Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Lessons From Blog Masters Club Launch

July 21, 2009 | Feature, Marketing

The first launch of Blog Masters Club went pretty well. It was quite a bit of work, and it is quite nice to have the dust settled and be able to just work on content and helping my new students.

All product launches are learning experiences, though. This one was no exception. And, since this blog is “confessions” of a six figure blogger, I thought it fitting to say what went right and what went wrong.

I met my target for number of new signups, but it wasn’t without adventure. Adventure such as getting sick in the middle of it. :) Yes, I almost lost my voice due to a cold in the middle of my launch. On the Sunday during the week of launch, I actually had an earache. On the last Tuesday of the launch, I made myself available in chat for many hours to answer questions about the program. Why chat only? Because it kinda hurt to talk on camera.

Getting sick during a launch isn’t very convenient, but you have to continue. People are counting on you.

The Good

One of the best lessons I picked up from this launch that I will repeat again is the use of Ustream.TV during the launch. It works. :)

On the first day of launch, I did a 5 hour live broadcast to answer questions. The consistent impression I got from people was that having the opportunity to interact with me personally and get a sense of who I am was a REALLY big deal to people.

When I opened the doors to the club to early birds, I had about 25 people enroll in the club before I even opened the doors to the public.

Again as the launch was on it’s last day, I actually embedded the Ustream chatroom right on my sales page. Again, it worked quite well. I got several people thanking me for my time, and a few even told me that they probably wouldn’t have enrolled were it not for being able to chat with me.

For those wondering if you can make money with Ustream – YES. That’s how you do it.

The Bad

Probably the biggest learning experience I had with this launch was the sheer magnitude of the work involved. And this was magnified by the fact that I had affiliates.

I think one of the biggest lessons is that I was not working my JV relationships early enough. I did not provide enough notice to them. I didn’t have all my promo materials ready in advance. So, in the week of pre-launch, I was in a mad dash to contact and line up JVs. It was rather hectic and disorganized.

Next time, I’ll definitely be better prepared on that front. :)

A second lesson would be to not forget about the actual week of launch. I put prep time into my pre-launch content, but once the doors were open, I didn’t really have anything prepared for the week of launch. I basically was winging it. :)

Lastly, stay in tune with the market leaders about your launch timeline. The launch of Blog Masters Club was in conflict with the relaunch of Yaro Starak’s Become a Blogger program. I don’t think it particularly helped. I had a lot of people asking me about the difference between the two programs (which is huge) and many people told me they enrolled in Yaro’s program already.

The Big Take-Aways

For every single one of us who make money on the Internet, it is a constant learning experience. Even those of us already making good livings still make mistakes. But, we learn from those mistakes. As a result, we become better at what we do.

I think my most important take-aways from this launch are:

  1. It is important to set a date for launch in advance and actively plan everything for that date. I finally set an exact date, but it was only after several delays.
  2. When doing a JV launch, provide AMPLE time to line them up, give them everything they need, etc. I was too rushed with the affiliates.
  3. You should definitely do launches as often as you can, because it is great for business even if people don’t buy the first time. It is an excellent way to build a list and build new relationships.

I will analyze the nitty-gritty of the launch itself in private for my Blog Masters Club students only. If you are not a student now and want to be notified when it becomes available again, go grab your free copy of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint. You’ll be put onto my email list and I’ll keep you guys in the loop about when the doors reopen again to the public.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. Blog Masters Club is LIVE
  2. Blog Masters Club – Pre-Launch Webinar [Recording]
  3. Blog Masters Club – Your Questions Answered
  4. What Is The Blog Masters Club?
  5. The Home Stretch [Blog Masters]

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  • Very cool blog David... Blog masters sounds very interesting.. digging in now.
  • SZ
    Agree with Michelle, I also thought it was Yaro's program
  • Sally
    Great information Dave!! Thanks for posting this sort of information for all of us to learn. I really liked attending the Ustream.TV prelaunch and getting all of the questions answered.
  • Leif Stenlund
    @Doug, thanks alot, mate.
  • Nice insight David. I thought things had gone awfully quiet around this blog and I figured the pre and post-launch activities were probably keeping you busy. Providing plenty of info to affiliates well in advance should certainly allow for a smoother run up to launch - you don't want to be fending off too many affiliate questions when you are preparing for the big day. I've also heard plenty of good things about Ustream and it sounds like it worked for you too.
  • @Leif - JV stands for "Joint Venture".
  • Leif Stenlund
    I have one question. What does JV stand for?

    I had only some slight problems with the picture freezing on Ustream that evening, I live in sweden. I have 10/10 mbit connection, maybe that helped.
  • Great tip! Yes, a launch is hard work, but if done right it can bring in a lot of money very quickly. When I launched my last product I made more money in 48 hours than I did with the product over the next 2 months.
  • Honestly, when I saw John Chow's Facebook post about this program, I thought it was Yaro Starak's blog program because I've seen it before. I was never really interested in joining his program and I'm glad it was Blog Master's Club instead.
  • Launches are exhausting and with something as big and as cool as the Blog Master's Club, I wouldn't be surprised if stress had something to do with it. Still, you did a great job of winging it and I think your customers will be very happy.

    I'm working on a Twitter Rockstar 2.0 launch, I might add UStream to that. Thanks for the tips.
  • Just want to make myself clear...after rereading my comment it might not read right. I agree with MikeCJ. I mean to say that he's right, it's difficult to prevent coincidental launches.
  • Leaving ample time to contact jv partners is a little gem of advice. I don't think you can totally avoid coincidental launches as MikeCJ said. I would think that whoever gets to the big time affiliates first is going to have a better product launch.
  • Yes I was a bit surprised that I had to make my own affiliate ad initially. - Then suddenly in the last week an official ad appeared which then seemed to keep changing URLs each day.

    I don't think Yaro's course really clashed with Blog Masters though, or vice-cersa; as BMC appears to be the next level up from Become A Blogger to some extent.

    I have to say it: Ustream was a bitch during UK daytime that day: I could hardly make anything out until much later on. It appears that Ustream works fairly well in the US but is sporadic in Europe.

    All in all I was impressed with the launch despite technical and timing issues. - Well done!
  • Thanks for sharing your bad and good points of your blog masters club launch. Thanks Greg Ellison
  • Thanks for sharing the ups and downs - it's good stuff to know. The conflict with Yaro's was interesting, but I'm not sure that kind of thing can be avoided, short of emailing all the other bloggers in the same niche out there.
  • Hi David!

    This is my first time commenting here and wow! You really come from a place of abundance and give THE BEST content away... This post being a case in point! =)

    I do have one question

    If you give away so much good stuff for free... What do you reserve for your products to sell?

    I mean if someone sees the same content in my product as my blog, won't they make noise? Haha!

    I'd like to get your take on that, David! =)

    I have one tip I'd like to share for those who are reading this..

    When I did my $10,192 launch,
    1) Aim to have as much PERSONAL INTERACTION as possible

    I actually got people to E-MAIL me their answers and when they do I provide MASSIVE content for free to help them out on that E-mail..

    This works wonders because as you may know David, when you give first, you will receive manifold.. It's almost as if you've sealed the deal and launch day is just a formality.

    2) Like you said , PLAN everything to the DATE.

    I actually screwed this up a little and got sick just like you and was behind time.. Probably lost a few clients there but doesn't matter cuz I had 10 spots in my coaching program and 17 applications! OVERSOLD! Yikes!

    Anyways, it's great to find this blog.. I actually came here because of one of your students, Charles Yang who's in your coaching program right now.. And wow I'm glad I found this site..

    I'm also a personal friend of Tony (Teegarden) and understand that you guys are in a MasterMind Group together! Cool stuff! I look forward to hearing from you David!

    Always say ICAN!

    SaiF
    The World's First Teen
    Personal Development Video Blogger
  • Great insights David. I really appreciate you sharing the good, the bad and the ugly with your readers. I can only imagine the amazing value your Blog Master Class students are going to receive. :-) Oh wait, I already DO know. See you Thursday at the Mastermind lol.
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