Would greatly appreciate your professional opinions and ideas

[dfveteran]

I would like some opinions on my current blog about home business. I am going to transition in to a home business consultation company. Right now I concentrate on posting free information on my blog to get started(I want to keep this). My aim was to help people for free on my blog no matter what(by listing my daily posts). Plus I offer my help by answering any questions they have to get started. But I am starting to realize the great money I could make.

Lately, regular readers to my blog have been paying me $75 dollars or more an hour to give them telephone or IM consultation. It has really opened the door for me to go somewhere else with my blog. I would like to give all my blog readers 1 free email consultation, about home business with my help as I always do.

This is what I want to change..I want to link my blog to another domain I am creating. This domain is going to be set up to give home business consultation. I have been doing online business for over 10 years now. I have never been stumped by anyones questions, as i have been around the block. People always tell me how helpful I am and thank me for getting them started. So I know I can have a great home business cosultation firm with many word of mouth clients.

Any way here are my ideas for the new consultation website.

1. Give my blog readers one consultation email for free.

2. After that They can choose;

A. Email conference for $35.00 for 5 email transactions(too many emails, or not enough?). This will include my great knowledge of everything about starting a home business from drop shipping to buying wholesale to making money with affiliates, advertising and marketing, to finding you real drop shippers or wholesalers. Anything you need to know.

B.IM conference on any IM(customer choice) This will be $45.00 per hour. You get the same. I answer all your questions. Point you in the right direction. I am yours for an hour.

C.Telephone conference for $55.00 per hour. For the same service plus any information you need forwarded to you. So you dont have to take notes.

Plus, when anyone purchases my consultation, they are going to get my ebooks for free. I have written 2 about home drop shipping and ebay.(another about affiliate marketing in the works). So they will get 3 great ebooks with my help.

Does this sound fair?

I have been teaching people how to make money at home for (few years locally, about 6 months online) with about 99% success rate. Only 2 people in the past 12 months said they got nowhere. I dont think they tried hard enough. But anyway, are those prices good? Too high, low? I have been doing conferences over the phone for $75.00 an hour or more in the past month or so. Only because those people offered it to me.

I never even counted on this happening. I never approached anyone offering consultation for money. They came to me. I really enjoy helping. I just wanted to help people for free. But, now I am faced with a scenerio that could make a great side career. Home business is what I know best. Plus the benefit of helping people out. So it would be a job I really enjoy.

(I will also have a link on my blog that people can click on to just buy my consultation).

Please, any ideas r thoughts that would make my customers happy. Any ideas at all to make my project go smoother. I have always looked up to the people at YE for great ideas. If you have only been a YE reader, now is your chance to post for the first time. I would love to hear and thought, ideas, downfalls. etc.

Thanks in advance,
Lisa

My blog is located in here Lisa Pages Daily Home Business Blog

[rogercbryan]

I like the idea except for one part. I've made the mistake of trying to have to many sites before. It makes optimization and advertising a pain. If you can find a way to do this all from one domain you'll have an easier time. Maybe turn your domain name into a site for your consulting company and then just simply have a blog section.... just my 2cents

[dfveteran]

Thanks Roger. I was thinking of making a sub domain off of my blog domain. Do you think that would be good also?

Anyone else have any thoughts or ideas. I am all ears. The more variety opinions I get, the better.

[dfveteran]

Also, I almost forgot. Right now, I offer 3 months of tutoring with purchase of ebooks. Obviously it would be unethical to continue this.

How should i change that? My ebooks are basically geared to get you started, but everyone will have questions to get going. This pitch has really helped sell my ebooks also. Nobody else is offering their help or tutoring with the sale of ebooks that I know of. I think this is why his I stand out better..

The trust issue with my customers is important to me.

Thanks again for all your ideas in advance.

[Dale King]

Hello Lisa:

When pricing your services, I'm a firm believer in getting paid what you're worth while over-delivering. I can't tell you what you should charge. Only you can determine the value of your time and talent. What I can tell you is don't under-value your services. By the same token, don't over-value your services either. For example, when I was doing telephone consultation, I charged $175 an hour. However, if after the initial telephone consultation the client needed additional help, I would deduct that amount from the price of my unlimited e-mail consultation which cost $1000. I charged up to $3500 to write a sales letter.

I was able to charge higher fees because I had the track record, experience and credentials to back up my fees. But not everyone has my experience. It all boils down to how much do you think your time is worth? How much do you want to make an hour? $10? $50? $100? $200? $500?

If you charge too little, you will diminish the value of your service. If you charge too much, you will scare off your target audience. Also, what is your motivation for your fees? If you're just looking to help people and the money isn't all that important to you, just charge whatever you need to live on. Remember, your fees can always be adjusted to fit your economic needs and the economic needs of your clients.

If your target audience are primarily members of YE, you're better off charging much lower fees, because from what I've been observing, the majority of the members here have very little money. As a result, they couldn't afford my services, so I didn't target them. To sell to them, I would have had to lower my fees astronomically, and I wasn't willing to do that.

One last thing: Your offer is too confusing. You're throwing too many options at your clients at one time. Simplify your offer, or else your clients will become paralyzed with indecision. Also, forget about extra domains and sub-domains. Keep it simple - not only for yourself, but for your clients. Keep everything under one roof. To get an idea of what I'm talking about, visit my website to see how I neatly break everything down into categories. GuruKnowledge.org - The Ultimate Internet Marketing Resource!

I hope this helps.

Dale King