How I’ve Made Thousands of Dollars with Free Reports
August 13th, 2008 | 39 comments
Whether you’ve already created a product or you plan to in the future, the question is always there (should I sell it or give it away?)
The obvious answer to the inexperienced marketer is “sell it.” But, an experienced marketer will tell you a free report, or any kind of product for that matter, can earn you MUCH more money in the long run, and possibly even short term as well, than a product you sell.
Obviously there are situations when selling a product will benefit you more than giving it away. For instance, if you already have a large list, promoting a free product to that list isn’t going to help you at all, so you may want to charge for a product that is sent out to your list for extra profit. But in most cases a free report will do you more good, as you’ll be building that list and you can give those who are currently on your list something of value for absolutely free, not even an opt-in.
How I do it
Before I go any further, I want to make one thing very clear. Although your ultimate goal is to obviously make a whole bunch of money 
your reports/products MUST be useful and do exactly as you claim!
This whole system succeeds for me because I’m able to help people and they respect me for it. I get the occasional a**hole who opts into my list then gets made when I send him emails, but over I’ve been able to gain respect by helping.
Promote something in every email and you’ll fail. Offer crappy products and you’ll fail!
1. So far I’ve written 3 free reports. I required opt-in (name and email) through a nice looking squeeze page in order to download each of them, or all of them when opting in through this blog (above.) These are all quality reports, where I really provide some excellent info! That will probably be the hardest part for most inexperienced marketers, but it can still be done… I almost guarantee there is something you can offer for free that people will want to have. The reports I’ve written are:
- The $5 Mini-Site Formula
- The Easy SEO Report
- The “Make Money Online” Niche Exposed
2. I collected resources for everything people need in order to successfully implement every single thing I mention in the reports (templates, services etc.) These are all honest recommendations and links are included within each report, but those resources with affiliate programs include my affiliate link.
3. I started a Coaching Forum where I charge VERY cheap rates ($24/month) for unlimited Question and Answers. They ask, I answer, it’s that simple. I answer every single question that is asked. This has done VERY well because people want help, but don’t want to pay $1,000 or more for 1-on-1 coaching.
3. With my autoresponder, I set up an automatic email at day two, for each of the reports (1 email for the 3 report package I offer from this blog) where I offer my personal help implementing the techniques. So, if someone opted into the $5 Mini-Site Formula, the email headline is something like “[firstname], Need my personal help with the Formula?” Of course this is taking them to my Coaching Forum where they get my personal help for $24/month.
4. Once they’ve received the auto email inviting them to my forum, they go into my inactive subscriber database, which is easily run my my autoresponder, GetResponse. Now approx. every 6 days I send them an email, but I’m not promoting a product everytime, like so many others do. The simple system I use works like this:
Email 1 – send them to a free, informative blog post or other resource.
Email 2 (6 days later) – send them to a free, informative blog post or other resource, once again.
Email 3 (6 days after email 2) – send them to a product/service I’ve personally tried and recommend then I always try to work out some kind of discount or special. If I haven’t came across one I like, I simply don’t promote anything and start the cycle over.
That’s it. From time to time I’ll send out an email before the 6 day mark or even longer, depending on what’s going on, but I try my best to stick to that and it’s worked very well for me. If you arrived here from my last email, you know I just send an email yesterday that happens from time to time if I find something I really want to share with you, like the article directory list I shared yesterday.
How I get Subscribers
Obviously none of this would be possible without a list, right? Well, you may be relieved it wasn’t that hard… I don’t think so anyway.
After creating by reports I outsourced a professional squeeze page design for each report. I then wrote the “copy” and just stated exactly what they get etc. Obviously you want to have a little hype in there, but don’t misrepresent your product.
I did several things to build subscribers, but none were extremely hard to do:
1. Write and submit articles related to each report sending them to the squeeze page in the signature of the article.
2. I put up a WSO at the Warrior Forum. There is a $20 charge to post it, but it’s well worth it. I’ve always been able to offer free reports there, and as far as I know it’s still allowed.
3. I registered and participated in related forums. Since my reports are all targeting fellow Internet Marketers, I participated at the Warrior Forum etc. and included (and still do) links to my squeeze pages in my signature.
4. I announced them on my blog. OK, you may be thinking “great, what if I don’t have a blog as established as yours?” Don’t worry about it. Believe it or not, I’ve received a majority of my opt-ins from #1-#3. This blog does bring in opt-ins everyday, but the techniques above do as well.
Using basically that overall technique, I’ve been able to build a list of 7,000+ opt-ins, which many experienced email marketers would say is very little, but I’ve been able to leverage it into literally thousands of dollars every month in recurring and one-time payments!
My last promotion alone, for FirePow, brought in $1,500/month in recurring commissions. My coaching forum brings in a similar amount each and every month. I also have several other products that bring in recurring commissions each and every month, just from one email and we’re not even counting one-time promotions or ebooks etc.!
It’s very powerful, those who take this post seriously can and will transform their business and start making serious cash online!
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13th August, 2008 at 5:58 pm
You continue to amaze me, Josh.
I can’t think of very many marketers that give away so much great information while asking for nothing more than an eMail address.
Keep up the good work.
Mike
13th August, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hey Josh,
Another great post. What you mention is the only reason i still subscribe to your list. I got so sick of all the emails promoting product after product time and again. At least you offer some actual help and make me feel like a customer more then a sales lead.
You can make more money in the long run if you offer help and build relationships over trying to make a quick dollar!
I currently subscribe to your list and John Legers because you both have the same type of style
13th August, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Hey Josh,
Good easy to follow information- keep it up
Paul
13th August, 2008 at 9:53 pm
You do right Josh, I’ve changed my email before because I got sick of the countless barrage of emails selling the latest, new fangled product.
I’ve just started building a list.
Do you have a list for anything other than internet marketing for example gardening? Everyone that talks about list building seems to only talk about in reference to internet marketing.
Thanks
13th August, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Josh
This is a fantastic post. I can testify to the coaching provided on your forum. You deliver the same high quality on the forum as you do on this blog and I suspect everything else you do in life.
Great work.
Thank you
Rach
13th August, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Like the approach you take to the list – so many emails today for Google Snatch its boring hitting the delete button
Always read your emails though
13th August, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Hi Josh,
Your post is just one more reason you’re in my ‘Favorite Blogs’ folder. Thank you so much for sharing so selflessly and so generously with your readers. Your success is guaranteed.
Quick question though…if I sign up so I can download your 3 free reports, will that put me on your mailing list twice?
Thanks again for all you do!
Honey
13th August, 2008 at 11:07 pm
How about markets/niches other than internet marketing?
13th August, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Great post, Josh. I’m sure it will help many a newbie begin to get their head around this Internet Marketing gig.
What I look for in marketers in the I.M. niche is someone who can help/show me how to make money online NOW with their quality posts that give me good ideas to implement. That’s certainly the case here. Anyone who takes action on your advice, and is conscientious about what they’re doing, is sure to stumble onto some success.
It’s good to be able to point to someone like yourself who I can recommend to others when asked.
Thom
14th August, 2008 at 12:43 am
HI Josh,
Excellent Information here. I am sure you will grow your business very fast!
14th August, 2008 at 1:08 am
Hey Josh,
I have a couple of old reports I wrote in the past, and have been wanting to sort of “re-launch” them for a long time.
Your post has given me the idea of giving all 3 of them away in a bundle to get more subscribers.
I’m pretty sure this move is going to get me hundreds of subscribers at least
Thanks!
14th August, 2008 at 1:12 am
Thanks Josh.
This is gold.
At the moment I’ve just started building a list. I guess by promoting stuff in the post you mean other people’s stuff. I put a couple of sentences at the end of each email about the course I’m promoting.
I haven’t found other stuff in my niche (health) that I’d be delighted to promote so don’t do this at the moment.
14th August, 2008 at 1:35 am
Hi Josh, the reports you send me are great!
I have learned a lot just reading one. I am getting ready to read the other two, I’m sure they will be just as good.
I have a question about blogging. I have a home business opportunity website I’m trying to promote and was wondering if I can write about other things other than business opportunity such as auto responder, affiliate marketing, email advertising etc?
These terms are related to my website but are not the subject.
Your advice would be appreciate.
14th August, 2008 at 3:03 am
Most of the new marketers does not experience much and cant provide an quality and good report. This is why they fail. Thanks for your post Josh!
14th August, 2008 at 5:10 am
Thanx for the list stats insights, Josh
I’m after a slightly different angle- building a customer list from the git-go and am wondering what you think of that approach.
Once I finally figured out which way was up in the marketing multiverse I found a killer set of interlocking niches beyond IM.
Long story short, I developed a killer form to give away for the bribe. Counting the bribe, there are 5 levels of goods and services and guesstimate %ages opting for each so that a list of less than 1,000 can earn me a career change.
If anybody’s interested I’ll put in PDF and pass it along. Thanx again.
14th August, 2008 at 7:17 am
Even though I would very rarely buy a product promoted through an email newsletter, I always appreciate your emails because I know I am getting some useful information every time. If I ever buy something this way (not likely though!), it would probably be from you and not from someone sending me a daily newsletter promoting some “crappy” product.
Congratulations, you are a very gifted Internet marketer and I know now that there is at least one non-sleazy IM out there (sorry for the novel).
14th August, 2008 at 7:46 am
Great guide and something I needed and I totally agree with you, I have opted in a couple of times where the marketer was sending me like 2 emails A DAY!! All his stuff became meaningless and I finally got so irritated that I killed off the subscript!
14th August, 2008 at 8:55 am
I’d go even further Josh and say that most, if not all, ebooks should be provided in this way. The Clickbank ebook sales model is rapidly becoming redundant as users find they can get as good, if not better, info for free on the web.
If all the value is in the sales page (you know what I mean…) then that’s what leaves so many internet marketers with a nasty taste of bitter disappointment after their purchase. Far better to offer the 35 – 50 page efforts for free and then put the really good stuff into the back end.
14th August, 2008 at 5:30 pm
@ Mike, Adsense and Paul – Thanks for the compliments, greatly appreciated! P.S. Adsense, thanks for stopping by. I know a big advertising network like you is busy
@ Dave – My Internet Marketing lists are the biggest, but I do a have couple non IM lists, although they are somewhat new. List building in general relates to most niches. The general principles are the same. Help people by giving them solid information tips etc. then promote a product here and there that you like and that will help them.
@ Rach – Thanks for the compliments
Glad to help.
@ Aidan – I get them too, that’s what keeps me motivated to do the opposite.
@ Honey – Thanks, just glad to help. If you sign up to my list more than once you’ll still only get one email when I send them out. GetResponse takes care of that for me. Alot of people have subscribed to my list multiple times
@ P – Please see my response to Dave, above.
@ Thom – Thanks for the compliments and support, glad to help.
@ Kang – Awesome
go for it… I’m sure it will.
@ Evan – It doesn’t matter if it’s other peoples stuff or your stuff, as long as it’s good stuff.
@ Gary – Good deal, glad you liked them. Sure you can. They all relate to home business, so I don’t see why not.
@ Cheap – This is true. All the more reason to go out and take action, document your findings and share it with others.
@ Grand – Not sure how that is different?
Building a list of subscribers is building a customer list.
@ Internet – Glad I’ve been able to earn your trust. I just help people and that in turn helps me. Too bad more people don’t understand that.
@ Step – There are alot of people out there who think that’s the way to market. I just watch them, as I’m unsubscribing, and laugh
@ Chris – That’s one model. I still like good ebook. They just have a bad name because so people throw together crap and sell it. If an ebook has some specialized info in it and it’s good stuff, I don’t have problem buying it. There are times to offer stuff for free and there are times to sell.
15th August, 2008 at 1:43 am
Thanks for sharing your business plan Josh. Really appreciate your openness and you’ve provided us all with some great food for thought.
15th August, 2008 at 3:58 am
Great advice as usual, Josh. Thanks. List building should start as soon as you become active on the internet. I wasn’t aware of the importance of this at first. It should be every marketer’s first priority. It takes time and therefore can’t be done overnight. So, just start somehow and get that first subscriber…
15th August, 2008 at 4:10 am
Very inspiring and informative post, Josh! Seriously, you make it seem so easy and I’m sure most of the difficulty just exists in my head for now.
I’ve taken baby steps and have seen some positive results from them. I’m beginning to see more of what’s over the fence, so to speak and I like what I see.
15th August, 2008 at 8:14 am
Josh,
This post has really made me think about my email marketing. I’m going to go through each email and update accordingly.
Thankyou
Barb
15th August, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Nice post Josh, definitely some good tips posted.
I was just wondering a few days ago about article marketing and list building and was lucky enough to find your post.
Keep up the great work!
16th August, 2008 at 5:48 am
Hi Josh,
This is a great business model. I just have a question in regards to your Coaching Forum. I know in the past there’s been a few times when I’ve asked you a quick question via email and you’ve always been very quick to respond.
Now that you have your Coaching Forum do you think that some list members may now be more hesitant to ask you questions via email? Do you still provide advice via email?
I was thinking of offering something like your Coaching Forum to a list I’m building but how do you handle questions you receive via email now that you have people who pay for your undivided attention?
Just curious to know how you keep it all balanced out and fair for everyone.
Thanks
Amanda
18th August, 2008 at 6:44 pm
@ Amanda – I still answer quick questions here and there, but obviously I’m running a business and can’t always provide a detailed answer.
Members of my forum are always my 1st priority and they all know that if they ask a question, they get an in-depth, honest answer from me. There is also no limit to the # of questions they ask, which is extremely valuable, especially considering the dirt cheap price, which will be raising very soon.
19th August, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Some good tips here. I’m trying my best to up the rate that I get new subscribers. It’s difficult.
31st August, 2008 at 3:34 am
Love this post, Josh!
In fact, I printed it out! Great info, the instructions on how to make money with the free reports, and especially the coaching program.
Thanks!
1st September, 2008 at 2:43 am
Interesting post, nowadays it seems there a so many different ways to make money online, unfortunately I haven’t found one that works for me yet. I will definitely consider giving this a go though. Cheers
7th September, 2008 at 5:46 am
[...] Owyang shares some great advice to help you get noticed online and drive more traffic to your blog. How I’ve Made Thousands of Dollars From Blog Marketing With Free Reports: Josh Spaulding is an expert at blog marketing. Check out his detailed article on marketing your [...]
22nd December, 2009 at 11:54 pm
This is really helpful Josh, I have been looking into doing this lately. I think all IM’ers will eventually want to get into selling their own stuff, it seems to be where the big money is.
8th January, 2010 at 8:53 pm
[...] Josh Spaulding always offers excellent, honest and white hat advice at his Internet Marketing Blog. Josh wrote an excellent guide to making money with free reports at How I Made Thousands of Dollars with Free Reports. [...]
27th January, 2010 at 4:43 pm
[...] January 27th, 2010 | No comments About a year and half ago I wrote a blog post outlining how I make money with free reports. I go over the basics of how I do it in that post, but since then my strategies have evolved and [...]
12th February, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Hey Josh
Quick question for you.
Say someone subscribes to your $5 formula list.
Do you have Get Response subscribe them to your main Josh Spaulding list as well?
I use aweber and they have that option of when a subscriber subscribes to one list then they ca be added to another list as well.
The only problem I see if then people would miss my free download I give away on my main list .
Thanks
Dave
21st February, 2010 at 8:17 am
Hey Josh,
This post made it to the StumbleUpon scroll, so you must have a lot of thumbs up. Now you got one more.
Best.
Rich
2nd March, 2010 at 5:40 pm
@ David – No, if they subscribe to one list, that’s the only list they’re on unless they choose to be on another. When I send out a mailer I can choose to send the same mailer out to more than one list though.
@ Rich – oh cool, thanks for the support.
2nd March, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Aahh cool. Thanks Josh.
I was thinking about starting a buyers list in aweber so when someone has actually become a customer then I will have all my buyers on one list.
2nd March, 2010 at 8:15 pm
@ David – Don’t think about, do it! Customers are the best leads to have.
2nd March, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Will do….
Also sending you some results on my newest IPSF product next week.
D