Ok now that we have came up to this point we are ready to mail, now of course you can buy a list of 5,000 names and use 2000 if those names to split test as stated earlier which is what I recommend. Now lets do a little math because lets be real this is what we are doing this all for anyway right?
If our product is lets say $97.00 and we mail 3000 pieces of mail and 30 people which is the average 1 percent response and we multiply 97 x 30= $2,910.00 In profit at a 1 percent response rate. Just imagine if you did had a 2 percent response rate? which would be 60 x $97.00 = $5,820.00 profit! And that is off of a small piece mailing keep in mind with realistic numbers. Of course you subtract the costs of the mailing campaign which would be between $1,110.00 $1,500.00 depending on what resources you choose for your first mailing but as you scale up a bit and do bigger mailings you can see bigger profits.
In conclusion I hope you have found this blog helpful in your quest to learn how to start a mail order business. This has been a blast for me to give you exclusive content that you will just not find anywhere for free that is. The great thing about mail order is you don't have to compete with no one but yourself and your offer but keep in mind your customers do receive alot of mail so don't think there is no competition.
I recommend scaling up and mailing even more as you re-invest into your business and it grows. I wish all of you the best of luck and I look forward to hearing from all of my readers on what they thought of my blog and if anyone took action.
Your Friend
Brian Clark.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Part 7
So now that we have our price point set its time to order our mailing list, one of the first things you want to make sure of is if this list is constantly being updated with new people? If it is then you are in good shape, make sure that you ask your list broker how long he or she has been brokering lists. And finally you need to make your choice of a list that has a large universe.
Go back to nextmark.com and go find your list of buyers for and purchase a list that you are happy with. If you want to do more research on picking a mailing list type in google picking a mailing list, or mailing list tips. List brokers are going to try to get over you if they think you don't know what you are doing and try to give you an old tired list if you don't make sure they are giving you a fresh mailing list.
Now that we have a list lets make some copies of our post card for a test. (Oh I forgot another place you can get a mailing list from is listprovider.com they have mailing lists also if you want to check them out) Now what you want to do is buy about 2000 postcards and split test both of them to see which one gets the better response rate.
You can do this by putting a unique id on all of the postcards that way when they call and leave a message you know which card got the better responses and you go with the one that received the most messages to your call center by having the person leave the id of the postcard on the call center answering service.
Now that we know what is the best card to mail out for our product lets rollout our first campaign. But before we do this I'm gonna let you guys in on a way to save some more money on postage. Go to your local post office and ask if you can get a bulk mailers license because you want to mail in bulk and they will tell you everything you need in order to get your license and get a HUGE discount on postage for mail.
Go back to nextmark.com and go find your list of buyers for and purchase a list that you are happy with. If you want to do more research on picking a mailing list type in google picking a mailing list, or mailing list tips. List brokers are going to try to get over you if they think you don't know what you are doing and try to give you an old tired list if you don't make sure they are giving you a fresh mailing list.
Now that we have a list lets make some copies of our post card for a test. (Oh I forgot another place you can get a mailing list from is listprovider.com they have mailing lists also if you want to check them out) Now what you want to do is buy about 2000 postcards and split test both of them to see which one gets the better response rate.
You can do this by putting a unique id on all of the postcards that way when they call and leave a message you know which card got the better responses and you go with the one that received the most messages to your call center by having the person leave the id of the postcard on the call center answering service.
Now that we know what is the best card to mail out for our product lets rollout our first campaign. But before we do this I'm gonna let you guys in on a way to save some more money on postage. Go to your local post office and ask if you can get a bulk mailers license because you want to mail in bulk and they will tell you everything you need in order to get your license and get a HUGE discount on postage for mail.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Part 6
So far we have 1.picked a market 2. researched the market 3. selected a product 4. Created a postcard 5. Established a call center 6. Started our corparation now we need to go to the 7th step and get our product ready to ship.
If you are doing a digital delivered product I recommend putting your ebooks on a disc and shipping that through a dvd case with graphic sleeve a good place to check out dvd cases is www.cdrom2go.com of course, this is not the only places that makes cd's and dvd's but you can always go to google and type in cd or dvd cases.
If you are doing a hard product such as a book or a panthlet go to www.morrisprint.com they have good deals on books and you can always compare rates by typing in google get books made or book printing.
Another thing that you can always do is create a website and offer a digital delivered instant download product at clickbank.com or paydot.com these are to of the largest on the internet but keep in mind if you are doing a reseller product these may already be on clickbank but we are offering them on another medium which is direct mail. Plus hard products can be a hassle to return over digital products which can lower your return rate dramatically.
Now that you know how you want to deliver your product it is time to figure our pricing some of the best price points the you can use are 97.00 77.00 47.00 these can help you get some pretty good results because of the inclusion of the number 7. of course you can price your product much higher but you better deliver on good content if you are going to do charge 147.00 and up.
If you are doing a digital delivered product I recommend putting your ebooks on a disc and shipping that through a dvd case with graphic sleeve a good place to check out dvd cases is www.cdrom2go.com of course, this is not the only places that makes cd's and dvd's but you can always go to google and type in cd or dvd cases.
If you are doing a hard product such as a book or a panthlet go to www.morrisprint.com they have good deals on books and you can always compare rates by typing in google get books made or book printing.
Another thing that you can always do is create a website and offer a digital delivered instant download product at clickbank.com or paydot.com these are to of the largest on the internet but keep in mind if you are doing a reseller product these may already be on clickbank but we are offering them on another medium which is direct mail. Plus hard products can be a hassle to return over digital products which can lower your return rate dramatically.
Now that you know how you want to deliver your product it is time to figure our pricing some of the best price points the you can use are 97.00 77.00 47.00 these can help you get some pretty good results because of the inclusion of the number 7. of course you can price your product much higher but you better deliver on good content if you are going to do charge 147.00 and up.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Part 5
Now that your postcard is done I would recommend that you spend $2.00 and go to a website called kall8.com we are going to use this website to so that way we can record a message explaining in more detail what are readers will be getting when they buy our product.
You can hire voice talent or record the message yourself which is much cheaper but with voice talent you get a much clearer voice that is well trained it is your choice. Just go to google and type in voice talent if you decide you want that.
Once you have an recorded message you may want to hire someone to take orders for you or you can take orders yourself if you want to save money. Starting out I recommend taking orders yourself that way you can get an Idea on how to process orders yourself.
If you are wondering what you should say just go to google and type in product that you can order by phone and take note of how the people talk on the recorded message and the actual order takers, try eastbay.com
Now that you have your recorded message and you know how you are going to take orders I recommend getting a corp or LLc license for your business here is why straight from incorporate.com:
How You Can Benefit from a Corporation or LLC
Regardless of their size, all businesses can benefit from incorporating. Typically, the reason most people form a legal business structure is to safeguard their personal assets. Incorporating or forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) helps you conduct your business free from worry that you might lose personal savings or possessions because of a business liability.
Advantages of Forming a Corporation or LLC
* Personal asset protection. Both corporations and LLCs allow owners to protect their personal assets. In a properly structured and managed company, owners should have limited liability for business debts and obligations.
* Improved credibility. Adding "Inc." or "LLC" after your business name can add instant authority. Consumers, vendors, and partners may prefer to do business with an incorporated company.
* Nationwide availability. All 50 states and the District of Columbia now recognize both corporations and LLCs.
* Name protection. In most states, other businesses may not file your exact corporate or LLC name in the same state.
* Ensured continuity. Corporations and LLCs exist perpetually, even if ownership or management changes. Sole proprietorships and partnerships end if an owner dies or leaves the business.
* Tax flexibility and savings. Corporations are taxed at a lower rate than individuals. Though profit and loss typically pass through an LLC and get reported on the personal income tax returns of owners, an LLC can also elect to be taxed as a corporation. Likewise, a corporation can avoid double taxation of corporate profits and dividends by electing Subchapter S tax status.
* Deductible expenses. Both corporations and LLCs may deduct normal business expenses, like salaries, before they allocate income to owners.
You can hire voice talent or record the message yourself which is much cheaper but with voice talent you get a much clearer voice that is well trained it is your choice. Just go to google and type in voice talent if you decide you want that.
Once you have an recorded message you may want to hire someone to take orders for you or you can take orders yourself if you want to save money. Starting out I recommend taking orders yourself that way you can get an Idea on how to process orders yourself.
If you are wondering what you should say just go to google and type in product that you can order by phone and take note of how the people talk on the recorded message and the actual order takers, try eastbay.com
Now that you have your recorded message and you know how you are going to take orders I recommend getting a corp or LLc license for your business here is why straight from incorporate.com:
How You Can Benefit from a Corporation or LLC
Regardless of their size, all businesses can benefit from incorporating. Typically, the reason most people form a legal business structure is to safeguard their personal assets. Incorporating or forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) helps you conduct your business free from worry that you might lose personal savings or possessions because of a business liability.
Advantages of Forming a Corporation or LLC
* Personal asset protection. Both corporations and LLCs allow owners to protect their personal assets. In a properly structured and managed company, owners should have limited liability for business debts and obligations.
* Improved credibility. Adding "Inc." or "LLC" after your business name can add instant authority. Consumers, vendors, and partners may prefer to do business with an incorporated company.
* Nationwide availability. All 50 states and the District of Columbia now recognize both corporations and LLCs.
* Name protection. In most states, other businesses may not file your exact corporate or LLC name in the same state.
* Ensured continuity. Corporations and LLCs exist perpetually, even if ownership or management changes. Sole proprietorships and partnerships end if an owner dies or leaves the business.
* Tax flexibility and savings. Corporations are taxed at a lower rate than individuals. Though profit and loss typically pass through an LLC and get reported on the personal income tax returns of owners, an LLC can also elect to be taxed as a corporation. Likewise, a corporation can avoid double taxation of corporate profits and dividends by electing Subchapter S tax status.
* Deductible expenses. Both corporations and LLCs may deduct normal business expenses, like salaries, before they allocate income to owners.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Part 4
Just to recap what we have done so far we have picked the market and picked a product and the way we are going to deliver this product to our consumers. Now we need to create a postcard, this is going to probably be one of the easiest parts of this whole process is creating the process so what I want to you do is just go to google and type in "create a postcard" without the quotes.
Just click on any of the links about making a postcard I like visa print as one of the best most affordable options that I have found they have a long list of different types of postcards that you can make,
WARNING: make sure that you have the correct sizes for you postcard because I ordered a few postcards and they did not match up to the correct sizes that I wanted It came out smaller then what I had planned so just make sure you contact someone while you are creating your post card. There is another website called deluxe.com that has a someone who can help you with your postcard over the phone.
I wouldn't spend alot of time on thinking of a postcard I would just do something that is not glossy or flashy like most of your junk mail that you receive.
Just click on any of the links about making a postcard I like visa print as one of the best most affordable options that I have found they have a long list of different types of postcards that you can make,
WARNING: make sure that you have the correct sizes for you postcard because I ordered a few postcards and they did not match up to the correct sizes that I wanted It came out smaller then what I had planned so just make sure you contact someone while you are creating your post card. There is another website called deluxe.com that has a someone who can help you with your postcard over the phone.
I wouldn't spend alot of time on thinking of a postcard I would just do something that is not glossy or flashy like most of your junk mail that you receive.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Part 3
We have all of the demographics that we need now lets go into the actual product that we want to select for this business. (take notes) There are different paths you can take for this you can 1. create your own product 2. buy private label rights/ master resale rights 3. Hire a ghostwriter to write out the product for you. lets cover each one in detail and then you can make your choice and we will move on from here.
1.Create your own product, now of course this is attractive to alot of people who want to make the most amount and like the thrill of thinking of their own product but this is most likely the most expensive but can still be effective if you don't mind either recording the instructions on audio or you don't mind writing alot of content for a book or making a video instructed dvd disk series that teaches people how to do whatever it is you want to teach them.
My advice is to people who choose this route is to look at your competitors and don't copy them just emulate your product around the general market if this is your first mail order product, make sure you are giving a unique twist to the whole campaign so it will be an interesting guide or even digital product.
2. Buy private label rights. This is probably the most ideal path for the beginner with private label rights you can take something that is already sold well or has been sold on another medium and actually put it in a whole different format that is not used on the market.
For example if i'm selling a hard book on how to make kids recipes then one of the first things I could do is go to google and type in private label right recipes. You will see a list of articles that have private label rights if you did type this in google and you can use those to make a video cooking dvd set.
Just buy a camera and start recording and put this on an HD quality dvd set and package this into a program.
3.Hire a ghostwriter.You can hire a ghost writer on a website called elance.com they have all kinds of freelancers that will do alot of the work for you for a price of course just give them all of the content you want to be written and then have them either re-write any content that you have or actually make brand new content. There is another great website that you can find someone to write content for your product idea and that is guru.com
This is an excellent resource that you can use that has several different type of professionals that can handle any job that you want done.
Now I want you to pick which route you are going to go out of the top 3 ways to get your content made or reproduced, of course this is not the only way for you to make your content but to start off pick one of the top 3.
1.Create your own product, now of course this is attractive to alot of people who want to make the most amount and like the thrill of thinking of their own product but this is most likely the most expensive but can still be effective if you don't mind either recording the instructions on audio or you don't mind writing alot of content for a book or making a video instructed dvd disk series that teaches people how to do whatever it is you want to teach them.
My advice is to people who choose this route is to look at your competitors and don't copy them just emulate your product around the general market if this is your first mail order product, make sure you are giving a unique twist to the whole campaign so it will be an interesting guide or even digital product.
2. Buy private label rights. This is probably the most ideal path for the beginner with private label rights you can take something that is already sold well or has been sold on another medium and actually put it in a whole different format that is not used on the market.
For example if i'm selling a hard book on how to make kids recipes then one of the first things I could do is go to google and type in private label right recipes. You will see a list of articles that have private label rights if you did type this in google and you can use those to make a video cooking dvd set.
Just buy a camera and start recording and put this on an HD quality dvd set and package this into a program.
3.Hire a ghostwriter.You can hire a ghost writer on a website called elance.com they have all kinds of freelancers that will do alot of the work for you for a price of course just give them all of the content you want to be written and then have them either re-write any content that you have or actually make brand new content. There is another great website that you can find someone to write content for your product idea and that is guru.com
This is an excellent resource that you can use that has several different type of professionals that can handle any job that you want done.
Now I want you to pick which route you are going to go out of the top 3 ways to get your content made or reproduced, of course this is not the only way for you to make your content but to start off pick one of the top 3.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Part 2
Now that we know the market and we know that we have a buyers list lets look at our data card that we have selected, remember it is always good to have a large universe that is always updated with new people on the list. Why? so that way we know that we can mail to this list and it would be profitable and fresh all the time.
Another thing I want to recommend is that you check out the tutorial at the bottom and make sure you understand all of the information on the data card so that way you can know exactly what you are getting into before you begin.
Make sure you also sign up for a free account when you visit so you can get updates and details for your next campaign. To recap we have picked a market and a mailing list now we need to find out some quick demographics about our market so we know how to target these people with the right offer. Lets go to one of my favorite sites called quantcast.com
From here we can do two things 1. We can type in the market that we want to target, example: home business, debt settlement 2. Or we can type in a website URL that is related to our market either one is fine. Once we have the information I recommend putting it in a notepad file so that way you can write down the statistics and the demographics for your market.
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