I’m always looking for ways to expand my skill set, and if that means poking into the wallet to get tools useful to me I rarely think twice.  In my experience many of these types of sites fail to deliver on many promises of easy traffic, flowing sales and untold riches, but there’s always the odd diamond amongst the rough which makes it worthwhile.

I joined The Niche Blogger through the Warrior Forum as a special offer.  I’d had plenty of exposure to Amy, who runs the membership site through the forum previously and the positive feedback from existing members made it a no brainer.  Amy’s personal story is an interesting one in itself, as she attempts to pay off over 75k in debt in 12 months using nothing but online marketing.

My first impressions of The Niche Blogger are excellent.  The membership content (which, not surprisingly, is set up in blog fashion) provides a day by day, step by step plan for setting up a money making blog.  Now, even though I wasn’t an expert blogger, some of the first months content wasn’t new to me.  Having said that, in the first months content Amy has set out in a foolproof manner the steps that need to be taken to set up a streamlined wordpress blog, which plugins to adopt, which settings will earn you massive rankings, and provides video tutorials for some of the more difficult scripting adjustments for the technologically dense among us.   Many of the ‘days’ won’t actually require a days effort.  In fact I was able to rip through the first three weeks in as many days.  However, it’s wonderful to have everything layed out for you, and in the unlikely event you have any questions, Amy answers them within hours (often minutes).  Being able to set up hosting and domain registration is made to be a cinch with Amy’s advice, as is being able to ’tweak’ your blog for maximum effect.  The value here is in duplication.  Had I tried to set up half a dozen monetized blogs this time last month, I’d still be working on it. 

What I also really appreciated was that in laying out long term money making strategies, Amy sets out parameters for things like keyword research (you’ll be surprised and delighted by what she recommends), article writing, blog management and stresses the importance of quality content.  Her techniques are managable, well defined, and exciting to implement. 

One of the BEST things to come from The Niche Blogger so far is the templates you get access to for a small pittance which make setting up a monetizable blog super simple.  Check out Texas Holdem Rules Poker, which is a blog I have set up using Amy’s pre-adsense primed templates.  There’s one for just about every type of blog you could need, but they are easy to customize as I have done, and they are simply a breeze to use.  One step, and the whole thing is linked in to your adsense account.  Brilliant. 

Amy earns (at present) about 5k a month from 20 blogs, and her self professed goal is to get each of her members to that same level.  With over 400 members, she sets high expectations…but if her determination is anything to go by, they are realistic ones.  Her integrity is beyond reproach and the monthly membership is an extremely competitive price (under $15).  Simply as a resource this is highly valuable information to anyone other than the most experienced bloggers.  For those wanting to make money from blogging, it’s gold.

I’ve also been wanting to expand my knowledge base of wordpress, so I’ve dutifully set about creating some blogs and I’ll see if I can’t monetise them to justify the time.  I’ll be posting my progress here, so keep an eye out for updates.

Today I’m going to focus on just one of the blogs (I’m doing about 6). 

It’s Texas Holdem Rules Poker.

Now this is a blog I’ll almost exclusively be doing content for myself.  I freaken love poker, and whilst normally I’d be happy to outsource, I wanted to keep this one closer to home.  No doubt if I can get some decent traffic I’ll expand that and get some more pro perspectives.  I’ve been chatting with a few mates of mine who run the Aussie circuit and they are putting out some feelers for regular contributions from players. 

The blogs only been up for a week and I’ve done stuff all promotion to date, just trying to get set up and make a start on content…so I’m getting stuff all traffic at the moment also.  It’s all organic but at the moment the sites only getting about 30 - 40 uniques a day.  It’s a tough field from a marketing perspective because it’s oversaturated, but I’m looking to add a unique angle.  If I can get some decent players on board we might look at adding some free poker training videos in the near future, which are hot property at the moment. 

Anyway, I’ll post more on this blog and others, and keep you updated as to progress. 

I’ve been promoting three products, two of which are affiliate products and one of which is my own.  The results have been interesting. 

This dodgy WSO I grabbed recommended doing banner ads of every dimension and having a keyword list numbering in the thousands to get maximum exposure.  Since this was about the only genuinely helpful advice that was buried beneath pages of piffle, I duly applied it (even though it failed to mention the keyword limit per banner ad of 2,000, which meant multiple copies of the same banner with different keywords). 

Anyway, I’m a huge fan of graphics so I set about creating some marginally interesting ads which I thought would be attention grabbers.  Traffic wise the results have been pretty good.  I mean, it’s not huge traffic by any stretch of the imagination, but getting to throw an extra couple of thousand visitors a week at any site can’t hurt. 

If you’re wondering, you create a banner ad in Adwords pretty much the same way you do a text ad, you just click on the image ad link instead of typing in your ad and url in the ad variation section of your campaign.  I’d suggest setting up a new campaign for your banner ads though.

The first site was in the relationships niche and I’ve been getting several hundred clicks per day.  The second was in a money making niche (my own), and the third mental health.  The mental health fared the poorest in terms of click volume but it’s a fairly specific niche.

The conversion rates have been freaken horrible (under a tenth of a percent) but at 1c per click the ROI has been pretty sweet.  I mean, I can have a conversion rate of  0.00025% and still be in front given the CPC.   Opt in’s to those ads directing to a squeeze page have been ok (bolstered by some PLR free report material) at around 50 - 60% but confirmations for the relationship niche were surprisingly low (under 40% for those that originally opted in).  Maybe they were so focused on getting laid they forgot to confirm…I dunno.   

I already know this but my conversion rate for my own product has been low.  I need to redo the copy to be more general public friendly, but I’ve been busy (and a little too lazy) to do it yet.  Pity, because the response has been excellent so far (no refunds…yay!) with plenty of positive feedback. 

Anyway, on the whole it hasn’t been a massively profitable test run in the sense that sales volumes haven’t been off the scales, but it’s certainly been easy sales.  As I said above, I enjoy knocking together some graphics for a banner ad, so to me it was a lot more enjoyable than banging out half a dozen articles.  It’s pretty small time but I for one don’t mind making any sort of sales. 

On the whole, I’m sure if I apply myself I can yield some better volume returns, so I’ll keep you updated.  I might post some sample ads later.  Hey, you’re already ahead since I’ve reminded you to give this a crack instead of having to purchase some bastardized WSO which reminds you what you’d forgotten you should be doing

One major problem with article writing is getting conversions, firstly in terms of someone clicking on your resource box at the end of an article, and secondly making a purchase of whatever product the article is designed to promote. 

Many new marketers make the mistake of assuming volume = traffic, and bang out dozens of crappy ‘airy fairy’ articles which fail to address a concern, interest or inquiry the reader has.  We’d all rather have 5 articles getting 1000 views and 200 click throughs a week than 25 articles generating half that much traffic.  We can do ‘more’ with ‘less’ by making sure our articles are relevant, and pique the interest of our readership.

So where do we go for some good info to base our articles on?

Forums should be our first stop.  Say we want to write an article on panic and anxiety attacks.  Do a forum search on panic attack, and there are around 1,750,000 results.  By visiting any one of those forums for just five or ten minutes we can see what people are talking about and what problems they have, and get a swag of recurring issues that people are talking about.  Finding the answer to any one problem or concern or interest can form the basis of an article. 

You can also find Frequently Asked Questions at FAQ.org and Groups.google.com or Yahoo Answers

I recommend trying to find at least a dozen questions (and the answers) and then set about writing each article with:

- An introduction stating what the article will cover
- A summary of the problem
- The solution
- A resource box leading to our opt-in page where we offer to show them more

Obviously do some keyword research to include relevant keywords in the body of our article to ensure SERP rankings and traffic. 

This is a great way to generate some sales when we discover a great clickbank or affiliate product we want to promote, and it’s dead easy and largely fool proof. 

If you’ve spent any time researching affiliate or online marketing you’re almost certain to have heard the maxim that ‘the money is in the list’.  So what’s this list you keep hearing about? 

A ‘list’ is a database of people who have subscribed to a mailing list we run which relates to a certain topic or interest (usually based around something we are promoting). 

“Hold on, I thought all I needed to do was point a customer towards the merchant’s sales page, and my job was done?” I hear you say.

Well, on one view that’s right.  As long as the customer, or prospect, makes a purchase, you’ll get a nice little commission.  That’s not bad, but it’s a little short sighted.  Even though we might be promoting a certain merchant’s product right now, why shouldn’t we get to build a little investment on the side which can serve to earn us massive income down the track?  I mean, we’re going to put in a lot of work to get people’s attention. 
How is a list an investment?

Look at it this way.  Imagine your are a marketer who specializes in products in the health and wellness industry.  Now imagine having a list of thousands of customers who you already know share your interest in that very same topic. Let’s assume that for at least a few months you’ve been writing to them.  They know you.  If you’ve done it right, they trust you.  Some of them might have even purchased something from you before.

Now…lets say you (or a merchant you are promoting) have just developed a brand spanking new product aimed at satisfying the needs of people in that very industry.  Which do you think is going to be easier…going out and trying to convince thousands of complete strangers to buy your specific product, or saying to your list ‘Hey…I’ve found this great new product I’ll bet would be of interest you…’

I’ll give you the tip…your list is going to eat that product up a heck of a lot faster than you convince ten times as many strangers to even take an peek. 

In affiliate marketing, your list is your biggest asset. 
It is the key to having money on demand.

And the best part is, we can use a merchant’s product to help build our own highly responsive list, and continue to earn income from that list even if we stop promoting that merchant’s products.  We might promote someone else’s, or we might even promote our own. 

Here’s the rub.  Most if not all new affiliate marketers don’t have a list, right?  So at some point, it means we’re going to have to generate this wonderful list of customers.  That’s going to take some time, right? 

Well, it can, but it doesn’t have to…and in any even the reality is that list building is an ongoing process.  However, there is a way we can build large, multiple lists of customers in different markets…and make money at the same time! 

What we want to do is have a system designed not only to enable us to build our primary asset but to put cash in our pockets whilst we do it.  It’s a process of back end selling large ticket products after establishing raport with our customers after selling them small ticket items.  That way, we generate income and an asset. 

Now that’s a smart way to build a list.

Power Effects Version 2 is the new software tool which completely transforms any website into a must see extravaganza!   Don’t want to spend money on flash presentations?  How about a dynamic sales page heading that plays like a movie?  Want an easy point and click way to implement lightbox or greybox effects instead of complicated scripts?  How about slideshow links without the hefty load times?

Power Effects v2 provides a user friendly alternative to custom animated web graphics and can be the missing ingredient in your sales page.  It’s dead simple to use, easy to implement, and won’t tax your visitors patience even if they have snail paced Internet connections.  It’s the easiest way I know to create some pretty awesome effects that can help your web page rise above the sea of ‘ordinary’ sites. 

Best of all, this product comes with Master Resale Rights, which means you can recoup the cost of the purchase in a single sale!

Find out more info and grab your copy at our Power Effects Version 2 Sales Page.

COST: $3.95

Know what used to frustrate the bejesus out of me when I was new to affiliate marketing? eBooks which made everything seem easy, but happily left you hanging when you needed the all important details of how to turn the hypothetical into real money making strategies.

You know what I mean, stuff like ‘All you need is adwords for instant traffic’ or ‘pick a keyword and write an article’, or ‘choose a hungry niche to create your own product’.

That’s all well and good buddy, but how do I know what my niche is hungry for, and how do I get my article off page 793 of Google, and why is my freaken adwords campaign costing me a fortune when I haven’t made a single sale?

Now you can have the answer…

What’s the 7 Step Super System all about? It’s a step-by-step affiliate marketing ebook which sets out in a series of foolproof modules the exact information that any new marketer simply can’t succeed without. It is specifically designed for new to intermediate marketers who don’t want their online business to be a guessing game, or a lucky dip, and want to avoid the pain of continuous trial and error.

The 7 Step Super System covers both sides of the affiliate marketing equation in one handy eBook, from making quick cash marketing other people’s products, to having an online troop of affiliates promoting your very own material.

It’s 150+ pages of practical, results driven content. Any fluff? Puh-lease! This is meat and potato info, and if there’s anything which isn’t covered in the system itself, it tells you exactly where to find the best free online resources to keep up your money making tempo.

What Can You Get Out Of The 7 Step Super System?

Here’s just a sample of what’s covered…

• Affiliate Marketing fundamentals…you’ll discover how the entire process works…in order to dominate it!

• Your own Affiliate Marketing profits blue-print. The exact steps you need to take to get started - forget procrastination or writers block, you’ll fast track your business starting today.

• Delve deep inside Clickbank and other Affiliate Marketing services to find out what really matters in determining which products are worth your time.

• How to build a list of hungry prospects for money on demand every single time you do something as simple as sending them an email.

• Find out exactly what your competitors are doing and how to beat them to the affiliate marketing punch.

• Discover the three essential elements that must be present to make certain you’re selling to a market that wants to buy.

• How to build a fully automated profit pipeline - so you can focus on taking your online business to the next level.

• You’ll discover dynamic techniques for generating free and paid traffic, giving you the freedom to cater your marketing needs precisely to your budget…whether it’s big or small.

• The four elements to any converting squeeze page, so your traffic generation results in leads and sales.

• How to use pay-per-click traffic to start generating leads in under 20 minutes, and know immediately whether you are on to a winning market (without loosing your wallet).

• 20 steps to a successful Adwords campaign. Don’t get lost in the CPC, CTR, CPM, ROI forrest…just take these steps and build a profitable campaign to swamp your site with visitors.

• Hot Tips which provide you with actual samples and templates to put to use, so you’ll never be stuck wondering ‘why?’ or ‘how?’.

• Want to avoid tumbleweeds appearing on your products purchase page? Discover the three elements to look for to make certain your niche market is willing to pull out their wallet.

• Insider strategies for finding super profitable markets and ’stealing’ them from under your competitors noses…or better yet, becoming the authority figure that other people turn to first.

• Discover 12 rapid fire methods to create highly sought after products your customers will love you for, some of which won’t even cost you a dime (but still have you looking like an expert in the field).

• Learn to wield the product creation tools of the trade like a pro, and find out where you can get them for FREE.

• How to write words that people want to read, and buy! This is one of the most important skills you’ll need to learn to successfully sell things online (yet most people get it wrong). This mini-system is the closest thing I have found for copywriting without having to pay expensive pro’s or purchase software.

• How to get a loyal and motivated affiliate army working for you 24/7 so you can focus your time on doing…well…just about anything you want.

• Taking it to the next level - how you can use your online product to tap into the 90% of people who don’t shop online, and multiply a $1,000 per month income by 10 or 20 times.

Still need more info?

Check out the official 7 Step Super System Sales Page

WAIT! I know what you’re thinking…you’re thinking ‘Geez, another system? Everyone has a system and everyone says theirs is the best…why the heck should I spend time and money looking at this one?’ It’s a fair question.

I didn’t want to create another crappy ebook to churn out to the masses. Check out the sales page, for sure, but don’t get too caught up in it.  Understand…this is an ebook designed with fellow marketers in mind, and will provide you with the info you need to make your next (or first) online sale. It’s written to save you the countless hours I’ve spent researching and testing the myriad of affiliate marketing methods. That alone is worth the purchase price. If I could pay a few bucks to get all those hours back…I would in a heartbeat! But I can’t, and the reality is neither can you once you’ve lost them. But you can save yourself that time starting now.

Want a guarantee anyway?

If You Don’t Find At Least One Gold Nugget Of Information

To Help Make Your First (Or Next) Affiliate Marketing Sale…

I’ll Give You A Hassle Free 30 Day 100% Refund

In fact, if you’re not completely happy for any reason, don’t sweat it, just drop me a line and I’ll get you sorted with a refund. Savvy?  

I want you to get value from this ebook. The only reason I’m even putting a price tag on it because it took freaken ages to put together! I did it myself to ensure the content wasn’t some regurgitated drivel, and because I’m looking to take things to the next level to keep offering hot content and dynamic products.  I hope you’ll come with me!

 UPDATE:  For a limited time only you can grab the 7 Step Super System for a massively discounted price.  This is available exclusively to members of the Warrior Forum, so click on the link below to sign up and grab your copy.

Affiliate Marketer 7 Step Super System

Special Offer

Those of us looking to take or increase our market share must therefor not only ask how to create ebook products, but how to write an ebook product that sells. Keep in mind also that the concept of ‘ebook publishing’ which has typically involved selling information products in the form of a static pdf document, now incorporates more adventurous media, such as audio tutorials, video compilations, and interactive education such as webinars.

Let’s take a look how to write eBook products or information products using 12 easy methods.

1. Write an ebook – ok, perhaps the most obvious, but a tried and tested format which has demonstrated lasting success. Your ebook can really take any form, but where possible break it down into easily discernible parts, lessons, or modules which go together to make up the whole. Your topic of choice needs to be presented in easily understandable parts that engage the reader, and it helps to have a product aimed at solving a problem or providing an answer to a solution. Liberal use of images is encouraged to add that extra flare to a product (it also enables us to increase the price tag). Do the hard yards in the research, find some gems of information, and price it reasonably. With a hungry market, you’ll have a winner.

    

2. Get other people (including experts) to provide the content for us. Ok, so we can’t all be experts. Sometimes we’ll need expert opinion or advice. So go and interview an expert! Compile our interviews into an ebook with some helpful commentary. We could even sell a series of ebooks, each with an interview of a different expert in our chosen area of interest.

   Tip – people love cheap little reports or products that are packed with value. Creating a series of 5 or 6 mini-reports is a great way to get and keep customers (and often they will wind up spending more money with you than if you offered a full ebook with all of the reports at once). It also means we can start making money selling our first report whilst we write the other reports in a series. This is an excellent method of ebook writing which helps cultivate a dedicated readership.

    

3. Don’t think you are any good at interviews face to face? How about engaging with an expert via email? The ‘question & answer’ format is a great way to get some inside info which makes for excellent content in an ebook. Head over to AllExperts.com if you need someone with expertise in a particular area. Alternatively, find your expert through outsourcing sites such as Elance or Guru and post a job request specifically looking to interview something who has extensive expertise in your chosen market area.

    

4. Run a tele-seminar of interviews with experts or people in the field, which you can then have recorded and distribute as an audio product, or have transcribed into an ebook.

    

5. Like doing powerpoint presentations? Grab a copy of CamStudio (it’s free) or Camtasia Studio and do a video recording of your presentation and create a video product. The perceived value of video products helps justify a juicier price tag.

    

6. Got a web cam and aren’t afraid to use it? Get your mug some airtime and do a video tutorial series on your topic of choice. Better yet, if you already have an ebook, add some audio or video modules to create a higher end product. There is a larger perceived value in audio and video products, and it’s easier for the purchaser to make use of them. Let’s face it, it’s easier to watch a video or listen to a recording than it is to read a book right?

    

7. Don’t want to create your own ebook?  For a really lazy product solution, grab some private label rights (“PLR”) products and combine them or reconstruct them into larger, more fulsome product packages with a special report you prepare on how to get the most out of the information provided (be sure to check the terms of the rights you have to the PLR products first). Again, expand on an existing PLR product by creating a video tutorial showing how to put theory into practice. People love being shown step-by-step how to deal with a problem or find solutions to burning questions.

    

8. Got personal experience in a niche or topic? Write about the adversity you faced and how you overcame it, and provide tips to your market to ensure they avoid the same pitfalls you encountered.

    

9. If you have any unique skills, you can offer a training program, so that in effect you are the product. You’ll be amazed at the value you can offer to clients with one-on-one training or group tutorials in any market area.

    

10. Run a membership site, providing regular quality content to your subscribers.

     

11. Run an online survey to find out exactly what your market is looking for. Set up a single page site offering some bonus or mini-product for those who join in the survey. The servey can ask something like ‘What’s your most burning question about (your niche topic). Drive traffic with Adwords for fast results, you only need about 50 questions. Find the solutions to those questions (or pay someone else to) and you have an instant ebook. It’s a fabulously easy way to get content for an ebook or other package.

     

12. Already written an ebook using any of the methods above? Upsell the product (ie. Offer a more expensive version to our market) by having it converted into audio and/or video (we can outsource this, or do it ourselves if we are comfortable with audio and video editing).

These are just a dozen examples to get you thinking about the various ways there are to write an ebook, or the methods of information product creation. Often the hardest part is making the decision and actually moving forward. If you’re writing your first ebook, I’d encourage you to select the method you are most comfortable with, and having done your market research, stick to completing that product before moving on to anything else. You’ll be amazed as to what you can achieve with online marketing, provided you can maintain focus, and follow through a project to completion.

We can often ascertain which keywords our competitors sites are optimized for.  Right click on their page and select ‘view source’ from the drop down list.  This will show you the ‘html’ code for that web site.  At the top of the page, many sites have ‘meta tags’ which tell you exactly which keywords are relevant to the site.  Look for code like this:

<meta http-equiv=”Keywords” content=”

The words which appear after that section of code are the relevant keywords in use for that site.  Consider whether we can use any of those keywords also.

Alternatively, check out Keyword Spy which provides keywords being bid on by a domain for their AdWords campaigns.  It’s a quick easy way to see what the other side are up to.