises things like /secrets/ /money making machine/ /top secret only here/ /get rich guaranteed/ stuff... I think that's my main feeling when seeing the landing page - but again, others might like it. But if you target semi professionals than it might be too saley..?
 

Black_Dragon43

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I really hope it will be success for you
I appreciate your encouragement. The main part of my business remains the agency side, but I would like to grow this part, about teaching others, since I feel that it's now time for me to give back and share my knowledge :)

Well I am just allergic to everything that promises things like /secrets/ /money making machine/ /top secret only here/ /get rich guaranteed/ stuff...
I partly agree with the point of view expressed here. If you have a look at this thread of mine which was really popular here, you'll see I talk about this kind of language sometimes destroying trust, especially in my last big post there (the thread being all about the role of trust when it comes to funnels - which is a key thing most people forget these days).

But if you target semi professionals than it might be too saley..?
If I and my team were to have chosen a different title, it would have been something like 5 Steps To Build a 6-Figure Funnel That Earns Passively For You.

5 Steps To Create A Money-Making Machine In Just 3 Months, on the other hand, is shorter, it makes you wonder what this is about, and it encompasses the key ideas in a shorter form, while being more punchy.

The concept of a money-making machine implies passivity (once you build the funnel), it's a direct metaphor which illustrates what a funnel can be (a passive way to make money - illustrates the KEY benefit for the customer), and the timeframe is meant to show that we have gotten these results in 3 months... sometimes even less.

Now will everyone who buys the eBook be able to replicate our results? As it says in the disclaimer inside the book, it depends on how well and consistently they apply the information inside, and how good their skills and decision-making process is. There is no system out there that you can just take and expect to have the money come to you with no work. But if you are determined to make it work, and you apply the information inside and take great decisions at all turning points, then you have a good chance to build a great income.

The fact remains - we have helped clients make serious money with the tactics revealed inside. People who want to learn about funnels, or they already have a funnel and want to improve it, will very likely helped by the ebook.
 

Black_Dragon43

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Another month has passed, so I'm here with updates

Our Results So Far (Total Results)

We have been actively selling the eBook for 62 days.

Total Revenue (so far)

Facebook Advertising: $47 (1 sale)
Email List: $329 (7 sales)
Warrior Forum: $658 (14 sales)
The FastLane Forum: $517 (11 sales)
Organic: 0 sales
TOTAL: $1,551 (33 sales)

Total Costs So far

Production Costs: $500
Forum Listings: $189
Media Buying (includes FB): $800
Refunds: $47 (1x refund)
TOTAL: $1,536

Profit/Loss: +$15


We're just breaking even now, which is something we're happy with.

What's Next?

We are having a VERY extensive update of the eBook partly based on user feedback and partly based on expanding the content.

To everyone who has sent feedback, thank you very much, any other feedback that you can send is always highly appreciated (and it will help you too, because you get to see the content you're interested in, in the upcoming version). All our current buyers will be receiving the updated version free of charge - we appreciate you, and your input, support, and help has been fantastic. Part of the issue for us is that we're not sure what you guys don't know about, so having interacted with many of you has been a learning experience for us as well.

User-Signaled Problems
Here are a few of the problems users have pointed out so far, in order of importance based on the number of people who have signaled them:
1) Many readers have said that it's a bit difficult to choose between the different sales funnel page builders recommended. In addition, some are struggling to integrate the different software (sales funnel builder, email marketing software, webinar software) together. Some have rightfully pointed out that Zapier is not discussed at all, and it's absolutely needed for any integration.
2) Some readers have complained that we don't give our entire competitor research process away in the ebook. That is true.
3) A few have mentioned that a 1-hour call is not sufficient, and our system actually needs more on-the-go coaching in the beginning to help people get it set up.
4) A few have requested us to go into a lot more detail about how to structure the copywriting on the sales funnel pages to position their offers accordingly.
5) A few have mentioned that they would like to learn more advanced traffic generation techniques (and less traditional ones too), which are not currently in the book.

So here's what we're doing to fix them:
1) We'll scrap all our comparison of existing sales funnel page builder & email marketing automation software. We get it that people want us to make a single recommendation that is beginner-friendly, and EASY. So we will replace the existing section with an all-in-one tool with which we go into much more depth to show you exactly how to do all the setting up that you need. This is easy, and it's beginner-friendly - you'll be able to run all your email marketing & sales funnel from one single place, with one single software.

2) We are going to give you a competitor research BLUEPRINT which is the exact process that we use internally to research the competition, including 2 additional tools (+ how to use all of them). It will be a document that will walk you, step-by-step into how we do this for our own customers.

3) Since we're expanding the eBook massively, the system will also become more complex, so we will be giving 5 FREE hours of included coaching to help you get started.

4) We are going to be giving a more extensive blueprint about creating your landing pages to make sure you maximize conversions. Based on a few video calls we've had with people, we've also noticed a bunch of frequently made mistakes which will be addressed in detail to help prevent them from occurring in others.

5) We will expand on the techniques we've shared into a lot more detail, and we'll actually cover both search engine, and social media advertising in much more depth. To that, we will also add media buying on the web, as well as FB group/forum advertising.

In addition to those fixes, all sections will be significantly expanded, so the book will more than double in size and be a lot more comprehensive. This market feedback is very valuable for us.

Other feedback is more than welcomed and will be taken into account. Please send it to office[@]tandacopywriting.com
 
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