I get asked this quite often – “What should I do? How should I start if I am brand new?”
So… I have decided to write this post – explaining exactly what I would do if I was starting from scratch, from absolute zero.
This means I am assuming that I have no connections at all, and no real experience in internet marketing.
Outline of the model
I would follow a model of creating products, building a buyers list and making affiliate promotions to my buyers list.
This way you are profiting in a number of ways:
- Each time you launch a product, you will make sales, and you will make profits (even after paying out your affiliates)
- You will automatically register your buyers for a webinar, and any sales you make from the webinar are also your profits
- You are building a buyers list, and any promotional emails you send to your list will also result in profits from the affiliate commissions that you will make
Why a list? And why a buyers list?
Number of reasons to that.
I can’t remember where I heard it, I think it was Alex Jeffreys who said that “to make money online, you only need two things – traffic and offer”.
That really stuck in my mind. If you can generate traffic, you can make money, simple as that.
This is exactly why I have decided to get into list building – it means you can generate traffic anywhere you want by sending an email. Very cool.
Why is buyers list so great? Well, you can make anywhere from $1 to $3 or even more per buyer on your list per month.
So someone who has a buyers list of only 1,000 can be making a comfortable income of $1k – $3k per month. Remember – this is just from promotions and is IN ADDITION to the launch profits and webinar profits.
How to create products fast?
So if you are an expert, I guess it’s pretty easy – you just make a PDF or a video about something you know.
However, most people are NOT experts.
Well – that’s ok, because there is a very simple way of overcoming this issue.
I would find someone who is an expert and just pay them for their time.
I know that a model that’s often taught is “do an interview with an expert and offer them publicity etc etc” but I don’t personally believe in that.
Many people have approached me to “do an interview” and I said no, because I am busy. I don’t have enough hours in a day and have to prioritise what I do.
However – if you offer me $200 for 2 hours of my time, it would be a different story.
Likewise, with any expert you find – offer to pay them.
Here is what you can do. Let’s say you want to make a product about list building and solo ads. I would simply go into a Facebook group full of solo ad sellers, such as Solo Ads Sales Testimonials.
I would then search for 5-10 vendors who seem to be making a lot of solo ad sales, and I would send them a PM on Facebook, something like this:
“Hey XYZ, how are you doing? My name is Greg, and I am in the process of making a course about Solo Ads. I have noticed you are really active in the solo ads niche and was wondering if you would like to partner up with me for the launch? I will pay you for your time, I think it will only take a maximum of 2 hours of your time, and I would be happy to pay $200 for it. Also, I will share my buyers list with you (if you like), and will share the profits from the launch 50/50. Is it something that you may be interested in? Many thanks. Greg”
Simple – and effective.
Once you find a person who says yes, explain to them that you would like to interview them so that they can outline their model to you, how they build their list, etc etc. Find someone who is willing to share all the details in exchange for that $200 plus sharing the buyers list plus sharing launch profits.
Yes, it may feel like you are giving away too much and doing all the work – but don’t forget that if you are a complete newbie, this is going to give you a ready made product which works, and has been put together with an expert.
Yes, you will need to invest a little bit upfront into your business, because it’s a real business. But it will pay off very quickly.
Likewise, any niche you wanted to go into – you can find the experts.
Approach people with hundreds of gigs on Fiverr. Approach people with lots of product launches on WarriorPlus. Approach bloggers. Opportunities are endless.
How to put a product together
So once you have gotten all of your information for the first product, here is how to structure it.
- Frontend (Main offer) – $7
- OTO (Done for you pack) – $17
There are more complicated funnel structures, but keep it simple for your first few launches.
Launch / growth process
In the worst case – if you don’t have any connections at all – I recommend you start with the Warrior Forum.
- List your product on WarriorPlus, with the sales page hosted on the Warrior Forum
- Make sure you have an OTO as well, as this is where the profits will come from
- Pay 100% commission on the FE and 50% commission on the OTO to any affiliates that may join
- You want to do it on the Warrior Forum because it already has instant traffic – and you will make sales
- Keep bumping your thread when it falls to page 3
- Launch more products, till you have 2 or 3
- Keep growing that buyers list till you have at least 100-150 buyers on your list
- 100-150 buyers is enough to make 5-10 sales in a single mail, while your list is fresh
- Start looking for affiliate offers to promote on WarriorPlus, preferably by people who also seem relatively new
- Apply to promote their products
- Mail a promotion for those people to your list
- After you’ve made 4-5 sales for them, make sure you send them a message and introduce yourself.
Something like “Hey it’s Greg, I’m also a product creator / affiliate marketer, I have promoted your product, have made 5 saes. Just wanted to connect with you. Let me know if I can help with anything in the future – chat soon!”
8 times out of 10 you will get a message back with something like “Hey thanks so much man, keep me posted on any releases you have”.
And this is how you grow affiliate connections. So next time you launch, you will have a friend who you can ask to promote.
It takes time… It’s not easy… It’s a 6-12 month plan, and be prepared to launch 5-6 products before you get to a list of 1,000 or more buyers.
But… As you grow your list, you will be able to drive more and more sales for others. Which means that you can work your way up to networking with larger affiliates. Which means that very soon you will be in a position to make 500-1000 sales every launch – and trust me it dooesn’t take long to get there.
It’s hard work, but it will pay off very quickly – because this is a real business model which unfortunately only 1% of people in the online world are willing to follow, because it’s such hard work.
But that 1% of people are among the few people that end up making any noticeable income.
Conclusion
I hope this was useful.
I hope this gives you an understanding of what I have personally been doing online for the past 8 months and how I got into top 5% vendor and top 5% affiliate on W+ in this short period.
I have been working my a** off day and night – and it’s hard work – but I seriously LOVE it.
If this sounds like you – I hope I have inspired you to take action – and I will see you around!
Greg Kononenko
Author of Black Belt List Building Secrets
1 Response to "What would I do if I was starting from scratch?"
Great post Greg. I wish I had read this kind of information when I first started as it would have saved me a great deal of time and wasted effort. What you have outlined here is really the best way to get going in IM. Just takes some time and effort and as you say most are not up for that.