Adsense Marketing

As anyone familiar with our approach to starting an Internet business can tell you, we're HUGE believers in niche marketing.

We know that the best way to succeed online is to target a small group of people who are all searching online for the solution to a very SPECIFIC problem (that's what makes it a niche).
I mean, it just makes sense...

Once you've done careful keyword research to define a small, targeted market, it's easier to create products that this market is practically crying out for... write winning salescopy that speaks directly to their needs... follow up with MORE offers you know for sure they'll be interested in... and a LOT more.

And I'm happy to say that our message is getting through!

Seems that these days, many of the conversations I have with customers and subscribers start off with "Hey Derek, I've got a GREAT idea for a niche! What do you think about X?"

So yes, I'm thrilled to see so MANY of you diligently doing the keyword research necessary to uncover these lucrative niche markets...

... but (and you knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you? ;-) it's important for you to recognize that finding a niche is a process that includes -- but is not limited to -- doing keyword research.

Too often, I see people spend a LOT of time collecting an extensive list of keywords and phrases to define a niche, but then go straight from the research to building their sites.

This is a mistake!

That's because, while keywords indicate the potential for a good niche, the presence of those good keywords on their own isn't a "slam dunk" successful market.

Once you've identified a potential market by finding these good keywords and phrases, you still need to do some work to discover if it's actually a VIABLE market.

In other words, will you be able to make money from it?

So to save you from burning through a LOT of time, effort -- and quite possibly money -- setting up an Internet business in a mediocre niche, and then spending years struggling without ever getting anywhere..

... here are FIVE critical questions you need to ask yourself AFTER you've done keyword research, to confirm you've found a lucrative niche worth pursuing:

Question #1: How Tough Is The Competition In This Niche?

Whenever you do keyword research using any of the familiar tools out there (like Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, or BeBiz) one of the statistics you'll turn up for each keyword is the number of websites competing for that word.

This number does NOT represent your actual competition!

That's because these tools count every single website that ranks for that particular word, whether or not they're selling anything that's even remotely related to what you're interested in promoting.

So take some time to get to know your REAL competition, by visiting those sites that are getting good rankings for your keywords.

When you do, you'll be able to divide your competition into two groups:

Indirect competition -- This will be the larger group, and consist of sites that show up as "competing" only because they happen to contain one or more of your keywords.

These sites are relatively easy to compete with because it's unlikely that they're even trying to get high rankings for those words.

But don't ignore them entirely! There may be clues to how they're ranking for those words that you can take advantage of when you build your site.

Direct competition -- These are the sites selling products that help with the same (or similar) problem that you're thinking of.

So take a close look at these, and decide if you can compete with them.

Do all of the best spots on the free search engines and pay-per-click campaigns belong to companies that are serious about their rankings, and have the knowledge and resources to consistently outrank you, no matter what you try?

At the same time, look at the amount of direct competition. Are there already TONS of sites catering to your market? Are they giving away their information? Selling it? Offering products?
Finally, take a look at how they're marketing themselves. Do they have badly done websites that break every rule in the book, or are they professional looking and organized, and more likely to put up a fight?

By getting to know your REAL competition, and getting a realistic idea of how easy or difficult they'll be to compete against, you'll be able to make a well-informed decision about whether or not to pursue this niche.

Question #2: How Many People Are Searching For Information In This Area?

One mistake I see a LOT of site owners make when they're doing their keyword research is to get excited about the keywords that don't have a lot of competition...

... while completely ignoring how many people are actually searching on those keywords!
So here's a sobering statistic for you to consider: If you're lucky, 2% of your site's visitors will become customers.

Note that I said 2% of your visitors, NOT 2% of the people who search on the keyword.

So if there are only, say, 20 searches a day on your keywords, and you're lucky enough to get 5 of those searchers to your site, it will take you 10 DAYS to make one single sale!

Hardly the stuff of early retirement, right?

SO check your stats CAREFULLY. How many searches are conducted in a 24 hour period for each keyword? How much does this add up to when you've accounted for all of your keywords?
If there aren't a lot of people searching, this may not be the niche for you.

Question #3: How Much Time And Money Will I Need To Get Started?

One of the things I find most attractive about starting your own Internet business is that, compared to typical brick-and-mortar businesses, you don't often need to invest a lot of money up front.

But choose your niche in haste, and that may not be the case for you!

See, we typically recommend using pay-per-click advertising to get started. It's a great way to get instant traffic during those first few months, while you're just building up your natural (i.e., free) search engine traffic.

So take a close look at how much you'll have to pay for your pay-per-click ads to start out.

Do the keywords you'll need to bid on have LOTS of competition already? Are the ads being sponsored by huge companies that clearly have unlimited access to advertising dollars? How much would you have to pay per click to get an ad positioned near the top of the sponsored results?

At the same time, consider how much time it's going to cost you to enter this niche.

Will you need to do extensive research before you can develop a product for your site? Are there other niches that will be less time-consuming to enter?

Think carefully about how much you'll need to invest in this niche before going ahead. And be honest with yourself! If you think there will be more work or money involved than you can comfortably commit, this may not be the niche for you.

Question #4: How Motivated To Buy Will My Traffic Be?

Something else to consider when choosing your niche is whether or not the people who make up this market are quality buying traffic... or if they're just looking for free information.

Take this simple test: Type (free) + (your keyword) into the search engines.

How many sites come up? And do they offer something that competes with your product for FREE? Or is it just a come-on?

If your potential customers really can get the solution to their problem for free from multiple sources, you're going to have a hard time getting them to pay for yours.

A good way to figure out if people are willing to pay for products that are similar to yours is to check out what's already sold, on sites like Amazon.

Question #5: Will I Be Able To GROW A Business In This Market?

It's all well and good to be able to make a one-time sale to a lot of people within your chosen niche, but you should also be thinking about whether or not a purchase today could lead to MORE purchases down the road.

So think carefully: Are there other products you could offer this market? Is there an indication that they may be looking for more than one thing within this niche?

If you're going to spend all of your time selling a single product to each new visitor -- and then never see them again -- you may well end up using all of your time and energy sending a constant stream of NEW visitors to your site...

... instead of enjoying the FAR easier task of selling other products to established customers who already know and trust you.

Your Action Plan...

While finding a solid, viable niche certainly starts with solid keyword research, you'll need to keep an open mind as you continue to dig deeper into each potential niche.

After you've identified a number of niches through your keyword research, go through and rank them by asking the five questions I've outlined here.

Assign each potential niche a number for each of the five categories (1 being the best, and 3 being the worst), then add up the scores. The niche that gets the LOWEST score is likely your best choice.

It sounds like a lot of extra work, but the MORE time you spend evaluating your potential niche, the lower the risk of pouring hundreds of hours of hard work -- and potentially a LOT of money -- into a website that never really stood a chance to begin with.

By Derek Gehl. Proceed to his Free Goal Setting Video

Labels: adsense marketing, keyword research, market niche

Hi,

Did you know that online spending is predicted to INCREASE by 14% this year?

So despite what you're hearing about the current economy, this is still an EXCELLENT time to start or grow your Internet business!

And I've arranged to get you some FREE help doing it...

You've probably heard of Derek Gehl, right?

He's the Internet marketing guru that's made over $100 MILLION in online sales as head of the Internet Marketing Center.

Derek's been hard at work, researching and identifying the BIGGEST online trends for 2009, and coming up with strategies that ANYONE can use to take advantage of these trends to make more money online this year than ever.

And now he's turned all of his research, predictions, and strategies into a two-hour online presentation and he's given me permission to give you unrestricted access to the whole thing for FREE!

But I know first-hand that, due to the time-sensitive nature of this information, Derek's only going to make it available for a short time, so if you want to find out how to not just survive in 2009, but actually THRIVE, you need to check it our right away:

http://www.internetmarketing.com/2009-goals/789606

Best wishes for 2009,

Ave Ramel

Labels: adsense marketing, hot trends, internet marketing, online trends 2009

What say we kick off 2009 on a positive, hopeful note?!

Thing is, right now, we're being so heavily bombarded by facts and figures pointing out how bleak this year is expected to be, that we're overlooking the GOOD things that are projected to happen in 2009.

Case in point?

According to eMarketer reports, this year, online sales in the US alone will jump from $136.8 BILLION to $142.4 BILLION (that's an INCREASE of nearly $6 BILLION in online spending).

Or how about this statistic: Nielsen Consumer Insight reports that in 2009, consumers will spend 17% MORE time on eCommerce websites every DAY!

That's a whole lot MORE people shopping online, and spending a whole lot MORE time doing it!

So there's no doubt in my mind that there will be plenty of opportunities for you to earn a good income online during 2009, no matter whether you've already got a website up, or you're just getting started ...

... but you're going to need to be pretty savvy about how you spend your time, energy, and resources.

To help you not just survive 2009, but actually THRIVE, I've rolled up my sleeves and gone to work, researching the biggest emerging trends in online business for this year.

I'll show you FIVE of the trends that I think are MOST significant for your business
... then show you what you need to do with your website to capitalize on all five of these trends.

You can watch the details here.

Emerging Trend #1:

Consumers Are Increasingly Turning To The Internet As A Way To Save MoneyYou know all those people I just told you about who are coming online to shop? Well, according to this survey, 80% of them say they're now shopping online to save money.

And further, 95% of these people report that they're motivated to buy by offers of free shipping, and 83% are motivated to buy by special prices.

Clearly, 2009 will be the year of the deal!

So if you currently offer special discounts on your site, get them up front and center, so your visitors can find them instantly. Do NOT wait for them to dig around your site and possibly stumble across them.

And if you offer free shipping, don't hide that fact away on your order form. Shout it from the rooftops! It could well be the detail that pushes your visitors into making that crucial buying decision.

BUT ...

Before you put all of your eggs in the "special deal" basket, there's one other related trend you should know about ...

This same survey reports that 88% of people are shopping online in order to save time, and 83% say that they do it because it's less hassle than hitting the malls.

So not only are your visitors coming to your site trying to save money, they're also looking for ease and convenience.

So make sure you're giving it to them, by offering the best customer shopping experience possible.

As we'll all soon discover, it's the websites that offer a combination of pricing and IMPECCABLE customer service that will continue to thrive this year.

Emerging Trend #2:

Consumers Are Making More And More REPEAT Purchases Based On Automated Recommendations.

This recent 2008 Razorfish Consumer Experience report shows that a whopping 65% of online buyers made additional purchases from a website based on automated recommendations the site gave them.

That's 6 out of 10 of your customers buying MORE, based purely on your suggestions for other products they might like.

Sounds like the perfect job for email marketing, right?!

I strongly believe that the people who thrive in 2009 will be those who spend a LOT of time using email marketing to nurture the relationships they have with their customers and subscribers.

But to be really effective in building these relationships -- and in recommending the products people will be MOST interested in -- you're going to need to be smart about your list.

Gone are the days when having a BIG list was your main goal! It's time to think "quality" rather than "quantity."

If you build a huge list filled with people who couldn't care less what you're offering them, then all your email efforts will be wasted.

It's far better to have a smaller list of highly qualified subscribers.

The other thing to pay attention to as you focus on your email efforts in 2009 is the kinds of emails you're sending out.

I'm finding that shorter, more concise promotional messages are far more effective than long, drawn-out emails that bombard the reader with information.

Finally, the savvy email marketer will spend a lot of time TESTING in 2009.

Currently only about 40% of marketers do any testing at all, which is practically criminal, because those who do test are twice as likely to get email marketing conversion rates of 3% or MORE!

So make sure you test different kinds of offers, different subject lines, different times of day and week for mailing, etc., to make sure you're really capitalizing on your email.

Emerging Trend #3:

Shoppers Are Making More Purchases Based on Recommendations Received Through Social Media Sites.

Here's a surprising statistic: 49% of Web users now make a purchase based on a recommendation they received through a social media site (like Facebook, MySpace, and so on).
Okay, maybe that's not so surprising, but you know what is? Apparently only 25% of online retailers created a Facebook page this year!

Despite its clear success rate, marketers have generally been slow to make the leap to social networking.

So if you haven't tested the social media waters, NOW is the time to get started!

Social networking is the perfect way to develop your online presence, and continue to cultivate lasting relationships with your potential customers. It's also, as the statistics show, a great way to start generating extra income!

I recently wrote an article that explains the basics of getting started with social networking. You can read it here.

But before you run off and start building your social networking profiles and pages, you should know that other forms of social media sites will also be crucial tools for your business in 2009.

Take the social bookmarking sites, for instance (like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon).

Currently, 52% of people are using these sites as they search for information online, and a full 81% of users read the links marked as "most popular" or "most emailed."

So what does this mean for you? Another key strategy for you in 2009 will be to create lots of content, and get it to appear on these sites.

You're going to want to write articles that are relevant and useful... and that your readers will want to pass along to their friends, family, and colleagues, and recommend on the social bookmarking sites.

In doing so, you'll continue to raise your online profile, establish yourself as an expert in your field, and build those all-important relationships with your potential customers.

Emerging Trend #4:

A Typical Internet User Is Spending 20% MORE Time Each Day Reading Blogs.

Nielsen Consumer Insight reported in December that people are now spending 20% more time EACH DAY reading blogs.

Do YOU have a blog yet? Do you add new posts to it on a regular basis?

If you haven't started a blog yet -- or if you haven't been giving yours the attention that it deserves -- TODAY is the day you should start!

As with social media, blogging is GREAT for establishing your reputation online, for building relationships with your market, for creating new content for your site, and can even help you get a TOP ranking in the search engines (which in turn can generate up to 7 TIMES more sales).

And you don't need to be a "natural-born writer" to create your own blog, nor do you need to be a technical wizard!

There are plenty of places where you can even get FREE blogs to get yourself started...

... and as for the actual writing, a blog is all about showing YOUR personality, and sharing your opinions and ideas. So don't sweat it if you're not a word nerd. Just write from the heart, and your readers will love it!

Emerging Trend #5:

Web Surfers Are Spending 46% MORE Time Watching Online Videos.

Finally, a trend that will continue to have a HUGE impact on Internet marketers everywhere -- and really change the way we sell online -- is the growing popularity of online video.

Check this out: 94% of Internet users now watch online video with some level of frequency, and people now spend a whopping 46% MORE time each DAY watching videos, compared to last year!

So if you haven't dipped your toe into the online video world, you'd better get cracking!
Video, like blogging, has multiple benefits for your business:

You can use video in your salescopy in order to more effectively sell your product... you can use it for SEO purposes and traffic generation (Google LOVES video!)... to create informative or educational videos for your niche... and to spread the word about your business.

And you don't need to have a lot of complicated equipment or technical expertise to produce your own quality videos.

If you'd like to learn how to create your own simple videos, and get them up on sites like YouTube, check out this brief "how-to" article I wrote a while ago. It explains all of the basics for you, and gives you a few other resources to give you extra help.

There's no denying that 2009 is going to present some challenges for ALL of us, but you don't have to hide your head in the sand and wait for the recession to blow over!

You can still make serious money online despite the economic downturn, just as long as you focus your efforts on a few key areas, like those I've described.

To give you even MORE help, I've identified a number of other important online trends for 2009, and made some predictions about how to take advantage of them, and put it all into a free two-hour video presentation for you to watch.

And when you watch the video, you'll also discover why 2009 is actually a GOOD time to START a new Internet business, and I'll explain -- in detail -- how you can do it in just FIVE DAYS!

You can watch the details here.

To your success,

Derek Gehl

Labels: 2009, adsense marketing, hot trends, internet marketing