I'm no product-launch expert. In fact, as illustrated in the above headline, until just last week I was a complete newb with no experience. I was just a small-town kid with a micro-niche idea and lofty dreams of a massive product launch. And while I can't retire or quit consulting with a $600 stake, I feel like I've got a process that can be applied to almost any niche I choose to enter moving forward. So without drawing out this intro any further, here's how I transformed from complete newb to product-launch journeyman in the last 6 months. The Long Road to $600+ a Day Six months ago, I had no online assets to leverage. No connections in the blogosphere. No email list. No launch experience. Oh yeah... No product to sell either. Here's an abridged version of the steps I took to get them: 1. The first action I took was to create a website with prominent email opt-in and free bonus that would interest me. I decided leverage some existing documentation I use when consulting for real SEO clients and re purpose it as a Fast Start Kit for other SEO business entrepreneurs and consultants. 1. After setting up the basic website, I had a Wordpress blog installed so I could start capturing additional search engine traffic, email opt-ins, and hopefully build some links too. I also needed an easy way to create regular content for email list members to stay informed, engaged and entertained. I've been writing one new blog post per week because I've got a lot of other stuff going on. But don't we all. 1. Next, I started getting pretty active in a couple of forums and added my website's link to the signature. Two forums that work pretty well for email opt-ins are Digital Point and the WarriorForum. The WarriorForum traffic is actually converting to email opt-ins at about 25% for me right now so I should be spending even more time there. 1. I put together my product. I do search-engine optimization for a living so I've already got everything someone needs to start a business. It was simply a matter of explaining how to use all the documentation and making the docs look presentable. Naturally, I outsourced the e-book design and layout to someone in the Philippines. 1. After 6 months, I had only 194 subscribers. But I decided it was time to test my launch and find out if there was a market for my SEO business product. To get ideas for my launch, I read How To Launch the **** Out of Your E-book, a bunch of free Jeff Walker product launch videos on YouTube, and Entrepreneurs-Journey.com with Yaro Starak. 1. I wrote some pre-launch content, built a landing page, and connected PayPal with my E-junkie account to accept payments. Next, I scheduled my content to go out to my email list and crossed my fingers that someone out there was interested in buying what I had to sell. I made the Enterprise SEO Business Kit available for less than two days at $87 a copy. I didn't feel like being one of those guys that sends out 8 emails in a day either. I only sent out two emails while the product was for sale. The product went off the market when I said it would and I didn't sell it to anyone who expressed interest in the package after the deadline. I probably could have ground out a few extra bones if I really pushed it, but I didn't want to do the hard sell since I'm looking at this website as a longterm investment. So here I am, six months later and $600 bucks richer as a result of my hard work. I've already begun to think about what to do for my next launch. Until then, I've got a custom SEO tool that's in early-stage development, another website unrelated to SEO in the works, and I'm experimenting with new ways to drive traffic to my website. I'm confident that in the next 6-months my website traffic, email sign ups, and product launches will continue to grow month after month. I might not get to product launch guru level (this year), but I can honestly say I won't be a newb either.
@JoesMillion -- I think an ebook or information product is a smart choice for the first product launch. Nothing to actually ship, no software to program, no subscription based community to create. Do you sell ebooks?
Thanks @naciketas. It has opened my eyes to the potential of building a targeted email list and then selling to them later. I can't wait to do my next launch in a couple more months.