Dear Veteran,
Your product is an excellent idea.
And there is definitely a need for a good, easy to use solo-401(k) tool.
Whenever I mention the concept to reporters and business
writers, they get really excited. After all, most of them
are freelance and would qualify.
So, what would I do if I had a product like that?
Sure, you can do all the ordinary things, like run ads online.
That Google tip from samiujan, below is an excellent idea.
But, how about getting traffic by making yourself famous?
1) First of all I would set up an affiliate program for
my site to pay referral fees to sites that send me
visitors who become clients.
(You can get a free affiliate program tool called mTracker
from http://mals-e.com . It works really well and is
relatively easy to set up. The only drawback is that you
can only establish one commission rate with it. But, since
you don't pay from it, you can make arrangements with key
sites to pay them a higher rate - and keep that information
in your own files, not on the interface.)
Incidentally, I would not just put the affiliate program out there
for the whole world to access. Offer it only to key players, or
to sites that would make good referral sources for you.
With your affiliate banners and links, you will spread your brand
recognition all over the Web - but won't pay a dime unless
someone actually opens an account. (Look how well this has
worked for Amazon.
2) a) Next, I would write a couple of articles about solo-401k's,
some as brief as 50 words, some more detailed. I would offer
those to the sites that I have selected as affiliate partners.
This way, they don't just put up a link to your site, they actually
put up useful information about the solo-401k, with links to
your site embedded in the text. (This has proven to be a much
more effective way to attract visitors than banners.)
(b) Consider offering a weekly or monthly article about self-
employed plans; self-directed plans;401ks; etc. If you self-syndicate
those articles, you could give your affiliate sites a two-line code
to paste on their site and you update the article yourself. They
get fresh content, without ever having to touch their site again.
You have no idea how wonderful that sounds to a site owner.
Willmaster's Master Syndicator is a really easy to use tool.
http://willmaster.com/master/syndicator/
And if you don't know how to install it on your site, he'll do
it for you for a small fee. Support is outstanding.
You can use this tool for as many articles as you like. For
as many different sites as you like to each get slightly different
content. You can even use if you want to sell your articles.
3) Create some banners - 88x125, 125x125 are really good sizes.
They fit anywhere, on any site, without being a nuisance to
the reader. But, good banners can be quite effective.
4) Next I would find as many articles online
as possible about the solo-401(k) and ask the editors
to include a link to your site as a resource.
For example...(hint, ask me)
http://www.taxmama.com/Articles/solo401k.html
You may offer them the opportunity to join your affiliate program -
or just see if there is a way to cross-promote via your links page.
http://www.investsafe.com/links.html
(You may want to make that page really useful by organizing those
links by category. Doing it alphabetically is useless to your visitors.)
5) You've found the sites that already write about the solo-401ks.
Now find all the sites that haven't, but should. Look for all the major
self-employment related sites. You've clearly already found the
SOHO sites, but expand your imagination. Remember, even most
tax professionals don't know about the solo-401k option.
The goal is to find sites/companies that let you make a couple
of calls to introduce yourself and convince them to work with you,
but have the maximum exposure to a locked-in, loyal customer base.
DON'T OVERLOOK THE MLM SITES.
All of their members are self-employed.
See if you can find sites for companies that offer FRANCHISES.
ALL of their members are self-employed. (Though some have
employees.) Select the franchise operations that are one-person
shops. Or home-based. Entrepreneur Magazine just released
their top 500 Franchises issue. It contains contact information
for all the franchises.
http://entrepreneur.com/Magazines/Copy_of_MA_SegArticle/0,4453,305514,00.html
In fact, see if you can get Entrepreneur to write an article about you.
Which leads me to the next thing...
6) Your idea is HOT. Really hot.
Most self-employed people still don't know about this.
Talk to the press. Become the SOLE SOLO-401k GURU.
Here are some tools to help increase your fame.
Remember, one write-up in the Wall Street Journal or NY Times,
means a huge amount of traffic.
Use Fay Faron's Market2editors to publicize your site
http://www.market2editors.com
Use Dan Janal's PR Leads to get interviewed by members of the
press who are presently working on stories.
http://prleads.com/index.htm
Send out free press releases
Free Press Releases via
PRWeb
http://www.prweb.com/
WebWire.com
http://www.webwire.com
Get yourself into search engines and put in for site awards here:
Self-Promotion.com (Free, although, donations are accepted.)
http://SelfPromotion.com
7) One really good way to get clients is to conduct workshops
for tax professionals and business coaches. You can do them
online using teleseminars. Take a look at
http://GreatTeleseminars.com
http://Raindance.com
Incidentally, someone just told me about BuyerZone
http://buyerzone.com/
which she found was a good place to get competitive bids
on the teleseminar services --- and other services.
For some excellent ideas and discussion, please go to Adventive
and join the I-Sales, I-PR and I-Search discussion groups. (Free)
http://adventive.com/
They have excellent archives, in case you want to read about
what has already worked for people; what didn't; and to look up
information about a company or service you are considering using.
(People have posted their good and bad experiences.
To Search the archives of all Adventive lists:
http://list.adventive.com/archives/archives.html
This should get you started. And it should get you a great deal of business.
Please let me know if I can help you further.
Best wishes,
Your TaxMama-ga.
PS. Search Strategy - about four years of building files and relationships.
This comes from my own bookmarks and resources. |
