My Step-by-Step Plan

My Step-by-Step Plan

Here is how I was able to generate more than $12,000 in sales in just over five weeks time by selling two cheap little eBooks.

Step One: I bought a copy of 7-Day eBook by Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale. The book, plus a lot of great bonus and ongoing support, cost me just $29. That was a good investment as it saved me hours and hours of time!

I could get the immediate download and I started reading it right away. As I was reading it, I kept saying to myself, "Hey, I can do this!"

Step Two: I set up a free blog with WordPress. They have lots of great templates from which to chose and the support and user forums are good. If I were to do it over again, I would host the WordPress blog on my own domain . . . I would have had a whole lot more control and many more options. But I didn't know that then.

Step Three: Now I started writing and writing and writing. When I wasn't writing on the blog, I was writing my eBook.

Step Four: After researching about Internet Marketing, I realized I needed to get "traffic." I had never heard of any of this, so I continue to do a lot of research on the Internet about the best product and advice. I found it in Chris Freville's eBook titled, Web 2.0 Stampede. So I bought a copy for $47. What I have since learned is that not a lot of people know about this book. But it is an absolute gem! Everybody should have a copy.

I read Web 2.0 Stampede and followed the easy to understand steps, including setting up a Squidoo account and site which is free. And then I linked my WordPress blog to my Squidoo page.

Step Five: I finished the eBook and decided to sell it for $4.95 per copy. Okay, your jaw might be dropping right now, but that's what I felt I could get for the book.

Step Six: I didn't have enough money to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat to convert my eBook into a PDF file. But I was able to get a free trial of the program. So I got it and converted my eBook into a PDF file.

The eBook needed a cover design. Again, empty pockets, so I got a free trial of Adobe Photoshop. This is a very complex and powerful program. I was able to get okay covers, but actually I need to hire someone to make covers for me who really knows how to run this program. You could also search on the Warrior Forum and see if you can find a designer who will make the covers for you for a small price.

Step Seven: I set up a PayPal account so I would have a way to receive funds. I also set up an account with a service called PayLoadz that would handle all the transactions and automatically send the eBook. They offered a 30-day free trial, so I joined them.

Step Eight: I Googled my key words, even though I didn't know what that was all about at the time. I found about 10 other website owners that had high Google rankings. They weren't selling any products, so I send each of them an email explaining that I had a new blog on the subject and asked if they would link to my page. Two of them agreed to add my link. The great news is that they were ranked #2 and #3 on Google's front page.

Within a week I was on page 2 of Google; and within about another week, I was on page 1!

Step Nine: On December 10th, 2007 I received my first sale! I was so excited! Oh my goodness! I was doin' the happy dance! From then on the sales started coming in stronger and stronger. I made sure I responded to the buyers in a fast and friendly manner. I wanted them to feel cared about. Whenever I received the same question, I either adjusted my systems or I wrote a letter that I could easily copy and paste for a quick and easy response. These are all necessary details to keep a happy customer base.

The sales started increasing day by day. Most of these transactions were through my PayPal account, but there are still a lot of people who are not computer savvy who don't want their credit information on the Internet. So they just mailed checks to my P.O. Box. I told them to send me an email when the check was actually in the mail and then I would send them the PDF files. I have never had one person not come through on their payment and I've sold hundreds of eBooks using this method.

Step Ten: As I watched the blog dashboard, which provides a lot of valuable information about what people are searching to reach your site, what pages are of most interest, where they are clicking, etc. I saw that the visitors had another need. So I wrote another eBook addressing that subject using the same techniques I learned in 7-Day eBook.

I offered this book for $8.95. The sales went ballistic and many people bought both books for a total sale of $13.90. At this point, they had to make two separate purchases because I didn't have a shopping cart set up! But they still did it!

Step Eleven: Then I put together a bonus which was a "free book" and sent it to each person as a thank you for their support. I soon starting to interact with a lot of the blog readers and our little "community" was formed. I had become a social networker and I didn't even know what that meant!

Within just over five weeks, I had generated more than $12,000 in sales.

The sales have dropped off because the product I offered is somewhat seasonal. But this was a powerful experience for me! I still make over $1000 a month from this one site. And I am in the process of writing some more material to sell to this same audience. Plus, since I now know that there really is money to be made on the Internet using a blog and writing about a subject you love, I am developing several other sites. My goal is to develop a sustainable income . . . and never be down to $20 again!