2009 October

CPA And Pay Per Lead – The Biggest Opportunity For Site Owners Today To Earn Money Without Selling

October 23, 2009 By Tuks 0

It’s shocking. 99% of affiliates are still turning their backs on the cost per action revolution that has been available to wise marketers and site owners for a couple of years now. It’s shocking that 99% of people would rather earn a $20 commission by trying to sell a product…rather than earn the same amount just for sending a lead (visitor who takes action) to a company.

What CPA Is – And A Look At Why It’s So Powerful

Typically, how CPA works is as follows:

1. You have a blog about diets, weight loss, fitness. You have some traffic coming to it already which is interested primarily in losing weight.

2. You see that Product X which sells diet pills offers $50 per lead for every visitor you send them who requests a free trial for the product.

3. You join the CPA program, put up the banner for the free trial and let your traffic do the rest.

This is exactly why CPA is so powerful. Your site visitor does not have to buy a thing in order for you to get paid. They only have to request the free trial and you get paid $50 (typically they would pay $3 or so for shipping – most people who have an interest in diet pills would willingly do so).

Above – A typical pay per lead offer. When your site visitor requests a free product sample, you get paid – in the above example, $50 per free sample requested. More on this CPA here.

By the way, this example was not plucked out of thin air – in the diet & weight loss business development program I offer, this exact PPL program was available.

This is why CPA is the leading earnings opportunity for affiliates and site owners everywhere. No where else can you generate such lavish commissions without even guaranteeing the vendor a sale. No where else can you simply send the traffic and get paid. Plus, because CPA opportunities tend to be offered by larger companies with larger marketing budgets – they typically have very good support materials for affiliates (like animated banners etc).

Why CPA And PPL Is So Lucrative? As The Adage Goes, “It Takes Money To Make Money”

It’s quite simple. The big PPL/CPA offers tend to be in big, financially lucrative niches. Why would anyone pay you $20, $50 or even $100 just for sending them a targeted lead? Because what they are trying to sell (the ultimate product or service), can generate multiples more in revenues for them.

Would you mind paying $50 if you can generate $5,000 or more in return (even if it’s over a period of time)? That’s how the big companies in the big niches think too. A health insurance company knows that it may need to spend $25 per lead to get a targeted prospect to it’s site…but if even a small percentage of those leads sign up, they could be seeing $3,000 commissions per year for several years as a result. It makes sense. It works for the vendor. And goodness, it works well for you and I.

Some Problems With CPA And PPL – You Need To Be In The Right Niches

The problem with CPA is simple – you need to be in the right niches to get paid the big amounts. There are many niches where you only get a few cents or perhaps a dollar per lead. Pretty uninspiring.

Another issue with CPA is that offers tend to be somewhat fluid. They come and go, so you need to continually be on the look out for the best latest offers and update your sites accordingly.

That’s why you really should do a lot of niche research before stepping into any niche. It’s the most important part of setting up an online business. Below, I’ve outlined some of the highest paying CPA and pay per lead niches around today. The links will take you into the business development site for each, but you don’t have to buy anything – you’ll benefit from the research alone.

Four Of The Highest Paying CPA And PPL Niches I’ve Seen (These Values Will Change Over Time – But These Niches Should Always Offer Good CPA’s)

Diet & Weight Loss – $50 Per Lead

Debt Help – Upto $32 Per Lead

Health insurance – Upto $60 Per Lead

More CPA & PPL Resources

Free – Niche Business Empire: How To Identify Potent Niches & Set-Up Profitable Sites For Them – Over & Over Again.

CPA Tsunami – Mentorship & tutorials on making money through every aspect of CPA

CPA Video Tutorials (Get Them Free As Part Of A DRR Membership)

Filed Under: Pay Per Lead And CPA, Top Internet Niches

Why The Things You Find HARD Will Make You MONEY

October 20, 2009 By Tuks 0

In most aspects of life, I have found the following to be true:

“Nothing that is worth doing, or achieving, comes easy”. It applies to just about everything you will ever do. Take a look at sports stars. People knock superstars like Christiano Ronaldo (the world soccer player of the year) who now earns millions a year in wages and endorsements. They say stuff like “oh he gets paid so much for running around a field, it’s a disgrace!”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In actual fact, Christiano (and everyone who gets to the top of their game in any field) has sweated blood to get where he is today. He practices day and night, looks to continually improve his skills and techniques, has a tediously strict diet and trains like a beast. In an interview shortly after getting his player of the year award he revealed that he got there by working HARDER than the others in his profession. When training finishes, he’s there for an extra two hours working on his skills, his techniques. To get that little bit better, day after day.

This is even more true within the internet business and marketing niche. Without exception, the people who climb to the very top have got there by doing the hard things that many others have given up on. There are always big challenges to be met in business and marketing – you have to view that as a good thing. Because, when you come over a hurdle…everyone else also comes over it. Many will fall – but if you stay at it, and succeed…you can bet it will reflect on your bottom line. It’s good to have it hard, it separates the men from the boys – the wheat from the chaff.

This is very different to what you may hear elsewhere. The sad truth is many people will try and con you into believing that there are easy ways out. Yes, there are ways to be more efficient, and to be more productive but there’s no magic red button that does it all for you on autopilot.

Sadly some programs/products rely on the weakness & laziness of people to grab them sales. Here are some examples:

- Some programs will tell you that you can build a six figure online business without your own site/blog, or opt in list, or any budget. To someone who’s struggling with the technicals of blog/site development or who has yet to earn a penny you can see how it would have a strong appeal. Many of these programs don’t work – often such programs simply sell a tool, or concept that may be effective but only for those who have a business set-up already.

- Some software will promise you the moon, saying you can just switch it on and traffic will start pouring into your sites and blogs. There’s only one slight problem – it doesn’t work. Again, it’s an ideal “solution” for those who don’t want to get their hands DIRTY by doing the effective marketing strategies that can take time and effort. With time and experience, you’ll learn how to spot these a mile away.

There are hundreds more examples, but I’m sure you get the gist. Think about that the next time you come across something that you feel you cannot overcome. Remember that everyone else, including your competition, are in the same boat. If you can rise and beat the challenge, you’re a step closer to where you want to be.

And, remember that online business and internet marketing is a long term game – the process of finding an in-demand product/service to offer, and then setting up a business system to offer it is no joke. To do it right takes hard work. The more you apply yourself, and win on the small challenges, the more battles you’ll start to win – and sooner or later that will filter through to your Paypal account. Big time.

Filed Under: Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Something Different

Why The PLR Boom Is Not All Roses – A Balanced Look At Private Label Rights

October 20, 2009 By Tuks 0

Private label rights are going from strength to strength. But, are they all they’re cracked up to be or is the potential driving the PLR boom overhyped and oversold? That’s what we’ll discuss in today’s topic, along with a sobering look into the realities of the PLR disease that continues to threaten the reputation of this potent industry.

1. Why PLR’s Have Taken Off Like A Kung Fu Panda…

Unless you’ve been having tea on planet Krypton with supermans dad for 2 years, you’re obviously aware of the PLR boom and the insatiable appetite of the PLR market. Good private label rights are having a bull run that, currently, shows no signs of slowing. In all shapes and sizes of niches, private label rights material is highly sought after. And here’s why:

- The BOOM that we’re seeing within the internet business niche has created a number of support industries. The PLR industry is one of them. The fact is, millions of new websites and businesses are coming online everyday – that means millions of new blogs, sites, ebiz reports, articles are being constructed…these all require base content, and PLRs are the fastest and most economical way of doing this. And, because online publishing requires the blog/site owner to create new content regularly, the demand for private label rights content just keeps increasing and increasing.

- With a little tinkering, it’s possible to dress up a private label rights product as a completely new and unique product. Hence, PLRs appeal to information product developers who can publish a range of titles that are exclusive to their publishing house, at a greatly reduced outlay.

- Cranking it up a notch, source code (or “PLR for software” if you’re not someone who has milk-bottle glasses and several editions of C++ books on their shelf) allows anyone to own their own unique software titles to resell to any given niche. The potential here is endless, because any given software can be modified and applied to any number of individual niches. For example, core software that creates a social network site (like a youtube or myspace clone) can be modified and marketed as a specific software for any number of specific social sites (eg social sites for bankers, accountant’s, marketers, and so on).

- PLR’s allow people with zero experience to look like an expert. We all have a different area of expertise, and it’s very difficult to develop or write content in an area for which you have zero experience. So, for example, I have personally developed most of the content within my finance sites myself. That’s because I possess an intrinsic knowledge and experience of the investments and finance field – probably more so than the average Vice President at an investment bank (although, judging by the current state of the banking industry, so does my cat and by quite a distance). But, I know nothing of substance about the medical niche…so were I to develop an ebook on acne (for example), my choices would either be to get a specialist medical writer to do it, or source quality PLR on the subject. And, assuming you can find high quality PLR, it’s a lot easier to use this option than the latter.
2. The Problems With The PLR Industry – Zero Regulation Means Zero Quality Control

That’s the trouble with any unregulated industry – and internet marketing & PLR certainly falls into this category – it attracts people who are out for the quick buck and could not care less about what dross they offer, or whoever gets hurt in the process. Let me tell you, regulation is not always the evil that many people believe it to be. Were it not for the shamelessly low levels of regulations in the banking sector we would not have seen a fraction of the toxic debts that the greedy city culture has lumbered the global economy with. We would not today be facing a recession, and the shops and houses around your neighbourhood would not be collapsing like a house of cards. Yet, the word “regulation” immediately makes the conspiracy theorists stand up and organise a march everytime a new CCTV camera goes up in the local high street. They should actually be happy because when done responsibly, regulation in most instances is a good thing. It prevents the lunatics from taking over the assylum, and as we’ve seen from the banking fallout this is not only desired but downright essential.

No surprise then that I would welcome some level of regulation within our internet marketing & PLR industry.

Unfortunately, our industry is largely unmonitored, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Thus, any halfwit with a copy of Word For Windows and a paypal account can effectively offer unpolished, unchecked private label rights, clearly written by someone to whom English is a hobby (and evidently not one on which much time is spent). That irks me because it gives OUR industry a bad name everytime someone pulls on the trigger in good faith. It means that a percentage of the new people that join this newsletter come in not expecting the very best, but the very worst. And I think that’s very sad, for all of us.

In case you’re wondering, I don’t think the majority of people provide especially bad stuff – there is in fact a lot of good PLR out there too (pop into DRR if you don’t believe me)…it’s just that there is enough BAD stuff for it to be a concern. Honestly, William Shakespear would turn into a gibbering wreck were he to read some of the PLR content that I have to discard due to it being shear garbage.

OK, this has turned into a bit of a rant, and I can see my wife and editor, Kez, hovering menacingly around me with a giant red pen and a wagging finger so I’ll quickly get back to the point…

The point is that ultimately, PLR is not about you or I. It’s about the end user – the PEOPLE who will come to your blog, or read your ebook. If all that they have is a collection of oddly constructed sentences loosely connected to their topic of interest that reads like it may or may not have been written by a loon, I very much doubt they’ll be reaching for the digital bookmark. I doubt you’ll achieve much credibility, and I very much doubt that your recommendations will be met with any real enthusiasm – do you?

And therein lies the real tragedy – because that’s exactly what a well constructed private label rights product should set out to do. So be smart, and only ever use high quality private label rights. Anything else amounts to cheating your readers, and ultimately yourself.

Get Hundreds Of Niche & Internet Marketing PLR/Source Code With Your DRR Pro Membership

Filed Under: Private Label Rights

Forum Marketing For Internet Marketers? List Of Do Follow IM Forums

October 13, 2009 By Tuks 0

When you set-out your marketing plans, I hope you take into account that not all marketing activities are as effective an each other. Hopefully, you know that the concept of the “lazy marketer” is something of a myth – marketing is a highly time consuming process, even with the best tools at your disposal.

With that in mind, you must make sure that you’re putting your sites about in the right places. For forums, you must make sure that they are not only highly visited, but that they have “do-follow” links in place. It’s the same if you use blog comments to drive traffic to your own blog/site.

Below are a list of good high traffic forums for internet marketers - Because, the forums are all “do follow” which means your signatures and URLs will not only be seen by forum members and included in Google searches for a long time – but you also get search engine credit for your efforts (ie the robots will follow the link from the forums back to your site and that benefits your page rank). Unfortunately, some forum owners have set a “do not follow” instruction to the search engines – I don’t get that, as it effectively means the members are helping the forum to grow by contributing, but the forum does not wish to return the courtesy.

Just to confirm, the list is not all encompassing – just because a forum is not on the list does not mean it is not “do follow” – there are too many forums to track to sort them all. But, sticking to this list will ensure you get SE credit and help your ranks (the list relates to IM forums):

List Of Do Follow Forums For Internet Marketers:

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://forums.seroundtable.com/
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/
http://forums.cnet.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://webhostingtalk.com/
http://www.affiliateseeking.com/forums/
http://forums.seo.com/
http://forums.digitalpoint.com
http://forums.webcosmo.com
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/
http://www.webmaster-forums.net/

Filed Under: Internet Marketing

Offline Vs Online Business? Why Online Wins With A KO…

October 9, 2009 By Tuks 0

Recently, I saw an interesting documentary on the credit crunch that’s really started to bite economic powerhouses such as the U.S. my own U.K. and many European countries among others. It starts with an entrepreneur named Sue who’s locking up her toy shop at the end of the day – for the last time ever. Sue is one of an alarming number of small business owners who are FOLDING due to the credit crunch – it’s bad enough that people are now unable or unwilling to spend money on many things (and unfortunately for Sue, oversized novelty elephants sporting pink sunglasses certainly fall into this category – one of thousands of stock items that remain unsold in Sue’s shop). But the credit crunch has made low cost credit incredibly difficult to get hold of. Like thousands of other businesses, Sue is unable to get a loan to service her working capital requirements, like paying her staff or the rents during this slowdown.

Sue explains to the camera with a sigh, that in fact she needs to make over $600 a day just to break EVEN – yes, before even a single penny has been made in profit. When asked how much she’s making on average these days, she reveals that she may scrape together $80 or maybe $150 on a holiday. A long haul short of what she needs to keep this business operating on a surplus.

The thing is, this is indicative of what’s happening to MANY small and medium sized companies. Someone has to say it, but the debt bubble that has evaded the pin for decades has now burst in the most explosive way. When cheap credit vanishes in the bricks and mortar world, only strong competitive businesses with underlying profitability and clear unique selling positions survive – because cheap credit can plaster over the cracks in a fundamentally unsound business…but when that credit goes, the structure collapses.

Online, it’s a different story altogether for many internet entrepreneurs. Take for example, Johns Wu, a 22 year old who recently sold his 2 year old finance blog (bankaholic) for a cool $22m – look at the site, it’s really nothing special but the fact that this fellow turned it into a clear, well laid out site that had traffic streams built in, means he ended up with a payday that has allowed him to retire. In fact, the majority of online niches are booming – from travel and finance to internet marketing and more. Because, when you build your site right, and you can find your target customers, an online business can pretty much make money in a variety of ways with minimal capital requirement. It’s an entrepreneur’s paradise.

Now, lets get into the ring and see just why an online business can kick lumps out of an offline one.

1. A Website Or Blog Requires Minimal Start Up Costs – A Bricks & Mortar Business Requires Big Capital Investment Before It’s Made Even A Dollar

OK, if you don’t have the technical aptitude to get a quality site or blog up and running you can still hire a professional to get one developed. But after that, you can professionally host a site with autoresponder for under twenty or so bucks a month. A site also incurs no significant maintenance charges – by contrast, an offline business has immense overheads that the online entrepreneur does not (necessarily) incur – real estate, rents, insurance, repairs, staff costs…the list goes on. The more expenses a business faces, the harder it is to break into profitability and the more likely (especially when the economy faces a downturn) it will fail. That’s another point – when a website fails, the loss is typically minimal (if it’s one that has been set-up by a solo entrepreneur). When an offline business fails, the potential loss to the owners can run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands. Online business wins round one then.

2. Online Business Allows Switched On Entrepreneurs To Utilise Technology To Earn From Multiple Sources.

It is difficult for traditional bricks and mortar businesses to form true, mutually beneficial alliances. Take Sue for example – how could she generate additional revenues from people who come into her shop? She really can’t.

In the online world, the site/blog owner can generate income from a variety of sources – they can offer their own product or service, they can affiliate with potentially hundreds (or even thousands) of affiliate programs. They can generate additional income just by referring leads (CPA) to other companies within their industry. Unlike Sue, they can offer people who come onto their site an option of sending them newsletters if they wish to hear from them again. They can form JV partnerships with authority sites in their niche, and technology means they can offer all sorts of payment structures to make sure it’s a win/win. The possibilities online are endless.

Round 2 goes to online then.

3. Online Is Global – Offline Is (Mainly) Local

My website and blog network is open to anyone in the world, 24/7. There are no opening or closing hours, there are no sassy minimum waged till donkey’s giving out attitude to my valuable customers. Someone from the U.K. or India, or China, or USA (etc) can buy any of my products and services and (in digital cases) download the product right away, without them even having to put a foot outdoors and brave the nasty weather, or without me even knowing about who they are or what they look like. It’s global commerce in the truest of senses. It’s marvellous.

With small offline businesses, this is not so. Generally, an offline shop will operate within a specific geographical boundary. Their clients are typically within that boundary, so a book shop in Potters Bar will sell to the residents of Potters Bar. No one from Trotters Bottom (yes, it’s really a place in England) will go there.

You could argue that it’s possible to start a chain of stores – but unless you have the capital backing of Donald Trump (or someone of his ilk), building a chain of offline businesses is remarkably difficult, and expensive. And woe betide if you grow too fast during the good times…because when the economy slides, you quickly have to slash your overheads by shutting down shops. In my near decade of doing business online, I have never had to shut down a website or made a loss on one. Not even old Trump can say that about his business record.

That’s three rounds, and it’s a knockout.
Now The Obligatory Disclaimer – It’s Not Always Rosy Online Either

Look, what I’m saying to you is that if you’re at the point of having to decide “online or offline”, it’s an easy decision from my view. But, there are many challenges to meet even when you’re trying to develop an online business.

First, be careful who you take advice from and what you buy. There are sharks out there selling digital snake potions. If you’re new, they’ll eat you alive. There are also clueless people trying to teach things they don’t know (as a famous Politian said, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still just a pig). Because of the vibrant online business conditions, people without any real credentials, ability or substance are coming online to make a fast buck. Don’t fall for everything you see.

Second, choose your niches soundly, after doing your due diligence. Contrary to the hype, developing and marketing a business online requires a fair bit of time and effort. Marketing a good niche requires as much time as a rubbish one, but the end results will be wildly different. So When they try and sell you PLR on headlice remedies, promising that it will make you wealthy…use your loaf and close the browser.

Finally, remember that it takes time, patience and effort to start any business from scratch. Even with the best site or blog, you need to allow yourself a little time to market it and turn it into an authority site that generates traffic on demand. It doesn’t happen overnight, but once you uncover the method that works for you, you can duplicate it – over and again.

By the way, for every resource video and software you need to set-up, market and grow your own internet business please check out DRR.

Filed Under: Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Top Internet Niches

Are Internet Marketing Newsletters Just (Barely) Disguised Ads?

October 9, 2009 By Tuks 0

My inbox is a disgrace. It’s turned onto a non-stop ad dispensing service – I do like to subscribe to a large number of “newsletters”, to keep my finger on the pulse and also to (hopefully) learn a thing or two from other marketers and product developers. To be fair, some actually do that. Unfortunately, many don’t and that’s a real shame.

Now I’m fully aware that it’s completely acceptable to offer products and services in a newsletter (everyone does, and that’s fine). The problem I have is when I see headlines like “New Hyper Traffic Buster Tool – Only $1 – Go Go Go Go Go! (Go!)”. Oh, and entirely by the way, the next person who sends me a mail with multiples of “Go!” in the subject is going to get it firmly in the ribs.

If out of curiosity I click, it’s typically a 2 paragraph blurb on how above tool is certain to fill my paypal account with chunks of hot steamy cash and how I don’t need a blog or site or anything to make it work. How wonderful! Again, it’s not the concept that someone is selling something that troubles me – it’s the fact that I’ve invested my valuable time to sign up to a NEWSletter that should provide a little mental stimulation or at the very least some news as well as the featured product or service. Don’t you think?

You see, this is exactly why the marketing industry has developed such a diabolical reputation. It’s a shame, because as far as niches go the internet marketing one is a sizzler. But I’m sorry to have to report, it’s lost it’s way as far as email marketing is concerned. People are promised newsletters that inform, even entertain – and they end up with a 24 hour ad channel in their inbox. There is one “marketer” I know who sometimes sends out 2 mails a day – both loud sales pitches, and both neither with even the smallest snippet of useful information. I bet you he looks at his P/L everyday and wonders why his conversions are so low. I’m involved with many niches – and the standard of emails within IM is just terrible. It just wouldn’t wash in other online niches (such as stocks and finance for instance, the quality of content in that niche is generally very good). I think we all have a collective responsibility to improve this situation – so that when people from outside the industry come in for a look, they don’t end up thinking “man, this is pure trash”.

So, if you’re about to embark on a newsletter set-up yourself, remember WHY you’re doing it. Yes, a well constructed newsletter is a marketing tool – but only when done right. It should help build credibility and trust and you can only do that through good content. It should help to prove to your subscribers that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re not just a crap merchant after some cash. Because, if all you’re doing is legally spamming your subscribers with sales pitch after sales pitch, it’s unlikely they’ll stick around for more of the same.

Finally, I’ll sign out by saying that over the last few weeks, my wife Kez who reads this newsletter prior to publication has been tutting me a lot on my aggressive commentary. “It’s always moan, moan moan – why can’t you ever write anything nice about our industry?”

And that’s the sad part – I would if I could.

My own newsletter can be seen here

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, List Building

Is PLR A Disease Or A Boon For Internet Marketers, Site Owners & Infoproduct Makers?

October 9, 2009 By Tuks 0

1. Why PLR’s Have Taken Off Like A Kung Fu Panda…
Unless you’ve been having tea on planet Krypton with supermans dad for 2 years, you’re obviously aware of the PLR boom and the insatiable appetite of the PLR market. Good private label rights are having a bull run that, currently, shows no signs of slowing. In all shapes and sizes of niches, private label rights material is highly sought after. And here’s why:

2. The Problems With The PLR Industry – Zero Regulation Means Zero Quality Control

No surprise then that I would welcome some level of regulation within our internet marketing & PLR industry.

Unfortunately, our industry is largely unmonitored, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Thus, any halfwit with a copy of Word For Windows and a paypal account can effectively offer unpolished, unchecked private label rights, clearly written by someone to whom English is a hobby (and evidently not one they are particularly good at…no offense meant to those who don’t have english as their first language). That irks me because it gives OUR industry a bad name everytime someone pulls on the trigger in good faith. It means that a percentage of the new people that join this newsletter come in not expecting the very best, but the very worst. And I think that’s very sad, for all of us.

In case you’re wondering, I don’t think the majority of people provide especially bad stuff – there is in fact a lot of good PLR out there too…it’s just that there is enough BAD stuff for it to be a concern.

Filed Under: Private Label Rights

How To Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers – At Rapid Speed

October 8, 2009 By Tuks 0

Today, we tackle a topic that should be topmost on every serious marketers daily “to do” pad – list building. It is THE most important thing that you will ever do for your business. And, along with a highly optimised site/blog your list is THE biggest asset your business will ever own.

Learn How To Grow Your List Rapidly With The Viral List Blueprint Videos – Or Get It As Part Of A DRR Membership

** Not Started Building A List Yet? Here Is How You Can Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers FAST…

1,000 subscribers is a KEY figure, and I’ll tell you why – because once you get to this magic figure, you can start leveraging your list with other similar list size owners (via ad swaps) to build your list exponentially. Intelligent internet marketers have put thousands of new members on their opt in lists in weeks through this method. But…how do you get started even getting to this magic number? Here’s the fastest way:

1. Create A Simple Freebie That People Will WANT - Lets assume you’re trying to build a list within internet marketing. Think of a topic that marketers want to know about…for example traffic…then create a simple but well presented product for this topic that you will give away. You do not have to be an expert to create it, simply use a good quality PLR product.

2. Use JV Giveaways And UPGRADE – If you’re starting off with a zero list, then joining product giveaways is a very good idea to start collecting subscribers. You really should upgrade because it will give your product maximum exposure and therefore the most subscribers. Usually, upgrades can cost between seven to thirty bucks and if you get subscribers at about fifty cents each then it’s a very good investment. Of course, if you have a list already or you have other promotion channels you can still benefit and get new subscribers by being a free member of the giveaway.

There are product giveaways going on all over the place every month (I believe I counted 20+ in September) – and like it or not, they WORK (granted, some work far better than others but on the whole they provide a decent number of subscribers)

Want to know where you can find the latest giveaways for free? I have a page dedicated to them on the DRR blog giveaways page so you can find the existing ones easily:

Once you’ve got to that magic 1,000 – you’ve got a list that you can leverage to your hearts content. And here’s a tip for finding ad swap partners – a lot of the contributors in giveaway events also like to swap ads with fellow list owners. So make a note of existing contributors and contact them about an ad swap. If their list size is bigger than yours there’s a simple solution – tell them you’ll promote their email twice. Once you get a few ad swaps going, your list will grow from strength to strength…and this will ultimately show in your bottom line.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, List Building

How To Analyse Your Internet Marketing Performance

October 7, 2009 By Tuks 0

How did you do in 2008? And how are you doing in 2009? Do you know? I can all but guarantee you that experienced entrepreneurs who have money rolling in from all sides will have a detailed plan set out in front of them. It would entail things like what projects they wish to develop, what levels of income they would want to see and how they would achieve it. Trying to develop or grow your business without a plan is a little like driving a car with a blindfold on. You have no idea where you’re going, and you’re almost certainly going to crash.

If (as I suggested at this time last year) you had created your plan for the year, then take a look at how it stood the test of time. See what you wanted to do. And achieve. Did you? If you did, congratulations but the work’s only just starting – you need to pinpoint exactly what factors were behind your success. Did you excel at list building? Find out what worked, and do the same thing again – only twice as hard. The great thing about the internet is that success can be duplicated – once you find a system that works well, you can duplicate it over and over and get rewarded each time.

In case it all went wrong, again you need to find out where. Your intentions may have been perfect – you may have wanted an opt in list of 10,000 more people. You may have wanted to increase traffic. Or income by X amount…your job is to calmly analyse the facts and see what went pear shaped. Then, you can take corrective action so that this time around – you do better. The trick really is to know what happened, and to change your actions to improve your performance. In reality, you may find that some of your plans went well, and others not quite so.

Personally, I also have a monthly review for my own performance as well as the performance of everyone who works in my business. And, I have an annual one that takes place every December. It’s the one I love doing the most. If you’re early on in your internet business career, then start drawing up your plans. It’s very important.
How To Set Your Goals For 2009

Believe me, people who know what they want and write it down get far better results than those who don’t. It’s simple logic really – if we ourselves don’t know what we want, how is our mind supposed to go about achieving it. You’ll be confused, moving on from one thing to another and almost certainly not achieving very much, sort of like some giant unstoppable idiot.

In contrast, if you spend just an hour or so to develop a plan – and come back to it frequently, your mind has a blueprint to follow so that you can actually get what you want. Your plan should be detailed – and challenging, without being unrealistic. You also need to enter as much detail as possible about HOW your plan will come true. What learning goals will you have for 2009? What sort of in come will you believe you can get? How will you do it? What level of investment will you have available? How will the floundering global economy affect your projections?

I would also strongly suggest having additional plans for each month of the year, these should be tied in to your yearly plans too.

Thoughts, Actions, Results

There is a wonderful little book called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T.Harv Eker. I keep it handy when my own mind gets a little riled. Anyway, one of the greatest things I learned in this book is how and why two people with exactly the same education, information and resources at their disposal can see such varied results.

In a nutshell, it’s all to do with how our minds think. This is key because our thoughts give rise to certain feelings. Our feelings lead us to take action. And those actions lead to the results we achieve. Most people only focus on the results part – but they don’t consider the thoughts that gave rise to it.

I know a lot of my clients are eminently successful, and my word it makes me happy. But I also have a lot of newbies, and early entrepreneurs and this section is very important for them especially. Because, one of the biggest challenges that newbies and early entrepreneurs face is the mental one. Some of the biggest problems that newbies have is (a) overload of information (b) too many hyped product launches and (c) changing their actions so that their results also can improve. Instead, many people will keep doing the same old things, because they have the same old thoughts – and still expect to see different results. It’s not their fault – it’s human nature. But now that you know, look out for it.

Filed Under: Internet Business, Something Different

2009? Time To Move Into Defensive Niches With Big Payouts

October 7, 2009 By Tuks 0

Today, we look at what types of niche internet businesses to potentially consider setting up for the coming year. Hopefully, over 2008 you’ve managed to set-up a handful of quality niche sites and are starting to see good returns from them. Certainly, over the past 18 months I’ve handed you some gems that should now be coming home to roost – the debt help and credit repair one (first highlighted in 2007) is beginning to gather pace, as is the foreclosures niche to name but a couple.

It’s certainly been an eventful 2008. The economic disaster that had been looming for years, threatening to cut short the credit fuelled boom in many global economies finally did – and did so pretty convincingly. Some huge Fortune 500 companies (and their UK equivalents) that many thought to be unsinkable went into liquidation. And that process is still going on, as market forces put fundamentally weak businesses with flawed business models or over-geared balance sheets to the sword. Who can forget the sad image of a cringing Dick Fuld (CEO of Lehman Brothers) in front of a panel of US Congress, trying desperately to explain how his mighty financial empire, which reported a record year only some months ago, could now be in the position of going bust.

And it doesn’t stop at just the banks. Throw a dart at the stock pages of the Financial Times and there’s a probability that you’ll strike a company that’s struggling to survive. The huge auto industry, once the very backbone of the U.S. economy has taken a seriously bloody nose – the big 3 have experienced such a downturn that they simply cannot survive (at least not without a huge blank check courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer).

So, aside from maintaining and growing your existing niche businesses, will you still be able to set up thriving sites and blogs in 2009 and enjoy the same level of profits? Surprisingly, the answer is actually “yes”. Whatever the economy is doing, some businesses and some industries always prosper. There is often a “transfer of wealth” during times of economic uncertainty, which means that there is always an opportunity to set-up niche online businesses that have outstanding potentials for revenues. But, make no mistake over the next 2 years it will become more crucial than ever before to identify and penetrate only the strongest niches with the biggest financial muscle. It will be more important than ever to follow the correct advice, and steer clear of the insidious “1000 niches in a box” type junk that’s floating around. And, now more than ever it has become crucial to select only the pedigree niches to set-up shop in, and back them all the way. Luckily, that’s what I’m here for…

How To Pick Your Online Niches In 2009? Time To Get Defensive…

In 2009, our online-niche-business set-up strategy should be to get into defensive industries that are more resilient to economic downturns. Niches for which online business is on the grow, where advertising spends (be that via pay per lead and Adsense or pay per sale) continue to be strong.

Often, these are niches where the underlying products/services are a “need” rather than a “luxury”. Because, this is what people look for when times are tough. This is why (in the UK), luxury supermarkets like Marks & Spencer and Waitrose have experienced downturns while the budget supermarkets like Aldi have actually increased their market share and profits. And, this is also why the car industry has all but collapsed – the sudden unavailability of cheap loans coupled with people scaling back on luxuries (of which a new car is certainly one) is responsible for the deep plight of this industry.

That’s the bad news – now here’s the good news. The internet as an economy within it’s own right is STILL growing. Businesses from far and wide, across countless niches are continuing to report that a greater percentage of their sales are being generated online. The number of global online browsers and shoppers also continues it’s march north. So, now is still a very good time to set-up new online blogs and websites in the RIGHT niches. In fact, get in the correct niches, and get the delivery right and I can all but guarantee you won’t even know there’s a slowdown. Amazing things are happening online.

If you’d like to know about a new niche that ticks all the boxes then check out these niches below which should perform well in an up, down or sideways economy:

Debt Help & Credit Repair

Health Insurance

Internet Business & Marketing

Diet & Weight Loss

Blogging

Filed Under: Internet Business, Top Internet Niches