Easier to Sell a Product than Your Services Online?

I really felt it necessary to answer this question in a blog post because it’s a question I get asked so many times.  More specifically though, the question is:

“Do You Make Money From Your Blog or Do You Make Money Mainly From Your Services?”

Before I answer this question, I want to rewind back to 2005 when Derek Gehl and his team at The Internet Marketing Center (IMC) reviewed my website, TrishJones.com for their November edition of their subscription newsletter, Secrets of their Success.  This was just before I decided to turn my web site into a blog by the way.

The review was worth $5,000 and included a complete new website with graphics as well as step-by-step instructions on how to monetize my site.  But, there was one thing they pointed out to me in their feedback which caused me some concern … They said:

“It’s Harder to Sell Your Services Online, Than it is to Sell a Product”

And, if you’re a member of The Internet Marketing Center’s “Secrets to their Success,” you can go check out the review.

At the time, even though I had already transitioned to consulting with clients who wanted an online business, the IMC build my site around life coaching, something I had no desire going back to, but I took on board the suggestions from the review but focused mainly on one thing …

You got it, selling my consulting services online.

And was it hard?  You bet it was initially and it took me a while to uncover the secrets to attracting clients online.  I did get clients, then those clients would refer other people to me, but it wasn’t until I turned my website into a blog that I really started building my client base. 

So it is no secret really and I’m sure you’ve heard this time and time again when it comes to building an online business …

“Give People Good Quality Content They Can Use!”

Once I turned my website into a blog, I started giving away my best tips on how to market online.  I then focused on blog marketing and this was when the tables turned.

I started getting calls from people who had never met me, never heard of me, people who had never even spoken to me before, calling me from Australia, the US, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Japan, asking me to build their blog and consult with them.

How did they find me?  Via the search engines.

Why did they contact me?  Because they had read the content on my blog, they like what they had seen and wanted to hire me.  

Marc Dagenais is one of my clients who found me online and this is what he has to say about me:

Notice, Marc found my blog, liked the look of it, read the content, decided I knew what I was talking about and then hired me. 

In fact, Marc and I didn’t even speak for the first time until after he’d paid me!!

People buy from those they know like and trust and as far as I am concerned it makes no difference whether you are selling a product or a service.  The principle is the same, you have to build the same kind of trust and you have to give the same level of quality!

Blogging, writing articles and generally getting your message out there beats a one time salesletter every time in my view.  I don’t even have a sales letter as such on my blog though I do have a page about my services but people don’t make their decision to hire me on that information alone, they hire me because of the content on my blog.

So, let me answer my question … “Do I make more money from my services or from products?”

I make way more money from my consulting services than I do products because my primary focus is on providing a service to small business owners, entrepreneurs and independent professionals who want to attract more clients online. 

But, about 30% of my income is from afiliate products that I sell from my blog and this is without really pushing them.  I made a lot more than 30% when I was selling subscriptions to my membership site, but this is currently closed until I update the videos thanks to the launch of WordPress 2.5, now 2.6.  These videos are coming soon and then I will be taking the same principles I use to sell my services, to sell subscriptions to my membership site.

And, I just want to wrap up this post by telling you a little story that I hope will help you understand the power of selling online …

About 8 weeks ago, I purchased a product from a very well known Internet Marketer about selling your consulting services to local business.  I thought it was an excellent idea and contacted some local businesses, got in my car and went to visit some of them but I’ll be honest with you, not sure about the attitudes of local businesses in America but I was “cheesed off!”  This means fed up by the way!

I felt I was pulling teeth! 

These local businesses didn’t need online marketing, they needed motivating!  And, can you understand how hard it is to try and eductate someone who needs motivating?  It’s hard! And personally, whilst I used to get paid to do this as a manager, I was adamant that I wasn’t going to be the one to spend my precious time with these local business people trying to get them excited about their own business.

So after another of my miserable unsuccessful days my husband said to me “Trish, you’ve done really well getting clients online.  Why are you spending your precious time driving around in your car trying to motivate these people to set up online.  Isn’t it better to do more of what you’ve been doing online and attract more clients that way?”

I didn’t even argue with him because I knew he had a valid point. 

So, I went to work and put a process in place for attracting qualified, targeted visitors to my blog and the result …

I have just experienced my best 6 weeks in business which, is 5 years now and, I charge 527% more than I was charging last year but, I have less clients and more time to focus on growing my own online business. 

In fact, I’ve just partnered with someone in the US and we are working frantically on a new product in the personal development and leadership arena.  So you could say I’m going back to my roots because leadership and development is my background.

So, what changed in my business because I didn’t just increase my price without increasing the value of my service?

The one major change has been in my target market, from people who want a blog to people who want an online business.  It took some time to differentiate between the two and, as I explained earlier, my market is small business owners, entrepreneurs and independent professionals who want to market their service online.

This still involves product creation and selling, mainly by way of information products but all of my clients either want to attract more service clients or, they often pick a niche within their existing niche - those who would prefer to buy an information product about the service they provide and market their product to them. In time, they may become service clients too.

But, it all involves a process!  And, the process is quite simple …

Give them a reason to leave you thier name and email address.

Alex Mandossian calls this the ethical bribe and then follow up with good quality information they can use either via a newsletter, blog post or an autoresponder series and occasionally (and this really is the operative word), give them a call to action to either purchase one of your products or services or your affilaite products or services. 

And remember, it’s not what you sell online that matters, it’s whether what you are selling is a service or a commodity that people are willing and able to pay you money for. 

The processes and principles I teach you on this blog can be applied to selling an intangible commodity such as a service, to sell an ebook, which is also and intangible by the way or, to sell physical products. 

It took me a long time to appreciate the fact that selling online can be easy but the hard work for many is in the action. 

Thanks to the frank talk from my husband, I sat down and cracked the real blog traffic formula.  Yes I know how to get traffic to my blog, but what I’m referring to is getting the traffic I want and not just any old traffic and soon, I’ll be giving you the opportunity of working with me so you attract prequalified visitors to your site too!

All the best,

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