25

Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Susan Daffron and James Byrd's breakout session at BlogPaws 2012: Cash in on Your Content

Citation preview

Page 1: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content
Page 2: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

About Us

• Started our biz in 1994 in order to move to “the trees.” (And so we could have dogs!)

• Began with a 9600 baud modem.

•We have worked online since 1996 from the middle of 40 acres of forest.

•There were almost no jobs; we had to make it work. 2

Page 3: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Sometimes Conditions Are

Not Ideal

Our satellite Internet dish, which did not appreciate blizzards.

3

Page 4: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

What This Session Is Not

• Get rich quick system• Slimy Internet

marketer “yellow highlighter” stuffMr.

Millions

EarnaMillionaDay.comIt’s a parody, but notreally that far off.

4

Page 5: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

What It Is

• Passive income stream to supplement your income• A way to take advantage of what you’re already

doing• Make money from creating content on topics

you care about.• We’ll talk about how to find ideas,

product options, and the sales process. Then we’ll brainstorm ideas for some volunteers from the audience.

5

Page 6: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Set Goals

“If you don’t know where you’re going any road will do.”

• What are your life goals? • How can you tie your business goals into

that?• What limitations do you have?

(Ours = bad Internet, rural area, etc.)• What advantages do you have?

(Ours = quiet workspace, consulting income, background in writing and design.)

6

Page 7: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Almost Any Site Can Sell Products

• Look for opportunities. (They may come from surprising places.)

• Even personal/hobby sites can sell products.

• Start paying attention to what your favorite sites are doing. Why do you think it works?

• Where do you “vote with your wallet?”

7

Page 8: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Example 1: Jamie Samoyed

Massively stolen viral photo from: http://www.facebook.com/JamieSamoyed

Photo book and calendarsby Jamie’s “Dad” Doug(Printed by Blurb.com)

8

Page 9: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Example 2: Beyoncé & The Bloggess

Funniest blog post ever written about a metal chicken (Beyoncé has 40K FB fans!)

Beyoncé (knock, knock…)http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/

Buy your own travel-sized Beyoncé for $20

9

Page 10: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Example 3: NAPRP

People will whine. It’s an opportunity!

Free autoresponder Award-winning book

10

Page 11: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Multiple Streams of Income

Ideally, it’s good to have income from a number of sources. In our case, we earn money from:

• Lightning Source - print books being sold on Amazon and other online retailers.

• Google (AdSense) - ads on our article sites.• Sales through our own sites of software like

IdeaWeaver, templates, and other downloadable products.

• Membership (in NAPRP) and events (SPOC/VWR).

11

Page 12: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Where to Start?

• What do you like to do?• Writing (humor, how to, fiction, etc.)• Photography• Video• Audio• Art/Design• Crafts

12

Page 13: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

How Can You Help?

• What can you create that solves a problem or helps someone get what he/she wants?

• Templates• Books/Ebooks• Courses/Events• Your own hand-made products• Reselling products

13

Page 14: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Sources of Ideas

• Look at most popular/commented posts

• Emails• Analytics and keywords• Complaints. (Really!)• Q&A sites, e.g. Yahoo

Answers• Ask! (in person, surveys,

email)

14

Page 15: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

The Intersection

• What you like to do• Ways you can help

people get what they want• What people will actually

pay money for

15

Page 16: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

It all starts with an article or blog post. For example, our pet books and computer books all started online. They were used:

• In newspapers, • Sent as online newsletters• Made money from

AdSense for years (still do) • Now they make money as

books/ebooks too

Create Content & Recycle

16

Page 17: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Books/Ebooks

• Books/Ebooks – Our books are on Amazon.com and some are in eformat. We get checks from Lightning Source, Amazon KDP and Smashwords.

• We sell PDF versions of our books through our Web sites and have bundled books with other products.

• Production matters. GET AN EDITOR. Everyone needs an editor.

17

Page 18: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Software

What needs do you have that aren’t being filled?• We created blog software before blog software

existed because we had so many articles and updating sites by hand was a pain.

• Our IdeaWeaver software came about because we needed an easier way to organize our content into books. It was literally designed on a napkin at lunch.(Note: you don’t have to BE a programmer; hire

one.)

18

Page 19: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Autoresponders & Freebies

• Autoresponders - my book Funds to the Rescue started out as an autoresponder promo. Someone complained about "getting too many emails." I shortened the free autoreponder to 5 and turned the 101 emails into a book.

• Freebies that we used to give away with newsletters have been recycled into presentations/teleseminars.

19

Page 20: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Online Training

• Online Education - we have repurposed material from my book Publishize into online training.

• Home study courses - Our Book Blueprint program was originally a live course called the 90 Day Book Challenge.

• Masterminds – What do you know that you can share? People love live Q&As!

• Online conferences – get experts together

20

Page 21: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Templates & DIY

• Templates - We created templates that take the steps of some of our most popular how-to articles and "do it for people."

• Worksheets – People hate spreadsheets. A lot.

• Customizable/Graphics – Icons, graphics, banners, and other designs people can use.

21

Page 22: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Promotion & Selling

• Start an email list if you haven’t already.• Put ads on relevant articles/posts.• Create a sales page to describe your

products. (Your promotion is designed to drive traffic to the page.)

• Set up a payment method (shopping cart/PayPal buttons).

• Create a thank you page.

22

Page 23: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

What is Working? What’s Not?

“No battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy. “

• Ideas are good, but you have to plan and continually adjust, based on feedback

• Listen to find out where people are stuck

• Do more of what works• Dump the duds

23

Page 24: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Now You…

• What is your blog about?• What are the most popular posts?• What questions do you get?• What do people struggle with?

BRAINSTORM!

24

Page 25: Susan Daffron and James Byrd: Cash in on Your Content

Thank you for attending!

For more information, visit our sites:• Logical Expressions, Inc:

www.LogicalExpressions.com • Book-related content:

www.TheBookConsultant.com• Pet-related content:

www.pet-tails.com or www.naprp.com

25