This guest post is by David Edwards of www.asittingduck.com.
I’m not sure why, but when you start blogging, you forget all about how businesses run.
It’s true that there are bloggers out there who wake up to full PayPal accounts and affiliate cheques flying through their doors. But if you’re in the early days of blogging, this may not be the case for you. What could you use that’s sitting on your desk every day, and could help you make serious cash?
A telephone!
What I have done, which has set me up for a very profitable year, is built a sales funnel to increase the amount of revenue in my business.
I have guest posts and viral videos published, which get me some traffic. Then, I have an email subscription list that lets me build those relationships further—to the point where a phone call from me to a subscriber would not be intrusive at all. In fact potential clients, even if they didn’t buy from me, love to receive a call. Some have said it was great to talk to someone that has a good perspective on how to make money online.
This technique may not be for everyone—I know cold calling can be daunting. It really doesn’t feel like cold calling to you or your subscriber, though! Imagine Darren Rowse phoning to ask if he could help you at all with your blog. What would you say? “Not interested, Darren!”? Probably not!
Do it right, and you’ll enjoy a positive reaction for your call. You may think that because you only have a few subscribers, you’re not worth as much to your fans as a big player. But you have the advantage, because a big player doesn’t have time to call his subscribers.
Here are my tips for making successful sales calls:
- Work on giving a free gift to subscribers that will whet their appetites for future products. I use a very short PDF on traffic generation.
- Send out an email once a week or once a month to build your relationship with your subscribers.
- Offer further free training videos or helpful blog posts and give them a chance to email you directly.
- Once you have a few emails in, offer to call them.
- Once you have made the calls and spoken to your subscribers, let them know about your more highly priced services.
- Repeat the process.
The humble telephone is making a comeback, and I would love to hear that some of you still use it to build businesses from your blogs.
David Edwards is a freelance marketing consultant and the founder of www.asittingduck.com.
His character “Candy The Magic Dinosaur” will be starring in his very own iPhone Game this Christmas!
