Halina Zakowicz is a full-time freelance writer, investor and aspiring sci-fi novelist. In her spare time, she appreciates the finer points of zymology by brewing various hops-infused concoctions.
Last Monday’s post described how you can generate a passive income by licensing your invention ideas to companies and other licensees. The key to getting potential licensees interested in your invention idea is to create a spectacular sell sheet. What is a sell sheet and how do you create one? Read on.
Sell sheet anatomy and physiology
If you have an invention or just an invention idea, you need a sell sheet to market that invention to potential developers and manufacturers. The sell sheet is a marketing piece that promotes your invention in a one page ad format by describing the product, its features and benefits, and whom the product can be purchased from. A sell sheet is supposed to take no more than a minute to look over and understand, so it needs to be brief and to the point.
There are sell sheets for companies, hospitals, books, kitchen gadgets, and software programs. What does a typical sell sheet look like?
At its basic level, the sell sheet contains four areas, which are the product description, photo(s)/diagram(s), features/benefits, and the inventor contact information. These areas are shown in the above generic sell sheet, but their exact locations are not static and can be strewn about almost anywhere.
While there is a section for all the features/benefits of an invention idea, there should also be a separate and overarching benefits statement. This statement should be no longer than a single line and should succinctly pitch your idea to your prospects.
Finally, the sell sheet should also contain either a “Patent Pending” statement or patent number.
For example, the Flipside Rulers product shown below essentially flips the product photo/diagram with its features/benefits, and places the description below everything else. This sell sheet also provides the single line benefits statement, “The Most Accurate Reversible Ruler on the Market!”
Why do you need a sell sheet?
You might be thinking to yourself, I already have a great invention. Why do I need to create a sell sheet?
Because, in brief, a sell sheet is much cheaper and easier to create than a physical prototype of your invention idea. The sell sheet effectively combines words and images into a kind of virtual prototype of your product, enabling you to submit that idea quickly and easily to potential licensees.
Even better, whereas in the past you’d be sending out numerous glossy (i.e., expensive) photocopies of your sell sheet, nowadays you can just email your prospects with the sell sheet in an enclosed attachment. You can even set up a website that describes your invention idea, dedicating one page of that website to your sell sheet. Then, all you need to do is provide your prospects with that web page address.
The sell sheet gives prospects a good enough idea about your invention…but that’s as far as it should go. Your sell sheet should provide only enough information to pique reader interest, not include specifics on every individual nut and bolt. The reason for this vagueness is pretty simple- the more a prospect knows about the invention, the more likely it is that he’ll find something to dislike and/or find confusing. If this happens while your invention idea is still being considered, there is a high likelihood that it will be rejected.
However, by sticking to the basics and emphasizing your single line benefits statement (mentioned in Monday’s post), you allow your potential licensee to fit your invention idea into the scope of her existing product line and manufacturing processes.
How to create a killer sell sheet
If you have a software program such as Corel Paintshop or Adobe Photoshop/InDesign, you won’t have much trouble creating a winning sell sheet. However, these programs don’t come cheap, so a better alternative might be to outsource your sell sheet to a freelancer/contractor. Where can you find one?
Sites like eLance, Freelancer.com, Guru.com and oDesk are filled with reasonably priced freelancers who can make several different iterations of your invention idea and save you the headache and expense of learning a program like InDesign or SolidWorks (a CAD program).
You might also consider working with a local community college or a design/trade school to produce more complex drawings or scale models of your invention idea. In such cases, tapping the instructor and asking if some of her students would be able to help realize your invention idea can make for a great classroom exercise, plus a little bit of money for the student.
Just make sure that you have your freelancer or student sign a non-disclosure agreement first before you send him any work. Also, because your freelancer or student may make some changes to your prototype while “fleshing it out,” it’s a good idea to have him sign a work-for-hire agreement that includes language about you being the sole owner of your invention idea. This excludes the freelancer or student from later claiming coinventor status.
What’s next?
After you have the sell sheet generated, it’s time to start soliciting companies and individuals with whom you could see working and actually building your invention. If you spark their interest, you can offer to send them your sell sheet, plus your business card and a cover letter. Within that cover letter, you introduce yourself and your invention, remind your prospect of how and when the two of you met or contacted each other, and note your invention’s major benefit.
It goes (almost) without saying that you should never send unsolicited materials to a prospect, even if you deem that her a perfect match for your idea. Without a proper introduction and invitation, your unsolicited materials will simply get tossed in the trash.
If you get a “no thanks” after sending out your materials, try to find out why your idea was rejected. It will be immensely useful for you as you hone your idea and decide whether to take it to a different company or market segment.
Most importantly, do not become discouraged if your first few attempts at contacting and finding potential licensees doesn’t work out or produces only rejections. It takes time and continued effort to place an invention idea with an appropriate company or manufacturer. But once you get the green light, you will find the process infinitely easier to repeat, leading to a series of licensed invention ideas that generate a steady passive income for you.
Do you have an invention idea, or even several invention ideas, that have just been sitting on the proverbial back burner? Are you worried about the cost involved with bringing your invention ideas to marketable reality?
Well, fear no more: You don’t need an expensive patent or a manufacturing plant to make money from your invention idea(s). You don’t even need a prototype. In fact, all you need is a good idea- and someone else to do the work for you.
How can you get someone else to do your work?
It’s all about licensing your invention idea. When you license your idea, someone else takes your idea and undergoes the risks of developing, manufacturing, pricing, storing and marketing the product. You, as the inventor of the product, simply collect a royalty from every sale. Typically, product royalty is 3-5%. This may not sound like much, but if you start collecting royalties from several products, the money can quickly add up. With a little bit of time, your royalties can even outpace your regular paycheck.
How to start licensing your invention
Start with a problem.
Inventions all start with a problem. If that problem is commonplace enough, the invention will experience a high enough demand to be profitable. In many cases, the problem need not be a major one- for example, consider the late night TV infomercial item, The Windshield Wonder(tm), which cleans windshields from the inside of the car. Most car owners complain about not being able to effectively clean the inside of their windshields- this item solves the issue.
Find out if similar products exist.
If your invention is good enough, there will already be similar products on the market. That’s right, your invention item should not be so unique that it can’t be located anywhere else. If it is all alone in its market niche, that brings up the possibility that your invention is solving a very rare problem. Without mass appeal, your invention won’t sell, or at least not often enough to make you a profit.
Should you find similarly-themed products on the store shelf, take stock of how they are displayed and marketed. How much do the items cost? Also, be sure to write down the names of the companies that are selling these items; these are the companies you will be contacting later.
Search the USPTO.
It’s possible that your invention idea may already have been invented, manufactured and even marketed. To find out if this is the case, scour the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before you go any further.
It’s quite possible that a patent for the exact same item that you invented is already in existence. Before you get discouraged, find out what exactly the patent covers. It might be that what you’re looking at is a design patent, where the inventor changed the decorative appearance or configuration of the item rather than its functionality. Otherwise, you might have a utility patent, wherein a manufacturing process or coding program is described but not the look, shape or configuration of the finished product.
In brief, find out if your exact idea has been filed with the USPTO. If it hasn’t, then you are ready to go on to the next step.
File a provisional patent application (PPA).
Protect your invention idea by filing a provisional patent application (PPA) with the USPTO. The PPA is quick to fill out, does not require the help of an attorney, and it costs only $110 to file. You don’t even need formal documentation; a few simple drawings or photographs of the expected prototype or mock-up will do.
A PPA enables you to state that your invention is “Patent Pending,” which goes a long way towards keeping competitors at bay. Furthermore, the PPA provides the same legal protections as a regular ol’ patent- and for significantly less money and waiting time.
Find out how to manufacture your idea.
Once you’ve filed the PPA, it’s time to find out just how much money it will cost, and what methods must be used, to manufacture your idea. You’ll also need to understand your idea’s technical hurdles and how to overcome them. To this end, you should contact different contract manufacturers that produce items similar in scope to your own product idea and ask them how feasible it would be to realize your particular invention.
You can find contract manufacturers through trade associations. These associations exist solely to put customers like you in touch with vendors and other businesses, so don’t be shy about asking for help and obtaining contact information for at least four or five vendors.
How do you get contract manufacturers to do the grunt work of estimating your manufacturing costs? You can ask to speak to one of their sales reps, then ask her how much it will cost to produce 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,000 units of your invention idea. By creating a sales inquiry and not just a random request for information, you get the sales rep thinking that this could be a huge sale (i.e., commission) for her. This makes that salesperson much more inclined to help you out.
Generate a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA).
Before you call your contract manufacturers, you should create a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and have it ready to go when the person on the other end of the line asks for a drawing of or additional details pertaining to your invention idea. NDAs are easy to generate and can be found on a site like Docracy. The basic NDA contains legal language that protects your invention idea from being disclosed to third parties. The document also allows you to take legal action if there is an information leak.
A decent NDA will contain the following four provisions:
All parties agree not to disclose each other’s confidential information.
All parties agree not to use each other’s confidential information without providing compensation.
All parties agree to return all documents, prototypes and information in case no agreement is reached regarding the invention idea.
All parties agree that any information already known to and used by the receiving party is not deemed confidential.
Your NDA should first be agreed to and signed before you disclose any details pertaining to your invention idea. If anyone refuses to sign the NDA, do not disclose your idea to that entity!*
Generate your sell sheet.
Now that you have your PPA and manufacturing information in hand, it’s time to organize all your invention information into a sell sheet. The sell sheet is a one page ad that describes the main benefits of your invention, some diagrams or drawings of that invention, and your contact information. Don’t forget to note that you have a “Patent Pending” on your invention.
You needn’t be a marketer or graphic designer to create a winning sell sheet. Sites like eLance, Guru.com and Freelancer.com provide you with reasonably priced professionals who can take your invention idea and transform it into a detailed illustration. Just remember to have your hired freelancer sign the NDA before you relay any invention information to him.
More information on how you can generate a killer sell sheet will be provided in my upcoming post this Thursday.
Make some inquiries.
Now it’s time to peddle your invention idea to those companies that you first looked up when first assessing the feasibility of your invention idea. When making these sales calls, you can make a cold call, if you’re comfortable with that approach. However, if you don’t like cold calls, there’s no rule about cold calls being the only way to conduct business.
To this end, you can contact candidate companies through LinkedIn, for example. Using LinkedIn, you can find the exact person within the organization that would be your best advocate for licensing your invention. Other online sites include Hoovers, InfoUSA and Zoom Info. In most cases, that ideal person is the product manager. If such a person cannot be located, your other bet is the marketing manager or salesperson.
What should you say or write once you reach your person of interest? Rather than introducing yourself as an inventor, which often conjures up images of wacky and impractical dreamers, state that you are a product developer looking to submit a product idea to that particular company. Then, assuming you aren’t interrupted, use a single sentence to state the exact benefit of your product.
What is a good single sentence statement about your invention? Here are some examples:
For a household products company: “I have a new product that safely whitens laundry without damaging it.”
For an office supply company: “My chairs are ergonomic and cost 90% less to produce than most standard office chairs.”
For a tools manufacturer: “My table saw has a safety shut-off device activated by human tissue .”
Offer more product information.
Close your call or letter by asking if you can send additional product information. In most cases, managers and salespeople won’t object to obtaining a simple email or letter containing your sell sheet; in the worst case scenario, your literature can be easily deleted or thrown out. However, should your sell sheet spark someone’s interest, you might just have yourself a licensee.
Any potential licensing company worth its salt will probably ask that you show up in person to provide a technical presentation of your product and its benefits. Thus, you will need to prepare some slides outlining your invention and all of its benefits. You might even need to throw in a few technical details in the form of charts and graphs.
If you have a friend or family member who is a good orator, don’t hesitate to ask her about coming with you and helping to explain the product and its purpose. Sometimes, it helps to have a “product team” with you during your technical presentation as a show of group collaboration and support- and it doesn’t matter if this team only consists of your Mom, spouse or high school buddy.
Seal the deal- with an attorney.
You might be offered a licensing deal right on the spot following your presentation. However, before you sign the dotted line, get yourself a licensing attorney who knows the fine details of this business process. Let her negotiate the terms for you, especially if you’ve never before negotiated with a company regarding licensing.
Don’t be shy with your licensing company. Ask your contact for sales projections for your invention and the wholesale item price that the company intends to charge. Also, find out if this company wants an exclusive or non-exclusive license on your invention. With an exclusive license, you won’t be able to license your invention idea out to anyone else for a specified amount of time; however, with a non-exclusive license, you’ll be able to query other companies and make licensing deals with them too.
The caveats to each of these license types are that exclusive licenses pay you a higher royalty, while the non-exclusive licenses offer a lower payout.
Get paid!
Once a company has become your licensee, start expecting your royalty checks to arrive…in the near future. It could still take some time (think months to years) before your product has been developed, manufactured and sold to finally generate that passive income for you. However, if you can licence a few invention ideas each year and make 3-5% in royalties from them, you’ll be well on your way to earning a passive income.
*Your NDA may not be signed automatically if your potential licensee objects to some of the document’s clauses and wishes to modify them so the manufacturing company has better flexibility to create and market your invention. In such cases, you should have your licensing attorney look over the company’s proposed changes before signing the modified NDA.
Did you engage in theater productions or take acting lessons in high school or college? Do you like to make announcements, toasts or give entire speeches? If yes, then you might be perfectly suited to making extra money as a voice over artist (or voice over actor).
What is a voice over artist?
If you’ve ever listened to a book on tape, a late night product commercial, or a business radio announcement, you’ve probably heard voice over actors speaking and not the respective authors, manufacturers or business owners. Voice over actors are routinely hired by both online and off-line clients because most individuals, truth be told, do not orate well.
There are many broadcast media that hire voice over artists, including TV and radio, for production numbers such as commercials, public announcements, cartoons and animations, documentaries and movie trailers. Non broadcast entities such as corporations, small businesses, religious organizations, webmasters and schools also hire voice over actors for help with creating podcasts, rich media presentations, educational, training and product videos, and even those pesky phone recordings you hear while on hold.
With apps and online games taking off, voice over actors often work with programmers and gamers to generate different character voices and sayings.
In short, there is a wide range of work available for those folks who want to be the voice behind the scene.
What equipment do you need?
At the very least, you will need a quiet, soundproof room as well as a decent microphone. You should also consider installing the free audio recording and editing software Audacity onto your computer.
Of course, as you build your voice over business, you could eventually outfit your recording studio like Todd Schick.
How much money can you make as a voice over artist?
The following voice work rate card from Voices provides you with a good idea of what to charge for your voice work. Of course, as a beginner voice over artist, you may wish to start your rates a bit lower and work your way up while accumulating referrals and samples of your work.
Still, it’s not unusual to earn $200-$300 for a 5 minute voice over even as a beginner, especially if the work is in a highly specialized field that requires fluency with multi-syllabic words and phrases. Thus, if you have any technical or educational expertise, take advantage of your background and advertise your proficiencies up-front.
So, how can you get started in this business? The easiest way is to check out these online sites, which help you advertise your services, negotiate your rates, and scope out voice over jobs.
This site, which was launched by two Voice123 co-founders, Voicebunny is a kind of “fast food” version of voice over service sites, offering clients fast and cheap turnarounds on jobs that are mostly in some kind of technical market. As such, you will see lots of requests for audio podcasts, webinars, reports and news articles listed here. You set your own rates and can also post sample voice overs (i.e., demos) for clients to listen to.
Once a client creates a work request, time is of the essence in terms of you accepting that request and creating a voice audition. In fact, you are actually set up with a timer once you take on a work gig. If that timer runs out, the work request returns to the pool.
Your completed audition is first checked by Voicebunny staff for correctness and legitimacy (e.g., not being spam), after which it is sent to the client. The client then either accepts or rejects your audition. If your audition is accepted, Voicebunny pays you your personally set rate. Rejected auditions are not paid for and there are no retakes.
Some criticisms of Voicebunny include excessive audition rejection by Voicebunny staff, lower than average pay, and no extra pay for what is essentially rush work. As such, Voicebunny is a kind of beginner’s site that most beginners leave once they rack up enough work and client referrals.
This site is not for beginners and voice over artists deal with clients directly in terms of setting up auditions, negotiating rates and getting paid. The site deals with some big-name clients including Zynga, Universal Studios and MTV.
While Voice123 charges no commission or fees on jobs, it does “strongly encourage” its members to sign up for its premium membership at $395/year. Members who are signed up under the free or standard membership are still listed in the voice actors directory and can obtain work through direct invitation, but obtaining steady gigs is slim given that standard member profiles are listed below those of the premium members via the site’s search feature. Also, premium members receive audition invitations through the site, while standard members are not notified of such opportunities.
Voice123 uses a voice casting software called SmartCast to match voice talent with appropriate clients based on prior audition behavior and thus cut down on low quality auditions and bidding wars. Thus, if you habitually audition for a type of voice over such as a webinar presentation, you will get invited to more webinar casting calls. On the flip side, if you habitually audition for low-paying gigs, you will be invited to more low-paying gigs.
This site is the crème-de-la-crème of voice over sites and offers its talent the opportunity to work with clients including national TV stations, movie studios and major corporations. Also, the minimum casting call payout is $100, with a good number of calls paying between $100-$250.
Voices, much like Voice123, offers free and paid memberships, with the free (i.e., guest) members only receiving direct invitation gigs and not appearing at the top of the search results. Also, free members do not see publicly posted jobs.
Paying members also take advantage of VoiceMatch, a software program that, much like SmartCast, matches the most appropriate voice talent to posted gigs and then adjusts its matches based on voice over artist behavior. The site also offers SurePay Escrow protection to prevent clients from ripping off voice over actors; the downside to this protection is that it takes a 10% cut for its services.
This site occasionally lists available gigs on its site. Interested voice over actors can also peruse career sites like Indeed or Monster for job openings via Snap Recordings.
This site doesn’t offer a ready-made area for voice talent to instantly create their profiles; however, under the Contact Us tab, artists can apply directly to Voicesnow for consideration.
Voice over artists can also get contracted by Voice talent; the site occasionally posts openings online or through career sites like Indeed, Glassdoor and Monster.
Still not sure where to start?
The voice over community is fairly huge and offers many online networking opportunities where you can hone your craft, find out pay rate specifics, and find voice over gigs on your own. Here are some online sites you should consider checking out:
All Star Voices– This social networks posts jobs, lists voice coaches, hosts a resource center, and much more.
Voice-Over Friends– This Facebook group posts regular notices about the industry as well as job opportunities.
Voice Over Universe– This forum posts reviews of voice over sites, educational materials and events.
Are you a voice over artist? Please describe your experiences in the comments below.
Do you love to try new foods or are you a foodie with some amazing taste buds? You can put your taste buds to work and earn extra money by becoming a food tester (i.e., sensory panelist). Lots of food manufacturers and research companies need consumers to try out their products before they are stocked on store shelves.
Sometimes, the work requires that you show up on-site and be a part of a focus group or consumer panel. In many cases, however, you might complete your work online as part of a consumer survey or online forum. Thus, even if you can’t always be physically present at a test facility, you can still make money from home as a food taster.
Food testing companies and laboratories
There are many companies that perform food testing and research for big-name clients like Dole, PepsiCo, Tyson, Nestle, Kraft Foods, etc. These companies often hire food testers for consumer panels and studies that take place throughout the year. Here is a list of some companies you can periodically check in with about food testing opportunities:
Contract Testing, Inc.
This company has offices in Ontario and Georgia and is always recruiting food tasters on its website’s database. Eligible participants are most often called in to work at one of the company’s field sites; however, some products can be taken and tried out at home. Surveys are conducted by computer.
Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development
The Consumer Product Testing Centre, located in Alberta, Canada, periodically recruits food testers through the following web page. Participants can try a variety of food products including pasta, yogurt, chocolate and cookies. An honorarium of $15 is paid for every completed study.
Food Perspectives
This Minneapolis/St. Paul-based company recruits both adults and children to its consumer database.
Franklin Foods
This company strives to “re-invent cream cheese” by researching novel dips, spreads, sauces, etc. Those interested in joining the company’s consumer panel can sign up online.
Herron Research
This market research firm periodically recruits food testers in the Indianapolis, IN and Tampa, FL areas. Interested participants should leave their name and contact information in Herron’s database. Herron will then contact those participants whose specifications match study criteria to join its on-site consumer panels.
Leatherhead Food Research
Leatherhead not only conducts food tasting studies, but also performs consumer analysis and food nutrition studies. This means that panelists who sign up with the site might be asked to undergo fasting, for example, during a study on appetite and certain foods.
Participants in these consumer groups must reside in the U.K.; however, Leatherhead is also looking for home product testers based in the U.K., France and U.S. through its SenseReach program.
MMR Research
This international company, with locations in the U.S., China and the U.K., performs a wide range of analyses for companies like Kellogg’s, Unilever and ConAgra. Occasionally, sensory panelist and consumer focus group opportunities are listed on the MMR Careers page.
National Food Laboratory
This California-based company performs research studies on everything from food safety to packaging to visual appeal. Sensory panelist positions are occasionally offered on the NFL’s careers web page.
Northland Laboratories
This company is based out of Illinois and recruits participants for its food and beverage studies through its online sign-up form.
Food manufacturers
Individual food manufacturers and restaurants will also recruit food tasters and compensate their efforts with not only money but cool schwag like T-shirts, food items and gift cards.
McCormick Corporation
This company recruits consumer panelists to its Maryland office for periodic taste tests. Individuals can participate in McCormick product tastings once every three months.
Schwan Food Company
Schwan is based in Minnesota and, via its Sensory Tasting Laboratory, offers opportunities for taste testers to sample its foods, provide feedback, and be compensated for their time. Potential food testers can learn more about the program through the following web page. The company pays $15 for each completed study.
Solae
This company, based in St. Louis, develops soy-based products and recruits participants for its food tasting studies on the following web page.
Additional places that list food taster opportunities
Some food testing companies and manufacturers do not list food taster opportunities on their websites but rather on sites like SimplyHired, Monster, LinkedIn, Indeed and CareerBuilder. To find these opportunities, use search terms like “food tester,” “food taster,” “sensory panelist,” or “taste tester.”
You can also try inputting the same search terms into Google or Bing and seeing what pops up. If you’re hoping to work with a specific brand, use Boolean search and input that brand’s name into your search- for example, you could input “food tester AND Kraft” to find out if Kraft is recruiting food testers.
How much money do food taster studies pay?
Food testing focus groups often pay $60-$75/hour for participants who show up and successfully complete the study. Companies that offer online surveys pay between $1/question or $15/survey. Occasionally, companies will offer combined compensation in the form of money and gift cards or free product coupons.
You may want to rethink paying money to promote your Facebook page. Why? It appears that those “likes” you’re paying for are actually fake. Furthermore, these fake likes are coming from Facebook itself, not some shady click farms or black hat SEO operations.
And even worse, Facebook has still not addressed the issue.
What are click farms?
Before we talk about Facebook fraud and fake likes, let’s first discuss click farms. Akin to content farms, click farms employ masses of low-paid clickers who are paid solely on the number of clicks they generate. Many such click farms are often (though not always) located in third world countries. In some cases, these “click farmers” are paid to like something on Facebook. For example, a click farmer might like your donut shop Facebook page.
However, unlike a regular clicker, the click farmer has no further interest in seeing your news updates or commenting on your Facebook posts. No, the click farmer is socially uninvolved with you and your product. Aside from that like, you’d never know that this person is a fan of your page.
Because the click farmer is making X amount of money per 1000 clicks, he will also indiscriminately like other Facebook pages. As a result, the profile of this clicker will show him liking all manner of unrelated people, places or things- and a lot of them too.
Veritasium’s strange case of zombie Facebook fans
It’s reasonable to assume that, if you retain the services of a shady SEO firm, you will collect bogus Likes through click farms. However, what if you take the higher moral ground and actually pay Facebook to promote your page?
Facebook states that, for a discrete fee, it will actively promote your page, increasing its likelihood of reaching a wider audience and accumulating likes. For example, if I pay Facebook $20, I can get up to 70 new likes per day on my Evansville Area Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club page.
Back in 2012, Derek Muller, the guy who operates Veritasium, decided to buy some Facebook advertising. Almost immediately, he saw his Facebook like number jump from a mere two thousand to over seventy thousand. However, what he also noticed was that engagement levels on his Facebook page were no better than before. In some cases, engagement levels were actually worse.
How could this be?
When Derek analyzed his new likes, he noticed two disturbing trends: first, the majority of his new fans originated from countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and second, almost 0% of these thousands of new fans engaged with any of his posts or other content.
More fans = less engagement?!?
Having those fake likes was actually worse than having a few real likes. When Derek had previously published a post on Facebook, his fans were likely to engage with that post. This high level of engagement enabled the post to later reach a wider circle of his Facebook fans.
However, once Derek’s posts started going out to his fake fans, those fans did not interact with the posts and Facebook used that non-interaction as an indication that the posts were not interesting and should not be sent to a wider fan base. It’s as if the fake fans just absorbed the posts and made them die. This is how having those extra fans actually made Veritasium’s engagement levels worse.
Derek tried deleting his new likes but there was (and still is) no systematic way to perform this action. As a result, Veritasium’s fan engagement levels were actually harmed by Derek’s paying for Facebook advertising.
How bad is the problem?
Veritasium is not the only case study of fake Facebook likes. After a few drug and biotech companies got burned by fake Likes, the bioscience consulting company Comprendia advised them to steer clear of Facebook advertising. And then there’s the State Department, which last year spent $630,000 to acquire Facebook likes- and saw only a 2% engagement level from its “fans.”
But what if an advertiser simply blocked her page from being promoted in click farm-associated countries like India or Pakistan? Because advertisers can select the countries in which their pages are promoted, sticking with countries like the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Canada should alleviate the issue of click farm likes- right?
Unfortunately, as an anonymous source named “Bob” found out, limiting Likes to certain countries does not completely solve the problem. Click farmers will sporadically like Facebook pages that they are not even being paid to like. They do this to avoid spam/bot detection by Facebook. Obviously, if a click farmer is generating likes on just a select few advertiser pages, it’s easier to get caught. But if the click farmer is going everywhere and liking a lot of different advertiser pages, the likes seem more random.
What is Facebook doing about it?
In a nutshell, not much. While Facebook claims that it takes aggressive action against fraudulent Facebook accounts and fake likes, the most obvious action- enabling Facebook users to delete fake likes in bulk- hasn’t been considered.
You’d think that Facebook would get on the stick about removing bogus likes or just trying to eliminate the problem from occurring in the first place. However, consider what a frustrated advertiser who is suddenly inundated with 10,000 new likes yet no increased engagement might do. Yep, he might decide to pay Facebook, yet again, to promote his posts to his newly expanded audience. Such promotion is termed boosting, as shown here on my own Facebook page for my I&E Club:
So now, not only is Facebook making money by promoting a page (i.e., accumulating fake likes), it is also making money by boosting posts that the fake fans have no interest in seeing and engaging with.
In other words, fake likes are a boon to Facebook, and the company actually benefits twice from this “unresolved problem.”
In summary…don’t buy Facebook advertising
If you’ve been considering buying Facebook advertising, don’t do it. However, if you’ve already bought Facebook advertising, please let us know in the comments below regarding how your new likes and engagement levels have turned out.
If you have a hot new invention or business idea, you could try crowdfunding your business idea through a site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. However, on a more local level, you could also try pitching that idea through a business pitch contest. Why should you consider taking advantage of a business pitch contest?
Business pitch competition perks
1. You learn the art of persuasion
If you plan to run a business over the long-term, there will come a point where you’ll need to raise capital. This might occur by going through a bank, selling debentures or private equity, or just convincing Uncle Bob to loan you a few thousand bucks. By learning how to get investors on board early in the game, your business stands a higher chance of succeeding.
2. You obtain valuable feedback.
In a business pitch competition, every contestant is provided with feedback on her business plan, revenue model, customer base, etc. Also, the judges ask tough questions about how the invention or business idea and how it will be brought to fruition. Such “tough love” ahead of time improves your business skills and areas of expertise.
3. You gain connections.
Places that host business pitch competitions are typically associated with entrepreneur clubs, business schools, business coaching organizations, etc. These places can direct you to people or resources that will aid you in finding an injection molding service or publisher or cinematographer. You’ll avoid making costly production mistakes in the process.
4. You step up accountability.
Anytime a business uses public funds, such as by selling stock, it must provide a public accounting of its business activities. In your case, winning a business pitch competition means that you need to return to the host organization and give an update on your business idea success or failure. You may also be tasked with completing set goals in a given time frame. Such accountability measures keep you from endlessly procrastinating on your work or fudging the revenue report.
5. You gain credibility.
Quite often, big grants ride on the coattails of smaller contest wins. If you’re looking to eventually apply for bigger money or just sign up a big name investor/partner, you are certainly helped by having a contest win in your corner.
6. You get money!
Lest we forget, business pitch competitions enable you to get your hands on some sweet cash. Some contests hand out $500, while other contests award as much as $20,000 for your business pitch.
Where can you find a business pitch competition?
Schools of business
Universities with a school of business will often offer a yearly business pitch competition. As examples, the Robins School of Business offers a $5,000 contest purse, and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation offers a $10,000 contest purse. Across the pond, the University of Edinburgh offers a £3000 purse.
In some cases, contest eligibility is limited to current or former students of the school. In other cases, you simply have to be a state or area resident.
Chambers of commerce
Cities, towns and even villages have chambers of commerce that award hefty cash prizes in exchange for business ideas that inevitably lead to business growth in those communities. One example includes the Henry and Stark Counties Fast Pitch Competition, which awards an $8,500 purse to existing and start-up businesses. Another example is Swim with the Sharks, a video pitch competition for businesses fewer than three years old.
In general, contestants have to be area residents or businesses.
Entrepreneur clubs
Often in partnership with a city’s economic development committee or council, entrepreneur clubs host annual business pitch competitions that award several hundred dollars as well as non-monetary perks like free classes, reimbursed filings, etc. Pitch contestants and/or winners may be asked to help out with some of the club’s events or attend a few meetings.
Hackerspaces
Hackerspaces like Sector67 host a monthly Madison SOUP event where attendees enjoy a meal and donate a few bucks to help fund a community micro-grant. Those attendees who pitch a small business idea and win the cash pot are obligated to return the following month and give an update of their progress.
Most hackerspaces are non-profit entities, so the money that is raised during a contest must typically be used to help the local community. However, if you have an idea that would help your neighborhood, county, city, etc., your area hackerspace could be the perfect place to pitch.
Non-profits
Non-profit organizations often feature pitch contests that focus on creating social change. However, that doesn’t mean that your business pitch can’t benefit from these organizations. If you creatively structure your business idea so that it helps a local cause or charity, you can win some big bucks from the non-profit sector. One example includes Social Venture Partners of Pittsburgh; this organization hosts a Fall Pitch that awards $12,500 to the top winner.
Things to keep in mind
You will more than likely need to create and submit a business plan in order to be seriously considered by contest judges. This is especially true if large amounts of money are being awarded.
Business pitch competitions, much like crowdfunding initiatives on Indiegogo or Kickstarter, come with the stipulation that all winners are accountable to the paying organization; in other words, winners need to provide one or more updates of their progress. In some cases, the organization may request that the money be returned if funds are misappropriated or not spent as intended.
In other words, be very clear about what you need the money for and then, don’t blow it on something completely unrelated to the original pitch.
Have you ever competed in a business pitch contest? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below.
Is your brick-and-mortar bank stiffing you when it comes to your savings account interest rate? I didn’t even realize how low my banks’ interest rates were until I started perusing my savings accounts. Read ‘em and weep:
The following is my savings account annual percentage rate (APR), as well as the interest paid to me, by BMO Harris Bank.
Oak Bank, which has a fairly high credit rating and is a one-owner, one-branch and one location bank located in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, offers the following interest rates:
Even my Polish & Slavic Federal Credit Union, which I assumed would have higher interest rates due to the fact that it is a credit union, only offers a 0.05% annual interest rate on its regular and money market savings accounts:
Classic brick-and-mortar banks seldom pay more than a 0.05% APR and often require that you maintain at least a thousand bucks in the account in order to collect your piddly interest.
In light of these abysmally low interest rates, it’s no wonder that people are draining their bank accounts and investing in stocks, bonds or even gold. Still, you do need to have ready access to cash in case of an emergency; so, you need to have at least some funds squirreled away in a savings account. The question, remains, however, just which banks have the highest savings account interest rates.
The answer lies in online banks.
Unlike the brick-and-mortars, online banks don’t have physical locations to pay for and upkeep. Staffing costs are also reduced because most of the banking is automated. These cost savings usually translate to higher interest rates for you. Furthermore, online banks, just like their brick-and-mortar siblings, are FDIC insured.
Here are some online banks that offer the highest interest rates. I’ve organized the banks from highest to lowest rates.
First time account holders of EverBank’s Yield Pledge Money Market Accounts earn a 6-month bonus rate of 1.40%, and a 1.01% APR thereafter for up to the first $50,000 invested. While a minimum $1,500 is required to start a money market account, there is no actual minimum amount required to collect interest.
This New York-based bank offers online Mysavings Accounts that pay a 1.00% APR. There are no fees or minimum amounts required; also, you can fund your savings account directly from your current checking account.
This bank offers an Optimizer Plus High Yield Savings account that pays one of the best interest rates ever at 0.95%. Money market accounts pay a 0.85% APR. There is no minimum balance required; however, you are assessed a $5 monthly fee if your account falls below $50. Interest is compounded daily.
With just a minimum deposit of $100, you can have your savings account with CIT Bank earning a nice 0.90% APR. Savings accounts that are $25,000 or higher earn a 0.95% APR with CIT. This St. Louis-based bank has been around since 1908.
Barclays online savings account offer a high 0.90% APR, no hidden fees or account minimums, as well as easy transfers from your other existing banks. Plus, you can set up direct deposit so that you can save money regularly. The bank also offers CDs with a 0.35%-2.25% APR.
Another clear winner in the high APR category is GE Capital Bank- this online institution pays a whopping 0.90% on savings accounts and requires no minimum balance. Yearly CDs pay a 1.10% APR, and 5-year CDs pay an even better 2.25%. The bank offers no checking accounts, incidentally, just savings instruments.
Headquartered in Midvale, Utah, Ally offers a competitive 0.87% interest rate on savings accounts and a 0.87% APR on money market accounts. Neither account requires a minimal balance.
Ally also offers some convenient perks like the ability to link all your other bank accounts to your Ally account. You can also deposit your checks simply by snapping a photo of them with your smartphone.
While better known as the credit card that gives you cashback rewards, Discover also operates an online bank that pays a hefty 0.85% APR on savings accounts. While an initial $500 is required to fund your account, there is no minimum required balance, and no monthly fees are assessed if you fall below your initial funding amount.
Discover also offers CDs at a 0.95% APR (for 12-month CDs).
This online branch of the First National Bank of Omaha offers a 0.85% APR and requires only a $1 deposit to start an online savings account. FNBO Direct also pays quite well on CDs, with 6-60 month CDs all earning a 1.15% APR.
Yet another well-known credit card company, American Express also offers personal high-yield savings accounts that pay a 0.80% APR. No monthly fees are assessed and there is no minimum balance required. American Express also offers 36-month CDs that generate a 0.90% APR.
This bank offers several online savings options, including a 360 Savings Account for adults and a Kids Savings Account. Both items currently pay an APR of 0.75% and require no minimum balance. There are also CDs available that pay from 0.40%-0.90%.
Online banks: Make your money grow
When it comes to keeping a savings account, why have your money earn a measly 0.01% or so when you can earn over 1% with some of these online winners? While such an APR doesn’t compare to what you can earn by doing P2P lending or stock trading, nevertheless, online savings accounts serve their purpose by giving you ready access to your cash whenever that rainy day or vacation comes up.
If you read my post earlier this week on Landing Pages 101, you already know how important landing pages are to winning sales, increasing email subscribers, etc. You also have a good idea of how to write an effecting landing page. However, how do you go about generating the actual landing page on your WordPress (WP) website or blog?
Traditionally, landing pages were (and still are) generated on their own subdomain within a website. For example, if your website is http://www.mywebsite.com, then your landing page is parked at http://landingpage.website.com. This is done so that a visitor does not simply locate the landing page by visiting the website, but only by clicking on a designated ad, web page or email link.
Landing pages also usually required graphic design skills so that they’d have templates that looked professional and helped maintain consistency across multiple campaigns.
Both of these requirements made landing pages a bit of a challenge for beginner website owners and bloggers. Luckily, if the website or blog is hosted on a WP platform, there are many different WP plugins that can be used to install landing page generators and make the process easier. Here are some of the best free or affordably priced WP landing page plugins:
1. WordPress Landing Pages
This free plugin, created by David Wells and the Inbound Now team, offers a very comprehensive collection of features including unlimited landing pages, conversion rate tracking, A/B and multivariate split testing, email list integration, and contact form generation. When you download the plugin, you are instantly prompted to install two additional and free plugins: WordPress Leads and Calls to Action. These two plugins enable you to better organize and track your leads and create unique call-to-action (CTAs), respectively.
WordPress Landing Pages also comes with a visual editor, allowing you to make changes to your landing page and see how they appear in real time. A/B and multivariate testing is made easy with multiple WordPress-like page/post tabs that can be filled in and changed at will.
Finally, WordPress Landing Pages allows you to generate and insert marketing shortcodes; in essence, these are snippets of code that the plugin creates for social sharing buttons, check marks, or other icons. Best of all, you don’t need to do any coding to generate these icons.
The only drawback to WordPress Landing Pages is that integrating it with an existing email list is not free and costs $25-$35 (depending on the actual service).
2. Parallax Gravity
This free WordPress plugin enables you to create landing pages that use parallax sections; in other words, page text sections move while the images and background stay put. You can add as many sections and section materials as you wish and see the changes in real time via the plugin’s VisualEditor. Additional features can be added using shortcodes, including shortcodes from other plugins.
The two big drawbacks with this free plugin are the inability to set your landing page as the homepage and the lack of an autoresponder. However, because the plugin is very open to incorporating shortcodes, you could probably even create an autoresponder using your own shortcode.
3. WP Lead Plus Free Squeeze Page Creator
This free plugin also offers lots of parallax-enabled page sections, logo and video integration, and font control. It features a VisualEditor, enabling easy changes on-the-fly. And because your pages are created as basic WP pages, you can embed your own background and/or WP template(s).
Additionally, unlike Parallax Gravity, WP Lead Plus offers an autoresponder option as well as the ability to set your landing page as the homepage.
Being able to use your own website background and/or templates is actually crucial because this plugin doesn’t offer too many of its own templates- at least not in its free version. Another common complaint about this plugin is that it’s not very intuitive, and you need to carefully watch the video tutorials in order to create a decent landing page.
4. InstaBuilder
This fairly inexpensive plugin runs $47 for a single user license and enables you to create landing pages that contain high level graphics, one time offers, delayed pop-up messages with CTAs, Facebook opt-ins, autoresponders, offer timers, and videos. You also gain access to 70 pre-built templates and a huge range of images like buttons, guarantee symbols, boxes, etc. And you can still create your own images using the plugin’s marketing shortcodes.
Instabuilder landing pages can look quite slick, given that you’re able to add videos and pre-built graphics rather easily. Instabuilder pages can also be connected to Facebook using Facebook Connect, enabling users to click on those pages via their Facebook accounts.
Finally, Instabuilder-created pages are instantly formatted to fit on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
5. OptimizePress 2.0
This WordPress plugin, created by James Dyson, helps you not only generate professional-looking landing pages but also secure membership portals, online courses, webinar registration pages, product launch funnels and blogs. The plugin costs a $97 flat fee for three licenses, which is a bit more money than the other plugins described here, but the fee may well be worth it. Here’s an example sales page portion (with the CTA located at the end of a long scroll) that was generated using OptimizePress 2.0:
OptimizePress 2.0 comes with LiveEditor, meaning that your edits occur in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get format, allowing you to build a page in just minutes and know exactly how it’s going to look in real time. Email integration is included in your $97 fee.
The plugin offers numerous page layouts, with you selecting how many rows and columns you wish for your page to have. Theoretically, because there is no limit on numbers, you could have an infinite amount of rows/columns. There is also a ton of elements you can add into your pages, from buttons and content toggles to audio players and Facebook comments.
Landing pages…they’re the future (of your sales)!
If you are on the fence about buying a WP landing page plugin, try one of the freebies listed above. Even a rudimentary WP landing page plugin can help increase your product/service sales and draw in new customers. As time goes on, you may want to do more with your sales and/or better track your customers- and end up purchasing a paid plugin.
Your eyes may dazzle at the mention of marketing automation, but there’s not much to the name. Marketing automation, or MA, is simply the systematic generation and tracking of sales leads (aka, customers), usually through a software platform that allows you to create and run marketing campaigns.
With MA, you can create, categorize and test your emails, for starters. You can also generate and store various landing pages, as well as different versions of those landing pages. Many MA platforms enable mobile marketing as well as e-commerce integration. You may even be able to do ad retargeting, wherein the ad viewer is cookied and then sees your ads later on via his/her browser.
Marketo, Act-ON and Oracle/Eloqua are some better-known MA brands. These top-of-the-line platforms enable medium and large companies to do all kinds of snazzy marketing things like lead generation, email marketing, retargeting, A/B testing, etc. Unfortunately, smaller businesses, individual marketers and bloggers are hardly in the position to afford such platforms, which often run over a thousand bucks a month.
Luckily, there are discount MA platforms that offer many of the services of the “big box” platforms for a fraction of the price. Some of these platforms are completely free. Here are some bargain-priced MA platforms that you may want to consider using:
This platform takes a heavy-handed approach with social media marketing, monitoring the various social media platforms for any mention of your business and the exact sentiment (e.g., anger, praise, criticism) being expressed. Such cloud process optimization, as it’s called, is then integrated with the platform’s CRM and can also be routed to different departments within your business (e.g., customer service). The basic monitoring service costs $0 per month and may be all your business needs to use for a very long time.
If you have only 100 visitors/month and up to 500 contacts, JumpLead’s free MA platform allows you to identify website visitors, generate landing pages, optimize content for up to 5 keywords, perform analytics and set up email and social media campaigns for $0/month. The next price increment is only $49/month and gives you 20 keywords to manage plus live chat support.
This MA system is completely free to use if you limit it to one user and 2,500 contacts or fewer. Within the free version of Leadsius, you can create web forms and landing pages as well as emails and custom email templates. Contacts are stored in a dedicated database. Basic web and email analytics are also included in your free trial. Additionally, you gain access to a community support forum and a rather comprehensive knowledge base.
This MA system starts at $125/month, which is a bit pricier than the other systems noted here. Luckily, you can “try before you buy” with a 15-day free trial.
What’s great about LeadSquared is that it offers a extremely comprehensive marketing platform. You not only get the usual MA features like lead generation and landing page creation, but specialty items like keyword analysis, API integration, and phone call tracking.
LeadSquared also dedicates significant effort to contact acquisition and analysis, employing individual measurements for contacts gathered from your website, blog, social media pages, chat and webinar sites, plus phone calls and email opens.
For $95/month and fewer than 1,000 contacts, this platform offers a massive number of MA features including visitor tracking, email campaign management, A/B testing, analytics, automated messaging, real-time sales lead alerts, and landing page creation. The only thing that is not included with the $95/month plan is CRM. If you’re not sure about using Nurture, the company does offer a 30-day free trial of its software.
You can have an unlimited trial of this MA system as long as you send fewer than 400 emails per month and maintain one system user. Sales AutoPilot not only offers email marketing, opt-in page creation and A/B testing, it also includes customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce options, and it can link to a call center. Finally, the system is available as an API, meaning you can work with it from your smartphone or other non Web-based device.
Spokal focuses on two big marketing ‘arms,’ namely, social media and content marketing. If you just want to try out the social media marketing (i.e., Twitter) side of this platform, the basic subscription is $19/month. However, for another $30 (or $49/month), you can also test the platform’s content marketing side, which is where Spokal really differentiates itself.
To begin with, Spokal offers a keyword research tool that enables you to generate SEO’ed content and rich media. The platform also performs optimization analysis after your content is generated, offers SEO advice, and scores leads gained through your search marketing efforts.
Is MA right for you?
If you wish to score additional sales leads, find out what your potential customers are doing and where they are going, and make repeat sales of your products/services, then it’s almost a given that you’ll need some kind of automated software to help you manage your business. Luckily, many MA software platforms are free to use- or almost free.
If you want to sell products online but don’t know where to start, perhaps becoming an Amazon seller through Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) is the right path for you.
With FBA, you can sell your products without thinking about the logistics of storing your inventory, packing, and shipping each order, and taking care of returns for damaged items.
Today’s article is your guide on what FBA is, how to become an Amazon seller, and how you can build a business from home.
How Does Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) Work?
If this is the first time you’re hearing of FBA, don’t fret.
Quite simply, it’s a way to become an Amazon seller where Amazon does all the hard work for you.
Here’s how FBA works:
First, you send Amazon your products, and then they store it in one or more of their fulfillment centers. Amazon fulfillment centers are these million-acre warehouses run by robots and Amazon employees.
Next, your products are inventoried and sorted so they’re ready to go out anytime.
When a customer places an order for your product, Amazon processes the payment and takes care of crediting your account.
Then, the product/s that the customer ordered is picked from the shelves of the fulfillment center and shipped to them.
Amazon follows up with the customer to make sure that they receive the product. If anything else needs to be processed after that, such as returns, refunds, replacements, or any other processes or requests, Amazon takes care of it, too.
It pretty much sounds like Amazon is doing all the work. What are your responsibilities, then?
As an Amazon seller through FBA, your main responsibilities are to select the products, manage your inventory, and to sell; that is, promote and advertise your products so that customers find them and buy them.
Advantages of FBA
Aside from the obvious benefit of not having to rent a warehouse to store your products and not having to pack and ship products yourself, Amazon has provided a number of incentives to attract more Amazon sellers to use FBA.
Products under FBA are much more likely to have the “buy box”; that is, the “Add To Cart” button inside the white box right beside the product.
Products under FBA are immediately eligible for free Two Day Shipping for Amazon Prime members, and for super saver free delivery for orders above $25.
Amazon takes care of customer service, refunds, returns, and all the other messy details so you can focus on advertising your products and convincing customers to buy your products.
Disadvantages of FBA
Before you get deeper into Amazon FBA, here are some cons you should consider.
Unexpected storage fees – Sometimes, when items have been stored at the Amazon facility for a long time, the company will bill you for items that are slow to sell.
High standards of packaging and labeling – Amazon makes you follow strict and laborious packaging and labeling. This isn’t just time-consuming, but also expensive on your part.
Tax issues – Using Amazon to fulfill orders means your sales tax would be considered state-level, which can be confusing if your business is registered in another state.
Potentially increased returns – Amazon has a no-questions-asked return policy, which means you can expect higher amounts of returns when you sell through Amazon. And if you already know, any returned item means you pay for its journey back to the warehouse without any benefit or sales from your end.
FBA fees – Joining Amazon FBA isn’t free. Sellers must pay fees to use the program. While the benefits of using FBA can outweigh the cons to some sellers, smaller or new sellers may be surprised that the Amazon FBA fees could easily eat into their profits.
How to Become an Amazon Seller in 6 Steps
Actually, before you get too deep into it, get the following ready: your bank account number, bank routing number, chargeable credit card, government-issued photo ID, and tax information.
I’ve broken down the steps you need to take to become an Amazon Seller below. You’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to get your goods listed.
You only need to fill out a few forms to get started.
For the time being, you can select the option to ‘Sell as an Individual’ and avoid the monthly fee, especially if you’re just getting started.
As an individual, you’ll pay a flat rate of $0.99 per item sold, with no monthly fees.
This is good for getting your feet wet while saving a few bucks. You’ll be able to try out FBA before making a monthly commitment.
Professional accounts come with a $39.99/month fee but no charge per item sold. The professional level also unlocks more categories and more features.
If you are planning on listing more than 40 items initially, it becomes more cost-effective to sell as a professional. But if not, just work as an individual.
If you don’t already know what products to sell, now is the time to find your niche and do your product research.
Finding your niche is maybe the most difficult part of becoming an Amazon seller. It can be exciting to find an opportunity to build a business, and you tend to want to sell anything you can get your hands on.
But the best way to be successful in this business is to focus on one particular area of interest or industry and be an expert at selling products in that niche.
Growth can come through selling additional products in the same niche, or simply selling more of your best sellers.
Product research is another difficult but necessary part of selling on Amazon. Check out our whole article on product research, but basically, you want to find products in your niche that you know people will buy and you know you can make a decent profit.
Start by finding products that solve problems and checking if such products already exist and are being sold by other sellers.
Check out online stores and see if people are buying the products that you have in mind. See if you can find a gap in the market if you think it’s too saturated.
Once you know what products you want to sell, the next step is to decide how to source your products.
The most popular ways to become an Amazon seller is to become either a reseller or a private labeler.
Resellers are those who sell already-existing products for a profit. That is, buy bulk at a wholesale price and sell them at retail price.
It’s easy to start as a reseller, as it requires little initial investment but opens up your products to plenty of customers through Amazon.
However, with the amount of competition you face on Amazon, you risk not being able to sell your entire stock and being stuck with a lot of products that aren’t moving and making you profit.
Retail arbitrage involves looking for deals in clearance sales, auctions, retail stores, online stores, and other places to buy products at a cheap price and sell them at a high price.
Though retail arbitrage is technically reselling, buying cheap and selling high is different from buying wholesale and selling retail.
You don’t need to buy too many units of a product to get them at a lower price, but you do have to have time and patience to sift through a lot of deals and sales and see which ones are cheapest and yet give you high-quality products.
Private labelers take an existing product, put their own label on it, and make a profit without having to spend time and money on product design.
They can just go straight to product testing to select which product they’re going to label as theirs.
Thus, the time and money they save on product design can go into improving these products they’ve already selected and making them uniquely their own.
Private labelers deal with manufacturers directly, allowing them to establish their own brands.
Having your own brand is more valuable in the long run, but it’s much harder to initiate. It requires a huge capital investment in time and money.
Because Amazon stores and tracks inventory in marked boxes, you will also need to create a new box for each individual box you send.
Hopefully, your inventory items will have easily identifiable codes like a UPC, EAN, or ISSN, but if not, you can also search on an identical item using Amazon’s search function. When you find a match, click ‘Sell Yours.’
After adding some product descriptors, be sure to check off that the item is going to be sold through FBA. Also, you should switch from the default Individual to Case-Packed Items mode. Why?
You will inevitably be shipping multiple identical items of something (e.g., DVDs), and you will want Amazon to track these multiple items separately.
FBA does this by assigning cases. For example, if you have only one DVD to ship, you’d mark it as 1 unit (i.e., article type) per case and 1 number per case. But if you have three of the same DVD to ship, you’d mark them as 1 unit per case and 3 numbers per case.
Keep hitting ‘Add a Listing’ until all your boxed items are cataloged.
5. Prepare Your Products for Shipment to Amazon
Now, click ‘Work on Shipment.’
This will allow you to create and print shipping labels for your box(es). Choose SPD (small parcel delivery) as your shipping option unless your boxed items weigh over 150 lbs.
The other options are LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) and FTL (Full Truckload), and hopefully, you won’t need to worry about these massive haul options for now.
Select UPS as your carrier because it partners with Amazon; in other words, using UPS gives you a shipping discount.
Now you can start printing out your packing slips and shipping labels.
To this end, it helps if you have your own scale that will immediately weigh your boxes. If not, you can input the dimensions of your box(es) online and have it weighed out at your local UPS. Just be sure you eventually print out your labels using FBA and not your local UPS. Amazon’s reduced shipping rates will amaze you.
6. Collect Your Paycheck
Finally! The reason why you’ve gone through all this trouble: the paychecks!
Once you’ve mailed your box(es), you can track your shipments, and eventually your unpacked inventory, via Amazon.
Amazon will notify you when your products sell and will directly deposit the money right into your bank account. Time to sit back and let the money roll in.
There might be an Amazon App for that
Not all of us are blessed with a smartphone, but if you do have one, you can easily scan your goods and determine their immediate value using either an iOS or Android-based price checker Amazon app on your smartphone.
This is useful if you’re dealing with a lot of inventory or prone to checking out store clearance sales for additional merchandise.
One free iPhone-based Amazon app is Amazon Seller. This app really is the best app for sellers just getting started as there is no charge and it connects directly with your Amazon account. The Selling Family put together a free guide to show you how the Amazon Seller app works.
Tips to Become a Successful Amazon Seller
1. Work on your product listings.
Make it easy for shoppers to find your products on Amazon search by adding descriptive titles and high-quality product photos.
2. Learn Amazon’s policies on customer reviews.
Customer ratings and reviews are important for potential customers’ buying decisions, and you might be tempted to pay your way to positive customer reviews. But this can cause more harm than good. Understand their review policies and make sure you don’t violate them.
3. Keep an eye on your performance metrics.
The key numbers to look at are your order defect rate (customer service standards), pre-fulfillment cancel rate (cancellations by the seller), and late shipment rate (orders that ship beyond the expected date).
4. Study how to advertise and promote your listings.
Springing for sponsored ads, providing promotions and discounts, and offering free shipping and coupons are all great ways to increase your sales, if you do them the right way.
Some things to consider when becoming an Amazon Seller
1. Amazon will charge you for everything.
Aside from the fees for your selling plan (Individual or Professional) and the referral fees (8% to 15%), you’ll be paying plenty of fees.
You’re in charge of the shipping fee of sending your items to Amazon. When you ship inventory to a fulfillment center without proper preparation or labeling, Amazon will charge you for unplanned services.
Amazon charges you for storing your items in their fulfillment center, based on your daily average volume of inventory in cubic feet. Inventory stays there for more than a year? You’ll get charged long-term storage fees.
Of course, Amazon charges you fulfillment fees per unit for picking and packing your orders, shipping and handling, customer service, and product returns.
When Amazon provides a customer with free return shipping, they’ll charge you a return processing fee.
2.Co-mingling issues.
Because Amazon has numerous distribution centers, it uses the distribution center located closest to the customer when shipping products.
As a result, the product you end up selling may not actually be your own if you agree to co-mingle your merchandise. This can happen easily if, say, you are selling a DVD or book that another Amazon seller may also have listed.
The advantage of using co-mingling is that you sell more of your stuff faster.
The disadvantage is that you can’t exactly vouch for the quality and legality of another seller’s merchandise. This can lead to problems or even Amazon account closure because of pirated goods.
3.Sales tax.
You may live in a state that requires you to report your sales tax (e.g., Missouri).
Alternately, your items might be shipped off to a state that charges sales tax.
However, when you work with FBA, you have no good way of knowing which warehouse is stocking your items (especially if you’re comingling) and to which state(s) they are being shipped.
While most state ecommerce tax collection has not been aggressively enforced, it may become so in the future.
4. Competition.
With FBA, you’re not just competing with other third-party merchants on price and selection, you’re also competing with Amazon itself.
This is possibly the biggest strike against FBA versus a selling service like eBay or Etsy.
Definitely check Amazon prices for comparable goods before sending your own stuff to FBA.
Selling through FBA: Is It Worth It?
With all the fees and other issues outlined above, you may be wondering if you can cut some kind of profit margin with FBA. Luckily, Amazon provides a Pricing Calculator and an FBA Revenue Calculator that allows you to determine if FBA is even worth it.
On the other hand, if you can find lots of lightweight inventory cheaply and easily via clearance sales, store closeouts, or even inheritance auctions, then FBA may be a smart solution for you.
If a business route isn’t ideal for you, Amazon also has work opportunities you can apply to. For example, you can become an Amazon product tester, or Amazon proofreader.
Of course, you can always stick to the traditional Amazon and sell books or other products on the platform.
Once upon a time, freelance writers could write for content mills like Yahoo! Contributor Network or Demand Media (stock ticker: DMD) and make as much as $2K/month for keyword and link-stuffed writing bits.
Then, the Google Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates penalized these ad-heavy and SEO-centric sites and the parent companies suffered. Many content farms either merged, lost/ousted their CEOs and staff, or went out of business altogether.
Demand Media stock price: DooMeD?
Enter the revenue share model
As fewer and fewer content mills pay their freelance writers even the pittance $5 or $10 per keyword-stuffed article, a different writing model has emerged. This model, which operates via revenue share, is gradually replacing the practice of paying writers a set amount of money for published content.
Instead, revenue share sites emphasize long form, quality content and work with their writers to enhance their journalistic skills. In doing so, revenue share sites are more likely to become populated with lots of “newsworthy” content (i.e., high traffic content) that isn’t penalized by the next Google algorithm update. Some examples of revenue share sites include Examiner and HubPages.
Another case in point is Guardian Liberty Voice (GLV), a citizen journalism site that has been operating for about two years now. GLV’s motto states “boldly inclusive,” and GLV is certainly living up to its claim. Recently, the site announced plans to hire 900 new writers. Yeah, that’s nine hundred. How does a roughly 2-year-old company manage to hire and pay this amazing number of writers?
The answer lies in the term revenue share. GLV doesn’t pay outright for published content but works with writers to help them achieve high page view numbers. This translates to a set pay-per-mille or PPM (i.e., pay rate per thousand views) for the writers and thus their compensation.
The actual help that GLV provides consists of a rigorous training period, or “bootcamp” as it’s called. Writers that pass the bootcamp start earning a given PPM. Writers also can become “Senior Correspondents,” and receive not only a higher revenue share for their own content but also a good share of the revenue generated from “members they assign stories to on their team.”
In turn, GLV receives ad revenue from its advertisers for offering a set cost-per-mille (CPM) to their ads. Because GLV is not a subscription-based online newspaper, its major revenue source is advertising (as is the case even with most subscription-based paper newspapers).
Is Guardian Liberty Voice worth the time?
The following are some of my “nays” to writing for GLV:
It’s not serious journalism
From a journalistic standpoint, the majority of GLV’s citizen-produced content is simply rehashed and/or directly quoted content from secondary sources like Google News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Chicago Tribune. I used to work for a small town newspaper and the first thing I learned is that you never quote other newspapers as your primary sources. No, you either go interview people or you quote data findings from primary sources like the CDC, NIH, U.S. Census Bureau, etc.
So, it seems to me that GLV’s bootcamp consists largely of “training” citizen journalists to simply keep up with the latest Google Trends and re-report them.
GLV’s popularity may be overstated
There are worthwhile publishing platforms that oftentimes pay only via revenue share; Entrepreneur, Forbes and Inc. come to mind. However, these aforementioned sites draw huge audiences as well as prospective clients.
With GLV, the audience is just not that big. The following Google Trends graphic compares GLV to other citizen journalistic sites like Examiner and revenue share sites like HubPages. I’ve written for both Examiner and HubPages and even during these sites’ popularity peaks, never did I earn more than $50/month for content that generated tens of thousands of views. If such hugely popular sites like Examiner and HubPages barely generate any revenue share, how is a fledgling site like GLV going to buck the (literal) trend?
A comparison of trending interest in GLV, Examiner.com, HubPages and Demand Studios
Pyramid scheme-like recruitment
GLV has been criticized for its business practices in different writers’ forums; namely, Senior Correspondents earn 20% of the income generated through their writer “team.” As a result, these correspondents go on social media sites and attempt to recruit writers to apply for writing jobs with GLV. Fresh recruits are then put through a three week boot camp during which they produce mass amounts of free content.
According to one Reddit comment about GLV, “It kinda looks like they’re using their “classes” as a content farm – they require more than 20 articles per student in the training period.” Also, the application process itself requires that you submit a sample 500-word article to the site.
Lack of transparency about actual revenue share
The following conversation that Carol Tice had with a GLV writer is quite enlightening (check the comments of the post). In numerous instances, the writer was asked to outline how much money GLV writers earned per article or per hour, and to no avail. To be fair, there was one instance of a rate of $38/hour being named, but no mention of how many articles had been produced to achieve this rate or if the writer was also a GLV senior correspondent.
Should you write for revenue share sites?
Given all these issues and remaining questions about just one revenue share site, here’s my advice to aspiring citizen journalists and writers:
Start your own blog.
Forget about submitting hundreds of articles somewhere else just to eventually earn a “passive income” of $10 or $20 per month. And I quote the term passive income because, on sites like Examiner and GLV, you need to keep submitting regular content each day or month in order to keep collecting your revenue share.
Given that all revenue share sites are not under your immediate control, you could also eventually lose your hard-won passive income should these sites close shop or change their payout rules. In essence, you’re a digital sharecropper and relying on the stability and goodwill of a third party site to make back your initial investment of writing time.
Sure, having your own blog won’t give you the instantaneous audience of Examiner or GLV. However, even revenue share sites rely on you doing your own article PR to generate more page views. Why should you do all this work for just a fraction of the revenue?
On your own blog, you can eventually work with your own advertisers- and keep 100% of their fees. You can also go ad-free and offer quality products or consulting. In the end, having your own blog means having absolute control over your own product- you- without having someone else line their own pockets with your writing and marketing efforts.
The Good / Matt Clark continues to put out a high-quality product year after year. His consistency and dedication to ASM are apparent. He is so confident that ASM is effective that he is providing a 6-month guarantee that if you follow the system and don’t make any money, he will reimburse you for anything spent out of pocket. However…
The Bad / With such a high price tag, it’s hard to justify the cost. Especially when there are cheaper alternatives out there.
My Recommendation / If you have the money and want consistent, high-quality training and support to launch an FBA business, Amazing Selling Machine is a must-buy.
Get a free copy of Million Dollar Brand
Matt Clark is giving out a free copy of his book that walks you through the exact steps you need to take to build a million-dollar brand using Amazon in just 12 months.
Would you pay almost $5,000 for Amazing Selling Machine, a training program that claims to generate $100,000 per month in profit? Do you believe that this is the answer to your dream of achieving a life of total freedom?
Would you also believe that ASM members who joined between 2013 and 2016, completed the program, and launched a new brand business had a median annual revenue of $60,750.00?
In a nutshell, I’d say that the latest offering of ASM, called ASM Evolution or ASM 13 is a program that can easily be followed as it is designed to be undertaken by beginners and offers mentorship by experienced trainers, as well as a community of fellow learners.
However, you’d have to shell out a bit of cash to enroll in this program, and that’s aside from the capital you’ll spend on your inventory and software to build your own brand.
Today, let’s look at the Amazing Selling Machine, how it can help you, how much it costs, whether it’s worth it, and if there’s a suitable alternative.
What is the Amazing Selling Machine?
The Amazing Selling Machine (ASM) is, in the words of its co-founder Matt Clark, “…a training program and live event teaching entrepreneurs how to build real, fast-growth businesses selling physical products by leveraging the power of Amazon.”
They claim to be the most popular Amazon FBA training course, designed to teach those who are new to selling everything they need to know to build a successful Amazon business from scratch.
Here’s a general description of what you’ll get:
The NEW 8-Module Online Web Class
The ASM Mentor Program
The Amazing Alliance Private Community
The Private Resource Vault
Aside from these core elements, you’ll also get access to a BRAND NEW software tool for product selection, automation tools for your email, keyword research, and advertising, and monthly group coaching calls.
You’ll also get priority access to their live networking events and workshops, including SellerCon.
A purchase of ASM Evolution also includes free upgrades to every new version of the core ASM system whenever they become available. Whenever there are new techniques and concepts that work, ASM gets updated with new lessons to make sure its members have access to the most updated information available.
You also get all this risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 6-month Success Agreement (more details on these below).
Details of the Amazing Selling Machine
Let me give you some more information on what you’ll get when you sign up for this training program.
1. The 8-Module Online Web Class
The creators have completely rebuilt this class for the new economy in light of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
The entire web class is made up of 120 video tutorials, with each module containing between 11 and 18 lessons.
You can learn all this at your own pace, but it needs to be in the correct order because each lesson builds upon the previous ones.
Through this web class, you’ll learn all the latest marketing and operations strategies that successful, 7-figure Amazon sellers use to select products to sell, drive sales, and encourage repeat business.
2. The ASM Mentor Program
The ASM Mentor Program is essentially a group of elite Amazon sellers who are ready to help you build your very own business and answer any questions you might have for them.
So instead of being on your own, trying to hunt around the internet for answers to your Amazon-related questions, you can ask these mentors with a combined 54 years of selling experience and a collective $24M worth of products on Amazon to give you prompt, accurate, and updated answers.
All you’d have to do is post a question in the community, and you’re guaranteed a prompt response no matter the time of day, as ASM Mentors come from different countries and timezones.
You get to save time and effort in looking for the answers in the wilderness of all the user forums, trying to decide which advice to take. When the advice comes from an ASM Mentor, you know it’s been tested and applied to a successful Amazon store.
3. Platinum Lifetime Access to the Private ASM Community
Aside from ASM Mentors, you can get support from thousands of ASM members from 138 countries with your Platinum Access to the exclusive ASM community.
Building a business can get a bit isolating, especially if it’s an online business.
It’s a comfort to know that someone somewhere has had or is having the same struggles as you are. Whatever challenges you’re going through, there’s almost a 99% chance that someone else has posed the question or has solved it.
4. The Private Resource Vault
This is a collection of tools, resources, and contacts that the founders and mentors themselves use to build and grow their own Amazon businesses.
Included here are a variety of templates, such as for supplier contracts, sample and product evaluations, and other useful, proven templates to save you time and help you increase your earnings.
You also get access to contact details of professional services that even the founders of ASM use for their businesses, such as delivery services and photographers. On top of that, you even get discounts on powerful Amazon tools to help your business grow.
The best part is that they keep adding to the vault as new resources become available.
You can’t get these resources anywhere else.
BONUS: The Automation Tool Suite
This is one of the best bonuses of the Amazing Selling Machine.
The Automation Tool Suite includes 3 sets of tools to help you launch your products, maintain consistent traffic to your site, track your sales and inventory, and do product and keyword research effectively.
You get free access to these tools for varying times, from 90 days to 12 months.
What Can One Expect to Learn From Amazing Selling Machine 13?
Essentially, ASM teaches its members how to successfully drop-ship items via Amazon.
That’s it.
This revenue model is not exactly new; in fact, I mentioned online drop-shipping as a semi-viable work-at-home opportunity a few years ago.
Why only semi-viable? One of the biggest issues with drop-shipping is keeping product costs down. Products that are bought cheaply can generate a hefty profit for the seller once they are marked up.
But where is the average Joe or Jane supposed to locate really cheap and fairly decent products? There are only so many hours in the day where one can go to garage sales or store liquidations.
The answer is China. ASM teaches its sellers to contact product manufacturers in China, obtain and test product samples, and, if satisfied, order bulk quantities of those products. Such bulk orders can cost hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars, so it pays to know a niche product market well.
The next step is much easier: sellers sign up with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). This way, Amazon stores the inventory for those sellers, as well as takes care of marketing, selling, and shipping the items. Thus, Amazon does all the hard work.
What’s new in Amazing Selling Machine 13?
2020 has brought about some changes that have disrupted nearly every industry; however, more people are shopping online these days than ever before. Furthermore, there are millions of new customers who are first-time online buyers.
Amazon is where they head to first, and thus, ASM Evolution has been updated to help you leverage the power of Amazon.
Aside from a redesign and upgrade of their online web training program, they also beefed up their Automated Tool Suite.
Another bonus in ASM 13 is the expert listing evaluation. You can actually get your first listing evaluated by one of the ASM mentors handpicked by the founders themselves. Your listing will be tweaked and optimized for maximum conversions and rankings.
Why is it expensive, though?
The program, co-developed by Matt Clark and Jason Katzenback, costs $4,997 to upfront buyers and 6 payments of $997 to installment buyers.
They say the entire program is worth around $13,985, so paying $4,997 looks like a bargain.
Of course, in pricing a training program, the value isn’t only determined by the time spent working on it or the knowledge of the ones who developed it. The price is also dictated by the value of the training program to individual members and how far they grew their business because of the training program.
Clues about why ASM costs as much as a used car are in several of Matt Clark’s interviews with online magazines such as Under30CEO, where the very title of the article is ‘The No-Brainer Secret to Success: High Margins.’
Meanwhile, in IdeaMensch, Matt lays out his strategy in detail, noting that, while he started out as an affiliate marketer selling other entrepreneurs’ products and getting a 40%–50% profit margin, it didn’t compare to him selling his own product and making a 400%–500% profit margin (!).
So yeah, profit margins, pure and simple.
Follow the affiliate commissions…
If ASM was simply another online drop-shipping class, it would probably cost no more than two or three hundred bucks. However, as Matt Clark noted above, a business is more worthwhile if it generates high profit margins.
How are high profit margins generated? By convincing customers that the product has very high value and is in limited supply. Thus, the ASM training doesn’t just include the 8-week course but additional value-added items such as the lifetime forum membership and software tool suite.
Likewise, if you go to the ASM website throughout the year, you’ll notice that the course is sometimes unavailable. This is because the training is offered for a limited time only, after which the enrollment link expires. However, at some given point in time, say the following month, that link will reactivate and another limited-time offer will be posted.
Does ASM 13 offer refunds?
Short answer: Yes, they do.
The amount of money involved is a risk, and the creators of ASM know that.
To eliminate that risk, they offer an unconditional 100% 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you decide that ASM Evolution isn’t the right fit for you, simply let them know within the first 30 days and they’ll give you back your entire investment in the program.
This is enough time for you to go through half the web class, talk to Mentors, check out the community, and go through the private resource vault before deciding.
Not only do you get a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee with your ASM 13 purchase, but Matt and Jason have also developed an even more enticing offer.
They’re calling it the Success Agreement.
If you buy the program, launch a new product within the first 4 months, follow all the marketing steps you were taught within the first 5 months, and you don’t make money by the 6-month mark from the date you joined ASM 13, they will reimburse 100% of the cost of the program, PLUS they will reimburse you up to $7,500 in unsold inventory.
I have never seen a guarantee quite like this one. Matt and Jason seem to want you to try their system totally risk-free. I don’t say this often, but it really does appear that you have nothing to lose by giving ASM a shot. If it doesn’t work out after 6 months, you’re only out the time invested.
Is Amazing Selling Machine Worth The Price?
Supposedly, even someone with little to no prior business experience can use the ASM course to build a six- or even seven-figure business from the ground up.
But upon searching online, I actually found a few ASM-like courses that not only explain the concept of drop-shipping via Amazon or eBay but are also segmented into various industries so you need not buy shiny yet extraneous materials that you’ll probably never use.
Case in point: Jessica Larrew of Amazon Boot Camp.
Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income interviewed Jessica and her husband/business partner Cliff and the couple appear to apply all the principles outlined in ASM, except that they don’t source their product from China or other offshore countries (to be clear, they get their deals at places like Walgreens).
Jessica posts training materials online that are very affordably priced. Furthermore, the training materials are segmented by industry; for example, if you want to try health and beauty product drop-shipping, Jessica offers an ebook on the subject for only $27. Alternatively, you can also buy the entire Amazon Boot Camp for $299.
But let’s say you’re hoping to buy bigger lots of wholesale items and really want to see what’s available through offshore countries. Skip McGrath offers an in-depth 350-page printed training manual called The Complete Amazon Marketing System for $127. He also throws in a bunch of free bonuses like a 30-minute coaching call and lifetime membership to his wholesale sourcing website.
A Phenomenal Lower Cost Alternative To ASM…
Over the past years, Marketplace SuperHeroes has become an outstanding alternative to the Amazing Selling Machine program.
At $997, it’s a much lesser investment, and you get an absolutely fantastic program with an incredibly strong support community.
This program was created by Stephen Somers and Robert Rickey, two Irish Amazon Sellers who built their business to multiple 7-figure revenues selling their own private label products.
Despite the fact the creators are Irish, the program is taught for US and international sellers so regardless of where you live, this program absolutely will help you succeed on Amazon on a global scale.
And this is one of the biggest reasons why I believe this program is truly excellent. Not only do they teach you how to sell on Amazon but they also teach you how to take the same products that you find and sell them across multiple Amazon marketplaces.
The Unique Advantage With MPSH
This is huge because outside of the US market, the sheer size of the opportunity to grow on Amazon is unimaginable. These markets are not as well developed as those in the US but they still offer all of Amazon’s incredible services, such as FBA.
Also, because you’re leveraging Amazon, you don’t have to worry about multilingual customer support as Amazon takes care of that for you!
Robert (the main mentor in the program) has been selling on marketplaces for almost 20 years and has sold between $10M to $20M in cumulative sales. As you’ll see when you join the community, Robert knows this business like no one else I know.
Stephen is also a very experienced seller and marketer. He is very much the marketing side of the business but is an expert in his own right as well.
Together they make a really experienced team of mentors. In fact, since the program began they’ve added over 6 additional mentors to the support team. This helps the company provide better support than anywhere else that I’ve seen.
At $997, I can honestly say that no other program even comes close to this value for money.
If you plan to create success on Amazon and you want to go the global route, selling lower competition products and building a ‘mini-empire,’ then you really need to register for this course NOW!
Has anyone tried Amazing Selling Machine?
The general consensus is that ASM is expensive, but if you have the money and want to get consistent, high-quality training and support to launch an FBA business, Amazing Selling Machine is hard to pass up.
However, the alternatives I listed do provide much of the value at a fraction of the cost. ASM 13’s 6-month money-back guarantee does help alleviate some of the hesitation associated with the high costs of the program.
Have you purchased or are considering purchasing ASM? Is there a specific ASM feature that you particularly like? Have you gotten your money’s worth with ASM as opposed to another drop-shipping training program? Please leave your tips, questions, or advice in the comments below!
