What Topic Should You Blog About?
I spent some time yesterday manning the live chat interface we have running on the Become A Blogger Premium sales page.
The live chat is a little innovation Gideon and I came up with to help any person who is reviewing our sales page by making ourselves available to answer any questions live.
At any given point in time around 30 to 50 people are viewing our sales page during this week, while the program is open. Being available to answer questions live is a great way to help these people decide whether our program is right for them, but it also gives us valuable feedback on where people are “stuck” in their decision process.
We don’t man the chat 24/7, but whenever we are online and particularly just after we send an email about the program, we are there. When we’re not there, we just remove the chat interface.
I strongly recommend you consider some kind of live support during a launch campaign or even in general on any sales page. Demonstrating your commitment to your customers and showing your availability at the point of purchase, is a powerful persuasion tool.
What If You Don’t Know What To Blog About?
During the time I spent on the chat yesterday morning there was a common theme of questions.
The biggest “sticking point” people are facing when considering becoming a blogger is what topic to cover. The language used to describe the issue varied and included the following -
- I don’t know what topic to write about
- I’m not an expert at anything
- I don’t know whether my topic can be profitable
I really feel there is a strong insecurity and a general lack of understanding around what makes a profitable topic. This is a unique challenge for bloggers, because we don’t necessarily have a product to sell, especially when you first begin. In essence, your content is your product, and if you choose a product no one wants, then obviously you’re not going to make money.
The Subtle Elements Behind Choosing The Right Subject
I’ve long been a student of niche marketing and the initial choice of topic for a blog is the same as choosing a niche for any business. You’re choosing what market to enter with the hope of success, whatever that success is for you.
In most cases success includes some kind of monetary reward, but with blogging it’s a bit different, because for many bloggers, it’s just as much about creative expression, recognition and reputation as it is about raw dollars. You have to consider your potential to make money and whether you want to immerse yourself in that industry to potentially become an expert.
People don’t always look at blogging as the path to preeminence. Some just create a blog, stick some adsense on it, get some content created through outsourcers, then move on to the next blog. I’ve never been about this method because it lacks a soul. It’s purely about money and not about passion, and I don’t see that as something that will last long term.
It’s worth studying this method however because the people who use it are very good at figuring out where the money is, which unfortunately for those of us who focus on passion, often struggle the most with. There are plenty of struggling bloggers with a lot of passion and no dollars, so you owe it to yourself to use whatever resources you have available to make sure you’re not one of them.
The holy grail of blogging is a mix of what you love and what you can get paid for - and paid really well. Most book authors never make money from their work, yet with a blog you can put in as much effort as you would to write a book, and end up with a very cash positive asset. Best of all you can do this independently, from your home, without the need of distribution from a publishing company, who would take a large chunk of your profits.
I’m Going To Help You Find A Topic
Since I see the issue of topic selection such a major problem for people, especially those entering the blogging game for the first time, Gideon and I have decided to do something special for the new members of Become A Blogger Premium 2.0.
If you join before we close on Friday at midnight EST US time, you will qualify for a special live coaching session we’re going to do with this group if students to specifically address the challenge of topic selection.
The coaching will be live and we will do it next week once the program begins in earnest after we shut the doors to new members. This is ONLY for members, the public will not be invited and it will be focused 100% on the issue of topic selection. I hope we can also help some people live on the call by having a dialogue with anyone struggling to find a good topic.
There’s already resources in the program to help with topic selection, but I see this issue as something where you need as much help as you can get, including a chance to ask me and Gideon directly for help, so we’ve decided to put in the extra effort.
Once you have your topic, the rest of the blogging process can be quite straight forward. It takes work of course, but you will be comfortable because you will know what you stand for and who you are trying to talk to. That’s the magic of clearly understanding your audience and what you want to be to them.
If that sounds good to you, sign-up today so you qualify for the coaching session…
www.becomeablogger.com/signup/
I’ll speak to you soon,
Yaro Starak
Blog Mentor
PS. If you want to read more from me on the subject of niche selection, check out of my previous article - How To Simplify The Niche Selection Process
Podcast: How To Profit From Niche Websites By Adam Short - Part 1
Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link.
Download the MP3 [ 46 Minutes - 21 MB]
Download Part 2 here -
How To Profit From Niche Websites By Adam Short - Part 2
I’ve been asked many times whether I own other websites in various niches, all making money. The answer is no, I don’t. All my websites focus on the same niche, and while in the past I spent some time buying and selling websites in different niches, now I focus on maintaining authority in one marketplace.
Today I’m giving you part one of an interview with a man who does the opposite of me. His specialty is creating profitable websites in various niches. In fact, he owns 90 different websites all making money. His name is Adam Short, and in this call you will hear Adam explain exactly how he can build sites and make money from them despite targeting so many different topics.
This Is Powerful Information
I had to break this call down into two parts because Adam and I ended up speaking for an hour and twenty minutes. Adam really spilled the beans about everything he does, including how he chooses a niche (it’s ridiculously simple), how he generates a list of keywords to target, how he gets content created, how he drives traffic and then turns that traffic into money using automated email marketing.
Although Adam is not unique in what he does - there are plenty of niche marketers out there - his system is by far one of the simplest I’ve found and he was particularly good at explaining it on this call. He doesn’t hold anything back during the interview, there are no secrets, and you will even learn what are some of the specific niches and websites he uses to make money currently.
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t feel capable of establishing dominance in one market and you’re looking for a system of making money with websites in topic areas that you are not necessarily interested in, this could be the answer. After listening to the interview you will definitely have an idea of how it’s done.
Download Part 2 here -
How To Profit From Niche Websites By Adam Short - Part 2
Show Notes
- Adam introduces himself and how he got into niche websites
- We learn Adam’s very simple system for choosing a niche topic
- What keyword research you should do to check whether a niche is viable as a profit source
- Adam explains his traffic/keyword system for finding the high traffic/low competition keyword phrases
- How Adam gets content created for his sites
In part two of the call you will hear the rest of the process, including how Adam builds traffic, turns that traffic into money by selling products and advertising, and how he uses email autoresponders to increase the income returned. His entire system is “templated”, which makes it very easy to replicate, so make sure you download and listen to part 2 to complete the full picture.
Download Part 2 here -
How To Profit From Niche Websites By Adam Short - Part 2
Want More Information and Support?
If you enjoyed the way Adam explained his system and would like additional support and training to start building your own niche sites, Adam and his partner Alen have put together some free videos you can download if you are willing to give them your name and email.
There’s also a special $1 trial available only this week if you want to try out their full coaching program. This trial is only available to my readers and only from this link -
Part 1 Mp3 Download
Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 46 Minutes - 21 MB]
Do You Really Need A Unique Niche?
I was thinking the other day about the niche of Internet marketing. It’s one of the most crowded niches on the Internet, yet so many people generate an income selling products related to making money on the world wide web. The reason is obvious - there’s a hungry crowd out there eager to make money and more and more budding web entrepreneurs are born each day.
You can segment the market into many sub-niches. There’s the AdSense expert, the pay per click expert, the affiliate marketing expert, people who buy and sell websites, email list builders, and of course the professional bloggers who use blogs to earn a living - and that’s just small handful of the areas people are making money in.
The laws of marketing dictate that these crowded industries will further segment into smaller sub-niches with the hope that you can carve out your own little piece of the pie by breaking things down to distinguish yourself from the rest. For example there’s no specific expert I know of who focuses on being the expert at affiliate marketing just with blogs or the professional website trader who only focuses on buying and selling a specific type of site, like forums.
For beginners, the issue of choosing what to sell, or in the case of blogging - what to write about - is the hardest choice. I know the thoughts that go through your head -
- I’m not good enough at anything to be an expert
- That guy or girl already dominates that market
- I’m not entering the make money online niche - it’s too crowded
The problem is about positioning and until you get comfortable with what you want to be to other people, it can be a very confusing time in the life of a young start-up business or a new blogger.
What Really Is Unique?
8 Pitfalls To Avoid When Starting An Internet Business
I’ve been thinking lately about starting another Internet business. I’m not actually going to (right now), but I was considering my future and also what I might do hypothetically if today I decided to dedicate myself to a new project.
Over the past years of running an Internet business and studying information marketing and strategic business development I’ve come to realize there are some important things I would not do again - some pitfalls I would avoid right from the get go if possible. I suggest if you are just about to start your own Internet business or are at the early stages of developing your plan, that you heed my advice and avoid these Internet business pitfalls.
1. Don’t start a business teaching how to make money online.
This is the number one rule. Unless you are currently making millions online using innovative techniques and you have plenty of built up credibility and contacts to leverage for testimonials and endorsements, you won’t succeed teaching how to make money online. There are too many Internet marketing gurus already and the marketplace is saturated. The only way to differentiate yourself is through personality and social proof, and only well established marketers who already have had Internet business success stand a chance.
I’m not saying it’s not possible to be the next Internet marketing guru, but if you do decide to chase that goal you are facing stiff competition and a very jaded consumer. It’s won’t be easy to prove that you are different or any better than the other thousands out there proclaiming to have the next guaranteed formula for success online.
The same goes for bloggers too - don’t try and teach how to make money blogging unless you already make good money from it and can teach something new and different from the many other bloggers out there teaching how to make money from blogging. Earning your first $100 AdSense cheque does not qualify you as an expert. Sure you no doubt have some value to contribute, but if you want to base your business around your skill you better be really good at it or at least be very honest with what you are proclaiming to be or to offer.
2. Choose non-Internet related niches
This is not a hard rule but you will definitely make your life easier if you choose a niche that isn’t Internet related. Like point one, if people already do it online chances are the market is saturated. The markets that have untapped potential are those were the existing offline successful businesses don’t leverage the web…yet…or the opportunity lies in taking an offline business model and enhancing it by using the web as a distribution method or marketing channel.
If you come across a high-demand offline business model that has yet to be marketed online you can jump in and be first to market and establish yourself as the online expert. The best part - your prospects won’t have already been bombarded by online marketing techniques so even the most basic marketing efforts will likely result in tremendous rewards simply because you are first in to a virgin marketplace. These markets are not jaded from over exposure to Internet marketing so you don’t face as much sceptical resistance.
Of course if you do pick non-Internet related niches there better be a reason you can succeed at it. You need to be leveraging your strengths and for some of us (me included) it’s often difficult to find strengths that are not Internet related. Which leads me to point three…
3. Don’t focus on making money
In the past I’ve confused the enjoyment gained from building a business with the rush of making money. If the only thing you look forward to about your business is the money you will make or currently earn, it won’t last. It won’t last because you will only succeed until a better competitor enters the market and takes your money away (and takes your enjoyment as a result) or your business won’t grow because you are not actually leveraging anything you are good at. Making money is not a skill - it’s an outcome as a result of a skill.
You must base your business on two factors - market potential (a hungry consumer) and your strengths. If you don’t do this you will fail, or at best be mediocre.
4. Don’t enter a tiny market
One major pitfall is finding a hungry market but then realizing it’s tiny. There is nothing worse than fighting with competitors for the small handful of customers available. You can try and stick it out and hope you will be the last business standing or be bought out by one of your competitors (or the other way round) but this is not the best premise to be in business for. Be wary of fooling yourself that the market will grow and your business will grow along with it. That might happen, but don’t struggle for too long living for tomorrow’s growth potential if it’s not really there.
5. Watch out for tiny margins
Equally dangerous as a tiny market are tiny margins. If you study pricing and market differentiation you will learn all about premium pricing and discount volume pricing. I’ve discussed pricing and perception points before and no doubt your pricing structure will be one of the most difficult areas to formulate as you go into business. It’s a sticking point for me that I tend to develop and change over time, as hazardous as that may be (see this article for my pricing story).
The one pitfall you have to watch out for is basing a business on a margin that is tight or misunderstood. Ultimately you don’t know how much a margin you can make until you start selling something, so don’t plan too heavily upon making a specific margin, plan for variations. Long term efficiencies and changes to your market positioning can help increase your margins, but there are no guarantees. Early on be especially wary of margins as you will have an inclination to blow a lot of money on marketing and if you marketing costs outweigh your margins, and you can’t sustain your business growth without the marketing, you don’t have a formula for success. Creative marketing can help you through this of course, but just make sure the numbers eventually go to positive given a spread of potential margins (standard deviation anyone? - I can’t believe I’m thinking of my old business statistics class - I hated that subject).
6. Look for leverage points
If you want big time success and explosive business growth you need to find points of leverage. You won’t be successful on any grand scale without leverage because your output will be limited to how much you can do yourself.
Leverage can be a way of using the marketplace to magnify the size of your business (for example many to many business models or user generated content) or through joint ventures or host beneficiary relationships. Leverage is about thinking beyond a solo-mentality and finding ways to use other resources to meet your goals quickly.
Although not strictly leverage by definition, just the act of taking on outsourcers or employees to increase your output is a great start and is the path to a leverage mentality, which leads me to point seven…
7. Avoid self-employment thinking
Most people who leave a day job to start a business begin with a self-employment model. This means you create a job for yourself and add all the other responsibilities that come with business ownership, and lose the benefits that come from employment at a company (remember this article? - Do You Want to Run Your Own Business?). This is fine as a starting point (although you can avoid it from day one) but you must learn to start thinking about business building, which means separating yourself from roles that don’t build your business.
The biggest culprit to blame for self employment thinking is cash flow, or lack of it, since most new businesses have limited financial resources and as such the owner must do everything since they can’t afford to bring in other people. It’s important when deciding what business to start that you see how it is possible for you to stop doing the day-to-day business fulfillment roles (delivery of services/products, support, sales, etc) in the future. If you can’t automate, outsource, or hire people to do these roles, then you don’t have a business model, you have a job model.
8. Be aware of your own limitations
As sad as it might sound, most of us are only truly good at a few things. We can be sufficient at many things, but generally each of us only have a few gifts that can translate into business success. Before starting a business make sure you know what your talents are and how they translate into skills you can use to build a business.
Most of the things I do every day to manage my business leverage skills I have that I would call sufficient. I’m not great at them but I can spend some time and get the job done. This includes things like writing copy, technical jobs like server management, software installation and basic graphic design. Then there are other jobs I do that are routine, areas where you really can’t excel at, they just need to be done and I have to do it.
All of these activities take me away from what I should be doing - leveraging my time on the high value activities that use my talents - things like writing this article now. It’s taken me a while to realize that an important goal in my business is to set up systems and people to do the things that for me are largely a waste of time. These activities are important still - my business wouldn’t succeed without them being completed - but they don’t leverage my talents and I need to have people with talents in those areas handle them.
Don’t worry if right now you are not sure what your talents are but be aware that your goal eventually is to distinguish what you are exceptionally good at and stop doing what you are not good at. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are the best at everything because A) it’s not true and B) this will lead to solo-minded thinking, which I’ve already mentioned will stifle your business growth.
Yaro Starak
Leveraging Coffee Shops
