Yes, Earned My First 3 Dollars From My Website!

byAsdabbi

388 followers

Updated 4 years ago

Well, It finally happened, I earned my first $3 from my website. I didn't do it through affiliate marketing yet, but I did find a way to earn without using Adwords and Afilliate Marketing. Let me tell you how I did it :)

I Decided to Create

What I did was create some of PDFs that contain useful information about my niche. I worked for over a month creating four PDFs about gratitude and the Law of Attraction.

I created a package deal explaining what the LoA is and how to use it in your life and a companion workbook that people can use to record his or her process. These I give away for free.

Then, I created a more in-depth book about advanced techniques you can use to increase your knowledge about using the LoA. This one I sell for $2.99.

I created one more about how to find gratitude in the world today. This one I offer for free to people who sign-up for my mailing list. I will tell you more about how I set-up my mailing list opt in without using plug-ins and slowing down my site-speed in a bit.

I branded each of the PDFs with my website logo and embedded links back to my website. The next one I create will link to my website posts for more information. ;)

For now, let me tell you how I use these PDFs :)

How I Set-up, Package, Advertise, and Deliver

Set-up

I uploaded the PDFs to my media files on my website. I then created download pages for each of the PDFs and a main download page for the package deal.

I used a plugin called "Search Exclude," to make sure the uploads and download pages cannot be found using the search feature on my website. There is no other way to do this. You either need a plugin or write the code for yourself.

When you create your download pages, you need to use your all-in-one-seo plugin features on your edit page to set them as non-indexed and no-follow. This way Google does not index your download pages into the search results. If they do, then you could be giving your downloads away for free. Make Sure You Do This!

Package

I created a download page offering the Law of Attraction Guide and Workbook for free. This download page contains the download links for these two PDFs, a link to sign-up for my mailing list and get your other free PDF, and a PayPal link you can use to buy the more in-depth PDF for $2.99.

The last two things are offered within my side widgets also, but this method is more effective.

Advertise

I created a Facebook Business page for my website. I used the same name and header as my website. I spent a week creating post with some of them linked to my website. Each time I write a new post on my blog, I add a link and the featured image to my Facebook page.

Then I made a post about giving away the PDF and Workbook for a limited time. In the description, I wrote about what you would get for free, what you could expect by using it, and why you should have it.

Then I created an advertising account, including a Facebook Pixel, to advertise my special offer. I spent $2 a day for 10 days. OK, I can hear some mathematical brains going off right now. Yes, I only made $2.99 so far and I spent $20, but there is a method to my madness.

Building Your Facebook Pixel

The Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that you add to the head-tag of your website. This code tracks what kind of people from Facebook click on your links. It learns what type of people are more than likely going to respond to your advertising. It takes about 5 to 10 days for your pixel to gather enough information to be able to do this.

Once your pixel has started tracking the type of people (her or his likes, page interests, demographics, age groups, and so on) interested in what you have to offer, then it begins to only show your ad to those types of people.

You can over-ride it by selecting your own audiences, but I like to build my pixel and that is worth $20 to me. This time it only cost me about $17 dollars to build my pixel. YAY!! I had 11 people click on my ad with my virgin pixel, and still made a sale. That is more than one a day. When I re-amp the ad with my smart pixel, it will do much better.

I Made a Mistake in My Ad

I did make one mistake with my ad that I would like to share with you. In my Facebook ad description, I wrote at the end, "Please share with your friends". Don't Do This!! Facebook does not like it when you add things like, "Please like my page or please share this", in your advertising.

They will still advertise for you, but they will punish you by not showing it to as many people as they can. Don't Do This!

Delivery

Like I mentioned, I made excluded download pages for each of the PDFs and one main excluded download page for the free package deal. When someone clicked the link from my ad, they were directed to the package deal download page.

Here, they were able to download the two free PDFs as promised, I introduced them to the up sale PDF, and gave them an opportunity to sign-up for my list and get another book for free. All on the same page.

How I Sale the Up-Sale

I have a PayPal business account. You can get one for free. It allows me to make PayPal buttons and by using PayPal, my customers are reassured in having a secure transaction. You can use PayPal to create a button for any price you want to charge and then set a destination page for you customer to see once the purchase is made.

I set this up and directed my customer to the excluded download page of my up-sale. All the purchasing happens off site and within PayPal. This way you do not slow down you site-speed with unneeded plugins and none of your customer's credit card information is stored in your site. It's a win-win.

How I Add People To My Mailing List

found a way to create a mailing list without adding plugins to my site. This keeps me from slowing down my site-speed. MailChimp offers a free service if you have a list of less than 2,000 people. While building your list, this is the best way to go.

Also, MailChimp offers a way for people to sign-up for your list off site. You can create a list opt-in page within MailChimp. Then you just need to create a graphic or link that is embedded with your opt-in link. Mine looks like this:

Everybody signs up off site. This keeps you from slowing down your website with unneeded scripts and makes sure that all of your customer's information is stored outside of your website.

Once your list grows over 2,000 active users, then you can market to them and cover the monthly cost of upgrading your account with MailChimp.

There is one thing you cannot do with a free account. You cannot set up more than one automated email: no auto-responder. When you want to send out a marketing or shout-out email, you need to write it and manually send it.

I used my one automatic email to welcome people to my mailing list and direct them to the download page of the free PDF.

Conclusion

I hope this helps everyone learn how to sell your own digital material. I am in the works of creating a 5-day Law of Attraction class that will be delivered by email. This class will have a higher price point, but only after I upgrade my MailChimp Account.

Until then, I am going to keep advertising my free downloads through Facebook and keep building my pixel. I hope you can follow these steps and do it too :)