And old concept that has been working for many businesses for years is the bikini concept. The best thing about the bikini concept is that it can work for bloggers too. Basically, the bikini concept states that by giving away 90% of the product for free, and keeping 10%, the attraction factor is just as strong if not stronger than just selling it all as one product. I would have to say that naturally the audience wants what wasn’t revealed of the bikini. If you know what I mean.
So how can this help bloggers? Well, you are basically going to give 90% of your information to the readers of your blog. Save your best information, which will be your 10% you can sell. Most bloggers want to make money off their blog and this is just another way to do it. You could sell an e-book, a subscription of some sort, etc.
The bikini concept doesn’t get talked about as much as it use to but it is used. Companies do not always give away 90% and then keep 10% to try and make money off of it. Sometimes it is 50% to 50% and sometimes it is 75% to 25%. You just want to give people just enough but not too much so they still want more. If they want more, then they are likely to pay for it.
I’m going to use Caroline Middlebrook’s Traffic Rush as an example. Caroline created Traffic Rush to show how you can get traffic from StumbleUpon. You can sign up for a free set of StumbleUpon lessons by entering your name and e-mail. Every few days you get a new StumbleUpon lesson in your e-mail.
First off, this is an easy way for Caroline to grow an e-mail marketing lists. You are able to monetize your e-mail lists so it’s just another way to bikini concept can make you money. You are able to grow a list of people that you can make money off of months down the road and you are able to make money if they choose to pay for the main product.
Second, she used the bikini concept, whether she knew it or not, to make money from her final product. She gave people around 80% of the information needed to get traffic from StumbleUpon and allowed people to pay if they would like the other “best” 20%. Guess what? People did pay for it because they wanted to know what else there was and she made a good amount of money. Just like so many people are tempted to know what else is underneath the bikini.
Sometimes it can be difficult to wrap our minds around why people act the way they do. But after seeing something like the bikini concept proven over and over we just have to accept that it works. Next time you decide to sell something from your blog try the bikini concept. Give so much of your information free and give them the choice of paying to get the rest.
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Great analogy of a concept! I’m sure it does well for driving traffic to you blog too. Keep up the good work.
You’re right when you say it drives traffic to your blog also. It always helps to explain things better when you can make an analogy.
I think the reason it works is that you are able to show your authority and quality in the 90% you give away, so people will be much more willing to buy that extra 10% as opposed to if they had no idea of what your product will look like. Also, in that 90% you have the opportunity to build a case as to why readers would need that premium 10%.
My quesiton is, how do you determine which 90% of your knowledge to share freely and which 10% to sell?
You’re right, it really only works if the 90% of the information you give away is good. You really can’t make a case as to why people should pay for the 10% if you’re 90% is not that good.
Your 10% needs to be the best information and the 90% needs to be the information leading up to it. Basically, you have to find out what your readers are most interested in. You could take a poll or try to analyze what the people are saying in their comments.
This is a brilliant concept and I can already feel ideas coming in!
Having a little something to pay for on a free website is always a good way to monetize. You build some authority and respect and them use that to sell your products. Good stuff.
Yup, once you get people to trust you they will want to pay for that 10% of your knowledge. I do not know if talking about bikinis will build me any authority though. haha
I’ve heard about the Bikini Concept in relation to marketing in general, and it often leads to successful results. Ebooks are becoming increasingly popular, and I am seeing more subscriptions for blogs. You give a really good explanation here. Thanks for posting this!
It is becoming more successful than ever before. A lot of times people do not even realize that they have used this kind of concept, but it ends up working for them. I think if people knew what concept they were using they would be able to make more money from their product.
The bikini concept… hmmm I’ve never heard this before, but it truly does sound like it works!
It might (should) come in handy with the next projects that I’m going to start. Great job with this article man!
Well, using a concept like this for your next project is better than not using any concept at all. Hopefully it will work out for you because I know you have a lot of great information over at your blog.
This is a great concept. I am going to do the same thing by offering basic information on my blog and then create an ebook or email lessons to give my readers more detailed information.
That will probably work for you. And a lot of people forget that they don’t have to offer their 10% for cash. You can also offer your 10% as long as someone will put in there e-mail address. It is easy to monetize emails you send out.
Brilliant concept, absolutely love it and now the wheels are spinning to figure out how to use it. Thanks!!!
No problem. Hopefully you will figure out a way to use it.
Seeing my name used in a post about bikini’s makes me shiver! But thanks for the plug, Franklin
I’d never really thought of it that way either.
haha, sorry about that. Thought I would use a little sex appeal to bring in the traffic. Seems like it always works. Thanks Caroline.
Indeed you have very smartly mixed bikini concept with blogging.
And they say bloggers don’t like sex appeal. Whoever said that was a dummy. Thanks for the comment Shanker.
Now if I was better looking, I could start a “bikini blogging” revolution! But that would probably mean something different to what you had in mind here
haha. Well, that would kind of be a cool blog name. “Bikini blogging” or “Blogging Bikini Style”. It’s okay though, my big gut would not look good in a bikini.
I guess that’s why they created Photoshop.
The problem lies in the way that to many marketers set up the 90% in a way that you almost HAVE TO own the other 10% to make tings work.
You’re right tennis. You can even make more money if you know how to market it right. However, this could be called selling for dummies. Even if you don’t know how to market it all that well, you’re likely to make a sale because people will come for your free information. Then see the information that they might not get if they do not pay for it.
I didn’t say the marketers that do it that way do it by mistake or accident or because they don’t know any better…the problem I refer to is that they know exactly what they’re doing when they do that.
Technically, that’s not a problem. Unless you’re the person that doesn’t know what he’s doing (Now that would be where the problem lies, “technically”).
That’s kinda, umm, my point.
haha. Sorry about that.
I’ve heard of the bikini concept before, and it totally ring’s true. Though I would apply Pareto’s Law and balance it out to 80/20 keeping 20% for myself in the form of an info product or mini course.
Yeah, you’re probably right. I find myself using different percentages all the time. I have many things I sell on the Internet that I don’t talk about on this blog. But most of them use this concept but it isn’t always 90/10. I am happy you brought up different percentages. Also, I enjoy your blog. I checked it out after you commented and you are a hilarious man. Thanks for stopping by.
This is so true, I made this mistake on one of my blogs and gave it all away, now I am still trying to figure out what to sell
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