Frank Kern’s Underachievers Live On!
The “underachiever model” of building niche websites selling information products lives on.
I have several friends who make more than $10,000 each month doing just that (one makes over $20,000 and another makes over $100,000 every month).
I have written about this before, maintaining that niche marketing still works.
One of the most frequent questions I hear about this topic is: “Ray, how do you decide on the subject for your product? Aren’t all the good subjects already taken?”
The answer to that last thing is, “NO! All the good subjects are still available!”
How many diet books are published every year? (ANSWER: thousands)
Haven’t we covered that subject already? Then why do they keep publishing books about it? Because people can’t get enough of that subject, that’s why. People who are interested in losing weight seem to stay interested (and why they don’t just lose the weight and get interested in something else is the topic for another post…).
And they always crave more information about the topic… which is true of all niche topics.
Case in point: the photo in this post was taken with my iPhone tonight while I was at Barnes & Noble. Take a look at those topics (I know, you can’t read them in the photo — don’t worry, I listed them at the end of this post).
Nothing too exotic. Nothing too exciting… but I had to wait a long time for the stream of people who kept stopping at this stand to get out of my way.
If Barnes & Noble can make money hand-over-fist selling laminated checklists about these obscure little topics… could you sell an ebook or two? Or maybe an audio ebook? I think you know the answer.
And if you need any ideas on what topics might be good… um… how about starting with the ones in the picture?
Just in case you’re squinting at the picture, the topics are:
- Access 2007
- Excel 2007
- Outlook 2007
- PC Basics
- Podcasting
- Buying & Selling on eBay
- Beading
- Bike Maintenance
- Blackjack
- Chess
- Football
- Guitar
- Handwriting
- Jewelry Making
- Poker
- Piano
- Songwriting
- Soccer
- Spanish Travel Planner
- Texas Hold’em
- Baby Names
- Bartending
- Car Care
- And a couple I can’t make out… but this oughta keep you busy for a while.
Pick up any good books tonite Ray? : )
B & N is one of my wife’s and my favorite chill out places. We’ve a nice newer larger store here in Kitsap County. Nice place for a latte as well.
re your post –
Research, positioning and traffic……….. and copy?……… and a list? : )
I had a latte.
I also got:
Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
Get Out of Your Own Way by Robert K. Cooper.
And yes… you need copy and a list. But those are easy. It’s getting out of your own way that’s hard…
ah, Chesterton. Very heady Ray. Impressive : )))
Hmmm, unabridged audio book is available. I love audiobooks, I have at least an hour of commute r/t every day. Makes for getting thru a lot of books and recorded teleseminars. Also great for the mind while on the eliptical trainer. Helps me maximize my time every day!
Then, if I think the book presents itself as valuable enough, I buy the hard copy. Audible.com is a great resource for buying audio books for as much as 75% in savings every month.
Cooper’s book look like a good find. Putting it on my list of resources.
Thanks for the heads up on the resources. Be blessed Ray.
Ed - Wow - I used to live in Kitsap County! That brings back memories…and I loved the B & N over in Seattle - I think it was on Broadway. I just checked the Google Map and saw you’ve got one in Silverdale.
Ray - you know what’s interesting about your post and the question if there are any good niches left to be found…
I agree with you that there are still plenty of good niches. Here’s why: If you type in almost any subject in Google - such as the ones on your list -chances are good that you’re going to land on some sites that are nothing more than spam sites.
So I was thinking those booklets you mentioned have probably honed down the information on each subject to cover what people want to know the most.
I think you just shared a perfect example of how someone can move into even a highly competitive niche.
Get rid of the fluff, and provide the kind of information that people would be willing to pay for.
I find that list very ineresting. I’m sure that the company that iveste in making all those laminated cards put a ton of money into research before moving ahead with the project.
Why are some, two word topics and others rather broad one word topics? It’s about what the target customer wants.
Laminated text is how the customers want it so they can take a set of football rules with them out to little Johnny’s game.
I’ve seen these displayes near the 600page text books and near the checkout register. That means they work as a convience option and as an impulse purchase (read that as an up-sell).
Which should be a lesson to online infomarketers: you don’t have to create a 600 page, 12-CD course.
People often don’t want that.
What they do want is condensed information: teach me how to play chest in two laminated sheets.
Or in a 12-page ebook.
And the brevity is the selling point.
Get it?
That’s good Jeff/Ray. The increasing value of brevity.
All the moreso in this reduced attention age or perhaps simply reduced time age.
Anything we can do to help someone accomplish something as quickly as possible and free them up to do other things or quickly enjoy the thing they are learning about, the more appealing the service.
People value their time much more than their money. They’re willing to trade one for the other.
Hi Ray -
Great post!
Not sure if people realize how valuable this post is and how much cash it can put in their pockets.
I bought Frank’s course a couple years ago and have been using this model online with great success.
Here’s a quick tip that has worked well for me…
1: Frame your offer to the markets wants and needs.
Example:
Let’s take weight loss. There are a ton of searches for this term. If we drilled down we could come up with something like this…
* Weight Loss for Women
* Weight Loss for Men
* Weight Loss for Teenagers
Then, we could take it to the next level like…
* Weight Loss for Women After Pregnancy
* Weight Loss for Men in Their 40’s
* Weight Loss for Men Over 20 Lbs
etc.
OK, here’s where the magic happens…
Take the term you come up with “Weight Loss for Women After Pregnancy” and do a search on the forums.
Look for what they want and what their pain and frustration is.
The next tip would be to give something of value that instantly solves their pain.(ex: 7 Weight Loss Tips You Can Use Instantly!).
Then sell the book via your list who opted in for the 7 Tips course.
So the formula would be Value+Benefit=$$$
This is just a very quick example someone can use to start making money now with these ideas.
Chris:
Very insightful comment. Now I feel like I didn’t actually finish the post!
Thanks for adding your voice; it really rounded out what I was thinking.
(PS: http://LeadPageGenerator.com ROCKS!)
ah, but you did finish it Ray! You elicted great feedback. You’ve created a conversation. This is where the value is.
Thanks for building on Ray’s thoughts Chris. Gonna check out what you have to say on your blog.
Ray,
You are 100% correct. The Underachievers Live on.
I was one of Frank and Ed’s original Underachievers. Their plan gave me my start in Internet Marketing. Over time, I’ve learned many new tricks to my arsenal to help take my niche marketing to another level.
One of my biggest successes has come from narrowing my focus. I no longer try to sell a time management book to everyone. Instead I’ll sell Time Management for Teachers, Time Management for Small Business Owners, Time Management for Work at Home Moms etc.
Each version of the product is identical, but they have different landing pages geared to a specific group. I then get highly targeted traffic to each landing page. Because each landing page is geared specifically to the visitor, my opt in rate and conversions are through the roof.
John
Ray,
Any chance the Marketing DJ Podcast will make a return. I really enjoyed it. I was sorry to see it go.
John
Another point to back up your case…
When a person becomes interested in a certain topic, he’ll usually buy not one, but two, three, or four different books about it.
Or two or three different home study courses.
Rarely does a person buy just one resource.
Do we need all this information? Probably not. Just like we don’t need to top off a 1,200-calorie entree with a 600-calorie dessert. But we do it anyway.
Thats an interesting point that an interested person will buy more than one product.
It might as well be us creating the different products rather than have them go elsewhere.
Gavin