

$300 A day business but no idea how to market it - easilydoable

Hi Folks. I am new here and I've spent the past couple of weeks just reading through all the insightful posts. The reason I am posting here is because I need help and I think you all are the right folks who can help me.<p>Two years ago, I created a balloon distribution business that was earning me upwards of $300 per day every day, but last November, I got into a terrible accident that has disabled me temporarily and I have not been able to do the work.<p>So I decided to write an 18 page report about my business and sell it on the Internet for a nominal price and also offered money back guarantee. I had someone setup a nice website that was linked to my paypal account and I placed ads on Google, Yahoo, and Facebook to attract customers. I spent $100 to advertise on each site and after my $300 was used up, I had received only 11 orders. Not only that but Google suspended my account for violating their terms of service.<p>Since then, I have tried various online marketing methods and sold over a 100 copies of my report but I feel like the amount of time I spend marketing the business simply does not justify the returns.<p>That's why I turn to you. For many people on this forum, marketing their skills and products online is a major part of how they earn their money so I am really hoping you all can shed some light.<p>Thanks
-Samir
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faz
Hi Samir. Saw your site just now and I have a few comments from my side:

1\. I have seen many popular book/product sales sites and usually it is a one
page site which pitches the idea and shows through testimonials what can be
done. You could use a similar format for your site.

2\. The copy writing on your site needs some work. It's a sales pitch so it's
gotta be convincing.

3\. As @djb_hackernews pointed out in his comment, ebooks usually work out for
bloggers or 'celebrities' who already have a following. Perhaps you could
start a blog about your ideas [since you mentioned you have worked on many
other ideas before]. This way you would slowly but steadily get some regular
readers. Also this would help in future ebooks you would like to sell.

4\. You have displayed a couple of testimonials on your site. Maybe you could
have some of your customers who have actually implemented the business to post
some photos/videos talking about how your ebook helped them. This way your
testimonials become engaging.

And BTW, the site definitely needs an overhaul.

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easilydoable
Thanks for the pointers.

1\. The design of the site was actually done by a well wisher/professional web
developer.

2\. I definitely need to work on the copy.

3\. Blogging is definitely an option I am considering. I am also looking into
providing a private forum to people who have purchased my ebook.

4\. I had not thought about adding photo/video testimonials but that
definitely sounds like it would be helpful.

Thanks for your suggestions! -Samir

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CyberFonic
Looks like you've created a franchisable micro-biz. The book is in effect the
"operations manual" (Ok, I haven't bought nor read it).

You could add value to the book and create a franchise. For example add
starter stock, etc and sell the package for say $99.

You would need to identify the sorts of people who are most likely to be
interested and motivated to run such a biz, maybe part-time and then target
them specifically.

Or, you could sell a master-franchise to a balloon manufacturer or distributor
as a way for them to increase their sales.

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easilydoable
I have been thinking about adding/selling a starter kit as it will definitely
help me raise the price of the ebook and I also have a pretty good idea of the
type of people to target but how to target them is the big challenge.

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BasilAwad
Hey Samir, what do you mean by balloon distribution business? Like big
balloons that go on top of retail buildings, those get well balloons or just
regular sized balloons.

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djb_hackernews
Not to offer any actionable advice, but $100 on adwords won't cut it for
marketing campaigns and I suspect the same goes for Yahoo and Facebook.

If you can, I'd up your marketing budget.

Also, ebooks and the like really only work if you already have a reputation,
either through blog followers, newsletters etc. There is a sea of how to make
money on the internet type ebooks, so it's that much more difficult to market.

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easilydoable
You're right, it's very difficult to market the 'make money' type of ebooks
and it seems that offering a money back guarantee is not enough. I am a nobody
on the Internet but my business is solid and I just need to figure out how to
convince people that I have a real proven way of making money.

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gallerytungsten
If your business really works that well, start hiring people to replicate
versions of it in their local area. Most people say they want to start a
business, but very few are actually risk-tolerant enough to do it. So expand
by hiring employees, rather than selling the dream.

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easilydoable
I tried hiring people and even paid them well but couldn't find reliable
people with decent customer service skills and this is the type of business
where a small mistake can cause you to lose your client.

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3dFlatLander
You couldn't find any reliable people with decent customer service skills?
Soemthing seems off about that. Maybe you should get someone to help with
hiring. If the actual business made that much, then why not run it instead of
selling the idea?

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easilydoable
I definitely plan on running the business again as soon as I have recovered
from my accident, but until then, I was hoping the ebook would help keep me
busy and earn some income.

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easilydoable
Hi BasilAwad...these are simple balloons that you can carry in your hands, not
the big ones that go on top of retail buildings.

thanks -Samir

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BasilAwad
The reason I was asking was to see if there are any unique sites or online
communities you could target yourself, but I'm still not sure which ones those
would be. That type of advertisement costs money as well, but maybe there
would be a higher click and buy rate.

Is there any way you could create a brand and make it a franchise? Then you
could list it at franchise listing websites and maybe take a small royalty
with a fixed payment.

If there any way you could structure your balloon selling expertise as a quasi
employment/entrepreneurship opportunity, you could post job ads, which can be
free (for example, my university job board is free). If this business is not
very time consuming, maybe you could target college kids looking for good side
money.

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easilydoable
The idea is actually so simple, it would be difficult to turn it into a
franchise or a quasi employment opportunity. The secret behind the business is
What type of balloons to sell and which businesses to sell them to.

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BasilAwad
I read your about page and it looks like you would be privy to such a solution
_but I still think_ people really value branding, deliverables and personal
training because of risk-aversion. If the idea is so simple, that's perfect.
You could decorate it a bit and sell your support. Your experience selling
balloons is probably much deeper than two sentence that share why type to sell
and which businesses to sell to. And I'm sure you can think of a number of
conveniences and types of support you would have valued in the beginning. And
you don't have to share your secret upfront. You could probably get a down
payment higher than $10 and then share.

Just because you wouldn't take the franchise or quasi employment opportunity
(you've been doing small businesses since college!) doesn't mean the vast
majority of people are like that.

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easilydoable
I was hoping to actually create a brand out of a whole bunch of "easilydoable"
ideas but even with this being my most successful idea, I am having so much
trouble marketing it that it's truly frustrating.

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blackisthelight
Link us to the website

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easilydoable
Here you go:

<http://www.easilydoable.com>

