Why it works

Marketing research reveals that most people don’t make a purchase after one exposure to a marketing message. Putting a message in front of an individual on multiple occasions is more likely to result in a sale. The best way to reach someone more than once is by making them a part of your subscriber list.

Plus, most people are more likely to make purchases from people they feel they know and can trust. List building allows you to build a relationship with your subscribers. Making those connections will boost your trustworthiness, encouraging additional sales.

How to do it

List building is an easy home based business strategy and it all starts with a squeeze page. A squeeze page is a landing page designed with a single purpose. It should convince readers to sign up for your list. Anything else is completely extraneous.

Most of the time, people encourage sign ups by offering a free gift to new subscribers. This time-tested strategy can substantially boost your bottom line.

A great inducement isn’t enough to get the best results, however. It’s also critical to put together a squeeze page in the right manner. There are proven ways to build an optimal squeeze page. You should be using those moneymaking approaches. That means you’ll want to follow these three guidelines.

Squeeze page basics

First, keep your squeeze page free of any links leading to other sites of pages. You don’t want to provide your prospective customers with an “escape route” or distractions that may reduce conversions.

Second, the squeeze page should feature a powerful, brief message. You want to make your offer of an inducement attractive and you don’t want to dilute that point with extraneous verbiage. Don’t forget that your squeeze page only has one purpose – to build a list. Every line of that squeeze page should exist to serve that objective.

Third, you will want to approach the sign up process as if it were as important as a big sale – close that deal! Thus, your squeeze page’s sign up form needs to include an extremely strong call to action. Make it clear to readers that they’ll benefit from the simple, free act of filling out your subscriber form.

Summary

If you’re following those three pieces of advice and are offering a smart “bribe”, you’ll have a successful squeeze page! You’ll have the chance to build good relationships with your potential customers. You’ll also be able to put your message in front of subscribers repeatedly.

You will dramatically improve your business by using these email list building secrets. The best marketers in the business rely on list building for a reason. The real money is in list building.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

How does Google give out free traffic?

You’ve experienced this process a lot of times. You visit your favorite search engine. Enter in a word or phrase you want to research. And click one of the links that shows up. That website owner has just enjoyed the benefit of free traffic. We will be discussing here how to get website traffic to you for free.

Most people only click results from the first couple pages. The truth is that this first page of results receives nearly all the clicks. What’s even more amazing is the the first 3 links get more than 70% of the free traffic.

So to get any significant amount of free traffic from Google, you really need to be on the first page. And that means you need to be “ranked” in the top 10 by Google. Which brings up..

What is search engine optimization?

Search Engine Optimization means that Google thinks your site matches what people are typing into their search box. The formula Google uses to determine this is known only by Google. However, we do know a few things that count.

Getting indexed

Before you can get ranked, Google has to first know your site exists. This is called getting “indexed.” What this means is that Google visits your site and records information about it in their database.

Google needs to actually find your site in order to index it. Getting a link from another site will accomplish this easily. Google will actually follow the links on sites it already has indexed to find new sites and index them.

Twitter and Facebook updates are great places to put links to your site. Because these sites are indexed multiple times every day. And follows new links it finds immediately.

Gaining ranking

After getting indexed, you need to work on your search engine ranking. Google has billions of pages indexed, so just getting into their database does not mean anyone will see you.

Here’s what’s important in ranking:

• Content
• Links
• Activity

Optimized content

This is the SEO you do on your site itself. It’s critical that your page content is consistent with the keyword phrases you’re targeting. Obviously, the article you’re reading now is about search engine optimization. Google knows that not just because the words search engine optimization show up. And another way this is determined is by the other related phrases like traffic generation that are also in the article.

You also need to make sure the title tags, outbound links and the domain itself match the topic of the page. Google uses all of this content to figure out what your site is really about.

Link strategy

The second factor is your linking. The links to your site, as well as the sites you link to are important. It’s very important that you have more links coming in than you have going out. The more inbound links you have the better your ranking will be.

A very easy way to get a lot of links to your site is through article marketing. With this strategy what you do is write an article about the topic you’re targeting. Then create a bunch of different versions of it. And post unique versions to lots of websites that accept articles. And quantity is the key here – so do lots and lots.

Getting activity

The last thing we know for sure is that Google likes to see active sites. Static pages that just sit may rank at first, but will fall off over time. Google expects you to be updating your site regularly. One way to keep adding new content it through RSS feeds.

But the best way is with active discussions on your page itself. So, obviously, you need to get people to visit your site on your own, too. One simple method for doing this is to use forums.

Set up forum profiles with the ones related to your website. And post their often. Always include a link back to your site. This will get your more inbound links. And it gets people to visit the site you link to.

Conclusion

Each step listed above is critical. But let’s face it, writing multiple versions of the same article. Setting up tons of profiles on forums. And posting your articles and comments takes a lot of time. Which means you probably won’t end up doing it.

However, rank builder software exists. And it automates everything we’ve just talked about. So the best thing you can do is to automate this process. And then you’re sure to get it done. And not doing it means you will never get free traffic from Google.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

The promise

Unfortunately, you’ve been led to believe affiliate marketing is easy. And it is – sort of. There’s no doubt it’s easier than starting your own business. But “easier” doesn’t mean “easy”.

Here’s the ugly truth

To top it off you’ve been given false information. The first thing you’re taught is to pick some great products. Next to pick your keywords carefully. Then buy some keyword ads that send traffic to the product. And finally get a fat check for all the sales. But it doesn’t work.

Don’t bother with keywords

There was a time when this worked. But it’s just too competitive to use keywords now. So, throw it all away.

The NEW game

There’s still hope. Here’s how to win at this game.

• Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion
• Do demographics research
• Use image ads

Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion

CPA stands for Cost Per Action. It’s far superior to product promotion. Because your visitor doesn’t have to buy anything. You earn a commission for having them perform an “action”. Entering their email into a form, for example. And getting them to do this is so much easier.

Do demographics research

Keywords are no longer relevant (you’ll see in a minute). Invest your research time into demographics. First, select the CPA offer you want to promote. Then hop over to Quantcast.com. And find your target demographic.

Use image ads

So far, you’ve got your CPA offer and your target demographics. Display networks allow you to target demographics with your ads. Using image ads. And there was no keyword research required. Plus you’re going to save a ton of money. Keyword ads are expensive, but image ads are still cheap.

Summing it up

This is truly a quick cash concept. Because it’s free to get started in CPA. Image ads are cheap. You can use demographics to target your ideal prospect. And you get paid for having them take a simple action.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

Info marketing explained

First of all, an info business is the least complex business possible. You create a product that provides information. And then sell it to people who want to learn the info in it. Pretty simple, wouldn’t you say?

But how does it all work?

OK, the concept is simple. But to make it a successful business there has to be value in the info you’re selling. So the key is to figure out what people want. How do you do that?

One easy way to figure it out is with a simple search. Head over to ask.com or Yahoo! answers and see what kinds of questions people are asking. Your goal is to find a common problem. That people are having trouble solving. And provide the answer – in the form of an info product.

Think about this:

If you’re concerned about information product development Put it this way: An ebook is just a series of articles. So instead of sitting down to write the whole thing. Focus on one article at a time. And once you have bunch of good ones, expand and embellish them and voila! You’ve got an ebook.

Why info products? Funny you should ask . . . Here are 7 reasons for you:

1. Ease

Once it’s built it runs pretty much on it’s own. And your customers need very little support. Which means there nothing for you to actually *do*. You’re building a completely automated business.

You have no physical inventory. You never have to deal with shipping. It’s all delivered online.

2. Product combos

When you have a created a few information products. You can put together bigger more expensive information products. It’s a simple matter to merge a few ebooks into one. Then you can sell it for a lot more. There’s greater perceived value in a single big course. Versus multiple smaller ones.

3. Resale rights

You can grant other people resell rights to your own products. Recently, resell rights have become extremely popular, because most people simply don’t have the time, money and effort it takes to create their own products. Plus, you get to charge two to three time as much for these rights.

4. Leverage

It’s your content, so you can use it in as many different ways as you want. Use part of it to make an autoresponder series. You can use this to build a list that you can marketing to again and again.

5. More leverage

You can also take parts of your ebook and turn it into smaller eBooks. These reports can then become lead generators for your ebook. You can give them away or even charge a small amount for them. And it still benefits you because it in a lead-in for the main product. And if you’re really clever, you’ll let your affiliate use these reports as marketing tools. Which brings us to…

6. An affiliate army

This is a real power strategy. Once you have your own product. You’re able to let other people market it for you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a bunch of other people doing your marketing for you? You’ve got to have your own products to have affiliates.

7. JVs

Last, but definitely not least… Joint ventures are the biggest short cut to success known to man. And this is probably the number one reason to create your own product. Because if you don’t have you own product, you’ve got nothing to JV.

Summary

If you don’t want to sell digital products by now, then you’ve probably been sleeping. You’ll become the ruler of your own fate. Because it’s your business and you control it. So, don’t waste any more time:

• Head over to Yahoo! answers
• Discover what questions are being asked
• Start writing

The steps on how to write an ebook are really that easy. And in short time you’ll have the foundation for your own info product.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

What makes it so effective?

It’s not hard to figure out. Audio breaks the silence of the web. Audio adds a human quality to your site. And adds the feel of a real live person. Audio literally breathes life into your website. Which fascinates greater interaction from your visitors.

Here are the benefits

There are actually two profit boosts from using audio. You’ll convert more visitors into buyers. And you’ll spend less getting those customers. You see, you’ll be able to skip the expensive copywriter. Simply record an audio message yourself. Your honest message about your product will sell better than a professional copywriter.

You’ll also get better conversions on your list opt-ins. Most people need to be led by the hand. Just add a short audio message saying: Put your email and name into the form and submit. A simple message like this will increase your opt-in conversions by 305% or more!

How to use website audio

A welcome message on your homepage. A warm welcome can be the deciding factor. Grabbing their attention like this helps you keep them on your site.

Step-by-step instructions. It’s the same as when you use audio to increase your subscribers. You just explain what to do first, then next, etc. That includes filling in your order form!

Get testimonials for your services and products. A written testimonial is good. But an audio testimonial is better. It’s much hard to fake an audio testimonial. Using audio makes it much more believable. Which boosts your sales for sure.

Sneaky tick

Something you may not have thought of is using audio for the product itself. Audio is faster to produce than anything else. And it still has a high perceived value. Podcasts are still popular, so this is a great format. Plus you can get them transcribed cheap. This much easier than writing the eBook yourself!

Is it hard to add audio?

It’s so simple you won’t believe it. There’s software that will show you how to add audio to a website. There’s no knowledge required on your part. The program records and then converts the recording and generates an audio button. Just paste the code you copy from the software. So don’t let this stop you.

In closing

Here’s a recap of the benefits. Setting up some web audio will do wonders for all your results. You’ll enjoy more customer sales. You’ll get more subscribers. And you can use it to create products and sales letters quickly. You’ll be one of the few you use these strategies. But audio is a really big time and money saver. Don’t be lazy! Add some audio today.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

Marketing with video

No one would deny the power and popularity of video. Video online is everywhere because people love it. About the only thing that keeps people’s attention anymore is video. So using it in your affiliate promotions is a no-brainer!

Examples of how to use video for affiliate marketing:

• Testimonials
• Walk-throughs
• Do an ordering video
• Do a preview video

Record your testimonial

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Just turn on your web cam and talk. Don’t worry about quality. Listening to your honest endorsement makes your viewers feel comfortable buying. And the mess-ups or mistakes just make the video more real. You can literally just press record and talk. If you don’t want to be in front of the camera use one of the other methods.

Walk-throughs

This is a great way to promote something without selling it. Basically you’re doing a tutorial on how to use the product. And while they watch you use it, they think, “I should buy that.” If the product is useful, watching the tutorial makes them want to buy it. So just make sure you’re demoing a good product.

Record the order process

This technique is super powerful. Record yourself placing an order. Watching you make a live purchase will inspire your viewer like nothing else. In the first place it acts as social proof. In general people are more likely to something they’ve seen other people do. Second, it builds trust. They are much more likely to take your advice to buy when you’ve taken it yourself. And don’t forget about the need to “keep up with the Joneses”. People want what they see you getting. You can add some extra punch to this by ending with: In order to get to see the inside, you gotta buy the product.

Record a preview of the members area

This is a great way to build value. In this case you record a screen share of the inside of the product. And show them everything they get by ordering. And it helps soften the skeptics. Once they’ve seen the back-end, they know it’s real.

Anyone can do it!

You don’t need any special training for this. Some very easy to use programs make the videos for you. All the work is done by the program. So you don’t have to worry about the technical part of this at all. Keep focused on the rewards:

• Increase sales You will increase your affiliate sales when you start using videos. People like video, so start using it.
• Reduce refunds You’ll also have less of your commissions taken back. Now they know what they get before they purchase. So, very few of them will cancel their order.
• Rise above the competition! This is such a simple technique. But only a very small percentage do it. So, you’ll be way ahead of the crowd.

Take your affiliate promotions to a higher level and getting started with this now. Not using video is detrimental to you business. So do it!

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

Now you now why. Here’s how:

There are 3 factors in list building you need to consider:

• Your Opt-in Page
• Your Bribe
• Your Confirmation Page

Your Opt-in Page – The landing page is the page that has your opt-in form on it. This is where they will enter their email address. This page needs to look professional. And have an easy to understand opt-in form. And your call to action must be clear!

If you fail to make a strong close, you’re wasting your efforts. Your call to action tells the visitor what to do. And if you don’t include it, they won’t opt in. Oddly, if you don’t make it clear, people will be confused and end up doing nothing.

You can take your opt-in page to the next level if you make it a video squeeze page. You only have a few second to get your visitors attention – video helps! Plus it give you a chance to tell them to opt in multiple times. And you can have the video just tell them to fill in your form after it’s done playing.

If you don’t know how to make video, don’t worry. It’s very easy to hire people for a couple hundred bucks to make one for you. Or you can get email list tools that include video squeeze pages.

The Incentive – The next thing you need is an incentive to subscribe to your list. People need a good reason to part with their email address. Email privacy is very important to most people. So you have to give them a good reason to do it.

The only way to make this work is to provide real value. That means you make it something people would actually want to receive. And will be able to actually benefit from it. Here’s some examples:

• A free report
• Some useful software
• Videos
• A multi-part email series

Basically, you just need some content. It’s got to be something helpful for your new subscribers. And of course it has to be free. Bottom line is it’s got to be worth more to them than their email address.

Now, if you don’t know how to create the bribe don’t worry. It’s super easy to hire someone to create it for you. You just pick the topic and they create the training. For example, you could have them write a 5-part email course. And you can get emails ghost written for about $20 – $25 each. So, a great premium will cost you around $100 – $150.

There are also list building products that include the follow up email series. There are two important things about the email series. First, it must provide value to your subscribers. It also has to generate revenue for you! One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. Affiliate products are easy because you don’t have to do anything at all. And make money right away from your list.

The Thank You Page – The “thank you” page is the final piece of the puzzle. After subscribing to your list, your visitor is redirected to this page. It’s a great idea to give them some valuable information right on the thank you page. Then they feel good about giving you their email address. And it helps you establish the relationship. So when they get your email, they’re happy to hear from you.

Again, a simple solution to this is to get an email marketing package that includes everything. Or you can go the DIY route. You can either write the content pages on your own. Or pay a freelancer to write the content for you.

Summing it up

It makes no difference whether you build your opt-in, bribe and thank you page. Or if you hire people to do this for you. Or if sign up for a “complete package” solution. It’s just important that you start today building your opt-in list. Because as soon as you’ve got your own list . . . You’re free to make money at the push of a button.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

The most important thing you can do to increase your affiliate commissions is to presell properly.

First, what is preselling? Well, it is an art. And it’s also a science. It’s a process of taking your reader and getting them ready to buy. Then when they’re ready, refer them to the product website so they can buy it. If you do it well, it’s completely invisible.

In a nutshell, you provide value. And give them a link to the product you’re preselling. We’ll get into how to do it correctly in a minute. Before we get into that, you should understand what’s in it for you. Some major benefits of this process:

• It builds trust – Once you have your readers’ trust, they will click your links more readily. And the more clicks you get the more sales you’ll make.
• It disarms your reader – Nobody likes to be sold something. By not doing that to them, your reader is less defensive. And in turn they read to understand what you’re saying. And your intention is conveyed more easily.
• It preps them to buy – Your readers are now receiving your message. So they become more receptive to other messages. Like the info on product sales page you’ve linked to. And being open to the information there means they are much more likely to buy.
• You make more money – Now your reader arrives at the sales page in a buying mood. With the guard down and trusting your recommendation. The only thing that can result is increased sales!
• Your customers are happier – Plus, they feel they’ve made the buying decision on their own. Instead of feeling pressured or “sold”. And this leads to greater satisfaction with the product.
• Your profits go up – A satisfied customer doesn’t ask for a refund. And that translates to more commission staying in your affiliate business.

The need to presell is clear. You earn more commissions. And increase your customer satisfaction. It’s a win-win-win!

Now, here’s how preselling works:

Now you know whey preselling is critical. And hopefully you’re convinced you need to start doing it. So, it’s time to break down how it works. As I mentioned earlier, it’s both an art and a science.

Mastering the art

First, you have to gain the trust of your reader, so they let their guard down. And the only method of doing this is to give exceptional value to your readers. Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more – that’s the art of it. So you send them to the product website with a hunger for more of what the product provides. Plus they’re not guarded, so they’re more open and likely to purchase the product.

It’s also a science

There’s also a specific formula you need to follow.

First of all, it’s important HOW you present your information. You have to have your end in mind. Your end goal is to make a sale of the product you’re preselling. How can providing information accomplish this goal? The first method is to provide enough info to get them started, but not enough to finish. Or you can give them so much information that it feels overwhelming to do what you’re talking about. In either case, the product you’re referring them to solves the problem for them.

You also have to link to the product you’re promoting discretely. Instead, you use a direct link to the product website. This increases your clicks. But, without your affiliate link, how do you get credit? There’s a trick to make this work… You use the “covert cookie” strategy.

The next trick is to hyperlink specific words and phrases inside the content of the article you’re providing. People are used to clicking on hyperlinked words to get information they’re looking for. And when the words are in context like this, it makes perfect sense for your reader to click them.

Using this system, you’re virtually guaranteed to increase your affiliate business success.

OK, here’s the not-so-good news:

This process is not easy – at all! Let’s talk about everything required to put this plan into action: Good content. The entire process depends on your being able to provide useful information to your readers. This means you have to be able to write well, and have enough knowledge to be useful. Strategic writing. First, you have to give good information. But, you also need to know how to present the information in a way that give value to the reader. While at the same time making them want more. Or make the information so overwhelming they realize they can’t do it on their own.

Picking products. You also need to determine what products you’ll be preselling. Even if you get the article written. Your efforts are completely wasted if you don’t pick a winning product.

The technical know-how To be most effective you have to use the “covert cookie” method. This is actually pretty simple – just embed a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image and set your affiliate link as the “source” of the image. (But if you mess it up, your referrals won’t be tracked.)

In closing:

Now you’re armed with the information needed to effectively presell. And doing this increases your affiliate commissions by over 500%! So, start now and develop preselling content for all your affiliate promotions. Please don’t be lazy. The effort it takes is well worth the benefits…

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Traffic Generation Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

How, then do you get traffic to your site?

Here are a few of the most popular way to get traffic to your site – for free:

• Web 2.0 Methods
• Article Marketing
• Video Marketing

Let’s talk about each of these.

Web 2.0 Sites

The term “Web 2.0″ is associated with websites that facilitate interactive information sharing and collaboration in a social media setting. What this means for you is that you can join into the community and add your own content. Because these sites get so much traffic, Google and the other search engines treat these sites with greater importance in their algorithms. The benefit of this to you is that your content is now considered as part of these sites. And any links in your content that point to your own sites count as a strong “vote” in favor of your sites – lending you credibility in the search engines. This is the hidden benefit of using Web 2.0 sites. There are many more web 2.0 traffic tactics we don’t have time to get into here, but this will get you started.

Articles Sites

The next thing we want to talk about is article marketing. Article sites are in essence web 2.0 websites. Article directories are sites where users (including you) can upload articles they have written. And because they are also considered authority sites by the search engines you get all the benefits of other web 2.0 sites just by putting your articles on them. But you also get the extra benefit of other users taking your article and putting it on their site. And along with your article, they have to include your author information and a link back to you – so you get more free traffic and SEO benefits. Here are a couple article marketing traffic tips:

• Do your keyword research
• Write specifically to target these keywords
• Be sure to link to your site on the keywords you’ve chosen. Do this inside the article itself and in your author’s bio.

Video Sites

And finally, we need to talk about getting traffic from videos. Just like article directories, video sharing sites also rely on user-generated content. So, just like article marketing, video marketing enables you to add content to authority sites. And in addition to this, because Google and the others love video so much, you can get listed for highly competitive keywords much more easily.

Here’s how to get free traffic using video…

• Set up your YouTube account
• Make your profile uncluttered by turning off all the modules
• Use the tags in your profile to enter the keywords you want to rank for
• Add a link to your website
• Upload at least 1 video
• For each video use your keywords in the tags, the descriptions and the title

Summary:

This is a great overview to get your started generating massive traffic to your site.

Recommended Reading

• marketing
• How and why to build an email list
• Get indexed, get ranked, get traffic
• Affiliate Marketing Revised
• 7 reasons why you MUST have your own info product
• Using Web Audio for Success
• Sneaky Affiliate Tricks
• Email List Building Strategies
• Affiliate Business Tips
• Membership Niche Selection Tips
• Traffic is King, but this comes FIRST

First – Look for Fanatics

The number 1 thing you have to do is find fanatics if you want a profitable membership website. Simply put, a fanatic is someone who’s willing to spend time and more importantly money on a topic they are interested in. Here’s how to find fanatics:

• One simple idea that’s easily forgotten is to scan the magazine racks when you’re out and about. In today’s economy, running a magazine is tougher than ever – some of the best ones are going out of business. So if it’s on the shelves, it’s making money, which means there is a big market interested in this topic. This is a very good indication that it’s a good niche for you to go into.
• Pay attention throughout the day in your regular activities. See what people are talking about on the radio, TV, at parties, in public, etc. If people are talking about something, they probably want to know more about it. Which means you can start a membership business providing information on it.
• Conventions, clubs, and organizations. Once again, if there are enough people interested in a topic to create a club or organization, then there are enough people to build a membership business around it. By the same token, if enough people are interested to hold a convention on a certain topic, you can definitely find enough people to build a membership business around that same topic.
• Think about the things that you are interested in. If you’re interested in something, it’s highly likely others are, too. And, as an added bonus, it’s much more fun to build a business around things you’re interested in.
• Another fantastic way to discover what people are interest in is Google Trends. Google Trends tells you the most popular current search terms. These topics are the hottest topics because lots and lots of people want information about them. Hot topics that people are excited about make great niches for your membership website.

Step 2 – Determine the financial feasibility

OK, so you’ve got a great idea for your niche membership business with lots of fanatics. But will they actually spend money? One way to figure this out is to see if other are making money in it.

OK, how do we figure that out?

• First go to Google and type in the name of your niche followed by “blog” and “forum”. If there are blogs and forums related to it, that’s a good sign. This tells you there are people who are actively interested in your niche.
• Check Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping to find out if others are making and selling products in your niche. It’s a good sign if there are because it tells you people are making money here.
• Look at Google Adwords for the same ads are running over time. If people are running the same ad over time it means they are making money in the niche. They would not continue to spend money on the ads if there were not making a return from them.

Last, but not least… How hard will it be to break into this niche?

Once you’ve found a niche and figured out that there is money to be made in, you need to determine if you can break into this niche. Here are some things to look at to figure this out:

• Product types. What kind of products are being sold in the niche? You’re looking for a niche that sells info products. Membership websites based on information are the easiest to start and maintain.
• The next thing to look at is the competition. You don’t want to try to break into a saturated marketing, so figure out how many people are already selling in this niche.
• Size vs. Competition. Some competition is good. It means that this is a profitable market. And as long as the size of the market is large enough to support the competition, you’re fine.
• Market readiness. Are people ready to buy? Are the receptive to marketing messages? Some niches are made up of people who require lots information and have a very long lead time, and some markets are filled with people who will spend lots of money right now.

In Summary

So far, we’ve talked about exactly what it takes to pick a great niche: One with a hungry crowd of fanatics, who are ready to spend money on information about their topic. And you’ve determined your barrier to entry is small enough to give it a go. If you’ve done your homework, your business will be a success because you already know your market is a profitable one with room for you. Learning how to run a membership website is a topic for another article…

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