Make More Money From Your Ideas

"What do you think about the risks of offering a payment scheme? It would generate more sales but be open to abuse from non payers (after I take the first payment)."

As a general rule, my attitude towards this sort of abuse is that you're better off helping the honest folks than worrying about the cheats.

After all, if you take ANY credit card order on-line, and the customer later disputes the transaction, the money will come out of your pocket. So even one-off payments are open to abuse.

So yes, I think a payment scheme is a good idea. Everybody I know who has offered a payment scheme and talked about it has reported positive results.

That said, I guess some payment schemes are better than others. If, for example, the customer authorises you to deduct instalments regularly from their credit card, that's ideal because it doesn't require their involvement. On the other hand, if you had to invoice them every month, there's more risk of it going wrong (even just due to laziness or incompetence, not dishonesty, on the customer's part).

Labels: e-commerce

"I want to sell my distance learning course for £397 but it is an international audience. If I put the price in dollars it looks a lot higher as the number will be nearer $716 which looks a lot higher than 397 on paper. Should I keep it as £ but have currency converter next to it showing various other currencies?"

Personally, I think you'd be better off considering the value for money you're offering, rather than the currency.

Is US$716 good value for the material? And does it stack up well against the prices charged by other places offering the same education? If so, then it makes sense to quote in US dollars (assuming that's your main market). In fact, it's BETTER because you're quoting a price in a familiar currency to them.

I think this is more important than the 397 vs 716 issue. People who buy your course probably buy other things on-line, so they know about currency conversions, so they are not going to be "tricked" into buying something just because it says 397 rather than 716.

Labels: pricing

"I've heard of people using blogs to post articles (e.g. from a google news search) and comment on them. How do you automate that?"

I discuss this at length in my e-book about blogs. Here's a quick summary: Install the Google Toolbar from toolbar.google.com, so that you get a "Blog This" button. Then sign up to Google News Alerts at news.google.com to get news stories e-mailed to you. Then when you find a story that you'd like to comment on, click the Blog This button and it adds it to your blog.

Labels: blogs

"I'm using Blogger.com, but it gives me a blog address at blogspot.com. Can I have my blog hosted on my own Web site?"

Yes, when you use blogger.com, you have the option to host your blog on your own Web site. It's slightly technical, but reasonably easy to follow with a bit of help from your Web designer or ISP.

Even if you don't host your blog on your own Web site, Blogger.com allows you to point a domain name to your blog, so it doesn't have the blogspot.com address.

Labels: blogs

"Where can I find simple blogging freeware or shareware that I can easily install on my site? Can I get one that is upgradeable when I've tried blogging, like it, and want to "go more public" in a more professional looking format, with added functionality?"

In my opinion, the best place to get started is at Blogger.com. It's free, easy to use and has a reasonable number of features. It's not as sophisticated as some of the paid services. But it's worth starting with Blogger, to get a feel of how your blog will operate.

If you have sufficient technical knowledge - or have access to it - consider using WordPress, (from WordPress.org), another free blogging tool. WordPress is far more sophisticated than Blogger, but it does take more work to set up your blog. Once it's up and running, it's a breeze to use.

Labels: blogs

"I still haven’t found the right Sales Letter approach. Can you lead me in the right direction? They all seem too long, too short, too fussy, too salesy - a little like Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs! I need to find one that’s just right!"

I think you mean Goldilocks, but yes - I get the point!

It depends on your target market - and more precisely, your RELATIONSHIP with your target market. A sales letter intended for complete strangers is totally different from a sales letter intended for your clients.

I discuss this in detail in my product Make More Sales. The #1 rule for sales letters is: Don't be boring! As long as your readers are interested in what you've got to offer, they will happily read long sales letters. On the other hand, if they are not interested, it doesn't matter how long - or short - it is.

Labels: copywriting, sales letter

"What is an effective call to action?"

This is quite a broad question. I recommend that every call to action has three key components:

1. Clear re-statements of the benefits of taking action.
2. A reason for them to take action NOW.
3. Clear action steps to take.

These are all important components to make more sales.

Labels: copywriting, sales letter