Every online marketer knows that building a list is the one of the most effective ways to build a potentially profitable following. The same marketer also knows that those who have already bought from them are most likely to buy from them again. We see this all the time so would you like fries with that?

So how do you combine these two well known theories and turn them into one powerful marketing and sales technique? One and a half words – eBay.

There is a strange divide between people who swear by the monster marketplace and others who shun it like an Italian motorcar. I’m a bit of both, I love Ferrari’s but I drive an Alfa. What I’m trying to get at is that you may not be experiencing the full potential of the available resource but that doesn’t mean that it does not exist.

When I first started selling on eBay I did the normal thing. I sold something, sent out a great product, got good feedback and then moved on to the next customer. I would comfortably say that the majority of the sellers do this because that’s the way you do things right? Not quite.

Lets dissect things a little more. eBay is a massive marketplace full of millions of buyers ready and willing to buy stuff. Ready and willing to buy stuff. Those are some really powerful words right there. If you put a product up for sale on eBay you are exposing it to a market that is there not just surfing for fun, but are genuine buyers. That’s the first thing to take note of but it’s nothing that we don’t know already and many hundreds of ambitious entrepreneurs have used this fact to make thousands and thousands of sales.

Secondly when people buy a product from you on eBay you are required to communicate via email to finalize the sale. Now I’m guessing that little light bulb is flashing inside your head thinking you know where I’m heading with this. Your also thinking how could you possibly have not thought of this? Well looking at eBay’s terms and conditions there is good reason why you haven’t already thought of it or dismissed it entirely:

• Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay system to offer to sell any listed item outside of eBay
• Canceling a listing to sell to a buyer who became aware of the item through eBay.
• Ending a listing early to sell the item at a higher price to the winning bidder
• Offering to sell an item to a bidder in a Reserve Not Met listing without going through Second Chance Offer
• Offering to sell duplicate or additional merchandise to under-bidders without going through Second Chance Offer
• Sending unsolicited (without prior permission) commercial email offers to bidders for the same or similar products that they have bid on in the past

We need to read between the lines here a bit. If you run through the text in more detail you will notice that eBay makes a specific point of mentioning that sellers are not to use details obtained within eBay to sell any listed items outside of eBay.

So you can’t go and use the details you gather from eBay to sell the listed product outside of eBay but this is also the loophole: it doesnt actually say you can’t use this information to sell non-listed or alternative products outside of eBay.

As an eBay seller, once an item is sold, what you now have are the details of people who have already bought from you in a buyers environment. That’s the marketers dream right there and the potential is enormous.

Some brief action points to consider after a sale:

1. Send your buyers a digital thank you note (as well as a physical one when you send out your product)
2. Offer them a great bonus gift if they sign-up to your mailing list for great offers.
3. Once they sign up send through the bonus
4. Over the next 7 or so days build a healthy relationship giving away excellent products and information.
5. Sell to them again.
6. Then again.

Go the normal way and you’ll come out ok. Think outside the square and do that little extra and you’ll get your Ferrari.

I am offering anyone who signs up to my newsletter a FREE copy of possibly the greatest business books ever written, Napoleon Hill’s: Think and Grow Rich. The effect this has had on business people worldwide is phenomenal and has changed the way many of today’s entrepreneurs do business.

The fact that this book is almost a century old and yet holds all of its relevance, proves that this timeless manifesto will forever retain substantial influence.

Whoever reads it and practices what is outlined in the book will forever be indebted to it.

Once again, if your interested in a Free copy of this book, check out the upper right hand column of this blog and subscribe to my mailing list. Then check your email as you will then be given a link to the download page where you can get your free copy.

Enjoy,
Will

Celltube.mobi screenshot

Ok I need to be completely honest here. It’s been a while since I updated my last step by step business post and that’s not because it hasn’t been done. The fact is that the programming was done on time and on budget which is fantastic however I have been so busy working on my Ebook that I haven’t had a chance to update you guys.

However behind the scenes I have still made an effort to get something up and running. I decided on a name as well! Even though I am located in Australia I decided to use a name that would appeal to the US market predominantly as well as something relevant for the large, and mobile savvy European and Asian markets. The name needed to be catchy and very easy to remember yet be quickly recognized as a mobile site.

The name I decided on was Celltube.mobi. Looking at the name immediately you know the type of service you could expect so there is no fiddling about by the user, trying to figure out what this site does. I also wanted something easy to remember which I believe I have achieved in selecting this domain.

With all the other fiddlies done (domain, hosting) along with a simple logo I conjured up myself the site went live almost immediately. I was able to drive traffic using only a few dollars in Google mobile advertising as well as my mobile gaming network, Thumb Doctor Games.

The site has been live for about 4 days and already receives recurring traffic and about 110-140 unique users a day. Unfortunately due to my other committments I have been unable to implement many of the earlier features mentioned. At the moment I am monetizing the site through Admob mobile ads as well as Google Adsense mobile which although is not ideal but will work well while I work on building traffic.

My aim will be to develop a loyal following over the next few months. After a steady community has developed, I will look at charging a small monthly service fee to download the videos. Currently this simply wouldnt work as the pain for a user to switch is simply not high enough. Only until they have developed a bond with the site and it’s service will it be effective to charge for the value offering.

But I think for $72 plus hosting and a domain this has turned out quite well. It’s unfortunate that the timing on my end hasn’t been ideal due to the development of my ebook and associated products. On the same note the service is completely automated and does not require me to edit or add any content so its simply a matter of optimising the site for traffic and working on the revenue model. Plus it’s already making me a bit of cash on the side, nothing to brag about yet, but its just a nice little passive income stream that cost me a tiny $72 to set up.

To check out the previous steps click here

Apple does this very well. Salesforce does this even better.. The Lock In – Good or Bad?

What is “The Lock In”? Not sure if it has been used before but I’d like to claim that I coined the term. I’m sure someone will jump at me but until then, I coined it.. there. The Lock-in is what I call it when you buy a product or service and you are then locked-in to that agreement even though their is no obligation to do so.

I’ll throw out a few examples. Have you ever used Salesforce as a CRM system? Have you ever decided to export your database to an excel file or similar? There is no function to do so and therefore you are “locked-in”. Your contract has finished and you want to try another CRM system but you can’t export your data easily so your stuck. The lock-in. You probably end up choosing to continue with their overpriced service simply because the cost and effort or switching is really not worth it. The lock-in. There is a way in fact to extract information from Salesforce but its through a function so far fetched from anything mentioning “export data”. And oh yes, there is a mighty big “import” function their for you, don’t worry. But export? Ha! Dream on! It’s hide and seek Salesforce style.

Apple does this well too. If you buy an Apple computer, iPod, iPhone or whatever and you need accessories then you better buy Apple products. The lock-in. Software? Gotta be Apple. They are no doubt getting a little bit better but its there and it’s obvious but tolerable. It’s tolerable because Apple has loyal and dedicated users who take pride in using Apple products.

I recently was confronted with the lock-in when it came to my car. I drive an Alfa Romeo 147 GTA. Looks great, goes great but built by a bunch of lock-in specialists. I needed a light fixed on the car and I thought it should be no big deal. Well this car has ‘lock-in’ written all over it. In order to change the headlight you need to remove to whole front bumper of the car, charged at $160 per hour by Alfa specialists. Then they need a special Xenon light bulb which can only be provided by Alfa (think of the charger of your phone, only one particular adapter will work) and this costs $475 for the bulb alone. That’s not a typo, thats Four Hundred and Seventy Five dollars for a light bulb! Oh and by the way the ballast/transformer powering the light is damaged and I’ll need genuine Alfa ballast for this too. That will cost $1490. Once again, not a typo. So 4 hours of labor removing the bumper and installing the parts, plus the Ballast and Bulb will set you back a total of $2605. $2650 to change 1 single light on my car! Thats one mighty lock-in.

I understand why it’s done and any good entrepreneur or businessmen will look at working with some level of ‘lock-in’. In cases such as Apple, they can get away with it as their products have a ‘cool’ factor plus they have a great brand associated with it. Salesforces is purely frustrating until you figure out how to do it. Alfa is ridiculous as you are only buying parts that provide a functional aspect to the car. I understand if I needed a new set of wheels, thats different but the lock-in though all the mechanical aspects is just plain ludicrous.

My final  thoughts on the lock-in? I’d buy Apple for sure. I’d use Salesforce again and although it can be inconvenient their lock isnt so hefty. I will never buy an Alfa Romeo again. Ever.

Take note: when you use your ‘lock-in’ use with immense care because a lock-in can be used positively in a manner to promote your business and improve relations with your customer. In the same light it can also cost you a customer for life.

It’s happened to everyone at some point. You hear about a great new movie coming out, lets call it for arguments sake, Sex and The City. Actually no, we can’t use that, that was beyond terrible. Let me think of another example. Ok so you hear about this new movie called Australia and plenty of hype was behind its release into cinemas. It comes out and surprise surprise, the critics blast it. Rubbish, terrible, boring, awful. In reality, it was probably just an average movie. If you picked it up off the shelf at the DVD store you’d watch it and say, yeh not bad. Not great but not bad, you know.. average.

So why did the movie critics absolutely blast it? Think about it, the movie wasn’t terrible. Wasn’t even bad, it was simply average. You would be right in saying that the hype behind it caused a massive anti-climax when the movie finally came out and because it didn’t live up to the hype and the expectation, people deemed it as a flop. However that’s another story completely.

There is another element here that is taking effect. That is that people no longer tolerate “average”. We live in a world of web 2.0 where everything is intertwined and whatever information we need is literally on our finger tips. We expect everything for free or maybe in return for our (other) email address. Even the Telcos are treating us like people! Can you believe it.. people!!!! That’s just insane!

Only 10-15 yrs ago people expected average. Average customer service. Average airlines. Average electronics. Average cars. Bank West. Virgin. Apple. Tesla. Just think about this paragraph a little bit before going onto the next one.

The key point is that people no longer tolerate average stuff. TV advertising is dying because its pretty average. Mobile media is growing because it’s not average, although in a few years it may be.  Today, if you release a product that is average then it’s not actually average, its boring and awful.

The aim here is to be extraordinary in whatever you deliver and also how you deliver it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the product itself but can be through your execution, your marketing and your communication. I know it can be a bit scary going out on a limb and not following the standard procedure but if you don’t someone else will. That person may not succeed but if they do, not only will the rewards be highly prized but you’ll probably find yourself doing what they do but with less reward.

I know its been a while since my last step of my Step by Step Business series, but it’s been an extremely busy “while”. I’m in the process of writing an ebook which I’m very excited about however has taken up so much of my time. However I have taken a break to update you on my new business.

The last step I did was Step 4, which to me is probably the most important step and this is to take action. I got some great feedback from a great bunch of programmers and the costs to get this done ranged dramatically. I had offers anywhere from $50 through to $2000. I’m not kidding. The strange thing was that the established and highly rated guys were in the lower price range compared to the newbies asking for the higher end programming fees. This tells me that just because the guy asks for $2000 doesn’t mean that it will be a better job that the guy who’s asking $150.

So what did I do? Well luckily for me one of the programmers was able to direct me to an already existing script. What this script did was search the net for videos, live stream them to phones and give the user the option to download these directly to their mobiles. Perfect. So essentially what has now happened, is that I have gone from requiring something custom made to simply needing a decent programmer to bolt on an already existing script and tailor it to what I want.

Naturally, I picked this helpful programmer to do the programming for me. Cost? Wait for it… $72. That is not a joke and this includes the script. Yes that’s $72 for the programmer and the script! So with all things being equal the entire programming to get the basics up and running will cost me a whopping $72. That’s the equivalent of a nice dinner, 1 shoe (not the pair), ink cartridges or a low key night out.

Whoever said you need money to create a product needs to read this post and my Starting up a Business Series. Anyone who uses the excuse “I don’t have the money”, yet just bought a new shirt, needs to read this. Don’t worry, I can safely admit I have been there and made the mistake of spending so much on a prototype. Learn from my previous mistakes as well as my current example to not fall into the trap. Do your research, take action and act in a frugal manner to ensure you get the best deal without paying for nonsense.

The next step will involve the final touches before it goes live and this will be done on the completion of the programming. I’ll need to give it some functionality tests as well as the real world experience required. I have been told that it should only take about a day but this is always a variable when it comes to programmers! Until then I’ll be thinking of a name and getting a simple logo created.

I am in the process of writing my first ebook. The ebook came out of my frustration with the whole Need Money To Make Money thing. It is yet to have a name so lets call it.. Book 1. How original.

As some of you may know, in one of my earlier business ventures I spent over 50k developing a product which never took off. 2 years of hard work and frustration led to nothing and I was left demoralised. However a little later I spent $45 and $70 respectively on 2 other projects which have since proved extremely profitable. So why was this?

The problem was I was basing my work on theories developed by people who wanted you to spend a whole heap of money. The theory was that you needed money to create a product in order to make you money. Society makes you believe that this is true and this is the way you have to do things.

Worst of all, individuals now use this as an excuse not to try and get out and do something on their own. Eventually it became the excuse for everyone any anyone who wasn’t where they wanted to be financially. Now this theory has become a viral institution and infected the minds of millions world wide.

Well my aim is to get the message out there and prove that this is not true. Financial freedom does not require you to invest thousands and thousands of dollars before you get going. And I will prove it to you. It does not require you to work 18 hour days for the next 20 yrs. And I will prove it to you. It does not require you to do anything unethical and I’ll prove it to you.

So this is my little super soft pre-launch. The book isn’t released but if you want to get a FREE copy of my new ebook when it is released then please put your details below and I’ll keep you updated and make sure you know about it first.

Oh an I’ll also throw in a little present when you sign-up . To find out what it is fill the form and check your email!!