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"Case study of a booming online cash-machine
that earned $200,000 last year -- with a single
product!"
For
over a year and a half, my marketing team and I have
published a private web site -- "Secrets To Their Success" -- that every month profiles
two successful entrepreneurs who are making $30,000
to $2,000,000 per year with their Internet home businesses.
Each
interview tells a real-life story of hard work and dedication,
but every once in a while a success story really strikes
a chord... and I'm reminded of my own early start in
the world of online marketing.
When
I interviewed 19-year-old Jermaine Griggs -- a college
student who earned $200,000 from his HearandPlay.com web site last year -- I knew I simply
had to share at least some of his story with my "Marketing
Tips" subscribers for a couple of reasons.
First,
Jermaine's story is a lot like my own. He didn't start
with any kind of special knowledge or a whole lot of
money. In fact, he grew up in a rough neighborhood where
his life could have easily gone wrong.
And
second, Jermaine is successfully using a ton of the
strategies I teach to my subscribers. So by sharing
his interview with you, I'll be showing you a real-life
example of the success it's possible to achieve with
a few of the simple techniques I recommend.
As
you read this very special interview, keep in mind that
the success Jermaine has already achieved is just the
beginnning... since he keeps testing and refining his
marketing strategies every day!
So
let's dive in and see exactly how Jermaine's doing it!
QUESTION: Jermaine, to start with,
would you mind giving our readers some background on
what your site is all about?
Jermaine:
HearandPlay.com specializes in teaching students how to play the piano
by ear.
The
site features over 60 free piano lessons and six newsletters
ranging from beginner lessons to advanced music theory.
So there is a wide variety of topics musicians can explore.
QUESTION: Can you tell us about how
you first got started on the Internet? What was your
first web site, and how did you grow from there?
Jermaine:
I
started on the Internet when I was about 15 years old.
Basically, I had become an affiliate of over 1,000 online
merchants and had my own virtual shopping mall. It took
weeks to create -- but it only made money from ONE web
site that was willing to pay me $.50 per click!
To
my surprise, at the age of 15, I received my first check
for $800 (all based on click-throughs from my site to
theirs). This was a quarterly check, however, so I definitely
couldn't get rich making $266.66 a month.
After
that experience, I was thirsty for another venture.
I had taught myself how to play the piano by ear at
the age of nine and had been asked to teach several
children in the community. I developed workbooks for
all of my students, composed of several exercises and
worksheets.
Then
one day a parent said to me, “You should sell these
workbooks to other piano students.” That thought had
never really crossed my mind. So I took what I had and
I made some flyers and posted them in laundromats, grocery
stores, thrift shops, etc. No one called.
Then
I thought: “What about creating a web site marketing
these piano workbooks?” And to make a very long story
short, that was how HearandPlay.com started.
QUESTION: How did this site do when
you first launched it?
Jermaine:
Well,
I sold my first set of five music workbooks in November
of 2000. Boy, was I overjoyed. Since then, I have combined
the five-book series into a 300-page book (released
in March 2002), which has been a great success with
revenues of over $200,000 so far!
I've
also created a software program aimed at helping students
train their ears. Basically, while students are studying
my 300-page course, this program will test them on the
various sounds of different scales and chords. I offer
this program as a bonus item to encourage customer orders.
QUESTION: Can you give us some background
on yourself? What was your experience before you first
got started online?
Jermaine:
Fortunately,
I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I say
fortunately because perhaps if I was, I wouldn't have
had a reason to work so hard for my success. My mom
raised my sister and me all by herself for most of our
childhood. We grew up in the inner city and I could
have easily hung out with the wrong crowd, but my mom
raised us in the church.
When
I was 15, I went to live with my grandmother because
she needed someone around to help. That's when my first
web site was conceived. My grandmother would beg me
to go to bed at night, but I would hear this imaginary
voice telling me to stay awake and work.
I
was always studying how to make money, how to market,
what customers wanted, what customers needed, what to
do, and what not to do.
So
I am proof that it is possible to start a company from
your home with very little money and the right “know-how.” It all started from my
small office in the corner of the living room of my
grandma's one-bedroom apartment.
QUESTION: And how big is your site
today?
Jermaine:
Annual
revenues last year were about $200,000. This year, we
project sales to be in the $350,000 to $400,000 range,
with 2004 forecast to hit $500,000.
QUESTION: How long did it take for HearandPlay.com to start making a profit?
Jermaine:
I
made just $60 my first month. It wasn't until March
of 2002 that I started making over $5,000 a month. That
soon doubled, then quadrupled.
QUESTION: How much time and money did it take for you to initially get
the site up and running?
Jermaine:
I
spent $70 because I wanted a real domain name. Besides
that initial investment, I never really spent a dime
to get started, just a lot of time.
QUESTION: Did you design the site
yourself?
Jermaine:
I've
never outsourced any of my design, advertising, or other
functions of my business. Everything that you see on
the site, I had to learn how to do. That's why I stayed
up so late at night, read so many books, and invested
in products that would teach me how to do what I needed
to do.
QUESTION: How much traffic are you
seeing to your site? And where is your traffic predominantly
coming from?
Jermaine:
We
get about 30,000 to 40,000 visitors a month, and roughly
15,000 of them are new to the site. From that, I pull
in about 3,000 to 3,500 new subscribers to my general
newsletter each month. We currently have a growing list
of about 23,000 pianists who I've managed to build a
lot of credibility with.
The
bulk of our traffic comes from search engines and pay-per-click
placements.
QUESTION: What are you doing to collect
the opt-in e-mail addresses of potential customers?
Jermaine:
I've
included a pull-down menu on my homepage that lists
all 60 of the free lessons (as though you could actually
click on one and go to that lesson). But right next
to the pull-down menu are fields that ask for your first
name and e-mail address. This form adds subscribers
to my general mailing list.
But
that's just the beginning...
After
they choose a lesson on the homepage, I take them to
the second part of the sign-up process, where they can
subscribe to one of my six specialized newsletters.
(According to my stats, about 70% will do this.)This
second page collectsmore detailed information.
After
completing this form (which takes about a minute), they
get access to the member's section. That's how I collect so many names. Out of 15,000 new visitors
a month, you have to admit that 3,000 sign-ups is pretty
good!
QUESTION: No kidding! That's a 20%
conversion rate! What strategies have you used to get
your sign-up rate so high?
Jermaine:
In
the beginning, I was averaging about 10 to 15 subscribers
a day. I needed a way to increase this number, so I
did some research on how other sites increase their
newsletter lists quickly.
I
soon found out that all the sites I believed were making
real money at the time had one thing in common: They
all had pop-ups. Not just basic pop-ups, but more sophisticated
ones. Some popped under where you couldn't see them
until you left the site. Some could pop up 10, 30, or
120 seconds after you left the site.
So
I thought, why not put some pop-ups on my site? I figured
it wouldn't annoy someone who actually wanted good information
on playing the piano by ear. Why risk the chance of
them not seeing my newsletter sign-up form when I can
put it right in front of their face?
No
matter what anyone says about pop-ups, they have increased
my subscriber rate by 10 times! I now get about 100
new members every day!
QUESTION: How often do you make a
point of following up with your leads and previous customers?
Jermaine:
Well,
I actually have a number of systems in place. I mail
out my regular newsletter once a month, but the specialized
newsletters are all a bit different.
For
the beginner's newsletter, for instance, I send new
subscribers a welcome letter and inform them that I
will be sending them a 10-day beginner's course by e-mail
for free. If they don't want this free e-mail course,
they are instructed to unsubscribe (but of course, no
one does).
So
I get an opportunity to send them 10 consecutive e-mails
for 10 days. You know how many end up ordering my 300-page
course? About 60%!
I
have a 1% to 1.5% unsubscribe rate for my general newsletter,
but the unsubscribe rates for my specialized letters
are under 1%.
Beyond
the monthly and specialized newsletters, each opt-in
is automatically put in a rotation to receive a message
every 60 days saying: “How is your piano playing coming
along, Bob...?”
This
works out well because customers feel that we really
want to help them (which we do!). We even send out a
message one year from the date they first joined, saying:
“It's been a year since your first piano lessons with
us, Marge...”
Not
only does each message contain a plug for my course,
but each one also helps establish credibility when they
see how much they can learn.
Follow
up is so important for me! I wouldn't be able to survive
without it.
QUESTION: So what would you say are
the top marketing strategies that you use on a regular
basis?
Jermaine:
Search
engine sponsorship -- I make sure to stay in
the top threesearch results on Overture pertaining to “piano lessons,” “learn
piano,” “learn piano by ear,” or any combination
like that. I have about 250 to 300 search terms
I use. I also use Google AdWords from time to time.
My rule is that if a search engine doesn't produce
$2 profit for every $1 spent, I won't do it. So
if I invest $1, I would expect to make $3, of which
$2 would be profit. The formula really works and
ultimately search engine sponsorship becomes a numbers
game.
Affiliate program -- I have about 350+ affiliates. Some
draw thousands of visitors a month, which turns
into thousands of dollars in sales a year.
Advertising on highly related sites -- I look for
sites with massive amounts of my target audience.
If you find a site that attracts exactly who you
are looking for, you've probably got a goldmine
waiting to be tapped.
I've also noticed that banners
at the top of a site's homepage get click-through
rates as high as 4%. Bottom banners only get a 1%
click-through rate.
Partnerships and joint ventures -- I use LinkPartner Pro to find related web sites. I then
contact those webmasters and ask them if they'd
be interested in partnering for a certain period
of time. From these e-mails, I've had instructors
buy my course for their gospel piano workshops.
In fact, from one e-mail and phone conversation,
I closed a deal that makes HearandPlay.com the sole provider of material
for a traveling gospel music workshop (which reaches
500 students a year and means 500 more courses sold
that wouldn't have been sold otherwise). Joint ventures
work!
NOTE FROM COREY:
You probably don't know this, but my original interview
with Jermaine was over 20+ pages -- far too long to include here in full
-- so I've just chosen some of the juicier
tidbits to share with all of my subscribers.
The full interview included tons more tips and strategies that I just couldn't fit into this newsletter,
including:
The exact tools Jermaine's using to
automate everything from order processing
to toll-free calls
The exact pop-up Jermaine uses to
convert 20% of his vistors to subscribers
The one strategy Jermaine uses to get 3,000
free ads for his web site every
day!
Jermaine
was really generous about sharing EXACTLY
what he's doing to make his business work,
so I would highly recommend taking
the time to check out the full interview.
QUESTION: You mention that you're tracking
the visitor-to-sale conversion rate of your traffic,
both from the pay-per-click search engines and your
banner advertising... How do you do this, and how do
you monitor your conversion rates?
Jermaine:
I
just assign each banner or keyword campaign a unique
ID in AssocTRAC, which lets me keep track of a person
from their first visit to my site to any purchases they
make. That way I know exactly where I'm getting my best
customers, which is crucial to get the best return on
pay-per-click campaigns.
For
example, according to AssocTRAC, when someone clicks on my listing after
searching for “piano lessons” in the pay-per-click search
engines, one out of 33 will buy. So if the listing “piano
lessons” costs me $.25 per click, it takes $.25 x 33
to get one sale. That is, it takes $8.25 to get one
sale, which brings in an average of $75).
So
in terms of numbers, $8.25 yields $75 (but that's just
for this particular listing). Now wait, $75 is just
for their first sale. This person is now a lifetime
customer!
QUESTION: Could
you tell us about a “light bulb” moment that you've
had? A moment when you've thought to yourself, “If only
I'd known that earlier...”
Jermaine:
Originally,
I was just focused on getting the sale. But I soon realized
that my mission was to help musicians reach their music
goals. After that realization, I added message boards,
chat rooms, and the like, and sales skyrocketed! Why?
Because members saw that we were a legitimate company
willing to help them.
People
have no reservations buying from a company they trust
and feel helped by.
QUESTION: What have you done to automate
your site?
Jermaine:
Well,
pretty much everything is automated. I don't really
do anything anymore other than look for new partners.
My
shopping cart takes the order, confirms it, and sends
it to my credit card processor. The customer then automatically
receives a thank-you e-mail.
After
two weeks, the customer automatically gets an e-mail
asking how their course is coming along. Customers are
thrilled at our customer service and actually believe
that I sit down each time to send them e-mails.
QUESTION: What
would you consider to be your major achievements?
Jermaine:
My
all-time greatest achievement would be the fact that
I took absolutely nothing and made something out of
it.
I
hope this encourages people not to give up because start-up
capital may be low. Make the best out of what you have!
With research, dedication, and patience, a “little”
will eventually turn into a “little more,” and a “little
more” will turn into “some,” and “some” will turn into
“a lot” -- I know because I've been there, and I'm still
working on getting “a lot”!
QUESTION: What do you think has helped
to make your site so successful?
Jermaine:
It
wasn't until I created a long, catchy information-packed
salesletter (set up as one long piano lesson) and asked
for the sale that my sales skyrocketed! No matter what
I sell in the future, I will never ever use a simple
“buy me” link again. People aren't online with the intention
of buying, they are online for information -- and that's
just what I give them! Lots of it!
Corey,
you're my main influence and I like to use your structure
(even though we're selling totally different products).
I hardly ever got sales when I just listed a few points
about the book and a picture of it. Now, despite what
anyone says about people not reading long sales material,
sales continue to pour in day after day.
QUESTION: What
is the biggest mistake you have made since you first
launched your site?
Jermaine:
Hmm...
When I first got started, the biggest mistake I made
was placing advertisements on my site because I thought
they looked good.
Now
I understand that this is one of the biggest mistakes
a webmaster can make (especially with untargeted ads).
I will never again show a banner advertisement on my
site unless it is advertising another product of mine.
QUESTION: What major mistakes do you
see other Internet entrepreneurs making?
Jermaine:
I
think the number-one mistake Internet entrepreneurs
make is not taking the time to make their site as professional
as possible. Credibility is a huge issue on the Internet
and if you can't convince your customer that you are
a trustworthy company, then you won't get a sale from
them
QUESTION: What advice do you have for
beginners who are interested in selling over the Web?
Jermaine:
You
need a good product! And you also need good marketing,
because a good product without the proper marketing
techniques yields nothing!
I
would say, design your product and your sales page first,
test it with various audiences, and release it to the
public to see how it does -- and never quit testing
ideas and new products. Always ask yourself, “What can
I do to increase sales?” I ask this question every night
before I go to bed. It has led to so many new thoughts
and concepts. With a good product and effective marketing,
you're destined to succeed.
QUESTION: Finally, how has running HearandPlay.com impacted your personal and professional
life?
Jermaine:
The
site has allowed me to become independent from my parents
at an early age while everyone else I know either still
lives at home or depends on their parents. I have been
able to live alone, furnish my home, upgrade my music
studio, and attend college without worrying about finances.
Most
importantly, it has allowed me to employ my mom, who
was laid off last year. I soon look to employ my sister
and grandmother (part-time because she loves to have
something to do). Basically, everyone around us knows
about HearandPlay.com and I think it will be in the family
for generations to come (if it doesn't get bought by
a major corporation).
Without
this site, I would still be living at home depending
on my parents for money. I feel blessed and thankful
for the ability and mindset to start a business at such
an early age, and I pray that I'll have the know-how
to take this venture and other endeavors to the next
level!
Final Thoughts from Corey:
HearandPlay.com is a perfect example of how to profit from a niche you're
passionate about! Jermaine has studied all the marketing
strategies he could get his hands on and adopted the
winning techniques of successful sites.
What
can you learn from Jermaine's success? Well, if you
have a service business, sell information, or want to
boost your subscription rates, here are some of Jermaine's
strategies you can start using right away.
Help
people, don't sell people:
Once Jermaine realized that his visitors were looking
for information and were not necessarily ready to
buy right away, he focused on creating credibility
and offering tons of value through free courses
and e-mail newsletters.
Follow up with your visitors:
Offering free courses as daily e-mails over the
space of a week or more is a great way of building
a relationship with your vistors. If you have any
information that lends itself to a daily or weekly
"lesson," experiment with presenting it as an autoresponder
series from your site!
Create a great opt-in offer -- and make sure people see it:
No matter what your opt-in offer, make sure your
vistors see it! Jermaine reports that his subscription
rates jumped to nearly ten times previous levels
once he introduced strategic pop-ups to encourage
visitors to sign up for one of his newsletters.
Know
the value of your marketing:
Jermaine manages to squeeze great value out of his
$1,500 a month marketing budget, thanks to his ability
to use AssocTRAC to track the value of every single
cent he spends on pay-per-clicks, banner campaigns,
and any other advertising. If a specific keyword
or web site is under- performing, he can pull it
right away (or tweak it to boost value). By not
relying on instinct alone, he's making the most
of every penny.
Long
copy sells:
Jermaine reports an explosive growth in sales once
he switched from simply listing the features of
his course to providing a full-length salesletter
-- presented as a lesson -- and asking for the sale.
Remember,
Jermaine's story is just one of the in-depth interviews
at Secrets To Their Success. Every month, I post two
new interviews and a site review, so there's always
tons of great material for you to check out.
In
fact, right now there are over 250 pages of information
already posted on the site. And I always make sure to
get the real "nitty-gritty" info from the netrepreneurs
I interview so that you can literally model their success.
(And find out exactly which tools and resources they're
using!)
It's
a really great resource site that I'm actually pretty
proud of, so I'd love it if you could check it out.
Just go to: http://www.secretstotheirsuccess.com/
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly
successful online businesses that attract more than 1.8
million visitors per month and generate over $6.6 million
each year. He is also the author of the #1 best-selling
Internet Marketing course online.
To
Find Out How To Market Your Business
Online CLICK
HERE
