Just released my first Digital Product (eBook)! Now what?

[James Zedd]

Hi everyone.

I wanted to say that I have released my first digital product online, and I am hoping to get some feedback on it.

It is a body weight based exercise manual that has 32+ simple exercises within it plus a workout program and advice on nutrition, setting goals, and keeping a food journal.

If you would like, I have a link set up to where you can view it directly online.

Click here to view online (download is 12MB).

I am currently offering it for free, but at the end of the month, it will be available for between $97 - $197.

I am still new to internet marketing, and this will be my first shot at selling a digital product online. I'm a bit unsure on how to proceed in making money with this, but I have listed my strategy for this product below.

STRATEGY

My strategy (for now) is to get people to opt in for a membership to receive the manual for free. Once they do that, they are sent an email from Aweber to join the list, where the link to download the manual is sent to them.

Once they are on the list, I want to develop a positive relationship with them by sending out weekly emails with health and exercise tips, plus motivational strategies and a few other things to keep them exercising.

More products will be available in the future, but for now, my goal is to get memberships up and also get my lists growing.

Does this sound like a good plan, or am I missing a step that will help me make a profitable business online?

[KellyMcCausey]

I see you already have some freebies on your site, I'd go straight to selling it. $97-$197 seems high to me though - but I'm not familiar with the niche to know what's common.

If it were me, I'd go for something closer to $29 and then build on additional perks for higher prices.

[James Zedd]

You've got a good point Kelly. $97 was a bit of a high price to ask, but what I fear is that if I set a base price at $29, if I wanted to do a limited time offer, dropping the price would be a tough option.

With something a bit higher, I have more room to play.

What to you think?

[KellyMcCausey]

You're building a product funnel, right? This is the first product but not the last.

Do you see releasing other smaller products? (Special reports, single audios) or do you see releasing bigger products? (Multi audio, video, workbooks, etc.) Where will this product fit in the flow of things?

If this is your 'low end' go with a price point that's a no brainer for your people. If it's mid-level, price it $20-30 above the no brainer level. Does that make sense?

Limited time offers can involve bonus items that add value instead of putting the product on sale.

[David_Perdew]

STRATEGY

My strategy (for now) is to get people to opt in for a membership to receive the manual for free. Once they do that, they are sent an email from Aweber to join the list, where the link to download the manual is sent to them.

Once they are on the list, I want to develop a positive relationship with them by sending out weekly emails with health and exercise tips, plus motivational strategies and a few other things to keep them exercising.

More products will be available in the future, but for now, my goal is to get memberships up and also get my lists growing.

Does this sound like a good plan, or am I missing a step that will help me make a profitable business online?

James - Really nice product!

I'm terrible about strategizing until I make it so complicated that I don't get it launched but... I have to agree with Kelly.

Know where this fits in your funnel, even if you're building different pieces at different times. You can always beef-up or scale down your products to increase or reduce the price.

This ebook has video series and home DVD exercise program written all over it. What if you could get 1000 people to buy this at $17 and upsell 100 of them to a $197 DVD course? Would you rather have the leads or the sales up front?

But once you get people on the list, know how you want them to behave...

d

[James Zedd]

You're building a product funnel, right? This is the first product but not the last.

Do you see releasing other smaller products? (Special reports, single audios) or do you see releasing bigger products? (Multi audio, video, workbooks, etc.) Where will this product fit in the flow of things?

If this is your 'low end' go with a price point that's a no brainer for your people. If it's mid-level, price it $20-30 above the no brainer level. Does that make sense?

Limited time offers can involve bonus items that add value instead of putting the product on sale.

Hi Kelly. I would say this is a mid-level product. I am going to be making a "derivative product" or lower end product at the end of the month. This will involve some of the information in the manual, but still have the incentive to buy the manual at $XX

Ideally, I would also like to have a video where the exercises are explained. I have talked with a friend of mine who is also a Personal Trainer and she agreed to help me make the video. This I want to include as a bonus for everyone who downloaded for free, and once the manual has a price tag, I will use this as an upsell.

Also thanks for the reminder to not cut price but add value! I sometimes forget that one from all my sales training ....

[James Zedd]

James - Really nice product!

I'm terrible about strategizing until I make it so complicated that I don't get it launched but... I have to agree with Kelly.

Know where this fits in your funnel, even if you're building different pieces at different times. You can always beef-up or scale down your products to increase or reduce the price.

This ebook has video series and home DVD exercise program written all over it. What if you could get 1000 people to buy this at $17 and upsell 100 of them to a $197 DVD course? Would you rather have the leads or the sales up front?

But once you get people on the list, know how you want them to behave...

Thanks for your feedback Dave! Much appreciated.

As I mentioned to Kelly, I think this is a good mid-level product. I will be making a smaller one at the end of the month which will be my freebie, and this one will be the upgrade for $XX

As for the video course, I am currently working on that with a co-worker of mine. Will post more as time goes along ...

A lot of this is new to me as this is my first internet marketing adventure. I am picking up a lot of information as I read more on this forum.

And my list is growing, slowly.

[KellyMcCausey]

Also thanks for the reminder to not cut price but add value! I sometimes forget that one from all my sales training ....

Me too!! Caught myself doing it just last week.

[anita_hampl]

Hi James,
This is really impressive. Your photos and exercise explanations are quite clear, and the exercise log and checklists are very appealing. Thanks for the free copy!

The wise ones have already discussed strategy with you, but here are a couple of places I noticed where you could tighten things up:

p. 16: For the two books that are available on Amazon, I would only link to the Amazon page with YOUR Amazon Associates link. As it is right now, sending people directly to Nancy Clark's page does not appear to provide you with commissions if people buy off her website. And sending people to Kleiner's page leads to HER Amazon link, I think.

Also, if you make the links open in a new page, people won't lose your report (like I did)

When budget permits, you might want to invest in a redirect tool to mask your affiliate links (pages 19-20, for example) for 2 reasons:
- to prevent people from stealing your affiliate links, and
- in case you ever want to change vendors/products or if links go dead.

Mark Hendricks offers one, the Redirector Pro, here: http://market-soft.com/redirector/ (I am quite aware that I have not used my affiliate link here, BTW); Mark's a NAMS guy.

I wish you lots of success as you build your information empire!

Cheers,
Anita Hampl, Atlanta GA
NAMS 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
the Short Attention Span Writer

[nicoledean]

Hi James.

Your product is awesome! It's gorgeous, well done, and very very valuable. Please do not give it away in its entirety. You can use snippets in singular blog posts to give a taste of what they'll get, but this is a showcase product.

Your site/sales flow is, on the other hand, extremely confusing...

I think you should watch a few people navigate your site to see how it's used. I was very frustrated trying to use it. (Sorry...)

Get the flow cleaned up, set up a sales page, get affiliates. Let them build your membership for you.

My humble opinion.
N

[nicoledean]

Also, get it on the Kindle, stat.

[James Zedd]

Your product is awesome! It's gorgeous, well done, and very very valuable. Please do not give it away in its entirety. You can use snippets in singular blog posts to give a taste of what they'll get, but this is a showcase product.

Your site/sales flow is, on the other hand, extremely confusing...

I think you should watch a few people navigate your site to see how it's used. I was very frustrated trying to use it. (Sorry...)

Get the flow cleaned up, set up a sales page, get affiliates. Let them build your membership for you.

My humble opinion.

Thanks for your input Nicole. I appreciate your evaluation, as well as your honesty about your experience on my website.

I will be setting up a sales page for this product. I have a few things on my plate just now (setting up the forum) but that is definitely on the list of things to do! I'm hoping this will clean up the flow a bit.

HOWEVER, I did want to ask you about getting affiliates. Since I'm a bit of a rookie with this, is this the same as putting the product on click bank and having affiliates through there? If not, what am I missing as far as getting affiliates?

[James Zedd]

This is really impressive. Your photos and exercise explanations are quite clear, and the exercise log and checklists are very appealing. Thanks for the free copy!

No problem Anita. I hope it serves you well!

p. 16: For the two books that are available on Amazon, I would only link to the Amazon page with YOUR Amazon Associates link. As it is right now, sending people directly to Nancy Clark's page does not appear to provide you with commissions if people buy off her website. And sending people to Kleiner's page leads to HER Amazon link, I think.

I will investigate this. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Also, if you make the links open in a new page, people won't lose your report (like I did)

The manual comes to the end user in a .zip file that they read on their computer/phone/tablet. Here it is just a link to the PDF online, so I don't think that will be an issue. Thanks for the heads up though!

When budget permits, you might want to invest in a redirect tool to mask your affiliate links (pages 19-20, for example) for 2 reasons:
- to prevent people from stealing your affiliate links, and
- in case you ever want to change vendors/products or if links go dead.

This is the first I have heard of people 'stealing affiliate links.' Are you referring to someone taking my link and using it somewhere else? Wouldn't that still benefit me since it has my vendor code?

[James Zedd]

Hey everyone. I have released an updated form of the manual.

One of my co-workers is an HK graduate, and he gave me a few suggestions to tighten up some of the workout explanations and the workout program.

The updated version 1.1 is available online at this link.

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions on making this product profitable. Being a rookie at the whole internet marketing thing is intimidating, but you have all helped me grow and learn in this area.

You rock.

[ConnieRagen Green]

I see that I'm late to the conversation, but I wanted to add a few things, based on my own experiences. When I started online in 2006 I decided to build my entire business around one segment of my niche. I wrote an eBook, started hosting teleseminars, and created a $97 product. Within a year I had gone to six figures a year based on what I had created.

James, I can see you doing something similar with this eBook and topic. Get that sales letter written and show people that you are an expert in your niche.

Congratulations on what you have achieved so far!

Connie

[James Zedd]

Thanks Connie. Just so everyone knows, I am currently making my "freebie" and the original eBook is going up to $29 per copy sold.

As of now, you can still get the eBook for free until May 31. Please use this link to get your copy.

More to come shortly. Thank you everyone for your help.

[geoffhoff]

In response to Kelly's comment about a redirector, there is a great one that is a free wordpress plugin called Pretty Link. A lot of people buy a domain just for that - JamesRecommends.info or something. Load WordPress on that, load pretty link plugin and you can shorten all your affiliate links (and other links.) You can edit them down the line if you decide not to promote something but used a good name. It shows click stats, etc. Just search for Pretty Link on a wordpress plugin page.

[James Zedd]

Thanks Geoff!

[nicoledean]

Hey James.
The question "How do I get other people to promote for me" - is a huge topic.

The biggest things to do are:
1. Make sure potential affiliates (big and small) know about your product and aff program.
2. Make it SUPER easy for them to get their link and run and promote you. (Especially for the bigger affiliates who can make it rain for you.)
3. Make it super profitable for them to promote you - so they do it over and over and over again.

So you'll want to start by finding people who have products related to yours (that would be a complement to yours) and/or people who are promoting those who sell products similar to yours.

Some small things you can do are:
1. Guest posting.
2. Offering free content to people who have lists that they can send out with their affiliate link for your product included.
3. Get on webinars and podcasts and teleseminars.

The important thing is to start and keep working on getting others to promote you as a daily activity. Build relationships so you can cross promote, etc. Just think of what would be appealing to you when approaching someone else.

Hope that helps!
N

[James Zedd]

Make sure potential affiliates (big and small) know about your product and aff program.

A better question to start with would be how do I go about starting an affiliate program?

Total beginner when it comes to this.