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Let a Web Professional Guide |
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Self-Starters Weekly Tips ================================= Welcome
New Subscribers & Faithful Readers ~ I’ve got some GREAT Do-It-Yourself
e-business tips for you in this issue! Feel free to forward this
issue to your friends and colleagues. As always… Happy Monday ;-) INSIDE
THIS ISSUE 1)
Highlight Your Text… you’ve seen it, here’s how
you DO IT! 2)
Accepting Your Success Stories & Tips – Free Advertising
For You 3)
Start
Your Own Internet Business With These Free Product Ideas… 4)
Promoting Your Info Products, 5)
Update on Affiliate Programs that PAY – And one that doesn’t… You
can now view tips from past issues online at: ========================== 1)
Highlight
Your Text… you’ve ========================== Of
course it does! Use this handy snippet of code to grab the attention
of YOUR newsletter or website viewers: <span
style="background-color: #FFFF00"> Text Here </span> Simply
Copy the above line, Paste it into your HTML Editor, and Edit the
“Text Here” text ~ That’s
it! Happy Highlighting! 2)
Accepting
Your Success Stories ========================== http://www.webservicenetwork.com/lynn.htm
========================== 3)
Start
Your Own Internet Business With These Free Product
Ideas… ========================== I had to chuckle when
I recently came across this great quote by Ken Hakuta
("Dr. Fad", creator of the 1980's "Wacky Wallwalker"
craze, and founder of AllHerb.com)… "Lack of money is no obstacle.
Lack of an idea is an obstacle." How incredibly true! Here
at the A hot selling, in-demand product
or service *idea*! I'm always telling people that you
don't need a million-dollar advertising budget to be successful
on the Internet. The truth is,
you can easily get started and begin earning a serious income
with a budget of less than a few hundred dollars if you're prepared
to do a lot of the work yourself. But how can you get started without
that first spark of an idea? Good question! If you are… A)
Interested in starting your very
own, profitable Internet business, but at a loss for product ideas… Or B)
An online business owner looking
to expand your product base… … then
LISTEN UP! I'm about to give you 5
powerful strategies for easily finding in-demand product
and service ideas. However, before we get to that,
it's critical that you take a moment to seriously consider the following
questions. If you don't want to do this, don't bother reading
the rest of this article. It will be a waste of your time.
I want you to stop for a moment
and think… 1)
What are you interested in? It's extremely important that you consider these
questions very carefully. If there is one key lesson that
I've learned, it's that the greatest success comes when you're pursuing
something that you're passionate about. So the product or service that you
develop should be related to something that you really enjoy or
have a sincere interest in. (Plus, this way, whatever you're
doing will feel less like work, and more like fun!) And don't worry if your area of
expertise seems too obscure or specialized! The beauty of
the Internet is that it is the
perfect medium for niche marketing! (For those of you who are unfamiliar
with the phrase "niche market," I am referring to a specific, targeted
group of individuals who need or want what you have to offer.) Here is a little
secret that you may not know… Most successful entrepreneurs get
their ideas for their businesses by: (1) Studying
niche markets and then (2) Developing a product or service
that meets their needs or solves common problems! It makes sense, doesn't it?!
Not only are you guaranteeing the
success of your product or service -- people are already actively
looking for what you are about to develop -- you will also be able
to… Efficiently focus
both your time and money on marketing to Once you know where your niche market
is and what they want, all you need to do is put yourself in their
line of fire and your profits will explode! Seriously! So choose your area of interest
or expertise… and let's
move on to the good stuff! Hot Product Idea
#1: Research potential competitors in
your area of interest to find out what their best-selling product
is… and find ways to improve on it! What is their angle? What
kind of solutions are they offering? Are they successful?
Can you find some way to improve on their solutions? Are they
missing something? Why reinvent the wheel if you can
find a way to significantly improve on it? Think of all the
industries that make millions of dollars simply by improving on
existing products…
… I could literally go on
for pages and pages, but I'm sure that you get the picture. Your competitors may be your greatest
source of inspiration. So once you have chosen your area of
interest, start doing some market research. Get to know your competitor's products
inside out, and then improve on them to develop a strong Unique
Selling Proposition (USP) that appeals to your target market. Make it faster, shinier, louder,
quieter, safer, more cost efficient… whatever it takes to
make customers want your product or service over your competition's! Hot Product Idea
#2: Check out the newsgroups, discussion
boards, and chat rooms where your target market hangs out.
Sit back and listen, and you'll discover what they like, what they
don't like, and what they're looking for. People regularly visit these areas
seeking advice, and by monitoring these discussions you will begin
to notice that certain questions appear again and again. This is a great
way to locate potential product or service ideas!
I guarantee that if you see the same questions repeated in a forum
or discussion group, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of
other people out there wondering the
exact same thing! You see, only a small percentage
of the online community participates in forums and discussion groups.
So if the question is popular among these people, you can be sure
that there are many others surfing the web, searching for the same
thing! Some good places to start looking
for discussion boards and newsgroups related to your area of interest
include… http://www.deja.com … but
a quick search in any major search engine should also produce good
boards and chat rooms to check out. Hot Product Idea
#3: If you already have an existing
customer base, do an e-mail survey! Surveys are not only a great way
to improve on any existing product or service you may offer (so
that you can start closing even more sales!), they are also a great
way to discover fresh product or service ideas. Once you've sold
something to people once, it is extremely easy to In fact, statistics have shown that
your current client base is a gold mine… and that as many
as 36% of the people who have bought something from you
previously will buy again if you have something similar
to offer. Think of the potential here. This
is how you can start earning
a much larger income…
very quickly! So take advantage of this highly
profitable relationship, and find out what your previous customers
are asking for with an e-mail survey. Think about it -- an e-mail survey
isn't going to cost you anything but your time! Hot Product Idea
#4: Check out consumer review web sites
to find out what people like and dislike about your competitor's
products. People go to these sites to either
rave or complain, and that makes them great places to learn exactly
what the public thinks about your competitors -- or even you! Some good sites to check out include: http://www.consumerreview.com Hot Product Idea
#5: Join an Associate Program and promote
someone else's product for a referral fee. (Just to clarify, Associate Programs
are also called Affiliate Programs, Re-seller Programs, Commission
or Pay-Per-Sale, Pay-Per-Click and Click-Through Programs.) Joining an Associate Program is
a great way to start earning a nice income on the Internet…
without many of the hassles that come with running your own business.
All you do is refer someone else's
product or service, and then get paid a "referral fee" for every
sale that is made. (You are assigned a special URL that tracks
all of the visitors you send to their web site -- and all of the
sales that you generate!) It's extremely easy to do!
You just post a link, a banner, or a short recommendation letter
on your web site… or perhaps recommend the product or service
in your newsletter or e-zine… and then collect
a percentage of the profits when a sale is made! You don't ever worry about…
… or anything else for that matter! You
just do the promotion and collect your referral fee from the resulting
sales! It's extremely easy to set up…
there is really very little work involved… and once the link
is there, you are guaranteeing yourself an
extremely easy source of income for years to come! These
"Pay-Per-Sale" programs are usually really easy to join. Just make
sure you pay attention and read the terms and conditions, because
they can vary from program to program. I should also mention that there
are a number of Associate Programs out there that don't actually
"pay-per-sale" but actually "pay-per-lead" or "per-click".
In a pay-per-lead program, you are
paid every time your customer fills out a survey, asks for more
information, or gets a quote on a product (in other words, you are
paid for giving the company a "lead"). You may even get paid
every time your customer downloads trial or demo software. Pay-Per-Click is very similar. Basically,
you get paid every time someone "clicks" through the link from your
site to the Associate Program owner's web site (whether it be a text link or graphic link). On that note, make sure that you do business with a reputable company.
I know many people who have worked really hard, made a lot of sales
for a company, and then have never been paid for the sales they
generated (or have been forced to wait months and months to get
their money). These companies often don't take
their Associate Program seriously, aren't using the proper software,
and are wasting time and money doing tedious chores by hand when
they need to get automated. So while there ARE some really
fantastic Associate Programs out there that can earn you a sizeable
income, you need to do your homework. Our own Associates tell us that
there are only a handful of reputable Associate Programs like ours
that offer "the full meal deal"! In fact, the We work very, very hard to make
our Program the BEST, which is why we have thousands and thousands
of very happy associates! (If you'd like to learn how you can join
our associate program and start profiting from products that are
earning current associates thousands of dollars every month, click here.) Anyway, if you are interested in
starting your very own Internet business, but want to avoid developing
your own product or service, then joining an Associate Program may
be a great option for you. Two really good sites to visit to
find high quality Associate Programs that pay excellent referral
fees are: http://www.associateprograms.com In my opinion, if you want to avoid
the heartache and frustration of the scams and frauds out there,
peddling their "Get Rich Quick" Associate Programs, you should only
deal with the Associate Programs which these two sites rate high
or recommend. Final Note: Just in case you have not yet read
the "Insider Secrets to Marketing
Your Business on the Internet" course,
I wanted to let you know that it contains an entire section devoted
to hot selling product ideas. And I'm not just talking about places
where you can find ideas… I'm talking about exact ideas that
absolutely anyone can use to start their very own Internet business.
(Some of the ideas are so easy to start, you could be up and running
by the end of next week!) Anyway, it's a great resource if
you are interested in starting an Internet business, but don't have
a product or service to offer yet. Click here now if you would like more
information. ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: To
check out his site that's JAM-PACKED WITH THE EXACT INFORMATION
YOU NEED to start, build, and grow your very own profitable Internet
business, I highly recommend visiting his website - The Internet Marketing Center.
Click here! This guy
really knows what he's talking about! ========================== 4)
Promoting
Your Info Products, ========================== Let’s
start with the obvious… Add links to your website! Incorporate
them into your front page, your main navigation menu, and into your
articles. For example, if you publish a newsletter, don’t
add your affiliate link as just a link…
Add it as part of the content! See this example: http://www.waybelowwholesale.com/Newsletter/09082002.htm
Also See: Write For
Publicity Publishing your own ebook is a great promotional tool. You can include affiliate
links & product resources (Clickbank
links) etc - and then give it away for free! Offer it to webmasters
everywhere for free so that they can give it away as an incentive
to their newsletter subscribers, visitors, etc - it could get seen
by a huge market fairly quickly that way. This one (free) ebook
is the absolute BEST thing to read if you even halfway consider
publishing your own: http://www.webservicenetwork.com/ebooks/SelfPublishing.htm For even more (free) information
and great resources on creating your own Viral Marketing Ebook, also see:
http://www.webservicenetwork.com/articles/ViralMarketingEbook.htm
Add your links to your Sig Line - I change mine every week. If you participate in
Email Discussion Groups, post often (keeping the content relative
to the list, of course) and always be sure to include your Sig
File. You can also post product reviews*, recommendations, reply
to others who have posted with questions on methods or products
that are relative your products/affiliate programs. Be sure you
have filled out your “Member Profile” on any sites or
discussion groups in which you participate as well! *See this example of a Product Review:
http://www.webservicenetwork.com/ebooks/ebookstarter_review.htm
Most newsletters accept submissions
if they are valuable to their particular content - for example,
I accept Tips from my readers and post them in my newsletter each
week for free (and add the persons name & website link with
their Tip) - this can be anything related to running an online business
efficiently and affordably. Many publishers offer the same. Everywhere you go, everything you do - POST POST
POST <smile>. If you are interested in a great
Ad Blaster program
– which includes all the goodies such as Newspapers and magazines
Search Engines and Directories, Ezines,
Link Pages, Classified Ad Pages, Websites, Banner Exchanges, Hit Exchanges,
Web-based Optin Blasters, ETC then Click Here! ========================== 5)
Update
on Affiliate Programs that PAY – And one that doesn’t… ========================== Okay,
here goes <sigh>… I rarely ever give a negative Review
on anything, but I thought I’d give you fair warning while
I’m discussing Affiliate Programs. Commission Junction is
very popular, and some of you may have had much success with them
– but I personally have not. My first complaint would be that
they do not email you when you have received a commission, or when
you have been rejected or ‘dropped’ from one of their
programs. You actually have to log in to their affiliate site to
make sure everything is running smoothly. How many of us actually
have time for that? My personal feeling, after promoting a link
to an affiliate that had dropped me – without my knowing it
– was just pure frustration. Also, they frequently drop your
affiliates, for reasons which I still am not sure I understand.
Its hard to know when you are earning commission
and when you are not. For those of you who write articles that include
affiliate links, and then post them for long term use… this
is not a program to use. **Personal Opinion, of course** (Email
me if you HAVE had success with them – I would love to post
your review as well!) I
LOVE MY CLICKBANK CHECKS! You
can bet I am skipping all the way to the bank with a happy little
smile on my face when I get my ClickBank
commission checks! You’ve heard me recommend and rave about
this program… and I imagine I will continue to do so considering
my success with them. If you haven’t already signed up, Click Here To Sign Up Now – and after reading my
Weekly Tips by email and reviewing the Archives of SSWT, you still
aren’t sure how to promote your clickbank
links… email me and I will help you personally! WOW
– Now That’s COMMISSION! I have
also had great success with The Internet Marketing Center
. They pay a generous $65.00 commission
for their main product, and have several others to promote as well.
This is a multi-tier program (meaning you also earn commission from
affiliates that join under you!). Those checks can get FAT real quick!
And let’s face it – everyone has heard of Corey Rudl,
and his stuff just plain sells itself… Click Here To Sign Up Today! ****************** IN CLOSING… ****************** It
is my personal mission to bring you an assortment of resources for
your internet business each week in an easy-to-use format. Most
of the resources found in each issue are a result of years of research
that I have done for my own internet business and others, and are
shared with you with my positive recommendation. You can view tips
from past issues online at http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com.
As always, feel free to share this issue with your friends or colleagues! ~ HAPPY MONDAY ~ Lynn
Terry, Editor & Owner Web Service Network http://www.WebServiceNetwork.com
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