There is one other consideration. After one has been burned by the sham artists, the trainers who do not know how to train and the “I will slap out an ebook because I am just out for the money”, one becomes skeptical of believing what the next guy says. I have even lost out to trainers who talk about a forum and then you find that no-one goes there!!

I wish when I had started there had been a register of competent and successful trainers. It took me over a year to find the people I needed.

Yep, there are real beginners out there. I have yet to learn to upload a photo.

I am compelled to comment. This is exactly why I began blogging. There are folks out there who need me. I know it. Ant that goes for each and every one commenting on this blog.

Out of all your posts that I have read ( And I’ve read a many), this post is one that has significantly raised the level of respect I have for you.

KUDOS!! You are the man..

For me, I go for a particular segment of the visually-impaired community. I market advice to beginners, but to a certain kind of beginner who is turned off and even frightened by other, more common approaches. For most topics, “newbies” isn’t a niche, IMO, it’s a collection of niches.

There are a lot of shamsters preying on beginners but if you can provide a good service to beginners (like myself) you should get paid handsomely.

I see a few fellow commenter’s here “getting” the message and yet a few who don’t. Andrew and Daryl Grant are a great example to use. If one signs up to their basic list _and_ bothers to read the materials they provide … hint … there’s a _lot_ of info in the PowerPoint presentations … one gets more real information than most $19 dollar “learn to write an eBook” offerings on line .. so do they make money after giving away so much? Obviously, they certainly do.

I think a great many people’s stumbling block to getting something profitable going is the common tendency to base things on the ‘scarcity’ theory .. “If I give anything away I won’t make money.”

Long experience has taught me that the ‘abundance’ theory is much more viable … whatever you give comes back ten-fold.

(nitpick mode ON) While I did learn two definitions of “spat” I did not already know when I looked it up, but one tends to think you really meant a “spate” of pedestrian/vehicle accidents … (nitpick mode OFF)

In response to a comment regarding ‘can we only make money from teaching people how to make money’ – The Money Programme in the UK this week talked about a woman who has become a millionnaire from her ecard website – still trying to remember her name!

Jackie Lee

Yaro, I always enjoy your posts. It has the touch of gold in it at all times.

You know… I’ll be honest. There’s no way I’d be able to compete with the Frank Kerns and the Darren Rowses on teaching the advanced people anyway.

Like you said, if you’re geared toward teaching the newbies, then they’ll stick by your side as they grow. This is the approach I’m taking when I’m working in the MMO niche right now.

It would be incredible to get rich doing this, and I know someone who has been catering to the newbs for only 6 months and he makes $25,000 per month! His name is Lee McIntyre. Imagine making $25,000 per month the first six months you worked online and you’re teaching as a beginner to the beginners…

Anyway, there does seem to be one huge problem with teaching beginners that you might not have addressed.

And that problem is this.

Who is going to read your stuff and send traffics your way and link to you? They’ll say, “that’s just the basics, nothing special.”

It seems a little bit like a double-edged sword. Unless all of your newbies go directly into the beginner’s make money online niche, you might now see much word-of-mouth traffic.

That’s the only downside I see.

I’m just blabbing a little, but I also know another guy who swears on his life that teaching the newbs is WHERE IT’S AT.

Anyway, you and I also have a mutual friend, Bryan Clark…

Great blog.

I’ll be back.

Jason

I’ve been following your content for the last while now – always great stuff – thanks.

I agree about the beginner issue, especially when it comes to all matters technical. Lots of info products and courses I’ve looked at have been pitched at a zero knowledge starting point yet some of the terms and concepts used have left my head spinning from the off!

This post is a great reminder that sometimes we need to spell things out to people in the most simplified ways imaginable. There are plenty of people out there who will thank you for it.

Sarah
http://www.AudioPodArtist.com

So while the readers of this blog are the target demographic (though some of the actually are – beginners discover E-J all the time), my readers will think of becomeablogger.com when friends or family or just people they come into contact with ask about getting into blogging.

Search traffic will help to, as will affiliates who promote the site.

The tactic is to have some form of entry point resource and then find ways to get it in front of the target audience. In my case I want word of mouth to do most of the work for me, which is why I invested in a quality production. However I could be creative, take the become a blogger videos, stick them on a CD and give them away at conferences or as JVs with other related products.

The options are endless, especially once you have the resource created.

You would hardly have success advertising on other blogging blogs of forums for the same reason.

One possibility is to look at the larger niche market and advertise there. For example crowd on MMO sites and forums might be interested to hear about beginner guides to blogging because some of these people may have learned another methods of making money.

But it would be interesting to hear another strategies of attracting beginners traffic.

That’s a great piece of free advice there, Yaro.

David
Perpetual Learner

As I continue to define my niche, I ask myself, “How will I teach people to make money, save money, save time, or save pain?”

Given your niche I don’t think you need to teach people how to save money, unless it’s discounts on items your tea party readers desire. Making money is probably not on the cards either, unless it’s how to sell your tea party items for a profit or make holding tea parties into a business.

Solving pain probably doesn’t fit specifically to tea parties either.

You need to look towards the entertainment crowd and what their spending habits currently are.

Find the number one thing your target demographic buys online and make sure you sell it as an affiliate.

It’s similar to the CollegeHumor.com model. They had a ton of traffic coming to their site for entertainment. They went profitable when the started a website selling funny t-shirts, something the target market they targeted loved.

Think laterally and the answers are there. Of course you need the traffic and ultimately, an audience that actually buys stuff, but don’t give up until you think about all the avenues.

It’s so not true.

The perception comes because it’s the make money online bloggers who write about the topic and how much they make, they have to to demonstrate credibility.

Bloggers who make money in other niches do not need to write about how they make money. It just wouldn’t make sense and their readers would be put off.

As one case in point, here is a diabetes blog case study I recently came across -

Diabetes Blog Earns $40K per Year

Notice how the case study is not published on the diabetes blog itself.

There are blogs making way more money in other niches, you just won’t hear about it. I’m certain bloggers who target dating, ringtones, health, electronics, clothing, etc earn way more than us MMO bloggers.

You definitely raise an important point – there is a misconception that could use more proof to dispel it.

I also still question, however, can individuals make decent money teaching online who ARE NOT teaching individuals how to make money online?

That might be an interesting post for your blog~what do top Internet marketers teach besides Internet marketing? Who has been successful in completely different niches than your own.