I get this question a lot: “How do you support yourself?”
My answer of “marketing” I guess is a little vague. :)
Today will be the first in a series of how to make money articles. My goal with this blog isn’t to be a “make money online” blogger, but it’s an integral part of Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom, don’t you think?
That said, I have no intention of doing these types of articles too often, unless it’s what you want. This Web site is about you, after all.
The following info, which I actually sold about a year ago to my very small private e-mail list, I’m going to share with you freely. (I haven’t accepted new subscribers into my private list since 2008.)
I sold about 100 copies (like I said, it’s a very small e-mail list), so understand this information has real value and other people besides me have used it to make money.
What I’m trying to say is, don’t just read it, act on it.
In December of 2008 a friend of mine was telling me how expensive tickets were to an upcoming NHL hockey game called the Winter Classic. I don’t watch hockey and know nothing about it. Yet I still profited from this info.
Let me repeat that.
I knew almost nothing about the market yet I still made money.
Do you see what just happened?
Somebody complained about something costing too much money and Karol profited. wooohooo
The most important lesson in this whole article:
If somebody is complaining about the high cost of something you can make a lot of money online with that information.
Can you guess how I did it in this situation?
Scalping?
No.
But close.
I promoted NHL Winter Classic tickets through the StubHub.com affiliate program using Google Adwords. I sold thousands of dollars worth of tickets in just a few weeks.
StubHub is basically an outlet for scalpers and they pay 4-9% commission through their affiliate program.
For NHL tickets they pay 7%. That means if the people I send to StubHub buy $1,000 worth of hockey tickets I get $70. Pretty sweet deal, huh?
It’s essentially a form of arbitrage. Like trading oil or other commodities, but on a much smaller scale.
I don’t have to fulfill any products and I don’t have to deal with any customers. I just send potential customers to the StubHub Web site through my affiliate link and if they buy I get paid.
That’s all well and good, but you’re probably wondering how I sent those customers to StubHub.
That’s where Google Adwords comes in.
Adwords (and its “sibling” Adsense) is how Google makes their billions.
How it works is you bid on a keyword, for example “Winter Classic hockey tickets,” and if a Google user clicks on your ad you pay for the click.
My cost per click (CPC) for the Winter Classic Tickets campaign was $0.48.
That means for every visitor I sent to StubHub I had to pay 48 cents USD.
There’s a lot of info on Adwords out there, and there isn’t enough room in one article to get into the specifics. If you want to learn more, check out the free Google Adwords Learning Center. Please don’t ask questions about Adwords until you have gone through the whole training. It’s there for a reason. :)
Keywords I bid on:
“nhl winter classic”
“nhl winter classic 09”
“nhl winter classic 2008”
“nhl winter classic 2009”
“nhl winter classic at”
“nhl winter classic chicago”
“nhl winter classic in”
“nhl winter classic ticket”
“nhl winter classic ticket prices”
“nhl winter classic wrigley”
“the 2009 nhl winter classic”
“the nhl winter classic”
Where did I find these keywords? Google’s own Keyword Tool. It’s free.
Google allows you to write a multiple number of ad variations. I only wrote 3 ads for this campaign because I was in a rush to get it up. Here is the ad that made the most money:
Winter Classic Tickets?
BlackHawks vs RedWings
Get Them Here
WinterClassic.StubHub.com
I did something known as direct linking here which I don’t do anymore. Direct linking means I linked directly from my Google Adwords ad to StubHub.
Your best bet is to use a Landing Page (i.e. Web site, which can be a blog) that you control. Again, I don’t have enough room in this article to cover landing pages, but you can find a lot of info about them online.
How you should run this type of offer today:
1) Bid on keywords.
2) Send visitors to a landing page.
3) Offer a free report about getting great deals on tickets if the visitor subscribes to your e-mail list. I use Aweber, the best in the biz as far as ease of use, tutorials, and most importantly e-mail deliverability (yes, it’s an affiliate link).
4) Send the visitor to StubHub to get their tickets immediately after they subscribe. (Also include an affiliate link to StubHub on your landing page for the visitors who will not want to subscribe to your e-mail list, but just want their tickets.)
5) Send them their free report.
6) Regularly send them e-mails with related offers.
There are a lot of steps involved, but when you break it down it’s easy.
Now take a few minutes and think about where else you can use this information.
Superbowl tickets? Check. March Madness tickets? Check. NBA Finals tickets? Check.
Focus in on any high cost tickets that are either sold out or difficult to obtain.
OK, now fire away with questions below. ;) (If it’s an Adwords question, please go through their free Learning Center first.)
I will answer all questions in a separate article or via video/audio.