Have you found yourself in an unexpected financial situation and you need to get your hands on some extra money in a hurry?
You’re not alone!
We’ve all been faced with unforeseen problems that require money; your car needs an overhaul, you need to replace the leaky roof on your house, or you’ve opened your mail to find the utility company was undercharging you and they’ve slapped you with a huge bill. Whatever the reason, situations like these can quickly put you in a state of panic.
Fortunately, one of the great things about owning an online business is that there are many ways to increase your income within your own business. You don’t have to resort to crazy schemes and outlandish business opportunities in an attempt to get the funds you need, in fact, all the money you require is already available; all you have to do is tap into it.
Taking Stock
You’ll find a number of techniques to help you generate cash throughout this series, and are based on the assumption that you’ve already carved out a niche for yourself and that you have a group of followers to market to. It doesn’t have to be a large market, but you do have to have one.
The first thing you need to do is take stock of what you have available that could potentially make you money. At this point, do not consider creating something new to sell, you need money in a hurry so the point of this step is to make use of what you already have.
Make a list that includes the following:
1. Half Finished Products - I think we all have these collecting dust among our computer files. You know those ‘great ideas’ you had for an ebook, report, coaching program, etc., so you set out to do it and then let it slide half way through? Find them all and write down what you have.
2. Domain Names - Internet marketers are notorious for collecting domain names. It goes along with those ‘great ideas’ we frequently have, so we jump the gun and buy the domain name before we even make a real plan its use. Jot down all the domain names that you’ve collected that you’re not doing anything with.
3. Websites - Yes, yet another thing we seem to have an abundance of. You likely have a couple of sites that you focus all your attention and money on, and then a few others that have fallen by the wayside. If this is the case, write down all the websites that you have like this and be sure to note what you have on the website in terms of content and how much income you make from it in a month (adsense, affiliate programs, etc.), if any.
4. PLR Products - Ah, the Internet marketer’s secret weapon. I’d be surprised to hear that you didn’t have PLR of some kind amongst your files. Even if you don’t think you do, do quick a search of your files anyway in case you picked something up and then forgot about it. It could be in the form of articles, reports, ebooks, software, etc. Make a note of everything you have.
5. Time - If you’re in need of quick cash, then you likely you have a deadline of some sort to come up with that cash. Write down how much time you have to come up with your goal amount so you have an idea of what strategies are going to work best for you. Needing money to pay all your moving expenses in a month is a lot different from needing it in a week to pay for dental surgery.
I’m sure that whatever you read here you have heard about at one point or another; I’m not going to be telling you about some magical way to make cash appear in your hand without doing a thing. The purpose of this course is to help you get the ball rolling and get a plan together instead of waffling because it feels like another thing on the dreaded to-do list.
Now what you will find are proven ways generate money. The methods listed here have all been tried and tested and most people have great success with them. Your own success will be determined by how you use these methods - no one knows your market better than you - and only you can conclude what will work for you.
With that said, let’s get to it!
Have A Sale
This may seem like an obvious solution, but the truth is, you may be so bummed out by your urgent need for funds that you don’t even think of it.
Put together a discount on one of your more popular products. Even offering a small 10% off can motivate a customer to click the order button. Break it down and a product that sells for $20 bucks will still net you $18 after the discount, but that $2 break could be just the thing your potential customers have been waiting for. Don’t forget that offering a discount or other incentive tends to compel customers to buy more then they would without it.
Bear in mind that you’re working within a deadline, so it’s important that you make your sale time limited. This will make your customers feel a sense of urgency and it will encourage them to right away before they miss out!
Roll Out A Half Finished Product
Huh? You heard me! Remember that list you wrote in the “taking stock” section? Well, it’s time to take a closer look at it.
View your list of half finished products and choose the one with the most potential. That means picking the one your market is most likely to be interested in; just make sure there’s enough meat to it so you don’t end up creating a whole new product because you don’t have time for that.
For the sake of an example, let’s say that you have a partially finished report about creating a successful business blog. Now refer back to your list and see if you have some private label articles that matches the topic of blogging. If you have PLR on marketing your business, it will fit in with the topic as well since marketing enables the success of a blog. If you don’t have any PLR that fits your product, then go back and see if you have a product that fits with what you do have. OR, you can spend a few bucks and grab a new pack of PLR articles at ContentWholesaler.com
I know, I know, you want to make money not spend it, but if spending a few dollars will help you make that back and more, then it’s worth it. Just don’t go overboard; buy only what you need!
Okay, so you have your half finished product and you have a bunch of PLR that matches the topic, now all you have to do is finish it. Even if you have to take the report in a new direction to fit in the PLR, you’ll still wind up with a good product – a finished product.
Ta-da! A new product you can promote to your subscribers, blog readers, and website visitors.
Add Value To A Current Product
This strategy is one that you can do with all your current products. Of course you’re in a time crunch so you’ll just want to single out one of your best selling products to add value too. Once you get some cash coming in then you can do this to all of your other products too.
The fastest way to create buzz with the customers who have already bought your product is to release a “new version” of the current product. Obviously if they bought it the first time, they’ll be eager to get their hands on the latest and greatest model.
Here are a 3 quick ways to do this:
1. Update your ebook or report using PLR - Again, you’ll want to check your list to see what you have that will fit, if nothing, then grab some inexpensive articles or reports from ContentWholesaler.com.
Go through your product and see where you switch out old content for fresh content. Then add some new sections that weren’t available to first time around.
2. Create an Audio - Audio is an extremely popular on the ‘net, so adding it to your product will really boost the value. You can use your PC microphone to record your audio using a free program called Audacity.
Check out AudioVideoWholesaler.com or simply record yourself reading your ebook or report; customers will love the option of listening to your information. Or, you can interview an expert on the topic of your product. Something like, “Learn How to Avoid These Mistakes And Your Blog Will Be A Roaring Success!” should get the attention of your customers.
3. Printables & Checklists - These are super easy to make and you’re customers will love them. For instance, you could have a checklist outlining each step they need to take to get their blog set up and published online. A printable could be something as simple as a fill-in-the-blank template for writing a successful blog post. Your customers can then print it off and refer to it again and again.
Draws
Splurge and offer your customers the chance to win a really awesome prize. The catch… they have to buy something in order to get their name into the draw, and the more they buy, the more entries they get. The better the prize the higher your chances are of getting people to participate.
Buy 1, Get 1 Free
People love free stuff! Send out a promotion to your mailing list telling folks about your hot deal. If they buy 1 of your products, they get another for FREE. Don’t forget to place a value on the free product so your customers know that what they’re getting is valuable.
Contact Your Past Customers
Get creative and come up with a plan to get in touch with all your past customers. Doing so will remind them that you exist, and that they liked you enough to buy from you in the past. Send them a friendly email saying thanks for being a customer, and because you appreciate their business, you are giving them a special offer.
Your offer could be a coupon, a freebie, a buy 1 get one free deal, or any number of things that will encourage them to check you out and take advantage of your offer. Contacting past customers is something you should do on a regular basis anyway. Just because they bought from you once doesn’t mean they’ll return. Life gets in the way, computers crash and info is lost, so make sure it lands in their hands periodically.
In the future, whenever your sales slow down or become non-existent, gear up for a marketing campaign that will blow the socks off your competition. Don’t be afraid to put some sweat into the process, because you will reap the rewards!
Host A Free Teleseminar or Webinar
This is a fantastic way to get sales, and it doesn’t take a whole lot of work either. Simply choose a topic that you want to talk about and put together an outline of what you’re going to cover in the hour.
Make sure you choose a topic that you have created an in-depth product on. The point of the seminar is to make money, so you’ll want to be able to refer people to your paid product for more information. Here’s an example of a topic, “10 Quick & Easy Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website,” which can then wind up with you telling them about your ebook on website traffic methods and you’re offering it at a discounted price to listeners.
You can use a free conference service to hold your teleseminar. If you need more interactive features like a video, a white board, and the ability to show your guests in real-time information on the web, then you’ll want to host a webinar.
Once you have your topic chosen and your outline ready to got, put together a simple registration page that tells people what your seminar is about and have them sign up to your mailing list to receive registration information. Then all you have to do is let your market know.
Sell Domain Names & Websites
Time to scrutinize your list and pin down the domain names and websites you can get rid of. If you haven’t updated the website or done anything with a domain name in 6 months or more, then it needs to go.
Domain names typically sell in the $20 range, unless you have a highly sought of domain name. It’s not much, but at least you can get your money back out of it and put the cash to use.
A website should be sold at approximately the yearly income you make from the site. So if you make $500 a year in Adsense and affiliate revenue, that’s the price you should list your website at. Don’t be afraid to negotiate, the whole point of selling is to make money quickly.
If your website doesn’t generate an income, then sell it as a turnkey website and talk up the potential.
Tell your friends about what you have available, add what you have for sale in your forum signature, and list it on websites like Fireball Planet’s classified ads.
Coupon Codes
Generate a coupon code for one or more of your products. Offer a substantial discount, like 40% - 50% off your regular selling price and send an email out to your lists with your coupon code. Don’t forget to post about it on your blog!
Another popular way to use coupon codes is to send the code to your affiliates, and have them promote the discounted offer for you. FireballCart.com has this feature and using this tactic is just a click away…
Fast Cash Planning
The end of this course represents the beginning for you. Now that you know what you have to work with, and the different ways to use them to earn money quickly, putting together a plan is the next logical step.
By plan I mean what you are able to do within your allotted time as decided earlier.
Here’s a simple 1 week template that you can fill out to keep yourself on track and organized.
DATE: ________________
INCOME GOAL: $_______
SCHEDULE WHAT TO COMPLETE NOTES
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
DAY 6
DAY 7
Congratulations if you managed to follow this course! Feel free to comment below…
Ian del Carmen
Photos by Flickr
