Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am creating a website for a fishing lure that I have invented.  I  was hoping to actually give the plans away for free and I was hoping to hook it up to google adsense.  I don't know if this is a good idea or not?  Is it worth the effort?  I think what I have so far is interesting and marketable!  The fishing lure is awesome and can be made for free at home.

https://sites.google.com/site/wigglestrike/

I wouldn't do anything with Google ads until you do something on your site.

I read through all the material -- and it just keeps promising the Free product, the free design.  But there is no place to find them.  You can't sign up. You can't download them. Nothing.  Becomes rather frustrating.

Buying Google ads is just going to point people to your site - then they're going to leave.  Where's the fulfillment of the promise??

You've got a bizillion calls to the same action (good!) but no way to act on it (bad).

I haven't put the actual plans on the site yet because I wanted to get feed back first (and I haven't put the polish on the diagrams yet.

Would it be better to charge some nominal fee for the plans or would I be better off giving away the lure for free and hope to get some money through website traffic?  Thanks for the great feed back.  I have no clue about google ads and was wondering if it would generate any money if people liked my lure?

I was just hoping to start small.  Maybe a little extra income?

Thanks Jeff

Daphne

Thanks for the thoughts.  You're making me reconsider my original idea.  I was just playing around with googlesites.  Is this a go way to make a site?  How would I sell the ebook?  Just have a PDF?

If I put more work into the site, do you think could this make money?  If it is just moderetly successful what kind of revenue could this bring in?

I do have a self-published book that I had some success with a few years ago.  I sold 200 copies of paperback books and got some good reviews in paper.  I don't have a lot of cash to put into another printing.  Do you think an ebook would generate more money?

I have lots of questions thanks.  thanks for the help.  I'm going to try to check out your ebooks.

I agree - I think you can sell it as a pdf.

Pre-buy stuff you'd need on your website:

1. pictures of the completed lure are important.

2. possibly pictures of a couple of stages.

3. possibly a materials list posted before you buy it

(this list would obviously depend on how easy it is to build the lure -- if that's enough to know how to do it, i wouldn't post it all).

And offer a 100%, no questions, money-back guarantee -- it makes me feel more comfortable purchasing things when I know I can return it (since it costs you the same whether you sell 1 or 1000 you don't lose money returning it - but it can help people feel comfortable buying it).  The copy is compelling (though the $600 reasoning might be a little over the top).  But I would continue to emphasize how easy it is to make, and that once you have the plans you can make extras and gifts!  (I thought that was a great idea).

Offering it free might generate adsense revenue - but then again you'd be discouraging clicks on the ads (selling lures).  I'd suggest selling it.  $9.95 seems like a good price range -- but I'm not an angler... You'd have to ask someone who would buy it (though I was tempted as I have family who fish and they might really like the plans).

You could also get lots of traffic if you post articles or threads in forum and on websites (use your signature line to promote it). If you've got multiple designs, you could give one away free while holding back the superior design (if they are significantly different enough) which would allow people to try one design while purchasing the second (which you could give away on angler sites with links to your other product).  For example, maybe a specific type of fishing lure vs. your generic type (or one that i readily available - like a "how-to" article on creating fly-fishing lures).

You can use something like CutePDF to convert a design manual and then allow it to be downloaded after purchase (or emailed after purchase).  Using a gateway like PayPal will ensure customer confidence.  You can purchase and install simple scripts which will take payment and then allow a purchaser to download the file (only after successful payment).  Something like this would cost under $15.  I'm sure there are free ones too.  But there are plenty of high quality scripts at codecanyon.net (if you have confidence and the ability).

It seems that Fishing Lure has great search Volume. In that case putting Adsense will be great idea. Alos if you have budget than you can try PPC too.

Sure.  I sent you an email with my ebook links.

--Daphne

Wow!  Redfish thanks for the great comments.  I am so glad I posted.  I wouldn't have thought of any of these things.  You've got me really excited to start working on this.  Thanks for the thoughts about the money-back guarantee.  I really do think the lure is great, but this would give people a chance to try it out like I claim the big fishing tackle companies should do.  I think I am going to start reworking everything and fixing the website.  I am working on a small budget.  Any advice for getting a domain name or is it okay to leave it as a google site?

I also start reworking the copy like you suggested.  Thanks for the help!