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Focus on What Works
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I’ve talked about membership sites, affiliate marketing, IT consulting, work at home and various other methods of having the lifestyle you want.
The sad reality for me is that selling online has not worked very well in the area of guitar lessons. I have had sales in each area but wasn’t able to get it to a significant enough level. While there may be reasons for this, every once in a while it’s good to look back and see what has worked in your life.
For me, this has been IT consulting in the niche area of integration. It has allowed me to get good hourly rates and work at home. I had to ask to work at home, it is not often available and sometimes even frowned upon. But since I’m in a niche they often have no choice.
It might make sense for you to persevere if you have a lot of passion but after many years of trying you might have to re-evaluate the situation. It’s a tough spot to be in.
By getting high rates and working at home, I’m able to have a great quality of life. I also take months off in between contracts (which I’m doing right now) so although I haven’t been able to realize my dream of selling online products exclusively, it’s the next best thing.
So take a minute to think about what’s working in your life and do more of that.
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.