
I met Nelson Duffle at Pat O’Bryan’s Unseminar II in Austin. At the time, Nelson was dividing his time between Austin and Washington, DC where he was the head of marketing for a major online banking firm.
During my talk at the seminar, I told the attendees that in order to make money online, they needed a niche that fit the following criteria if they wanted to make money online:
- It needs to be a group of people easily reached online, preferably through ezines, online discussion groups and, ideally, through other website and mailing list owners catering to the target market.
- It needs to present a solution for a problem this group would be willing to pay money to solve. The bigger the problem, the more people will be willing to pay.
- It needs to be a group in which you either are an expert or have access to experts you can interview for products. Barring that, if it’s a topic you’re passionate about, you can position yourself as a ‘reporter’ rather than an expert.
Nelson, a former TV news anchor in Austin, is an accomplished keyboard player and classic rock fan. When he’d heard that I’d worked with bands like Humble Pie and Deep Purple, he approached me with an idea he had for a project involving classic rock bands. He wanted to know what I thought of its potential.
Nelson wanted to create either an audio or video program where he’d interview classic rock stars of the past as well as people like myself with music industry backgrounds. He had some connections locally to some well-known musicians that agreed to be interviewed if he launched his show.
While the idea was intriguing, I told Nelson the challenge would be in trying to monetize the idea. While people love to be entertained and are always interested in hearing stories about celebrities, it’s not really solving a very big problem for people.
Interview shows work on radio and tv because they make money with advertising revenue, not because people pay to listen or watch. I told Nelson that if he really wanted to make money online, he needed to solve a bigger problem than merely entertaining people.
With this in mind, Nelson ran another idea by me. He pointed out part of his job at the bank was overseeing the company’s website. Despite having an annual budget in excess of 2 million dollars, he frequently had trouble finding freelance copywriters to handle his projects.
Even when he went looking, he was only able to find two freelancers to handle some of the work load. And do you want to know how many freelance writers ever approached him offering their services?
Zero. Zip. None.
Can you believe that? 2 Million Bucks to spend and not one person approached him looking for work.
What’s funny to me is that about once a month, a new freelance copywriter will approach me and offer to write a sales letter for free if I’d be willing to send some work their way at some point in the future.
Now, do you think I have a two million dollar budget? Uh, No. And most of my friends in Internet marketing get approached with the same offers on a regular basis.
So if all these copywriters are willing to spend a week or two writing a free sales letter just so they might get a bone tossed their way someday, do you think they’d be interested in hearing what Nelson has to say?
Absolutely!
It fits all the criteria I mentioned earlier:
1. It needs to be a group of people easily reached online, preferably through ezines, online discussion groups and, ideally, through other website and mailing list owners catering to the target market.
Copywriters and Web Designers are both easy to reach online through ezines, forums & discussion groups. Right off the top of my head, I can think of dozens of potential joint venture partners, including me, that market to copywriters and web designers.
2. It needs to present a solution for a problem this group would be willing to pay money to solve. The bigger the problem, the more people will be willing to pay.
Since Nelson’s product would solve one of this market’s biggest challenges, revenue generation, most JV partners would jump at the chance to participate especially since it presents a solution I haven’t seen anyone else talk about.
3. It needs to be a group in which you either are an expert or have access to experts you can interview for products. Barring that, if it’s a topic you’re passionate about, you can position yourself as a ‘reporter’ rather than an expert.
Nelson is certainly an expert on the topic, In fact, he’ll be THE expert. While a copywriter or a web designer that’s discovered this type of work might exist that creates a similar info product, it would be hard for anyone in this market to pass up learning from the person that actually does the hiring. It’s one thing to learn from someone who landed a big job but quite another to hear it from the person that actually writes makes the decision on who gets the contract and who doesn’t. Nelson holds the keys to the kingdom.
After all, someone that was lucky enough to land this type of gig might have accepted far less money than the buyer was willing to pay or even hired despite their shortcomings due to a lack of competition. Given a choice, I’d rather hear from the person that’s hiring exactly what they’re seeking and what they’re willing to pay.
Wouldn’t you agree?
It’s taken Nelson a while to get around to it but he’s finally ready to release his new ebook, “How to Make a Fortune Writing for Fortune 500 Companies”. He brought me an advance copy to Unseminar 4.
I’m blown away by the book. Nelson delivers exactly what any copywriter needs to know to grab a piece of this multi- million dollar market. He covered all the bases in this book and I’m very impressed. I predict this ebook is going to be a HUGE success for Nelson.
What’s more, Nelson hired me to give him some strategies to market his book as well as to critique his website. I agreed under one condition… I get to include you on the project.
So, over the coming days, I’ll be working with Nelson and sharing my ideas and strategies with you, too. I would also like to hear your feedback on the sales letter.
After you look at the letter, come back here and post your comments below. I’ll read each post and will consider each suggestion.
Finally, if you’re at all interested in writing articles, brochures or saletters for fees ranging from $1500 to $15,000 or more, you definitely want to check out Nelson’s book.
One of the first pieces of advice I’m going to give Nelson is to raise the price. He’s offering very specialized and valuable information to a limited audience more than willing to pay a premium for his this type of information rather than trying to market to everyone online.
I think a $97 price would make his ebook more attractive to joint venture partners and affiliates. And JV partners are going to be an essential element in the strategy I’m going to lay out for Nelson.
The good news for you, though, is that, if you’re interested, you can still grab it for his lower price. Here’s the website URL:
Stay tuned to this space as I revamp the website and you’ll get to listen in to a strategy session or two I’ll do with Nelson by phone. Hopefully, you’ll learn something you can apply to your own online business.
Have a great weekend!
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Bill, Looks like an awesome idea and product. Pity I am not a copywriter! lol, that is a crazy story. I will be interested in seeing the changes you make and why.
PS You like Hipcast over Audio Acrobat?
[Both Hipcast and Audio Acrobat will get the job done, Robert. Looks like Hipcast is cheaper ($9.95 mo vs $19.95 mo) for someone just starting out. Acrobat has an affiliate program and I don’t believe Hipcast does. Other than that, they look very similar. I record most of my audio at home but it’s nice to have Hipcast as a backup and as a testimonial line — BH]