One Time Offer (OTO) – A Standalone Internet Business Model

Another Low Cost High Profit Internet Business Model That You Can Copy

I bet you’ve heard of it and probably come across them many times. One time offer or better known among the internet marketing community as OTO is one of the simplest form of making real cash online starting with shoe string budget.

The concept is very simple and once you’ve grabbed it there’s no brainer to put it to use either to boost your existing income or to make it as the backbone of your online business.

Okay, allow me to be long winded today as I show your the “anatomy” of the One Time Offer.

What Is OTO?

OTO is the short form given for One Time Offer. As the term suggests, one time offer is an offer that is made available only one time. And this offer could be something of real irresistible in value.

In other words, OTO is a page where you’ll create an exceptional quality offer such as a bundle of ebooks or softwares (or anything that complement / supplement your main theme / product) that you give special discount to; say $27 instead of the normal price of $97. And your visitors would have only ONE chance to get your deal for $27 instead of $97.

Why should I use OTO?

That is a pretty good question. We’ll begin this topic with some quotes from gurus on how OTO has helped them to earn more money.

“One time offers are one of the most powerful marketing techniques to come along in ages” – Jason James

“I have made over 1 Million Dollars in sales using OTO” – Mike Filsaime

“I know first hand how using OTO’s can explode your profits online” – Richard Legg

Still need further comments? Well basically, if you know how to use OTO the correct way, OTO can be one of the most powerful marketing strategies that can earn you darn good money with almost zero additional effort on your part.

Here are what OTO can be as a WIN-WIN strategy for both you and
your customers:

Here’re the benefits you’ll be getting with a properly managed OTO:

• You get extra profits as back end – If you place an OTO immediately after they purchase something from you, where customer is still at the buying trance, the chances that they will take the OTO is high.
• It also increases your credibility –The OTO has to be something that you purposely put together, specially designed for your customers with real value. You can bundle up some quality Resale Rights products with a discounted price tag that if they purchase separately will of course cost them probably 10 times the price that you’re offering now. And you can do this to your subscribers if you have a mailing list. Your subscribers get the products with special price and you get the profit. Do you see that, OTO has to be a WIN-WIN thing.
• OTO also helps to build your list – Your subscribers spread the words about you. If they have a bad experience with you, not only they’ll unsubscribe, but they will also spread negativity about you in forums / discussion list etc. The same goes with OTO. If the OTO that you’ve arranged is of real value, bet that your subscribers will also mention it to their friends or in forums / discussion list that they get “this” or “that” from you as a subscriber. (That’s why you have to make the “this” and “that” something unique, so that the OTO can turn to be a viral list builder)

And For Your Customers..

• Increase the level of trust on you – Your customers will be grateful to be able to grab the OTO that you offer. Since the OTO cannot be acquired elsewhere, they trust you as a person with sincerity, friendliness and integrity. This also means the chances they will follow your recommendation in future is extremely high.
• They save cost – As mention earlier in the definition part, they get quality products that you offer at a much lower price. It can be a lower price compared to the market price or that a lower price compared to if they buy each separate product individually.

Okay, that explain why you should start using OTO now. Generally
speaking, OTO is a win-win offer that both you and your customers gain.

Types of OTO:

OTO can generally be grouped into 2 types namely;

Complementary OTO – These are products that complement or parallel to your site theme. Take for example; you are selling an ebook titled “How to Write and Publish Your Ebook In 3 Days”. Upon payment of the ebook, you can direct your buyers to the OTO page immediately before the download page that show products like an ecover generator software, or a pdf converter software, or a directory of publishers and on and on that make your main product more complete as a package. These are known as complementary products.

Supplementary OTO – Supplementary OTO are products that run inline with your main product / site theme. We use back the above example, assume that you are selling an ebook on how to write and publish ebook, therefore supplementary products that you can use in your OTO could be an upgraded version with Master Resale Rights to your ebook (that’s limited for 100 copies only) or maybe an upgrade to get your personal review of the first ebook your customer write etc. And one of the best examples would be HyperVre by Matt Callen. Upon sign up for the free software, you’ll then be directed to an OTO page for a GOLD membership upgrade at a low price that you’ll never get again. Yes, you read that right. “You’ll never get again”. Try to copy the OTO url and go back to that page after you’ve passed it. The page wouldn’t show up. That’s a real OTO!

Where to Use OTO? / Where Should I Place an OTO?

Okay, now that’s another good question. Basically, you’ll have 3 choices on where you should set up your OTO.

1) Immediately after a purchase – My first experience with this OTO was my purchase on the Silent Machine Hiding on eBay. Jim offer SSM for $24.97 or a combined package with another product called “How to Turn Auction Traffic into Cash” for $39.97. You see, the auction traffic ebook was selling at $24.97 alone and so the combined package gave me an immediate saving of $15. Cool isn’t it? And this is an example of a complementary OTO. So, how effective is it to place an OTO immediately after a purchase? I would say very effective, because customers are in a buying frenzy. And in which case, the possibility of forging out an extra $$$ for a valuable offer would be VERY high. Did I say that? Nope…Guru proved that!

2) Immediately after an opt-in subscription – While many people would direct their subscriber to a plain thank you page, you can actually monetize on that by directing them to an OTO page. And well of course you can still thank them on the OTO page for subscribing, but at the bottom just put up an OTO that offers something very relevant to what they subscribe to receive. How do you think it will convert? Rather than to just thank them, you will have a chance to earn some cash upfront. Just make your OTO to be exceptional in quality with products that they can’t find elsewhere or if purchase individually may cost them a lot more money. They will thank you, honestly. The misconception that some people may not like this as they view this as an unethical way to squeeze some money from you is untrue. Just make an honest deal and you’ll get the credit.

3) Periodically Special OTO – Okay, this is the best OTO where you can use it again and again. Again and again? Well yes! What does that mean to you? Yeah! Your bank will be full all year round. What exactly is a periodic special OTO? Well, these are offers that you put up for special occasion and can be broadcasted to your mailing list. Example would be Christmas deal, or a New Year offer, or your birthday offers, your son birthday, or even your website anniversary celebration. Just be creative, there a tons of special occasion that you can put up an OTO to get truckloads of cash. But of course, read what make or
break an OTO below.

3 Practices that will Make or Break your OTO Campaign

While the OTO marketing system may sound very appealing, there are certain things that you must take into consideration if you really want an effective OTO or else, it will not work. Worse, the OTO may even spoil your reputation if it’s not handled properly.

Here are Top 3 Secrets that determine the success or failure of your OTO campaign:

Your OTO must be a truly ONE TIME OFFER – Many marketers do not understand the underlying truth behind the word OTO. Because they don’t see it or else they are not aware of it. And this little mistake can lose you money and reputation.
What do I mean by that? Well, it depends on the script that you use for the OTO. Some people just set up a normal html page to put up the offer and visitors can always return to that page by copying the url and paste it in the address bar of their browser again. In this case, there’s no “fear of loss”. And people would not view your OTO as ONE TIME OFFER as they can still return to that page again and again. When the “fear of loss” factor is not present in your OTO, your OTO conversion rate can be very low. And you’ll be getting very little money whereas people like Mike Filsaime can fork more than a million dollar in one year using OTO!

Wow, that’s sound a little bit technical isn’t it? Not really. You can simply utilize a reliable OTO script to perform the task for you. It’s not really that difficult.

Your OTO must be of EXCEPTIONAL value – Okay, I don’t think you need further elaboration on this. Because I believe you’ve come across way too many OTO than anybody else. And how many OTO did you grab? That was in a customer viewpoint. But now you want to see from a marketer viewpoint and use OTO as a marketing weapon to earn you even more.

Simply put, try to be as HONEST as possible. Never lie to your customer. Get something of great value and offer to them. It could be a bunch of Master Resale Right’s products but try to insert one or two products of your own creation that they can’t get elsewhere or a Master Resale Rights product that has limited edition. It’s worth the price to sometimes purchase some high quality Master

Resale Right’s products with limited license like Marketing Quickies by Andrew Fox and offer it to your customers. Don’t you think your customer will be grateful to you?

Or you can even get a reseller license to quality membership sites like Affiliate Land Mine and offers maybe a 180 days membership for free to your customers in your OTO and start charging only after the 6 months. It’s a win-win isn’t it?

You must not put more than 2 OTO at one time – Hey buddy, realistically speaking, making money is our main concern. But you don’t overdo that with your OTO. Having more than 2 OTO consecutively is not going to work.

Try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. How would you feel being exposed to one OTO after another and still not reaching the place that you initially want to? You just bought an ebook and were shown an OTO. Assume that it doesn’t interest you, and you click to decline the offer and there another OTO pop up. You are still not interested, and so you decline the 2nd offer and yet another OTO pop up! Isn’t that annoying? Yeah, an OTO which suppose to be a win-win plan may become a demotivator to your customers. Just bear in mind that 2 OTO at one time running consecutively is maximum. Or just stick to the standard of one time. It’s going to be more effective.

There you are! Please follow these 3 rules to make your one time offer a truly successful one. I’ve made a comprehensive example that illustrate the complete One Time Offer model and how you can copy the same for your next OTO launch and start raking in cash. Read more at "OTO in Action".

Cheers!
Waken