Life (and Nutrition)

Another thought provoking video (Below) regarding the frailty of life. You might be wondering why I am discussing the matter of nutrition on this blog. Well. it is simply that in my own way I try to view life holistically and find that anything that affects the power of thought is not only of interest but is potentially critical (if ignored).

The outstanding comment from the talk that stuck in my mind was that the type of nutrition regarded as appropriate for a balanced healthy lifestyle is what your grandmother would have recommended, 

i.e. one with a minimal amount of processed food (containing additives). 

Little wonder that obesity rates are so high when 'junk food' is so readily available and cheap.

My dear wife, a superb cook herself, has long since bemoaned the demise of cooking in schools and that children are not having any experience of how to provide for themselves given basic ingredients. At the age of 70 I am convinced that her cooking has played a major role in my personal health/fitness/condition. Every day I walk anything from a minimum of two to eight miles. I cycle 2/3 times per week and I still enjoy a pint or two with my friends. 

However, enough about me, the main message from this talk is that it is the damage to the cerebral function which is the most 'depressing' outcome of poor nutrition. On the plus side, the economic savings achieved by providing nutritional 'boosters' are very persuasive in comparison to more conventional expensive psychological therapies. Thus there are strong arguments for the adoption of policies which promote the importance of nutrition earlier in the 'cycle of life' so that young children grow into adults who are more self sufficient in terms of providing for themselves.

The link to online marketing (which I took up as an antidote to boredom) is largely down to my examination of aspects of lifestyles which encourage making decisions to extend the human potential. I find the subject fascinating and eye-opening as I research various elements of human activity which are fundamental to well-being, both physical and mental. The process of growing old is inexorable but it can be affected positively if the issues which have a detrimental effect on 'survival' (without being too dramatic) are firstly identified and secondly acted upon. 

I hope to develop this argument over the coming few weeks/months/years and I would welcome any thoughts/experiences that you might have and wish to share.

To your health and prosperity

regards

Ray

How To Make Money On Your List

This month we're going to start a four month series on how to build your own business using a lead magnet, a squeeze page and Facebook. First we'll start with creating the perfect leads that targets your audience and makes them sign onto your list.

Then we're going to cover exactly how to build a squeeze page or landing page that gets those visitors to say, "YES! Add me to your list NOW!"  In our third installment we're going to cover how to get as much traffic as you want from Facebook.

Once you have learned all three of these skills, you can literally go into any market and create a list building machine in just days.

Better still, you can take it one step further and build a complete product funnel behind your lead magnet, offering a tripwire (low ticket) offer, followed by your main offer, followed by a big ticket item. In fact we are going to cover all of that in month 4 of this series.

First, we better reveal what a lead magnet is. You know those freebies you get for subscribing to a list? Those are lead magnets.  They're something offered as a free gift or enticement in exchange for an email address. And they're the easiest, fastest way to build a list of target subscribers.

Remember this: The goal of any lead magnet is to convert traffic into leads.

While it's true you can throw just about anything together and call it a lead magnet, it's also true that the better (and more targeted) the lead magnet is, the easier it will be to build a profitable list.  A lead magnet doesn't make money by itself. Yet working as your front line ambassador, they can be extremely lucrative.

As you know, there are three ways to grow a business:

· Increase the number of customers

· Increase the average transaction value per customer

· Increase the number of transactions per customer

With the right lead magnet, you can increase the number of prospects and customers you have joining your list.  And with a well-targeted niche, you can also increase the average transaction value and even the number of transactions per customer, by attracting the very best customers for your particular business.  As you go through the following sections, always think of your leads as an irresistible bribe that will offer real value to your prospects.

Your leads has to be so good, your prospects will 'buy' it with their email address.

It should be relevant to your niche and your offers.

It should be ultra-specific in what it gives to the user.

It should be priceless, in that the prospect can't easily Google the information and find it for themselves, or even buy it someplace else.

And it should be easily consumed, because you want the prospect to consume it immediately after they download it.

We'll go through each of these in turn in a moment.

The point to remember right now is this: Your lead magnet is perhaps the single most important piece of your entire marketing system.

The right leads will bring you a never ending stream of new prospects and soon-to-be customers. The wrong leads will bring either the wrong prospects for your offers, or no prospects at all.

Discover how to engage and excite new customers into taking action and spending money with you by using these simple free marketing tips from Nick James, The Internet Business Coach http://www.Nick-James.com

Buying Guest Posts on Blogs

Having a guest post published on a blog has, for a long time, been seen as an extremely good way of advertising a website and giving credibility for a brand, but what if you simply don't have the time to write a guest post, and then pitch it to a large number of bloggers in the hope that one will agree to post it for you? Well, that's where buying posts on blogs can help, because you can pay to have guest posts written for you and published on a well-known website or blog.

If you have thought about using guest posting as a way to advertise your website, but you have never been able to find the time to do anything about it, here the advantages of this type advertising and some advice on how you can get someone else to guest post for you.

Improve your Google rankings

A good quality back-link from a niche related site is worth a hundred times what a spam back-link from a low quality site is worth. A link from an article posted on a high domain authority website will have just the contextual relevance that is needed for a link to have real benefit in Google rankings.

Drive quality traffic to your site

An article posted on a popular website will increase traffic to your website too. People who are reading an article on a topic that is related to your own website on a high authority site are just the type of audience that you want to attract, because you know that they will be interested in what your site contains or sells.

Gains brand exposure

Having content published in your name or content published with a link back to your site, gets your brand in front of a wider audience. Although it is very difficult to quantify the benefits of brand awareness, there is no doubt that the more people see your brand, the more likely they are, at some point in time, to come and visit your site.

Increases credibility

Having a connection between a popular blog in your niche transfers more credibility to your own site. A good quality guest post on an authoritative website or blog is almost as good as receiving a recommendation from that site.

Increases internet presence

The more mentions of your website on the internet, the greater the likelihood of someone finding your site. If links to your website appear on many different blogs, not only will it improve your search engine rankings, it will also increase the chance of someone stumbling across your site and visiting it out of curiosity.

How to get guest posts on blogs

You can approach relevant blogs in your niche yourself and ask the blogger if they would accept a post from you, but that can be extremely time-consuming. Firstly, you would have to find the blogs in your niche that do accept guest posts, you would have to approach the blogger with an idea for an article, and then you would have to write the content as well.

The alternative to doing it all yourself would be to buy a guest post on a website or a blog. There are people who already have author's accounts with some of the large and popular websites, or who have their own blogs, who offer their services to write and publish content on your behalf. There are some websites that specialize in supplying guest posts, or you could visit an auction website that specializes in selling all kinds of web assets.

If you do want to buy guest posts, take a look at the top online web asset auction site Avatar Bazaar, where you will find all kinds of useful web properties up for auction.

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Snapchat - Best Marketing Tool

There are two kinds of businesses right now - those who are taking advantage of Snapchat before other businesses find out they should be on it - and those who will wish they'd had the foresight to jump on Snapchat back in 2017. So what are some marketing strategies you can use on Snapchat for growing your business?

Specialized Content

Make your fans feel like insiders by providing content you offer nowhere else. Your goal is to make users feel like they've got exclusive access to insider info. This develops emotional connections between them and you and your content. For example, you might provide tips or inspiration in the form of 24-hour Snapchat stories. Give your fans the keys to success, daily insights, advice and so forth to create a sense of trust and inclusivity.

Contests and Perks

Surprise your fans with promotions and giveaways to build customer loyalty. Contests work wonders on snapchat and they're easy to do. Your contest can be as simple as naming a product, captioning a picture, taking snaps with your product and so forth. Announce your Snapchat contest on all of your social media channels, and make the prize suitable for the target audience you want to attract.

You can also offer insider access, promo codes or discounts with a Snapchat scavenger hunt. Build anticipation for the event prior to the launch date. You might even do something as simple as sharing a daily deal with your followers by giving them a special Snapchat referral code.

This is a great way to get them to spread the word about you. And you can track customer behavior by monitoring how many promo codes are used.

Engage Fans in Your Story

Ask for your followers to participate, creating a two-way conversation with the community.

For example, ask them to send a selfie featuring your product. Or ask them for a picture that illustrates an answer to a question. Or have them create videos on why they love your product or how they relax at the end of the day or whatever is appropriate to your niche.

Make sure you reply to your fans. You can do this either by replying in the chat feature, or sending back a photo of you thanking them. It pays to go the extra mile to make users feel special and a part of your community.

Team Up with Influencers

Snapchat takeovers give people you select access to your Snapchat account, so they can create stories promoting and enhancing your brand's personality. When you let advocates take over, your account seems less promotional and more fun and authentic.

If you're worried by what might happen, it's not like the monkeys are taking over the zoo. Rather, it's influencers and fans chosen by you who agree to 'be' you for a day.

For example, let's say your niche is gardening. You ask a master gardener to show off her garden and those of her neighbors using your account. Or if your niche is relationships - you can let one of your clients tell the story of how you saved his marriage. Really, you're only limited by your imagination.

Final Thoughts

Snapchat enjoys the highest growth rate of any social media channel right now. So if you're not there, you are missing out on some major exposure for your business. That said, remember that Snapchat is about the fun, not about bragging about your product or hammering prospects.

Find the light-hearted angle to your business and use that to help your followers achieve their goals and you'll build brand loyalty unlike anything you've achieved on Facebook or Twitter. Discover how to engage and excite new customers into taking action and spending money with you by using these simple free marketing tips from Nick James, The Internet Business Coach http://www.Nick-James.com

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Simple Strategy Of Online Marketing 2

First, choose your niche. Health, finance and business, relationships, self-improvement... choose something you enjoy yourself that's filled with people who spend money. The hungrier your market, the better.   Either create a lead magnet or have one created for you. It should be an offer so enticing that visitors can't help but opt-in to get it. Put an upsell after that squeeze page to earn some up-front money.

Run solo ads or Facebook ads to send traffic to your squeeze page. Just spend a little bit here and there at first until you get your squeeze page and upsell page tweaked and optimized for best results. Then buy more traffic. Use the profits from the upsell to buy MORE traffic. Yes, you will be spending money.  But done right, you will also be making money. Worst case scenario, you spend $5,000 to build your list of 10,000 people. Best case scenario, you make that $5,000 or more on your upsell to pay for your list building.

It's a leap of faith to do this. Which is why most will never do it. But because most never will, that leaves plenty of room for YOU to do it.

Don't have money to invest in traffic? Then you'll have to use 'free' methods, which aren't free. They involve spending time and effort, but again, it's totally worth it. Now here's another 'secret' to getting this done - anything, and I mean ANY PART of this endeavour that you don't want to do yourself, you outsource. Get someone else to do it for you. Yes, outsourcing costs money.

You're building a business, aren't you? You are looking at earning a $5,000 a month income within 3-4 months, so just make the investment and do it.

Mail your list consistently as it grows. That means once you have your first subscriber, you start mailing 4-7 times per week. This is where you're going to put your real effort - into writing emails that make people WANT to open them and read them. You can't force people, but you sure can entice them. Whatever it is that your particular list wants, give it to them.

If you don't know what that is, hang out where they hang out, talk to them and ask them what they want, what they need, what one thing would make a big difference for them. "But all of that sounds like so much work!"

Guess what? If you want to build a business it's going to take work. It's going to take going through some bad stuff, some stuff that doesn't work, some stuff that costs you money to build your business. But once it's built, you have a perpetual fountain of money on your hands. You keep building the list, you keep emailing the list and you keep promoting to the list. Build, email and promote.

Imagine the lifestyle where you can be anyplace in the WORLD, send out an email and literally get money into your account that same day.  5 sales, 50 sales, 500 sales, all from one email. But to get to that point you've got to do the work first. And I don't care how many programs you buy. The fact is sooner or later you will finally come to the realization that regardless of what else you might be doing, you should also have a list.

Because a list is security. It's money in the bank. Now think about this: A year from now something happens and you need to make serious money FAST. Maybe you found the house of your dreams but you're short $20,000 for the down payment. Maybe your son needs an operation and your insurance won't cover $20,000 of it, and they won't do the operation until you get the money.

Maybe the IRS says you owe $20,000 in back taxes and they're about to take your home. Whatever it is, you need a substantial amount of cash in your hands NOW. But thankfully, a year ago you began building a list. Within 4 months your list was up to 10,000. Now it's over 30,000. You send out one email. And the next day you have $5,000 in cash. So you send another email the next day, and two more after that. And you have your $20,000. You get the house. Or your son gets the operation. Or the IRS leaves you the heck alone. Now that is security. That is power. That is freedom.

And it all starts with you, right here, right now, creating your funnel and building your list.

If this is the only piece of internet marketing advice you ever take, you will succeed and succeed big. Build. A. List. Starting now. Discover how to engage and excite new customers into taking action and spending money with you by using these simple free marketing tips from Nick James,

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How To Make Money With Facebook Marketing

Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world right now. It is a place where we meet new friends and connect with ones who we've lost touch with over time.

With over 1 billion active users daily, it's the perfect place for advertising or marketing products that can earn you income. You don't need to drive traffic to your account, all you need to do is to create a group/fan page and add a lot of people to it (say 5,000). That should do the trick.

How Do I Monetize My Facebook Account?
The first to do would be to create the fan page mentioned earlier and choose a niche. It could be about gaming, making money online, auto loans, healthcare, insurance. Then you add people to the page, as much as you like.

The next step would be to register as an affiliate marketer on either of ClickBank, Clickbetter, Commission Junction, LinkShare etc. Check their marketplace for products based on your selected niche that you could advertise on your fan page for a commission ( 75% - 80% at times ). After making your choice, the real marketing begins.

Then you start posting about the product you've selected and place your affiliate link with your posts. You'd be amazed at how many visits, clicks and sales you've made in hours. When I started, I was making up to $500/day and it didn't take me up to 5 days to set up the whole system.

So Facebook marketing is a very profitable business to venture into and its hassle-free. The number of people added to your fan page will be enough to get you the sales you need but you can always continue to add more people. If you have about 50,000 people on your page and more than half of them visit your links in each post, you could as well quit your day job because the revenue you're going to generate is quite massive. This might take a while to achieve but with hard work and determination, it's quite realistic and possible. A post or two everyday with new information about your subject of interest/niche would do the magic and before you realize it, you're already making tons of money online every month. Simple and easy, right?

A lot of people are currently using this method of advertising to make money and you can be one of them today. It is an effective way to earn money online and it is risk-free. It also requires little or no capital to start with. So what're you waiting for? Join the money train and take advantage of this opportunity to monetize your Facebook page.

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Using Solo Ads

Once you have your niche, your product and your website up and running to promote that product, how do you go about it?

Many of the early internet marketers used newspaper ads (so-called webads) to draw potential customers to their website. These would consist of a punchy headline, a couple of sentences promoting benefits of their offer and a website link address. This was before the real boom in internet usage, so ads in newspapers were a very good way to reach the marketplace. You will still see these webads in newspapers even now. Many successful marketers use a range of ways to promote their products including via newspaper webads.

Other ways to advertise your products and services include Pay-Per-Click advertising and/or Search Engine Optimisation. However, these methods can be unpredictable and possibly expensive too. Solo Ads are an alternative to these which many are using today. It is a bit like a joint venture where someone with a product will Joint Venture with someone who owns a substantial list for the shared benefit of both parties. The difference with a solo ad is that the product owner will provide their ad to a list owner who will then email it to the contracted number of addresses from their list in exchange for a proportionate payment. The list owner will have no further interest in the transaction, so all the resulting business goes to the product owner. Apart from the purchases which may be made, it is a good way for the product owner to build his/her list with new quality names.

There are many people around the internet offering their lists for hire for the distribution of solo ads. Some of these are genuine, some are not. I would recommend using a reputable company such as "Udimi" (and others) as a source for finding quality sellers to provide this service for your business. As you are going to pay for this service you want to be sure that your ads are going to people who are likely to be interested in your offer and not just to a general list of tyre-kickers.

The solo ad itself should be very similar in layout and concept to the old newspaper ads. As they are delivered as an email, the subject line must be eye-catching and encourage the recipient to open the email. This is the equivalent of a headline and must have the same desired effect - to make the reader want to know more. If the subject line doesn't get the reader to open the email then what is contained within the body of the email will never be read.

The solo ad has a lot of advantages over other forms of promotion, especially in the early stages of rolling out a new product. You will always have total control over expenditure and have real confidence that your ads are going to reach only interested people. The whole process is easy to set up and inexpensive. It is a good situation within which to test different headlines too. Writing the solo ad in the first place is probably the most skilled part of the operation and that can, of course, be outsourced if you wish. As with any project in internet marketing it will be necessary to set up a sequence of follow-up emails on an autoresponder to deal with the new additions to your list.

Rob J Hinchliffe is an experienced writer on the subject of internet marketing and related topics. If you have found this article of help and would like to learn more about how to earn money with a profitable online business, please visit http://www.internetmarketingmanual.com for further information on the subject. Internet marketing is the business of today. Discover how you can become a part of it.

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Discover The New Way To Making Money Online

It's 2017 already and many people are gearing up for their new goals and aspirations. Back in 2005 I set a personal goal to make enough income online to quit my job and spend more time with my family. Well that goal didn't actually happen until 2012. Looking back on how I reached the goal, I realized that a lot of my struggles happen because of a lack of knowledge.

I learned my way around the internet the slow way. I've tested and tried just about every product or system you can think of. The main reason I finally succeeded was not some revolutionary discovery. It was because I was consistent in my efforts. Making money is all about persistence, no matter if you're online or offline. When ever you set a goal don't put a time limit on it. A time limit on a goal is just a reason to quit when things don't happen as fast as you would like. That took me seven years to learn.

The good news is, it doesn't and shouldn't take you that long to succeed online. I'm writing this for all current and aspiring internet marketers, affiliate marketers and product merchants. There are several ways to make real income online, that you can pay your bills with. I'm not filthy rich but I do own my time and I can afford to travel and buy things for me and my family as if I worked a regular 9-5. The biggest difference is, my income is steady growing and I'm not having to work harder. In fact I'm doing way less work than when I first started and that's truly a blessing.

You see, understanding where the demand is and how to reach the right audience is the secret. If your reading this and you want a proven way to make extra money or get off the clock. I have great news for you my friend. I've written down everything I've learned.

All the steps I took to get myself to this point and created a step by step guide that can teach anyone how to make money online.

I've also built a website where you can go and get free information and training. What ever niche you decide to work in, I've cut through all the cutter of get rich quick stuff and automated cash crap for you. What that means is, you get to save seven or more years of your time learning and get straight to the methods that really work.

You've heard the phrase" it takes money to make money" right? Well that's true, but you shouldn't be spending thousands of dollars to get started in any business unless you know what you're doing, that's a red flag! You will need certain tools and marketing software if you're doing affiliate or internet marketing. If you're going to buy and sell products on eBay and Amazon obviously you'll need some investment cash to start. No worries, I'll show you how to set up your online business for under $200.

I'd like to proudly introduce you to a true resource for online income and marketing strategies. Created for the beginner and the expert. You can search and find the best ways to make money online for you and learn at your own pace. If you set a goal to be successful on the internet this year, I strongly recommend you visit the website and take look around, all of the products, guides, services and free training you'll see have been tested and/or used by me so I know they work. All you have to decide is that you're going to be persistent and you will hit your mark.

Thanks for reading and I hope I mentioned something to help you grow.

Click To Discover The New Way

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How To Find a Profitable Niche - Best Strategies For 2017

Begin With What You Know

When you set out to start your internet business, the first thing that you should think about is what you already know. Make a list of your hobbies, interests, education and even work experience. Almost anything and everything you can think of can be your profitable niche.Image result for images of niches

Now, use this time to think outside the box. Remember classes from high school and college where you received information that might be helpful to other people, even books and magazines that you read. Whatever knowledge you might have rumbling around in your head you need to write it down and get ready to use it.

Go through a typical week in your life, what do you do on a daily basis that other people might find beneficial. Are you able to home school children of different ages, do you feed a large family on a very tight budget or do you have a chore system that keeps the house clean and functioning no matter how many activities cloud the calendar.

There is plenty of information that you have right now that would help other people and that many people would be willing to pay to learn. The key is to get the possibilities laid out in front of you and then begin to build a plan around that information that will help you create opportunities to start making some money.

Next, you might want to ask friends and family about what they think are some of your strong points. Get the people that know you best to make separate lists about areas that they think you excel and have the most knowledge in. The only right answers to this project are lots of answers. After all is said and done you will have several possibilities for launching your internet niche. The next step is to decide which area is something you have a passion for and bring you the most satisfaction. You will work harder at something if you have a real love for what it is you are doing so make sure you pick a niche category that you will enjoy working with day in and day out.

Choose Your Passion

Most everyone is good at something that they don't necessarily like doing, they have the talent or a gift for it but just don't have the heart. Although it might be possible to find moderate success in areas that you are simply good ( or talented at ) you will find much more success in those areas where you have a deep seated passion.

1. What would you do if money was no object? If you won the lottery tomorrow or came into an unexpected inheritance, how would you spend your time? If you would still go to work every day because you enjoy it then you probably have a passion for your chosen career. If you would spend all of your time working in your garden then your passion lies in your plants. The things that you would do whether you could make money or not are the things that you have the most passion for.

2. Would someone else pay you to do what you love? You might be surprised to find that there are people in the world who hate to do the things that you love doing. Your neighbors might be willing to pay good money to have you bring over a nice dinner each night or have it in their own kitchen when they come home. Your green thumb might turn into some greenbacks if you take some of your plants to the flea market or fairs and sell them to eager buyers or you might do some digging in someone else's yard for a few extra dollars.

3. Can you turn the knowledge you have gained from your passion into a career? This goes back to the same principle you discovered in #2. Just because it's something you know doesn't mean everyone else gets it. You can take your knowledge and love for numbers and balance other people's finances for them. You can take your knack for saving a few dollars at the grocery store and teach others to do the same or do it for them. Your knowledge and experience in an area life may be the perfect way for you to create a living.

Finding your passion is as easy as 1, 2, 3. You Just need to ask yourself a few questions, review the list of strong points and categories that you have generated and see where your heart beats strongest.

What counts most here is your is your knowledge, experience and passion. You will soon have some steps that will help you establish yourself as an expert in the categories you choose to pursue.

But Before you jump in too far, you need to test the waters a bit and see which direction you need to be heading.

Research The Market

Do a keyword search.

a. First make a list of all words you think are associated with the niche you are most interested in pursuing.

b. Include common phrases that would be used when talking about the niche.

c. Use one of the free sites available to see how relevant the keywords and phrases are according to searches that other people are doing.

d. With a list of the most relevant keywords and phrases you will be able to create the best name for your website and the best description for drawing an audience.

Finding the best keywords will help you better understand the market. You will begin to understand what people are searching for and how to meet their needs.

Establish Yourself As An Expert

When people are looking for information about a product or service they prefer to listen to someone who knows the most about that subject or niche. You will have to promote yourself in a number of ways in order to become the dominating factor and a leader in your niche. Remember that it is the experts in different fields that will ultimately become the people most likely to sell books, products or just subscriptions to their sites.

It is not necessarily easy to establish yourself as an expert in any field. It does help however if you have an educational background in the subject area or niche.

But education is not everything. It is still possible to establish yourself as an expert if you are willing to put in the time and effort required.

1. Get in with the in crowd, you need to know who the top dogs are in your niche and you need to be constantly aware of what they are putting on their sites. Reference their material, comment on their sites or even write posts and articles that are inspired by the things that they are writing.

2. Become a guest blogger. Just like with a print magazine, contact the website owners of some of the blogs in your niche and offer to write a blog or series of blogs.

3. Get your name out and the name of your website. You can do this by posting quality articles on all of the free article sites that are out there. Include a link to your website and also include some information about what makes you the person to write about that subject.

4. Regularly visit forums and other groups that are top in your niche. Post quality responses to questions and even create articles based around the questions that you can then refer to readers.

5. Create an About page that includes all of your accomplishments in that particular niche. Include any work you have done in that field and material you may have written and any other pertinent information about your skills, education and abilities.

6. Keep learning and growing and presenting new information every day, the more you know the easier it is to become an expert in your field.
Being an expert in any field can make it easier to be successful in that field. There are still more ways to dominate the niche you have chosen even if you haven't reached expert status yet. Simply put, ANYONE can find their way to internet marketing success, some will find it early on and others will take a little longer.

This is just a summary of what it will take to become a dominating force in whatever niche you choose but, always remember hard work and determination can and will take you a long way toward realizing your dream. Whatever you do keep pushing toward that dream!

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The 5 Keys to a Successful Online Business

Introduction  As with any other business, a successful online business too must have deep foundations based on these 5 key principles.

1. Targeted Advertising  Advertising online is now more powerful than ever.You can easily find and reach a very targeted audience for your offers and have people visiting your website in minutes! With many platforms now offering a functionality called pay-per-click (PPC) i.e. Google, Bing, Facebook, YouTube and Amazon, picking the right platform for you and your business is key.

If you are just starting out, consider at most 2 strategies only and master them. As tempting as it is to 'jump' around and see what works, you will save yourself valuable time, money and overwhelm, the latter usually comes from information overload. Have a clear understanding of who your ideal customer is and consider where they 'hang out' online before choosing an advertising platform.

2. Lead Generating Websites  Websites are not what they used to be a few years ago.You might find it hard to believe but those pretty websites where we used to visit and browse around looking at how company X products and services look and 'feel' don't work for sales! There is too much distraction happening and information overload does not help your prospect move closer to a buying decision, which is essentially what you want.

The technical term for the website you want to create is a Lead Capture Website.Other techie terms used interchangeably for the same is a squeeze page or opt-in page. These sites are 1 page only.

A well-designed page should 'tell' your prospect 2 things only! What you are giving the and what they need to do now that they are on your page. No other distractions allowed, not even your other cool products and your social media news-feeds.

The human attention span is down to 8 seconds; the goldfish in my tank has 9 or 10. Instagram is said to have 68% higher engagement compared to Facebook. Why? That double tap is genius. If you hang out on Instagram you know what I am on about. Last I heard; snap chat and vine are going in for the number 1 spot... well I am guessing we might be down to 5 seconds today! Now we know we need to be quick and direct about what we are offering our prospect before they click away. After all, they've been kind enough to give us 5 seconds of their time.

3. Build A List  Without being too fancy here, the main objective is to create a fans list that like and trust you. They are happy to buy from you anytime. In fact, I heard that if you become awesome at doing it, these fans can go temperamental if you are not selling them anything.They will chase you for more stuff to buy and you better have it ready.Now that is a good problem to have.Another marketing fact is, it's cheaper to keep an existing customer than to go out and look for one.

Think about your monthly marketing budget. I certainly don't want to spend more dollars to get the same customer every other month. I'd rather have a new one and still keep the old one who wants to buy again. Investing in tools to do this is key. Auto-responders such as aweber and mailchimp can get you started on the list building process without breaking the bank.

4. Provide Overwhelming Value  Actually, this right here should read provide overwhelming value.By providing value to your prospects you will build trust and desire for your offers. This is something that every online business should aim for. This will separate you from the competition. Come up with ideas for quality free gifts that you know your prospects and/or fans will appreciate and find useful in solving a problem or at least come very close to solving one.

5. Offer Quality Products & Services  In this digital economy age, quality is NOT important, it is EVERYTHING in your business. Information is literally oozing and available to anyone anywhere anytime. Think about how much information you are exposed to digitally in a day. That said, my opinion here for anyone selling anything to anyone online is, they should make it their business to get the one-word feedback every time and that is wow.

The online marketplace is a 2-edged sword. The very thing that brings you success has the same potential to bring you failure in equal proportions. Every time I want to trust and buy something I have never bought before, my reflex action is Google and I am there looking for reviews.

Final Thought  The truth is, it has never been easier as a business to be exposed to negative feedback than it is right now. One of my social media consultants said something the other day that got me thinking. Negative feedback online hurts a big brand or a small coffee shop in exactly the same way. In fact, some big brands will avoid being 'out there' online where they can expose themselves to disgruntled customers who only need to jump on a social platform and vent out!

However with quality products, raving fans on your side, and consistent application of these 5 keys to a successful online business... Happy Days!

Wishing you success.

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Niche Awareness - 5 Things You Need to Know

When you are first starting out in internet marketing one of the hardest things to do can be deciding which niche market you are going to target.

I know when I was first starting out I went from having no idea what area I would be targeting to being bombarded by so many different niche markets my head was spinning at the prospect of picking just one or two.

With that in mind I am going to look at some of the various kinds of niche markets available to you as well as a few other things you will need to consider, with the intention of casting a little light on the subject and hopefully as a result make the whole process of choosing a niche market that bit easier for you.

1. Try traditional niche markets

The traditional niche markets break down into three main categories

• Health and Fitness

• Wealth Creation

• Lifestyle

Each of these markets has existed for far longer than the internet has and will always be in demand. In fact, these markets have existed since before the beginning of marketing itself.

For example, people are always looking to improve their health, this could be health in general or dealing with a health condition that they have to live with such as diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, asthma or IBS to name but a few.

Maybe you are more interested in the fitness side of things, again the scope for this market is huge and very much in demand. People are always looking for ways to work out at home or shorten their time at the gym with different ways to get the maximum results in the shortest amount of time. A lot of these gym goers are looking at ways to put on weight or build muscle.

Which brings me nicely onto what is probably the biggest area under the health and fitness banner, this is weight loss. The global weight loss market is estimated to be worth £220 million with an estimated 29 million Brits attempting to lose weight last year alone and with obesity on the rise this market is only going to get bigger. With that in mind there's always a marketplace out there that will be hungry for information in this area.

In the same way, people are always looking to make more money, maybe they have retired and want something to fill their time and top up their pension, or they could be looking for something to do as a hobby that can generate a little extra cash to supplement their wages. It could be, they have dreams of quitting the drudgery of the 9 to 5 and starting out on their own. As with health and fitness, wealth creation is a huge marketplace with numerous possibilities.

Similarly, lifestyle is an area that people want to improve constantly, this again covers a wide range of subjects, quitting smoking or drinking could also be covered by the health and fitness banner but tends to come under lifestyle as does improving sleep and stress management. You could also look at relaxation techniques and meditation as well as the very popular relationship niche. So as you can see a vast number of people will always be looking for solutions within this market.

In conclusion, the markets I've mentioned are a fantastic place to start if you're thinking of going into internet marketing, or even if you're already up and running and you want to explore a new niche then these are huge markets for you to tap into.

2. Solve peoples problems

Every single person who is in internet marketing brings a wealth of knowledge with them, and if you think that this is not true for you, then you are wrong. We all have things that we are passionate about, or are knowledgeable in, it could be a hobby that you have been doing for years or maybe you do a job in which you have gained knowledge that could be passed on to the less initiated - insider information, tricks of the trade etc. You can use what you know or love to help solve other peoples problems. Even if you don't have all the answers, with access to the internet you have all the experts in your chosen topic at your finger tips - just Google it! And if you're solving a problem, you're helping someone. If you're helping someone, then you can get paid for your time and effort.

Every single day people all over the world are looking for answers to problems they may have, in every single subject under the sun. Don't believe me? try googling 'how to get my bread to rise' and you get over 5.6 million results, or try 'How to improve my golf swing' and over 1.25 million results are returned, or try something more obscure like 'How to stop my dog barking' and you get over 770,000 results. What I'm trying to say here is that regardless of what you are knowledgeable about there is someone out there looking for answers to problems in that particular area.

If you can provide a solution to the people who are looking for answers, in a way that they can easily access, then you can get paid for doing it.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to produce an e-book and with websites such as Amazon kindle direct publishing; https://kdp.amazon.com it's now easier than ever to get your e-book out into the market place. If you add an audio or video version as well, then you will greatly improve your widespread appeal.

Do your research right and you can easily find the most common problems in your chosen niche. A very good way of finding what problems people need solving is to go direct to the market itself. One of the best places to look can be online forums dedicated to your chosen subject, you will find numerous people here looking for answers to an abundance of problems. Places like Yahoo Answers are also a great way of finding out what problems people are facing. If you want to you can always go and survey people in your chosen niche.

This is not only a great way to find out what problems people need solving, it's also very valuable to you because the people are basically telling you what product they need. All you have to do is give it to them.

3. Do your research

Research within your chosen niche is vital. It's important because it tells you what the market is thinking and more importantly what it wants. It also tells you if the demand is big enough to be worth your time and effort creating products that that particular market is asking for.

By going direct to the market you can discover what problems they face, what solutions they've tried, what has worked and what hasn't worked, you'll get a better insight into what people want and be better placed to provide a solution in a targeted way.

If you already have a list, that's great, send them a brief email questionnaire, ask them what they want to learn about, what problems they have (short term and long term), what kind of information they need.

One great way to find a niche market is to use the Google Keyword Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal You can see how many people are searching for a specific word or phrase, this is an invaluable tool to ascertain if there is a demand for the niche you are considering. If there are 10,000 searches per month or more and very little competition from advertisers, you may well have found yourself a niche that's ready and waiting to be tapped into.

4. Keep looking

It's important as an internet marketer to constantly be on the lookout for new ideas and continue to search for new niches and markets that you can potentially tap into, this will not only increase the number of income streams you have but will also ensure that you are not putting all your eggs into one basket should one niche area start to wane. Having said that, don't give up on one niche just because you have had a successful product. If one product has worked, then the potential is there to sell more, keep going in that same niche until you have 4 or 5 good products all making you money.

Don't forget to keep a constant relationship with your existing buyers, send out emails at least once a month, send them offers, upsells and other products that you think they may be interested in. Remember it is easier and cheaper to sell to someone who has already been a customer than to sell to a complete stranger.

You are surrounded by places where you can gain inspiration for new niche markets. Try going to the magazine section of your local shop, look at the various magazines on sale and the subjects they cover, chances are that If there's a magazine for it, then it is likely to have enough potential buyers to be a worthwhile niche market.

As I mentioned earlier you can also find inspiration by playing around with the Google Ads Keyword Tool as well.

5. Go deeper

What I mean by this is quite simply finding more specific fields of interest within your chosen niche. For example, maybe your niche is the beauty market so then your more specific areas within this market could be hair, or nails, looking younger or even the make-up niche.

Taking the make-up niche as an example, you can narrow this down to things such as applying lipstick, foundations for different skin types, or applying eye make up.

Lets say you decide to create products about eye make-up, If you are somewhat of an expert on this subject then that's great, turn what you know into an e-book or a step by step video tutorial. If you are not then don't worry you could interview experts in this area and maybe record the interview and produce your product from this.

By going deeper and being more precise you could really get the most out of your chosen niche and because you're being very specific you can open up a whole world of possibilities to build on. Remember people love to learn from experts and so that attention to detail will pay off.

It's also a good idea to think laterally within your niche market and consider what other products or services people might be interested in. As I mentioned earlier, if people have already bought from you, then suggest other products you think they may be interested in or offer them an upsell of another higher priced product.

Finally, make sure that you take careful notes of what works and what doesn't work, then maybe look at how you can use what works in the future and whether you can fix the things that do not work or if you need to discard them and try a different approach.

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How Affiliate Marketing Works - A Step By Step Guide For Beginners

Looking to make an income online? Got a computer / laptop and an Internet connection? Then Affiliate Marketing could be the simplest and quickest path to fulfilling your dream.

Here, you'll discover the 6 simple steps that will take you from complete beginner to Affiliate Marketer in as little as 48 hours.

WHAT IS AFFILIATE MARKETING?  Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing system where a product vendor pays an "affiliate" a commission when someone buys their product. That "someone" having been referred to the vendor by the "affiliate."

And it all happens online: You have a web presence, usually a website, that you attract like-minded visitors to, where you "warm them up" to the idea that the product you're promoting (as an affiliate) is the perfect answer to their pressing problem or need.

That "product" could be physical (books, CDs, DVDs, clothing, jewelry, natural medicines, etc.) or digital (e-books, e-reports, software, online courses / trainings, etc.).

When your visitor clicks on your affiliate link (on your site) they are redirected to the vendor's site, where the vendor will close the sale; a lot easier after you've warmed them up! When your site visitor buys the vendor's product you get paid a commission.

For example, if the product cost $100 and you get, say, 50% commission, you'll get paid $50! And all for, basically, introducing someone with a pressing problem or need to someone who can fix that problem.

Affiliate marketing is ideal for beginners starting out online as it has a very low barrier to entry: it's a very simple process that doesn't need any particular technical skills, you don't have to have your own product, and it doesn't cost the earth to get started. In fact, you can get going for less than $20!

And, you don't have to do selling, or fulfillment, or keep stock, or deal with payment systems, and you don't have to deal with customers; the vendor does that.

All YOU need is an Internet connection and a computer / laptop and you're good to go.

AFFILIATE NETWORKS  Because affiliate marketing is so profitable for both affiliate and vendor, over the years many "affiliate networks" have sprung up to help both affiliates and vendors manage their affairs much more efficiently and easily.

Vendors can attract affiliates by advertising their products on these networks and affiliates can easily find products to promote. Once an affiliate decides to promote a certain product the network assigns an affiliate link / ID so that sales of that product can be linked back to the affiliate.

The affiliate network also takes on responsibility for managing the flow of money between vendor and affiliate either by electronic transfer or check. It also charges a small fee to both vendor and affiliate for the service.

There are many affiliate networks to choose from, but a beginner to affiliate marketing can easily get started with "ClickBank" and / or "Amazon."

GETTING STARTED WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING  

1. Choose Your Niche and Product  The first step is to decide which niche you wish to operate in. A "niche" is a group of people with very similar interests, e.g. gout sufferers, broken relationships, looking for car insurance, how to make money online, etc. But, of course, it also has to have proven "buyers" in it in order to make money.

So how do you find a profitable niche with lots of profitable products you can promote?

A very quick way to do this is to search affiliate networks for niches that have several products that their stats tell you are selling well. If there are lots of products that are selling well, you now know that the niche is a profitable one, and, the buyers in that niche like those products.

In other words, there's no second guessing; you know for a fact that you can make money in that niche and you know for a fact which products are successful, unlike if you had to develop your own product!

Once you're happy with a product, you sign-up as an affiliate for it and are given a unique link that you place on your website. When a visitor clicks on that link they go to the vendor's sales page where, if they buy, you get paid the commission assigned to that product.

2. Get Your Domain Name  Before you setup your website you need to get a domain name based around your niche. For example, fastgoutcure.com, weightlossforseniors.com. Get the idea? This will become your website "address."

Two of the most popular domain registrars are "GoDaddy" and "NameCheap."

3. Get Hosting  Next, you need to get hosting for your website. This is where all your website files will be stored and secured. When someone enters your domain name in their browser they will be directed to your website.

There are very many web hosting companies out there, but you can't go far wrong as a newbie by going with "HostGator."

4. Set-Up Your Website  You then need to set-up your website. This needs to be highly relevant to, and laser-focused on, your chosen niche and product. For example, having a website about "arthritis" and trying to promote a product that cures "gout" will neither rank well in the search engines nor make sales.

Although gout and arthritis are linked medically, most people don't know that, so they'll be searching for "arthritis" solutions or "gout" solutions and Google will present webpages on their search results that reflect that. So always stay laser-focused!

You need a platform or specialist software to build your website. The most popular platform today by far is "WordPress" which is free. Most good hosting companies like HostGator allow you to select WordPress directly from within your hosting control panel in just a couple of clicks.

5. Add Great Content  There's a saying in marketing that "content is king!" I like to say that "GREAT content is king!" So the content on your website has to be highly relevant to, and laser-focused on, your niche, such that your site visitors get great value (and know they great value) from it.

For example, if your site is about "gout" you write content about what causes it, its symptoms, how it's diagnosed, how it's treated, any natural remedies, any specific diets, lifestyle changes, and so on. Give top tips, some recipes, the latest studies, news, etc. That is, keep adding "value."

6. Drive Traffic (Visitors)  Now, you can have the best website in the world, the best product(s) to promote that will definitely, absolutely, help your target audience; but, if nobody ever lands on your site, you might as well not have bothered!

So getting visitors (called "traffic" in Internet marketing) to your website is absolutely critical to your success and to helping all those people who are desperately searching for a solution to their problem.

There's basically two ways to get traffic; "pay for it" or "get it free."

Paid traffic is things like advertising on other niche websites, Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. You can also pay people who have large email lists in the same niche as you to send out a promotional email of yours to their list.

But paying for traffic may not be the best option when starting out because you really need to know what you are doing because it's very easy to get "burnt" when you don't.

Free traffic comes from things like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which is the art of getting your website on page 1 of Google, Bing, and other search engines.

You can also get tons of free traffic from posting great content (with links back to your site) on Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. When people click on your link they end up on your website.

You can produce simple, short, YouTube videos that can drive traffic to your site via your site link in the video description.

One very popular way to drive free traffic to your site is to post comments on blogs and forums in the same or similar niche to you.

Another very simple way to get free traffic is by publishing short articles in Article Directories such as EzineArticles. The article you're reading right now is an example of this technique.

This also has the added benefit that other website owners in your niche are allowed to copy and publish your article on their sites, but they must leave your website link intact so that you can get free traffic from THEIR site too!

So, here's your affiliate marketing checklist:

1. Choose Your Niche and Product

2. Get Your Domain Name

3. Get Hosting

4. Set-Up Your Website

5. Add Great Content

6. Drive Traffic (Visitors)

If you're a beginner to affiliate marketing don't be overawed by all this; it really is very easy to get going. Anybody, and I mean anybody, who has an Internet connection and a computer or laptop can be up and running, ready to start taking commissions, in as little as 48 hours. And all without any previous experience.

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