Like immutable laws of nature, some rules are ironclad. Follow these directives and you can expect to succeed. Ignore even one of them and your business and personal achievements will be significantly diminished.1. You shall believe.
The first step in accomplishing anything is embracing
belief that it is possible.
You must believe in viability of your project and you must believe in yourself. If you don't, stop right now.
You simply cannot succeed without firm expectation that your idea is sound, that you have all resources necessary to succeed, and that you deserve success!
These are self-fulfilling prophesies. If you believe you can succeed, you're right. If you don't believe you can succeed, you're right, too!
2. You shall find your passion!
If your sole motivation for starting an online newsletter is to make money, you'll probably soon tire of topic. Making money seldom gets boring, but profit alone usually is not enough to stir your imagination and creative juices.
A niche market membership website succeeds best when publisher has unbridled enthusiasm for her topic.
Finding your passion may require some introspection. It can be an exhilarating process of self-discovery. It may even require you to change your lifestyle.
That's part of excitement. That's part of what your subscribers are paying you to do. They want to have that same experience vicariously through you.
Find your passion and turn it into your online newsletter. Stake out your niche topic and prepare to dominate and defend it. Establish yourself as authority on your topic and become a subject matter expert.
3. You shall become a marketer!
Don't get into information product development business if your only care about your niche topic and have no enthusiasm for learning how to sell.
You must enthusiastically learn everything you can about marketing and sales promotion copywriting. Because in final analysis, you will realize that, regardless of your newsletter topic, fundamentally you are in direct response marketing business. Study great direct marketers and copywriters. Immerse yourself in their courses. Devour their books. Read and reread their most successful sales letters.
If you're not committed to learning everything that you possibly can about this aspect of business, you'd better marry someone who is!
4. You shall be unique!
One of first rules of marketing: Establish your unique selling proposition (USP).
Define essence of your online publication. What distinguishes your newsletter or membership website from all others?
Define your targeted member or subscriber. Who is he or she in terms of age, income, social status, occupation, etc.?
Define reasons why he or she will join or subscribe. How will you measure these assumptions, prove or disprove them, and refine them?
Try to answer these questions before you develop your information product.
5. You shall create value!
When you develop your marketing message, how will you capture your subscriber's attention and interest?
How will you ignite her desire for your special, proprietary information product? What's in it for her? Does it contain irresistible, mouth-watering benefits for your customer?
Write out your most persuasive "call to action". Does it motivate your prospective members to reach for their credit cards and join immediately?
Make certain your subscription website addresses your member's heartfelt desires. Remember that customers buy what they want, not necessarily what they need.
6. You shall over-deliver!
Make it a bedrock principle of your business to keep and exceed your promises.
When you start your online newsletter or membership website, create at least 20 stories, videos, or other units of content. Then put a few of them in a public section of site for anyone to view, read or download without charge.
You must create value by giving some of your content away before you can reasonably expect subscribers to pay for more. And after you create a customer for members-only, premium content, reward her with unexpected bonuses of additional value.
7. You shall not deceive!
Creating and selling an information product is fundamentally about trust. If your readers don't feel you are treating them fairly, your information products will have no credibility.
From your very first day in business, you must be scrupulously honest with your subscribers. If you're not perceived as being 100 percent trustworthy, ultimately you will have no customers and no business.
Beyond being ethical thing to do, honesty makes good business sense. It decreases returns and cancellations. It promotes happier customers and enhances your reputation.
Be circumspect about full disclosure. Don't give into temptations that are "sins of omission." Customers will expect that your product has certain features, even if you don't make specific promises. If they find out otherwise, they will feel cheated and resentful.
