You
Are Here: Home
> Resource
Articles > E-zine
Marketing > Article
|
Untitled Document
Top
Picks for
Wednesday, 20 Aug 2008
|
5
Tips To Create A Kick-Butt Mini-Course That Pulls In Thousands
of Rabid Subscribers
by
Jim
Edwards
One
of the fastest ways to develop, build, and grow your own list
of subscribers is to develop a "mini" course with an
incredibly compelling promise.
I
have personally used "mini" courses to build lists of
several thousand subscribers in as little as a week.
A
"mini" course is simply a series of e-mail's where you
teach people a specific skill, set of skills, or reveal other
information they really want to know.
In
the process of providing this focused, valuable information, you
prove to your subscribers that you are THE expert in a particular
area, and, you also encourage people to pay you to get even BETTER
information from ebooks and information products you've either
written or recommend.
An
example of a "mini" course offer I've used with great
success is the free mini course at http://www.7dayebook.com
that appears in the exit pop up window when you leave the site.
The promise of this "mini" course is strong and compelling.
Here's what it says...
FREE
eBook Mini-Course
"How to Write and Profit from your own eBook...
while you're still young enough to enjoy it!"
All
the registration page asks for is first name and email address...and
this mini-course has generated thousands of subscribers!
So
here's the basic formula in a nutshell: Strong promise
+ low risk + high perceived reward = Subscribers
Now,
if you'd like to build your own list of rabid subscribers, here
are 5 sure-fire tips for creating a mini-course that truly kicks
butt!
Tip
#1: The Promise
If
you want to launch a successful mini-course, target an audience
with a specific need and then make them the biggest possible promise
you can deliver on.
Add
to this the fact that the Internet gets more and more crowded
everyday and you can see that the best offers are the ones that
grab people's attention by making a benefit-driven promise they
can't resist.
Even
though you offer your mini-course for free, you still must SELL
people on WHY they should pay you with their time and attention.
Example:
If you want to do a mini-course on real-estate investing, look
for the biggest and best promise you can make for people.
Let's
look at these various promises for identical mini-course content:
Good:
How to make a fortune in foreclosures.
Better:
How to find and buy a profitable foreclosure within 2 weeks.
Best:
How to find and buy a profitable foreclosure property in your
area within 2 weeks—using none of your own money!
**
The promise you make has everything to do with whether or not
people sign up. IMPORTANT: After they sign up, make sure
you deliver on the promise.
Tip
#2: Don't reinvent the wheel
Look
for existing content—your own or other people's—you
can adapt directly or indirectly into the mini-course.
Hey,
I understand you're busy...I'm busy too!
Why
would you want to spend 2 days coming up with all the content
for your mini-course if you already have past information you
can adapt?!
If
you don't have any existing material, then find someone else who
has written an article and use that for part of your mini-course—with
their permission of course.
You'd
be surprised at all the pieces of the puzzle that are out there
independently which you could combine into a great mini-course
without nearly the mountain of effort you might expect.
Tip
#3: Give yourself lots of chances to make money
One
way to build more value into your mini-course and make sure people
hang onto your messages instead of deleting them is to put lots
of quality links into your mini-course.
This
allows people to get additional information on specific aspects
of the mini-course.
Some
of those links can be to free resources, others to resources where
you earn an affiliate commission, and still others to your own
products and services.
If
you create lessons people save for future reference because they
have great links in them, you'll make more money!
For
an example look no further than your Inbox! Almost everybody has
e-mail messages they've saved from other people because they contain
links to sites you want to use now or access in the future.
Tip
#4: Build anticipation for the next message
If
you're going to take the time to put together the mini-course,
wouldn't it be great of the majority of people who subscribed
actually read your messages?!
If
you want to launch a successful mini-course, you've got to rise
ABOVE the noise of all the other e-mail messages people receive
every single day.
One
way to do this is to always end each lesson with a small "ad"
or excitement builder for the next message. You do this by really
playing up a big benefit they'll receive as a result of reading
the next message you promise to send them.
Here's
an example: "The next and final installment in this mini-course
will give you five tips for how to get 10,000 visitors to your
website without spending a dime on pay-per-click traffic! So stay
tuned for the next lesson in 2 days..."
It's
a simple, yet very powerful way to build anticipation for the
next message into EVERY message you send.
This
simple step helps make them look forward to the next message so
it gets read...not trashed!
Tip
#5: Tell them what they don't know!
If
you're using the mini-course to promote a product that covers
a much "bigger picture" of the topic as a whole, constantly
remind people that the mini-course is just a "tiny piece"
of the whole product.
Remind
them of what else they need to know and tell them if they buy
the product then they'll get this benefit, and that benefit, and
even more specific information.
Remember,
you didn't publish this mini-course to practice your typing skills!
You are in this to make money, to get subscribers, and to make
sales!
Once
you deliver quality content that gives people a real taste of
what's in store when they actually purchase, then it's time to
close the sale...you deserve it!
Jim
Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist, the webmaster behind
TheNetReporter,
eBookFire
and "I
Gotta Tell You", and the author/co-author of 7 best-selling
e-books, 2 CD-ROM products, a video, numerous audio tapes, a software
package and a newsletter with thousands of subscribers. In one
nine-month stretch he sold over $201,738 worth of products online
and he once sold over $39,631 worth of CDs with his partner in
less than 30 days!
Need
MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words
Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving thousands of
NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links...without spending
a dime on advertising! Click Here: http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
| Hot
Recommendations |
 |
|
| Internet
Mastery Center Blog |
|
|
