IM101 Step 4: Finding Your First Product to Market

I've spent some time in my earlier tutorials discussing how to make money online by pre-marketing your website. Now that you understand the basics let's get started building something easily and quickly.

There's probably no easier way to start than to market an existing electronic product. I prefer starting with Clickbank only because the products are affiliate ready - that is, they are structured in a way that every product Clickbank promotes must allow the same affilite linking, terms of service, disclaimers, refund policy, etc. Plus, they are all electronic downloads which makes your profits that much less stressful. This means you only have to pick a product that matches something you are interested in (remember, focusing on your passions will make this much easier - see Passions to Profits for more information).

The other part of Clickbank that I like is the easy way to see what products are the most popular and their gravity (a term meaning the products are accelerating in sales). I prefer picking a fairly new product that shows some gravity but is not yet in the top sellers. Here's an example from their Marketplace tab:

As you can see - I searched by highest gravity in the Fitness section of Health and Fitness. The stats underneath give you an idea about the amount you make per sale and how popular the ebook is.

Researching the Clickbank History

If you want more data on the specific product from Clickbank then I like to use another site called CBEngine.com. They have more data you can use to see how a product has been doing over time. CBEngine has both a free service and a paid service if you want more than just data (you can get specific recommendations).

Another aspect you should pay attention to before picking your product is to see how much that author is willing to pay you, the affiliate marketer, for selling their product. The payout to you for a product can range from $5 to $80 per sale which is a pretty wide spread.

When I first started I focused on the highest paying products only to find that there seems to be a price threashold for many buyers won't cross. A $99 Clickbank product is a much harder sell than a $30 one. Keep in mind that you would have to sell three to six times as many products to match a high priced one. My rule of thumb is to focus on products for less than $50 with at least a 50% affiliate payout (meaning you get at least $25 of a $50 sale).

Signing up with Clickbank is a simple task - just be sure that you have your online business ready to go (see Business Before Web) and that your TaxID is setup so you can start.

Clickbank is a very easy way to start your internet marketing business. All you need is an affiliate site, some traffic tricks (more to come!), and the perseverence I'm mentioned so many times before. Remember, the product is only a small part of the bigger picture. Getting your site ranked with traffic will be the winning formula. Imagine now that your site is #1 in Google for the keywords tied to your product - that's the real goal. I've done it and made thousands on Clickbank products - so can you.

Next up - getting your product keywords ready (before you doing anything else!) to dominate a Google search result.

IM101 Step 3: Ten Easy Power Methods to Promote Your Site Early

Someone recently asked me why you would ever want to promote a site before finishing it? If you happened to read my article Get Listed in the Search Engines Early you would have some of that answer. However, would I promote a site before it is started? No, I wouldn't - but I would as soon as I had the very basic structure and content ready.

One thing to remember is that promotion does not have to be a direct link - it can be indirect such as an author account, profile or configuration setting that points back to your site. This has become even more important with Web 2.0 sites because of their high popularity and page rank.

So, where would you begin with something like this? First and foremost you must have a Yahoo ID. Yahoo is important because there are some very highly ranked tools within Yahoo you can use as indirect ( and some direct ) promotion. Other than that you'll need to use individual IDs for the other sites (be sure to read my previous entry on the proper use of IDs before you begin).

Here we go - the ten power methods:

1. Twitter - I hope everyone has figured out the power of Twitter. But, if you haven't be sure to sign up and start tweeting! You can set a backlink in your profile as well as talk about what you're doing on your site. Start very early with this - you can tweet about your site, news, ideas, etc! Don't worry, someone will start following you.

2. StumbleUpon - This is a powerful way to track interesting websites either randomly or related to your marketing topic. Better yet, you can follow others picks, start groups and link back with your profile. Again, this is one you can start very early with a profile and links similar to your site - just be sure not to add your own site for stumbling too soon.

3. YouTube - If you're adept at creating videos this is an extremely powerful way to get backlinks to your site. However, you don't even have to do that - just create your own YouTube group with a backlink to your site. Then, add videos to that group of quality, related content. Over time people will join your group if you pick your videos well!

4. Zoho and Zoho Planner - Zoho is a provided of online productivity software - spreadsheet, word processor, database, etc. One very easy idea is to use Zoho Planning while your building your project. Why? Planner allows you to publish your plan publicly as you go - which you can use to track your own progress, create backlinks, and even stir up some ideas going forward. I use it just as a simple tracking mechanism.

5. Digg - Most of you are probably pretty familiar with this. Much like StumbleUpon you can track and vote for you favorite articles that tie to your site concept. You can enter your site in the profile.

6. Propeller - very much the same as StumbleUpon or Digg you can use Propeller to find and rate similar articles to your own.

7. MyBlogLog - this is a blog tracking and rating site (uses a Yahoo ID). Many blogs place a MyBlogLog widget on their site showing who has visited. This will show what users have stopped by - which you can map back to your Yahoo ID.

8. Flickr - most of you already know what this is (uses a Yahoo ID). However, you should seriously consider using it to indirectly or directly promote your site depending on the topic. For example, in my last article I mentioned the sample Travel Photo Tips site. Well, of course you would want to have photos on Flickr. But, if your site is informational only - you can get creative and find themes that fit your market!

9. Yahoo Answers - since you are promoting something that you love you should be able to answer questions about it. At some point your own site can become a reference to those answers - just be careful not to spam your site, that is, use answers to only try to get a link back. Be honest to those looking for answers and include many different references

10. Spicypage - finally, use this community site ranking tool to add your own site, rate others and collaborate with other, similar users.

There you have it! Ten simple power methods to boost your own site early. Just be consistent to work with two or three of each every day so you can build your successful ranking early to make money online.

IM101 Step 2: Establish Your Differentiating Email IDs

Ok, it's summer and you've just setup your business to make money online as a Sole Proprietor or LLC called Howe Productions (since your name is Sarah Howe - note: that I just made this up - any relation is purely coincidental.). You're really excited to get started with the two ideas that you've finally decided are worth pursuing with a passion to earn some online income. You've created your main business domain called howe-productions.com with a main contact ID of sarah@howe-productions.com.

Meanwhile you've decided that your two marketing ideas are going to be built on a primary business idea (travel photography - eztravelpics.com) and a secondary personal project (yoga hot spots). However the secondary idea is going to be a blog only and not its own domain (yogahotspots.blogspot.com). Once setup, you now have two more email contact IDs - sarah@eztravelpics.com and yogahotspots@yahoo.com. Everything looks good, right?

Now the first problem. You want to submit some articles, Flickr pictures, and use some forums to start promoting your sites. Which email ID do you use when you register? Also, you want to setup some Adsense ads, plus some site analysis tools. Which email ID do you use now?

The core problem here is the use of your specific taglines for promotional links vs. general tools to manage the marketing strategy. Do you want all of your travel promotions to show sarah@howe-productions.com or sarah@eztravelpics.com? What if you write some yoga articles?

The solutions to this is pretty easy to do but also easy to miss. Just remember to use your parent email ID (in this case sarah@howe-productions.com ) for any online tool that manages mutiple sites - things like Google Adense and Adwords, Sitemeter, Feedburner, etc. Use your specific email for promotional sites such as articles and article taglines, blog comments, Web 2.0 community sites, etc. Promotional sites should always point to the specific site you are try to monetize thus the need for a specific email Id tuned to that site.

Case in point: I started using an article submission service that required a tagline for every article (such as 'Don is an Internet Strategist and ... you can reach him at don@agilemarketer.com'). However, I wanted to submit to wholly different categories. I switched the email and tagline only to discover that my previous marketing articles now had taglines and email ids completely in the wrong category!

So, here are my strategies for IDs :
1. For a single online strategy - use a single domain email id (makes sense)
2. For a parent company strategy - create a parent domain email id and individual ids for each site you create.

Note: If you plan a Blog with no domain for either 1 or 2, I strongly suggest using Yahoo mail as your primary id (this is because of the promotional tools that Yahoo has). You're going to have to have a Yahoo id anyway (more on that in future posts).

This may not make a lot of sense to you now, but it will in the future.

Next up, using the Web 2.0 community to promote your site before you're even close to finishing it.

IM101 Step 1: Start Internet Marketing with EPIC Steps

I've spent most of the spring working on providing you the free advice necessary to get started online. You'll be seeing a combination of blog entries, articles and emails (for those who have subscribed) that tell you exactly step by step what you need when promoting and monetizing your online business.

My goal is not to provide all of the deep details of each step - you can learn these from any of the ebooks I promote. I'm going to focus on the action steps with a brief explanation. My only assumption is that you understand how to use some of the basic internet tools, services and strategies (again, any of these can be found in Newbie List Machine or Honest Riches).

So, let's get started!

I hope you've spent some time reading and reviewing my free ebook, Passions to Profits. This should have solidified your basic online idea - your first starting point. Remember, this idea is based on my EPIC principle: basic Education, Passion, your key Idea, and focused Control. I'm telling you right now that if you follow this principle you will succeed! Just by getting one simple education guide (E - Education), understanding what you love to do (P - Passion), going online with one idea (I - Idea) and staying focused for a duration (C - Control) the dollars should start to appear.

Next, be sure to review my previous Agile Marketer posts:

Business Before Web
Website Hosting
Get Listed in Search Engines Early
Use the 80-20 Rule to Make Money Online
Where to Focus Your Marketing Dollars

Read, review and get ready! Part 2 is coming soon - differentiating your online email IDs.

Finally - Replace the Blog Title with Post Title in Blogger

They finally did it! Blogger now has the 'pageName' tag that allows you to add the post title as the page title instead of the blog title: post title. This has been a bane with Blogger for quite a long time.

Just add this code after the Blogger [head] tag (note: gt and lt signs are replaced with [])

[b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/]
[b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl']
[title][data:blog.pageTitle/][/title]
[b:else/]
[title][data:blog.pageName/][/title]
[/b:if]

Note that this is only for the new Blogger template - not the old template.

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!

Passions to Profits - New Free Ebook

Just wanted to let you know I just finished up my new free ebook called:

Passions to Profits: Using Your Own Interests and Skills to Make Money Online

This ebook is focused primarily at newbies who are looking for ways to generate ideas to make money online. I think most people struggle with this issue of where to start.
What was most interesting about writing this ebook was the free tools I was able to use to create it completely from scratch - including the writing, layout, pdf generation, e-cover image, 3d ebook generation and image editing. Yes, all free!!!
I would guess this book took me about 10 hours to write, 3 hours to edit, and about 2 hours to package. It shows that you can do this pretty easily now.
If you're interested in what I used - just download the ebook and look for the Bonus Chapter. It has links to all of the tools.
Enjoy! You can get it here: Passions to Profits