Traffic Conversion And Monetization

So let’s imagine for a moment that you have good amounts of targeted traffic coming in. Your traffic logs are looking healthy. And you’re already day dreaming about how much money you’ll make with all of this traffic.

Except when you go to check your PayPal accounts, you see a big goose egg. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

Simply put, the traffic isn’t converting. So while the traffic logs look impressive, all this traffic isn’t translating into money in the bank.

Scary thought, right? So let’s make sure it doesn’t happen to you. Inside this module we’ll be looking at the four parts of traffic conversion, including:

Crafting Compelling Copy
Creating a User-Friendly Site
Capturing Email Addresses
Checking Conversion Rates

Let’s get started…

Crafting Compelling Copy

When your visitors land on your website, the first thing they’re going to do is quickly scan the page to find out what it’s all about. If they don’t immediately see any benefit to them, they’re going to hit that back button in a flash. That’s why you need to learn the art of copywriting.

Now typically we think of copywriting as being for sales letters. That’s true. But you can improve all your content–from sales pages to lead pages to blog posts—by learning the art of getting attention, holding attention, and getting people to take action. This action may take the form of:

Buying a product.
Joining your mailing list.
Registering for a webinar.
Entering a contest.
Sharing content.
Calling your business.
Watching a video.
Reading an article.
Clicking on a link.
Filling out a form.
Joining your social media networks.
Contacting your customer service desk.

… And just about any other action that would benefit you and/or the visitor. So let’s look at how you too can use good copy to get your prospects to take action on your blog pages, lead pages, sales pages and more…

Step 1: Grab Attention

You’ll notice that I used the word “grab.” That’s because your prospects are being bombarded by ads and content all day long. The marketplace is noisy. If you’re too meek with your efforts to get attention, your prospects are going to click away to chase something brighter and shinier than your page.

So what you need to do is GRAB attention, and you do that by putting your biggest benefit front and center on your page, typically in the form of a headline.

Here are tips for making this benefit-driven, attention-getting headline even more effective:

Be specific. If you use any facts or figures in your headline, be very specific. That’s because specificity makes your headline more credible.

For example” instead of saying $5, give the exact amount such as $5.33.

Or instead of saying 20 pounds, be specific (21.5 pounds).

E.G., “Here’s The Shockingly Easy Way I Made $1277.53 Last Weekend!”

Arouse curiosity. Think of this as creating an itch that can only be scratched if the prospect keeps reading.

A good way to do this is by telling people they will get a benefit, but not revealing the details of HOW they’ll get that benefit. Even better is if you tell people they can get this benefit without having some typical prerequisite skills or experience (or without having to do something unpleasant).

For example, “Land a CEO job – without a college degree!”

Another way to arouse curiosity is to simply promise to share a “secret.”

For example, “You’re about to discover the secrets of rapid weight loss!”

Still another way to arouse curiosity is to ask a question.

For example, “Are you making these costly home-remodeling mistakes?”

Use trigger words. The most powerful attention-getting words include: you, how to, quickly, easily, discover, secrets, revealed, free, amazing, shocking, surprising, new, powerful, and guaranteed.

For example:

“How to Quickly And Easily Double Your Conversion Rate – Guaranteed!”

“Amazing New Diet Supplement Melts The Fat While You Sleep!”

Employ social proof. This is where your headline implies that others are getting a benefit.

For example:

“Now you too can put these weight loss secrets to work for you!”

“Who Else Wants A Full-Time Income Working Part-Time Hours?”

Now the next step…

Step 2: Keep Attention

Your headline caught your visitor’s attention for about two seconds. Now you need to reel them in, set that hook, and keep their attention in the opener of your lead page, sales page, introduction to a blog post or other content.

Here are different ways to accomplish this goal:

Elaborate on the promised benefits. In other words, continue on with what was mentioned in the headline.

For example, “If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to lose weight, then you’ve come to the right place…”

Ask a question. For example, “Are you struggling to get traffic to you website?”

Present a startling statistic. For example, “This year, 564,800 people will die of cancer…”

Tell a story. Ideally, this should be a story about someone just like the reader (so they can relate to the story).

For example, “Jack’s friends laughed at him the second he took his shirt off at the beach and revealed his flabby love handles…”

Agitate the problem. Here you remind your reader of the pain of the problem.

For example, “It’s devastating to work so hard on your business and yet have nothing to show for it…”

Arouse curiosity about what’s coming.

For example, “You’re about to find out the one simple trick that is going to turn your business around and bring it into the black!”

Now once you’re holding your reader’s attention, then you need to build interest and desire in whatever it is that you’re offering (such as a lead magnet or product). To do this, you introduce the solution to your prospect’s problems, and then share a bulleted list of benefits. In other words, you let prospects know what your product or other offer will do for them.

Here are examples of benefit statements:

You’ll get [some benefit]. Example: “You’ll get three months’ worth of delicious and easy meal plans!”

You’ll discover [some secret]. Example: “You’ll discover what simple thing doctors do when they want to get rid of their own back pain!”

You’ll find out [how to get some benefit]. Example: “You’ll find out how to lose the first 10 pounds fast… without giving up your favorite desserts!”

You’ll learn [all about some topic]. Example: “You’ll learn how to get all the traffic you need in just 15 minutes a day – it’s easy!”

Warning: [insert warning]. Example: “Warning: don’t even think about taking a diet supplement until you read this shocking scientific study—see page 14!”

Revealed: [some secret revealed]. Example: “Revealed at last: How to start a profitable business with a $41 budget!”

[Ask a frightening question…] Example: “Is your family’s health and safety at risk due to this silent killer? Find out on page 31!”

TIP: If you’re making a lot of bold claims, you’ll need to provide some proof that what you say is true. Here’s how:

Build your own credibility by explaining why people should listen to you. For example, are you uniquely qualified to share this expertise? Do you have a certain level of experience, a degree, or perhaps you have proof that you generate results?

Provide proof in the forms of testimonials, case studies, photos, videos and other evidence. For example, you can show “before” and “after” photos or videos.

Offer risk reversal. If this is a paid product, then offer an unconditional money-back guarantee.

And now the last step…

Step 3: Generate Action

You’ve kept your reader’s attention by sharing the benefits of your offer. They’re very interested in what you’re offering. And now you need to get them to take a specific action, such as purchase a product or join your list. This is where you create a call to action.

Your call to action has two components:

The part where you very specifically tell your prospect exactly what to do. E.G., “Enter your name and email address in the form below…”

The part where you give them a good reason to take that specific action right now. In other words, you create a sense of urgency.

Now the first part is pretty straightforward, right? You just offer one succinct statement of what you want them to do. And you don’t ask or suggest that they do it, you command them to do it.

E.G., “Click here to get started now…”

But how do you create that sense of urgency? Here are four ways to do it:

Limit the offer. For example, “Click here to get started – and do it now before this offer disappears for good!”

Remind them of what bad things will happen if they don’t take action. For example, “If you do nothing, you’ll wake up tomorrow and still hate what you see when you look in the mirror…”

Get them to imagine what good things will happen if they do take action. For example, “Just imagine how you’ll feel when you see your first big commission check…”

Create an “everyone is doing it” scenario (which creates a fear of missing out). For example, “Don’t be the only one of your friends without this app – click here to grab your copy now!”

Summary

Converting your traffic into subscribers or sales is all about getting attention, telling people what they’ll get if they take action, and then encouraging them to take that action right away.

But that’s not the only thing you need to do to convert traffic. Let’s look at the next component…

Creating a User-Friendly Site

Nothing is more frustrating for a visit than not being able to do what they want on a site easily. This includes everything from a clunky ordering process to a non-intuitive navigation menu.

You know what happens when users run into these sorts of obstacles? They hit the back button. They abandon shopping carts. They leave in search of a competitor who can provide a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.

So if your traffic isn’t converting, you may want to run a sweep of your pages to look for these potential problems:

Broken Links

The good news is you can uncover broken links fast using a tool such as http://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/. You’ll want to check your site for broken links on a regular basis, as external links in particular often change and go to 404 “page not found” errors.

Poor Site Design/Coding

Another factor that can turn off visitors is poor site design. While your site may look great on your device (such as you desktop), it may look horrible for those who are accessing your site on a tablet or phone.

Keep these tips in mind:

Use responsive themes and designs. These are designs that automatically create the best experience according to the device the viewer is using.

Check what your site looks like across devices. Here’s a good tool to use: http://quirktools.com/screenfly/.

Check for poor coding. Sometimes bad code creates errors instead of showing the web page. Be sure to check your pages on a regular basis to look for these sorts of errors.

Next…

Non-Working Forms/Scripts

If you have software, forms or other scripts running on your website, be sure to check them frequently to be sure they’re in good working order. This includes:

Opt-in forms.

Order forms.

Content management systems, such as WordPress.

WordPress plugins.

Content rotation scripts (such as ad servers).

Image galleries.

Javascript.

Forums.

Contact forms.

Help desk software.

Affiliate tracking.

Split-testing tools.

… And anything else that runs on the front or backend of the site, which could produce errors for visitors.

Complicated Ordering/Subscription/Registration Process

Another big factor that can result in low conversions rates is if you make your prospects jump through hoops to complete an order, join your list, register for a webinar or complete some other process.

Take a fresh look at your order form and other processes and ask yourself how it could be made easier.

For example, when someone clicks on your “buy now” link, it should go directly to the order form. Don’t force prospects to register for an account before they can order, as that will have a lot of people abandoning their shopping carts before completing the order.

TIP: Yes, a confirmed opt-in subscription process does create a hoop for your prospects to jump through before they can join your list. In turn, this hoop lowers your conversion rate. HOWEVER – a confirmed opt-in process does protect you against spam complaints, as you can prove that the email recipient agreed to receive your emails.

Point is, sometimes a “hoop” is justified, such as when you need to legally protect yourself. The key is to not insert unnecessary hoops into a process.

Next…

Non-Intuitive Navigation

Another thing that can have visitors hitting the back button out of sheer frustration is when your site’s overall navigation isn’t very intuitive. Perhaps the links aren’t labeled well, so it’s not clear where someone is going to end up when the click on a link.

TIP: If visitors are using your search function frequently, it may be because they can’t find what they want by navigating your menu.

But here’s the problem…

You may be a bit too close to your site to recognize these problems. What may seem logical and intuitive to you may be completely frustrating to the users.

So here’s what you need to do…

Invite three to five real users (meaning people from your niche market) to complete common tasks on your site. For example:

Place an order.
Create a help desk ticket.
Join your mailing list.
Find a product.
Read your blog.
Find a specific article on your blog.
Join your social media networks.

It’s best if you do this test with your test-user in the same room as you. If that’s not possible, set up video conference where you can see their screen as well as their face. That way, you can watch their face for signs of confusion or frustration, and you can watch their screen to see where they slow down or run into problems when trying to complete a process.

You can also ask your test-users questions, such as what they would expect to find behind each link on your navigation menu, or what they would expect to happen if the clicked on certain items or filled out a form. This will give you some insight as to whether your navigation is truly intuitive.

Summary

Frustrated visitors don’t stick around for too long, which is why a site that isn’t user-friendly often doesn’t convert its traffic very well. So be sure your site is usable and intuitive, and then move onto the next part of the traffic conversion puzzle…

Capturing Email Addresses

You can have highly targeted traffic flowing into a really good offer with compelling sales copy, and you can still experience low sales conversions.

And here’s why: most people don’t buy a product the first time they encounter it. This is particularly true if they’re unfamiliar with you, your business and your brand.

You see, people generally need about seven or so “touches” with a product or business before they feel comfortable enough to make a purchase. In other cases, people may bookmark your page with the intention of coming back to make the purchase, but they forget about it. No matter the reason for not ordering, the end result is that you have a pretty dismal conversion rate.

So here’s what you need to do: capture your prospects’ email address onto your mailing list so that you can follow up via email, build a trusting relationship, and close the sale. Here’s how to do it…

Step 1: Create an Enticing Lead Magnet

The first thing you need to do is give your prospects a good reason to join your list. And that good reason is that they’ll receive a highly desirable and valuable product in exchange for their email address.

For example:

A report or ebook.
Video.
Audio.
Access to a webinar or its replay.
Gear list.
Checklists.
Worksheets.
Templates.
Planners or calendars.
Cheat sheets.
Mind maps.
Infographics.
Access to a membership site.
Software, apps or other tools.

Keep these tips in mind as you design your lead magnet:

Be sure it’s something people want. Do your market research to find out what people are already buying, and then create a better version to offer as a lead magnet.

Create something highly related to your offer. Your lead magnet should be useful yet incomplete. This means it solves part of your prospect’s problem, but they need to purchase an offer to solve the rest of their problem.

For example:

You offer a weight loss tips report to help promote a comprehensive diet guide.

You offer a set of copywriting templates to promote a copywriting course.

You offer a cardio training video to promote a heart-healthy lifestyle program.

You offer a light version of a resume-building app to promote the full-featured version.

Be sure your lead magnet naturally leads to the paid offer. When people reach the end of your lead magnet, they should be ready to take the next step (which is to purchase your paid offer). And you should encourage them to take this step.

For example, “Now that you know how to set up your WordPress blog, your next step is to monetize your blog. Click here to find out how…”

Brainstorm a good title. Some of your prospects are going to make their decision to join your list based mainly on the title of your lead magnet product. So be sure you create a benefit-driven title.

For example:

How to [Get a Benefit]. Example: “How To Beat The Competition”

The #1 Way to [Get a Benefit]. Example: “The #1 Way To Get Rid of Wrinkles”

[Get a Benefit] [Very Fast/Easy]. Example: Housetrain Your Puppy The Fast and Easy Way

Now the next step…

Step 2: Design a Lead Page

Now you need to create a professional-looking lead page with compelling sales copy that persuades people to exchange their email addresses for your lead magnet.

This doesn’t need to be a long page of copy. Generally, a headline with a half a dozen benefit statements and a call to action will do the trick. Refer to the copywriting tips earlier in this module for more information about how to write copy that converts.

The second part of this page that’s going to affect conversions is the overall design of the page. If it looks like a kindergartner designed the page, it’s not going to inspire much confidence. People aren’t going to trust you enough to give you their email addresses, and you’ll end up with a low subscriber rate.

If you don’t have the design skills needed to create a good lead page, then consider one of these options:

Use a template. You can search for “HTML templates” in Google and find both free and premium (paid) templates. If you choose this option, be sure to use a template from a reputable company so that you don’t have malicious code embedded into your page.

Use WordPress.org. Then you can download a professional theme and use that for your lead page.

Hire a designer. This is a good option if you want something unique. You can also hire a designer to customize a template (which is less expensive than hiring a designer to create something completely from scratch).

Use a service like LeadPages.net. This tool lets you build lead pages even if you’re not a designer, and it offers additional features such as built-in statistics to track conversions.

Obviously, your lead page will also need an opt-in form. What you’ll do here is choose a reputable email service provider (such as Aweber.com, GetResponse.com or similar), and follow their onsite instructions for creating the opt-in form.

Most of the bigger companies have form-building tools so you can quickly and easily create you form to match your lead page. Then all you have to do is copy and paste a small piece of code into your lead page. Again, you’ll find complete instructions in the email service provider’s help files.

Next…

Step 3: Set Up Your Autoresponder Series

The next step is to create and then upload a series of five to seven follow up emails. You’ll create this series with these two goals in mind:

Building a trusting relationship with your new subscribers. You do this by providing good content and recommendations that solve your prospects’ problems. Don’t withhold anything—share some of your BEST stuff with your subscribers. They’ll be so impressed with your free solutions that they’ll be eager to spend money on your premium solutions.

Generating sales. Every email you send out will also include a pitch for a product. The content you provide will naturally lead to this paid solution. Just like the lead magnet, your emails will be useful yet incomplete.

So let me share with you different examples of a five-part autoresponder series:

The Five Steps For Launching a Six-Figure Business. This would be good for preselling a business course like www.earncome.com.

Five Surefire Ways to Burn the Fat. This would presell a weight loss membership site.

Five Tips For Looking 10 Years Younger. This would presell an anti-aging video.

Five Resources Every Copywriter Ought To Be Using. This would presell a copywriting ecourse.

For these examples, each email would include one step, way, tip or resource related to the topic at hand. And the end of each email would include a pitch for the relevant product.

For example: “What do six figure online marketers do differently than everyone else? Answer: They know how to maximize their profits at every level of their business. And now you too can discover these secrets for yourself! Click here to get started www.earncome.com…”

And now the final step of this process…

Step 4: Promote The Lead Page

Once you have your lead-capture system ready to go, then you can start promoting your lead page. Specifically:

Send external (cold) traffic to your lead page. If you send cold traffic straight to a sales page, the overwhelming majority—up to 99%– will leave without buying anything, and there’s very little chance they’ll come back. But send them to an enticing free offer, and you might capture 10%, 20% or even more of this traffic onto your mailing list. You can then follow up to close the sale, which creates a relatively high conversion rate.

Use exit redirects. Whenever someone is exiting your site, whether that’s from a blog post, sales letter or some other page, you can redirect them to your lead page. This is your last-ditch effort to get them on your mailing list before they’re gone for good.

TIP: You can search Google for instructions on how to code a redirect, you can use an exit redirect plugin if you’re using WordPress, or you can use a tool like CatchaMonkey.com.

Summary

The third part of the conversion puzzle is to create a lead-capture system, which gets people on your mailing list so that you can follow up with them repeatedly. Not only does this boost conversions on the main offer you’re promoting, but you’re sure to turn some of these new customers into repeat buyers.

And now the last pieces you need to snap into place to convert your traffic…

Checking Conversion Rates

The last component of converting traffic is to test, track and tweak the various parts of your website and lead-capture system to optimize conversions.

A lot of marketers think that if people are joining their list and buying products, then that’s good enough. But that attitude leaves money on the table – sometimes a LOT of money. Marketers often report doubling or tripling their conversion rates with just a few tweaks – and that can add many thousands of dollars to your bottom line.

So here’s how to do it…

Step 1: Select Your Tools

Generally, what you’ll do is a simple A/B split test, which means that you test two version of a web page or email to see which ones converts the best. For this sort of test, you’ll need a simple A/B split testing script or tool. Here are your options:

Use a tool like SplitTestMonkey.com, or search Google for something similar.

Check your platforms to see if there are any tools built in. For example, if you use LeadPages.net to create your lead pages, you’ll have access to basic data for testing purposes.

TIP: If you need something more powerful, you might look at options such as Google Analytics, or the open-source alternative at Piwik.org.

Next…

Step 2: Specify What You’re Testing

You can test just about every factor on your website and in your email campaigns. But here’s the important thing to remember: just a small handful of factors are going to be largely responsible for the bump you get to your conversion rates. So you want to focus 80% of your time and resources on those few factors that are going to make the most difference.

Here are the big ones:

Your overall offer. This is what all you include in our offer, how you position it in the marketplace, and the price of the offer.

Your headline/subject line. The headline on your sales pages and lead pages, as well as your email subject lines, can make or break your success. If your headline or subject line doesn’t grab attention, people will click away without reading any further.

Your site design. People do judge a book by its cover. That’s why you’ll want to test your overall design to see how it affects conversion rates. (Note: here we’re referring to major design changes, not small tweaks that are hardly noticeable.)

NOTE: If you’re using short-form copy on a lead page, such as a headline, handful of benefits and a call to action, then each of those factors is going to carry a lot of weight. That means you should devote equal time to testing all of them.

While the factors above are generally the ones that create the biggest boost to conversion rates, there are plenty of other factors to test, including:

The bulleted list of benefits.

The opener to your lead page, sales page or email.

The call to action (including the text, as well as the button design, where applicable).

The postscript.

The subheadlines sprinkled throughout the sales page or lead page.

Smaller design elements, like the color of the headline, whether a header is at the top of the sales page, choice of graphics, etc.

The day and time of the day when you send emails.

The products you’re promoting in emails.

And of course there are dozens of other small factors, such as the font you use, which pieces of text you italicize in a sales letter and so on. However, testing these small factors isn’t going to create a big boost to your conversion rates, so your time is better spent on those bigger factors mentioned above.

Now the final step…

Step 3: Set Up Your Test

Once you’ve determined what you’re going to test, then you can start setting up your test.

So let’s suppose you decide you’re going to test the headline on a lead page, as that’s a factor that will influence conversions in a big way. What you’ll do is create two identical versions of your lead page, with the ONLY difference being the headline.

That bit is important: aside from the headline, you need to hold all other variables constant. That way, if you see a significant difference between conversion rates for your two pages, then you can be confident that the difference was caused by the headline you were testing, and not some other variable that you failed to control for.

Once you create your identical pages, then you can load up the two links into your split testing tool. The split testing tool will randomly send equal amounts of traffic to the two versions of your web page. The tool will also keep track of the overall conversion so you can determine which version is your winner.

NOTE: You should run your test for at least one week. That way, you’ve sent traffic over seven days, so the day of the week is not going to be a factor influencing conversion rates.

Most testing tools (such as Split Test Monkey) will let you set your parameters, and then it will tell which version of your page is the winner. The winner is referred to as your control page. You then test your control page against other versions. In this example, that means you’d test your control headline against other headlines to see if you can beat your control and boost your conversion rate even further.

Once you get to the point of diminishing returns with one factor, then move on and test another factor. In this particular example, you’d stop testing the headline and perhaps test the overall offer.

Now let’s wrap things up…

Conclusion

So there you have it – you just learned the four parts of converting your traffic into subscribers and sales.

Here’s a quick recap of these four parts:

Crafting Compelling Copy. One of the best skills you can learn is the art and science of writing good sales copy. This skill can increase your sales, grow your list, and even get more people reading your content, entering your contests and registering for your webinars.

Creating a User-Friendly Site. Simply put, if your site is easy to use, then people are going to be more likely to stick around. And that means you’ll enjoy a higher conversion rate.

Capturing Email Addresses. Most people don’t buy something the first time they’re exposed to it, which is why cold traffic creates low conversion rates. That’s also why you’ll want to get your cold traffic on a mailing list, so you can warm them up, build relationships and close the sale via follow up emails.

Checking Conversion Rates. The final piece to converting your traffic is to check the parts of your website to see if you can optimize response rates. Testing big factors like headlines can often double or even triple your conversion rates, so it’s well worth the effort.

So now that you know the four parts to converting traffic, your next step is to take action. Because the sooner you snap all four of these pieces into place, the sooner you’ll see more traffic, more subscribers, more sales and more money in your pocket!

TRAFFIC MONETIZATION

Introduction

At this point you know how to get traffic to your site. Now here’s the question: what are you going to do with all that traffic? In other words, how are you going to monetize it?

The first thought is to sell a product. And you’re right, that’s a good and profitable choice. But the truth is, those frontend sales will be just a small part of your overall income. That’s because you can sell all sorts of products and services on the backend of your business, and those backend profits can really add up quick.

So how do you take advantage of these backend profits and start monetizing your website? Answer: By implementing several of the following streams of additional revenue for your business. Take a look…

1. Offer an Order-Form Upsell

One of the first places you can pull in extra money is right there on the order form. All you have to do is promote a related product, which can be your own product or an affiliate offer.

For example, if you’re selling a weight-loss product, then you might offer a set of exercise videos and low-calorie cookbooks as an upsell. Better yet, offer a discount on this upsell that’s ONLY available right there on the order form. So if the customer doesn’t purchase the offer now but they want it later, they’ll have to pay more money.

Here are tips for maximizing this strategy…

Tip #1: Create an upsell that enhances the use or enjoyment of the main product. Think of the classic McDonald’s example here. You order a burger, and they ask you if you want fries with that. Those two things naturally go together, so a lot of people will accept the upsell.

You can do the same thing on your order form. For example:

When someone orders a video from you, you can offer the transcripts for an additional fee.

When someone orders a book about bodybuilding, you’d offer a set of exercise videos which demonstrate the lifts.

Next…

Tip #2: Think carefully about how you phrase the pricing.

Let’s go back to the McDonald’s example. When they ask you about an upsell or cross-sell, they only mention the price of the additional item.

For example, they’ll say, “Would you like to Biggy Size your order for just 39 cents more?”

This keeps the customer focused on the smaller amount (the 39 cents), versus the total cost of the order.

You can do the same thing. For example, if you’re selling a main product for $100 and an upsell for $25, your call to action might look something like this: “Click here to get the exercise videos for just $25 more!”

Next…

2. Put a Related Offer on the Confirmation Page

Another good place to put an offer is on the confirmation page that your customers see right after they complete a payment. They’re already in the buying mood, so there’s a good chance they’ll jump on this other offer if it’s related to your signature product.

For example, if you’re selling a product on how to create a successful blog, then you might offer a package of themes and plugins on your confirmation page.

One note: be sure that the link to the backend offer opens in a new window. That’s because some customers who are really excited to download their package may accidentally hit the offer link instead of the download link. You want to be sure the download page remains open so that your customer gets everything that they paid for before they leave that page.

Second note: put the offer BELOW the download link. Again, customers who just purchased something are going to be very eager to download their purchase. They may skim the page and click the first link they see. So to create a good customer experience, you want to make it very clear which link is the download link and which one leads to another offer. (E.G., use a big button that says, “Click Here To Download Your Purchase.”)

3. Send a Related Offer in the Thank-You Email

You can boost your revenue by putting an offer in the first email you send to new customers. This might be your own offer or an affiliate offer. It might be a product or a service. But whatever form it takes, it should be highly related to your signature product.

For example, if you’re selling a copywriting course, you might offer a personalized copy critique for a headline, a postscript, or even an entire sales letter.

There are multiple ways to include an offer in the thank you email, including:

Put the offer in the main body of the text. You might start off your email thanking customers and reminding them of the benefits of the product they just purchased, and then tell them about a related offer that will help them get even better results.

Put the offer in the P.S. The postscript is one of the most-read parts of an email, so this is a very good place to put an offer.

Put the offer in the footer (below the P.S.). You might make it stand out by putting it in a Johnson box (if you send html emails) with a headline such as “Featured Offer.”

Next idea…

4. Create a “Lite” Version of a Product as a Lesson

Now here’s a cool way to make extra money on the backend of this product: create a module that’s a “lite” version of one of your products. Then promote the full version on the backend.

For example, your lite product, the lesson, might teach people how to write engaging blog posts. The full product goes more in-depth and includes plenty of examples, tips and even templates. So while the lesson is a useful by itself, those who want all the details would purchase your full product.

NOTE: This is a strategy you can use no matter what you’re selling. For example, if you’re selling software, then you might offer a “lite” version of the software that includes fewer features and benefits.

5. Add a “Recommended Resources” Section

You can add a list of recommended resources at the end of each lesson. These might be your own products, affiliate offers, or even offers from advertisers. Ideally, each lesson should include its own resource section with offers that are laser targeted to the lesson.

For example: if a lesson talks about how to create great headlines, then one of your resources might be a collection of headline swipes and templates.

Another example: if your content teaches people how to set up a Facebook ad campaign, then one of your resources might be a “done for you” service for setting up and managing ad campaigns.

Next idea…

6. Include Recommendations In Your Bonus Materials

A great way to boost conversions on any product is to offer your customers access to additional material. My customers get access to a “vault” full of materials. What you’ll find is that many of these materials include recommendations for additional products and services.

You should seek to do the same thing. For example, if your customers get a traffic guide as part of their supplemental or bonus material, then you might sell SEO guides, social media guides, and blogging guides from within the traffic guide.

TIP: Don’t just list your recommended resources with links. For best results, provide a short summary of the product, which includes its best features. In other words, insert a short advertisement next to each listing.

Here’s another revenue-boosting idea…

7. Put Ads In the Lesson

Here you can put related offers at the top or bottom of each lesson. For example, you might have a “Featured Product” right at the top of the lesson, which could be your own offer, an affiliate offer, or even an offer from an advertiser.

You can also close each lesson by introducing an offer. For example, if your lesson is all about saving for retirement, you might pitch an investment app at the end of the module.

For example:

You just discovered the secrets of [getting some good result]. Now if you want to maximize this strategy, then you’ll want to get your hands on this [type of product]. It’s called the [name of product], and it’s the best way I know to [get a great result], [get some other good result], and [get some other good result]. So check it out right now at [link]…”

8. Soft-Sell Within a Lesson

This isn’t an “in your face” ad. Instead, you weave product recommendations right into the content. These sorts of soft-sell recommendations are seen as helpful rather than pushy.

For example, if you’re writing a lesson about how much protein a bodybuilder should eat each day, you might include an include an affiliate link for a whey protein supplement.

Another example: if you’re writing about how to set up a mailing list, then you could include a link to your recommended email service provider.

TIP: For best results, give a personal recommendation for the tool or other product you’re promoting. For example, if you’re linking to an email service provider, you might say something like this:

“You’ve probably noticed there are a lot of email service providers on the web. But there are only a few that I truly trust with my valuable data. And my #1 recommendation is [insert name of email service provider]. I like them because they provide 24/7 customer support, good deliverability, and lots of tracking data. Check them out at [link]…”

9. Send Out a Solo Email

You’ve got an email list full of customers: use it!

As mentioned, you can send out emails with recommendations right within the content. However, from time to time you can even send out a solo email. For example, if your core product is a hydroponic gardening guide, you might send out a solo email that promotes a hydroponic kit.

TIP: Most people who are looking to sell a physical product go on Amazon or CJ.com to find affiliate offers to sell. You can also use Google to find these offers. For example, you might search for: hydroponic affiliate. This would uncover affiliate programs for a variety of hydroponic products. If you have a specific product in mind, then feel free to narrow your search (e.g., hydroponic kit affiliate).

Don’t forget to also look for drop-shipping offers. Search Google for the type of product you want to sell alongside the words “drop ship” or “drop-shipping.”

TIP: Just be sure you don’t flood your mailing list with solo ads. If you’re sending a solo ad every other day, your customers are going to grow weary. They’re going to feel like all you do is advertise to them.

So what’s the sweet spot in terms of frequency? That’s something you’ll need to test in order to determine for yourself. Different lists have different tolerances for solo ads. You might start with a weekly solo ad and then test that frequency against more-frequent ads and less-frequent ads.

Next up…

10. Create Members-Only Groups

Certain types of signature products work really well with support forums or groups. One example is a weight-loss group, where your customers can get support, information and motivation from other members.

Now here we have two potential profit streams:

Sell access to the group. Sure, you can give access to the group as a free bonus to your customers. Or you can offer it as an upsell on the sales page or order form.

Sell additional offers within the group. You can use banner ads or text ads for your own products or affiliate products. You can also sell advertising spots within the group or forum.

TIP: Have you ever noticed that whenever a group or forum owner posts within the community, that post gets a lot of “likes” and discussion? People really pay attention to the owner. You can use this to your advantage by occasionally making a post about a product recommendation. Just don’t overuse this strategy, or people may stop paying as much attention to your posts.

There are a couple additional benefits to creating this sort of community, including:

Improve retention rates. Once people start interacting in your community, then requesting a refund or otherwise leaving the site doesn’t just mean they’ll leave information behind… instead, they’ll leave behind many friends. That’s why a well-run community is a great way to improve customer retention (which in turn leads to more backend sales in the long run).

Build relationships with customers. When you spend time interacting with your customers in your group or forum, they’ll start to know, like and trust you even more. That leads to even more backend sales. In other words, running a community can boost your long-term conversion rates and profits.

Next idea…

11. Bring in a Guest Author or Speaker

The idea here is to give your customers extra content, but you don’t need to create this content yourself. Instead, your guest provides the content. It might be in the form of a report, an article or even a webinar or teleconference interview.

So where does the revenue come in with this idea? In two ways:

You use your affiliate link to promote the guest’s offers. Just be upfront with your guest so they know you’re going to do this. Most guests will happily agree, as you’ll both make money whenever someone buys through your affiliate link.

You can sell this interview as a standalone product. Not only do you get another revenue stream from this, but you can also upsell the signature product to those who purchase the standalone content. (Just be sure you have the rights to sell it.)

So, where do you find guest authors or speakers? Chances are, you already have a few names in mind. However, to find even more potential guests you can use these methods:

Search marketplaces. The idea here is to go to marketplaces such as Amazon.com, Clickbank.com and JVZoo.com to find out who is selling the bestsellers in your niche. These top-selling vendors are all potential guests for you.

Use Google. Here you want to enter your niche keywords, and find out who has the biggest, most reputable and most popular sites in your niche. These experts and authorities are all potential guests.

Check Facebook. The idea here is to use the search bar to uncover the biggest groups or even Facebook Pages in your niche. The people who control these big platforms are possible guests.

Ask for recommendations from colleagues. Here’s an extra tip: if your colleague is friends with a potential guest, then ask that colleague to introduce you to his friend. This sort of personal introduction makes it more likely the potential guest will say “yes” to your request.

Ask customers for their “wish lists.” You can ask your newsletter subscribers, blog readers, and social media followers for their lists of favorite experts and marketers in your niche.

Next up…

12. Offer a Related Service

Mainly we’ve been talking about products, but you can certainly offer a service as well. This might even take the form of coaching or consulting.

For example:

Offer resume critiques to those who’re trying to land a new job.

Offer personal nutrition and exercise coaching to weight-loss customers.

In some cases, you might even offer multiple related services. For example, let’s suppose your main product is all about how to write better sales copy. You might consider offering these services:

Offer a copywriting service, where you write sales letters and ads for your customers.

Offer a sales letter critique. Here you might use a screen-recording software such as Camtasia to go point-by-point through your customer’s sales letters, offering feedback and tips as you do.

You can place ads for these related services in your emails, in the content of the product itself, and directly on the site. You can also offer them as an upsell on the order form.

13. Create “Done For You” Offer

If you’re teaching someone how to do a long and/or complex process, some folks would rather just have someone else do it. Thus you can offer “done for you” packages to promote from within your product.

For example:

Your classic car restoration product teaches someone how to clean and tune a carburetor. You can offer to do this step for them if they ship the carburetor to you. (Yes, this service really exists.)

A lesson within a blogging course talks about how to write content for the blog. You can offer a big package of PLR content for your customers to use.

TIP: To really maximize this revenue stream, you’ll want to create service-related upsells and backend offers.

For example, if your “done for you” service is to install and customize a WordPress blog, then you might offer ongoing monthly maintenance for an additional fee.

Another example: if your “done for you” service is to write a sales letter, then you might offer additional services such as creating autoresponder emails, Facebook ads, and blog posts.

Next up…

14. Sell Software as a Service

One good way to get a continuous backend revenue stream is to sell software as a service (SAAS) from within your product or emails. This is where your customers need to keep paying you every month in order to get continued access to the software.

One example is selling access to an autoresponder. Customers pay every month, and they’ll lose access to their lists and opt-in forms if they stop paying their monthly fees.

You can do this in most any niche. The key is to make it difficult for someone to casually leave, since they’ll lose access to everything if they do.

For example, maybe you sell a web-based meal planning and goal-setting app. If someone cancels six months down the line, they’ll lose access to all the data, charts, journaling and other activities they created with the app.

15. Promote Physical Products

Selling physical products (such as printed books and DVDs) means you need to send a shipment to your customers. This gives you a great opportunity to send a ride-along flyer with additional offers.

TIP: You can offer the physical copy of the product as a manual or a CD, or even offer some of the bonus materials as physical products.

For example:

You might send a limited-time coupon with an impressive discount on one of your related products or services.
You might send a list of “recommended resources” which include affiliate links.
You might sell advertising space on the flyer.
You might trade ads with someone else in your niche who is selling physical products. This means you promote their stuff in your shipments, and they do the same for you. Win-win, and profitable for everyone since you’re effortlessly reaching new customers.

Naturally, you can do a combination of these methods to create additional revenue whenever you ship something out.

16. Create a Members-Only Blog

The idea here is to create a blog that’s only accessible to your customers, which you might keep private with a password. You can then add occasional articles and other related content that helps people take the steps you’ve outlined in the core product. You can even use private label rights content or outsource this task so that you don’t have to do it yourself.

Now here’s the key: you can advertise related offers in multiple ways. For example:

Include product recommendations within articles. For example, you write an article about how to set up a Facebook Page. You can then promote a Facebook marketing product at the end of the article.

Put product recommendations at the end of articles. You can directly insert an ad for an offer that’s highly related to the article. This will get you the best response. Alternatively, you can use a plugin that chooses and inserts ads based on your content. Or, you can use a plugin that lets you change what product is being recommended (such as if you’re launching a new offer, you can change all ads to reflect that new offer).

Insert ads in the sidebar of the blog. This includes both graphic ads such as banners, as well as text ads. Do this sparingly, so that your sidebar doesn’t look like a circus of ads.

Insert ads in the header or footer. Again, you can use either banner ads or text ads. In most cases it’s better to advertise just one product, rather than to shove a bunch of smaller ads into the space. Not only does it look cleaner, but it also gives your customers fewer choices (which often translates to a better conversion rate).

Write direct promos. In other words, every so often you might make a post that is 100% geared towards selling a related offer. As usual, you don’t want to do this too often, otherwise your customers will feel like they’ve paid good money to read a blog full of ads.

Next…

17. Secure Exclusive Discounts From Others

The idea here is to give your customers something that they can’t get anywhere else, such as an exclusive discount or bonus offer on a popular product for which you’re an affiliate.

Now, you’ll need to approach the vendor about this to see what they can offer you. Since you’re an affiliate for the product, you may set up a deal where you get a smaller commission in exchange for offering your customers a discount.

For example, if a product has a 50% commission, you might ask the vendor if you can give your customers a 30% discount (and then you pocket the remaining 20% as your commission). You get a smaller commission, but you’ll make it up in volume. You can then promote this exclusive offer in your emails, the product, and on your website itself.

TIP: Some vendors who use this strategy don’t phrase it as a “discount.” Instead, they offer a “rebate.” The reason they do it this way is because they pay the customer out of their own commissions once the refund period has passed.

Now, there are two potential problems with this idea. First, some vendors strictly prohibit offering this sort of deal. That’s because they should be able to control the pricing on their own product, and not have affiliates lowering the price (and thus lowering the perceived value) at random.

Secondly, this method can also lower your conversion rate versus offering a discount. That’s because a discount provides instant gratification, whereas a rebate may take weeks or months to redeem.

Bottom line? It’s best if you offer a discount directly through the vendor. That way you know you’re doing everything legally, and you’re likely to have a better conversion rate to boot.

18. Send Freemium Bonus Materials

The idea here is give your customers a freemium version of an information product or even software for free as part of their bonus/supplemental material. If the customer likes the freemium product, they’ll likely upgrade to get the full product.

For example, let’s suppose you offer your weight-loss customers a “lite” version of a meal planning app for free. Perhaps this app counts calories and helps people design their meals. However, they’ll need to upgrade to unlock all features, such as balancing carbs, proteins and fats across meals.

Another example: you might provide your customers with a free video, which gives a great overview of a particular topic. Your customers would then need to purchase a set of training videos from you in order to get all the information and details about how to achieve some specific result.

19. Sell Advertising Spots

Another way to introduce a stream of revenue into your business is by selling advertising spots in your emails and/or even in the product. You can sell the ad spots directly for a flat price, or you can offer a flat price plus commission.

For example, you can sell ad spots in your “recommended resources” section of a lesson.

TIP: Be sure to thoroughly screen all potential advertisers before accepting their ads. You’ll want to research both the vendor and the product to be sure you’re dealing with some reputable who produces high-quality products.

The reason for doing this is because you will be associated with anyone who advertises on your site. If you accept money from a shady vendor who rips off your customers, then your customers will blame YOU. If you allow people to advertise really low-quality products on the site, your customers will blame YOU.

Point is, be sure you deal with people who produce products you’d be proud to endorse. You don’t have to specifically endorse them on your site since they’re third-party advertisers, but you should be comfortable enough with the product that you would be happy to recommend it to others. Your reputation depends on it!

Next…

20. Create Members-Only Webinars

The idea here is to offer a nice bonus to your customers, by giving them access to a free webinar. You can offer regular webinars, such as once per month. You can then archive these webinars within the site so that new customers can download and watch all of them.

Now here’s where the profits come in:

You can pitch related offers during the webinar itself. So if you’re running a “how to start a business” webinar, you might pitch a related membership site on the backend.

You can sell these webinars to others. It’s a nice additional stream of revenue, but it also gives you the opportunity to upsell your core offer to anyone who purchases the webinar.

You can sell resell licenses to these webinars to other marketers. Not only do you get a chunk of money upfront for every license you sell, but you also get the potential for a passive backend income. That’s because your license holders will sell the webinars to their customers, and in turn those customers will purchase the recommendations made within the video.

Which brings us to the next idea…

21. Splinter Lessons and Sell Individually

Are you selling an ecourse or fixed-term membership site where you send lessons on a weekly basis? Then here’s an idea you’ll like…

As you create more and more lessons, you’ll find that some of the lessons will work really well as standalone products. You can splinter these lessons off and sell them individually for $7 to $20 each. Naturally, each lesson upsells the core product. If people loved the individual lesson, they’re sure to love getting access to all 52 lessons.

TIP: You can do this with a variety of different types of products. For example:

You can splinter off one chapter in an ebook to sell individually.
You can splinter off one video in a set of videos.
You can splinter off one module in a home study course.
You can splinter off one product from a package of products. For example, if you’re selling a package of WordPress plugins, you can splinter off one plugin to sell individually.

Next…

22. Transform the Content Into a Different Product

If you’re creating a membership site, or even a large home-study course, then you’re going to have a lot of high-quality content on your hands. You can repurpose this content and sell it again in a different format.

For example:

Pull out the highlights and turn a yearlong course into a one-month ecourse. For example, you can condense the highlights into four meaty lessons, and then deliver one lesson each week for a month.

Use the content as the basis for a coaching course. In other words, use the content as your curriculum, and then offer personal coaching as part of the deal so that you can charge a premium price.

Turn the lessons into a video course. One good way to do this is to use slide presentation software (such as PowerPoint®), along with a screen recorder such as Camtasia.

Use part of the content to create a five-part free ecourse. The idea here is to use the content as a lead magnet. You can then sell your main product from within the course, and/or you can sell other related products. For example, if one of your lessons talks about how to set up a WordPress blog, then you can pitch a package of WP themes and plugins from within that email.

Naturally, you don’t need to limit yourself to digital products. Here’s the next idea…

23. Create a Physical Product

You can take the existing content and turn it into a physical product, such as a home study course. This won’t take long, so you don’t need to change the content itself. All you have to do is get it into a printed format (perhaps using a company like disk.com or even a local printer). Since physical products carry a higher perceived value, you can charge more for the course.

TIP: You can also offer a printed version of the course as an upsell on the order form. Perhaps the digital-only version is $97, and those who want a print version of the entire course pay $197.

Next up…

24. Offer a Reseller’s Opportunity

The idea here is to sell resell-rights licenses to your product. Your resellers will keep 100% of the front end profits, but you do fulfillment of the course. That means you have the customer mailing list, so you can continue enjoying the backend revenue.

Why not just offer an affiliate opportunity? Because in this case, you’ll actually make money by selling resell rights licenses to others.

For example, you might offer these licenses for $197. Resellers only need to sell two in order to break even, and every sale after that is pure profit for them. Meanwhile, you get the license fees upfront, plus customers on your mailing list that you wouldn’t have been able to get on your own. It’s a win-win opportunity.

Now let’s wrap things up…

Conclusion

So there you have it: you just discovered 24 solid ways to create additional revenue streams and start monetizing the traffic that’s flowing into your site. Once you start snapping these various revenue boosters into place, you’ll see your income grow exponentially. But don’t take my word for it. Instead, try it for yourself to see what it can do for you!