Powerful Niche Examples - Some Final Thoughts

I wanted to give you some final thoughts on my series of articles How to Find the Most Profitable Affiliate that you should think about before diving in on my tutorial. Looking for a great paying niche is a techniques that works. But, you might want to consider a few pointers about earning money online with certain topics that might affect your long term strategy.  (Wondering about a strategy?  Take a look at Why You Need a Strategy to Earn Money Online ).

Get Excited About These Visual Niche Examples!

Alright, I'm going to show you two fantastic examples of how you could put together niche sites. Be it an affiliate or a core product - here's how you do it!  Study these over and over to see just how content is mixed with a product to get you there.  I know that both of these are making huge amounts of money (these are NOT my sites nor am I making any money by showing you these examples) and if you model your product and content and promote them in the same way you can drive to some real profits:

1. Security Guard Training HQ Niche Example

2. Double Your Dating Promotion Example

 

Choosing the Right Affiliate for You

Ok, you're all excited about a high paying niche and you're ready to start building.  You should consider a couple of points -- take extra care when looking at niches in the following categories: Health and Fitness, Betting Systems, and Business / Investing. Certain products may cause you issues in the future if related to dubious claims of health benefits, gambling, and making money.

Recently, the government has been cracking down on information products making false claims that have negative impact on people - something you should be aware of.  For example, health product that claim to fix certain problems can reflect back on you if you don't have the proper Disclaimers or Affiliate relationship clearly called out. You might get backlash from Google, Wordpress, Yahoo, etc. for promoting these types of sites -- Adwords or Adsense accounts banned, Blogger banned, Wordpress blogs dropped, etc.  Or, gambling sites are prohibited on certain traffic promotional tools My only advice is to pay special attention to the product you're promoting if in these niches.

Take a look at the Federal Trade Commission site on consumer protection on health products. It will help you work through your niche.

Mingling Your Niche with Your Business - Good Idea? Bad Idea?

Another consideration for your niche site is how closely you want it related to your main business. If your goal is to create many niches for a variety of topics then you should consider keeping these independent of your core internet marketing business.  By that I mean that you should create separate domains, email accounts and tools/traffic generation payments instead of a single account.

My article, Establish Your Differentiating Email IDs, will show you an example.  When you mingle your core business with niches, a single mistake might cost you getting banned from some critical tools or services you might want to use for future work.  If you're going to use a single topic and strategy - go ahead and use a single common business.

Getting Started to Build Profits

I've given you all of the necessary ammunition to get your affiliate niche sites started to really learn how to make money online. Be sure you understand the affiliate product you're promoting, the industry topic you're supporting and what the main, helpful ideas are coming from product that you can use to build content around the site.  Remember, your core buyers are looking to answer specific questions by using the search engines.  Your goal is to guide the engines to your niche site so that the product will satisfy their need.  Always think that way by writing content, using headers and giving them snippets of information that will drive them to want more.

You don't have to be a complete expert in any product -- just well informed and a guide to the buyer.  Take the attitude that you're helping them, not selling them and you'll see results!  In future posts I'll talk about promoting sites and traffic.

Why You Need a Strategy to Earn Money Online

As much as you want to make some extra cash online right now -  if you don't have a strategy you might just be floating in the ocean of internet marketing without a real sense of where you're going.  In most large companies having a strategy is a key component to a business plan and direction setting.  But, many times people confuse a strategy with a plan which are two very different things.  A strategy requires some training on strategic thinking to help you define potential opportunities for the future. How does this apply to you online? Let me dig a bit deeper to show you how you might apply it.

What is a Strategy?

Have you ever met someone who was so meticulous that they planned out in detail every step and task in detail?  Or, have you ever met someone who was so creative, inventive, yet so disorganized that they didn't know what day or time is was?   A strategy is can be thought of as the intersection of the two.  A strategy is not necessarily a plan nor is it just a set of creative ideas. The best way to think of a strategy is mix together the best of 'inventor/innovator' thinking with 'planner/organizer' thinking.  This is the essence of strategic thinking.

Internet Marketing 101: Business Before Web

I wanted to start this essay on the positive benefits of defining your business first before building any online sites, blogs or special projects. (Note: this article is primarily focused of those living in the US - but, you may find some benefits in other countries as well).

What many people tend to forget is that there is a significant tax incentive in this country if you define your online work as a business. This is much easier than you think and should be your primary focus before doing anything else. If you haven't started this activity I would strongly suggest taking a look at the rest of this article!

By no means am I a lawyer or an accountant - but, I can give you the basics from what I have learned. The core lesson I want you to get out this is that by declaring yourself as a business, any purchases, costs, fees, etc. can potentially be deductions on your taxes if your business is at a loss for the first year or more. This includes any equipment you may purchase dedicated to your online work. Granted, if you make a lot of money then you will be taxed - however, the expenses you have for your business will reduce that profits such that the tax impact won't be as great.

How does this work? First, there are three basic forms of a business you can setup in order to do this - Sole Proprietor, LLC, or Corporation. I'm going to focus on the Sole Proprietor for now because it is the easiest and cheapest way to get started - you can do the research online for more information regarding LLCs and Corporations.

A Sole Proprietor simply means a business entity that has no separation from you, the individual. However, it is still a business - thus, even though the business debts and profits flow through to you, the accounting and tax advantages are still separate. It is a simple way to have a trade name for yourself while using basic accounting expenses and profits.

Setting up a SP is typically very easy in any state. Although the rules tend to differ slightly state to state the basic steps are:

1. Find a name for your business - I recommend a generic end expression such as Enterprises, Services, Systems, Productions, Adventures, etc. For example, you might pick Smith Enterprises. I like to recommend this only because your primary business focus may change.

2. Register your new name with your state - this is defined as running your business under an assumed name. There typically is a small registration fee of $10-$35 and a very easy form to fill out. Check your state's Secretary of State website to find out what you need to do.

3. Publish your assumed name - Some states require you to publish your assumed name in a local city newspaper showing your intent to do business under that name. This will only cost you $10-$20 (this only has to be in your small suburban paper - not, a major city paper.)

4. Get a Federal Tax ID - Once your name is approved by the state, get a Federal Tax ID so you don't have to use your SSN for receiving income (this is free).

5. Get a checking account and a credit card under your business name. It will have both your assumed name and your own name on the accounts. You should use these from now on for any business transactions.

That's it!! Now you can do business under your new business name, purchase equipment, supplies and training all as part of that name. For example, once my business was setup I specifically purchased a laptop devoted only to my online work. I never install or use personal software on this laptop - business only. That capital expense was not only deductible on my taxes, it is also something that depreciates in value over time which may be deductible in the future as well.

Any general expenses can be deducted against your profits as well such as printer paper, fees, training, traveling, disks for backups, advertising, etc. Using a tax accountant is advisable to understand the additional forms you must complete at tax time.

To keep track simply pick up a copy of Quicken and create three accounts for each year:

1. Cash Expense Account - for general expenses
2. Capital Expense Account - for office equipment, computers, peripherals, etc.
3. Income Account - for any income from your affiliate accounts, ebooks, special offers, etc. - all the ways you make money online.

Just keep track of everything in those accounts for each year. Use these to help you categorize your finances at tax time.

One final note of warning - as a sole proprietor you are still personally liable for any legal actions. It does not protect you or your income as a corporation would. Always consult a lawyer to find out more about your own liabilities. Nevertheless, becoming a sole proprietor is much better than just using your own name and SSN!

Top 10 Mistakes of Internet Marketing

Many of us have tried to learn how to make money online using all kinds of inputs: ebooks, forums, videos, audios, trial and error, etc. If you're like me you find yourself constantly second guessing or just being frustrated when you see an Internet Marketing guru use a new bag of tricks to make yet another five million dollars in days.

Recently I polled a list of internet marketers on what they felt were their biggest mistakes made in their own online careers. I seeded the question with my own mistakes with the intent to get a discussion started.

What was revealed was extremely interesting coming from many who are very experienced. I decided to collate the list and rank them in what I thought is the best order based on the number of responses I received.

So, here we go - enjoy the list, and, use this to power your own online business!

Top 10 Mistakes of Internet Marketing

1. No Autoresponder - I think almost everyone responded to this one. Not having an autoresponder means no email list to work with. No list means re-marketing for every new product or service. The gurus make the BIG bucks here because their lists are huge!

2. Product Pricing Too Low - If you have been following Frank Kern's latest endeavor you'll see this is one of his emphasized points. Many are afraid to see the price point high thinking you'll lose customers whereas the opposite may be true. The psychology may be that something expensive is valued whereas something cheap is not.

3. Not Using Your List - Much like #1 even if you have a list you may not be marketing to it. Your list is your lifeline according to most. Use it!

4. Too Many Projects at Once - Ah, the age old story. I'm completely a victim to this - losing focus on a single project to start another. Yes, it is good to have ideas but keep them on a pad of paper by your side and leave them for later! There was a lot of noise from everyone on this one.

5. Test Marketing Before Jumping In - Well, there isn't much more to say about this other than do your research and plan carefully.

6. Offers to Never Seen Products - Whatever you do, don't do this. You must either buy or barter the product you are going to sell. If it is bad you definitely want to stay away and keep your customers away as well.

7. No Affiliates for Your Product - One marketer responded that he estimates he lost over one million dollars just from this simple mistake. Use your affiliate network to help sell your own product - it is like an exponential web, that, if good will grow your income at a massive rate.

8. Bad Sales Copy - Borrow, beg or just pay for this unless you are a great copywriter. This can sink a great product faster than anything.

9. Knowing a Niche is Profitable - Again, much like #5 this mistake is very common. You're excited, build a site, promote only to find out that those hours and hours of work went to waste. Ouch!

10. Not Outsourcing Faster - This is truly the power of many vs. the power of one. Outsourcing means getting help to build your site using such services as Elance.com or Amazon's Mechanical Turk. It is inexpensive and can accelerate your effort.

Some of the runners up were:

11. Bad Adwords Ads
12. Not Using Freebie Lists
13. Poor AdSense Testing

There you have it. If you can take away some of these lessons to use in your own work you should be better off and be able to make money online. Enjoy!

Time to watch the Oscars.

Use the 80-20 Rule to Make Money Online

I don't know how many of you have worked in a Fortune 50 company before. But, if you have you know how much large companies focus on squeezing the greatest benefit from every dollar spent.

This type of value can come in many ways - reduced expenses, more sales, faster delivery, etc. Any way you look at it, large corporations understand the need to keep the financial statement friendly to their stock owners.

A common theme running in many companies is the idea that the first 80% of any work is easier than the last 20%, and, it is that last 20% that usually doubles the total cost of the effort. Plus, it is usually the first 80% that provides a majority of the need. When you apply this to a large effort or a combination of efforts the savings is staggering! Companies will work on 10, 50 or 100 million dollar projects and can realize 32 million in savings plus get the benefit sooner just using those three examples

How can you apply this to your own online marketing endeavors? You have probably invested quite a bit of time and effort to make money online, and, if you're like me, want to perfect all of your work. This includes articles, websites, blogs, ebooks, graphics, lists, etc. Are you burning the midnight oil on fine details?

If you took a step back and analyzed your own work would you be able to strip away some of the most difficult and time consuming steps but still get most of the benefit? In my own work I have found that trying to complete a site down to the finest details probably did nothing for any additional revenue. If I had worked on only the core 80% I could have spent the rest of the time on traffic building.

Take a look at it a different way. Perhaps you are writing your first ebook and have 12 chapters on your specific topic. Do you really need all 12 chapters? Will some of those chapters make the difference in the overall quality or sales? What if you cut it down to 9 or 10 chapters - maybe the other chapters can wait for the next ebook.

By no means am I trying to suggest that you not complete anything to the point of it being non-functional, poor quality or simply useless. You still have to do the majority of the work that gets you to that threshold. The balance is benefit vs. effort and cost with your goal to still have quality products, services and information.

The bottom line is every hour you spend working on fine tuning your own online marketing process could be taking away potential profits from other endeavors. The more revenue generating projects you have, the higher the potential is to make money online.

You can always use your first earned dollars to hire talent later to tune, modify and perfect your past work (take a look at Where to Focus Your Marketing Dollars). This gives you even more productivity with business acceleration!

Where to Focus Your Marketing Dollars

Many beginning Internet Marketers struggle with how and when to spend money simply because they usually don't have very much to work with. So there is a constant conundrum about how and where they should prioritize their expenses. Should they focus on paying for websites, advertising, ebooks, hosting, PPC, articles and content, site development, or autoresponders?

The simple answer to this is that unless you have a very solid business plan and good funding trying to start with everything is just too overwhelming. Almost every ebook and forum out there talks to the importance of content and your list. Just what does that truly mean?

It means that before anything else you should collect a starting amount of content; that is, free articles, PLR articles and privately written original information. This should be the focus of your work and it has the highest amount of productivity to monetize your sites.

The reasoning behind this is that many spend too much time focusing on the look and feel of their site rather than the content. Even the simplest graphical task to tweak a site can take hours. In addition, wasting hours and hours of effort on html, css and page layout is not going to drive that additional profit gain that you could have received just by having clean content on your site.

So, if you don't have time to worry about designing a site and managing it's layout I would strongly suggest using a blogging service. My personal pick is Blogger only because of the freedom they give you to add scripts and modify the templates to your liking. Wordpress has better layout options and more complete blogging features but will not allow scripts. There are some newer options as well that I haven't tried yet but should be just as easy to work with.

The other aspect of where to focus your expenses when first starting out is to think about your list - that is, those leads and customers that you can market to over and over. Many seasoned internet marketing veterans talk about how much more they could have made if they had only started building their list much sooner rather than later.

With your list being so important you should seriously think about getting a quality autoresponder as one of your very first expenses. In fact, some autoresponder services allow you to setup a free list (with advertising until you pay) to get started. I prefer Aweber.com only because it is very easy, has one of the highest delivery rates and has unlimited responders for all of my various projects

The care and feeding of your list should always be your priority and the start of your future as a bonafied online marketer.

Marketing What You Love to Do

Ah, this topic will drive me into a frenzy the more I think about it and talk to people. And, frankly, it is the antithesis of the current trends in internet marketing. Why, might you ask? The answer to this ties directly to my last blog entry on AdSense niche marketing and the information black market. People are throwing niche websites left and right on all kinds of topics - mostly targeted at the highest paying keyword phrases. Besides the other problems I mentioned before this also stabs right in the heart of who you are.

Let me explore this a bit differently. Let's say your real passions are golf, drinking coffee, and reading non-fiction books on science. Besides that you are an expert real-estate lawyer and have a plethora of knowledge on that subject. Now let's look at some of the highest paying keyword search categories:

DUI, Mortgage, Refinancing, Sex, Travel, Health, Gambling, Entertainment, Legal Help, etc.

Many budding internet marketers are choosing highly rated keyword phrases to put up niche Adsense sites focusing on these areas as well as others. But, why would you put up a niche site on lazik eye surgery if you love golf, coffee, science and real-estate law? The answer, simply to make money, of course! The goal of most niche sites is pure profitability. I'm not saying that making a profit is bad - all I am saying is that doing work only for profits will eventually burn you out. There are a number of packaged niche products you can buy to quickly jump into high-paying markets. But, once built do you really care about the information any more to drive these sites forward?

If you happen to be one of the lucky ones whose interests fit a high paying niche then good for you. But, don't be discouraged! You can typically find something that fits your passions and interests that can be managed to an income source. If you love to collect things then build on your collectables - if you love coffee then build your niche around coffee. Just remember that it will be ten times easier for you to add original content to anything that you really care about.

Are You Measuring Your Success?

I've noticed that a lot of new, struggling marketers out there are having difficulty understanding key concepts around metrics and key performance indicators. Also known as KPI these measurements help reflect the strategic performance of a company. In large businesses this would be classified under the term 'business intelligence'. What does that mean?

If I asked you to sit back and tell me exactly how you would know if your business is doing well - how would you respond? Would you simply say "I'm earning some extra cash?" That might be fine. However, do you know some of the basic metrics of your business? Do you understand how many new customers you are collecting, the profitability of your AdWords ads, the percentage conversion rate of your affiliate partners? These are all KPIs for your business.

Now, you certainly do not have to get into this amount of detail to begin with. But you might want to begin measuring your internet business with simple statistics such as your AdSense ad channels, AdWords conversions, ebook sales through Clickbank, top referring sites, monthly profitability, etc. It's really not that difficult to do and can give you a good sense of what your business is doing without relying on your gut feelings. Are you able to simply say home much you have earned this month and how it compares to your previous months? How about how much you have spent (this is typically the naturally ignored metric)?

Here are some of the potential benefits of using KPIs:
Productivity, Profitability, Quality, Cycle Time, Growth, Innovation, etc.

Take a look at Eric Peterson's Blog called Web Analytics Demystified when you have some extra time. This is a great place to learn more about internet marketing KPIs. If you start simple and start soon - your online business will benefit from it.