Archive for February 2013

Building Links With Social Bookmarking



Social bookmarking is extremely popular with marketers in many niches.  Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, and Technorati allow users to add links to sites they like, and then other visitors can grab those links and add them to their own lists, making your URLs go viral.

Social bookmarking sites can be great for getting traffic to your own domains.  You can bookmark your sites yourself and then hope others will share the links, and in some cases vote your entries up, like Digg users often do. 

If enough people vote for a particular story, it might make it to the front page of that bookmarking site.  A front-page listing can mean thousands of visitors a day.  But because of the very nature of social bookmarking sites, if you want to get a lot of traffic from the bookmarking sites themselves, then you have to make sure that the links you submit are newsworthy - not just your sales pitch page. 

Use the news to work your site into the bookmarking bevy of links. For instance - let's say you're in the gardening niche and you have a site on growing tulips. A simple how-to site may not get shared a lot.
But let's say you read an article about a the discovery by a group of scientists that says people who grow tulips in their yards are 60% less likely to develop lung cancer, for example. Then you'd have a pretty decent shot at having a lot of users in both the gardening and health demographic share your links with others. 

If your sites tend to be less newsworthy and more general, then you shouldn't worry about how many people vote for a story or share your links.  Just concentrate on using the social bookmarking sites to gain backlinks to your sites.

Concentrate on bookmarking the index page of each of your sites first.  Be careful not to bookmark too many of your own sites at first, since that can appear "spammy" - remember to bookmark other interesting sites you see that you don't necessarily own yourself. 

The key to social bookmarking is to become part of the community who shares interesting information. Create a good profile that tells a little about you. Add a picture, and if the site offers it, start building a "friends" list.

Be careful about how many links you add per day.  You shouldn't go crazy and add 100 links the day you sign up to a social bookmarking site.  It's often helpful to keep it to ten or less per day, but check the individual site's tutorial to be sure. 

After you've been a user for several weeks, you might be able to add more per day.  Just make sure to keep bookmarking stories on other websites.  Vote for a few of the stories that made it onto the first page.  Bookmark a story at a news site every once in a while, or a funny YouTube video.  This helps make your profile a lot more legitimate in the eyes of the community.

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Generating Cash Through Keyword Research



Your keyword choices are critical to your success in nearly any online business model.  Whether you're pursuing PPC, blogging, VRE and AdSense, or any number of Internet marketing opportunities, the keywords you choose can make or break your success.

Keywords are important for several reasons.  First of all, there's traffic.  If you choose the wrong keywords to target, you're probably not going to get nearly as much traffic as you'd like.  Whether you're using PPC or search engines to get your traffic, your keywords are going to affect your ranking and link performance.

Another reason why keywords are so vital is the fact that you need targeted traffic.  Ten thousand visitors coming to your domain via the keyword "books" is probably going to be worthless compared to 500 visitors who come via the keyword phrase, "Harry Potter books," if that's what you're selling.

Someone who is searching for "books" is probably just browsing.  They may not even be interested in buying anything - they could be interested in selling books, book history, book publishers, and more.  

But someone who is searching for "Harry Potter books" is probably ready to buy something right then and there.  So it's not enough to just get a lot of traffic - you need a lot of traffic that's willing to take the action you want them to take.
  
Whether you're looking to sell ebooks, promote Affiliate products, get leads for a CPA offer, or just get sign-ups to your list, you want targeted visitors who are likely to be buyers now or in the future.

Once you've chosen a niche you'd like to pursue, you need to research the keywords you'll use.  If you're writing articles, you'll need to choose keywords to use in the titles and text.  If
you're building niche websites, you'll need to use keywords in the domain name.  If you're buying PPC traffic, the keywords you choose will likely be one of the biggest factors determining whether or not your campaign is profitable.

WordTracker is a very good tool for researching keywords.  If you can't afford to get a paid membership there (even for a day), they have a very good free keyword tool at 


Google has their own keyword tool, but they don't show you numbers. They only give you a general idea of the searches a keyword gets, as indicated by a colored bar:


To start, you'll first want to enter a base keyword for your niche. Let's say you're targeting the golf niche.  You might enter "golf" into the keyword tool of your choice.  Then the keyword tool will show you a number of related keywords.



You might come up with "golf clubs," golf tips," "golf swing," "golf bags," "golf carts," and "golf courses."  

This is a short list of more broad terms. You'll want to eventually generate a big list of keywords that you can use over the coming months and years, so get started today!

Here's a fabulous keyword tool >>> Click Here!


Online Income From Digital Downloads


One of the great things about marketing online is that you can sell digital products. Instead of having to physically create, store and ship tangible goods, you can eliminate all those costs and deal strictly in information products and other virtual items, which can significantly increase your profits.


As a product owner, obviously you set the price for your digital downloads. As an affiliate, you seek out products that have a good commission to promote. Both options are great for making money on the internet, without needing to maintain a warehouse full of stuff.

Overall, digital downloads usually have a much better payout than tangible goods.  Of course, if you're promoting a high-ticket tangible item, you might make more - but it could be harder to sell, too.


A digital download is a text, audio, or video file that buyers can download instantly onto their hard drive and access immediately. Instead of waiting until tomorrow afternoon to run to the local bookstore, they can conveniently log in at 3 o'clock in the morning when they can't sleep and download an ebook on the topic they want.


A tangible book that costs $14.95 in a local bookstore can sell for $27 and up on the Internet as a digital download.  As an affiliate, your commission will probably be at least half of that, but even though you might make less, you also don't have to do any of the creation, selling, delivery or customer support, either. 

If you promote a tangible book on Amazon that costs $14.95, and you get 7% of that, you're only earning a little over a dollar.  But a $47 digital download, for example - for an eBook about the same topic - can easily offer you 50% commission, giving you more than $20.00 per sale!

It's not hard to see which one pays better.  As a product owner, you can create eBooks to compete with tangibles. You'll charge a lot more, but you'll be able to pay your affiliates a lot for their efforts, too.

If you're not a writer and prefer a different type of product creation for your digital download, you can choose to create a series of MP3 files - audio tutorials that teach your topic to a paying audience.  The public loves information they can digest on the go using their portable audio player, smart phone or other electronic gadget.



You can also use a screen-capture tool like Camtasia and create videos as your main products.  Many people actually prefer to watch a lesson rather than read it.  With both audio and video digital downloads, your price point can be much higher than what text-based info-products can bring in.


Combine all three media elements and you can be poised to market a high-ticket digital download that takes in hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a single sale - something affiliate marketers will jump all over.  



You might want to check this out too:



Can You Make Money With Surveys?


Big companies are willing to pay people just like you for your opinion on their products and services.  Usually, this is just in the form of a survey you fill out online... takes about 5-10 minutes and can pay up to $35.

That's not bad for 5-10 minutes of work right?  Especially if you are doing 10 surveys a day!


Finding A Niche To Make You Rich



Finding profitable niches can be difficult.  Discovering one that isn't extremely saturated can be intimidating when you're just starting out as an Internet marketer.  The key to finding niches that are profitable without a lot of competition is to drill down through a top-level niche to find profitable sub-niches with fewer competitors.

For example, let's say you're interested in creating a site that in the beauty category.  You can drill down into several different sub-categories.  You could choose hair care, skin care, fitness, organic beauty, cosmetics, or any number of niches related to beauty.

But these categories are still too broad to be profitable with small numbers of visitors.  You need to drill down further. Let's say you decide to tackle the skin care demographic. Sub-categories of skin care might include eczema, acne, blackheads, wrinkles, age spots, psoriasis, and dry skin.

Now you have a list of smaller niches that you can begin to narrow down.  Acne might still be too broad. You can drill down even more by targeting teenage acne, infant acne, and adult acne.

While you want to find niches that are narrow enough for you to dominate, you don't want to choose niches that have too little traffic available.  To figure this out, it may be helpful to spy on your competitors.

Go to your favorite search engine, like Google, and search for things like "how to get rid of acne."  Try to really get inside the mindset of your target prospect.  However, if you drill down too much, like targeting "blackheads," it may not turn out to be profitable.



You should verify that your possible niche gets a decent level of search volume by using a keyword tool like WordTracker. When you search within the niche using Google, see if there are plenty of AdWords ads on the right sidebar of the screen.

If so, this means people are almost surely making money in this niche.  The key is to take something that's already working and make it better. Any time you can come up with an original slant on an idea that's already churning profits online, you're in a good position to achieve success.



For example, if you want to 
get into the online auctions niche, don't go after a broad subject area like "eBay for beginners." Instead, target something more focused and unique such as "eBay Success for Baby Boomers." Pick a specific target audience and then cater to their needs instead of approaching the masses with too broad an idea.


P.S. Check out this great resource I created to help you build your business:


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Every profitable site does this - do you?

Every single site on the Internet that makes money does two things...  It diverts and converts. First, it diverts traffic from one location to another. The first location could be almost anywhere, the second location is to the site making the money. 


Second, it converts that diverted traffic into profit. Maybe it's by selling products, selling clicks, or creating leads.  The point is, step two isn't that hard, but... Step one can be a real killer.  Suppose you want to make money generating leads for credit card companies... Discover, for example, pays 40 bucks for every new card member you send their way.


Sounds good, until I did a Google search for "credit card" and realize there are 56 MILLION sites in the results.  Kind of hard to compete, wouldn't you say? But Discover gives a 5% cashback bonus on gas purchases. And when I did a search for "credit card gas rewards," I got 56 results. Much better.

That levels the playing field. No matter what kind of marketing you do, it stands to reason that if you target overlooked, under-the-radar keyword phrases, you'll divert more traffic and convert more of that traffic into profits. 

So, how do you FIND these overlooked, under-the-radar keyword phrases? 

With a little tool called Micro Niche Finder:


With Micro Niche Finder, you can uncover untapped niche markets and completely DOMINATE them in Google. You can find new keywords related to your base keyword that are more profitable than the keywords you're using now. You can rank higher in the search engines, thus bringing in more traffic. 

The traffic you get will be more TARGETED, thus converting at a higher rate. 

And if you use Google Adwords, you will pay LESS for more highly targeted and better converting traffic!




P.S. Are you looking to market ANYTHING online? Then you need Micro Niche Finder. Think about it: More highly targeted traffic with higher conversion rates for less cost, and even no cost. 

Now that's a no-brainer:  


Building Your Ebook Empire

While there are many ways to build a business online, building your own eBook empire is one method that can create long-term residual income for years to come. Of course, eBooks provide many perks up front. 


You don't have to stock any inventory. You can keep overhead costs low (no publisher and agent percentages like there are with print books).  You have an endless supply that can be purchased at any time of the day or year.

But they also offer many benefits that aren't so obvious. While a tangible book in your local bookstore might sell for $14.95, an eBook on the same subject could sell at anywhere from $27 or more online as a digital download.

You don't have to be a professional writer to launch your own eBook empire.  The writing is much easier for an online audience - more like you do every day via email than what you learned in a college-level English class.



Many ebook authors start out as ghostwriters for other top Internet marketers on a freelance basis.  When they discover how profitable their ebooks actually are, many actually decide to learn the entire process of launching their own ebooks themselves.


You can even find quality freelancers to create your products for you at a fraction of the price, and turn around and launch them with your name on it - and it's not only legal - it's standard practice in this industry!


So what does it means to launch an empire of ebooks?  You start with one, and then branch out - branding yourself as the go-to person for that demographic's needs. You don't have to write one definitive guide to wedding planning, for example.

You can write one about picking the perfect wedding gown, another on wedding flowers, one on honeymoons, and so on. Each smaller niche idea that you drill down into gives you more selling opportunities. 

There's a step-by-step process for developing an ebook -which begins with finding your niche and ends with the launch of your own powerhouse affiliate program.  You want to have an army of virtual salespeople out there pulling in profits for you while you continue adding building blocks to your empire with follow-up product ideas. 

You can use many free and low-cost tools to launch your first and subsequent ebooks online. It isn't a business opportunity that requires a large investment of money, but you do need to commit some time to ensure it's properly launched in a way that bolsters your reputation in the community. 

P.S. Here's another great resource to help you build your business: 


Getting Help To Build Your Business

In the world of Internet marketing, unfortunately there are some unethical money-hungry con artists ready to prey on your ignorance. They know you're new, and they know you won't realize you've been suckered until it's too late.

So how does a newcomer to Internet marketing safeguard his or her pockets from the greedy, self-indulgent scams of an unscrupulous marketer? First, you want to do a bit of background research.

If you land on a page where someone has recommended a course or tool that you feel will help accelerate your Internet marketing earnings, don't buy on impulse.  You might regret it later and have to ask for a refund, or absorb the cost if no guarantee is offered.

Google can be your friend here. Type that marketer's name into the search engines and see if there are any negative reports. But beware!  One of the most common affiliate pre pitches is to promote a product by using the "scam" keyword approach initially and then build the product up with the detailed review to make a sale for themselves.

You may see about 5 page's worth of links if you type in [marketer's name] and scam, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're real scam accounts. Always read the pages with care. 

You also need to know that practically every marketer has a disgruntled customer. Some people get angry if their download link doesn't work and they don't get a response within 30 minutes, late on a Sunday night. Others intentionally try to sabotage the competition by posting false negative reviews online.

You should be able to find at least as much positive endorsements as you do bad ones. If not, it might be best to exercise caution.

Never rely on a marketer's own claims alone to make your buying decision.  And if you find them in a forum, don't think that just because they have the highest post count, it means they're the best marketer.

Get personal recommendations from other marketers or customers whenever possible.  If you want to find out who has the best affiliate marketing guide, for example, then you can ask around in a forum to find out. A recommendation from a marketer you already trust can usually be counted on, because if they provide you with a poor product recommendation, it tarnishes their own reputation, too.
Good luck with your online marketing efforts!


P.S. Here's another great resource I created to help you build your business: 


Branding Yourself Online


Branding your name (or your pen name) is very important on the Internet, no matter what niche you're in.  You need to establish yourself as an authority in your market, because people trust authority figures most of all. 

They trust their recommendations, they trust that their products will be of good quality, and they trust that they have integrity.  It also gives your buyer confidence that you're a real person - not just some nameless, faceless entity trying to sell them something on a static, automated website.


You should put your name on everything you create.  Whether it's a membership site, an eBook, or something as small as a PLR article pack for sale - you should put your name on it.  Getting your name out and recognized is essential to your ongoing success.

Think about all of the marketing experts you've heard of.  People know and remember them because they put their names on everything they put out. 

Their names are all over the marketing forums, their eCovers, their headers, and everything else they do.  They work very hard to brand their names, because their names become the brands.  People buy their products simply because their name is on it. 

Buyers think that the product must be good, because the person is so well-known.  You should do the same thing with your name.  Always use the same name on everything you do within a particular niche. 

You may not want to use your real name for whatever reason, but your name needs to be a "real name."  A nickname usually won't cut it in most markets, but sometimes it works.

If you've signed up for forums under a nickname, ask the moderators if they can change your name to your real name or pen name.  You might not want to tell the moderator's it's a pen name.  That's up to you. 

Keep getting your name out there any way you can.  Host
teleseminars, JV with well-known people if possible, and offer to help create content for famous people in your niche in exchange for a Bio Box that hosts your name and link to your website. 

Offer to be an interview subject for someone.  Be a "guest author" for popular websites and blogs in your niche, and create 100% original content for them. Never stop branding your name.  Even someone as famous as Donald Trump, the king of name branding, doesn't stop marketing. 


Donald still puts his name on everything he does.  His name appears in huge, bold letters on his books.  He names buildings after himself.  Think of Trump Tower, Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump Plaza. His name is all over everything. 


Not only is it a matter of pride, but it keeps his name everywhere. 


You may never be as famous as the Donald, and you may not even like him, but if you follow these instructions, you might become known as the king or queen of your own little niche or for a particular slant that grows in popularity.



Avoiding Online Information Overload


If you haven't yet heard this phrase, information overload, you will soon - because it happens to the majority of new Internet marketers at some time or another.  Information overload is when you simply have too much to learn - so much that you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and more confused than before you had help.




It happens easily with this industry because there are so many options you have - an endless array of opportunities.  You can be a product owner and an affiliate at the same time. 

You can use article marketing, social marketing, or pay per click campaigns.  You're new, you may not know much about any of the above, and suddenly you're thrust into an environment where everyone's opinions differ and you don't know where to start!

The first thing to do is calm down and take some of the pressure off of yourself. All of this information you need to digest isn't going anywhere.  It's going to be here tonight, next week, and a year from now.

Don't invest in a guide about Google AdWords, another about Squidoo, and one about Private Label Rights all at the same time.  There's an old saying, "How do you eat an elephant?" Answer: One bite at a time.

Internet marketing is your elephant and you have to choose whether you want to start with the ear, the foot, or the tail section first. It doesn't matter if you start out learning about social marketing before you know the ropes of article marketing, for example.

The point is that you're educating yourself and putting that
knowledge to work for you.  As long as you start somewhere and then actually apply that insight to a method of making money, you're on the road to success! Execution is everything.

However, there are a few things that will not make sense to learn before others. If you have no money to start with, then don't buy (or even download for free) a guide about pay per click marketing.  Stay focused and start with something you can do.

You also may not want a 5000-page guide to everything all at once. You'll probably want to invest in small, bite-sized chunks of information that you can digest and utilize before moving on. Want to start with a free blog? Get a blog guide. Launch a blog.


Then move on to whatever interests you next, such as product creation or selling on eBay - whatever floats your boat.  The key is to not get stuck by having too much information and too many choices at once. 


Making Money With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when you sign up to promote other people's products (or services) for a share of the sale in the form of commissions. As an affiliate marketer, you usually don't need any special training or start-up funding.



Your tasks as an affiliate marketer will be to drum up traffic to the product owner's pitch page, allowing them to convert the prospect into a buyer.  The more targeted you are with your traffic promotions, the higher your conversion rate will be.


There are many things you can promote as an affiliate. On Amazon, for instance, you can promote anything tangible (and a few digital downloads as well).  If you want to be in the paintball niche, for example, you can include links using your Amazon associate (affiliate) ID to sell specific paintball guns, paintballs, and attire.

You can go to sites like ClickBank or PayDotCom and get a unique affiliate ID to promote an endless supply of information products. 

They have everything from acne to organic gardening products.

You can even become an affiliate promoting actions.  There are many Internet marketers who focus their business on getting a steady stream of traffic to take an action, such as filling out a survey online.

With affiliate marketing, you don't have to worry about developing ideas and creating products.  You don't have to deal with customer service follow-ups or continually create more products for the marketplace.

Your job is made easier by product owners who care so much about their own success that they provide a toolbox to help you with yours!  The toolbox usually includes ready-made emails, web reviews, and banner ads you can use with your own link embedded in them for to help you succeed. 

Most Internet marketers will eventually blur the lines of product owner and affiliate marketer.  Product owners continually use their list of buyers to promote affiliate items, and affiliates often build such a good reputation in a niche that they're urged to come out with a product of their own.

How much can an affiliate marketer earn? There are virtually no limits. You can market to multiple niches and work as much or as little as you want to generate targeted traffic through your links. Super affiliates can earn six figures or more, but even a beginner affiliate can often earn enough to pay the bills each month - with some change to spare!