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How to set up a brand new niche business online.

I was going through some of my emails the other day & I saw a really great one from a young UK marketer named James Penn.  In fact the email was so good I decided to post it here for you to read (I hope he wont mind!) because I think you can learn a lot from it including how to set up your very own niche business FAST.

Here’s the mail:

Hey Mark,

Now that my exams are over, I have a few free months to spend
building my online business which I’ve sadly neglected over the
past three or four months.

My plan is to create an easy to set-up, easy to manage and easy to
replicate niche business that is producing $10,000 per month in
revenue by September.

I’ll be starting virtually from scratch. I do already have the
domain which I’ve owned for about four years and that domain is
currently getting four or five unique visitors per day. I also of
course have web hosting and an autoresponder. And a copy of Rapid
Action Profits which is the script I’ll be using to handle sales
processing and affiliates.

In this article I will be revealing the exact steps I plan to take
(and some that I already have) to get this project off the ground
and producing profit – significant profit.

As I’ve already said, this is a SIMPLE business model. You don’t
need to be John Reese, or Mike Filsaime or Frank Kern to pull this
off. Anyone can do it, and I know you can – so just give it a go!

This plan may not particularly excite you. There aren’t any secret,
unheard of tactics; there aren’t any push button solutions; but
there are a set of proven processes that when combined together
form a powerful system capable of creating a five figure per month
niche information publishing business.

Let’s get down to it…

Process 1 - Market Identification and Research

I want you to target a market where there is scope for a number of
products to be developed. The make money, relationships, health and
fitness markets are prime examples of good markets to target.

A market like ‘how to get rid of acne’ is not a good market because
there is only one possible product you could create. Similarly,
your chosen market should have an abundance of potential customers.
Tens of millions of people want to lose weight, tens of millions of
people want to get better at dating, and tens of millions of people
want to make money – that’s why these are good markets because it’s
easy to find people that desperately want your product.

The market I’ll be focussing on for this project is the weight loss
market – and specifically how to lose stomach fat. It’s likely that
people that want to lose stomach fat also want to slim their legs,
their bum etc. meaning there are plenty of products that I can
create to target the same customers.

Process 2 - Setting Up Your Website To Capture Maximum Leads

There are two ways I’m going to be capturing leads.

Firstly with a typical squeeze page where the primary objective is
to gather leads. This squeeze page gives away a top quality free
report which I’ve had ghost-written for me. It’s only 15 pages but
provides top quality information that my subscribers are going to
love. And if they love my free report then I trust they’ll love my
future paid products.

The second way I’ll be collecting leads is from an “Articles Hub”
page. This is a page where I link to a number of articles that I’ve
written or had written and put on my site. I’ll gradually add one
or two new articles per week.

Why am I doing this?

The only problem with a single page squeeze page website is that
it’s very hard to get traffic from search engines. Remember -
content is king online and search engines love websites with
regularly updating, original content.

Getting traffic from the search engines is like taking part in the
lottery. The more tickets you have, the more chances you have of
winning. Tickets equal content and winning equals traffic.

Similarly, I can now target long tail keyphrases – meaning I could
target phrases like “how to use calcium to flatten your belly”. I
just made that phrase up, but I could go away now, do some
research, write a quick article, put it on my website and hit the
top of the search engines for that phrase.

Another benefit is that I can incorporate affiliate links within
the content to increase my affiliate revenue.

I collect leads by having an opt-in form at the end of each article
and encouraging people to join to receive even more fantastic tips
for losing stomach fat. For some of my premium, longer articles,
I’ll allow readers to read the first half of the content for free
and then force them to opt-in to receive the rest of the content.
This is easy to do with Aweber – simply create a new web form that
instantly redirects to the full article.

For example, I’ll write – or have written – an article called 10
Foods To Rev Up Your Metabolism. I’ll present the first five foods
and then require an opt-in to read the rest of the article. This is
an easy way to provide great content AND get plenty of opt-ins.

Process 3 - Low Priced Product Creation

This is another way to get leads into your business – but proven
buying leads.

Once I have some lead flow into my business – I’m going to have a
product developed. It’s only going to be about 25 pages and I’m
only going to sell it for about $10. The aim is not to profit from
the front-end sales – the aim is to get other people to send me
proven buying leads.

Here’s how…

Once I have the salesletter created for my product and converting
well, I’ll set the product up with an affiliate script such as
Rapid Action Profits and start offering 100% commissions on all
sales to all affiliates. Once someone buys the product they are
automatically added to my list where they will receive more great
content and affiliate offers. These subscribers will be VERY
valuable in the future.

Process 4 - Continuity Product Creation

The next process I’ll undertake is creating a continuity program.
It’s very, very easy to create a continuity program despite popular
opinion. All you need is an auto-responder (Aweber) and a payment
processor (Paypal). You could also get Rapid Action Profits Member
Plus to handle recurring affiliate payments and a members area if
you so wish.

My continuity program will simply be offering four or five premium
articles about 1,000-2,000 words per month turned into a PDF
offering top notch weight loss advice. The content will simply be
emailed to subscribers via my Aweber account. It’s incredibly
simple!

For a fantastic course on setting up continuity income quickly and
easily and turning a profit, take a look at Jimmy Browns fantastic
Membernaire program at:

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=7XSPJ&m=1befP8o8EQl4Ff&b=Q_OAFgvdooqFcwH.jvvGtw

Plus, once you have this program in place it will be easier to
recruit affiliates for your low priced product. Pay 100%
commissions for your $10 reports and then add a OTO for your
continuity program and pay 50% commissions on that. The more you
increase your visitor value, the more affiliates will promote for
you.

Process 5 - Traffic, Traffic, Traffic

Now it’s time to start getting some traffic. There are three places
we want to be directing our traffic.

To our squeeze page
To our “Articles Hub” page
To our low priced report

To my squeeze page I’ll be sending traffic via:

- Article marketing
- PPC marketing – Yahoo, Google and MSN
- Content contributions (provide content for other
websites, blogs and email marketers and link back to my squeeze
page)
- Newsletter advertising and solo emails (paying for ads in
other newsletters)

To my “Articles Hub” traffic will arrive via:

- The search engines
- Social bookmarking (such as Digg, Stumbleupon, etc.)
- Social marketing (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- Word of mouth (good content gets people talking)

To my low priced report traffic will arrive via:

- Affiliates and JVs. (and lots of it!)

Those are just a few traffic strategies that I can think of off the
top of my head. I’ll update you with other great strategies that
I’ll identify as I go along.

This is a fantastic system and it’s so easy to do.

Just get going with it and learn as you go. Get your free offer,
get your articles hub, get your low priced report, get your
continuity program and get going.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this no strings attached free content. I’ll
be keeping you updated on my successes (and failures) and tomorrow
I have something free and very exciting for you.

Stay tuned and I’ll be back in touch tomorrow.

Talk soon,
James Penn

If you’d like to get on James’s list & learn some of his list building techniques check out Accelerated List Building

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Here’s a cool way to get traffic & earn money from your articles.

Article Marketing is great. You get backlinks, traffic & can even pre-sell prospects on your offers but I just signed up for a service called Gather which besides doing all those great things pays you for your content!

If you’ve got an article on Gather that generates lots of traffic, comments & buzz Gather will pay you as of course you are also bringing the traffic, comments & buzz to their site, as well as your own article. It’s a win-win situation.

Gather is also very social like twitter or facbook. You can add friends, update your status & even create or join groups.

So if you’re already article marketing then why not add Gather to the list of article directories you submit to & increase your traffic & hopefully your wallet size too!

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YouTube Brings Out A New Online Video Editor

YouTube has just released some cool new online video editing tools. Get an overview of the features & learn how to use them at the video below

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How to become a Social Media Manager

social media managerNow if you don’t know what a social media manager is you’re not alone. At it’s core the job entails managing online social media profiles like facebook & twitter for businesses, so it’s a very new job title.

=>Click Here To Become A Social Media Manager<=

Most businesses now know if they don’t start using & embracing social media that they’re going to fall behind their competition. Think about it, of all the local restaurants in your area, if you are friends with one of them on facebook & you’re constantly seeing their brand, their website, their menu & their special offers aren’t you more likely to go visit that restaurant over the others.

Of course providing the business fundamentals of the restaurant such as good food & good customer service are there. But all these being equal the restaurant that’s in front you everyday when you go look at your facebook page is more likely to get your business. And businesses now know this and need people to mange their facebook, twitter & other social media properties.

Here’s an awesome audio interview Ryan Deiss did with Social Media Manger Kate Buck where she reveals how she started her own social media management business. A lot of great free info is revealed here so listen carefully!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

So if you’d like to learn how to become a Social Media Manger & learn how to start your own Social Media Management Business I recommend you take a look at this video by Ryan Deiss where you can get access to Kate Bucks detailed videos where she reveals how you can become a social media manger & set up your social media management business.

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BP Buying Ads For Oil Spill Related Keywords On Google Adwords

bp buying google adwords

British Petroleum have started buying ads on all the major search engines including Google for oil spill related keywords. It’s a clever move because the first thing anyone searching for information on the spill will see is a link to BP’s site where they show the role they are playing in responding to the crisis.

bp website on google sponsored listings

According to BP “We have bought search terms on search engines like Google to make it easier for people to find out more about our efforts in the Gulf and make it easier for people to find key links to information on filing claims, reporting oil on the beach and signing up to volunteer,” BP spokesman Toby Odone told ABC News.”

Some environmental groups are fighting back though & they are placing ads on the search engines as well. Some showing the devastation caused by the oil spill & others with an online petition looking to ban off shore drilling.

What we have now is one of the first big public relations battles being fought using pay per click advertising. Companies & organisations are trying to put their side of the story in front of the public & are will to pay big bucks to have their opinion on top of the search engines.

But in the end the only winners to come out of this will likely be the search engines bank accounts.

(Got an opinion in this? Then leave your comments)

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5 Steps You Can Start Implementing Right Now To Explode Your Subscribers Base

No matter what you do online for your business you should always be focused on what I call A.B.B (Always Be Building).

This means that whenever you do something for your online business whether it be link building, acquiring joint venture partners, pay per click and so on you should always be focused on building your list of subscribers, because these are people you can keep in contact with, create long lasting relationships & can be customers for life.

So with that said here are 5 tips you can start implementing today to grow your list of subscribers.

1. Use squeeze pages
If you’re not using squeeze pages to build your list then you’re missing on on lots of subscribers. You should even consider using a squeeze page as the primary page for you site like I have with Recession Traffic

This means that ever before your visitors are directed to a sales letter or sales video they are in your auto responder so you can provide them with free quality content that will increase their trust in you & eventually lead to higher conversion rates & more sales.

The bottom line is using squeeze pages as your primary page can explode your list size. Imagine every joint venture & every promotion that sends you traffic is going to your squeeze page! Your list size will sky rocket. Of course make sure to TEST TEST TEST your squeeze pages. You want to make sure it converts like crazy so the maximum about of people join your list & see your offer.

(Side Note: Marc Milburn a MarkFlavinBlog.com reader has put together a video showing you how he gets a 70% conversion rate on his squeeze pages. You should check it out.)

2. Use your blog
If you’ve already got a blog that gets traffic then why not give away a free report on your blog in exchange for your visitors email address. You can add a subscription box to your sidebar or even use a lightbox to grab peoples attention straight away once they go to your blog.

3. Create a viral report
Create a viral report on your niche which gives away some really valuable information that people would want to pass on to others. Of course include links to your squeeze page throughout the report but DO NOT sell in the report otherwise it’s unlikely it will go viral. You want this report to provide excellent content so that it goes viral & those who read it are so impressed with the content that they sign up at your squeeze page. Your can use places like scribed & DocStoc to drive some traffic & get some exposure for your report.

4. Use exit pop-ups
Now most people hate exit pop ups & people have actually given out to me before for recommending that you use them but the bottom line is they work! If you have a sales letter & someone is exiting the site that means you’ve lost that person forever. They’re not a customer & they’re not a subscriber. So in my opinion using an exit pop up on a sales letter is a great idea. You can use it to offer the person a free report or use it to offer them a special offer. It’s like getting a second chance at the sale! I use Virtual Smart Agent to do this on my sales pages.

5. Do newsletter swaps

Find people in your niche with newsletters similar to yours. Offer to put a link to their newsletter at the end of your newsletter for a set amount of time if they do the same. Of course make sure that there newsletter provides great quality information because if you recommend crap to people they will just unsubscribe from your list.

This is a win win situation as both of you will get free advertising on the others newsletter. The key here is to write an extremely compelling ad to make people click over from the newsletter to your squeeze page.

So there you have 5 tips you can start using right now to either start building your list or start growing your current subscriber base much much faster.

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[VIDEO] Watch The Glitches During Steve Jobs Keynote Presentation At The Apple WWDC

I’m a huge fan of the iPhone. I’d be lost without mine. And as sales presentations go very few people do them as well as Steve Jobs. If you’re doing any video sales letters or product demonstrations watch a few of his keynotes. The’re amazing!

But yesterday at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference, Jobs hit a few glitches with his presentation of the new iPhone 4. It’s pretty amusing, you can see it all in the video below.

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10 Brainstorming Techniques to Keep Creativity Flowing in Your Business


Guest post by James Adams

Coming up with new ideas to keep your business thriving can be difficult, frustrating, and at times, mind-numbing. It’s when that freeze occurs and you just can’t come up with anything productive that could help your business that you might need a good brainstorming session. Here are some tips to consider that might help you free up some of those great ideas that may be stuck in limbo.

  1. Structured Meetings: Sure, meetings can be a waste of time if they aren’t conducted properly. We’ve probably all been to a meeting or two where we’re left wondering why we even bothered. Brainstorming by way of a constructive and well-structured meeting can be a great way to share ideas and get the creative juices flowing.
  2. Drill Down to the Root Cause: Similar to decision tree analysis, drilling down to the root cause of an issue can be a great brainstorming method. By determining the problem you are attacking and then questioning what is causing it, and in turn, what is causing that problem, and so on until you reach the root cause, you may unearth some interesting findings.
  3. Facilitate New Ideas: Facilitating new ideas from your team members is a great, not to mention easy way (for you at least) to brainstorm new ideas for your business. Forming teams to tackle various issues can bring a gathering of viewpoints and ideas from within different areas of your business. Hilton Hotels utilized a form of this in their CIP (Continuous Improvement Process) program, in which teams were formed from members of various departments within larger hotels to brainstorm solutions to short, medium, and long-term problems.
  4. Open Door Policy: One way in which to facilitate new ideas and encourage brainstorming is by offering an “open door policy”. You may find that team members are more encouraged to participate in and come up with new solutions when they feel comfortable being able to come to upper-level management and explain their ideas and/or problems in person.
  5. Look to Others: Sometimes all you need in order to brainstorm some new tactics for your business is to look at others within your industry or field. While what other companies have done might not work exactly for your particular problem, you may be able to modify or build upon their ideas and solutions.
  6. SWOT: Using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis can be one way of brainstorming for your business. Utilizing this practice may help you recognize and identify issues to be dealt with and jumpstart the brainstorming process.
  7. Write Down Ideas: Seeing ideas in writing, whether it’s on a scrap of wastepaper or on a blackboard or dry erase board, may help you to further build and draw upon those ideas. By putting your ideas in writing, you and others may be able to better conceptualize them as well as keep them as a record for further reference and idea building during the brainstorming process. You might also incorporate “freewriting” into your writing process, allowing you or your team to spew forth ideas for a pre-determined amount of time to let creativity flow unrestricted.
  8. Try a Different Approach: Rather than start at the problem and work forward toward a solution, consider starting at what you might think may be the solution and work backwards. Sometimes looking at things from a different angle or taking a different approach may help you better work through a brainstorming session.
  9. Dissect the Problem: At times, a problem may be just too big to tackle all at once. Consider breaking the issue down into smaller portions and brainstorming ideas on how to solve each smaller portion in order to get a better grasp on the issue as a whole.
  10. Form Your Own Think-Tank: Sometimes you might need to throw a little manpower at your brainstorming. Developing a company think-tank of team members can be a great way to brainstorm and come up with new ideas for your business. This think-tank may be developed to tackle short term ideas or may be an on-going group to handle any and all issues that may arise within the company.

While brainstorming methods may vary, the goals are often the same — to find the solution to a problem or come up with new ideas. The way the human mind functions and processes information may occur in odd ways, and this means that brainstorming and its effectiveness is often dependent upon the person doing it. Therefore, utilizing the processes that works best for you and your business can be critical to the success of your brainstorming sessions and the resulting ideas.

James is a product analyst at Cartridge Save where he employs some of these brainstorming tips to review and compare products like the HP 339 to make buying decisions easier.

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Free Software & Tools For Online Business


A question that pops up a lot is “what tools & software do I need on my pc (or mac) to do online marketing”. And the truth is very little & the good news is the vast majority you can get for free!

Of course if you want search engine optimization software or advance HTML or website creation tools then you’ll have to pay for those but the bare bones software & tools needed to start doing business online are all available for free.

So here’s a list of free resources you can use to help with your online marketing business.

HTML Editors.

  • NVU Web Authoring System
  • SeaMonkey
  • I’ve used both of these at different times in the past and for simple “What You See Is What You Get” webpage editing they do the job nicely!

    Word Processor & Spreadsheets

  • Open Office
  • Don’t waste your money on Microsoft Office, Open Office will be able to handle all your word processing & spreadsheet needs and comes with the lovely price tag of $0.00

    Blogging

  • Blogger
  • WordPress
  • Personally I’m a big wordpress fan & like having total control over my own blog but I know a lot of people find the blogger platform very easy to use so I included it here, but I really urge you if you havent already to install wordpress & just get a feel for it because with it’s endless customization options what you can do with it is really only limited by your imagination!

    Communications

  • Skype
  • Whether your communicating with business partners or customers, Skype can save you big bucks on your phone bill & gives your clients a way to contact you for free. I’ve been using Skype for years & would be lost without it, it’s a must have in my opinion.

    FTP Software

  • Filezilla
  • Logging into your control panel to upload files to your server is a very cumbersome & awkward way to add new files to your server but using Filezilla you can quickly and easily connect to your hosting account & just drag & drop the files you want into the folders you want. I use Filezilla everyday & it kicks ass!

    Web Browsers

  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • If you’re reading this blog on internet explorer then it’s time for a change! Firefox is much more secure & has thousands of plugins that can help your business like ftp plugins & seo plugins. And if your computer isn’t the most powerful machine in the world then Google Chrome is lightweight & fast & will increase your productivity.

    Merchant Account

  • Paypal
  • If you’re going to be doing business online then you’re going to need to be able to accept payments & one of the fastest & easiest ways to do that is through paypal. I only use paypal in a very limited way & would urge you to “splash out” the $50 to put your product on clickbank as they will handle your payments & run your affiliate program but if you’re just starting out & need a “Buy Now” button so people can start sending you money for your products or services then paypal is a nice and easy way to go.

    So there you have plenty of free resources to help you with your online business.This is a list I will probably keep adding to and even add new categories to, so if you’ve got any suggestions please leave your comments.

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    Is This The Most Useless iPhone Accessory Ever?

    iretrophoneYes you can now plug your iPhone into the iRetroFone to give it that old fashioned feeling. Of course this totally negates the point of having an iPhone in the first place but hey if the snuggie can sell millions I guess anything can!