I spent much of the weekend hanging out over at the new ProBlogger community forum. And I still can’t get over what a great idea it is. Like I said before, creating a paid forum was simple perfection as far as making money online goes.

OK, so you’re probably thinking that’s great for Darren, but the average person just couldn’t do that. And that’s where I tell you that you’re wrong. Want to make a couple hundred extra month? Follow Darren’s lead, give people something they want but charge only a couple dollars. I’ll break it down in six simple steps. (Some of you may already have the first couple things done. Go you!)

Alright, first thing’s first. You need a freebie. Something sweet that your readers would love to get for free. Yes, free. Let’s say for the sake of example that you have a blog about gardening. I bet you could easily find or create a small ebook on making great compost or winter gardening tips or growing perfect roses. Flex your knowledge muscles here.

But don’t worry if you don’t have the time to write a freebie. You can find dozens of free or low cost PLR ebooks and reports online. A little editing and you have a personalized beauty to hand out.

Now, you need a way to give it to your readers. Sure, you could just write a post about it, but there’s a way to get something in return. Put a simple little sign-up box on your blog. Just as basic name and email address collector set up to filter into an autosubscriber. Then custom an email to be sent out to anyone who signs up. Something thanking them for signing up, promising to never sell their info to spam lists, and a link to where they can pick up the freebie.

Now this, you should blog about.

Hey, have you seen? I’ve got a free newsletter and if you sign up you get this ebook free. ‘Cause I love you, man.

So, you’ve got people signing up and they need a place to go to get the ebook. Now you’re going to create a simple website just for that. A special page called a Squeeze Page. I won’t go into detail on this, it would take too much space. But I will tell you that if you join Chris Farrell’s membership (<– affiliate link) he has a super-easy step by step guide to help you do just this.

OK, we have a freebie, we have an autoresponder, we have a squeeze page. Now, we need something worth paying for. Remember, you’re only going to be charging $1 or $2 a month for this. Why? Because you want the people who wrinkle their noses at the $127 a month programs to be thrilled with your’s. And you want it available to everyone, no matter what. Be sure to sell that second point to your potenial customers.

Back to the gardening example. You could make an ecourse on gardening help all year round. Or a super select forum that is tied in with your blog. Now, this needs to be something that requires a membership rather than the basic pay once and go item. Give them something to come back for each month, and keep paying for each month.

This is what you are going to sell on your squeeze page.

“Hey, I’m so glad you signed up! Scroll down to download your free copy of Gardening Compost Starter Guide. But, before you do, I wanted to share a little known secret with you. I have a private forum just for gardener to chat and learn more. And since you’re here, I want to offer you a chance to join. To keep it private and only for serious members I do charge $1 per month. Interested in joining? Click here!”

See how that works?

Now, the majority of people are going to pass on buy and just download the free ebook. But that’s OK, you have their email address. Remember, they had to give it to you to get the free download. So once a week you send out a mass email through your autoresponder sharing some news, tips, highlighting an important post, and oh by the way did you know I have a private forum only available for my subscribers?

Of course it doesn’t have to be a forum. It could be a monthly/weekly ecourse. Or one-on-one advice. Or monthly access to a special site you have created. You get the idea.

Setting up a squeeze page really isn’t anything new. What is different this time is instead of selling an ebook once, you are selling a continued membership. So every month you have a steady flow coming in. This works even if a month or two goes by that no one is interested in your ebook or product. The subscribers will keep on sending their money.

photo credit: smellyknee

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