Sydney
11-15-2007, 07:05 AM
QUESTION: Hereīs the second part: the reason I havenīt been too aggressive in getting my eBay account reinstated (although I have emailed them several times without receiving a response) is more because I just havenīt seen a lot of results with the eBay info products. Iīm wondering if you could give me any feedback on this. For example, in the past I put up a .25 info product the same day I started an adsense site, and started driving traffic to it. I did this for at least 6 or 7 niches at one time.
However, hereīs what I found. In my best niches I still only made 10 info
product sales per day (on my absolute best day). I found that a good 75% of people only buy cheap info products for the feedback, and have no intention of ever reading the e-book, so that eliminates a good number right there (those emails asking for feedback were getting really annoying).
Therefore, of the 10 I sold, I figure probably 2 or 3 will actually read the e-book. Of this number, maybe 1 or 2 will click through to the website, and of that number, Iīll be lucky if I get one click on my sites per day. I use this example because as I said, on my absolute best days I make 10 info
product sales per day. Most days this number was less.
Anyway, when my account got suspended for feedback manipulation and they
took my info product sales down, I found that my adsense earnings and traffic didnīt go down at all, and, oddly enough, actually seemed to increase. Keep in mind, this is when I had info product sales going for at least 7 different niches at once, and was making about 35-40 info product sales per day across all the niches.
I guess my point is, based on the numbers Iīve figured out, using the info
products really isnīt worth it. Since with the average niche on an average day, I typically only sold 5 or 6 info products per day, I figure I will be very lucky if even one of those sales results in clicks on an ad on my site. The results I had before and after using the info products seemed to back
this up.
This doesnīt even factor into the equation the fact that all my auctions
didnīt sell, so I was losing some money right there. Therefore, Iīve stopped using the info products for my adsense sites, and am now focusing entirely on search engine traffic.
I just found that the return on investment wasnīt nearly enough to warrant
the time it took to put together an info product and auction. Since I know you advocate using eBay, Iīm just wondering if thereīs something Iīm doing wrong, because based on the numbers Iīve calculated, using eBay
just isnīt worth it.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Here are several points concerning using eBay that might be helpful.
1) As I mentioned in our Town Meeting of two days ago, DON'T spend much time creating an info product & listing until you're sure that it's worthwhile. That is, are you making any money by offering these info products? If yes, then you might want to come up with a killer product/listing. If not, you haven't spent much time, especially if you used a private label book and sales letter.
2) Some niches work better than others. The best results I've had for just building a list is the sales that Chris Malta & I did. We've had approximately 1,000 new customers in some months. Others aren't worth bothering with. There really isn't any "always" - it varies with the topic. There are other factors as well - for instance, here in November, golf might not be very popular.
3) Don't just focus on building lists - if you're going to sell info products ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS put some affiliate offerings/dropship products or some other way of making money, besides just building a list. Always think of multiple ways to make money from any info product.
4) Do some testing. For example, use a unique URL to link to an affiliate product. This URL is ONLY used for an eBay info product. In that way, you can tell if you're making any money with the affiliate product. You might only make 15 sales/month - but that might result in $150. Is that worthwhile? I think so, since I don't have to DO anything to keep those income streams going.
5) Figure out your costs. For instance, if you sell an info product for $.99, that equals almost four weeks of auctions. Therefore, if you make one sale every month, you're almost breaking even. If you keep track of the numbers, and you make some affiliate sales, you might just being making money.
6) There's an easy way to eliminate all the people who buy just to get feedback ... simply let them know that you don't leave feedback! I've done this many times. We have no obligation to leave feedback - it's not a requirement of being an eBay seller. So simply leave a prominent notice ... "I don't leave feedback." That will eliminate all those people.
7) Ultimately, if this is too much trouble for you then just forget about using eBay this way. Some of my niches have greatly benefitted from eBay - and some are bombs. If you don't think it's worth your time, then skip it. As I've mentioned so many times, it's strictly a NUMBERS game.
However, hereīs what I found. In my best niches I still only made 10 info
product sales per day (on my absolute best day). I found that a good 75% of people only buy cheap info products for the feedback, and have no intention of ever reading the e-book, so that eliminates a good number right there (those emails asking for feedback were getting really annoying).
Therefore, of the 10 I sold, I figure probably 2 or 3 will actually read the e-book. Of this number, maybe 1 or 2 will click through to the website, and of that number, Iīll be lucky if I get one click on my sites per day. I use this example because as I said, on my absolute best days I make 10 info
product sales per day. Most days this number was less.
Anyway, when my account got suspended for feedback manipulation and they
took my info product sales down, I found that my adsense earnings and traffic didnīt go down at all, and, oddly enough, actually seemed to increase. Keep in mind, this is when I had info product sales going for at least 7 different niches at once, and was making about 35-40 info product sales per day across all the niches.
I guess my point is, based on the numbers Iīve figured out, using the info
products really isnīt worth it. Since with the average niche on an average day, I typically only sold 5 or 6 info products per day, I figure I will be very lucky if even one of those sales results in clicks on an ad on my site. The results I had before and after using the info products seemed to back
this up.
This doesnīt even factor into the equation the fact that all my auctions
didnīt sell, so I was losing some money right there. Therefore, Iīve stopped using the info products for my adsense sites, and am now focusing entirely on search engine traffic.
I just found that the return on investment wasnīt nearly enough to warrant
the time it took to put together an info product and auction. Since I know you advocate using eBay, Iīm just wondering if thereīs something Iīm doing wrong, because based on the numbers Iīve calculated, using eBay
just isnīt worth it.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Here are several points concerning using eBay that might be helpful.
1) As I mentioned in our Town Meeting of two days ago, DON'T spend much time creating an info product & listing until you're sure that it's worthwhile. That is, are you making any money by offering these info products? If yes, then you might want to come up with a killer product/listing. If not, you haven't spent much time, especially if you used a private label book and sales letter.
2) Some niches work better than others. The best results I've had for just building a list is the sales that Chris Malta & I did. We've had approximately 1,000 new customers in some months. Others aren't worth bothering with. There really isn't any "always" - it varies with the topic. There are other factors as well - for instance, here in November, golf might not be very popular.
3) Don't just focus on building lists - if you're going to sell info products ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS put some affiliate offerings/dropship products or some other way of making money, besides just building a list. Always think of multiple ways to make money from any info product.
4) Do some testing. For example, use a unique URL to link to an affiliate product. This URL is ONLY used for an eBay info product. In that way, you can tell if you're making any money with the affiliate product. You might only make 15 sales/month - but that might result in $150. Is that worthwhile? I think so, since I don't have to DO anything to keep those income streams going.
5) Figure out your costs. For instance, if you sell an info product for $.99, that equals almost four weeks of auctions. Therefore, if you make one sale every month, you're almost breaking even. If you keep track of the numbers, and you make some affiliate sales, you might just being making money.
6) There's an easy way to eliminate all the people who buy just to get feedback ... simply let them know that you don't leave feedback! I've done this many times. We have no obligation to leave feedback - it's not a requirement of being an eBay seller. So simply leave a prominent notice ... "I don't leave feedback." That will eliminate all those people.
7) Ultimately, if this is too much trouble for you then just forget about using eBay this way. Some of my niches have greatly benefitted from eBay - and some are bombs. If you don't think it's worth your time, then skip it. As I've mentioned so many times, it's strictly a NUMBERS game.