The internet has evolved, changed. Our world of marketing online is constantly changing…..or is it?

Let’s break this down…….
Traffic methods, strategies, what works vs what used to work…..Google slaps, super secret, magic software.

Here’s the bottom line as I see it……….nothing has changed.

The trend as of recently is to launch product after product with massive hype, unrealistic claims and outright false, misleading advertising…..not much different than the snake oil salesmen of long ago. We are being fed more and more re-hashed material placed in a shiny new wrapper with a different name.

This is not to say that there isn’t some good content out there, only it is the SAME content freely available almost everywhere online. What is lacking is details on where to look, know what your looking for, and what to do with it when you find it.

I am going to spend a lot of time covering this in the coming weeks and months, right here on this site.

For today here is my brief summary of observations and research of the last year.

1. there’s NO magic button/software, whatever. stop looking for it, it does not exist. stop buying new software and programs that promise the moon….they don’t deliver.

2. traffic works the same way….. fresh,relevant content, carefully targeted keywords, on page seo, and quality, relevant backlinks……takes too much time?…out source it. this business DOES require work.

3. Get your own domain, hosting account and responder if you haven’t done this yet. Start collecting contact information and build a list of business partners, NOT customers……there is a difference.

4. pay attention to the world of marketing around you. You don’t need a monthly software subscription to see how money is being made, It is happening all around you and TO you.

This is quite easy with just a little work on your part.
I’ll take a totally random topic such as “landscaping” and type into Google search, “what is landscaping”

Several results are returned. One to catch my eye is from wisegeek.com, and it tells us…
“Landscaping is a profession which involves manipulating the natural environment in an area to make it look a certain way. This profession often relies heavily on gardening, but landscaping also involves the installation of walls and other features, the construction of buildings, and the consideration of an area as a whole. There are a variety of reasons to practice landscaping, ranging from a desire to make an area look attractive to a push to make an area functional for recreation.”

Just one paragraph, yet this information could be a fantastic start of an article, e-book, or blog post. This site, along with several others that the search returned, are chock full of good information that you could use.

Next, I typed in “landscaping how to”
When you type into the Google search box, there will appear below, suggested searches that people are activly searching.

This tells you what people in that niche are interested in, and what areas that you should be focusing on.

There is a really cool tool available that I use often, and is a tremendous time saver for researching new projects. It is called “Answer Analyst”

and there is a video on this page that describes what it will do for you.

It is a software product that is for sale, however, the time it has saved me in writing articles and researching new niches is priceless.

With some good information under your belt you can now easily compose a free report that can be given away to your readers, as well as some quality articles and many blog posts. You are now labled as an expert! keep up the good work.

By list, I’m referring to the subjects that you are knowledgeable or passionate about. You know, those things that you could go on about for days without repeating or being boring.

Those are the subjects that you are going to blog about.
Subjects that you are going to build lists around by offering a monthly newsletter for each one.

There is a pattern to follow that will set your online business in motion.

* Website (blog about (niche))
* List (followers of your niche)
* Post 4-5 times a week or more (build traffic)
* Offers (free information, advice,tips)
* Monetize (offer products(good ones)) sell ad space (adsense, other) monthly subscription newsletter?

What does that mean?
simply put, build traffic to your website or blog, while also building an auto responder list.
Give good, useful information to your subscribers. When you find an affiliate product that could really be of benefit to your list, show them the offer through an e-mail…..don’t try to sell, just offer.

As your lists grow, so will your income, but remember. Only offer value to your subscribers.

Not all topics will have a huge following, or search volume, but that is o.k. I know of marketers who have as few as a couple thousand subscribers, yet earn a very good living…..how?

By building relationships with your subscribers. Always offer items of great value, and over deliver. One of the secrets to becoming a successful marketer is by NOT selling.

After many requests, “Simple traffic” is now available.

Simple traffic is a straight forward no b.s. guide that shows anyone how to get traffic to their website starting the very first day, and every day thereafter. This is done using absolutely free techniques and tools that are available on the web if you just know where to look.

This guide also covers some areas that most of the traffic manuals out there do not. These are the reasons that many people struggle to get any traffic to their sites at all.

For all visitors to my site, the price is now…FREE! You also get unlimited free updates on changes and new strategies as soon as they occur.

Available for instant download, you can have your very own traffic system working for you 24/7.

To secure your copy…click this link now.

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All About Niches

When you create your own information product, the first step is to find a profitable niche, or market to go into. This is a very simple process when you know the steps to take.

Here you can download a free Niche selection pdf that tells exactly how to locate niches in a clear and simple format.

Click Here for immediate access.

There are three areas in which people trying to make money online struggle, and fail. One, not knowing how to pick a product or niche. Two, not knowing how to drive targeted traffic to their site. And three, not taking action on either one or two.

Seriously, this is not rocket science, it’s just a matter of following a plan of action, and sticking to it. I know that I have said this before in other posts, but it deserves repeating….If you are indeed SERIOUS about an online business (yes, business!) then before you put in the time and effort of building a traffic system, get your own domain name, hosting, and auto responder. There are several, if not hundreds of reasons to have your own domain and hosting that I will leave for a later discussion.

O.K. hopefully you have your name, hosting and traffic getting blog in place. Now what?
The SEO blog software that you downloaded for free will optimize your blog, ping many different search engines every time you post, and more. Your job is to add content regularly……a couple 2 or 3 times a week is good. Next comes articles. short 300 or so word articles written around the different keywords for your chosen niche, with a link back to your site in the author bio box. Submit each article to about 25 free article directories. Book mark the articles using social bookmarking sites, such a “delicious”
Articles bring traffic. plain and simple. with some practice, you should be able to see your article in the first few pages of search results, if you chose your keyword phrases carefully. This will become steady, long term, free, targeted traffic!

Another source where you can get almost immediate traffic is with “Backpage ads” This is a free ad site that Google loves. In fact, you can get fast search ranking with Craigs list as well.One more free tool that gets good rankings, is Squidoo. The only problem with Squidoo nowadays is that they have gotten very fussy about what topics you can write about and number of links that you can post. However, if you just stay within their T.O.S you will not have any problems and should enjoy some quality free traffic from there as well. I could go on and on with more resources, linking strategies, video, audio, out sourcing and more. The fact is, if you write articles and keep writing articles, this alone will bring hoards of traffic. The key is to get busy and DO something. Stay focused on your task and you will get there.

Years ago, when I was trying my hand at MLM, there was a fella who spent roughly 10 hours a day on his vacation from work (he teaches school) surfing traffic exchanges. The results you get from traffic exchanges are dismal at best, however he kept surfing, and tracking his results, and managed to fill his matrix!…….I use this example only to show that action is truly a factor. There is no magic button, there are some programs that can help, but short of outsourcing everything, nothing takes the place of taking action.

As I watch the ongoing rush to get natural gas from the huge shale bed below us, It serves as a real world example of positioning…….I’ll explain.
Even though most of the country is in a recession, there are those businesses that still thrive.
In my own little town the economy has been horrible, with layoffs, downsizing, etc.
As of lately, there has been a large movement of people into the area who are in one way or another associated with drilling for gas.
Any business that has to do with what I call “consumables” is thriving.
These include….restaurants,hotels,gas stations,convenience stores, well, you get the drift.
Any business that can offer a service or solution to the incoming workers..(traffic) will become highly successful by simply placing themselves in front of the crowd.
In the online world I am sure that you have heard “just find a starving crowd and give them what they are looking for”.
Sounds easy and in my opinion over simplified, however, this , as marketers, is our mission.

Just as the hotels and restaurants are
providing for the workers needs, we need to find people that are looking for solutions to problems, (a niche) and offer answers to them in the form of information or even physical products.

To get started down this path simply requires research. Start with Google trends or even top stories in the news. Ideas can come from anywhere.
You just need to find what a large group of people want and are looking for.

Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. You could offer information on “how to write a resume” or an e-book outlining “the best golf courses on the east coast”.
Do some keyword research to find what the search volume and competition levels are…..a very good tool is Google’s own Adwords Keyword Tool which is free to use.
thats all for today, I will be posting more on this with more free resources!
Tim

Most likely this was planted in their heads by the massive amount of “get rich with Adwords overnight” crap that is circulating everywhere.

PayPerClick is difficult to learn and requires plenty of money
along the way to learn. First-time lottery players may get lucky and
win the jackpot just like beginners using AdWords could get lucky with just
the right keywords, just the right ad copy, and just the right bids.

So what about that “easy” way of making money I mentioned earlier?
Hands down, the lowest cost and quickest route to selling or
otherwise making money online is with your own website. Domains are
just $8.95 per year. A $7 to $10 per month hosting account will
allow you to host an unlimited number of domains. For just one
site, the cost can be just a few dollars.

So what’s the catch?

Even though an effective website only needs tables, text, and
pictures, the learning curve for such a simple site is quite steep.
Getting the site published to the host is another skill which must
be learned also. The good news is that anyone can do it. There is
nothing about it that the average person cannot learn with a few
weeks of work.

The truth is that if beginners had spent their time learning the
basics of web design instead of wasting their time on trying to
make money right off with some get-rich-quick idea, they would
already be well on the road to success.
But it is never too late!

Find a niche area you are interested in and start learning to build
a site around that niche theme. Be sure to teach yourself SEO along
the way. DO NOT build the site first and then decide to learn SEO
because your site gets little traffic. You’ll save a ton of time if
you do it right the first time!

The easiest way to get started is with a hosting account at Hostgator,
a free SEO blog wordpress software download from Jeff Johnson’s site and a domain name.

This gets you up and running in one day while you learn to build your own webpage.
keep checking back ..

Tim