Things sure change fast on the interweb: when I first started working in paid subscription websites in 2004, things were a lot simpler, but...
There's a whole lot more opportunity now for even the smallest operator, if they get it right.
But you do have to move with the times...
Because if you keep doing things the old way, these 5 mega-trends will make your life harder and harder.
The flipside is that they also spell huge opportunity if you adapt your model slightly…
Here goes:
Mega-Trend 1: Declining value of pure information
Time was when you could knock out a guide on a niche topic and have buyers because, well… you were the only show in town.
But Google is now a free content ‘arms race.’
Talk to someone like Neil Patel and he’ll tell you about ‘skyscraper content...’
...by which he means meticulously researched, multi-thousand word articles intended to be the ‘last word’ on a topic....
...given away FOR FREE in the name of traffic generation!
You, me and your clients can go to YouTube and instantly get a video on nearly any subject you care to name...
And as if that wasn’t enough, you have Udemy selling online courses with dozens of hours of video content on almost every topic you could splutter at for $10 or $20.
Hmmm...
...thinking you’ll probably need to offer something different than pure information to succeed in this day and age?
You’re bang right.
There absolutely IS an answer I’ll be talking about very soon...
Mega-Trend 2: Drying up of 'free' online media attention
Did you know that recently, the US saw the first ever DROP in volume of total, non-advertising clicks sent from Google?
Yes: for the first time in history, there was an overall fall in ‘natural’ search traffic from Google.
Plus we know that reach on your unpaid Facebook posts has been squeezed to the point of it’s-not-worth-bothering.
Of course, none of that stuff was 'free' in the first place, since it took your time to make it happen...
But in plain English:
The era of ‘free’ online marketing via SEO and unpaid social media activity is coming to a close.
The way I look at ‘the free stuff’ now is as a bonus.
It CAN’T be the strategy.
There ARE other routes to market, that don’t require up front cost, though (more on those another time).
At the same time...
Mega-Trend 3: Rising costs of paid online media
There’s plenty of evidence that Google Ads and Facebook Ads costs per click are rising year on year…
And as both platforms start to rub up against user saturation point (in the Western world at least)...
...can you imagine that trend changing any time soon?
I kind of love this trend, in a way...
Because it thins the crowd.
And those who master the game have access to marketing platforms of unimaginable power.
Mega-Trend 4: Course buyers getting wise that info alone is not enough
How many low-ticket online courses have you bought and never finished…
...let alone actioned properly?
Hell…
How many have you bought…
...then looked at once, or maybe NEVER?
Don’t feel bad...
We’ve actually known since Ebbinghaus that information alone is not enough.
My hunch?
Online course consumers are getting wise to this as well, now.
The best clients - those who pay top dollar - want RESULTS...
...and in an age of information overload, will increasingly look for providers who can actually help them GET THE JOB DONE.
On their own - and no matter how great the content - online courses don’t do that. (Completion rates are officially dreadful.)
This DOES NOT MEAN you have to lose all the theoretical advantages (automation, leverage, reach) of the online course model…
But you will need to offer something slightly different…
...and the good news is:
a) selling is much easier
b) you can get paid a damn sight more for doing it.
Mega-Trend 5: Public at large feeling they have less time/more pressure to get results
Talk to 99 out of 100 people today and they’ll tell you they’re not only ‘busy...’
But getting busier.
The luxury of consuming information… filtering it… ruminating on what’s truly important…
...and then choosing an appropriate course of action at leisure are gone.
Broad, vague outcome courses are very much ’out’ in this context, and will command low prices…
Specific outcome, results-oriented offerings are very much ‘in...’
...and they will command high prices.
The best news?
The difference between the two is often just a smidgen of strategic thought.
Rob
P.S. Given these trends, something that will matter more and more is the quality of your sales copy and...
...and by eliminating them, drive your response through to new highs...
