So the second possibility is to look for an established niche, one that has proven to have buyers. That’s good, except for the competition. Trying outranking an established, million backlink, high PR site for the keyword “weight loss.”

Then there’s the niches in between. Those have a track record of buyers, with relatively moderate competition. You still have to rank for keywords in the niche, and that takes work and know how. But it is something that can be done if you are willing to compete.

That is where Kim Roach excels. If you are in the market to learn about tackling such markets. In fact, her training on generating traffic is the best I have seen, though she does not (yet) have an affiliate program for her coaching site.

Here is just a taste I got recently from a webinar of hers: her suggested list of plug-ins for using the wordpress platform. Especially plug-ins that enable on-page seo (search engine optimization), plus a few that are just plain useful, like the ever-present akismet, which minimizes the hassles you have to face with spam.

Of these, the first is probably the most important for seo internal to your site.

platinum seo pack
seo friendly images
wordpress seo pager
seo slugs
backup wordpress (by BTE)
wordress automatic update
cbnet ping optimizer – prevents multiple pinging = spam
wp cache
google xml sitemaps
pretty link
gd press tools
contact form 7
sexy bookmarks

Most of the above can be searched, downloaded, and activated right in the wordpress backoffice under “Plug-Ins” and “Add New.” The remainder can be found by doing a search online, downloading, and transferring via an ftp client like FileZilla.

P.S. For videos on setting up wordpress sites, see http://www.becomeablogger.com/.

Joel Comm’s and Dan Nickerson’s Socrates WordPress Theme (of which I am an affiliate) is a new and versatile, seo optimized website building software package with user-friendly and highly versatile interfaces.

After purchasing a domain name and registering with a webhost, use Socrates WP Theme to customize background color, select and customize a header, add sidebar widgets, customize navigation bar, social media slider, RSS feed, rotate affiliate banners, add adsense, and more.

Video training for the quick-and-easy Socrates WordPress Theme is included in the package.

So if you have a need for a variety of professional-looking websites for your own products or for affiliate niches, or if you are into PLR (private label rights), this may be an inexpensive and feasible way to build your business.

So Traffic Geyser has come out with a “business in a box” product called Main Street Marketing Machine.

Materials in the package comprises a long list, with more benefits being added, but the gist is to enable internet marketers to make money by providing local businesses with the online marketing resources to beef up their businesses.

As much as possible for the internet marketer, that process is automated, starting with tools to find profitable niches and keywords. Customizable brochures, business cards, and prospectuses for local businesses can be generated (makes you look professional). Software makes website design and hosting simple, not to mention autoresponder packaged email additions for list building. A package for voice mail and mobile phone marketing is available. Traffic Geyser’s own software is used to upload content massively once a business has signed on.

There’s even an application for mobile phones one can use to scan business cards so the software can analyze the person’s business as it relates to Mainstreet Marketing Machine.

And more is being done to accommodate non-US business contexts.

I have joined as an affiliate of Mainstreet Marketing because it appears a win-win service all around and because I think it meets a large and pressing need in these tough economic times. Restaurants, chiropractors, veterinarians, hair salons, real estate agents, specialty retail shops–you name it.

Check out one of their videos for yourself.

Of course there is the usual “sales funnel” online and off in which the bulk of contacts with prospective customers and clients are fleeting and trivial. Some people from the initial great bulk are motivated enough to examine some aspect of your business more carefully, a smaller number of which … buy from or sign up with your business.

Each stage in the narrowing funnel can be tracked to see where the process needs changing or tweaking, where the bottlenecks lie, what needs greater resources and what can be cut. And the numbers need to be monitored because the market is always in flux, not only seasonally.

Fortunately, a lot of tracking can now be done relatively inexpensively. Knowing what to track has often been fairly simple until social media and more interactive marketing methods added controversy about what sort of social interactions and social media sites constitute priorities to business bottom lines.

If basic principles of human relationships have not changed–like being respectful–nonetheless, applications to specific businesses and contexts may require testing which can be aided by tracking.

A short list of relevant resources follows. Some are free or have free versions, others are for a fee.

Google Analytics – Google still holds the lions share of searches … except that now Facebook queries rival Google in shear volume. Google’s free Analytics software is still very valuable, with free tutorials for set up and use, and increasing numbers of options and features. Google Analytics can even be added to Facebook fan pages.
Yahoo Site Explorer
Hypertracker – fee basis
Mixpanel – fee basis, more expensive than Hypertracker, but has stripped-down free version
Kontagent – Provides analytics for Facebook games and applications. Facebook is the largest social media phenomenon (China excepted) at present. Stripped down free version available
Radian6 – comprehensive tracking of social media conversations
Social Mention – “Like Google Alerts but for social media” Do real time searches for social media topics in blogs, videos, etc. Some analysis per search (free)
Trackur – monitor what’s being said about your brand in social media (fee structure)
Crazyegg – heatmaps and monitoring what people are doing on your pages, where they click (fee structure)
Clicktale – who comes to the page and how long they stay on each page (three month stripped down free version available)

Any other suggestions?

Website promotion for now and in the foreseeable future must include online videos. Here’s a short list of sites that may help in your online video production.

1. YouTube. OK, you knew that, but Julie Perry (retiring) and Paul Colligan have a bunch of advice on how the maximize your YouTube footprint.

2. One of Perry and Colligan’s recommended sites for free YouTube background layouts is YTLayouts.

On YouTube itself, color scheme and custom design are found in “My Account,” then in “Edit Channel” and then the “Channel Design” area.

3. Jivox – upload own or modify existing canned video ads (customized for your keywords, on-site URL, etc.).

4. Createspace – from Amazon. Sign up is free. Send in 20 minute+ DVDs, and they will create the accompanying online hosting and packaging, but for the free version, they will take royalties of 50% or so, and you won’t get money until after 60 days from a given sale. Video streaming, downloads, or DVD forms of your product are available.

5. Youreeeka – If you want to set up pay per view. You can specify the viewing time period. There is a $99 annual fee. You keep 60% of sales, but receive pay only after 60 days from sales.

6. Livestream Procaster – free software that enables you to move between screen capture and person shots, but online ads will pop up at bottom of your screen (like on YouTube). To get no ads, the premium version is expensive.

7. Screer – web based screen recording software like Jing and screentoaster. Twitter friendly videos. Nothing to download. Works on MS PCs and Macs.

8. Tubemogul – Submit your videos for free to a variety of online video host sites like YouTube, Metcafe, Yahoo and so on. You can follow the stats on viewings.

9. Much of the above, I get from Dave Kaminski of Webvideo University. Dave recommends certain video editing software, camera and audio equipment, and a lot besides.

10. Slide Rocket – software tool for video and audio presentations. Free trial offer.

11. Camtasia – screen editing software. Or see the free version Camstudio without all the bells and whistles.

12. Niche Profit Classroom – Within this training program for internet and affiliate marketers are a series of recorded webinars, five of which are particularly geared toward online video production. One of these five, for example, is on creating sales videos. Another covers the nuts and bolts technical stuff the speaker uses in his own production.

Any additions you might suggest?

I find the outstanding appeal of Site Build It! (“SBI”) in three areas. (1) The ease of step-by-step website building software for the non-techie. Create your own website look and feel without knowing html code. (2) A software package that enables you to find the low-competition, money-making keywords in your niche. That alone is worth the price. (3) The wide range of user-friendly and automated services, including some traffic building, for the modest fee.

They teach a four-step process: “C” for create in-demand content, “T” for build traffic, “P” for presell site visitors (build relationships notably through email follow-ups and repeat site visits), and “M” for monetize.

Whether you have an existing business with an online presence or want to start an new one, whether you are new or seasoned, there is something in SBI that will probably turn your head. That’s why I have become one of their affiliates.

Any downsides? If you are a techie or prefer a particular thing not provided in SBI (a particular autoresponder or web hosting service, for example), you may want flexibility and options not provided. And of course the program will take time to master … and they do expect you to come up with your own content for web pages, articles, and emails (unless you outsource these). In short, it will take time and work.

But SBI even has a free trial to test-drive their program. And check out their video Action Guide.

Sites for checking traffic

Quantcast
Compete
URL Trends
Alexa

An index of top internet marketing gurus

Guru Daq

Legal form generator

Autoweblaw

Outsource CD and DVD duplication

Kunaki – monthly CD’s drop shipped
Disk
Abvoices – audio recording

Record interviews

Free Conference Calls
iDictate

Video Storage, unlimited playback

Amazon S3

Membership site manager

Member Gate

Buying and selling websites

Site Point
Buy Sell Website
Flippa

Create tests to figure out what people are doing on your website.

Crazy Egg

Opt-in at foot of page

Footer Slide Up Ad

Professional looking talking cartoon heads service

Site Pal

Determine plagiarism of or duplicate content

Copyscape

Find code errors

Validator.w3

Test viewing load capacity of your blog or site

Load Impact

Any additional suggestions?

In this economic environment, the importance of creativity is that the person who can come up with and monetize the best ideas wins.

Steve Little argues that there are a number of attributes associated with success in business, the foremost of which is creativity. Little cites Robert Epstein, who argues that there are four core competencies to creativity: “Capturing, Surrounding, Challenging, and Broadening.”

Capturing ideas is not a new idea. Here, you pull out the index cards from your back pocket or purse and write down an idea right after it passes through your mind. Or you use a palm pilot, computer, voice recorder, etc. When you wake at night, when you witness a scene on the highway, when you daydream, when you are trying to articulate an experience … whenever you come up with an idea, put in writing, record it, capture it.

Surrounding yourself with creative people and resources helps too. This is similar to broadening, which has to do with reading and researching new things in a broad range of topics. As the phrase goes, garbage in, garbage out. On the flip side, the broader and more in-depth our exposure to ideas, the more we have to work with in forming our own interconnected ideas. Of course, personal contact with creative people can be stimulating and competitive.

Further, creativity neuroscience suggests that challenging ourselves with tough problems helps develop our creative capacity. This can be in the form of real-life business challenges or in the form of puzzles and games.

There are, of course, other ways to stimulate creativity. REM sleep is thought to be important. Interestingly, Little cites a practice of Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison. Dali and Edison would briefly consider a problem, then relax in a chair or bed while holding an object in the hand. As the person began to drift off into sleep, the object would slip out of the hand, and awaken the person with a clatter. At that waking moment (“known as the hypnagogic state”), a creative thought would sometimes occur, which Dali and Edison would immediately record and then act upon.

A word of caution. There is some debate whether certain positive or negative emotions are more conducive to creative thought. Brilliant ideas can come from the depressed, for example. However, fear of failure, Little reminds us, strongly decreases creativity.

For more help on increasing creativity and success in business, visit The Perfect Business Builder (with which I am affiliated).

Steve Little has come up with a big idea: We are happier and accomplish more in our jobs and careers when what we do matches who we are in our emotional and personality make-up.

You have probably read statistics about how many of us do not feel happy in the jobs or careers we are in. Part of that unhappiness stems from a misfit between our emotional or personality type and our work requirements.

Do you enjoy being alone so you can get the job done, but your position demands constant interruptions from people who need you?
Are you a go-by-the-book kind of guy or do you prefer flexibility to come up with creative solutions?
Do you hate confrontation or do you feel more comfortable when you are in control of the situation?

Steve and his team (with which I am indirectly affiliated) have provided a free survey and detailed individual report to help you get started. Also available is a 21 day program to help identify and get started on your ideal business. Other additional business coaching services are available.

A standard format is “portable document format” or pdf because (1) the software to open and read it is a free download and because (2) the author/publisher can password-protect the work against editing by those who might plagiarize and perhaps rework it for resale.

That said, some resources are available to help in creating ebooks.

Creating pdf documents (typically from a word MS Office document).
Adobe Reader
PDF Converter
PrimoPDF
Ebook Compiler — for compiling ebooks from html files
Open Web Design — for free HTML templates. Here, alleviates need to format the page for your ebook

Ebook cover design
Pro-Ecovers
Ecover Guru
Ecover Artist
Ecover Box

Royalty Free Images
Stock.xchng
iStock Photo

Find people to interview
Radio-TV Interview Report

Record interviews
Free Conference Call
iDictate

Notify of or find affiliate launches
JV Notify

A great site for online “how-to”
Make Use Of

See a related post for outsourcing.

Peter Rubel

P.S. Niche Profit Classroom also teaches principles regarding creating ebooks. ng8hjpzqde