$2000/mo Membership Site Using Offline Marketing

Twist to this idea of placing business cards in different businesses...

Getting them placed is the tough part.

Basically, you can try this AND build a list.

1. Have this printed on the back of each:

Add your chance to win $100 gift card/credit to this store by going to http://www.YOURSITE.com. Enter code #_________.

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2. Give each business willing to participate a different # and give them their unique cards.

3. Have a form on your site using an autoresponder with a custom field added. Collect their name, email, AND add the custom number field to the form.

4. Not a necessary step, but on the confirm page (if you know how to code), grab the custom number they enter, query the DB (have each biz name entered with their unique ID #) for that number, and display "You've confirmed your chance at the $100 gift card to THE BUSINESS NAME..."

5. Add a CPA to the confirmation page. Give them more info on your business. Tell them how you can help them. Up to you.

6. Then, blast an email to ALL signups and announce the winner. Give them updates to your services, say they can enter again by going to your site and recommend this to 3 friends.

7. Repeat.

Basically, it gives a strong reason for the business to allow your cards because if their customer wins, they get $100 spent in their business.

Of course, you can also go BS on this and simply add a store not participating that you haven't approached or in another city and pretend somebody from there won (but I don't recommend this).

The store that wins will certainly ALWAYS place your cards and probably even push them for you. Or you could do 4 winners each $25 or something.

Nice twist...

However, as I've mentioned...

Don't over complicate this or over think it.

Why are you assuming that businesses won't let you leave your cards?

Unless you go in with an attitude or you lack self-esteem and self-confidence most are more than willing to allow you to leave your cards. All you have to do is ask them.

Yes, a few of them will be jerks and say no. SO WHAT?

If 98 say yes and 2 say no, what do you care?

Not everyone who visits your website will subscribe even for the free part. It's all part of the game.

When I get a moment I'll post a quick script for you to use. It's non threatening and easy for you to use.

In the meantime....

Don't over complicate this or over think it!

BTW: Feel free to RATE this thread so others can see it.

I can tell you that i use a similiar method with my male enhancement pills. and now there are over 5,000 stores that have my product all from agents going store to store with business card flyers and much more, unfortunately can't share all my tricks just yet. this method definately works

hangingcool said:

i really love your idea the only thing i would be worried about is what if they are unhappy because they didn't make any money some people you can give them the best information in the world but if they don't do nothing then they want make no money and when they don't make no money they come to your house harassing you for a refund i guess that would be my only fear thanks for the information though

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The thing to keep in mind is that most people will NEVER do anything. They think they want to. They'll read, study, analyze and think about it. But they never get to the point of actually taking action. We have a lot of that here on this forum.

This doesn't mean they won't buy and won't be good buyers for you. They'll buy and buy and buy but never take action. That's not your problem. And, no they won't ask for a refund. After all you've been giving them top quality ebooks, software and scripts worth much more than the $10 they paid you.

I've talked to real estate gurus like Ron LaGrand and Robert Allen about this phenomena. And, even Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy will tell you the same. They all have people who will spend $5000 or more for their courses or pay $10,000 or more to attend a seminar HOWEVER very few of these people will actually ever do anything with what they have.

For the large majority the $5000 course will simply sit on the shelf collecting dust and will eventually be sold at a garage sale or on ebay, unopened.

So don't worry about it if no one does anything with the material. It's like this posting. It's here for all to see. More than 500 people have viewed this posting at this writing but perhaps only one person will ever do anything with it. That's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is only to provide them with the tools. It's their responsibility to do something with the tools you give them.

More than 500 people have viewed this posting at this writing but perhaps only one person will ever do anything with it.

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Muwahahahahaha. That would be ME! I actually began working on it earlier today.

Everything else I have going on is pretty much automated so I have time on my hands. Putting the cards out will be a good gig for my son and one or two of his friends.

Thanks again sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar!

blackhatready said:

I usually don't tell them I'm leaving my business card(s).

I just put it at an angle to where only the customer can see it. Saves time also.

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You really don't have to sneak around and leave your cards. Simply ask to speak to the manager and ask for permission.

Most will give you permission. They don't care and really don't understand the value of the space you're asking for. If you sneak the business cards by just leaving the cards then what will happen when they find the cards they'll simply pitch them.

In fact, most are just happy that you're not there to try to sell them advertising!

Expect to have to replace the business card holders on each visit. Re-visit at least once every two weeks.

Great post. Can I ask do they start off as a free member and later they pay the 10.00? Is the emphasis you put on the business card about how to start an internet business?

harrymarkets said:

Great post. Can I ask do they start off as a free member and later they pay the 10.00? Is the emphasis you put on the business card about how to start an internet business?

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Yes, I start them out with a free trial membership. Lasts 14 day. Provide them with high quality information.

grafxextreme said:

You really don't have to sneak around and leave your cards. Simply ask to speak to the manager and ask for permission.

Most will give you permission. They don't care and really don't understand the value of the space you're asking for. If you sneak the business cards by just leaving the cards then what will happen when they find the cards they'll simply pitch them.

In fact, most are just happy that you're not there to try to sell them advertising!

Expect to have to replace the business card holders on each visit. Re-visit at least once every two weeks.

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I am doing a similar approach...ther $10 membership plan was introduced to me by Bill Myers (http://www.bmyers.com/) . His site is full of how to fill yoiur site with what they want... his membership is also $9,95/mo. Check out his Subscription Web Sites DVD for good insight

I have found if I offer the manager of owner a complimentary membership it goes a long way toward persuading them... if they DONT keep the cards on the counter then I ask if it was misplaced...but if indeed it was discarded or put away I just ask for it back and cancel their membership.

Grafx, great info. Thanks for sharing.

Do you find find that you get a lot of word of mouth advertising from the people that are already members?

And also, the ebooks, scrips, programs and whatever else you give them, do you need to have permission to distribute them or it don't matter? Could that cause trouble if you don't?

Thanks again.

For those on a cash light budget -- instead of the acrylic card holders you can go with a product called Card Cues http://www.cardcues.com/ . You can customize them yourselves (as we did-- that way we could again test the offer). They are priced at 10 holders for 12 bucks total.

This is a great idea and I suck at coming up with niches or new ideas, i kept thinking of how I could market to the economy as it is now, and this is a perfect way I see this becoming AC METHOD lol and getting saturated. maybe not so much, as there is more work involved, but more ROI so this could happen. And dont say it cant be saturated thats what they said about AC . great think tank churner anyways though

I love this thread/idea... let's keep it going with ideas and such

Well it's prob. a bit tough for it to be saturated considering it's an offline method. Unless your in a major city. Even then, very VERY few people are good enough at offline marketing to saturate a major city. It's prob. a lot easier to market offline if your confident and creative because your not limited by some big super powerful outlets you have to figure out how to exploit like youtube, myspace, digg etc. to try to get attention. You can pay miniscule amounts and get advertised in local papers reaching thousands. There's also a possibility you could do some sort of PR stunt and make yourself the IM guru of your town, get interviewed in local media including TV and radio etc.

Just imagine the possibilities if you had like a late night informercial on your city TV station. At that price point of 10 a month you could prolly pull in thousands of users. what's 2000 users x 10? $20,000 a month.... Let's expand this idea guys this is prob. the most profitable idea currently on black hat world.

What would be the absolute best way to fill a membership site with content that's going to keep people subscribed? Should you just send them new content on email or should you reserve that for informating them about what's new on the website/selling affiliate products to them etc.

I think the real key here would be to actually get people succeeding with your program. Then you have something extremely viral.

ok um...newbie question

can you suggest a script to uuse for this?
obviously when we sign them up we want to sign them up on an ongoing membership system, so it would need that functionality.

along with this it would also need blogging functionality inside.

any script ideas?

Quick question,

When the person signs up what does he get access to? Does he just get emailed stuff every once in awhile or does he actually get to login and access videos, tutorials, scripts and so on? How much content do you have to have?

I have a merchant account sitting on my ass, and I was originally going to use it for a porn site but you've just sparked my interest.

FilthyCro said:

ok um...newbie question

can you suggest a script to uuse for this?
obviously when we sign them up we want to sign them up on an ongoing membership system, so it would need that functionality.

along with this it would also need blogging functionality inside.

any script ideas?

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I use Joomla for all of my membership sites. Joomla offers everything that you need to get started. There are some great paypal components that allow you to set up recurring memberships as well as adding community functionality.

This is just one way to set up your membership sites. There are a bunch of great programs available here in the forum if you do a search. Do a search for Ryan Deiss and you can get some great info on starting your own membership empire....

vexusdev said:

Quick question,

When the person signs up what does he get access to? Does he just get emailed stuff every once in awhile or does he actually get to login and access videos, tutorials, scripts and so on? How much content do you have to have?

I have a merchant account sitting on my ass, and I was originally going to use it for a porn site but you've just sparked my interest.

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Do a search for Ryan Deiss. Look for Continuity Blueprint. This is great info on getting started.

Your membership site can be whatever you would like. Do a search in Google. [keyword] membership site. This will bring up results for membership sites in your niche. See what others have to offer and what they are charging in that niche. This is a great way to see if there is a market for membership sites in your niche.

naezramed said:

Do a search for Ryan Deiss. Look for Continuity Blueprint. This is great info on getting started.

Your membership site can be whatever you would like. Do a search in Google. [keyword] membership site. This will bring up results for membership sites in your niche. See what others have to offer and what they are charging in that niche. This is a great way to see if there is a market for membership sites in your niche.

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I'm going to do what the OP is doing. I think its a brilliant idea and its easily done too. Hardest part is handing out the flyers and getting it known.

Was just curious as to how I should display my content to members.

Okay.

We all have access to decent content.
We can all create a 'members area'.
And we can all accept payments, offer free trials and set up recurring billing.

What about the card and sales page?

I'm getting some cards printed up this week and was just wondering about the copy.

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Make Money Online in 2009

website url

A membership site that will help you earn extra income online in 2009. Limited spaces available.

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Trying to keep it simple really. What is everyone else planning?