Finding a Profitable Niche

   We’re talking money, right?

   That’s why we’re getting into affiliate marketing in the first place. You find the products people are actively looking for, provide a link to that location, they buy the product, you make money.

   Simple enough, so where are these products? That’s not a simple question. There are many types of products, from services, to software to physical objects. You know, the kind you buy and lug home.  

   Today I’m going to talk about physical products.

   But first, let’s make sure we have the basic tools to make this work. To make money at affiliate marketing you will need two things to get started 1) a business email address 2) a website.

   There is no way around this. If you’re going to make money at this you will need those two things. A business email address is simple and free.  Go to www.google.com and click on gmail on the toolbar. Or www.MSN.comwww.msn.com  if you prefer, or www.yahoo.comwww.yahoo.com  or www.AOL.com  It doesn’t matter. They’re all Free and only take a couple of minutes to set up. You don’t have to use your name or anything, something like captainahab1964234@gmail.com would be fine. So just do it and let’s get this show on the road.

   Second, a website that the inexperienced person will have no problem using. No problem there either. Go to Wealthy Affiliate http://goo.gl/WAv9j look around get a feel for the place and use the new email address you just set up and join. It’s free! They walk you through the set up and you can have your own site up and running in about a half hour.

   Seriously, it’s very simple. Just follow their step-by-step instructions and you will have a functioning web business that you can market from that very day.

   Okay. Let’s move on to marketing physical products.

   Why ‘Physical Products’ you ask? Well, let me first mention that Amazon.com makes on average, 68 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY! EVERYDAY!

   And you can have some of that. Not very much but a piece of the pie! In fact you can have a piece of just about everybody’s pie, simply by becoming an affiliate.

   I’ll give you an example. On the top right of this page you will see an ad for Photo Shop Elements. It’s an absolute necessity if you are planning to design a book cover for your novel.

   So here’s how it works. One of my niches is self publishing. I know a lot about the topic and can teach anyone how to publish a professionally written novel with a professionally designed cover for about a quarter of what vanity presses and print on demand companies charge. But in order to save big money, some small purchases must be made. For example: You will need the Microsoft WORD program if you don’t already have it installed on your computer. You will also need Photoshop Elements. I will have both products available for purchase on my site.

   The price of both products is the same as it is at Amazon, to only difference is when you click on and purchase that Photoshop Elements from my page, I get a cut. No harm in that.

   Now the thing is as an Amazon affiliate you can feature any of their products on your site. Some people’s site have nothing but products for their niche. And people like to visit those sites because its one stop shopping for all the stuff they want.

   Here’s another advantage. Convenience. If something is difficult to get at a store, their next stop is online. Another good product to feature is one that addresses urgency. For example: What to do if … Your credit card is stolen…. A friend borrows your car and totals it while drunk… Your spouse gives you a STD. They go to Google, type in their concern and BINGO, your answer to their problem is right there for them to buy.

   Another way to get customers is to feature a product with a great sales page. Great sales pages address the customer’s needs. Is the page engaging? Does it list the advantages of buying the product, would you buy it? Does it have testimonials? Does it provide proof that it works? Does it have an ironclad money back guarantee?

Here’s an article that provides the 10 essentials for a top notch sales page  http://www.copyblogger.com/successful-sales-pages/

   Here’s another advantage. If you send a customer to a Amazon page and they don’t buy your featured product, you will get credit for any product they do buy! Commissions are between 4-6%.

   Here’s the thing. I send them to Amazon to buy Photoshop Elements. They don’t, instead they buy a sectional couch for a couple of grand.

   SWEET!

   Seriously, is there any reason NOT to affiliate market?

   Plus, most big companies offer affiliate marketing commissions. Walmart does, so does Target. Just go to the main website of any company whose products you might want to feature and scroll to the bottom. Click on Affliates, sign up and they’ll give you a link to post on your site. Anytime anyone clicks that link and buys the product you get money.

   Once you get the hang of it you’ll want to create a lot of pages featuring products because the more products the more money. Then scale up the ones that are performing and drop the dead weight.

   Stop by tomorrow and find out more!

WHY You Should Start an On Line Business

   Do you like having money? Having a roof over your head? Food on the table? Electricity?

   Sure you do. We ALL do.

   This is why you should start your own on line business. Will it be easy? Oh HELL no. When has making money ever been easy?

   But here’s the thing…

   It will be YOUR money. Not income dependent on an employer, or a pension, or government benefits. And think about this common scenario. Over the last few months sales at the company you work for have been down. Fellow employees are being laid off. You start checking the want ads just in case, but nobody is hiring.

Then the inevitable happens.  You get the ax.

   Dear God! What are you going to do? How will you be able to pay your mortgage? Your bills? Your utilities?

   You start to panic, then…

   Wait. You just remembered you have an on line business that you have developed over the last year and sales are steadily increasing. If fact, being unemployed may be a blessing in disguise. Because now you can devote yourself to your business full time which will only grow your business more!

   And when that days comes, (and in today’s economy, it very likely will) you will look back on the day when you decided to follow the advice from that world renowned super genius ZACKARY RICHARDS and went ahead and started your own on line business just… in… case.

   And when you took action, you discovered starting an on line business was much easier than you thought. That all you needed to get started was choosing a niche, which is a particular product or service you would enjoy telling people about. There are likely hundreds of thousands of people out there who are interested in the same things you are and would like to buy the same product you would buy once they became aware it existed.

   I’ll give you a perfect example. If you notice on the top right of this blog there is an ad for the Kindle Bestseller Roadmap.  Click on the image to see what the product offers.

   Basically, it’s a ‘How-To’ book and video tutorial that shows authors with books on Kindle, methods that when used, greatly increase awareness of, and generate interest in, your book(s)

   After I downloaded it I discovered that it provided a number of ways to get my book out before the buying public that I didn’t know existed. In addition, it included ways to tweak methods I already knew, that put my books in front of an entirely new audience. 

   Plus, since the author had my business email address, she was able to send me updates of the Kindle Bestseller Roadmap which got my books in front of even more readers.

   My point is I’m a writer and my niche is writing. And the Kindle Bestseller Roadmap helped my book sales. And because it helped my sales I decided, this was the perfect product to market myself. So I went to www.warriorforum.com asked the author if I could market her product, she agreed and now we’re both making money from it.

   Since the product is very inexpensive, neither of us is making a fortune but that’s not the point. The point is to show how simply it can be done, and that you can do it too.

   Here is the process in a nutshell:

   Set up a business email address

   Choose you niche.

   Sign up for free at www.clickbank.com and www.warriorforum.com (note* warrior requires a one-time $10 fee to start selling the products featured there ( it used to be free but idiots began joining and creating products that didn’t exist so they had to start charging a fee.)

   Both sites are top notch and have distinct advantages. Clickbank sells higher end products that you can make a lot of money from fast and Warrior forum features products ratings from experienced marketers so you know right of the bat if the product is worth your time and effort.

   Here’s a real testimonial about clickbank:  http://youtu.be/Ihh_tk2Xz2Y

   Then you tell the world about it by blogging, or placing free ads on www.usfreeads.com or writing an article about it on www.goarticles.com and a number of other ways I reveal in my newsletter (you should sign up on the above right. I won’t spam you but you will receive very useful info that can put your business growth on the fast track. )

   The most important thing I’ve learned about writing and being an author is that no matter what it is you do as a profession, you MUST make the world aware of your presence and that you have something to sell that’s worth buying.

   For you authors, here is a small booklet that will help generate more interest in your book(s) that’s not covered in the Kindle Bestseller Roadmap.

http://authormarketingclub.com/members/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/How-To-Sell-More-Books-with-Awesome-Amazon-Descriptions-1368724670.pdf

   And one other thing. One of the most important rules of gaining customer is to give them one of your products for free. This way if they like it, they will likely buy your other products.

   So on June 3, 2013 this coming Monday, my very popular short story collection STORYTIME will be a FREE download on KINDLE. It contains 23 gripping tales in action/adventure, sci-fi, romance, horror, comedy and paranormal. All reviews are 4-5 stars. Those who have read it love it and you will too. So mark your calendar and download your copy, you’ll be glad you did!