For Sellers and Bloggers: Some Thoughts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - BobWP Monetizer Podcast

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are coming our way. We can expect those endless emails and the long lists on blogs. It’s inevitable.

As someone who has created those lists in the past, and will be doing it again, I cannot speak for everyone, I like to think that I put some thought into the planning and try to keep my readers’ needs in mind.

At breakfast this morning, Judy and I were talking about this. I was telling her about all the emails I had gotten from people who are going to have their themes or plugins on sale and would I consider adding them to my list. I’m sure I’m only one of many who they have sent the same request to.

Of course, a good majority of them I do not know and have never even tried their product. In those cases, I immediately dismissed (or trashed) the email. I guess they figure if they send out enough, they are bound to get some yeses.

That conversation and an article by a friend were the inspiration for this post. Scott Bolinger over on Hollerwp.com wrote something titled: Lessons Learned From 3 Years of Black Friday / Cyber Monday Sales. If you sell plugins, I would suggest you read this. It’s good stuff.

So Some Black Friday Prep Work for the Seller

* Read Scott’s post.

* For your loyal affiliates and fans, give them some set-up time.

* Don’t assume BobWP is going to throw you on his list just because he can.

And something important to know… 

You may having or not having your own Black Friday sale. If you do decide to do it, Scott mentioned that people will come to expect it. This is true. I can tell you from working with thousands of users, that many of them rely on that time of year to get the plugin or theme they have had their eye on, at a discounted price. Often it is something they can live without but they know if they had it, life would be better.

And Prep Work for the Blogger or Affiliate Marketer

* Be selective

* Consider your reputation

And if you don’t care about either of those, but want to create an endless list of specials and deals, figuring odds are in your favor if you do, all the power to you.

But I will admit, personally, for the sake of my readers, I will be creating my own list and every product or service on it will be something I know, trust and use myself. This is how I roll when it comes to my list.

Sidenote: by the way, during the time it took me to write this I got two more requests from products I’ve never used. 

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