10 Resourceful Things You Can Do With A Product That Doesn’t Sell

Internet Business January 31st, 2008 Say Something (2)

I have had my share of failed ideas to products. I learned in my experiences that everything you think is good, really is not. So what the heck can you do with these wack ideas or products that you muster up? If you have made some products in the past that just did not make you the kind of money that you thought it should because of all the sweat and tears you put into it, then here are some ideas to think about in order to feel better about it… 

10 things to do when your product doesn’t sell

1. Sell the reprint/reproduction rights to the product. You could make money selling other people the rights to reproduce and sell the product. People are always looking for new products to sell.

2. Giveaway the product for free from your web site. Just because it won’t sell doesn’t mean people won’t visit your web site to get it for free. They may see another product you sell and buy that one.

3. Try auctioning off the product at an online auction. You may make part of your investment back. If you’re lucky, you may even make a profit because people sometimes get into bidding wars and will bid a higher price than the product is worth.

4. Use the product as a free bonus for another product you sell. This will increase the perceived value of the product you’re selling. People will feel they’re receiving more for less.

5. Contact businesses with the same target market and see if they would be interested in using your product as a free bonus for their product. You could place your ad on the product and get free advertising.

6. Sell your product to businesses at wholesale cost as a promotional product. Businesses are always looking for products they can giveaway to their customers with their advertising on the product. You could make part of your investment back.

7. Barter your product to other businesses for things you need for your own business. You could trade for their products or services. This will save you money and help make up for your profit loss.

8. You could create an online contest so people could win your product. This will attract traffic to your web site. You also could get free advertising by listing it on online contest directories.

9. If you decide to giveaway the product for free, allow other people to giveaway the product for free. Place your web site ad on the product. This will spread your advertising and attract even more people to your site.

10. Ask businesses with the same target audience if they would be interested in combining your product with their product. You could then sell them together as a package deal and split the profits. You may have better results selling your product this way.

12 Simple - High Readership Content Ideas For Your Blog Writing

Internet Business January 29th, 2008 Say Something (0)

I am not sure about you but sometimes I get into these ruts where I just can’t find anything to write about. I get writers block, if you will. From my blogging journey, the programs I am a part of, all the e books I have read to the audios I have listened to, I have learned a few things you can do when these times arise. I just thought I would share them here with you. I have been doing this blogging gig for like 6 or so months now, seriously. Been earning my fair share of affiliate commissions and such but I feel the real value and feeling of self worth comes from me being able to share anything and everything that I learn from my journey’s and learning experiences with you.  (now that I have some)

To get to the point, here are 12 simple content for your blog idea creaters that you can use while brainstorming what you are thinking of writing about.  

• How To Articles: they include detailed step by step instructions. Examples: how to publish your e-zine, how to promote your business, how to attract visitors to your web site.
• Tips: they are usually small pieces of information about the size of a paragraph. Examples: tips on using a product, tips on doing your taxes.
• Top Lists: they are a group of tips listed in order, usually numbered from first to last. Examples: top 7 ways to get to the top of search engines, top 10 ways to market your product.
• News Articles: they can include news about your industry or company information. Examples: joint ventures, new product releases, special events, overseas activity
• Interview Articles: they could include interviews from customers, employees and experts. Examples: interview an employee that won an award, an expert related to your industry, a satisfied customer, people profiles.
• Publications: they include information that’s bundled together to take with the person. Examples: ebooks, reports, software, auto responder information.
• Business History Articles: they include information about your business. Examples: years in business, goals your business has accomplished, community affairs, financial information.
• Product Articles: they include information about your product or services. Examples: new products, improvements to existing products, new accessories.
• Visual Content: they include visual helpers that help explains, shows or supports an example. Examples: charts, photos, graphics, graphs.
• Entertaining Content: they include humorous and off beat information. Examples: contests; quizzes, trivia, puzzles, games, cartoons.
• Excerpts: they include information used from other resources for different purposes, but can also support your business. Examples: journal articles, transcripts of seminars, reprints, speeches, press releases.
• Technology Content: they are new technologies you can use to present your content. Examples: audio clips, streaming video, MP3 files.

Masters Seminar in Las Vegas - The Low Down

Internet Business January 27th, 2008 Say Something (1)

I just came back from the best time ever, for my first time in Las Vegas. I will say that the “welcome to Vegas” wasn’t so great. Let me tell you of my journey to the Masters Seminar in Las Vegas, NV. Flying out of Sacramento, my friend and I, made it through the bumpy flight to begin our weekend. Ok, we land, headed to the hotel in the shuttle, we are the last drop off. As we are getting our luggage out of the back, I see that we are missing my friends computer bag. Oh man, she was devastated. The company driver was a complete moron and didn’t help us other than say “I’m sorry, I don’t’ know whats yours, only people tell me what to get and I give.” Ya, that is a great policy to follow. So we made the report to the company ourselves, that if anyone decided to call in and say they grabbed the wrong bag, they would call. By then, she was crying and I just wanted to go home because I felt so bad for her. Up to the room we go, waiting for a call we thought we would never get. I mean who would return a bag full of electronics?! Well, about three hours and a ton of calls later, someone called and said they have our bag at another hotel. Wheew! That was our “welcome to Vegas” story.

The Seminar
Day 1 :

Mostly at these seminars the speakers are there to give some great teaser content and sum it up with a pricey product package designed so you can’t refuse. I stopped buying those things a long while ago, although some are quite tempting.
The Hosts

Ross Goldberg and Harris Fellman, were just the best. It is always a show when “Sal” comes out in his crazy character outfit and intro’s the speaker in a humorous way.

So, for Day 1’s lineup we had some very energentic speakers such as Ben Mack, Sterling Valentine, Liz Tomey, Simon Leung, Howie Schwartz, Donna Fox, Paulie Sabol, Sean Roach, Robert Butwin, Alan Bechtold, Willie Crawford and the latest/greatest Deborah Micek.

The Topics Covered

Well from what my scribbled notes can muster, some of the topics that were covered were mostly about mindset and taking action. For the more technical presentations, Ben Mack spoke about the Ideal Product. The ideal product which consists of a high profit margin, no inventory, able to make $ while you sleep, requires limited skills and creates buyers for life. Nothing new that people should know but I will tell it anyway. He spoke that the “Funnel” style marketing system is wack! His style was with the “water wiggler”. Not sure if anyone knows what that is but just go google it to see what I am talking about.

The photo above shows the famous water wiggler in his hand - the small green thing.
His vision for that was you want to bring people into your system from all sides equally and not just the top (as in the funnel style). That way people can make up their own mind about what you are offering entirely rather than just peep the free offer taken down to the high priced item later.
Sean Roach spoke a lot of “billboard sites” for the best way to begin online. Basically you need to solve a problem with information and software, then get that answer out on the net. Of course, the normal activities need to be done like keyword research, the use of public domain for content, rss feeds, press releases and grabbing some traffic.
Willie Crawford talked about relationship marketing and how the best way to send emails has everything to do with time. Coach Deb and social media were next. Deb and her team created the sickest blog system called Blog i360. This system is currently powering my blog and the time it saves you by submitting to all social networks with your posts, podcasts and video. No doubt that social media is the thing that is coming. She speaks of selling as a seduction and you need CHARM to grasp those prospects in.

C = Captivate Attention
H = Hook Emotion
A = Advance Trust
R = Radiate Desire
M = Motivate To Action

We need to be entertaining while educating people.
Ross had some great tips for getting some quick traffic to your blog. The list of things for this are as follows:

- Name any photo or video file with a keyword or relevant word
- Use alt tags for everything
- Write 5 posts in 3 days
- Ping after every post
- Submit to Social Bookmarketing sites after each post
- Comment regularly on other blogs related to your niche
- Submit to Web directories

Do these things and watch your subscriber count rise and traffic increase. Be consistent, provide value and people will follow.

The Most Valuable 3 Hours of my Life

I was fortunate enough to run into Sterling Valentine on my out of the Seminar Saturday for the day. As my friend and I were walking out I saw him and his assistant ( I don’t remember your name!) walking towards us. Of course, knowing me I wanted a picture with everyone there. (Law of Association)

So nervous and using my very light voice, I asked him if I could get a picture with him. He smiles at me and asks what my name is. I say “Toki Tover”. He then gave me this look of surprise and said “Toki?” At this point I am giggling and being so nervous, looking in every direction other than toward him. Well, he began to tell me that he knew that name from his support desk. I felt all bad a$$ at that point that “Sterling Valentine” remembered my name. ( Ross Goldberg did the same thing to me, saying “I know who you are” while I was introducing myself) Go to these events long enough and you can meet the right people that could possibly catapult your business or just help you get started. Richard Legg also emailed me saying that I was the first person who had ever asked for a photo with him and in turn he would always remember me - note - all these people I now formed a great relationship with and now can turn to for questions or idea bouncing. Back to Sterling, after getting the picture and acting like a complete fool in front of him and Mike Morgan I began to talk of my “being stuck” position and not getting past the point I am at now. After some conversation, my friend and I, went up to his room for a three hour “coaching” session and he just broke it down for me step by step. He showed me many things and is now helping me through my rough spot. The best thing about this is, I now have an accountability partner that can MAKE ME focus. I surely can not let him down in any way and make him feel that he wasted his time with me. I will not let that happen.

Lesson

From my whole experience in Vegas, those three hours made that trip worth any price I paid to be there. The value I received from that session and the relationships formed will surpass any money spent that weekend.

You can check out the rest of my pictures from that event on Myspace!

Podcast: Vince Tan And Toki Tover Interview on Taking Action in your Business

Interviews January 24th, 2008 Say Something (3)

Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link.

Download the Mp3 [ 43 min | 10 MB ] - (Turn up your speakers when he talks, its a little low)

I was contemplating a good long while on whether I should do an audio interview because it would be out of my comfort zone. I am a shy person and can’t really stand to hear myself talk, so it was Vince Tan of IMGuerilla who “popped my podcast cherry”! We met back a few months or so ago at the World Internet Main Event, San Francisco. Check out the photo below -

Vince Tan, Toki, Gobala Krishnan, Melvin Ng

No doubt that getting your butt up and getting to any event that deals with your niche is a huge step for anyone wanting to progress in thier business. The interview was geared toward his beginning and how the ACTION factor played the role in his success. It only took him one year to gain his successes. Just take a listen to the interview and find out some great tips and guides for getting JV partners and just basically getting started. Until the next time…