How To Find An Expert In Your Niche (And Get Free Help)

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I’m a big fan of James Bond but some might say my ‘Bond memory’ is a little fuzzy. I can’t recite every movie word for word or even tell you the specific gadgets Bond used in each and every film.

After completing a rough draft of my ebook, it was apparent that I needed someone to come in an inject a few more Bond references. Combing back over the movies and some novels would have been daunting. I needed an expert on James Bond.

Finding an expert was incredibly easy. Here’s how I did it:

1. I went to a popular James Bond forum - most forums are full of people that are there because they’re passionate about the particular subject. They share their knowledge because they want to help and be part of a community.
2. Scouted the recent posts - I looked for posts within the last week because sometimes even big forums go stale. I wanted to make sure that people would still be checking the forum and their direct messages.
3. Found the person with the most posts - I also made sure the posts weren’t just filler and were actually insightful and helpful. In my case, the winning candidate happened to be the guy who started and runs the forum.
4. Sent him a direct message asking for help - I signed up a new account and contacted him through a PM.

Here’s the exact message I PM’ed him. Feel free to copy this format if you see fit.

Subject Line: Can I ask you a quick question?

Hey,

My name is Derek Johanson and I’m currently working on an ebook loosely titled, (PRODUCT NAME HERE). It’s a practical/relevant guide for guys looking to live a James Bond like lifestyle in today’s world.

I’m a huge Bond fan (obviously) but don’t have the copious knowledge that you seem to have. I’ve written up the meat and potatoes of the ebook (how to make the lifestyle happen), but I need someone to come in and inject it with more Bond references, short stories, etc. to match the content.

So my question is: would you be willing to take my ebook and put in as much relevant Bond information as possible - drawing from the movies and books and your knowledge? With your knowledge base I doubt it’d take much of your time.

I’ll give you credit, link to your website, and also pay you. What do you say?

You can check out my current website (so you know I’m legit) at http://liveuncomfortably.com

Contact me @ derek@liveuncomfortably.com

Thanks!
Derek

I got a response back with in a couple hours saying he’d do it for free. He just wants credit and a link to his forum.

It’s really this simple. The letter above probably could have been better, but it got the job done. Go to your niche’s forums and find your experts.

Inspirational Thought: Try going to a forum and interviewing 4 or 5 experts to create the entire ebook that way.

Muse Test #2 Update

I’m done with the writing aspect of my James Bond lifestyle information product (once my site has launched you’ll be able to see everything in all it’s glory). If the design aspects go well this week, I should be launching the product for sale by the end of the week.

Since the time I announced that I was going to go forward with making the ebook, it has sold an additional 10 copies! Even though the Adwords campaign was paused, people still found their way to the sales page through some EzineArticles I wrote.

I thought about the book a lot, but the actual writing of it wasn’t extremely time consuming. I drew information from books I’ve read, new books I found at Barnes N’ Noble & Borders, and of course from a lot of personal experience.

I’m happy with the final product and I think James Bond fans will really dig it.

Stay tuned. Thanks for your patience.

How To Get Testimonials For Your Sales Page

It’s a little difficult to get testimonials for your sales page when your product doesn’t exist. But I’ve found somewhat of a loophole.

On the initial sales page offer a short report that is related to your product. After people have downloaded the report ask for a testimonial in exchange for a discount when/if the product is ever developed.

I’ve collected a bunch of emails while in the process of developing my product. And, I’ve recieved several testimonials that I’ve now placed in my sales letter.

The testimonials are related to free report but in many cases they still work because people write in something like this: “Well I can say that even the free report has helped me tremendously.”

Make sure you don’t use your testimonials out of context. The people who wrote them wont forgive you.

Your first sales letter wont have any testimonials at all, but hopefully it’s a good enough product or there’s a high enough demand that it wont matter.

+++++

Reader Darryl also had some great insights for collecting testimonials in this post on analyzing the muse

Pre Product Launch Promotion

On my sales page I have an Aweber opt-in form. When someone enters in their name and email address they get signed up for a newsletter and get a free short pdf report download. So, as I’m writing my ebook, I’m taking sections of it and making articles to submit to EzineArticles.com

In the resource box, I write something like this: “To download a free report please click here.”

They are taken to my sales page and hopefully enter in their email address to get the report. The free report is just something simple I whipped together on one subject related to my product. It took me 20 minutes to write.

In the newsletter, I give away useful information then make sure to link back to the sales page telling them to buy the product for more indepth info.

I’m slowly building a list so once the product is completed I’ll have many more people to sell it to.

Muse Test #2 - I’m Going To Create A Product

For my second muse test, I decided to try something I’ve thought about for awhile. It’s an information product in the James Bond niche.

What I Did

1. As a consumer, I’m weary of sales pages similar to the one I made for Muscle Meditate. So, I outsourced a site design that I feel is better looking for sales pages targeted at non-internet marketers.
   I told the designer to use David Walsh’s sales page for his muse as inspiration for the site design -  you can find the page on Muselife.com. David is both an excellent website designer and a damn good marketer. He’s already created a successful muse and is now working towards helping others do the same. Check it here - Muselife.com.
2. I made two sales pages to split test - 1 with story-like copy, and 1 that pretty much just listed the benefits of the product. They both converted equally as well.
3. I drove 115 visitors with Google Adsense using Perry Marshall’s product as my guide once again.
4. I made 5 ‘hypothetical’ sales at price point of $19.97

What I’m Going To Do Now

I’m going to go ahead and make the product. I’ll hopefully have a rough draft done by the end of this week. It’s an eBook and I’m going to need to do a lot of research to make it incredible. Then I’ll be traveling around Colombia for 2 weeks, so I’m not sure I’ll have time to do much else besides make revisions.

Once I’m done with creating the product and getting it up on the market, I’ll let you in on EVERYTHING. I want to focus on actually making the product right now and not on making Talk Muse videos about it. But don’t worry, you wont be left in the dark for long.

I’ll also write a post on how I found my webdesigner plus tell you a story of how an elance provider tried to scam me.

And, I’ll answer questions if you’ve got ‘em.

- Derek

Quick Affiliate Marketing Test Update

I ran a small Google Adwords campaign to test selling Double Your Dating through the affiliate program. Here’s a video update.

Sign up at the forum and start posting!

- Derek

Forum Technical Difficulties

If you spot anything weird let me know. The forum is still in beta form.

Talk Muse Forum Is Now Live

Alright everyone, I’ve created a forum where everyone can start sharing their knowledge, asking questions, and getting to know each other.

http://forum.talkmuse.com

Right now the forum is super simple. 4 categories: Muse Creation, Social Dynamics, Travel, & general 4 Hr Work Week discussion.

After talking a bit with one reader, Darryl, I thought that we should develop a sort of ‘mastermind’ group of like minded individuals. The topics in the forum seem to be ones that many people like me are drawn to. Tim Ferriss creates muses, is definitely a student of social dynamics, and loves to travel.

These are the people I’d like to participate in the forum. It might take a little while for it to grow and will no doubt undergo some changes, but let’s give it a shot. Start firing up any questions or suggestions you might have.

http://forum.talkmuse.com

Case Study: Google Adwords Campaign

Here’s how I set up my Google Adwords campaign for Double Your Dating.

1. Typed in ‘double your dating’ into Google’s free keyword tool
   
2. Selected keywords that matched what I think customers might be looking for: such as ‘double your dating ebook’ and ‘buy double your dating’
3. After going through the ‘broad’ keywords I changed the match type to ‘phrase.
   
4. I added the best ‘phrase’ keywords to my list.
5. Then did the same for ‘exact’
6. Then I added the ‘negatives’ I wanted - the keywords that I don’t want my add to show for. For example, if someone types ‘double your dating free’ my ad wont show.
7. After getting the ‘double your dating’ keywords I went through and got the author’s name, David Deangelo, keywords because people were searching his name as well. I repeated steps 2-6.
8. I exported the keywords to a spreadsheet, then divided the keywords into 3 groups. Group 1 contained the keywords ‘double your dating.’ Group 2 contained keywords with ‘david deangelo’ in them and Group 3 contained keywords with ‘review’ in them.
   
9. I went to Google Adwords and set up a campaign for Double Your Dating.
10. I wrote 2 ads for each group and set their respective Cost Per Click (CPC) limit. Here are the ads:
    
11. I’m using The Definitive Guide To Google Adwords as my guide.
12. I’ll keep you updated on the results.

Quick Muse Test - Affiliate Marketing

I’m in-between projects right now so I decided to set up a quick muse test using affiliate marketing. Watch the video below.

In affiliate marketing, you get paid when someone clicks your link to a product and then buys the product. So if someone reads my review on LiveUncomfortably.com, clicks the link to Double Your Dating, and then buys the product, I’ll get a commission of the sale.

How To Chose An Affiliate Product To Promote

This one is easy. Pick a product you’ve bought in the past and see if they have an affiliate program. Almost every product will have an affiliate program.

Don’t try to sell products you haven’t purchased. People will see right through your lies if you try to pawn off a product on them that you’ve never tried yourself. Be honest.

Writing a honest review is the best way to get people to click your link and buy the product.

Where To Post Your Affiliate Link

I chose to post my affiliate link to Double Your Dating on my self-improvement blog, LiveUncomfortably.com, because it fits with the theme. If we were trying to sell a bodybuilding product, we could have used MuscleMeditate.com/product-review, or something similar, to write a review. As long as the review makes sense for the site, it’s all good.

Next Video

In the next video I’ll show you how I’m setting up my Google Adwords campaign to promote Double Your Dating.

Resources

Read the review here: My Double Your Dating Review