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7 Business Tenets to Apply to Your Blog

By Christian

steps-to-business-blogging-success — So you want your blog to climb the "ladder of success". How do you do it? The tenets of building a successful business blog are remarkably similar to the tenets of building ANY successful business venture.

This is a guest post from Tom Walker. Thanks for the submission Tom. I think this post covers some important issues every business blogger should address. Let me know what you think!

Blogging is the latest way to make money on the web. It can be done with little technical expertise, it’s low cost, and you can potentially make millions; just look of the success of the world’s most famous blog, Craig’s List. Making money or even a career out of blogging, however, is like starting any business, and the same principles apply. Follow our guide to make sure you avoid the pitfalls, and get your blog on track faster.

Pick a niche – your blog will only stand out in the millions of other blogs if it offers something different. Your blog is a product like any other, and so you need to tap into a demand in order to have something to sell. Blogs about personal opinions, for example, are ten-a-penny, and probably not going to draw a lot of interest.
Think about your sphere of influence – part of finding your niche is about looking at your sphere of influence. When people look at setting up a shop somewhere, they look first at the sphere of influence of the local supermarket to see if their shop will fall within it; if it does, their shop stands little chance of competing. Do you want your blog to be useful to people in your street, town, county or country, or does it have international appeal? For example, there may be a local news source for your county, so there would be no point competing with it, but there may not be a news blog about your town, so you may find a niche there.
Gauge interest – you may have found a niche, and you may know for a fact that a few people are interested in your topic. The next stage is to gauge if that level of interest will be enough to make your blog sustainable. Will there be enough subject matter to blog regularly about? Will the blog topic attract enough interest to get a reasonable amount of hits to drive ad revenue that will pay for the time you spend blogging? If the answer to these questions is “no”, you may have to rethink your topic.
Move quickly – blogging has democratized the publishing process. A blog is the simplest, fastest kind of publication to set up, and there are virtually no barriers to how much or how quickly you can publish. For this reason, you need to move fast; if you have spotted an opportunity, it probably won’t be long before someone else does. Make sure you get there first; even if you don’t set up the full blog, at least nab the domain name to stake your claim.
Plan – nobody can attract investment in a business where the proprietor doesn’t know how much they plan to make in a year, or how they are going to do it. Too often, bloggers hit on a fantastic idea, but the blog falls by the wayside due to a lack of direction. Once you have set up your domain, sit down and make a plan of what you are going to do and by when; even a simple plan will help. For example, you could plan to publish 50 posts within a month, attract 30 incoming links within two months, and draft an advertising rate card by the end of the third month, with a view to approaching advertising clients within six months. Stick to your deadlines once you have them.
Use clear branding – millions are spent on branding products every year. Your blog is a product and as such it needs to be branded. Don’t just stick any old header at the top of your blog and pick the first colour scheme that pops up. Think about what the essence of your blog is, and choose colours accordingly, i.e. baby pink might not be the ideal colour scheme for a serious financial blog. To make a memorable header with your title, try finding a creative commons licensed image online that represents your blog’s topic, or even take some photos yourself. Once your have decided how your blog is going to look, try not to tinker with it too much; consumers trust and feel comfortable with products that maintain the same appearance.
Work hard – blogging is easy to learn, but hard to master. Don’t be fooled by the entrepreneurs who started blogs and then retired to their millions at 25; they worked as hard at their blogs as any business demands. The only way to make money out of a blog is to invest your time and energy into it.

This is a guest post by Tom Walker who blogs and designs with an online supplier of HP 364 inks, toners and refills. He is both writing contributor and editor at the CreativeCloud where he blogs about what interests him most, namely print design and the arts.

Stop Reading This Blog – No Seriously

By Christian

are you frustrated — Are you doing everything you're supposed to be doing...and your blog still isn't making money? Here's why...

I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while now, and of course someone else way cooler than me beat me to it. That seems to be the way it goes sometimes 🙂 After reading David Risley’s recent post about why most of us should probably start reading a lot less and actually start WORKING a bit more, I realized it was time to get this article published…it really is an essential topic.

This is a post about how to become highly productive

When it comes to running your business, there is always more to learn. If you’re new to internet marketing or blogging, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of it all and to spend the next several months…or a year…or longer, just reading. Consuming new ideas, reading ebooks, subscribing to dozens if not dozens of dozens of blogs.

Education is essential…but what are you doing to actually BUILD YOUR BUSINESS? Research doesn’t count…

How a good education can actually make you fail

I’m big on education, and I make an effort to stay up on what other leaders in my business are saying, what projects they’re involved with, what new technologies and systems are being implemented to move things forward. You should do the same, of course. But here’s the thing…your education should augment your business…not interfere with your business. It should enhance what you do. It should help you take things to the next level. Many of us spend way too much time on education and not nearly enough time on production.

It’s entirely possible to get locked into “education-mode” and in doing so put your business on hold…this is suicide.

If you want to be dangerously profitable in your business, education cannot be your primary focus. And if reading this blog…or any resource out there…is causing you to NOT take action, you need to cut that out and get to work!

Productivity-killers to keep an eye on…

Here are a few important things that might be keeping you from being successful. Wait…hold on there. How can something important be a bad idea? Because when it comes to being effective in your business, you have to pick and choose. There simply isn’t time to do everything. This is why I wrote recently about how important it is to implement the 80-20 principle in your business. It’s also why I wrote recently about how important it is to get control over your schedule. Cutting off dead weight is crucial.

The big secret is that a lot of the things that may be keeping you from being productive are really cool things. There’s a lot of great stuff out there that you don’t have time to implement. Saying “no” to really cool opportunities is part of the game. Think of it this way: saying “no” to cool stuff is the only way you’re going to have time for the REALLY cool stuff. Keep an eye on these things:

Reading blogs, articles, books, etc
Commenting blogs, forums, etc
“Networking” on Twitter, Facebook, etc – there’s networking, and there’s shooting the breeze. Be honest about what you’re doing on Twitter, and you’ll see most of your time is probably not focused. Yes, it’s fun and there’s NOTHING wrong with conversing on Twitter. In fact it’s important, and you should do it. But DON’T do it instead of taking care of production. Production comes first. Take care of business first, then hop online and yap your head off.
Tweaking your site – yes, design is important. But there is no perfect design. Your layout or logo is not going to be what makes or breaks your site. If you think a rockin blog design is crucial, go visit this very popular blog and get back to me with your thoughts.

NOTE: I’m not saying to not do these things. In fact if you notice, I acknowledge they are very important. Here’s where to find balance…you just can’t do them INSTEAD of being productive. Reading a great book is important, but it doesn’t build your email list. Commenting on blogs or improving your logo design are important, but they don’t increase sales. Not directly anyway.

It’s ironic that so many new bloggers are struggling to even make $500 a month, yet they will spend half their time (or more) on non-productive things. Implementing what you already know is the true path to success in business. It’s hard to accept sometimes, but success is really not all that difficult to achieve…in blogging or anywhere. It’s just a matter of focusing on the right things.

It’s a fact, if you spend most of your time reading other people’s blogs, your own blog is never going to make it. You’ll know everything…and accomplish nothing.

Do this stuff first. Do everything else second.

Accomplish this stuff first, and then you can get down to the fun stuff (like reading my blog) 🙂

Creating content – articles, guest posts, newsletters, sales copy.
Creating products – videos, ebook copy, planning a seminar, whatever you’re selling, schedule ample time for creation of high-quality, valuable products and services for your customers.
Creating marketing campaigns – ppc, email and other marketing that will directly bring targeted traffic to your site for conversion.

Making the decision to set aside important stuff and focus on production can be a hard call sometimes. There’s grey area, it’s true. But doing what actually brings in customers is what pays the bills, and without that, what are you studying up for anyway?

Here’s your assignment

I’m actually pretty serious when it comes to not reading my blog…or any others, until you’ve taken care of business first. So here’s your assignment: Create 10 pieces of content that will pull in business for you or help take you to the next level. What 10 pieces of content should you create? Anything you want…

Pillar content for your new blog
Articles for an article marketing campaign
A 10 page report to use as a premium for your new email list
10 guest posts (I recommend this one)
You get the idea

Create 10 pieces of content that will build your business, and don’t come back until you do. Get this done first, and trust me…the internet will still be there when you’re finished. I will be working on more totally awesome content for you in the meantime 🙂

Is there anything you’d add to the “non-productive” or “production” categories here? Do you disagree with any of this? Are you actually going to take me up on this assignment?

What my chiropractor taught me about affiliate marketing

By Christian

earning-cash-as-an-affiliate — Honestly? Earning cash as an affiliate doesn't have to be a struggle. When you take a personal approach, it's a piece of cake 🙂

Chiropractors are affiliate marketers. Did you know that? So are personal trainers. So are many professionals in many other industries. Not only are they affiliate marketers…they are BETTER at it than most internet marketers.

An effective approach to selling other people’s stuff…

Imagine going to your chiropractors office for a visit. Your neck has been killing you, and he helps you out a great deal. He says you’ve most likely been sleeping in a poor position, which is why you’ve been to see him several times with the same issue. He recommends a special pillow would really straighten you out so you don’t have to come see him as often about your neck pain. This is a guy you trust whom you’ve been visiting a while, and he’s offering you a way to feel better…what are the chances you’ll make the purchase?

I don’t know about you, but this happened to me, and I bought it immediately. I even take it with me on the road. Not only has it helped me a great deal, but I regularly refer new business to this chiropractor, because he has helped me so much.

We buy stuff, within reason, from people we know and trust almost…without hesitation. Most of us struggle hard with affiliate marketing. Ironically when done well, it’s the easiest extra income you can earn.

Affiliate marketing shouldn’t be a struggle. It should be easy money. Think about it. My chiropractor get more referrals from me in exchange for making more money from me by selling me stuff! That’s affiliate marketing at it’s best.

Why Most Internet Marketers Seem to Struggle with Affiliate Marketing

So why do most internet marketers struggle with selling affiliate products? Because their approach is completely different. Most of us place banner ads on our site, place links throughout our site (or worse…far worse…just blindly blast them out on Twitter) and basically hope and pray people click on them and make purchases. As long as you’re cool with a .03% conversion ratio, then that’s great…you’re all set 🙂 But most of us want better results than that.

Readers on this site who only stop by every once in a while and who don’t know me very well don’t get many affiliate messages from me. I have no banner ads on this site, and I only very rarely post any articles to the blog that contain affiliate links. I suppose my approach is different than some, but I’d love your thoughts on it…my approach is much more like that of my chiropractor’s. When I’m working with a client or interacting with a subscriber about a particular issue, I will refer them to an affiliate when it’s appropriate and when I honestly feel it will be helpful. The result? They shoot over and buy it. Almost every time.

This is my tactic…it’s just a matter of math. You can get a .03% conversion (or whatever) from a banner ad, and if you’re pulling in mad traffic, then maybe that makes sense. For me and my clients who are interested in being way more efficient than that, personal interactions and relationships seem to pay a much higher dividend.

Does this make sense? What are your thoughts?

What is business blogging really?

By Christian

deep-dark-blog-tip-secrets-to-success — Hear is the deep, hidden truth to what business blogging is really about 😉

Here’s something I’ve learned from running this blog now for 9 months…it’s much the same as what I’ve experienced in sales when I was out working in the field. Blogging is the highest paid hard work I can find, and it is the lowest paid easy work.

There is a lot of talk about how easy it is to be successful in internet marketing, blogging, etc. I haven’t seen that. You can certainly kick back and have an easy go of it. No one will ever push you. The world’s busy enough as it is, and if you sit on the sidelines then that’s fine. But if you want to get a significant result, the path to achieving that is going to require some work.

You will certainly get the result you’re seeking if you stick with it, and that is what’s so beautiful about blogging…you put yourself out there on a regular basis; it’s a learning process, and the more you learn, the more you earn. If you do the work, you get the result. I wouldn’t have it any other way…would you?

When it comes to blogging to market your small business or professional practice, it’s all about you. It’s not something that can be delegated…not if you want maximum impact. Clients have many times asked me to “do blogging” or “do social media” for them. I’ll be honest and admit I’ve done this in the past. I’ve been paid to ghost write and perform other tasks, and I did not find it was a win-win. I don’t do it anymore. Blogging is about engaging your audience personally. You can’t really do that if you’re not present. Can we agree on this?

Here is what business blogging is…really:

Business blogging perk #1

Blogging for your business is extremely liberating. You don’t have to stay “in the box”. You can actually have fun with it. In fact, the more personality you can inject into your blog the better. What other form of marketing allows this level of personal input and creativity? As business owners, so many of us have become so uptight, feeling we must act a certain way or be something we’re not in order for clients or customers to buy from us or take us seriously.

Many would-be bloggers feel they must be good writers in order to be successful at blogging. The only people who worry about this are people who haven’t read a lot of popular blogs! Technically proficient writing is not a requirement, trust me 🙂

Blogging allows you to simply have fun, talk about what you do and make money all at the same time. In fact, blogging sort of requires that you have fun. Bored, stuffy bloggers tend to write boring, stuffy blogs…who the heck wants to read that?

Business blogging perk #2

There is no limit to what you can achieve. No ceiling. Isn’t that part of what attracts you to running your own business to begin with? Blog marketing fits hand in glove with that mentality…there is no limit to how many people you can reach, how engaged you can become with your audience and yes, how much you can earn. In fact, blogging typically opens up entirely new income opportunities to small business owners who are open to new ideas. New income opportunities that were never possible before…would you agree that’s a positive thing?

Business blogging perk #3

Writing a blog for your business requires introspection. Yeah, it’s work. But it’s work that pays a high dividend. People (mostly people who DON’T have experience blogging) worry and argue about the return on investment (ROI) of blogging. But what is the cost of running on a business model that doesn’t connect with your audience? How expensive is it to create and develop products or services that your tribe could care less about?

Blogging enables you to be intimately in touch with what your customers want and need. It allows you to test ideas and prove demand before you spend one hour or one dollar on product development. It can also let you know when you’re doing something wrong. By simply listening to your audience, you can be responsive and turn every day complaining customers into raving fans. Even if you don’t sell (why wouldn’t you?) on your blog, the savings can be extremely significant. How cool is it to be able to use such an inexpensive marketing tool and to get such a huge benefit from it?

Business blogging perk #4

Needless to say, blogging is very inexpensive to get started. Compare the rising costs to any traditional media advertising and the FALLING returns you’re experiencing from them (yeah I know; it’s like I have X-ray vision into your business right?), and you’ll not be surprised at all to see why so many small business owners and professionals are starting up blogs and getting otherwise involved in social media for business marketing purposes. Very low investment up front and significant financial returns, new income streams and savings down the road. I’m not a math whiz, but that kind of makes sense, no?

What is a business blog really?

It’s a platform you can use to record your thoughts and observations about your business.
You can use it to make offers…
build a customer list and
be personally engaged wtih a large number of people with only a small time commitment each day.

Is blogging a full time job? It could be, but it’s up to you. I personally spend only an hour or so on my blog each week. The rest of my time I spend networking, building my business. Is an hour a week a reasonable commitment to you for such a large return?

These are a few of the things I’ve noticed so far, and I’d love to hear what you think.

What advantages have you seen from blogging?
Do you have any concerns I haven’t answered yet on this blog?

Are You Paying Attention To Traffic Instead Of Profits?

By Christian

blog-tips-climbing-to-the-top-of-where — Are you blogging? If so, you are a step ahead. Now let's make sure your goals are actually focused and helpful to your business!

Why are you in business? Why do you have a website to begin with? Are your goals in alignment with your actions and expectations?

Show Me The Money

Where do profits come in your business? Do they come from “hits” on your website? Do they come from comments on your blog? Probably not. I’ve spent time advising clients on how to get more comments on their blog, and if I’m being honest with you I always want more comments as well. But it’s essential to make sure our focus is in the right place. Are more comments really going to help you? It’s a fair question. That’s why I’m writing this post. I see a lot of business owners and new marketers focusing on traffic and other metrics when they really need to be focusing on making sales. Seriously, traffic and comments take care of themselves. Run your business; that’s where your focus should be.

Are you running your blog to help your bottom line, or are you doing it for an ego-stroke? Many new bloggers get distracted.

Are you focused on your business or getting distracted by pseudo-important metrics like “traffic”, “bounce rates” and “comment counts”? This is an essential question that all bloggers must face at some point along the line. It’s easy to get distracted; sometimes it’s hard to keep your eye on the prize.

We see blogs like CopyBlogger and ProBlogger with 100k+ subscribers, and it’s easy to get distracted. Their posts get 50-100 comments every time, and you look at your blog that gets zero comments or 5 comments on average. Are you a failure? Should you be striving to be like Darren at ProBlogger? It’s a fair question, and as you’d expect the answer is “It depends”.

How To Rake In The Results: Blog Tips That Actually Matter

I submit that when it comes to blogging or any business endeavor, it always comes down to results. Many new bloggers want more traffic or more comments, but it’s important to know why or how that’s actually going to help your business. Do more comments build a healthy business, or does a healthy business bring more comments? Here’s a blog tip to consider: maybe it just doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have. Maybe quality matters a whole lot more than quantity. How does that jive with your current thinking?

I say this for a specific reason. I’ve seen the beauty of running small, highly profitable websites. Trust me, in most business niches small traffic is all that’s necessary. The problem is that most of us are still learning how all this works. Most of us are still deluded into thinking that being successful online means pulling in huge traffic. It’s just not true.

Most of the readers at Next Level Blogger so far are small business owners who are new to blogging and running very small businesses…5-7 employees or fewer (including many single-person operations), and the majority (from what I’ve heard from talking with you all) are running locally owned businesses. So…as a locally-based photographer or Realtor or attorney or shop owner, do you need to be concerned with getting 100k+ subscribers to your blog? No. Absolutely not.

Are you an author or beginning marketer intent on taking over the world with your great idea? Then yes…you will most likely need to shoot for the stars when it comes to building your fan base. But many of us spend too much time on our blogs and spend too much time WORRYING about our blogs when we ought to be focusing on other things.

A Nauseating Example Of Wasting Time On Blogging

I attended a conference recently and watched a Realtor talk for over an hour about all the SEO work she’s done on her blog. The audience (comprised mostly of like-minded real estate professionals) was very interested. Everyone took copious notes. Clearly, she’d done her homework, and she was obviously spending both a lot of time and a lot of money on optimizing her blog. Everyone in the room watched her in awe and she bandied about phrases like “image alt tags” and “anchor text”. Clearly she has deciphered the code to search engine excellence, and all Realtors should pay close attention to her, right? After all, blogging is the way of the future, right?

Oddly enough, I could have shown her what she needed to know about SEO in 15-30 minutes on the phone. Instead, she’s spending several hours every month and paying some SEO firm big bucks….all for her little local real estate blog that is never going to pull in more than a few thousand visitors a month anyway. What a waste. Why? Because she works in a small town that only has a small population! With regards to search optimization, her concerns are a piece of cake. She doesn’t NEED big traffic. She needs qualified, targeted traffic from her local market. She needs 1,000 highly targeted and engaged visitors per month. From that, she can make a fantastic living as a real estate pro in her town. Why spend $500 a month (her numbers, not mine) on search optimization and hours each week on tracking down trackbacks and manually requesting that they change their anchor text (again, her techniques…not mine)? But she’s gotten distracted as so many of us do. She’s seen the big lights and been deluded into thinking that she also needs 100k+ subscribers and tons of traffic to her site.

This is a great example of how distracted we can get. Please ask yourself the questions:

What are the results I’m expecting from my blog?
Why do I expect those results?
Will achieving those goals actually help my business grow?
What are the most essential metrics I can use to ensure I’m reaching my goals through blogging?

If you answer these questions, you will be well on your way to getting the results you want from your blog marketing. If you need 100k+ subscribers, there is a model available to make that happen predictably. But if you’re running a small business, especially a locally owned business, it’s likely your concerns should be much more focused. Running a high traffic site is one method of achieving success through blogging. One method…not the only method.

Final Blogging Tip Today: Blogging is Simple…Really!

Believe it or not, blogging really is simple. Talk to your people. That’s all there is to it. “What about SEO?” “What about getting tons of subscribers and huge traffic?” Don’t worry about it. Trust me, Google will know you’re out there, and if you’re posting relevant content to your audience they will find it. Taking it upon yourself to figure out every single thing about running a website is a huge burden, and it’s not why you got into business to begin with, is it? Did you get into business to be a webmaster? Most likely not. Most likely you got into business to sell something. So sell it! You already know how to do that. Talk to your people. Set up a good self-hosted WordPress blog, and let er rip. Have fun with it! Don’t wrack your brain over SEO and all the minutia of being a webmaster.

Can it really be this simple? Yes, it is. Talk to your people. If you actually have something to say, you’ll draw the exact crowd you need.

How To Set The Price For Your Product Or Service

By Christian

There has been a lot of commentary lately about pricing, and I wanted to throw a quick idea at you to see what you think. Most recently (and popularly) Chris Brogan mentioned that he charges $22k for a day of one-on-one consulting. Many of his readers were appalled that he charges so much. Many thought it was well within reason. It was an interesting discussion. How do you feel about it?

How To Look At Pricing

not-everything-is-free — Not everything is free! Pricing your product is a key concern, and it's a lot simpler than many of us make it out to be!

Anyone who sells anything has to approach the issue of pricing at some point. What is the correct price for your product or service? It’s natural to ask yourself “what is my offering worth?”, but I’d like to submit that isn’t necessarily the most helpful way to look at it. Let’s say you’re writing an ebook. What is an ebook full of truly valuable information worth?

You can probably see where I’m going with this. An ebook is not worth a fixed amount. I’ve seen ebooks given away for free…sold for $17…sold for $97…sold for $997. Is the thousand dollar ebook ten times longer than the hundred dollar product? Is the length of the book what justifies a higher price tag? Is the value of the information what defines the price you charge? If that’s the case, how do you quantify the true value of the information contained in your product?

Doesn’t it seem like it should be easier than this? I think it is. I think pricing is just another area where we allow our brains to do way too much work. In fact, it’s fairly simple. You can charge whatever you want for what you’re selling. End of story.

Pricing Is Subjective

Is it wrong for Brogan to charge $22k for a day of his time? Wrong? Unethical? I just can’t see how it could possibly be construed as wrong to charge what people are obviously willing to pay. It seems to me that $22k is probably a lot of money for most people. However, does that mean it’s a lot of money for EVERYONE? Of course it’s not. To many people, $22k isn’t that big a deal, especially if they’re getting something in return that’s greater in value.

I’d spend $22k all day long if I’m getting significantly more back in value…how bout you?

That’s the point…$22k is only a lot of money if the value is not there. If you can take what you learn from that day with Chris Brogan, and apply it to your company and go on to earn more, how can that possibly be construed as wrong or overpriced? I bet most (if not ALL) of the people who complained about Chris’ rate were people who have not used his one-on-one consulting…people who are NOT in his one-on-one consulting target market.

It’s a mistake to view a marketing piece for which you are not in the target market and use your personal disinterest as an argument as to why the marketing must be faulty. You’re not in the target market…OF COURSE you’re not interested. Why would you be?

Pricing is subjective…your product and your time is worth what people are willing to pay. Chris later explained that his intentions were to price his service at a rate that would get him only a few clients per month. He doesn’t have the time or inclination to take on more than that, and the price he set intentionally rules out anyone who is not going to be able to fully utilize the value he offers. He’s selling to a very specific target market, and we should all do the same.

What is a day of YOUR time worth? What is an HOUR of your time worth? What is your product worth? There is no one answer.

Don’t ask yourself what the value of your offering is. Ask yourself instead WHO you’re selling to, and then determine what they’re willing to pay. You can determine via testing, research, surveying or trial and error. That’s your price. Your price is not some magic number that’s the “right” number. There is no right price, and consequently there is certainly no wrong price.

Most Of Us Would Like To Earn More From Our Business, Correct?

I wrote an article for Blog for Profit recently which encouraged readers to consider dramatically increasing the price of what you’re selling. It’s not a prescription for everyone, but it’s something to consider. At least look at the option and the benefits of selling at a higher price…even a considerably higher price. There are a lot of positive benefits to consider. I hope you’ll think it over.

There Will Always Be Complainers, And There Will Always Be Happy Customers

Finally, consider that no matter what you charge you’re going to come across people who aren’t in your target market. No matter what you do, you are not selling to everyone. You’re only selling to a specific demographic. One of the natural side effects of this is that many people who view your offer will not connect with it. Some of them will complain.
I don’t care if you’re charging $17 or $1700 for whatever you’re selling…some people are going to complain and say “what a piece of crap; I can’t believe you’re charging that much. I can get that information for free just by using google, blah, blah”. And you will also get many happy paying customers. Don’t let the naysayers sway you. They’re simply not in your target market.
There is no wrong price for your product. No price is too high. As a matter of fact, the higher the price the better you must connect with your market. That’s not necessarily a bad thing is it?

Pricing Is Packaging

I’d submit that pricing is nothing more than an element of packaging. It’s a marketing component. An important one…but it’s nothing more than that. Do you wrack your brains trying to determine the right color in which to package your ebook? Color is important, and it certainly has an effect, but we don’t typically argue over it. We typically don’t get complaints from people saying “how dare you use red in your ebook cover…that’s so last year. If you had used blue, I would have bought it, but now I’m history.” But when it comes to price…it involves money, so people get emotionally wrapped up in it.
When you use red in your marketing, users either connect with it or they don’t. There is little emotion involved. But when you charge $1,000 or $10,000 instead of $100, some people get upset. As a marketer and business owner, it’s essential to understand that pricing is simply a tool you can use to position your product. It’s a powerful tool, but it’s not a matter of right and wrong; it’s just marketing.
If someone gets upset about your pricing, it’s not because you’ve misused pricing or done anything wrong. You’ve simply positioned your product in a place that’s not appropriate to the complaining customer, and they are choosing to react emotionally.

Value Is Not Optional

All this said, value is not optional. If what you’re selling is crap, then the consumer is going to call you on it. And that’s the way it should be. If you’re going to use any price other than rock bottom, you need quality on your side.
We live in a world that is fascinated with rock bottom pricing, and rock bottom quality is a result of that. If you’re selling at premium price points, quality is the price of entry into that forum. If you’re good at what you do, you have a world of options at your disposal with regards to pricing, and I encourage you to explore your options without inhibition. You are worth more than you think you are!
Did you happen to read Chris Brogan’s article and the ensuing comments? I was amazed at how negative some people can get when it comes to money. What are your feelings on this? Is there such a thing as a “right” price?