Carving a Small Piece of a Large Niche > Niche Marketing

There’s a lot of money to be made in taking small pieces of big markets. Markets like weight loss, making money, credit cards, mortgages, etc. are impossibly difficult to tackle. However, smart marketers who cut out just a small slice of these large markets can make a lot of money.

Here’s how this strategy works.

=> Go Where the Money Is

There’s a very good reason why markets like weight loss or real estate are so crowded. It’s simple – there’s a lot of money to be made.

Instead of finding small niche markets where the profit potential is unsure, in a proven market you can be certain that there’s money to be made. The trick is carving a slice of the pie.

=> Picking Your Slice

The best way to take a small piece of a large pie is to pick a specialty. That specialty should be a gap in the market.

For example, if there’s a lot of content going around about buying and flipping properties but no content going around about how to identify up-trending international real estate markets, that could be a very powerful niche to go into.

What about overweight vegetarians? If nobody’s talking to them specifically, that could be another great market.

The secret is to find a gap in a large market where you can have something unique to say that isn’t already being said.

Make sure it’s a gap that has real demand. Use your instincts and your knowledge of the market to find a gap. That gap will become your personal or company brand.

In other words, you’ll be known as the “international real estate guy” or the “vegetarian weight-loss guy.” By creating this brand, you’ll effectively become the go-to person for people who want to know about that topic. Word about your specialty will spread throughout the niche and soon people will begin to seek you out of their own accord.

When people are consistently finding you on their own because of your brand in a market, that’s when you know you’ve cornered a slice of the pie.

=> Getting a Slice Off the Ground

How do you get started?

Once you’ve identified your slice, start by picking a few choice keywords as well as a few target partners. These are people in the industry who you respect and would like to work with in the future.

Create your website and put 100% of your effort into creating world-class content on your subject. Consistently put out content at least once a week for a few months. Some of your articles can be deliberately written to target easy to rank for keywords, while others are written just for the quality of the content.

Once you build a bit of reputation, approach your target partners with an offer for a JV deal, a guest blog or a joint teleseminar. Do a few of these and your reputation and backlinks will both grow.

Carving a slice of a larger pie takes time, but the profit potential makes it all worth it. Find an aspect of a large and profitable market that’s under represented, and become the go-to person for that slice of the market.

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Connecting With Busy People Basics > IM Business Ebook

Free Business Networking ebook “Connecting With Busy People Basics” looks at: Networking Basics, Understand How Busy People See Networking, Make Your Communication Memorable And Unique, Get An Introduction From A Mutual Friend, Learn How To Be Interesting And Convey That and The Importance Of Being Genuine. Click “Connecting With Busy People Basics” to download (323 KB pdf) this free networking ebook.

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Should You Post Articles on Your Own Site? > Article Marketing

The short answer: Yes! That said, the real answer is a little more involved. At the end of the day, you want people coming to your website rather than other people’s websites. But without putting articles on other people’s sites, you won’t get the exposure you need to build your own audience.

How much content should you put on your own site? How much should go on other people’s sites? Let’s explore these questions.

=> Why Put Content on Your Own Site?

There are many reasons to put content on your own site rather than someone else’s.

First of all, search engines rank the site that has the actual content. If all your content is on someone else’s website, that means they’re getting the benefit of search engine rankings instead of you.

Secondly, people mentally give credit to the site they see content on. In other words, if they go to someone else’s site and see your content on it, they give a lot of credit to that site. If that content was on your site, you’d get the credit instead.

In the long run, you want to be building your own personal brand and your own audience. You need to consistently put out great content on your site in order to do that.

=> How Much Content Should You Distribute?

On the other hand, putting content on other people’s sites will get you backlinks as well as raw traffic. That can’t be discounted, especially in the beginning stages of a new website.

An optimal mix is to start with about 40% of the content on your own site and 60% published on other sites. This will get you the initial surge of traffic and backlinks you need to start building your audience and getting rankings.

Once you have a few one-way links to your site and a few hundred people coming to your site consistently, then start building up your own site rather than other people’s. Gradually cut back the amount of content you syndicate out and increase the amount of content you keep on your own site.

Once you’re a well-known brand, you want to be publishing about 95% of your content on your own site rather than someone else’s site. The other 5% will be strictly for guest blogging, for people you know and for sites with strong reputation and traffic.

One quick point on duplicate content: Don’t use the same content for your own sites as the content you syndicate out. Google will view this as duplicate content and dock your rankings as a result.

In answer to this article’s title, the answer is “yes” – you should post your articles on your own site. In the beginning, you’ll need to publish more on other people’s sites to build traction. As your site grows, however, publish as much of the content on your own site as you can.

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How to Make the Most of Article Directories > Article Marketing

Article directories are the easiest source of backlinks and traffic possible through article marketing. All you need to do is sign up for an account and submit your article. Assuming your article meets their guidelines, you’ll be up and running within a day to a week.

Here are a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck with article directories.

=> Find and Use Do-Follow Directories

Many directories put a NoFollow tag on their outbound links. What does that mean?

It means that although Google will see those links coming into your site, they won’t give you “credit” for having a backlink. The link will have no positive SEO properties.

Naturally, you’re much better off with Do-Follow directories than NoFollow. Look for Do-Follows and focus your energy on those directories.

=> Use a Range of Different Directories

When Google is counting links, your site will get a lot more credit if you had 100 links from 100 different websites than if you had 100 links from one website.

Of course, it’s not quite feasible to submit a different article to a different directory every time. But it does pay to vary it up.

Perhaps every ten articles, switch to a different directory. This will give you a wide base of backlinks, which will increase your rankings.

=> Use the Big Ones for Traffic

Use well-known, high PR article directories like EzineArticles, GoArticles and ArticleAlley for raw traffic.

Because these sites have such a high PR and so much relevance in Google’s eyes, your articles are more likely to rank than if you put them on any other website.

Again, get a mix. Don’t put all your articles on just one big directory, as the backlinks won’t get as much credit. But do put some of your articles on the heavy hitters, as you’ll get more traffic that way.

=> Try Auto-Submission

There are a lot of article marketing programs out there that can make the submission process much simpler for you. All you need to do is plug in your login information and hit a button and the software will do the rest.

If you’re just doing an article here and there, you probably don’t need to use software. But if you’re submitting dozens of articles every month, then the three minutes you save from having to submit an article can really add up.

These are a few ways to really get the most out of article directories. Make sure you use Do-Follow directories. Mix things up and get a range of different backlinks. Use well-known directories for raw traffic. And finally, learn to use auto-submission programs if you’re submitting articles on a regular basis.

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How Many Articles Do You Need to Get Results > Article Marketing

How many articles do you need to write per week or per month if you want to get traffic? How many articles do you need to write if you wanted to make $500 a month? What if you wanted to make $3,000 a month?

Unfortunately, there isn’t one cookie cutter answer. It depends on your industry, it depends where your articles are published, it depends on the search engines and it also depends on the quality of the article contents.

That said, this article will seek to give a rough guideline of how much you need to write to hit your income goals.

=> Where Are the Articles Published?

Where the articles are published has a huge impact on how much traffic you get from the article.

If you’re publishing on article directories, the traffic probably won’t be huge. It’s rare than an article on a directory makes it to the top of a competitive term. Usually you’ll rank for low-volume terms and get a very modest stream of traffic from it.

The amount of traffic you get from guest blogging and writing for other people’s websites varies a lot. It depends on how much traffic they get, the positioning of your articles and whether or not the article has a permanent placement.

For example, if you’re writing a blog post, what will likely happen is that you’ll get a surge of traffic when that blog post is on the front page, then the traffic will quickly peter out. On the other hand, if you get on a permanent page or have a link to the blog post posted on the home page, you’ll get a steady stream of traffic.

High traffic websites and blogs will, of course, bring in more traffic than smaller sites. That said, it’s still often much more effective to work with a bunch of smaller sites first before approaching larger and more established websites.

=> How Many Articles per Month / Week?

Some people who make their living primarily through internet marketing write as many as 40 articles per week. Even if most articles only generate a trickle of traffic, with 160 articles a month the site will soon be getting flooded with visitors.

On the other hand, prominent blogs can write just one single good article a week and still get thousands of visitors. Particularly controversial, funny or informational posts can even go “viral” and hit astronomical levels of traffic.

The short answer is: the more the better. No less than three a week for the first two months is recommended if you’re just starting a brand new site. If you have an established site and an established reader base, you could tune it down to as little as two per month without losing reader interest.

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How Article Marketing Works > Article Marketing

Article marketing is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get traffic to a brand new website. It’s used both by beginning marketers and by multi-million dollar companies.

What is article marketing? How does it work? Let’s go over a broad overview of the basics.

=> How It Works

The term “article marketing” actually encompasses a pretty wide range of different techniques. In the broadest sense, any time you’re distributing articles with a link back to your website for the purposes of SEO, branding or traffic, you’re using article marketing.

Article marketing, when done well, can consistently drive hundreds if not thousands of visitors to your site. Because you’re getting more backlinks, you’ll also rank better in the search engines. Finally, because people keep seeing your name on different sites all over the net, you’ll build your brand.

=> Why Put Articles on Other People’s Sites?

Why put articles on other people’s websites, instead of on your own? There are a few reasons.

First of all, if your site is relatively new, it doesn’t yet have the weight and reputation that some of these other sites have. Other sites already have backlinks, longevity and reputation.

In other words, the same article that might rank in the top five on someone else’s site may not rank at all when it’s placed on your site, simply because your site doesn’t pull the same weight (yet).

Also, if you get your article on someone else’s website in your industry, you get to tap into their existing reader base and existing base of traffic.

Finally, the one-way backlinks you get by writing articles for others can make a big different in your rankings.

=> The Process from A to Z

The process of article marketing usually looks something like this:

First, you start with a title or keyword that you want to target. The title is attention catching, designed to get people from search engines or other people’s sites to click on the article. The keyword should also be carefully chosen to maximize search engine traffic.

You write the article, doing whatever research you need throughout the process. The final article should be at least 400 words long, preferably as long as 1,000 words.

The article is then submitted to other site(s). These can be sites of other bloggers, other industry websites or just article directories.

Once your article gets ranked, you’ll start to see a consistent flow of traffic coming in from the articles and from search engines.

That’s an overview of the overall process. Of course, each segment has its own quirks and challenges. For example, how do you choose a good keyword? How do you get someone to click on the link to your website? How do you get other bloggers to let you write on their blogs?

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Guest Posting 101: How to Write for Other People’s Sites > Blogging

One of the most effective ways to get traffic to a blog or website is to guest blog. Guest blogging allows you to bring someone else’s existing audience to your website. You make use of all the months and years of effort they’ve put into building their audience. In fact, if you could just do one guest blog post a week, you’ll very quickly find your site’s popularity going higher and higher.

How do you land guest blog gigs? How do you make sure your blog posts bring people to your site?

=> Approaching Other Bloggers

The most important thing to remember when you’re approaching other bloggers is to realize that you’re asking them for an equal value deal. People who approach blog owners as if they’re asking them for a favor stack the deck against themselves before they’ve even put a proposal on the table.

So how do you ask for the deal?

First, outline exactly how it’ll work. Tell them what you’d like to write about. Give them a few potential topics. Tell them all they need to do is copy and paste it onto their websites.

Outline what the benefits are for them and why you’d want to give them free content. Emphasize that it’ll be a win/win for everyone. Make it seem as risk free as possible.

Then ask for the “order.” Give them a link to your site so they can gauge the quality of your content and make sure that you share similar values. Assuming they like your site and like who you are, they’ll probably respond.

You won’t get every site you ask to write for. If you approach many sites, you’ll get many “no’s” and no-responses. But you’ll also get a lot of people who say “yes.” And that’s what matters.

=> How to Write a Great Guest Post

First of all, get to know their audience. Each site has a slightly different vibe, with an audience that cares about slightly different things. Get to know the specific vibe of each audience before you start writing.

Connect with your readers first before you write your post. People want to know who you are and why you’re qualified to teach before they’ll open their hearts and minds to listening to what you have to say.

Finally, once you get into the heart of the content, give it your 100%. Give them the best quality content you can and don’t worry about selling. The goal of the article shouldn’t be to sell to someone on a click-through, but to write an article that’s so good that they’ll seek out the link in your bio box.

Make people want to know more by giving them a taste of what you have to offer.

That’s how to approach blog and site owners and offer to do a guest blog post. It’s not difficult. All it takes is commitment and persistence.

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Five Tips to a Compelling Bio Box > Article Marketing

Your bio box is the bridge between turning someone from a reader to a visitor. A great bio box can take a large percentage of a website’s readers and bring them to your website. A poorly or carelessly written bio box can result in low click-throughs, even if your article was very good.

How do you write a great bio box? Here are five tips.

=> State the Main Benefit Upfront

To get someone’s interest in reading the bio box the whole way through, have the benefit clearly stated right from the beginning. Don’t wait till the middle or the end.

A lot of people stop reading when they get to the point where they’re expecting to be “sold.” You have just a split second to convince them to keep reading at that point. Use that split second (or first sentence) well by presenting a powerful benefit.

=> Include a Proof Element

If you make a strong promise or benefit statement without backing it up with proof, readers may or may not actually believe you. However, even just one strong proof element like a testimonial, study or endorsement from a well-known industry celebrity can give you a lot of credibility.

Obviously the bio box isn’t the right place to walk through all the merits of your product. That said, having just one or two proof elements can make a big difference.

=> Keep It Short

Before someone reads a paragraph, they subconsciously size it up. If the paragraph is more than four lines long on the screen, chances are they won’t even read it. Try to keep your bio box to just three or four powerful and carefully written sentences.

=> Strong Call to Action

What do you want someone to do? One common mistake marketers make is using the bio box as an “About Me” page. Instead, be clear in asking people to do what you want. If the goal is to get them to click a link, tell them to do that, along with a concise explanation of what they’ll get by doing so.

=> Professional-Looking Photo

On many websites, your photo will be shown beside your bio box. While your bio box won’t always be read by visitors, almost everyone will look at your photo. It can make a big difference.

Have a professional-looking photo taken. If possible, use a portrait photograph that’s been Photoshopped for color balance and proper contrast.

If you follow these five tips, you’re bound to have a compelling bio box. Start by stating what benefit they’ll get right up front. Back it up with a small but impressive proof element. End with a strong call to action, keeping the whole bio box three or four sentences long. Finally, make sure you have a professional-looking photograph besides the bio box to lend you credibility.

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Competition versus Search Volume – Where’s the Sweet Spot? > Online Traffic

In niche marketing SEO, your goal is to find low-competition keywords that are easy to rank for, and that still have enough traffic to merit all the work you need to put into the page to rank. What’s the sweet spot between competition and search volume? How do you find that sweet spot? Here’s how.

=> Less Than 25,000 Exact Match

The “under 25,000” competitors guideline is perfect for beginners. If you have an established website with a PageRank of 3 or higher already, then feel free to move this up to 50,000 or more.

Basically, the goal is to find keywords with traffic that have less than 25,000 competitors for the exact match term.

How do you find the number of competitors?

Simply put the exact long tail search term into Google, in quotes. For example, if your long tail keyword is: “How to find a date over 45,” then you’d type into Google “How to find a date over 45”.

The number of competing websites displayed by Google is the number of websites crawled that have that exact phrase on them, in that order. If the number is less than 25,000 (for beginners), then the keyword’s competition is probably low enough for you to have a good shot at ranking.

=> Is There Enough Traffic?

As a rule of thumb, target keywords with search traffic of between 600 visitors a month and 3,000 visitors a month to start. These are targets per article, not your main overall keyword target.

The number one search result for any given term usually gets about 40% of the traffic. So if you target a word with 1,000 searches a month and you rank number one, you’ll probably get 400 visitors a month.

Now, that might not seem like a lot in the beginning, but it very quickly adds up. If you write two articles a week and on average each article brings in 200 visitors a month, you’ll very quickly have a website bringing in thousands of visitors in just a few months of work.

If you’re doing more than two a week, you can only imagine the possibilities.

Just to reiterate – You should absolutely have a main keyword with a lot of volume and competition that you’re shooting for in the long run. But in the short run, aim for keywords with few competitors and enough traffic to make it worth writing an article. You don’t need heaps of traffic for each keyword you target; instead the volume will come from the high number of articles you’re putting out every month.

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Better Business Planning > Free IM Management Ebook

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Affiliate Marketing For Newbies > Free Affiliate Marketing Ebook

Affiliate Marketing ebook “Affiliate Marketing For Newbies” looks into: Affiliate Marketing Introduced, The 3 Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online, How To Become A Super Affiliate In Niche Markets, Which Affiliate Networks To Look Out For When Promoting, Easy Profits Using PPC In Your Affiliate Marketing Business, Using Product Recommendations To Increase Your Bottom Line, Using Camtasia to Increase Your Affiliate Checks, Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight, How To Avoid The 3 Most Common Affiliate Mistakes and
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Building Great Landing Pages That Convert > Sales Conversion Marketing Ebook

Free Sales Conversion Marketing ebook “Building Great Landing Pages That Convert” looks into: Introduction to Landing Page, The Landing Page System, What You Need Before Getting Started, Planning Your Landing Page Theme, How to Write a Landing Page that Converts, Tips on Increasing Your Landing Page Conversion Rate, Driving Traffic into Your Landing Page and Resources. Click “Building Great Landing Pages That Convert” to download (1.3 MB pdf) this free ebook. Personal Use.

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The Branding Formula > Free IM Management Ebook

Free IM Management ebook “The Branding Formula” looks at: Just What Is Branding, Research Your Topic Thoroughly, Let People Know Who You Are-Distinguish Yourself, You Have To Have Some Kind Of Presence, Networking With Social Media Use Videos, Offer Training Courses, Provide Quality Material And Customer Service, Live And Breathe Your Brand and How Not Branding Can Spell Disaster. Click “The Branding Formula” to download (459 KB pdf) this free ebook.

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