Ideas Sell

The single greatest thing to sell on the internet is information. People are always seeking advice and expertise from reliable sources on just about everything. All you need to do is give it to them – at a price, of course. Best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything to create except your time.

If you’ve been looking for opportunities online, you’ll probably have noticed by now that a lot of what the Guru’s are selling are information products – the good old fashioned “how to manual”. Why? Because people want simple and quick answers without having to think too hard on their own. There are millions of people out there willing to pay for advice on everything from how to renovate a bathroom to how to quit smoking, to how to be a better lover, to how to make money with an online business. It’s easy to give them the answers, even if you don’t have them yourself.

My own advice web site is a perfect example. It has been created by taking the best information available from a wide range of sources. Then I applied my own real life experience. It’s really that simple.

Not sure you can do it yourself? Try some of the products and services available to help you out. There's a long list of service and product providers over on the right side of this blog. Or try doing an online search for authors who are more than willing to sell you rights to re-sell their work. Your own product doesn’t have to be long and it doesn’t have to be perfect – just make sure you’re not stealing somebody else’s work!

Always Read the Fine Print

Deborah over at the Momma Blog is always full of great advice. This time she shares a little nugget in the middle of a story about tyring to make a buck by signing up for online surveys. Her story, in full, can be found here. She tells us about her not so successful experience and advises, quite rightly, to always read the fine print before signing up for any venture. The folks out there tyring to sell you on their service are trying to make a buck themselves and are very
very clever at taping into our motivations. So beware, but don't be afraid to try. There are all kinds of ways to make money online, but you're better off doing your own thing than trying to buy your way into a "sure thing" that gets bogged down in that little tiny print. Follow your common sense, not a common promise!

An Update Gift for You - shhhhh.

Just wanted to let everyone know I've made a few more updates over at the main web site to include a special link page for finding online resources and information. It's tucked away, though, so most people won't find it. Use the link at the bottom of the page. It's my little gift to you as a loyal reader of this blog. Thanks.

I've also done a little more renovation work here on the blog. I've added a directory over on the right with links to some of the best resources and services listed on the web site. Check them out if you're in the market.

A delay is the good news.

Our pre-launch experiment was supposed to wrap up on Sunday the 15th with the official public pre-launch. But there have been a couple delays that have pushed that date back to the 18th. At least that's the story. Let's see what happens. In the meantime welcome to John and Barry who joined my team in the last minute rush before the first deadline. All that's the good news. The bad news is that our masters have revealed how the membership registration will work and it isn't a simple matter. It involves actually sending a hard copy registration form and subscription payment. I understand that part of the attraction of the "club" is to get registered and protect your income "offshore", and this process will facilitate that. On the other hand, I strongly fear that with a difficult process for signing on, our ability as affiliates to recruit new members may be hampered. It will be a bit tougher to convince people to sign up and that means it's tougher for us to benefit from the program. On the other hand, if we promote this to the right audience, then the HUGE benefits of the club will certainly outweigh these minor problems. As always, you can check out more about the project here.

Just a few days left

Just wanted to say welcome to a few more new members of my team. The pre-launch is going well. Check out the details here. Hello to James, Peter, Jackie and Bruton. I can't wait to see how things turn out in the next few days. Got a big message from the top dogs today and need some time to go through it. It's supposed to tell us how the whole membership thing will work. When I absorb it all, I'll report back.

Linking for Ranking

When trying to improve your site ranking on the search engines, links to your site are extremely important. They provide direct opportunities for potential visitors in a wide range of locations. Think of them as advertisements or billboards that lead people to your site. Links come in a number of formats but all have one thing in common – they connect directly to your site or to a page within your site.

When you’re just starting out, it can be difficult to get quality links pointing to your site. To get around this problem there are services available to help generate those links. There are a number of good link exchanges and networks that allow you to trade links with other site owners. And, if you have the resources, you can pay for links on other sites. If you go the exchange route, try to find a quality network that will give you some flexibility to pick and choose your link hosts.

Some sites specialize in providing link exchanges for money. While this sites are good for building link exposure for the search engines, they won’t do much for driving traffic to your site because they often bury the links in parts of the site their own customers won’t see. If you want to increase traffic, choose only those sites where the links are going to show up on the main site, or on main sub-pages. The same rule applies to your own placement of links on your site. Be careful that links don’t clutter your own message. Consider where they will go to maximize your income potential, while not making your site look like a flea market.

One of the best is Text Links Ads. It's a fantastic service that provides one way links offered by other web site owners. The ability to review before posting link ads ensures your links are posted on relevant and compatible sites, not buried out of the way. With a huge inventory of sites to chose from you can also pick what's best for your own promotional plan and budget. Worth the investment. Oh, and did I mention the free $100 advertising bonus when you sign up? What a deal!

The Countdown Begins

Welcome to a few more new friends on the pre-launch journey. To Fabrizio, Ephraim and Sharon - I'm glad to have you on board. As I mentioned before, the looming deadline is fast approaching. As of today, we're just 5 days away from the pre-launch pre-registration cut off. There's lots of activity happening and the buzz is growing. I've noticed a marked increase in the number of folks promoting the program and a lot more interest throughout the grapevines. Everyone is waiting to see what will happen next. We're being told that sign ups are happening all over the world at a quick pace - which is the key to filling out the matrix for each member and ensuring they have an opportunity to cash in on the program. Keep watching, folks... the next few days will be interesting, indeed!

An Imposing Date

The pre-launch promotion has a sign up deadline of April 15. I assume that now we're into April, that date looks more imposing and urgent. In the last few days, seven new members have joined my team. That's a pretty impressive figure by my reckoning. I haven't done anything new except to highlight the deadline a little more prominently in my ads and mail blasts, so the only explanation I have is that the deadline is helping with the pitch. That very concept is one of the things every online marketing pitch needs to have - urgency. Read about that on my main web site in the "secrets revealed" section in Lesson 4. And to my new team members - Joe, Linda, Jagadeesh, Andrew, Ganesh, Ray and Viviana - welcome. I'm looking forward to being in touch with you all more soon.

Site Promotion is Vital to Success

When you're trying to make a living through an online business, promotion is an life or death proposition. Your first stop should be listing on search directories. Few start up businesses – especially those being run from home part time – have the resources to advertise in traditional print, television or radio media. So how do you get your web site in front of people who are looking for your product or service? The simple most effective way is to make sure your site is listed in the on-line directories. Think of them as the phone book yellow pages of the internet. You’ll have to put in a little effort to find the right directories, but once you find them it’s usually a simple process to get listed.

Start with the big ones like Yahoo, MSN and Google. These are the major players in the search engine business, so you want to make sure you show up there as soon as possible. Then use those same services to do a search for other directories and start adding your site in as many places as you can. Don’t forget the tips outlined in Lesson Four and Lesson Five about relevancy! It won’t do you much good if you’re selling shoes and your site is listed on a directory of magicians.

Being listed in a lot of directories can increase search rankings for your site, but you need to be choosy about where you list your site. Try to find quality directories that are relevant to your own site. Most of the better directories are free, some offer premium placing for a fee or charge for “immediate” listings. Depending on your needs, these services can be a big value to your business. There are also sites that only list for a fee and other services that will provide automatic listings to a network of directories. Some of these are worth the investment, but be sure you know what you’re getting before spending your money.

For more on this topic and other tips on building your online business read this.