The Game Plan

Introduction

This is the complete overview of how you can build a functional digital asset that generates revenue for you many years into the future.

We’re going to lay out the entire process from beginning to end and then in future guides we’ll carefully (and deliberately) drill into the meat and potatoes details of how to tactically complete each step.

>> Click here to get a FREE instant download of the PDF version of this post... I'll throw in my audio narration as a free bonus.

But before we get started I do want to warn you about something.

This post is going to feel daunting. I’m literally going to lay out your entire business blueprint with nothing missing. I only ask that you refuse to get overwhelmed as we are going to dig into each and every step in upcoming posts. Just think of this post as the big picture post.

Let me show you how this breaks down...

My Ice Breaker Story (Pun Intended)

A few days ago my wife and I decided to take my oldest son ice skating. I’m not the most coordinated guy and the fact that I’m tall, skinny and already kind of clumsy means falling on ice would most likely end up on a Youtube highlight reel somewhere.

I knew I had to conquer my fear of ice skating especially since there were little six year old girls whizzing around the ice faster than my head could turn. If they could do it so could I!

So my son and I, my son is 5 by the way, my son and I walk into the registration tent, get our skates, change our shoes and then wait to skate as the big ice cleaning machine thing finishes polishing the ice.

After a few minutes, the gate swings open and we all barrel in. I’ve never skated before so I very carefully placed my leg on the ice and immediately felt an overwhelming sense of “Oh crap, I’m going to bust my ass, crap crap crap...”.

My left foot wanted to go directly forward and backward in a straight line... it’s like it just kept wanting to go straight in either direction... and it was super difficult to control my legs.

I stumbled on to the ice clutching the side balance bars for my dear life as little children (including my brave son) zipped by like Frozone in The Incredibles.

But I just kept taking baby steps; one small step at a time and after about an hour I felt the freedom to leave the security of the wall and venture out into the wild arena of the fearless skating children around me. And guess what happened?

I didn’t fall! Praise God! I don’t like being embarrassed or looking stupid!

Anyway, the purpose of my story is to tell you not to give up. As we start looking into everything that’s involved in building your online business you’ll see there are a ton of moving parts (and a ton of hard work) but if you just follow my lead... one step at a time, like I did on the ice, you’ll most likely get to where you want to be.

We’re going to talk about your Game Plan in three broad phases.

Remember, I’m including the entire kitchen sink here so don’t let this knock you over. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be digging into the details, step-by-step, one section at a time.

Alright, let’s dig into your game plan for building a profitable online business.

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Your Game Plan (Phase 1)

Your first step is niche selection.

We’ll talk about how to select the right niche next week but for now all you need to know is that this is the first step. You’ll learn how to find a profitable idea (and how to validate it so you know you’ll have a winning chance earning income with it)

The next step is choosing a technology platform. You’ll learn about how to buy a domain name, host your website, setup your online store, accept payments and manage all the parts of your business in a way that frees up your time. We’ll dig into your platform options and which technology platform you should use to get the quickest results. I’ll walk you through the technology section step-by-step, very deliberately and carefully. You’ll learn how to choose your domain name, how to register it and everything. We’ll get you up and going and I promise it’s not going to be as painful as you’re thinking right now.

Next, we look at traffic. You can have the best website in the world but if no one can find you it’s not really going to mean anything. We’ll look at driving traffic to your website the easy way (by publishing stellar content and only worrying about SEO a little bit) and the advanced way (by driving paid traffic to your blog, website or email list via squeeze landing pages)

Once we wrap up traffic we’ll define the purpose of your website.

This is one of my favorite lessons because the purpose is so laser sharp it should be easy to focus:

Your website exists for no reason other than to build your email list.

And I don’t mean it’s there just to capture tons of email subscribers. You’re going to learn how to build an email list of highly responsive email subscribers who look forward to reading your emails every time you publish. We’re going to aim for awesome open rates (the average is 20% but I’m going to share secrets that will get you 25%, 30% and maybe even 40% open rates if you follow my step-by-step advice)

We are going to build an email list of people who know, like and trust you. The idea is that by telling stories, being yourself and ultimately delivering value once or twice a week, you’ll build a relationship with your list and be in the perfect position to deliver even more value when you ask for a sale.

Everything on your site will be scientifically designed to drive people into your email list.

Your homepage, your 404 ‘file not found’ page, your about page, your resources page, your blog, ALL OF IT, is there to drive leads. I’ll walk you through proven strategies to rapidly grow your list and amass quality leads like a pro. We’re going to shortcut all my mistakes and skip right to what works.

Next, we’ll talk about your blog. I’ll show you how to craft award winning content so juicy that your audience will be waiting in eager anticipation for your next posts. I’ll also show you how to create a blogging schedule that fits into your busy lifestyle so your blog doesn’t consume your life. We’ll talk about why you need a blog and how to approach blogging when you don’t feel like blogging (or when you can’t get started writing or don’t know what to write about)

We’ll move into your lead magnet (also known as a welcome mat, opt-in offer, or some people even call it an ethical bribe but I don’t like that term). Anyway, we’ll talk about why your lead magnet is really a content upgrade and why it needs to be congruent with the content on your blog. We’ll talk about how to craft your lead magnet, which technology to use (Canva) and I’ll even show you, step-by-step, how to build your very first lead magnet. You’ll be surprised how easy (and fun it is) especially after you’ve done the idea validation phase because you’ll have a winning market to target.

We’ll also discuss the the importance of a two-step opt-in. I’ll break it down for you and then show you what happens after the opt-in. I’ll walk you through why you need a “Thank You Page”, what to put on your thank you page and how this is a great opportunity to learn about your prospects true needs with a little survey (hosted on Google Forms). Don’t worry it’s super easy. I’ll show you how.

Alright so what’s next?

You’ll learn how to use Google Analytics and Quantcast to track your visitors, find your popular pages and view visitors in real time. Your motivation will definitely jump a notch as you see people actually reading your content and opting into your mailing lists.

At this point, you’ll have a website driving traffic to your blog which funnels prospects into your lead magnet and ultimately lands them on your email list.

Your Game Plan (Phase 2)

Great.

Now so far I know this is a lot but at this point you already should be getting traffic: people are subscribing to your email list and there’s even a little bit of social network stuff going on as people are finding you through sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Youtube.

Now in phase 2 we’re going to get serious about income. Up until this point, you haven’t implemented anything to generate revenue. Now that’s about to change.

We’ll kick off phase 2 by using the feedback from your email list (in the form of surveys) to pollinate the content in your flagship product. Our goal at this point is to create a product which you will sell for $97 USD.

I know this sounds insane right now, but don’t worry I’ll walk you through the entire process of building this product step-by-step.

First we’ll dive into outlining your online course, then we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of recording your course, editing it, uploading it and making it live. We’ll also get into what you could include in the course to boost the perceived value (like digital downloads, audio downloads and more). You’ll also learn how to stick to a schedule so you can make sure your course actually gets completed and doesn’t die a slow death of procrastination.

Now that your course is built, we’re going to do something that’s going to make you feel very very uncomfortable. In fact, many of you at this point might just stop following my advice but I promise you, if you stick to it you’ll notice real success.

What we’re going to do is give the course away for FREE.

Yup, the one you worked so hard to build.

You’re going to learn why giving it away for FREE is the most PROFITABLE thing you could do for your business. I know this sounds paradoxical and somewhat mystifying but we’ll dig into the details of why we’re doing this in our beta test lesson.

After we finish the beta test, you’ll have case studies, testimonials and feedback you’ll use to refine and legitimize your product. Now you’ll know what to charge and everything really be ready to go. You’ll be able to move forward with confidence as you’ll have all the major market objections in hand, you’ll know EXACTLY what your people want and you’ll know the EXACT words to use when crafting your email and sales copy.

Sounds too good to be true? It’s not and you’ll learn how to do this in phase 2.

In the next lesson we’ll talk about marketing your product.

We’re digging into Sales! Finally!

We’ll talk about Product Launches and we’ll use proven marketing funnel secrets that top marketers have been using to drive profits for years. You’ll learn the secret skill of using webinars to supercharge your business, how to overcome your fears of talking to people (or being perfect, or making a mistake) and how to crush it by using an age old secret that can skyrocket your sells.

At this point, your product will be done and you should have real income in your bank account from your online business.

Next we’ll move into the last phase of the training.

Your Game Plan (Phase 3)

In the last phase, you’ll learn about upsells, downsells, order bumps and all the little secrets you can implement to rapidly scale up your business.

>> Click here to get a FREE instant download of the PDF version of this post... I'll throw in my audio narration as a free bonus.

We’ll look at the power of positioning and product price tiers and packages. You’ll learn about why lower priced front-end offers are amazing for your business.

Then we’ll move into automation secrets. You’ll learn the hidden secrets of leveraging technology to automate mundane parts of your business so you can step outside the time trap and regain a bit of control in your life. We’ll finish up with a premium private community and private one-on-one coaching opportunity to boost your business to new heights.

Now It’s Your Turn

Alright, so I know that was a lot to take in. My only hope is that I didn’t scare you away. We’re going to use proven methods, leverage sales psychology and focus on treating your online business like a project and not a hobby so you can truly turn your passion for helping people into a profitable side business without sucking away all your free time.

How does that sound?

If you’ve made it this far in the guide all I ask is that you leave a comment below and share what part of starting your online business is bring you the most angst. You’ll be surprised to see how many people have the same fears.

Your quick action result for today is to come up with three reasons why building an email list should be your number one priority. Based on what you’ve read today (and based on your own intuition) what are three of the top reasons why you should devote all your energy into not only adding people to your email list but also making sure you have an engaged list who opens your emails and clicks your links (I call it “conditioning for the click”, can’t remember who I first heard that phrase from, maybe Derek Hepburn?)

Bye for now!