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How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

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    How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

    While working on a project I have little time to think of what comes next, but the question is never far from the surface.
    My business model currently is "word of mouth", which is great on a zero budget, but the word part is slow.

    So I've been brainstorming and this is what I came up with:

    Press Kit
    A press kit lets members of your local press know that you exist, and will generally print it free for you in their paper.
    If your area television stations have a local midday show that anyone can get onto, send them a press release also.
    You should have two press kits: one digital and one paper.
    Digital should include email ready copy of your press release along with any banners/artwork that you may have.
    Paper is just the printed version of digital so that part is easy.
    Paper always has a better impact on people since it is tangible like your business. Include a full page banner for people who hate reading press releases. At the minimum it should include your phone number.

    Like any salesman, you know your product, but how do you verbalize it?
    It would be great if Alpha helped its developers sell Alpha with Sales Kits. (HINT HINT)
    The best resource that I have found is Alpha's own website. Use it to get ideas and descriptions.

    Direct Calling
    I've worked at call centers before and have a pretty good understanding of how they work. People will work on commission if it is worth their while... even from home.
    Figure out what you want to say and call Joe's Liquors down the street to get some practice. You know you won't get a contract but the idea here is to fine tune your presentation for later on. Once you have your pitch down pretty good and have answers to the most frequent objections, write it down as a phone presentation (script).
    Put ad in help wanted for Work at Home! and give them their script and have them make the business calls for you. When they get an interested business (after all, it is a numbers game) you follow up and close the deal. Worker gets a nice commission and you've got work.

    Now I have too much work! What do I do?
    Co-op!
    There are plenty of developers here that will work for you if asked. Work something out with them and soon you'll all be sharing work.
    If you land a sizable contract, hire a local javascript programmer. They will quickly pick up on Alpha and you'll be there to mentor.

    But I hate sales!
    There are plenty of people who love sales. Give them a product to sell and let them loose.
    You are the conductor of your symphony! Organize your operation into beautiful music.

    What are your thoughts/ideas?
    Last edited by mvaughn; 08-29-2015, 11:27 AM.
    Rapid Development, Training, Support
    http://data2web.network
    903-740-2549

    #2
    Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

    Ads in Craiglist can be productive.
    One of mine: http://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/cps/5111487420.html
    properly done email campaigns are a blessing. There are very inexpensive companies that do that for you. Do not do it from your own ip address as it can cause problems for you with blacklisting.
    https://www.sendinblue.com/pricing/
    social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. There are groups on Facebook that cater to your business ads. I currently use 8 of them. Choose ones with lots of members.
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/5860308817/
    Linkshare is a real good(maybe top) source. You create banners and pay a commission for the sold leads generated(5% to 10%??). It is also a great source for ads on your own website if you like that sort of thing.
    http://marketing.rakuten.com/affiliate-marketing

    All of them take work to keep them going.

    I have done specific adverstising in specialty Newsletters and magazines with my car lot programs under upslogs.com which is on first page of google search as well. This is an alpha desktop DB for car dealers and it works for them.

    Salesmanship is the have to part after there is contact. I love that part and usually close the deal if I want the deal. But 53 years in the car business gives me a distinct advantage in the sales area.

    One more: You need a good sales website to push the product(s)/work. Just a website with a way for the client to send money and see what you do. I use PayPal and have a store for some of my products that works.

    Doing a websi6te now on my 249 ad that wound up at 880.00 for the business. I have to give up 10% to the sales once the site is completed.
    Last edited by DaveM; 08-29-2015, 02:06 PM.
    Dave Mason
    [email protected]
    Skype is dave.mason46

    Comment


      #3
      Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

      Hi Dave, your craigslist link returns a 404. is there another link?
      Rapid Development, Training, Support
      http://data2web.network
      903-740-2549

      Comment


        #4
        Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

        Hi Michael.
        http://www.allministrysites.com
        seems to be working here??
        Dave Mason
        [email protected]
        Skype is dave.mason46

        Comment


          #5
          Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

          Hello There,

          A good web site plus SEO will get you there plus ads in Craig List.

          Regards,

          Doron
          The Farber Consulting Group, Inc.

          Main Web Site: http://www.dFarber.com
          MS SQL Blog: http://www.dfarber.com/computer-consulting-blog.aspx
          Convert Ms Access to Web
          Custom Software Development
          Alpha Five Development
          No Interest Loans Application
          MS SQL Remote DBA

          Comment


            #6
            Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

            Thank you for the great ideas and invaluable advice.

            Here is my craigslist ad: http://easttexas.craigslist.org/cps/5241253197.html

            And my website: http://data2web.network

            I'm putting together a basic script for a craigslist work at home campaign calling local businesses soon and I'll let you know how it went.
            Rapid Development, Training, Support
            http://data2web.network
            903-740-2549

            Comment


              #7
              Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

              Hi Michael,

              The Ad in Craig List looks good and your web was Un-accessible.

              Regards,

              Doron
              The Farber Consulting Group, Inc.

              Main Web Site: http://www.dFarber.com
              MS SQL Blog: http://www.dfarber.com/computer-consulting-blog.aspx
              Convert Ms Access to Web
              Custom Software Development
              Alpha Five Development
              No Interest Loans Application
              MS SQL Remote DBA

              Comment


                #8
                Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                Michael
                This may interest you. This is your site.
                SEO SCORE 61 out of 100

                SPEED SCORE 18 out of 100

                Go here to see why? http://www.seocentro.com/tools/seo/seo-analyzer.html

                The dns would worry me.
                Dave Mason
                [email protected]
                Skype is dave.mason46

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                  One other method is to get your product all over others websites by using a service like Rakuten Linkshare.
                  Used for ready to install software.
                  You make a few banners and/or text ads. apply for the feature and pay for the sales only. Say 10% of the sale.

                  Almost every time you go to a page on the internet, there are 1 or more ads for products like MS tablets, Best Buy, Walmart and more. They work on a commission in percentage. If someone buys a product within 30 days or so of clicking the ad, the owner of the website get a commission of 2% - 20%.

                  I have HP, dell, ms, Walmart, best buy and other ads on some of my own sites and will soon be placing 3 of my own products on link share to sell.
                  religious wesites with hosting, car lot software and church membership software.

                  http://marketing.rakuten.com/affiliate-marketing
                  Dave Mason
                  [email protected]
                  Skype is dave.mason46

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                    Thanks Dave for the SEO score. I was wondering why virtually no traffic came from search engines. Now I know why.

                    Linkshare is interesting. It reminds me of the ancient web rings that I used to join. Remember those?

                    I put the focus on my site to primarily custom development - programmer 4 hire.

                    I can see the benefits of including a few customizable apps into the mix. The only question that I have is how to factor in the cost of the server license with each sale?
                    Last edited by mvaughn; 10-09-2015, 11:49 AM.
                    Rapid Development, Training, Support
                    http://data2web.network
                    903-740-2549

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                      Yes, I was in a couple of those as well. I was also in several banner sharing groups too.

                      Maybe I did not make it clear enough. I don't have server licenses.

                      I have a friend who sells memberships to his saas website at around 9.99 a month. That way all use the one website. I think he said he has over 100 members now, so is getting a decent revenue each month for that. It is something I will do at a later date when time permits.

                      I sell packaged desktop software packages created with alpha. My cost is what I spend each year to alpha and no more. 10% will vary from about 5.00 to 100.00
                      I also sell a subscription for religious web sites built with Joomla along with the hosting and free domain name where they pay 99.99 + 49.99 setup and then 99.99 each year there after. If I give up 10%, it will vary from 15.00 to about 65.00 for the first time.
                      The building of custom software is not something I would put on linkshare. I have that on a different site.

                      Anybody that clicks a link to one of my sites will be able to find their way to other sites as well. That is the idea I have.

                      My parent site is http://www.aldaweb.com
                      car lot site is http://www.upslogs.com - has several variations of the same app for different amounts.
                      religious websites is http://www.afs-host.com - this is the main focus for linkshare for me.
                      Dave Mason
                      [email protected]
                      Skype is dave.mason46

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                        As far as the seo score, that is only a part of it. Why, is the question?

                        many sites never worry about seo at all, but are getting traffic due to stuff like linkshare and being proactive on facebook and other social media.

                        here is a handy sitemap creator

                        https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

                        read carefully, I use the xml file and the html one also on each site.
                        Dave Mason
                        [email protected]
                        Skype is dave.mason46

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                          Dave, that SAAS website - can I find out more?
                          Do you know if it will perform a webpage lookup where respondents can view tasks , complete some information that I can in turn apply back to a desktop application ?
                          It doesnt warrant me having server licence as well as hosting.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                            This has given me food for thought as I'm having to rethink my strategy. I simply cannot create an affordable $500 product when I have to shell out $600 for a server license. I guess the J.C.Penney principle didn't get through to Alpha: "If you keep your prices affordable, then everyone can afford you."

                            Hell, I've seen PHP scripts for sale on the net that can do all that alpha does for $100 or less.

                            A friend at a local university here told me that they use CakePHP, and it is FREE.

                            I'd love to keep using Alpha, but I'm jumping ship. I simply will not give anyone a $600 share of my sales, no matter how good they are. I'm done with you, Alpha.
                            Rapid Development, Training, Support
                            http://data2web.network
                            903-740-2549

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: How to make money with Alpha Anywhere

                              I understand you.

                              I'm in the midst of creating a "largish" web app for a client to replace an app I wrote for them some 10-12 years ago (it was in Clarion). I told him he'd have to shell out $749 for an application server (that's the price I was quoted by Alpha sales) plus monthly hosting plus, maybe, he'd need to keep the server up-to-date with a payment each year. Even though this will end up being a project that cost upwards of $10K that's a big hit. Whenever I can do a project in C# with DevExpress I do it simply because there are none of these ancillary charges (I have a large SaaS app on the Intuit Marketplace built with those tools simply because Alpha can't handle the OAuth/SSO requirements). However, this guy needs an app to use both with desktop browsers AND mobile and Alpha does a lot of the heavy lifting so it ends up I can quote a lower price than if I used C#/DevExpress. But for a $500 app, Alpha seems crazy (no disrespect meant to the software OR company, it's simply a matter of economics).

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