New internet marketers, entrepreneurs and small business owners are often misled or not properly taught on how to conduct market research that uncovers a profitable niche. Odds are the first thing many folks do is jump right into using a keyword tool or database to start their search. You need to understand, while keyword tool can be a valuable if used correctly, it’s not the be all end all of locating a profitable niche. The thing is most keyword tools or databases can only predict the real majority of searches that are being done on the larger search engines likes Google, MSN and Yahoo which holds the lion’s share of keyword data. Most importantly, keyword research only shows what specific phrases people are using in the search engines which means it’s not actually relevant to what people may be actually purchasing. People may search for a specific brand or product but that doesn’t actually mean that’s what they’ll purchase.
So when looking for profitable niches, your main focus should be on finding actual proof that this niche holds buyers that are ready and willing to exchange their money for a product or service. Basically, you can have a legitimately great product, but the reality is that you need a customer base to sell it to. So let’s look at a number of sources which can help you get a running start to discover if a profitable marketplace exists within your chosen niche(s) before you start investing and building the groundwork for your online business and products. Once you found a niche that looks like it has signs of lots of money moving through it, now you can introduce the keyword research tools and further expand upon keyword phrases. See, you use the keyword tools as an extension of your research, but not as the sole shebang. Let’s begin looking at how to identify a profitable market. There are three incredibly huge marketplaces that are massively trafficked, move a lot of product and are great places to find what people are really buying. eBay At eBay, you can look through a list of the most popular products people are buying through auctions or from eBay stores that vendors have setup. Amazon Another really big marketplace is Amazon and it’s not just for books. You can find just about any product and name brand that is a mover and shaker. Again, look at the most popular products in those categories that catch your attention. Clickbank If you wish to sell products of the digital nature which does not require inventory and which usually carries high profit margins for affiliates, you’ll want to check out the Clickbank digital marketplace that ranks product sales from highest to lowest sellers in each category. It also features a sorting system that lets you rank products through each of their categories for additional research and features a wide variety of the most popular digital product niches. Once you gather the adequate market research, you can do one of the following:
While I recommend using at least two methods to get a better idea of how strong your niche is, obviously since you’re looking for proof that this niche is profitable period, one is good enough. The main thing again, is making sure what you’re looking to sell, people are actively buying. You can then quickly build a non-complex site with a simple product offering, find some low cost keywords to use in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign with a minimal spend of about 50 bucks to test the market and see if you have a winner. If the test worked, meaning you pulled a profit, you can start to invest more and scale up meaning more extensive keyword research and additional advertising dollars. If the test didn’t work, you move on and test another market. Don’t forget to make use of the vast free tools out there to help you in your advertising so don’t throw lots of money down the toilet. If you have anything additional to share, feel free to leave a comment. There are a lot of different internet marketing promotional actions out there that can boost your online business big time, but not all actions are created equal. If you already know these actions then this can serve as a good refresher, taking the right steps in growing your list, retaining customers, increasing your sales and building your business. What are the strategies you can use to help you become successful in internet marketing?
1. Building relationships If a prospect is interested in what you got to offer and asks for more info, get back to them ASAP. When you show your customers that you care, it makes them much more likely to come back to you and your products as well as refer others to you. It’s about building trust with your consumers. 2. Don’t skimp on quality Don’t take the cheap route, quality is essential no matter what you’re selling. Offering low quality products is an easy to wash all of that trust you’ve built down the drain. When producing products and services, strive to over deliver and when applicable, throw in some bonuses now and then. We’re all customers for something and we all like a good bargain, your extra can be a sale price or quality complimentary products. 3. Keep in contact Contact your customers and prospects on a regular basis. Your list is your biggest asset, so it’s a must that you constantly keep your list in the know with the latest of whatever you offer or what you’re doing. Sending the occasional freebie email can get you bonus points in terms of establishing rapport with your list. 4. Share a free thought (or two) It never hurts to offer some sort of knowledge for free, lots of successful internet marketers typically and often offer expertise knowledge that caters to their followers. Now don’t go giving away the golden goose, but show people that you are an expert and authority in your niche and you’re not locking every single thing away behind a paywall. When customers familiarize themselves with you as someone trustworthy, they have no problem paying you for further service. It doesn’t have to be an article or blog, you can offer a free e-course or eBook or start a forum. In succeeding in internet marketing online, building and establishing relationships with your followers is key. Be smart about your business, be smart about what you offer and offer your followers value and the money flows in return. If you have anything additional to share, feel free to leave a comment. If you’re new to Internet Marketing, then you know the best and most widely used way to generate traffic are through search engines. This means that it is very important for you to understand the different types of search engines, how they affect your online business and how you can play to their strengths to maximize your ROI.Due to the sheer number of people using search engines, it serves as a great advantage for you to bring in a lot of people if you know how to rank and direct them to your site. Some search engines will not cost you anything but others you have to spend in order to reap its benefits. Most importantly, you don’t just want to be on search engines, you want to rank high (no more than the second page at least) because after the second page you’re basically dead to a majority of search users. So for this article, I’m” going to talk about 4 search engine types that you can use to generate traffic for your website.
Directory This is otherwise referred to as a category database, directories will list websites inside a category. Directories are typically edited by other people so when you submit a website it will likely be reviewed by a directory administrator. So yes, that means your site can be accepted or rejected depending on the criteria of the directory you submit to. When you submit your website to directory, you just need to select the relevant category and enter your title, description and keywords though some directories don’t ask for keywords. Crawler More commonly known as spiders or robots, this search engine uses small software that will jump between websites. Crawlers look for new websites 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The cool thing about crawlers is that you don’t need to submit any information because the crawler will index your website automatically. All you need is your URL and the crawler takes care of the rest. Pay Per Click (PPC) Now you know those ‘sponsored’ posts you see at the top of searches like Google and Bing? Those are likely the result of PPC campaigns and likewise this works that way. With this, you must pay to use it and depending on your bid amount for relevant keywords, you can get priority over others. Basically, you set up a campaign and set a bid for keywords, when someone click your link, the amount is deposited from the budget you set. The more you bid, the higher your placement. Be aware, if you’re new to PPC you want to start small and get accustomed to how things work because you can drain your money very quickly with no results. Meta Search This is the most common engine since well, it the collected result from multiple search engines. No need to submit anything here since it’s just a culmination of other searches. Meta search engines rank your website based on a calculated ranking of all the search engines they use. So these are four different search engines to familiarize yourself with, it’s highly beneficial to use to your online business to take advantage of these searches and play to their strengths thus strengthening your website’s ranking in the process and increasing your chances of attracting targeted traffic. If you have any additional info or tips to share, feel free to leave a comment. Search engine marketing can be a complex topic, especially if you’re new to online marketing. Endless opportunities to advertise and market, constantly changing trends and technologies, and overly complex solutions all come with the territory. So, what you don’t need when you’re working on your search engine marketing strategy are long, convoluted explanations about how different techniques work. The better strategy is seeking out advisers who can guide you with straightforward explanations based on real results. That’s exactly what following article is about. It’s a simple list of four things business owners and newbies can use in creating or evaluating their search engine marketing strategy.
1. Establish Your Internet Marketing Strategy Goal A lot of consultants will tell you to set goals in terms of milestones for your website. Nope, that’s a distraction what you need to ask is “what is the PURPOSE of my website?” Once you got that answered, the other aspects of the search engine marketing strategy can be leveraged in helping you achieve that purpose. Normally, folks use their website for a variety of purposes but you need to answer the question and have a clear core focus. That focus will help you create a more effective strategy. Here are the top three most common answers to the question “what is the PURPOSE of my website?”
Nothing fancy, it’s that simple! Decide which of the three answers above suits you best (or create your own) and then move on to step 2. 2. Establish a Search Engine Marketing Plan Search engine marketing is popular because it works; it consistently generates leads, sales, etc. at a lower cost-per-lead or sale than traditional mediums like TV or direct mail. It’s a simple process; someone wants to find something online, they’ll go to a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing and search for it. Search engine marketing is all about showing up in the search results when people search for what you sell, offer, or have on your website. There is a LOT of info out there on how to this and like everything else it’s become so over analyzed and complex. Some search engine marketing techniques are legit, while some are not. The best approach is to create a search engine marketing plan that focuses on two aspects:
For search engine optimization, first realize there is no “silver bullet.” There just isn’t a way to easily get ranked consistently high in the search engines. It is a combination of factors that always come down to one underlying truth: build your website according to web standards, with a focus on accessibility for all. Just like search engine optimization, there is no “silver bullet” for pay-per click advertising, either. Instead, the formula for PPC success is in well-placed bids (what you will pay to have your ad show up) combined with meaningful landing pages (where people go when they click on your ad). 3. Conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO) The goal of search engine optimization is to make changes to your website to get higher rankings in search engines. Yet, search engine optimization can be confusing if you overload on info. On one hand, there are “salesmen” ready to get you a #1 ranking with their latest trick. On the other hand, the things that actually do work are simple, just not very “sexy” or even guaranteed to rank you high due to sheer competition in certain niches. The best strategy to take is a common-sense approach to SEO: develop standards for your website that ALL pages must adhere to. If you do this, and enforce it, you can then branch out to some of the other “niche” aspects of SEO. Here’s a sample list of SEO standards to enforce on your website:
Only once your web pages comply with the above standards should you start more advanced SEO techniques, including keyword targeting, 301 redirects, link building (getting more links to your site), RSS news feeds, blogs, and SEO-specific metrics and tracking. 4. Leverage Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Pay-per click advertising helps you get more traffic from search engines through advertising in search engine results. You pick terms that people search on. You bid a price per click on your ad that you are willing to pay. You ad shows up when someone searches on that term, and, if you’re lucky, they click on your ad and come to your website. So, pay-per click advertising really boils down to 3 components:
Picking keywords is all about knowing what terms your customers, clients, etc. would use when searching for your product or service. There are several tools to help you generate ideas. The best tools also check to see how many searches-per-month your target keywords receive. You typically want to find keywords that generate a lot of searches every month, but are focused enough for your business. For example, a company that sells tagless dark blue shirts would likely want to bid on “tagless dark blue shirts” versus “blue shirts” or “shirts” which will likely includes searches from unrelated and/or bigger brands. Determining what to bid for your keywords can be a highly-scientific process. To keep it simple, let a tool like Google Adwords Traffic Estimator recommend to you what to bid at first. Start there, and start small. Your best bet is to lock-in a low daily budget limit until you are comfortable with the impressions your ads are getting, the flow of traffic from the ads to your website, and what those people do once they get to your website. Writing ad copy comes down to writing a headline that people will click on, and creating compelling copy below that headline/link that will get people to click. Headlines are best created by following what magazine covers do: focus on getting attention through eye-catching, short phrases. Using words like best (i.e. “Best Tips for a Summer Barbecue”), ultimate (i.e. “Ultimate National Park Vacations”) and number-based lists (i.e. “Top 5 Hybrid Cars for 2006″) have all been proven to work. Writing effective ad copy below the title/link is really about reinforcing the term(s) searched for. This means using the keywords in the ad copy, and starting the copy with an action verb. By following the approach above, you can create or evaluate your search engine marketing strategy, focus on what matters most when executing your plans, and more effectively achieve your goals. If you have anything additional to share, feel free to leave a comment. With the Internet as loud as it’s ever been, any writer will tell you that you can have the best blog or article piece the Internet has ever seen but it won’t mean anything if you can’t reel your audience in with an enticing headline. Think of a headline as a first impression and (almost) everybody likes making good first impressions. Coming up with strong headline is the easiest, most difficult part of creating a blog or article. A good rule I use when crafting a headline is to brag and back it up. What does that mean exactly? It means that you want a headline that is going to immediately get the viewer’s attention and have them curious to read on to the article or blog, almost as if they have to. As a quick note, keep in mind that the tone should be appropriate when called upon to do. I mean, you don’t exactly want to make light of reprehensible news unless you’re into the dark comedy niche. One obvious thing more than anything is to be accurate about what your blog or article is portraying. Don’t make an article about how to leverage Microsoft Excel functions for monetary budgeting and I read an article about relationship problems and how to solve them using Microsoft Excel instead (as intriguing as that sounds). For the technical aspects, one of the most popular things many headlines use is numbers, let me assure you that readers love numbers (especially when paired with adjectives) so go wild especially with uncommon numbers (often odd numbers) such as 17 or 23. Also make sure to keep your headlines short as this has many benefits such as fitting into various formats through channels such as Google and e-mail messages, easier for sharing and lets you craft more impactful headlines. With a few exceptions, always aim for crafting headlines around action verbs. The idea is that you want the readers to subconsciously want to read the article, instilling a sense of urgency in them. Now let’s apply these concepts in action. Using titles like “5 Weird Ways Penguins secretly lead society” or “8 Crazy Things Humans Eat” or “20 Surprisingly Awesome Lessons that Shakespeare Taught Us” can increase the likelihood of someone sticking around to read your content. Creating snazzy headlines is no easy task and it often takes a while to build experience and savvy on how to attract readers while retaining the integrity of your blog or article. Remember, creating the greatest article ever doesn’t mean jack if you can’t reel your audience in with an attention grabbing, earth shattering, galaxy bending headline so make sure you got one ready so people will actually read your article or blog. Any unique tips and tricks you’ve done to create killer headlines or titles? Let us know in the comments. If you’re new to Freelancing, odds are one of the first things you are probably thinking about is how to reel in clients and naturally this is where the pitch comes in. There are plenty of great articles and advice from well regarded pros (on both sides of the table) but here I want to give you a unique twist to crafting pitches that show potential clients you are worth their time. The idea here is that while it is important to develop strong pitches that properly showcases your skills and value, it is equally if not more important to develop a pitch that is tailored specifically to your client’s needs so here are few things you want to check for while creating your pitch.
First you want to analyze their job description, not simply look at, but analyze it. What I mean by this is that you want to incorporate the at-face needs of the clients into your pitch, but you also want to spotlight the underlying needs of the client. For example, a client is looking for someone to help craft a sales speech that they will use to pitch their product or service to potential investors. First off, you know they need a sales speech but pay attention to the wording of their description; incorporate words that will resonate with them and show off your knowledge. Also pay special attention to their audience as this is a big one that many freelancers miss. When crafting your pitch, keep the audience of the project in mind and demonstrate a quick snapshot of your knowledge as it relates to that audience (your portfolio/samples will do the rest of the work). Next is the tone of their description and it takes a keen eye to notice the subtleties and how you can incorporate that into your pitch. While not always true, the tone of your client will often demonstrate how you can approach them. If your client takes a more casual or relaxed tone to their job description then you may reply in kind; likewise, if a client uses strict formal speech then reply accordingly. As a reminder, it is always imperative that you maintain a high degree of professionalism in your pitch no matter the tone; you are a professional first and foremost. Breaking into freelancing may seem intimidating and a large part in my experience comes from getting your foot in the door and that need to craft the killer pitch. A strong pitch is worth a great deal to your freelance success but the right pitch finely detailed to individual clients’ needs is invaluable. As such make sure to pay attention to the little things, not simply paraphrasing what the client needs in your pitch but also demonstrating your knowledge and/or previous experience as it directly relates to their needs and analyzing the tone of their speech so that you may respond accordingly. How were your experiences crafting pitches and what strategies did you use? Let us know below in the comments. Stepping into the Freelance world is always a scary thing, whether you’re inexperienced or not the idea of working on your own and being solely responsible for everything you do just seems foreign due to the message that our media often pushes with the benefits of guaranteed job security and being told when and where to work. Looking at the Freelance game and seeing all of these experienced, successful freelancers can be quite intimidating. Have no fear, the freelance market is big enough for all and there are a variety of ways for you to build confidence and put your best self out there. 1. Contact Your Support Network One of the first things to consider when trying to build confidence is contact your support network. This can be family, friends, e-friends, groups, teachers, fellow freelancers, etc. Having a strong support network can be greatly beneficial in helping you get over that slump or hesitation. In some instances, your support network can actually help you land your first clients through referrals. 2. Set Up a Goal Plan Set up a goal plan and for each milestone you make, reward yourself. The best thing to do is to work with others to set up your plan so that you can have someone on your tail to get things done and/or not create a lazy plan. To give you an idea, you can set specific goals by day or week (try to avoid monthly goals from that start as they may be harder to commit). Basically you want to hit goals that are quick to see so that you can slowly build confidence for your efforts. 3. Stop Comparing Yourself To Others A big thing a lot of Freelancers do (and we as people do in general) is compare ourselves to others, often those who are “better” than we are. This can be damaging as this thought process can belittle our self-worth and clients will also see that lack of confidence. It’s quite the habit to kick but don’t compare yourself to others or if you can’t help but to, leverage that mindset. Instead of saying “man, they are so successful and have so much experience how can I possibly compete with them” instead opt for “man, they are so successful and have so much experience I want to learn from that and leverage that expertise so that I can be as successful in my own path as they are in theirs.” Those little mental tricks can make a big difference for your psyche and build confidence. Talk to just about any freelancer and they’ll tell you, often the hardest part about jumping in is literally taking that first jump. The worst that could happen is that you get a couple of rejections, and it can indeed be a frustrating experience after a prolonged period. However, a major part of freelancing is perseverance and adaptation and if you stick with it, freelancing can (and will) be a very rewarding path. Was confidence a barrier for you when you decided to enter freelancing? Comment and let us know. Since you don't have a lot of wiggle room to dig into the trials, tribulations, motivations and aspirations of a character you'd be better off looking for a central theme that you want to build around and give the reader enough to do the rest of the work (i.e. interpret) themselves. Mix and match different storytelling styles for your micro story until you find something that feels cohesive and your tale flows well. Now you absolutely can go for the generalization route and make it work (I play with this style myself) but in terms of designing something more intimate and character driven, you may have to trim it down. It varies case by case and by no means am I the definitive voice on writing a good micro story; just have fun building your character(s) and make sure the rest falls into place with that.
Being broke is never, ever an enjoyable experience. Our society is built on capitalism and as such monetary value and materialism is reinforced and beaten into us from a very early age. That means if you're lucky and are born into a nice wealthy family then you won about 90% of the life's challenges but for those who weren't so lucky, it can be a long, hard and psychologically draining road throughout life. Beyond that are those who have money and have blown it away, only to find themselves on the lower rungs of society (capitalism means that it's a lot harder to fall down the economic ladder and climb back up or simply climb up in general). So throughout all of this what does being broke teach us, well a lot actually.
A desperate man always shows his true colors because they have nothing to lose and it is a very true one. You start to see what your morals are and where your values lie; you gain an entirely different outlook on life compared to the more financially fortunate. Being broke, we're more likely to emphasize with others and share in the challenges of making it to the next month without going insane. We also become more retrospective and aware of our station in life, looking back on lessons learned, where we want to be and most prominently what can we do to get there. It's not enough for us to take time out for a back-then session, we're constantly looking forward because when you're broke you don't have a choice. Being broke changes our thinking going from wanting to to having to, going from I can't to I have no choice, from maybe another time to this should've been done yesterday. You develop a hustle-or-die mentality, a special kind of work ethic that comes from our will to survive and that experience strengthens us. We learn to be humble, knowing even if we work our way back up who's to say it can't all be taken away the next day. When we're broke we learn to stop and acknowledge and appreciate the smaller things because since we can't control money like wealthier folks we have to look to other things to draw our energy from and often, it's the things you wished you paid more attention to before. When we're broke, we see who our friends are and opposite we pay more attention to the relationships around us. Here friendship is not built on materialism, being broke we have little to give other than ourselves and often that can be more than enough. I am not saying we don't have those moments of hopelessness and despair, it is natural that we do (I mean, we're broke) but many times these hardships can be a blessing in disguise as it teaches us something, something that can only be gained when you have little whether you're born into it or fall into it. At the end of the day we are taught many things when we have little, but the most important is that those lessons stay with us long after we've risen to financial independence. Were you born into poverty or fell on hard times? What did you learn and did those values stay with you? Feel free to share with us. ***Sorry about missing my Micro Fiction Monday blog yesterday but to make up for it, we have a special Tuesday edition of Micro Fiction Monday so let's get to it.
One really good thing about the Micro Fiction format is being able to focus on specific events and strengthen that event so that the event itself represents the fictional world. In longer works, you are allotted more leeway in terms of building a fleshed out world, but with micro fiction you can use a different approach (this event approach) to accomplish the same figurative goal. Micro Fiction rarely leaves room for fluff which makes building your story around a specific instance much more powerful with extra room for the reader for figure out intentions or implications behind the certain meanings, words and actions used both in terms of the micro and macro aspects of the story. |
Frank Sheppard
NOTE: all opinions/views represented here are my own and do not reflect on any third party that I am affiliated with. Archives
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