🌐 Justin's Blog

entrepreneurship

I have been a blogger for a long time. Even before I started LearnDash, I wrote a blog while in college as I first became familiar with WordPress. Expressing myself through blogging has been a major part of my life.

So, when I first heard about artificial intelligence (AI) written blog posts, I sort of rolled my eyes. Many of you can remember the days of “article spinners” and the garbage output – half of the time they didn’t even make sense. I assumed the same for AI written blog posts and never gave them a second glance.

Until recently, and I must say, AI blogging is damn impressive.

I have spent a number of days the past week experimenting with a variety of AI content platforms to see the type of quality they would produce (finally landing on WriteSonic). My assessment is by no means scientific, but my best estimate is that most of the AI articles I created were about 60-90% complete. Meaning, most of the content is ready to be published without any updates.

To be clear, there were times when the articles were quite poor. This is most often the result of targeting a very specific industry topic that requires in-depth knowledge in order to write about it effectively. But I found that if I took it “up a level” to a more general topic, the quality of the content improved.

Herein lies the opportunity, and the method, in which you can use AI for your own content.

What you can expect with AI blogging.

If you rely on blogging as a core part of your business, then it can be challenging to come up with ideas and post structures regularly. This is where AI can help. When I use WriteSonic, I’m able to whip up outlines in about 30 seconds for any topic by just giving a few prompts.

For example, I put in the prompt Types of Mortgages, and got this outline:

Not bad, right? Honestly, this feature alone provides enough value for most bloggers. I should note that this is just one outline of about six that were presented after I gave my prompt.

This is just scratching the surface of AI content generation. Let’s say you wanted the intro written for you (just to kick things off). Well, that’s possible. Using the same prompt, I was presented with six intro paragraphs. Here is one:

Again, not bad at all! There are definitely some things I would change, but for the most part, it’s good to go and is a great intro to my article.

AI content is best when you keep the topics rather broad (in this example, “mortgages” is a pretty generic topic). If you drill down into a subject further, then you will find that the content isn’t as robust, with sentences that don’t really say anything. For example, I tried Paying off a Mortgage Early as the prompt, and the blocks of text weren’t so impressive.

This was the shortest of the six options presented. The longer ones weren’t any better. They all were essentially just a few sentences being repeated in different ways.

How you can use AI-generated content.

Undoubtedly, there will be people out there that use AI to write their entire blog posts, and without making any changes. It has to be said that the articles that are purely AI written are not the greatest. Even the best ones need a little massaging to sound more natural.

And that’s really the point. A natural sounding article is a good user experience that reflects well on you and your brand. If you are interested in using articles written using AI, then you owe it to the reader to do a little proofreading before you press publish.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be impressed with the quality of your articles (and how quickly you’re able to complete them), making it tempting to just publish them as-is. But as my friend Jack points out in the tweet below, you’ll want to be approach this strategy with a bit of caution. Google doesn’t like this kind of content, and if they can figure out how to accurately detect it, they’ll penalize sites with AI content.

So if Google will potentially punish sites using AI-generated content, how can you use it?

Well, one option is to just ignore the threat. There are some major outlets using AI content right now (and they have been for years) – such as the Associated Press. Make some intelligent modifications to the core content, and you’re in the clear (
hopefully).

I am testing this “intelligent modification of AI content” method for my real estate investment business, but admittedly, content marketing is not a primary customer acquisition strategy. If the content was flagged in any capacity, then the business would still function fine. That said, I will admit that it would really suck to lose a potential passive marketing channel.

Another option would be to use AI to help you create an outline for your article, and then you write all the content. This is a conservative approach that should leave you sleeping worry-free at night, and is probably the best way to get started using AI. It’s especially powerful for helping you come up with a good sales page, or product description. Granted, it’s more time-consuming, but it will help you get through writer’s block, which will help you write more efficiently.

Finally, you can just avoid AI content creation altogether. That’s certainly a valid approach. If your business is 100% online, and you really rely upon content marketing for customer acquisition, then not using it is the safest way to avoid any potential penalty. Either write the content yourself, or hire someone to do it for you.

AI content will only get better.

Something that we all know about AI and machine learning is it continues to improve over time. I think this may start to create a cat and mouse game between purely AI-generated content and Google.

If I have learned one thing in my career, it’s that you don’t want to try to beat Google at their own game. So, while AI content will improve, I highly recommend that you don’t just use the content “as-is”. Humanize it with your own voice and expertise.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

One of the first times I was inspired to make money online was in the early 2000s, when I came across The Million Dollar Homepage.

The concept was simple: there were 1,000,000 pixels available for purchase at $1 per pixel. You could purchase a block of pixels and put your digital advertisement in that location. This kind of thing took-off in the early years of the internet, and as you can imagine, it was sold-out pretty quickly as it also garnered a lot of attention internationally.

The site is still available to visit today if you want to take a look, though be careful on which ads you click because who knows where they will take you!

The creator of this website was Alex Tew. He has since moved on to bigger and better, as evident by founding Calm.com, which generates ÂŁ150-200 Million in revenue per year.

All it takes is one idea to get started.

Alex’s story is not original by any means. He had a “flash-in-the-pan” idea, and leveraged that idea to then fuel future endeavors. In reality, many people would be happy with the results of his original million dollar homepage idea – it’s proof that just one idea can change your life forever.

I remember back in college when I had a few of my friends over for some drinks. We all got pretty buzzed, and one of my friends started talking about how if we could just come up with one idea, we would be set for life. He kept emphasizing how all it would take was one idea. Just one!

Hell, that should be easy, right? So, the rest of the evening, we all brainstormed what were likely terrible ideas before ultimately giving into the alcohol.

I don’t remember any details around the ideas we discussed, but I do remember thinking back on the entire evening for years to come. My friend was oversimplifying things a bit, but he wasn’t entirely wrong. All you need is one idea. So many people have made a fortune by finding an idea they believe in and making it a reality.

Thinking back on that evening with my friends, I see that we were all seeking more than one idea. We were trying to come up with one revolutionary idea. That was never going to happen, especially from us.

You don’t need a revolutionary idea, just a small twist on an already proven one.

Time can be a great teacher if you let it. I have learned a lot over the years about entrepreneurship, creative thinking, and bringing ideas to life. I have started a multitude of businesses that didn’t work out, but they didn’t “fail” because along the way I picked up new skills. Things like:

  • How to communicate value
  • How to use content marketing to build an email list
  • How to position a brand
  • How to sell

Through it all, I started to refine my skills so that the likelihood of my next idea being a success would be just a little higher. And eventually, my skills (and timing) came together when I started LearnDash.

Over the years, I have realized that there are very few original ideas out there. You don’t have to create an entirely new category, like Steve Jobs did with the iPhone. All that is needed is an original take on a concept that is already proven. This is particularly easy to do in software, but can apply to any industry.

How you can find an opportunity for your idea.

Most good ideas come from a point of user research. The easiest way to find a winning idea is to look at reviews of the products you love, and to document the common complaints. Then, create a solution that addresses one of those issues.

If you want to sell physical products, jump to the Amazon reviews to see what people are saying.

If you would like to sell software, go to Capterra or G2Crowd and do the same. In these reviews, you will find the profitable segments of very well established markets. No need to reinvent the wheel, just create a better wheel.

Of course, establishing product-market fit is only a part of the equation. It makes no sense to build something if you can’t get it in front of your intended audience. As such, my advice is to avoid building and start marketing instead!

"Stop designing and developing, and start marketing." - Me

Create a sales page that calls out the features & benefits of your product based on the research you did, then start creating content. Build an audience first. If your message is resonating, you will get people asking when your product will be available. At this point, you know you have a market, and also initial customers.

Ideas are inherently worthless.

As you probably already know, ideas are worthless. The value comes in execution and bringing that idea to life. If you have done your market research and know that it is viable, then all your energy should be spent in making your mission known.

Your priority in any business is to make money. If you are working on something that isn’t coming to fruition in the way you envision, don’t get discouraged. It’s not a failure by any means. Take your lessons learned and apply it to your next project.

It is only a failure if you stop trying.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

It's the easiest decision you'll ever have to make.

Can we talk about Black Friday sales?

Can we also make it the last time we talk about Black Friday sales?

Okay, good. I’m glad we are on the same page.

This article is the “be-all, end-all” for the discussion of whether you should, or should not, run Black Friday sales in your business. Next year, when this conversation comes up, just send this article to the person who is asking the question.

When you first start a business, you wear many hats, from janitor to CEO, and everything in between. You are the one to make the big, strategic decisions for the company, and then you are the person who has to implement them.

Smart entrepreneurs understand that they don’t have the answers to every unique situation, especially the first time around. As such, they often rely upon their network for advice on certain topics.

And inevitably, one of those topics is Black Friday.

I am a member of a few entrepreneurial groups (mostly around the WordPress space) and like clockwork, around October people begin to ask whether they should have a Black Friday sale. This then sparks lengthy discussions that go into weird directions, from ethics and capitalism to politics and cultures.

Whether you should have a Black Friday sale or not is an odd question, as the answer is quite obvious: yes, you should.

There is No Gray Area

It is incredibly stupid to not have a Black Friday sale.

For a few years while running LearnDash, I decided not to have a Black Friday sale, and I convinced myself that my decision was the right one using the same arguments I see others use today. I’m sure you have seen, or maybe even used yourself, one of these:

“Black Friday sales devalue our product.”

“It’s not fair to people who purchased before the sale.”

“It feels dishonest.”

“Current customers will get mad.”

“Current customers will want the sale retroactively applied.”

Every one of these statements is unequivocally false. If you think this way now, purge it from your head. You are wrong.

Whenever I see people present (terrible) arguments against having a Black Friday sale, I want to shake them to their senses. Though over time I have come to realize that this is just a “growing pain” that every early entrepreneur has to go through.

Look, I get it. I know that being an entrepreneur is hard. We are constantly faced with decisions, and the answers aren’t always clear. We are used to solving these complexities. But that’s not the case for this one, and this super easy decision will add thousands upon thousands of dollars to your bottom line, like it did for Maarten:

Maximize the Impact

My first year doing a Black Friday sale, I didn’t do any kind of promotion. I just threw up a site wide sale announcement on my website and slashed the price by 50%. Even then, it resulted in over four times the normal sales on a typical day.

Over time, I added some more elements, but I never went overboard with the promotion. At a certain point, it can have diminishing returns. Remember, the point of Black Friday is that you maximize revenue for very little effort.

Here are some tips for maximizing your Black Friday sale reach. These are the exact ones that I used to reach strong six figure Black Friday sales:

  • Offer 50% off – Anything less than 50% is a waste of time and isn’t enough to elicit impulse purchases.
  • Use countdown timers – Put a banner on every page of your website advertising the sale and include a timer for when that sale is over to create a sense of urgency. Important: include a button to your purchase page on the banner!
  • Create affiliate materials – Leading up to the sale, email your affiliates to let them know of the discount. Give them promotional materials like website banners, images, videos, and email swipes. Make it as “point-and-click” as possible.
  • Don’t offer lifetime deals – I won’t drain this topic, as I have written about it quite extensively already. The biggest benefit of doing a yearly Black Friday sale is that it will compound over time, assuming you have a yearly renewal.
  • Renew at full-price – Black Friday special pricing is for new customers, not existing. When renewal comes for these purchases, it should renew at the full price or close to it. Be upfront about this with your promotion and you’re all good.

Black Friday is a great time to experiment with your marketing in general as well! It’s the perfect testing ground to try out those strategies you have been thinking about implementing. My friend Joe Casabona did this and had his best Black Friday ever!

Black Friday is Not a Hard Decision

Many people overthink Black Friday. If that's you, then stop. It’s actually the easiest one you will ever have to make for your business.

The best part about Black Friday sales is that the world understands how it works. There is no educating people on what it means and why the sale exists. Consumers know they can get a deal on products, and that this deal is limited in time. They also know that the deals around this time of year are often the best deals ever offered by a company.

There is absolutely no need to apologize, feel bad, or feel like you owe something to those who purchased previously. If you feel this way, you are overthinking it.

Keep it simple because the reality is that Black Friday is exactly that: simple.

It is a win for your customers and a win for your business. My advice to anyone questioning Black Friday is to take the win, and put your energy into the real issues you are facing with your business. You can then use some of that Black Friday revenue to help solve it. 😉

At the end of the day, the best way to help your current customers is for your business to do well. The more money you make, the more you can do for those who have trusted you and your product. If you choose not to have a Black Friday sale, you aren’t doing everything possible to properly serve your customers.

Have the sale, and know that everyone benefits from it.

#entrepreneurship

Comment

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

I don’t know when it happened, but sometime within the past three to five years, “lifetime deals” (LTD) for software really started to become a thing.

As a consumer, you love these. Pay a little extra upfront, lock-in the price, and never have to worry about paying again. The company gets a little extra money, and you get a lifetime benefit. Win-win, right? No, not at all. This is all win for the consumer. While offering customers a lifetime deal is tempting, if you ever want to sell your business, then you better avoid them.

Full disclosure: at one point, I gave a lifetime deal for my software, but it wasn’t really planned. Renewals weren’t a thing in WordPress back in 2013, so I didn’t really know anything different. The industry matured over time, and yearly renewals eventually became the norm.

The only other time I offered lifetime pricing was to satisfy my ego by selling LearnDash for $999 just to prove to AppSumo that I didn’t need to bother with their bogus pricing model after they wouldn’t stop bothering me about listing on their website. I sold ~20 in four days, then stopped the experiment.

All this is to say that the lifetime deal business model was never an intentional, long-term pricing strategy for me.

If you ever think that you one day you will want to sell your company (spoiler: you will), then you are doing your business harm by offering lifetime deals.

My friend Pippin Williamson sold his company the same week that LearnDash was sold. But before he made that big sale, he sold a single product from his portfolio. He wrote a blog post, and in it, he said:

All products and companies will ultimately always meet one of three fates: they will slowly fade away and die; they will be discontinued; or they will be sold or transferred to someone else to carry forward. There are no other possibilities. One of those three things will always happen.

Pippin Williamson Founder, Sandhills Dev

If you are a founder, then this will one day be your fate, too. Hopefully, you will be selling! That is far more fun than closing up shop. 😆

I will cut straight to the point: investors hate non-recurring revenue. I mean, you wouldn’t either, right? Let’s say you are looking to purchase a company and last year it did $2,000,000 in revenue and all of it represented lifetime deal sales. Wouldn’t that make you nervous? It should.

First, there is no guarantee that the following year will be better than the previous. With recurring revenue, that becomes highly more likely because of the snowball effect. Growth rules the day, always.

Second, the customers who made up that $2,000,000 can never be sold to again for the product they are using. Yes, in theory you could sell them a complimentary product, but there are no guarantees that they will want that product. Whereas, you know they want the product that they purchased the lifetime deal.

When I was selling LearnDash, I gave many management presentations to prospective buyers. Each one of them asked about the lifetime access that the earliest of customers had to the product (back in 2013)! They disliked it and wanted to quantify the loss of future revenues because of it.

Fortunately, the impact of lifetime licenses was so small at that point, it was not a major valuation factor for me. Still, I had to put their mind at peace about it. Had we offered those every year, I think those particular conversations would have been a lot more difficult.

While there are many reasons why you should not bother with offering lifetime deals, this is one that isn’t talked about enough. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware of this downside until going through an acquisition process myself.

Instead of offering a lifetime deal, think creatively about other ways to increase revenue while simultaneously delivering continuous value to justify recurring payments.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

LearnDash is now part of the Liquid Web family of brands, I learned a ton along this journey.

Selling my business was one of the most stressful and challenging things that I have ever done as an entrepreneur. In the end, it took just about a year from start to finish (October 2020 – September 2021).

If you’re interested, you can check out the official announcement on the LearnDash blog, or check out Liquid Web’s press release.

LearnDash started making sales in early 2013. It was meant to be a lifestyle business for me, initially. But slowly over time the company grew into something more than that. With employees and customers from all over the world, LearnDash carved out a unique space in both the WordPress and e-learning industries.

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, LearnDash was very well poised to be found as people scrambled to create online courses – be it for extra income or to augment their entire business model. It was an insane time in more ways than one. The already healthy company grew even more in team size and in revenue. It was clear that the business was bigger than me, and far from the lifestyle business I created.

It didn’t take too long before I started receiving offers for LearnDash from venture capitalists. Truth is, this has been the case for the past few years, but during the pandemic that interest skyrocketed. I would get contacted literally every other day from investment firms looking to get a piece of the e-learning pie.

Now, I have always been one to pursue happiness, and this was the main driver for selling LearnDash. The truth was that I no longer had the same inspiration that I did for the industry, and this meant that I was getting in the way of the company’s true potential. LearnDash is bigger, and more important, than me. It deserved more so that it could reach that next phase of its potential.

The continued growth trajectory for LearnDash is huge, especially since it straddles both the WordPress and e-learning industries so well (which is unlike any other WordPress product, ever). Both the WordPress and e-learning markets will continue to grow in importance, and LearnDash will continue to be a leader in that space. Even more so with the backing and leadership of Liquid Web.

I hired investment bankers to market and sell LearnDash.

Given LearnDash’s unique position across two industries, I felt like professional representation was needed for the sale. In October 2020, I was introduced to the investment banking firm, Angle Advisors. I can say with confidence that had I not done this, LearnDash would have never found its new home with Liquid Web.

These folks are incredibly smart. Much smarter than me. We spent the remainder of 2020 preparing the financials and creating a management presentation. In January of this year, Angle Advisors reached out to hundreds of potential buyers. A large percentage of these companies were interested in learning more. They indicated this by presenting an offer for the company (usually a range). Those that made respectable offers were invited to a management presentation.

Let me tell you something about management presentations: they are stressful, and they are long. Each one that I gave was about two to three hours long, and in it, I discussed everything about the business. Its history, its present status, its position across the markets, the growth opportunities, and so on. It’s an informative presentation and a sales presentation all in one.

When all the presentations were done, the stopwatch began. The companies had to decide if they wanted to make a formal offer. Only three companies decided to drop out of the process. The rest submitted offers.

Moving into the due diligence phase.

With Angle Advisors’ guidance, an offer was accepted and the “one-on-one” relationship with the potential buyer could begin. I know that I said the management presentation is stressful, but honestly the due diligence phase is the most stressful part of it all. Just because you enter into this phase doesn’t mean that you will for sure close the deal. Either party can decide to move on for a variety of reasons.

In this phase, you set an agreed upon closing date for the deal. Leading up to that date, you have to provide the buying company with any piece of information that they request. Information on financials, market, product, legal, and so on — reaching back three to four years (sometimes longer). There are meetings, many meetings. The days are long and tiring for everyone involved.

In the latter stages of this phase is when the lawyers really start to get involved. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to worry about that too much since I was working with Angle Advisors (and they brought in Varnum Law to provide the counsel).

Once all the requested information has been shared, all questions answered, and all contractual agreements made from a legal standpoint, the closing can occur, and the buyer becomes the new owner. You finally can “hand over the keys to the house”.

LearnDash is in the perfect home with Liquid Web, and holy crap are they ready to take it to the next level! I’m especially thrilled that Chris will be taking an active role as General Manager. He is incredibly smart, and has deep roots in the online education space. He gets it.

What is next after you sell a business?

This is probably the most common question people have for a founder after they sell a business (besides curiosity on the sales price, which I am not sharing, sorry).

As I mentioned earlier, I live my life by prioritizing happiness. This has led LearnDash into the Liquid Web portfolio, and in the near term I am still very much part of the LearnDash team. I am in the middle of some exciting initiatives that I’ll be helping to see to the end (LearnDash 4.0 being one that I’m very eager about getting released). I will then be an active advisor to the company.

I get excited about new challenges. WordPress and e-learning have been good to me, but I’m running on fumes at this point. I’ve been involved in these two industries my entire life (e-learning since 2004 and WordPress since 2006).

I have interests outside of software and WordPress that I will have time to pursue. One in particular is starting a fitness brand with my wife, Lorena. I will be documenting this journey, so if you’re interested in hearing about the ups-and-downs of that adventure, check back here often.

I have learned from people sharing, so I plan to do the same.

I have learned a lot over the years about running (and now selling) a business. Things like competing, brand positioning, driving sales, and more. I plan to share these lessons learned on this blog. I’ll share exactly what it takes to build a multi-million dollar WordPress business across two industries.

Think of it like a conversation between friends. I had so many questions when starting out, and while there is no substitute for direct experience, a little guidance from someone who has been there before can be reassuring.

I won’t be selling courses or products, just writing. If you would like these insider tips, then just sign-up below. By doing so, you can also email me at anytime with your questions. All you have to do is click “reply” on a new post, and it’ll land in my inbox.

#WordPress #entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

Affiliate programs can be a huge hassle, but the extra money is worth it in the end.

If you sell a product online, then you probably have toyed with the idea of having an affiliate program. That is, giving people a commission if they refer a new customer to you.

Affiliate programs have been around for a very long time. I made my first money online back in college when I joined an affiliate program (regrettable, of a pyramid scheme
 don’t judge). The concept is simple enough: refer people to a product that you like, and you earn a little money if that person buys the product. It’s win-win. Well, at least that’s the idea.

Is having an affiliate program worth the hassle? Yes, and here’s why.

The reality for consumers is that if you Google the product, you’re bound to find an endless number of websites with biased “reviews”. The authors are just in it for the money. And in most cases, they don’t even have experience with the product that they recommend.

For product creators, parting ways with a percentage of revenue can be a tough sell. Why give up money if you don’t have to? Also, is it worth the time to deal with the fraudulent purchases and scammy affiliates that sign-up?

I have been on both sides of this debate. At one point I had an affiliate program, but then I got rid of it because people were abusing it. They were purchasing my product through their affiliate link, then arguing with me when I nullified their commission. But later down the line, I implemented it again, and it resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in extra income every month.

If you sell a product (or are thinking about selling a product), then you probably have some questions:

  • Should you have an affiliate program?
  • What are the benefits?
  • How much should you offer?
  • Where should you promote it?
  • What are the risks?
  • What software should you use?

I want you to feel confident in your decision, so let's tackle each of these. I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. Remember, this is based 100% on my experience. Spoiler alert: the affiliate program that I implemented for LearnDash is a net-positive (in more ways than just cash).

Should you have an affiliate program?

Yes.

Don't question this.

I've done a ton of research. I've tested having one versus not having one. It was better for business to have one.

When you don’t have one, you’ll get people asking you if you do, anyway. It’s better to say “yes”. Some people just want to tell their friend about your product, and they want a little kick-back for doing so. If you don’t have an affiliate program, they may recommend something else (and there goes your customer).

What are the benefits of having an affiliate program?

There are a few, but mainly you get customers that you perhaps wouldn't otherwise because folks will want to promote it.

But another really nice benefit is that you'll form partnerships with influencers (big and small) because you have one. I've blindly reached out to influencers before and used the affiliate program as a carrot by sharing the conversion rates and what that means from a dollar standpoint.

This strategy ultimately led to some popular websites and YouTube channels promoting the product.

What is the best commission for your affiliates?

If the product is over $100, then 35%. Only on the first purchase, not on automatic renewals (if your product has those). If the product is under $100, then you can still do 35%, but it's less enticing. Personally, I’d probably go with 50%.

I did 35% when LearnDash was priced under $100. The program wasn’t super popular. Things got interesting when the price went up.

On a related note: raise the price of your product to reflect the value that it gives someone (I will talk more about this at a later date).

Where should you promote your affiliate program?

Don't let the affiliate program deter you from your main business priorities – it can easily be a distraction. Include an “Affiliate Program” link in the footer on your website. Also include a visible link to it on your customer dashboard, and mention it in your onboarding emails. That's it. As you build an audience for your product, people will naturally ask about the program.

What are the risks of an affiliate program?

The main risk is people will become an affiliate and then purchase your product. This happens a lot and was the reason why I killed the program in the early years (I just didn't want to deal with it).

When this happens, just delete the commission and remove the affiliate as it's a violation of your terms. By the way, make sure that you have specific affiliate terms and conditions, and ensure that affiliates agree to these terms before they sign up.

The other risk is someone creating an affiliate account and using stolen credit cards to make purchases.

This sounds like a far-shot, but it happens. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with this, and it was a bit of a headache as it resulted in a boatload of credit card disputes (naturally) as people saw purchases that they did not recognize. Disputes nuke your reputation with credit card companies, and if you get a bad reputation, you can no longer accept credit cards. Yeah. It’s kind of a big deal.

In this case, I found out what was going on the early side. I refunded the remaining commissions to the stolen cards, deleted the affiliate, then contacted the payment gateway processor (Stripe) to inform them what happened. It was all resolved in the end, but it was stressful at the time.

While this scenario is far rarer than dealing with people purchasing through their personal affiliate link, it’s still a possibility to be aware of.

Which affiliate program software is best?

If you're using WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads for your shopping cart, then use AffiliateWP.

If not, consider using Shareasale (this will cost you more, but less managing of the risks I mentioned above). Their UI is absolutely terrible, though. It’s honestly one of the worst I have ever seen, so searching an alternative to Shareasale might be worthwhile.

If you have a shopping cart with its built-in affiliate tools (like SamCart or Thrivecart), then use that. I have the most experience with iDevAffiliate. It's not great, so I wouldn't recommend it. I had to use it because the shopping cart in the business was Zoho Subscriptions, and it was the only one that would really work for our use case.

Don’t overthink the affiliate program, just do it!

I’ll admit that I wasted a lot of time debating implementing an affiliate program, and then how I wanted it to look once it was implemented. Just put one into place and move on with your core business.

In the end, it’s better to have one than not to have one. You will need to spend a little more time managing it, but it will make you money.

#entrepreneurship

Read more...

Don't waste your time trying to acquire a new skill. Just amplify what is currently working.

Growing up I was always told that if you're not good at something, and you want to become good at that thing, then you should practice it.

I can't argue with that logic. Makes sense.

It wasn't until I was an early adult that someone told me not to waste time on the things I am not good at, and instead focus on amplifying the areas where I already have skill.

For whatever reason, that resonated with me.

Maybe it's because as a child, you're still developing all kinds of skill-sets, so you have to essentially practice everything.

When entering adulthood, you already have an affinity towards some disciplines, and you get more ROI by putting your energy into those areas.

Focusing on what makes you money and enhancing those skills is far more efficient.

I don't know how to write code.

As someone who has started a software company, you would think that learning how to write some code would be beneficial.

But quite the opposite.

It would be anÂ ï»żenormous waste of time. I am good at other things, and my time is best spent on those areas. Things like marketing, competing, networking, researching opportunities, and analyzing market trends.

If I spent $1,000 on a coding course, it'd be a waste of money.

But if I spent $1,000 on a marketing course, I could generate an ROI in a very short amount of time. I would turn that $1,000 into $10,000.

And then I could use some of that $10,000 to hire some developers.

See what I am getting at?

List the top three things that you are good at, and take the necessary steps to improve in those areas.

Whether you work at a company or are an entrepreneur running your own business, you are probably talented in at least three areas.

This is where your focus should be if you are interested in making more money. Zero-in your talent so that in a crowd you are known as ï»żtheÂ ï»żmostï»ż talented compared to the other talented folks.

That's how you command a higher salary. That's how you make more money for your business.

Now, if you want to learn a new skill as a hobby, then there is no harm in that at all. Always be learning. Keep challenging your mind.

But when it comes to revenue generation, stay focused on strengthening the skills where you already rise above the rest, and keep on rising.

#entrepreneurship

Read more...

That time I forgot to use BCC and blasted an email to over 500 (very angry) people.

I'm going to share with you a story that no one knows.

It's embarrassing.

It has to do with a mistake that I made in the very early days of my business. I laugh about it now (because it was so stupid), and I'm sure you will too. But more importantly, I hope that you learn from my mistake! So, something that I always wanted to give customers of LearnDash was free integrations.

In other words, you buy LearnDash and get all the in-house integrations for free (no upcharge). The thing is, I wanted to avoid listing these free integrations on wordpress.org.

There are a variety of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to avoid having customer support spread out over multiple platforms. Plus, someone could nuke an add-on with a 1-star review and perspective customers may mistake that for a review of LearnDash itself.

In any event, I decided not to list them there. This meant that the add-ons did not have automatic updates.

Instead, when an update was made, I would email customers who downloaded that specific add-on (because there was no need to email all customers).

Well, one day in 2013 an update was made to the WooCommerce add-on for LearnDash. At that time, I was the one responsible for pushing out the updates when they were complete.

So, I did my usually steps of packaging up the download and notifying the individuals who downloaded this add-on. I then fired up regular email... and sent the update notice as I always did.

At the time, to about 500 people. Except I put every email in the “TO” section and not the “BCC”.

Yeah... that happened.

As you would expect, I got many replies. Some people were laughing at me, others were “letting me know” what happened, and of course others were pissed-off and wanted to know what I would do to fix this situation.

I was embarrassed, and angry at myself. Ultimately, the mess settled down. I can't recall exactly how I went about easing the tension, but I was responding to every message that was sent. In the end, it was an honest mistake by a young startup.

It ultimately was forgiven and forgotten (by everyone except me). After that incident, I linked all email to the email service provider I was using at the time (MailChimp) and eventually added auto-updates to add-ons.

I was determined to never make a mistake like that again, and I never did. If you make a mistake in your business, do what you have to do to own up to it and make sure you learn from your mistake. If you make it twice, then shame on you. Mistakes are the greatest teacher.

Oh, and get your privacy policy in order.

The above story highlights another important part of business that isn't talked about enough, and few people understand: privacy policies and terms & conditions.

When entrepreneurs first start out, they end up creating their own privacy policy and terms. This is fine for the experimental stage of a business.

However, once you start getting regular customers, then it's time to “level up” your legal game.

There is no cool trick to this. Hire a lawyer or law firm. Having a lawyer draft these up (or review your draft) won't cost you a fortune, but it won't be cheap. Regardless, it's worth your peace of mind.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

I get $10 for every $1 spent on Google Ads. Here is how I do it, and it's not as hard as you may think.

I see many similar questions come up about Google Ads, and the surrounding confusion with implementing them.

I've talked about this before in my old newsletter but figured it would be worthwhile to address it again in a  more concise manner. Consider this your “cheat sheet”!

Getting a positive ROI on your Google Ads takes time and attention. You need to be constantly monitoring your ad performance, dropping the dead-weight and increasing ad spend on the winners.

Here are some beginner tips I followed to make Google Ads work for me:

  • Keep keyword groups small / narrow. Don't “bundle” related keywords to create massive groups. Instead, create many small groups that are more closely related so that you can better analyze the themes that are working.
  • Test each ad group for one or two weeks. Don't throw a bunch of money at the group right away. Keep daily limit modest before spending a lot. Once you have some winners, ramp up the ad spend.
  • Implement the Google suggestions. As you create ads, Google will suggest changes to your ads. Do them! Your ad optimization scores will go up. Oh, and just because you do this once doesn't mean you're done. Google will keep making suggestions.
  • Set up a conversion pixel. This is slightly technical, but I was capable of doing it, and all I did was use Google's help docs. Your ads don't mean anything if you can't track conversions (i.e. money made). This is also a great metric for determining which ad groups to drop and which to keep.
  • Revisit every week. Google likes to see activity in the account. This doesn't mean you have to change something every time. Monitor what is working, what is not, add some of Google's keyword suggestions (you'll get these as you have ads running). Adjust the times your ads show, configure dynamic ads, create the maximum number of ad variations for each keyword group.
  • Monitor competitors. Google makes this easy to do with a ton of useful graphs and charts. Use a tool like SpyFu to dig deeper into the specific ads your competition is running and for which keywords. You can't exist in a silo. You need to monitor the activity of other people in your market.
  • Landing page score must be minimum 7 out of 10. Your landing page score (Google gives you this for your specific URLs that you put for ads) needs to be 7 or above. You're wasting your time and money if it's lower than that. If you're going after competitive keywords, it better be a 9 or a 10 out of 10 for your ad to have a chance at being shown above the fold.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.

When you run a successful business, you start to see opportunities everywhere for making more money. You develop a sense of what will work. It's pretty neat, but that intuition is not always 100% accurate.

I once saw an opportunity in the market for a service that would authenticate (validate) certifications for online courses. There was one major player in the market, and they were still pretty new. The timing was perfect. So, I started building this complementary business. I would integrate it first with LearnDash then extend to other learning management systems.

The market was huge, and I was excited to run a traditional SaaS business! The business was SimplyCertify (I spent $2,000 on that domain name).

I created a few sales pages, early adopter sign-up forms, and then hired someone to start blogging. Some people started to sign-up, which was encouraging. Then I started a Facebook Group. During this time, I hired a well-respected developer to create the initial prototype. I spent around $30,000 for it.

In the end, it never launched.

The project never saw the light of day. Not because it was a bad idea. It was a great idea. I simply did not have the energy to turn that start-up into a successful business.

One reason I knew SimplyCertify would be profitable was because I could leverage the success of one business to feed its early growth. I was going to upsell the existing customers into this new product.

Even create a pricing tier in LearnDash that would include SimplyCertify. I did this once before with a non-SaaS product (ProPanel, a reporting tool for LearnDash).

This would allow current LearnDash customers to help round-out the feature set in SimplyCertify before taking it to other markets. Sujay Pawar is someone who does this incredibly well. His flagship product Astra Theme is the foot-in-the-door for all his other products (such as Starter Templates).

I learned the value of focus.

When you have success, you need to focus on really refining that success so that it is optimal, then you can leverage it to make more money. Avoid the temptation to start something “entirely new” just because you see an opportunity. Find ways to use the work you have done already.

Maybe I was doing too much at the time. In hindsight, I probably should have had someone else take on that project to see it through completion. But you know what? I don't regret that experience.

First, the individual blogging for SimplyCertify (Laura) started to write for LearnDash and the blog took off! She's incredibly talented at what she does, and I'm grateful that she became part of the LearnDash team.

Secondly, I learned a lot about what it takes to get a minimal viable product out the door for a SaaS. I paid for that education. I took these lessons learned and applied it to the LearnDash 3.0 launch — the most successful (and profitable) update done for LearnDash.

The update changed the trajectory of the business entirely with the revenue growth. If you hit a dead-end with a project that you're working on, don't consider it a failure. All of your learnings from the process will make you better.

Experience isn't something that you can buy, and it's incredibly valuable.

#entrepreneurship

Justin Ferriman

Justin Ferriman

Amateur blogger for over 20 years. I write about life, happiness, entrepreneurship, and politics. Full bio.