Author Archive
The Grim Reality of Selling Content Online
Posted by: | CommentsOften times it can be difficult to sell digital content online. Over the years I’ve had a heck of time trying to sell guitar lessons. This could be because of a variety of reasons: they don’t like what I’m selling (even though they like my YouTube videos and have watched 1.5 million times), they don’t have the money (young people on the Internet), they don’t want to pay for content, there’s too much competition, lack of follow up by yours truly, etc. I can’t pin all the blame on the consumers but the bottom line is I haven’t been able to make enough sales. I’ll say more on this a bit later.
Truthfully I’ve made the vast majority of my money from IT consulting. Businesses have the means (money) and desire to improve their business via technology. So sometimes you have to face facts and go where the money is. Luckily over the past couple of years I’ve been able to land remote, work from home contracts from my country home on the east coast. Technology allows us to work from anywhere nowadays (Skype, VPN software, email, Desktop sharing such as Webex, Live Meeting and even Google+ Hangouts.
I’m getting calls almost daily for integration projects using webMethods and turning them down since I’m finishing up a contract as we speak. I feel bad turning down projects with millions of people unemployed (at least in the US) but I need a bit of a break after this project. Also I’m getting into mobile development (phones/tablets, etc) so there is some potential there to go into that business.
People around the world are sharing content as part of the social experience. We can learn from each other so the teacher/student barrier is becoming blurred. I enjoy sharing what I learn, as I learn jazz guitar or mobile phone development for example. Selling content and knowledge is pretty difficult these days, although I think it can be done. The people I know that are successful seem to be mostly focused on internet marketing or things for enterpreneurs (ie things that have a financial motivating factor).
So the basic question is can digital content continue to be sold or will the prices tend to zero? Many people use the content to market their services, since that is a live, personal experience that can’t be digitized.
Let me know your thoughts below in the comments.
Offering an Affiliate Program to Increase Sales
Posted by: | CommentsI’m about to set up an affiliate program using the Affiliate Platform plugin for WordPress. I figure it will help to market my online guitar lessons and people will be motivated to help sell my products and services. The way an affiliate program works is people can sign up at your site and then when people buy your products through their affiliate links, the plugin tracks who the referrer was and will give them credit.
I looked at sites like e-junkie (monthly fee) and payloadz (fee per transaction) but I figure a one time payment for a WordPress plugin would be cheaper in the long run. I combine this with the free e-shop plugin for WordPress.
The sales are tracked through affliate links (ie yoursite.com/yoursalespage?affid=myaffiliateguy) where ‘myaffiliateguy’ would be the id of one of your affiliates. Then when they make sales for you, you can pay them via the admin panel often via paypal, so no admin nightmares of mailing out cheques each month.
If you have a wordpress site (you do, don’t you?) and products/services to sell, then you might want to consider using the Affiliate Platform plugin for WordPress. Even if you don’t sell products you can use it as a lead generation system (tracking leads through a contact form on your site).
Do You Resent Successful People?
Posted by: | CommentsWith all this talk of the 1% I have noticed a pattern taking effect. While there are legitimate grievances with Wall Street and the effect of money in politics, the people that resent successful people are those without any money or prospects. Don’t be one of these people. Do you have a Millionaire Mind?
Legitimate Work from Home IT Jobs
Posted by: | CommentsSince I moved to a small town in New Brunswick, Canada in June 2010, I’ve been able to obtain long term, high-paying, work from home, IT contracts. Although these types of jobs should be easy to obtain with the amount of technological advancements, they can still be quite difficult to find. Plus there are a tons of ‘work at home’ scams out there, or low paying data entry jobs for moms. Or very small projects that won’t be worth the effort.
I’m thinking of starting a website where good quality remote jobs will be posted for free. These will be screened and possibly allow you to rate the employers.
What do you think? Would you pay a small fee to view a legitimate work at home job? Would you pay a monthly fee to access all the work at home jobs? Post your comments below.
Building an Online Community
Posted by: | CommentsBig companies are realizing the value of an online community and many are even charging for the privilege. Watch the videos to get some great ideas for your membership site.
Guitar Teacher Uses Game Mechanics
Posted by: | CommentsWill Kriski, a Canadian guitar teacher and internet entrepreneur has begun to add game mechanics to his online guitar coaching website thanks to the Gamification startup BigDoor. “This is just Phase 1″, Will says. “By using BigDoor’s MiniBar feature it was literally just a few minutes to get it up and running”.
Points, Badges and Leaderboards
By adding game mechanics to a website, people are able to check in, ‘like’ content, share content on Facebook or Twitter which earns them XP (experience points) and various badges. Influencers will earn points if other people click their links from Facebook and Twitter. Leaderboards show the rankings of point getters as a Top 10 or a relative leaderboard which keeps visitors from getting too discouraged by the top point getters.
Integrating Game Mechanics
“Phase 2 will take things to a whole new level, integrating game mechanics into the guitar lesson content itself.” Similar to a video game, students will progress through lesson content, gaining points and advancing through levels where they will be able to unlock ‘goodies’ such as free webcam lessons with Will, free video lessons and other awards.
Virtual Currency
“Virtual currency is another cool idea. Students will be able to either earn points to unlock new lessons or buy virtual currency with real dollars to save the time of getting the required points”.
Structure Learning Environments
“While there are a lot of free lessons out there on YouTube (Will’s free video guitar lessons have over 1.3 million views and 4000 subscribers) they are usually on a variety of topics with no overall structure. Using game mechanics, students can progress through a series of structured lessons like they would in a video game, known as levels.”
Game Psychology
Will says that many students are used to a structured environment that video games provide, via game levels, and are also motivated by rewards, badges and leaderboards. “There is a lot of psychology at play here, so why not use it to help students to learn?”, asks Will. “Some people are able to study guitar knowing that in a number of years they will be able to play proficiently, but others need to be motivated by shorter term goals.”
If you go to Will’s Online Guitar Coaching site, you’ll see a ‘MiniBar’ at the bottom of the screen where you can check in, like pages, share content, check what badges you’ve earned and see how you rank in the leaderboard. It will be interesting to see the development of game mechanics with this site.
