Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Not to be confused with Bryan Clark who just started writing for this blog, Brian Clark from Copyblogger.com just released a brand new free report as part of the release of his new site, Teaching Sells, a project he’s partnered with Tony Clark to create (I wonder if that’s his brother?).

The report is titled -

You can get a download link for the 24-page PDF version and the MP3 audio version read by Tony Clark from TeachingSells.com

What Is It All About?

Brian sent me a draft copy of this report a few days prior to launch and I quickly read through it. I knew the report would be fantastic quality given Brian’s standard of writing, but what I wanted to know was what topic Brian was going to cover - what would be his angle given he plans to launch a membership site based on the topic of this report?

The basic premise is that you can make money charging for content - teaching people - and you don’t have to follow in the footsteps of all the bloggers out there currently working darn hard to pump out tons of free content and making peanuts from advertising. Instead, take your content, charge for it, and build a stable income source rather than need to continuously produce fresh content to make money.

I like that idea.

I should, because I do exactly that right now with Blog Mastermind. However, I also make just as much money from my blog and let’s be honest, if I just opened up shop with Blog Mastermind never having run a blog that makes money, no one would be buying my training materials.

I like Brian’s report and I think you should read it (or listen to it). I think all bloggers should become Internet business owners and that means selling products….eventually, however, and here’s the key point you can’t forget, without preeminence and proof, chances are when you go to sell your goods not many people are going to buy.

Now, as Brian teaches in the report, this is not about a lack of traffic because you can go out and joint venture for traffic. Traffic is not the problem. The issue is whether what you teach is of good quality, serves a hungry market and whether you can establish the position as a leader in your field.

To solve the preeminence problem, not only do you have to produce the goods for sale, you have to give (some of) the goods away as proof that you are the real deal. That leads to preeminence and it means most bloggers have to spend an awful lot of time giving away their best stuff until they have respect and exposure. I still believe strongly in the concept of the Free Line.

I think Brian’s key point is that you shouldn’t look to how most bloggers monetize their blogs presently (AdSense, affiliate programs, etc) as the best option. You are much smarter if you build an information business around your blog, using your blog as the credibility tool, leveraging partners for traffic and making money from content you produce once and sell over and over again. That, I suspect, is the model Brian is going to teach.

You should have a product of your own to sell. That’s a no-brainer, and I think all bloggers should work towards that goal. However I think it’s quite respectable to attempt to make money from advertising and affiliate programs until you reach the point that you have a product of your own, especially if you can’t think of or produce a product immediately. It’s a journey - a process - after all.

I finished reading Brian’s report and was excited about what he plans to offer, but I also had a lot of questions about the specifics. He does a good job of building a case and ends the report with the following list of questions he states we need to know the answers to in order to succeed in the commercial Internet of the future -

• How to target a vast audience with a niche angle
• How to have a unique, entertaining approach to content development
• How to choose the right medium for the right content for effective learning
• How to create content that sells itself (without long copy sales letters)
• How to effectively leverage the audiences of others with win-win proposals
• How to develop multi-format content with free and inexpensive tools
• How to build airtight paid membership websites
• How to choose the best business model for your topic and goals
• How to increase profits with advanced training and a la carte sales
• How to further leverage your skills as a highly paid consultant

Those are some big questions (gotta love the “how-to” headline ) and I’m very keen to see how Brian and Tony answer them. I also hope Brian goes on to talk more about what he does behind the scenes with his partners who sell content, I’d really like to see some case studies from his projects, although that may not be something Brian is comfortable revealing based on the tone of the report.

Brian and Tony intend to release more content in the lead up to the release of Teaching Sells. Don’t expect a traditional product launch from Brian. You won’t get hype-filled emails, outrageous claims and we may not even get a long form sales page! (My guess is that Brian and Tony will use video.)

I think if nothing else, it’s worth watching Brian and Tony just to see how they go about this launch. Brian has a super advantage in the size of his existing audience and influence - that alone is enough to guarantee a successful launch - but as Brian always focuses 100% on his readers, you know the content will be great too.

Again, here’s where you can get your copy of the report -

www.TeachingSells.com