“Reason Why” Marketing and Perry Marshall Turns 40

If you have been marketing online for any length of time, you will have heard of Google Adwords and you will likely be familiar with the name Perry Marshall.  I actually worked with Perry on a project a number of years ago and have kept an eye on him since then.  Why?  Because I can relate to him, he is genuine and he really puts out good quality information.  He knows his stuff.

But.

This article isn’t about Perry Marshall.  It is about “reason why” marketing.  Now “reason why” marketing is basically running an ad, promotion or sale and then justifying it with a “why”.  See, it is a proven fact that people will take action and be more co-operative if you give them a reason to.  It is almost as though there is a purpose behind it now and they need to get on board with what is happening.

For example, today is Perry Marshall’s birthday.  He turns 40 today.  Why do we care?  Well, actually we don’t!  But that didn’t stop Perry from running a promotion.  In fact, he has been running promotions for the past week and a half leading up to today.  All this week there have been special teleseminars with esteemed guests.  Yesterday an email went out to the list indicating that all materials were 15% off until tonight.  There are a few teleseminars today.  All because it is his birthday!

Well, actually, it is because Perry wanted to do a promo and he used his birthday as an excuse!

You see, none of us actually cares when his birthday is or that he is turning 40.  But, he has made it into an event!  A marketing marathon.  You can’t help but get caught up in the excitement.  I am checking schedules to see who is talking and when.  Rearranging my day so that I can be at the phone at the right time to call in.  In fact, i am even using that excitement to create this post on my blog.  For you see, the fact that Perry was using “reason why” marketing to have this promo was good enough reason why I am writing.  That is the point.  The reason can even be a stupid one.  But if you do something big and then offer a reason for it, you are more likely to get a positive response.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Perry

Tags: internet marketing tips, internet marketing, article marketing, Jonathan Hook, affiliate marketing

How To Add Value To Your Website

I have spent a bit of time buying and selling websites online now. There are a few things that keep coming to mind as I look to a potential site to buy. It also occurred to me that these things could be added to any site in order to increase value to the site owner. You may want to step back for a minute and take another look at your site…

1) Add value to your info product by offering a physical version of it. Can you send the files out on a cd or can you package the information in a workbook format and actually send it out to the customer? Any time you can add a physical component to your info product, you can charge more for it as it adds much perceived value to your product.

2) Can you add additional services? If you sell software, you may be able to charge extra for installation or setup. Possibly some training – or make some training videos and either add them as part of the product (and charge a bit more) or offer them as an upsell.

3) Make sure the site has an upsell. There should always be something else you can offer a customer when they go to purchase. They are already at your site and looking to pay you. A percentage of customers will take whatever else you can offer them at that point.

4) Do you have affiliates? You may want to look at adding an affiliate program to your site. Invite others to promote your products. They will sell it and you both will win.

5) Is there any opportunity to set up some kind of membership component to your site? Can you invite people to join into a monthly membership right at the point of purchase? Offer them the first month free. Send them updates on the product, related interviews with successful people who are doing what you are promoting, etc.

There are some ideas you can take right away to increase your bottom line.

Put your info product on a CD for added profits

If you sell an info product, you probably deliver it via instant download online.  Did you know that you can put your info product on a physical CD and get it delivered?

Check out www.kunaki.com for more details, but they will burn a CD on demand (one at a time) for only $1.75 and mail them out (dropship) for $5 extra.

Why would you do this?

Well, that is easy.  People have a perception that something delivered via download is only worth so much money.  Once you take that same product and send it to them on a physical CD that they can touch and actually put in their computer, you increase the perceived value in the minds of your customers.

I have a site where I offer physical delivery of the product (a $37 ebook) for an additional $12.99.

40% of my sales take the upsell

The info on the CD is exactly the same as what they download.  I just offer delivery.  This adds $6.24 to my bottom line, per sale of the delivery.  Not much, but it adds to it.

Next, see if you can find other products or ideas to put on a CD in order to add value to the products you are selling.  You might be able to turn your $37 ebook into a $67 or $97 product – delivered.

Keep adding value and increasing the price.

Google Adsense – Customer Service?

As an online marketer, I have many websites and some of them operate under various business models.  One, in particular, sells scripts to webmasters that they can use to build or enhance their sites.  It is located at easy-scripts.net.

The site is basically a shopping style site.  You go there, find what you want and add it to your cart.  Check out when you are done.  It is fairly simple – not too fancy.  I was running some Google Adsense on the side of it.

Site has been running along with very little change for the past few months.  The other day I get this email:

“While reviewing your account, we noticed that you are currently displaying Google ads in a manner that is not compliant with our policies. For instance, we found violations of AdSense policies on pages such as easy-scripts.net.