I see a painfully large amount of people waste their lives on stupid business ideas. We all have…

A friend gets giddy over some new online business he thought up after reading the daily newspaper for the first time in years. He runs around telling EVERYBODY how GREAT their lives will be after their product has hit the market.

We call these people “Wantrepreneurs”. They spend THOUSANDS of dollars and YEARS of their lives trying to fool themselves into believing they’re entrepreneurs. They get business cards, make Facebook pages, start Tweeting constantly, file for an LLC, open bank accounts…TONS of GARBAGE!

Don’t Be a Wantrepreneur!

Luckily for you, you are reading StartupBros and won’t be subject to the Wantrepreneur’s agony…

It is extremely easy to prove to yourself your business is a failure or a success with just a couple hours of effort. And it works for almost any idea.

(Watch Now: What’s the right business model?)

Let me show you exactly how we validate our business ideas for FREE

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Picking a name to start your business can be difficult. If you want a step by step guide to figure out how to come up with a name check out our article! We also wrote about the best logo makers you can use to launch quickly!

Step 1 – Create a Landing Page

The first thing we are going to do is make a landing page for our business idea (as if it is already an established business).

I use Unbounce (FREE) (Update: I now use LeadPages or ClickFunnels instead of Unbounce for this) to create all of my idea validation landing pages. Once you have an account and get familiar with it, it is very easy to use.

(Note – These tools now requires a credit card for their free trials, so you will have to remember to cancel after your done testing)

Here is one of the best performing landing pages we used to validate and test StartupBros…

StartupBros Winning Landing Page Business Idea Validation Testing
A champion among scrappy landing pages…

You can see, I don’t put much time into these landing pages. The goal is to get it up QUICK and make sure it is something that your target market would bite at.

If you’re not sold on this concept yet, take a look at this…

Here are some landing pages we used to test different taglines with StartupBros – you will 2 of 4 different taglines we were testing.

StartupBros Winning Landing Page Business Tagline Validation Testing

A familiar tagline – You don’t need a job…

StartupBros Losing Landing Page Business Tagline Validation Testing

A loser of a tagline – Quit your job with us…

There’s literally NOTHING different but the taglines. I even toned down the logo tone to make sure the tagline alone was influencing conversions…

And boy, did it influence conversions! Take a look at the results –

StartupBros Tagline Testing Results and Data

Five words = 35% conversion rate INCREASE!

This test was a life-saver for StartupBros. I’m not saying StartupBros couldn’t be successful without the winning tagline, but why put yourself at a disadvantage like that?

This test showed us clear, reliable evidence that our target audience would be most receptive to the “You don’t need a job” tagline…

And a full 35% more receptive than the ‘Quit your job with us’ tagline.

35% conversion rate difference from five words…

That’s why it’s important that you take advantage of the A/B testing features on Unbounce/LeadPages when running validation tests. You’ll uncover insights that you didn’t know you didn’t know, and they’ll make all the difference in your business.

Test different headlines, different copy, different features, different prices, different colors…I test everything!

(Watch now: Should I drop out of college?)

Step 2 – Run a Small Ad Campaign

Now we’re going to run a small ad campaign using pretty much any platform we can (Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Twitter Ads – whatever you can run for cheap/free).

All these platforms offer coupons for free advertising credits. You’ve probably seen them floating around the internet. They’re fairly easy to get.

If you don’t have any free advertising coupons, no worries. You know I’ve got the hookup for you!

I keep a running list of working methods on how to get free PPC Ad Coupons from ALL the ad networks. And of course, it’s free for you 🙂

If you need Free PPC Ad Coupons, click here! 

I’ll be using Google Adwords to show you the method in this article, since those ad coupons are typically the easiest the get…

Make a new account and load up your Coupon. Go through the process to set up a new campaign and be sure to try to hit your target demographic as much as possible. Set your bidding option to Automatic Bidding to Maximize Clicks, with a max big target of $0.50. If you don’t get any clicks, raise this up 0.25 every couple hours until you do. Put your budget around $20/day. Setting up a good Adwords campaign is obviously much more in depth than this, but we are going purely for speed here, you don’t even know if your idea is good yet.

After you have your campaign set up, write some ads and throw some good keywords in the campaign. If you don’t know how to pick good keywords then don’t worry too much for now. Keyword selection is an in-depth topic and I’ll walk you through the process of keyword selection in an upcoming post.

sponsored listings

Your ad will show up in places like this

For now, check out the Google Keyword Tool and put a website similar to yours in the “Website” box. Then test some keywords that you’re thinking. Don’t be afraid to get specific with them. To get to the Keyword Tool go to www.google.com and type “Google Keyword Tool” and it’ll be the first thing that comes up (they’ve been moving the URL around recently so I didn’t want to give a link that would go bad tomorrow).

You can also run Facebook or LinkedIn ads for these types of tests (obviously), but I can’t hook you up with coupons for those 🙁

NOTE – Don’t forget to set up Conversion Tracking, or else this whole thing will be useless! In Adwords, set up Conversions under the Tools and Analysis section of your account. Take that script and put it on the confirmation popup on your Unbounce pages. Also, submit an entry into your landing page to make sure all tracking and lead capturing is working properly! If you have any trouble doing this, comment below and I will post a follow up!

Step 3 – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! … or Try Again

Now you get to see what happens…

You will either start getting TONS of leads in your email, get a few leads, or get absolutely nothing. Be sure to contact your leads and find out as much as you can about them, their needs, etc. Start the sell!

You will soon find out if you have a smashing hit or a complete dud on your hands. People could start throwing money at you, or they may start cursing you out.

After a couple days you’ll have something that looks like this:

Screen shot 2012 10 15 at 5.17.49 PM
This is actually from Facebook Ads but Google Adwords will look similar.

This will give you some additional numbers about customer acquisition costs for you to weigh against your revenue (or potential revenue). What copy worked well? What tone? Using this information you will be closer to determining the validity of your business.

Moving Forward

After running your tests and looking at all your data, you will have INFINITELY more perspective on if you want to move forward with your business idea; and if so, which direction to take it in.

Start it now! It doesn’t take a lot of time, you can eventually quit your job and it has a very real possibility at changing your life for the better. You have pretty much zero to risk here – GET AT IT!

More knowledge isn’t always the answer. Take action and never look back!

For real – when in all of history has it been possible to test a business in a week for $25 and an hour or two of work? It’s absurd not to.

And you did it all in a couple of days, for no cost but your time. Pretty nifty huh?

Now that we have a working tagline we can run a contest to create the perfect logo.

Let us know how this is working for you! Are there extra details you’d like to know? Add anything and everything below in the comments!

Author

Avatar for Will Mitchell
Will Mitchell

Will Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur and Founder of StartupBros. You can learn more about him at the Startupbros about page. If you have any questions or comments for him, just send an email or leave a comment!

180 comments add your comment

  1. First. Thank you for this article. I am very nervous about doing this. I have a good idea of my business idea I want to try out. I am looking more into leadpages to test that idea. once I have the pages ready I will start an ad campaign. I intend to make a sales pages with a “buy now” button that once clicked informs the user that we are testing to see if there is interest and allows them to send an email (and comments if they want) and they will be notified of our progress.

    my question is this, how will I know if the business is a success? or if it would be a success. I realize its a combination of how many people come to the site and how many of them would buy the product. I realize if 100% would buy the product but I have only 3 visitors that doesn’t mean anything. but if I have 1000 visitors a day but only a 0.1% click rate thats not good either. (I have never used ad words – any help on how to determine when a product is a success is helpful.

    • Hey James, I would love to help you out with this 🙂 First of all I think it’s awesome that you want to test out your idea. You really need to if you’re going to succeed doing anything. I like the approach you’re taking. The truth is that in general you never actually know your business is going to succeed or not. Most businesses are capable of succeeding the problem is that people don’t stick with them long enough to see it through.

      In particular to you testing your idea then success would be if your campaign is profitable. Let’s say you spent $100 dollars to send traffic to your landing page. And then you are able to make $200 in sales. That’s one way to determine success because you are making money. If you aren’t selling anything then you want something at least converting at 20% just to be safe. If you get 100 sign ups for 500 visitors then your messaging is working. Hope this makes sense. If you have any more questions at all please let me know!

  2. Thank you, Author!
    Why was this article not written when I started?
    when I got 5-6 fuck-ups I start to test my ideas with draftuim.com and launch my landings with weblium.com.
    But it really good content I share it.

  3. Excellent post guys. Too many startups are bolting out of the door without even thinking about whether anyone will actually buy their product service.

    Testing, even on a crappy WordPress site (or cheaper!), is essential.

  4. When you set up new landing pages to test an idea, do you typically use your own domain or go with the Leadpages subdomain? I am not sure whether or not it is worth it to buy new domains for each new business or product idea to test or if I should just do a landing page in the Leadpages URL first.
    Thank you!

  5. The land is attracting with fresh atmosphere, the National park nearby, gardens
    and hills. This has resulted with contemporary style of areas and also
    the outer structure of houses. But, in poor neighborhoods,
    though the condo building could be cheaper, your income defintely won’t be as stable consequently for example of the tenants not being as
    reliable as in better places, and you may also face extra problems.

  6. Hey,

    Great info you have on here! Please do keep it up. Question- There are way too many Youtube videos promoting ‘Dropship’ model with Aliexpress. What is your take on it? I do not think it would work because Amazon is a direct competitor with next day delivery.Compare that to upto 5 weeks delivery time from Aliexpress combined with the fact that most Aliexpress products are already listed on Amazon, I don’t see how this model could work.

  7. Hey all,
    What is the most affordable shipping method on Alibaba? I am trying to order a product that likely weighs no more than 5lbs at a price of $6.00 total, but shipping by sea from China mainland to North Carolina, US is $40.00. Obviously paying $46.00 for a $6.00 order isn’t great. Is there a cheaper method to get the product to me?

    • You need to order more products to make the shipping affordable. You’re asking for something cheaper than $40 dollars from China to North Carolina. That’s unrealistic and close to asking for magic.

  8. Great advice, thanks, Will!

    I would personally suggest starting even *before* building a landing page or an MVP to gauge initial interest: Time is your most valuable resource – don’t spend any more than necessary on something that you don’t even know is actually viable.

    Another point I would make is to not mistake your friends & family for your target audience – sometimes there may of course be overlaps, but a “yeah, that sounds cool” from your friends & family doesn’t cut it. There’s something called “Interviewer bias”, which means that your friends will rate your ideas more favorably than the general public.

    I’ve personally used http://www.ideacheck.io to validate my startup idea and get an initial sense of whether my ideas might actually be valuable. They take care of generating a questionnaire from the idea and put it to a panel of users from your target group. So far, the response to my ideas was mostly negative, but I’ve gained valuable feedback through this process.

  9. Hey Will,

    Great site! Quuck question. When you talk about testing a business idea, do you mean I should do this before I start listing any product on Amazon, or is this after I have found a product that sells and I want to take it to the next level by branding my product?

    • Hey Josh, you are absolutely correct. Especially when thinking about listing on Amazon. Start as an individual seller and find market demand with unbranded products. 🙂 Worry about the name later!

  10. ever thought of taking a product idea from kickstarter (or any other similar platform) and running with that to an alibaba type supplier to hit the market earlier ?

  11. Hello, My name is Mrs. Sabrina Morris. I live in Alabaster AL, USA and i am a happy woman today? i I have wonder and told myself that any lender that rescue my family from our poor situation, i will refer any person that is looking for loan to him, he gave me happiness to me and my family, i was in need of a loan of $250,000.00 to start my life all over as i am a single mother with 3 kids I met this honest and GOD fearing man loan lender that help me with a loan of $250,000.00, he is a GOD fearing man, if you are in need of loan and you will pay back the loan please contact him tell him that is Mrs. Bonnie Roland that refer you to him. contact Mr. Compact Loans via Email: ([email protected])

  12. I’m very new to this, If I am thinking of selling on Amazon, should I also do this?

  13. I would want to target my potential demo on popular food blogs. How would your way measure simply testing a few days on the direct sites of my interest?

  14. Hi Kyle & Crew,
    Howya guys all doing? My question is this- how can I successfully prove not only the need 4 my business idea, but the accurate reasons why it’s a societal need when the fact is that all the resources I once had have been successfully taken from me at every turn? I have people worried obviously about my story, my proving the validity of my experiences as well as showing loyalty as key character trait? I’ve tried very hard to both fight for my rights, my causes, whilst trying to not cause harm or controversy that would hurt those I love. It isn’t alright with me anylonger however to protect anyone as all my keeping the secrets of technology of things etc, has only caused me further trouble with no apparent relief in sight. I also being brand new to “technical life difficulties” as well as “the rejected, wrongfulky accused, scorned &defamed displaced homemaker,” am finding it increasingly more difficult to bring needed attention to my cause primarily because some think I have issues. Issues that 1) are nobody’s business and would unknown had my civil rights and the laws of the land/internet not been violated & used against me, 2) issues that are misunderstood and inappropriately judged due to the aforementioned, 3) the issues I had (legally, before my private info was illegally spread) are no longer issues. Seems as though I’m being held accountable (punished) but zero persons (many many many)are being held accountable for laws broken, manipulated and bent to make me look bad. I’m homeless, jobless and penniless without the emotional support of my family, the protection of the law, or the means to obtain a loan, submit job application, right to privacy, and legal help I should have in which case if properly represented, I’d have them all by the balls. It is not my agenda to punish, it is however, my agenda to partner and create a system that will not only help poor unfortunate souls like myself, but that will lead This Nation securing the future through innovative interactive communications networks. Most importantly so that what has happened to me happens less, family relations are strengthened, poverty stricken communities a proactive approach to stop the cycle. Pope Francis spoke to our nation about the very things I had in the forefront of my mind after having experienced an event that changed me so much so that my loved ones blame issues that have nothing to do with my circumstances. This is where I’m at impass. I want to succeed and bring to fruition my vision for the future, I also though, want my son back in my care and for my boys to find out their mother isn’t nuts, but was blessed for a purpose to share with others. I am exhausted, cold, hungry, and worn out. I’m not going to submit to a situation I should not be in. A situation I don’t deserve to be in but was placed in via corrupt processes, lack of checks and balances. I have a great many things I want to accomplish.. The most important is to regain custody of my son who was wrongful taken and kept from me. I can’t relax until someone helps me shed light on all that’s been done regarding my custody case. It’s a gross injustice, one that I’m going to make sure makes the headlines. It isn’t a “let it go” kind of thing which many are guilty of telling me. No way! My love for my children and the wrongs that are keeping us apart will be rectified of they’re gonna kill me to silence me. I’m speaking for myself and the thousands & thousands of other moms and dads who’ve suffered or are suffering the Same fate. Please start up bros, I’d like to know more about your company and I’d like to ask you for a job and or discuss possible interests in my ideas. Thank you guys , all of you for posting, for following, and for giving me an opportunity to write this. Would be much easier from a desk top and under a roof.☺️ God bless??
    Janet Starcher
    JNISS OR NNISS
    [email protected]
    Veronica Nissan
    [email protected]
    Google+

  15. Hi guys,
    Great article, still waiting for that 100$ coupon to get started though!
    Thanks and keep up the good work

  16. HI I’M VERY THANKS TO AFTER READ THIS ARTICLE.
    I ‘M FROM INDIA … I WANT TO START IMPORT AND EXPORT BUSINESS IN MEN GARMENTS SECTOR … BUT I’M VERY NEW …. HOW SHOULD I REGISTER OUR SITE AND START BUSINESS …

  17. Hi guys,
    Great article, still waiting for that 100$ coupon to get started though!
    Thanks and keep up the good work

  18. Dear Will,

    By reading your posts I can say only one thing here that I have become you fan. You are fantastic. I am mesmerized by your thoughts at such a young age… Bro I am Freight Forwarding Professional and worked for many MNC companies for many years (Around 13 years) this year have left my job and started my own logistics company and an AGRO Export house in the name of SAI AGRO EXPORTS, in the first year itself we Exported 18 tons of Alphonso mangoes to London. That really made us confidant, now we want to get into USA but couple find the way. We have the facility here in Bangalore, India to meet US Govt fresh produce norms. There is a huge profit in the vegetable and fruit import where we will provide the deliver till the destination port (Any Airport in USA). Further I would request you if you can allocate me someone there or probably give me some idea I will be really great full to you.

    Cheers Bro

  19. You do you weigh the risks and benefits of throwing an idea into the open? What if someone picks up on the idea and develops it faster than you?

  20. I’m implementing this technique through Leadpages and mail chimp.

    How do you measure success? If the landing-page gets click through rate then you pursue it?

  21. Great article Will! I wondered if it was necessary to split test when you are just validating your idea? Can you split test with LeadPages?

    Thanks!

  22. Great post will! The ultimate guide for them who need guidance.
    But i have doubt in my mind. What is your opinion on language used other than english to make research on local market? Thanks.

  23. Is the landing page good to use if you’re selling products as well or just services?

  24. Hey mitchell, i’m try to importing product, and sell in Indonesia, i’m indonesian people .. Is that possible to importing from alibaba to Indonesia ? Is they have the line to ship my products to my country ?

  25. Hey, check out my lead generation page: valuestockindicators I’d love to have your insights, comments, etc. I’m not sure what to try as far as A/B testing goes. Perhaps the title and subtitle, but I’m blank on what else to try.

    Thanks for this article. Great ideas. Much appreciated!

  26. Question: I am now getting started with my business idea (literally today). I have my potential product in my mind and I am ready to jump on Alibaba to find suppliers who can ship me samples so I can test them (motivated through your other article). However, I linked to this article and after reading it I began to wonder: Should I create a LeadPage/Unbounce page now/first before I even begin to contact suppliers to order samples of my potential product? Help.

    Sami

  27. Brilliant advice!

    Just one question though: do you test all your ideas with Google Adwords / Facebook ads?

    Cheers 🙂

  28. Dear Mr. Will Mitchell,
    Wow, that was a very good article, I must say. I think this guideline will help young entrepreneurs to set their goal for future.
    Thanks
    Erich

  29. This is great stuff Will. I’m new to the entrepreneur world and I’ve got a few business ideas. This sound like a good low-risk way to start.

    Love it. 🙂

  30. Hey guys,

    First of all really love the site and your ideas, have been trying to implement a few of them. I have this idea for a money saving advice website. Pretty much followed what you wrote above for testing out the landing page, made a quick landing page with lead pages (linked) and tried some ads on google and facebook to see what happened. All went ok except… Facebook have blocked my ad and ad account! Have I made a massive error somewhere or broken a golden rule?! I even emailed to ask why and I got a generic response from Facebook, saying they will be unable to reactivate any adverts or ad account. Just a word of warning I guess!

  31. We absolutely love your blog and find many of your post’s to be exactly what I’m
    looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs?
    I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write with regards to
    here. Again, awesome website!

  32. Hi, Bros!

    Thanks for the article?

    How can you test ideas that are not related to selling or building a product? For e.g., I want to build a jobs portal with a different approach. How can I test this?

    Thanks!

      • Hi,

        I don’t know how to execute these steps please help,
        “set up Conversions under the Tools and Analysis section of your account. Take that script and put it on the confirmation popup on your Unbounce pages. Also, submit an entry into your landing page to make sure all tracking and lead capturing is working properly”, thanks 🙂

  33. Great article! It looks like LeadPages no longer offers a free plan or free trial period. Can you recommend another landing page option to run the test you recommend? Thank you in advance!

  34. How could I apply this to an e-commerce website? I do not have the prod in my hands as of now. Thanks,

  35. My question is regarding auto responders. First which do you recommend and second can you use any add on tools for existing email (gmail, outlook, etc.) to do it for free.

  36. Hey Bros,

    Just started my validation using adwords and facebook ads and I can barely wait to see what happens. Just wondering though, do you have any guidelines for determining the “threshold” for a successful business idea?

    Since I don’t have the product yet and I’m just asking people to join the mailing list, how much weight should I give to the CTR (people interested in the product based on description) vs form conversions (people who want to be notified)? Maybe more importantly, how can I extrapolate to actual sales?

    Any guidelines or rules of thumb?

    Keep up the bro work.

    Cheers

  37. Hi Guys,

    Love your article here as I am in the process of testing an idea that I ‘believe’ could be a big hit. I would like to know how you would use your landing page idea for a fashion product – such as the ‘onesie’?? Very grateful if you could provide some advice.

  38. Great article. It appeals to users who do not want to waste precious resources on kit that has no bearing on what you actually create. A-B testing is great. Can you A-B test different sites as well as variants of a single site?

    I’m glad I found your forum. Lots and lots of good content. Thanks.

    Lex

  39. I blog frequently and I genuinely appreciate your content.
    This articfle has truly peaaked my interest. I willl take a note of your blog and keep checking for neww information about once
    per week. I optged in for your RSS feed ass well.

  40. Thanks a ton, guys. You both are amazing and I can’t say how much value your posts bring to the aspiring entrepreneurs.

  41. The thing is that the stuff on your web is so cool I do not want anoyone else to see it. 🙂

    • Thanks Kevin, glad you liked it and hope you can get some value out of it! Great looking site by the way, I’ve added your book to my Christmas Wishlist 😉

  42. Hey dude,
    I have been watching your videos for a long time. I have no idea how internet marketing works and I would like to learn more about this concept.
    I have spended 2thousand dolars runnign ads, creating logos, and havent done one cent yet.
    Can you help me?

  43. First I want to thank you for this excellent and very comprehensive blog post. I am the marketing and brand management sector, these tips suits me fine. And I think I’m going to advise my client to use these simple steps and especially the idea of landing page – unbounce .Thank you and best regards

  44. Great post, I started directly on unbounce, what a bless! Now wait and see when results come in. I have had some projects over the last years, where I had trouble reaching a good test group, that’s why I came up with http://www.concapped.com/. As said, I created it overnight in unbounce (so it is a validation test), but would love to hear what you think!

  45. Yo, Mitchell! Thanks for the great post! I’m just waiting to get my coupon so I can get started on testing my idea for a product! Thanks man!

  46. Love the info on your site. Unfortunately I can’t share an article that was published in 2005.

    Hopefully you guys will post something soon, preferably in 2014. And preferably with a goddamn date attached

  47. Thanks for this article guys, I’ve setup two campaigns to test already. I know we’re getting free Adwords credit but let’s say I need to bid $1.50 to hit the front page for a given keyword. Should I bother or go for a less competitive term?

  48. Why visitors still make use of to read news papers when in this technological globe all is accessible on net?

  49. Hi, great article!
    Have you tried this approach with business to business oriented idea? Do you think enough lead conversion rate will be generated since the end consumer is not involved?

  50. Great post guys. I am looking to test a Saas business idea I have been working on. I don’t currently have logo or landing page yet, do you suggest I pay to run a contest for logo first? Or mock something simple up myself (ideas on good way to do this?) and test on LeadPages to see what kind of traffic I can get before spending money on a logo?

  51. Hey Will

    Thanks for the idea. One of my ideas cannot go through this process (people don’t search for it on Google), but I think you might fit the target market. Can I email you about it?

  52. Silly ideas make silly businesses and wantrepreneurs remain same for year :/
    It’s me from past one year. Well, I think I have to give myself another chance and thanks for sharing this. I will try this for sure and I guess it will be a help 🙂
    Will get back to you after that!

  53. Thanks for the information. I’ve followed the steps and now have some interesting data but I’m not sure what to do with it. what would consider a successful idea? what are the metrics to determine a successful idea vs. a dud?

    • It depends on your goals – match up your profit potential with startup costs and see. If you want to share details we can give you a better idea.

  54. Can I Validate a product by searching for the pain without disclosing it?

    At the initial stage I would prefer to keep the cards close to my chest. The product is easy to duplicate and having a head start would be the only advantage of keeping in front of the line.

  55. Question about the details of this campaign. From my reading of the campaign, you had 1,257 clicks. What was the total cost to run this test?

  56. Will, I have just developed a beta version of a free website to validate ideas and get the first customers. Let me know and I can let you try it as a special preview 🙂

  57. Hi Will I wanted to finish reading your blog article ..choosing an idea ….You have a list of blog posts b ut archive ? How do i get to previous posts ? Do you have a search feature Sorry if its obvious to everyone else !

    Thank you ian

  58. Hey awesome article! Im banned with Adwords because of some stupid thing I linked to over 9 years ago and they still hold a grudge! Could I use Facebook ads instead?

  59. Thanks for this superb article!

    However, since we already have a kind-of validated idea & around 600 potential leads, would you mind sharing some links or thoughts on actual requirements collection? Basically, I have more than 600 emails that I can contact, but I’m looking for the best way to approach the requirements collection part 🙂

    Any help would be definitely appreciated!

    P.S. Once again, thanks for super-awesome article 😉

  60. I just stumbled across this website and it is fantastic! I just wanted to know how did you decide what taglines to test? Did you just brainstorm these or had you decided on your target market and did some research to what may be appealing and best positioning for that particular market?

  61. Like everyone else has already said, great article!

    I’ve got a product in mind i want to produce. How would you go about testing a product with a landing page minus product artwork?

    Thanks!

  62. Hi Wil, great article! I understand how a landing page is beneficial and how to set one up (thanks to your article). But here comes the very novice question, once I have my landing page live, is it absolutely necessary that I connect my page with a 3rd party, or is that what the point of sites such as ‘unbouce’ etc do for you…are you supposed to enter any keywords anywhere etc.

  63. ok, I have an idea for a b2b website like alibaba.com should i build a survey on my iPad and get out and interview 100 business owners or build a landing page and piss off a stack of potential customers with a landing page that goes nowhere , I want a lot of questions answered, how many is too many, should they be yes/no or open questions where they must type their response or record it verbally Im a quadriplegic so I can’t type.

  64. This is great and I’m going to do it! Do you have any resources for people like me who have an idea for a web based business but have no experience developing websites and all this tech talk and terms are new? I’m so brand new that I’m going to stumble through this but it’s a great resource. Thank you!!

  65. Hey bro’s,

    Love your website & recommended it to “my bro’s”. Some very cool articles and this one is definitely my favourite post of yours. Just a quick question regarding the 100$ Adwords credit. I put in my details a few days ago and still waiting for it. What can I do to help with it? Cheers

  66. Great article. Thanks for sharing.
    And here are so much comments, I had some queries but you did so nicely that I already found my solution. 🙂
    Thanks a lot. Hope you will keep sharing such good stuffs with us in future also.

  67. Hey Will — another great article — Thanks!! OK, some questions, then a suggestion.
    I have an idea for a new product, something that may be patentable. Let’s say it’s a do-hickey kitchen item to organize your drawers (it’s not). If I disclose it on a landing page, a) I think it’s an issue for patentability because of the disclosure and b) it’s very easy to steal (we’re now a “first to file” jurisdiction, so if someone beats me to the patent office with my invention, it doesn’t matter how far along I am in the development process).
    Also, what exactly am I offering people on my landing page? Am I just telling them to sign up if they think this product would be of interest to them if it ever gets made, without telling them exactly what it is, just what it does?
    And now for the suggestion. I would like to see the dates comments are posted so I know how recent and active these discussions are. What do you think?

  68. Hi there every one, here every one is sharing these kinds of experience,
    thus it’s nice to read this weblog, and I used to go to see this webpage all the time.

  69. Will,

    Great site I have been pouring over everything to stop the wantrepenuer.

    I have a trio of products to import and brand, should i still use lead pages to validate or should i try a wix site and track those conversitons using stock photos etc?

  70. Great info,

    Can you please better explain the last part about conversion tracking? I have no idea of how to implement what you explain the your last paragraph! Thanks

    • You want to set up your ‘Goals’ for Analytics or Adwords so you can track when a conversion is achieved. In your account, you’ll find a script you can put on a page to mark it as a converting page. Copy that script, and put it on the Modal Popup that pops when you submit to an Unbounce Page. Ultimately, you want that script to be on your thank-you page or confirmation page after they’ve filled out and submitted their email.

      Hope this helps!

  71. Hey Bros!
    I requested an Adwords voucher, but it’s been almost 2 days and I haven’t received my code. Can you hook a brother up?!

  72. Awesome validation will. Everyone here needs to learn that validation is WAY more important than making something look pretty. When you validate you save time and money. two thinks that suck when you lose em. Great Stuff buddy!

  73. just opened an unbounce account. i’ll keep ya updated!

    PS, my company bro studios and ya’ll should be bros 🙂

  74. Didn’t realise it at the time but this is exactly what I have been doing with trialing fb ads. I found distinct results, although none actually resulted in sales. The main thing holding me back from google adwords was the cost involved. So thanks

    • Glad to hear you liked the article Joshua! It’s always good to get positive feedback from people experienced with the concept 🙂

      FB Ads are another awesome way to do this method. I don’t do it as much, but maybe I should try…

      Adwords is quite a different beast, I definitely needed that $100 coupon the first time I ran a campaign 😛

  75. Thanks for the helpful advice…what about risks of idea hijacking if the business is a service rather than a product…thanks again!

    • No problem Diane, glad I could help! I haven’t had any problems with ideas being stolen in my career, but even if it did happen – great ideas are a dime-a-dozen. Businesses are built on the execution of the idea.

  76. I like this but What are you thoughts on Validating an Idea without actually spending any money???

    I have been studying business idea validation recently in great depth and have applied many tactics to my own ideas to fully validate ideas and in most cases actually make money before validation is over.

    I just launched a new course as well specifically catered to this idea validation process.

    I would like to hear your thoughts though on how to actually validate without spending money on google adwords. Or how effective has that process been for you??

    • I don’t know of any ways to get reliable data for free. I’ve had people pitch me on using Craigslist for free and things like posting flyers around and spamming Facebook groups. While all of that can work, they’re all extremely limited and easily tainted data sources. I think if you can’t put $25 behind your idea to test it, you need a new idea.

  77. I’m a little confused with unbounce. I opted for the free one that will have the unbounce url(?) at the bottom so I could get a feel for it. I haven’t been able to figure out how to add actual text to the landing page. I can drag the box over but I can’t type in it. What am I doing wrong

    • Not sure what you’re doing wrong there Robin. Unbounce is pretty simple, so it may be a browser issue or something. I would contact Unbounce support, they’re pretty awesome and should be able to help.

  78. I have a product development idea for an iPhone case that would use a special material that is not used for any other case currently on the market. It is still in the planning stages because I’m short on funds to get a prototype made. I’d like to get a Kickstarter campaign going to fund the manufacturing, packaging, etc, but they require that I have a prototype first. However, since the iPhone case market is so saturated, I think testing the idea/design with a landing page containing CAD drawings and my company name/logo (maybe a pre-launch or pre-order page that collects emails for when it’s ready for sale?) would be beneficial before spending more money on this project. What do you think? Also, do you have any advice for raising money for my prototype?

    • That’s definitely possible Janet! You could even run your own crowd funding campaign. There are Wordpress themes that duplicate the Kickstarter look/feel, and a bunch of other crowd funding themes. You could run that to raise money, or you could make a standard product page and pitch that to investors. Either way, I think testing it with the CAD drawings and testing everything is a good idea…

  79. No one follows up…wantrepaneurs is right. The test an bail or die off? I need feedback. A success or fail story. Everyone is asking redundant questions. Me i have questions only one…what happened after you unbounced?…….

    _____+______=_____

    • Following up is definitely key! Too many people like the idea of being an entrepreneur, but not the work it takes. Going out there and asking people to essentially criticize your idea can be tough. Those that can manage it will reap the rewards 🙂

  80. I am testing an idea for an ebook that is not out yet (because I’m testing to see if I should write it) Do you think I should use the “ebook” theme or the “coming soon” theme?

  81. Thank you for this article, I’m sure many fall into the trap of registering LLC’s and patenting names without validation.

  82. Yo dude your link is dead!

    “Here is a landing page we used to test different taglines with StartupBros”

    Fix it!

    Peace!

  83. Hey Will,

    Great work here, it really hits the mark with everything that I found myself wondering about before I stumbled across your post. I have a couple of questions, the first being, I found my product and found a particular market, but it seems that with everything said and done I still seem to have large mistrust of all of the companies that I am speaking with in China. Alibaba is a great site, the biggest flaw is that their is no rating system for users to comment on or rate those businesses. I really have everything figured out expect the supplier, and seeing the post that’s the major thing. I need direction on how to approach this, before finding your post it seemed as though I was following it to the tee! Got samples coming, only issue with that was I used western union, not a large amount just for the shipping but your advise on this matter will be a great help! Thanks again

    • Thanks a lot Mohamed, glad to help!

      The truth is there’s no way to completely remove the risk of importing. That’s why it’s essential you always have third-party financial protection, just in case you miss something. As long as you do that, you’ll always at least get what you asked for. And that makes it relatively low risk.

      Here’s a guest post we had a friend post, it should help verify the legitimacy of the factory – https://www.startupbros.com/how-to-avoid-scams-middle-men-and-fraud-on-alibaba/

      Hope this helps,
      Will

  84. Hi Will,

    Can this work to test an interest for a potential regular brick & mortar business – a sandwich shop?

    Thank you in advance,
    Catherine

    • Hi Catherine,

      Yes it could work for that, but it would be a little more complex to run (and get reliable data).

      It would be very important for you to know the hypothesis and goal of the test before you set it up. You’d probably be testing one of two thing – general branding and concept, and if it will work in your exact location (or, what location would get the most attention and perhaps be most profitable). I call that geo-testing.

      For the branding and concept, it depends on your overall vision and strategy for the business. You may want to geo-target that campaign by State, or by County, or maybe just the U.S.

      For the geo-testing, you’d want to set up a different ad and landing page for each town, or address, or ZIP, or whatever. It depends on how deeply you want to test. But basically, you’d set up a landing page for the business and just market it to different location segments, and see where the demand is.

      Like I said, those are more complex campaigns – but they will get you some REALLY interesting data!

      Keep me updated on the new business!

      Hope this helps,
      Will

  85. Hi
    Thanks for idea, it sounds great… Let me see if I understand this concept. So in landing page you user will give their email address, that’s how you consider as successful lead.. Or just how many mins user are on the landing page… Can you please clarify this for me. And I have mobile app ideas, so I guess I can validate my idea of mobile app as well right and not necessary logo or any value prop statement… Just validate idea…

    • Hi Sean,

      Glad you like the idea, it’s one of my favorite methods! You pretty much have the idea set – the more action a user takes the better. For me, I usually want them to fill out their email. It’s important to set a goal to measure before you go into it, or else you’ll always be able to find a good statistic (that is really irrelevant). So for a mobile app, people can put their email in to get notified of the beta release. Or maybe there is a download now button, and you measure based on how many people click to download. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re actually measuring the demand of your idea/concept/brand/whatever you’re testing.

      Hope this helps,
      Will

      P.S. – Let me know how it goes!

  86. Is this idea compatible with testing a product for an importing business, such as the ones talked about previously on start up bros? It seems like it might not work. For example, one of the examples you used in your other post (in looking for a potentially profitable item to sell) was decorative pillows. It seems kind of weird to use a landing page to sell a single decorative pillow. But maybe not? Let me know your thoughts.

    • Hi Jim,

      Great to see somebody combining multiple concepts, many entrepreneurs fall short there. Not you! 🙂

      You can definitely use a landing page to sell decorative pillows. However, with importing specifically, there are better ways to test. I’m big on A/B testing and validating my ideas before scaling them, so it’s the same concept in a different method. Here, you’re testing an idea, a brand, whatever. On the importing post, I walk through how to buy small sample orders and sell those samples to see what happens. It’s all about getting some hard data behind your hunches to help you make a more educated decision.

      Let me know if this helps,
      Will

  87. Hi Will,

    I am a novice in the trading business. I would really like to start trading your product, LED light bulbs, as a start up. The above website is srill under construction, but is online. I greatly need your advise..

    • Hi Andrew,

      Thanks for commenting! Can’t wait to see your site once it’s done. What do you need help with?

      Talk soon,
      Will

  88. I don’t understand, is this basically making a simple website and seeing if people come to it, to try and see if it’s popular or not?

    Sometimes I just need things explained differently, sorry to sound so thick!

    • Yep, you have it right Rachel! It’s all about building a simple landing page to see how much interest the idea will generate. That way, you can see if there’s a problem in your business model before dropping a bunch of time and money into it 🙂

      Hope that explains it,
      Will

  89. Hi, i want to test 2 different domains for the same idea, therefore i would have xx.com and yy.com but the same launch/landing page, can i use Unbounce for that purpose too. Hope you understand what i mean.

    • Hi Frank,

      Yes, you can definitely do that with Unbounce! Unbounce will let you use their domains on the Free Trial – you just need to change the Logo of the landing pages you test.

      That’s actually what I talk about in this article! We chose http://www.StartupBros.com based on this type of testing.

      Hope this helps,
      Will

  90. Great HOW TO and thanks for showcasing Unbounce. This is awesome! For all of you at an early stage and just trying to test a few ideas, contact our support team and they can set you up with a sweet longer-term deal.

    Best Regards,

    Rick Perreault, Unbounce CEO

    • Thanks for making Unbounce possible Rick, it has saved me an incalculable amount of time and money! A must have for any internet entrepreneur 🙂

      Thanks for taking the time out to comment!
      Will

  91. With unbounce, do you need a different credit card # every time you want to validate an idea? Or is it more of a one and done kinda thing?

    Thanks for the blog, I love it!

    • Hi Chris,

      Thanks a lot for reading and taking the time out to comment.

      I usually try to do validation in a big spurt, so I’ll validate every top level thing about my new startup I need to (brand name, logo, tagline, etc). If it were me and I didn’t want to pay for Unbounce, I would try to do as many tests like that in a 30 day spurt as I could and then drop the subscription on day 29. You could do this on different cards to extend it. Unbounce is a great tool though, I pay for it now 🙂

      Hope this helps,
      Will

  92. Very informative, thanks for the quick response! Is this strategy intended to be used injunction with your other article that discusses importing items from China?

    • Hey Ben, thanks for commenting! I didn’t write this with that intention, but you can use this in conjunction, and I certainly would!

      Hope that helps,
      Will

  93. I noticed at the end you said this approach would cost about $25, but that is the first time you mention costs. I’m just curious what part of this process is costing money?

    • Hi Ben,

      Thanks for taking the time to comment.

      The main costs in the beginning will be your samples, which depending on product will cost $25+ per sample (and I recommend getting 2-3 at least). You can usually flip those on eBay/Amazon/Etsy if they are good samples and make your money back.

      Then you need to buy your first load of inventory, which again depending on product will be $200-750. Ideally you’ll have done good research and flip those within a month and then go back for a $500-2000 order, and just keep building from there.

      Hope that helps!
      Will

      • Hi Will,

        On the topic of samples.. If I want to put my logo on a leather product and adjust a few things.. What’s the best place to find a supplier and get samples? I just know of Alibaba. But you mentioned ebay, amazon and easy. Would they be willing to change their logo and put mine?

        Polina

  94. Unrelated, can you tell me what plugin you used in WordPress for that “Stay In Touch” thing inside a WordPress post? I like the look of it.

  95. Great article bros, I use a very similar approach with testing my ideas… quick, easy, measurable. Looking forward to reading more of your posts.

    • Thanks Ross, would love to hear about your experiences with this method sometime

  96. I have been working on this idea for weeks, and was getting ready to buy about $10,000 worth of inventory, and take my idea to market. I came across this idea validation process from a reddit post, and am very thankful. I setup a placeholder site a few weeks ago, started working with suppliers, getting all my tax and business license info in place. Right now, it’s all getting paused, and am running a validation.

    Thanks Bros!

    • Great post Dane, I couldn’t agree with you more. 95% of aspiring entrepreneurs will sadly never get past the idea stage to the execution stage. As entrepreneurs, it is more valuable for us to FAIL FAST – it leads to quick learning and thus quick success!

  97. Your template has a box that opens in the bottom right that has the default; “Your HTML-content goes here..”

  98. Love it!

    Straight out of the four hour work week. I’ve used a similar approach to verifying 8 of my last business ideas. Currently pursuing 2 of them.

    • Awesome – then you know as well as I do how awesome this type of validation testing is! Imagine the amount of time and money you saved just by running those little tests.
      I take it your web design company was one of the winning ideas?

  99. I like what you are saying Will. Can you add a share button so I can share with my students?

    • Of course Kelly, I will add one right away! Are you looking for an e-mail share, or something to share to anywhere?

      • Thank you. A fb share where I could choose which fb voice I use would be great. An email share would work too.

    • HELL YES LORENZO! If nobody else does anything with this post it was worth it 🙂
      Don’t stop! Keep on it!

      • This is fantastic information. I have a salon with few existing clients. Could you tell me how I could best use this information, or the concept of “CrowdSourcing”, to very inexpensively (free being even better until I have the “test” results) test advertisement or headline copy?

        Thanks.

        • Hi Meena,

          What do you want to test your headlines or copy on? If it is web-based (your website, landing page, etc.), it should be pretty easy. If not, it is still possible, but a little more difficult. Just give me a few more details and I’ll try to help you out.

          Talk soon,
          Will

    • This is an outstanding post. Thanks for the information. I love searching the web and discovering all the interesting tricks to help small businesses become success.

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