Lessons, Tips and Tricks for Selling Online Content

I’m surprised actually that the socialists haven’t been more vocal in the comments yet, but someone did say I was an “arrogant ass” so I judge that as a success!

Andrew also put my interview behind the membership wall, which makes total sense since I egged him on to do so and because we were talking about membership sites.

But here are a few clips of the interview if you haven’t seen them yet. Was I over the top? Perhaps. But in the moment, I wanted to get the point across strongly that content creators deserve to be paid for their work and that it’s their choice – not the Internet’s choice – of whether to take that route or not.

Tim email marketing, membership site software, starting a membership site Andrew Warner, membership interview, Mixergy

A dude standing next to a Ferrari that may or may not be his. The guy on a lounge chair with a laptop on his lap and the beach in the background.

There’s a “line” somewhere that everyone has in their mind. It’s a line in your head that, when crossed, feels like you’ve done something unethical or dishonest. The line is different for everyone. For some people, the line stops just short of outright fraud. (“As long as I give them something for their money, no matter how pathetic, I feel OK.”)

For some bloggers, the line is crossed the moment something is sold. That’s fine for them – to each his own. But we’re not willing to have our “line” be the poverty line either.

People begin discussing “the line” right about the time they decide to put a lightbox on their site to capture email addresses to grow their list. 5 years ago that might have been where our line started. Except we weren’t making money with our content sites.

I admit that our “line” has moved a little over the years. We don’t know where where it will be 5 years from now, but one thing is for sure – “the line” will never be moved beyond the point where we feel uncomfortable giving out our website address to friends or family.

I also know that trapping people on our sites so that they can’t figure out how to leave is crossing our line. Some internet marketers have become so desperate that confusing their visitors when they try to leave is their only option. Do people really say to themselves, “Damn, I can’t figure out how to leave this website! I guess I’ll buy something…” That seems a stretch.

Then again, I can never figure out who’s buying the percocet and viagra from the spammers – but someone must be since they keep spamming away.

I visited a site this morning selling some Google AdWords “secret” that I literally couldn’t leave. I’m a pretty web-savvy guy so when even I get fooled into clicking a “Cancel” button, I’m surprised. I had to close the entire browser to get away.

These types of pop-up box tactics or sites that refresh to a different page with a different product for sale are well beyond my “line”:

Where’s your line? Let us know in the comments…

Tim legal issues, online entrepreneurs, starting a membership site integrity in internet marketing, internet marketing ethics

Thanks to everyone who watched and participated in the Mixergy interview today. It was a lot of fun. I had no idea we went that long until I looked down at my laptop clock!

I hope I motivated a lot of people to get charging. If you missed it I will let you know when the recording has been posted.

To those folks who are new to our little “content selling paradise” here at MemberCon, I thought I would point to you to a few posts that will give you a feel for the site and what we’re all about.

I mentioned a few of these in the interview as well:

1. 10 Things I Learned About Growing a Membership Site This Summer

2. High Fives For Unsubscribes!

3. How To Start a Membership Site: Part 1 and Part 2

Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS Feed and follow us on Twitter.

Tim starting a membership site

I’ve posted before about Andrew Warner and Mixergy previously. Andrew does terrific video interviews with entrepreneurs and start ups.

He’s decided to start charging for his archives and the whiners have come out in force to say how they would never pay for content since there is so much out there for free online.

It makes me gag to read some of the comments. As usual, the freebie-hounds are the most vocal and while I would love to reply to every single ridiculous comment, I don’t have the time and honestly it would be like talking to a wall.

I couldn’t help myself on one. To “can we pay you with links instead? That would get you a lot more traffic!” comment I replied, “Great idea! I’m calling my mortgage company right now to see if I can link to them from my blog instead of sending a check next month.”

Here’s the link. It’s exactly what to expect if you’ve been creating great content for free and then decide to charge. And it’s exactly what you’ll need to ignore. If you believe that paid content can be a viable business (if you’re reading this blog I hope you do), please go over and leave a few comments and replies.

Oh and by the way, he’s only charging for older interviews – all the new ones will still be free for a short time. The whiners are still whining…

Andrew will be interviewing me this week about taking a site from free to paid and I can’t wait. I’ll let you know if you’ll be able to watch it live or if the link to the recording when it is ready.

Tim starting a membership site

I say #2 because I think over-delivering on the value of the content is the #1 way to avoid refunds.

But if the #1 reason people request a refund for a membership site or subscription content is sub-standard content, a very close second is that they feel un-appreciated. It is very easy to feel like a number online. Even our email confirmations which include order # or member # make us feel like we’re just a number.

By the way, are you using the stock “thank you” email your membership site software sends to new members? If so, stop. Write the thank you email in your own voice and give your members your direct email address and phone number to call if they have any questions. That’s right – I said your direct phone number and email address.

I recently gave out my cell phone number in an email broadcast to our entire membership list. A few people asked if I was immediately overwhelmed with calls in the middle of the night. Of course not! Very few people actually called. But thousands felt pretty good about the fact that they could if they needed to.

Back to the #2 way to avoid requests for refunds. It’s simple and inexpensive: a handwritten thank you card. The great thing about so many people treating their members and online customers like numbers is that it is really easy to blow someone away with a little personalization. And I’m not talking about using their first name in the subject line or top line of an email. That worked for about 30 seconds until everyone figured out how to do that.

Everyone who becomes a Lifetime Member of our sites gets a handwritten thank you and my business card with my mobile phone number.

Now, I think our content is outstanding, so it’s hard to say the handwritten notes helped reduce refund requests. But I’ve had several people email me or call me the day they received it and tell me how much they appreciated it.

I can’t do it for every member, although I’d like to. The monthly members get an email from me thanking them. But we decided a while back that when someone spends at least $500 with us, they receive a personal note from us thanking them for joining the site.

It takes just a few minutes every day to do it but I think they are literally worth their weight in gold – and then some.

So get yourself down to the stationary store today and buy some thank you cards. It will be the best investment (and insurance) you buy this month, if not this year.

Tim starting a membership site