I read an interesting article the other day which said that when starting an online ‘publishing’ business, you should give away free content for one full year and not try and sell any products.
The idea behind the year long free content giveaway is that you build a following which you nurture and build a powerful relationship of trust.
I see what they are saying, it makes sense.
People don’t generally like to be sold to and they certainly don’t like being sold to by strangers from the get go.
Building and nurturing a relationship is incredibly powerful which is why the chap who wrote the article was suggesting it.
In the internet marketing world there is an analogy which is often used and that is…
Asking for the sale early is like asking someone to marry you on the first date.
If you were to go on a first date and before you had finished your first drink asked the other person to marry you and to settle down with you and start a family, the chances that your date would stick around are slim.
That’s the point; you scare people off by coming on too strong, too early.
He suggests that after a full year of sharing content, you can then offer a product to sell and there should be enough people who will want it and trust you enough to buy from you.
It makes sense.
After a year, most people will know you well enough and trust you enough to make a purchase.
However…
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I believe that you can do both.
You can offer a year of relationship building content for free AND sell products.
Why would you want to pass up on the opportunity to make money?
Your emails should always point to a website where you have a series of products for sale which are ‘comfortably’ priced for those who may want to buy.
You should give them the opportunity.
Let them decide what they want.
There is a balance between not scaring people away by being too aggressive in your approach sending only ‘buy my stuff’ emails and building a trusting relationship by giving everything away for free.
Put a link to your products at the bottom of your emails and articles and subtly suggest people to take a look.
If they click through and make a purchase, that is their decision.
When I say ‘comfortable’ priced products, I am referring to prices which people are happy to spend at Amazon. Things such as an eBook priced at £19.99 or more.
You have to be well trusted and well known to be offering products or services at thousands of pounds, but ‘comfortable’ priced eBooks and courses is not a problem.
Have several of those available on your website and you can make sales from people who visit your website organically by finding it online or those who have clicked through the links in your emails.
I see no reason as to why you would not try and make money while growing your email list and building a trusting relationship with those people.
Firstly, people will grow to trust you at different rates. After a couple of weeks some people will trust you enough to buy from you, others would probably still not trust you after several years.
Secondly, people need information which will help them to change their lives and they will pay for it if you can offer them what they need at a ‘comfortable’ price, no matter who you are.
By all means give away free information and great content to build trust and grow an email list, but remember that you need to make money and you can if you list products correctly on your website.
If you would like to know how to build your own website, grow your own email list and create your own library of professional products which you can sell, go to:
The Email Secret
Kind Regards
John Harrison
- You’ll learn everything you need to know on how to write and send money making emails, grow your email list PLUS you will be given the webpage templates that you need to start and run your very own profitable online and email based affiliate business.
Here’s that link again: