TalkBiz News
Issue for June 18, 2012
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Hi, folks...
More awesome goodness today. Or, for the more formal among us,
"Here's another issue..." ;)
"And It Just Gets Better"
=======================
For those of you who ordered SubscriptionMate for running
membership sites or delivering products through Wordpress,
check your Paypal email address. You've got an update note
there, if you haven't seen it yet.
The big change is the addition of DigiResults.com as a payment
processor. That is huge, since it makes it easy for you to run
an affiliate program for your product(s), including membership
sites, using Paypal.
DigiResults doesn't charge for signing up, and they allow for
instant split payments. That means each sale gets split
immediately between the seller and affiliate, based on whatever
commission you set. Instant payments, along with the potential
for recurring payments, can make your offer a lot more
attractive to potential affiliates.
I haven't updated the salesletter yet to mention this. You can
grab a copy at ...
http://talkbiz.com/wpmem/?e=1
This also makes for a very handy secure delivery system for
non-membership products. Much cooler than the salesletter makes
it sound. ;)
"Skype, Two Three, Four..."
=========================
Last issue we started talking about Skype chat rooms. How to
create one, some basic ideas for using them, and the potential
for making money with them. This time, let's look at it in a
bit more depth.
The most common use you mentioned for Skype, aside from
keeping in touch with family, friends, and business
associates, was making phone calls. If you've done that,
you'll find you've already got 90% of the skills needed to use
it to create products, quickly and easily.
We'll get to that in a bit. First, let's look at the types of
rooms you can create.
....
Rooms can be private or open. You decide which each of yours
will be. They're open by default. If you want one private, just
use the commands I mentioned last time around.
For those who aren't familiar with it, using commands in
Skype is easy. Type or paste them into the chat area, just
like you were posting a message. Easy.
If you're going to charge for membership, you will definitely
want to close the room off, and require that new members be
approved before being allowed to join the chat.
For paid rooms, I strongly recommend a page that lists
whatever rules you're going to have, which people should see
before joining. I also recommend phrasing them as principles
where possible. This helps avoid "chat lawyering," and gives
you the opportunity to present the tone and topical style you
want the room to adopt.
Sensible rules are a powerful selling point. People do not want
to pay to discuss something and find that the conversation is
all over the place, with no sense or structure. They can get
random noise anywhere. They're paying you to keep things in
something resembling order.
For the most part, people who pay to be in a room are serious,
and you'll rarely have to do anything more serious than
deleting the occasional comment, if that. If your room gets big
enough, though, you'll eventually run into someone who needs to
be removed. It sucks, but it's a fact of large groups.
If that happens, there are two commands you'll want to know.
The first is:
/kick username
Obviously, you'd change that to show the errant soul's actual
username.
This removes them from the room/session. In a private group,
that just means they can't read/participate again until they're
re-added. A temporary ban, and usually the preferred response
if they're too persistently or seriously disruptive.
The second command kicks them out of the room and keeps them
from rejoining. That one is:
/kickban username
For private rooms on most topics, you might never need to use
either of those. It certainly shouldn't be a common thing. Just
be aware that they exist as options for extreme situations.
The best way to handle that decision is to know in advance what
you're willing to allow and what you're not. Phrase your rules
page so they look a bit stricter than you intend to be. And, if
you ever see someone crossing that big red line, act.
Everyone has that line. Where you draw it is up to you, and
should be focused around the purpose of the group. Thinking
about it in advance will save you confusion if the need should
ever arise.
Don't panic, though. As I say, you might never need to use
either of those options. And you'll be less likely to need them
if you're clear in your own mind where the lines are.
It is possible to remove a ban, by the way. So it's not an
irrevocable decision.
Okay. So much for the unpleasant realities. Now, back to
business.
....
Private rooms don't have to be paid memberships. While that's
the most obvious way to make money with these critters, it's
far from the only one.
Private mastermind groups are the most common "free" rooms.
Some are formal, while others are just groups of people with
similar interests who want to talk somewhere without random
noise from people they don't know. Either way, these can lead
to very profitable ideas.
They don't have to be carefully structured, either. Over the
years, I've been in (and/or run) a large number of private
email discussion lists and forums. I have met a lot of great
people through them, and seen a lot of folks make huge
improvements in their businesses through their participation.
Skype gives you the same options, but without the technical
hassles of running forum or list software.
Getting those first members is the key.
If you're just looking to create a private group of friends,
that's easy: Tell them about the group and ask them if they
want to join. Make sure they know what level of participation
is expected, from, "whenever you feel like it," to "regular
involvement is a must." Decide on your purpose and set
expectations based on that, with more leeway initially then you
really want. You'll find that leaving some room is a big plus
as things develop.
Some other questions you'll want to answer in advance:
How private are discussions to be treated?
What's the maximum group size, if any?
Can members veto proposed additions?
What's involved in applying, if anything?
Will there be a group contact directory?
If so, will it be public or private?
Will there be other connected resources?
These things can matter more than you might suspect. For
example, I was a member of a really serious private email group
for years. For me, it was primarily a social thing. Then some
folks started insisting that nothing that was discussed in the
group could be discussed by the members outside the group.
As far as private details, that was fine with me. It was my
default mode anyway. But that got extended to talking publicly
about any technique they discussed in the group, and I already
knew most of that stuff, having heard or seen it elsewhere.
That was a deal-killer for me.
On the flip side, I'm still friends with most of those people,
years later. I doubt I'd have met most of them if I hadn't
joined that group.
Private groups can be powerful things. Just have an idea where
the lines are going to be before you start, and be ready to
move them if they don't suit your group's purpose.
Flexibility is your friend.
....
When inviting people directly, it's a good idea to include a
link for them to join from the email. To get that, type this
command into the chat:
/get uri
That last letter is an 'i', not an 'l.' That is not a typo.
Remember: The link lets them join, but you have to
approve them before they can participate, if you've
made it a private room.
Some of the people you invite will join, and some won't. Don't
take a "no" personally. A lot of people don't like regular
chats, and some don't use Skype much, if at all. Some will join
and not say much publicly, but may be very helpful behind the
scenes.
Your group will develop its own dynamic. You need to provide
the vision and direction, but let them help steer. It's their
group, too.
....
Before we close it down for this issue, let's look at one of
the ways to monetize a private room that may not be obvious.
In the course of your discussions, you will often see ideas
coming up that would be of interest to a larger audience. If
the person(s) discussing them are amenable, you can quickly
turn that conversation into a product.
There's a cool add-on for Skype, called "Pamela." It allows you
to record audio or video chats, among other things. The free
edition has some serious limits on the length of recordings,
but the professional edition has none of those. It runs about
$30.
Ask the person or people involved if they'd be willing to do an
interview on the subject as a joint product. The terms will
depend on the people, so knowing your members helps with this.
If they're into the idea, you can record the interview as a
chat, which you can edit into shape later. Send copies to each
participant, so they can add to or edit their comments. That
can make things clearer, and allow for adding resources and
tips they may not have considered at first.
Clean it up, format it, and you've got a useful product or
freebie.
Or, if you want something with more "thud" to it, you can go to
voice mode and record an audio interview. You can even do a
video interview, if you think that would be better received.
Quick products like this, which focus on specific techniques
and real results can be big sellers, and often take only an
hour or two to create. Or they can be the basis for bigger
products down the road.
Just make sure there's something in it for everyone. The more
they get from their participation, the more loyal they become
to you and the group.
If they win when you win, they want to see you win.
....
Next time around, we'll get into selling memberships, along
with uses for free rooms that are a bit more public. And a lot
more.
Stay tooned...
Paul
PS: A bonus tip for using these ideas with SubscriptionMate.
One way to help get members to sign up is to put the link in a
members-only post, and mention what's available there for folks
who join. That curiosity factor works for any membership type,
not just Skype rooms...
http://talkbiz.com/wpmem/?e=1
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Find this useful? Buy me a beer...
http://www.buy-paul-a-beer.com
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Copyright 2012 TalkBiz Digital, LLC
"100% of the shots you don't take don't go in."
- Wayne Gretzky
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