Affiliate marketing relies on your ability to reach out and touch potential customers. Your goal is to draw customers to your pages, and give them advice on their next online purchase. For that, you'll earn a commission.
Now, the average Joe may not understand that it's hard for people to find your pages on the internet, but that is definitely the case. Instead of looking at it like "I've got to get these people to come to my site", you should look at it like "These people are looking for my site. How can I help them get here?" They may not actually be looking for your site in particular but they are looking for the info on your site.
You have to think about the habits of people searching the internet. What search engine will they use? Will they just click the first link that comes up? Are they looking for general information or specific? Are they searching for terms that indicate that they are ready to buy something?
Have you ever bought anything on the internet? One of the first things I do is look for reviews on the product I'm wanting to buy. A review is important to a shopper because for some reason, they'll believe an website with a customer review over the product website itself. The problem with that logic is that neither site is more trustworthy than the other. People just have the impression that a 3rd party website is more trustworthy.
People also don't want lukewarm reviews. They want to hear that the product either sucks or is the best thing out. Those type of reviews will determine whether they buy the item online right away. If they read a lot of poor reviews, they won't buy the product. If they read a lot of lukewarm reviews, they may buy it online but it'll probably be later. If they read a hot review raving about how wonderful the product is, they'll probably buy it right away. The key is that they are searching for reviews because they WANT to buy it typically. It's something that caught their eyes and they want to see if it's worth the money. They are waiting for someone to tell them that they should buy it. That's where you come in.
So the first step in keyword research is to examine what someone would want to know about the product you wish to sell. The very next thing, is to see which keywords actually get searched for. I use the keyword tool at SEOBook to find this out. My next post will talk about competition and how you determine whether a keyword will be profitable for you.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
How do you make money blogging?
Everyone has at least some kind of hobby. Most people fail to realize that there is money opportunity in writing about those hobbies. The more obscure the hobby is, the better. So, while one may have a much larger audience with a hobby like boating, a hobby like fungi collecting may earn the most money on the side.
That's how niche marketing works. Where a retail outlet such as Wal-mart has enough money to set up shop in every city, an individual trying to make a living through online marketing should stick to several small niches, at least till they start making the big bucks.
By small niches, I mean specific niches. So, instead of making a website about Ford Mustangs, a niche marketer would make a website about the 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible. The reason for this is that you can rank much better on search engines with a specific topic.
The hardest part may be coming up with enough material to write about your specific topic. There's only so much one can write about a 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible right?
That's where creativity comes into play. One has to think outside the box. There are tools available to spin content but it's not advisable to use them as they can cause your site to be de-indexed by search engines, if you have been found to use them.
Another big aspect to look into is how much traffic you can hope to receive from your niche. For this, one must research keywords and how many daily searches can be expected from each. By keyword, I'm actually referring to key phrases. I'll post again later (possibly right away) about keyword research. Know for now that these are the phrases that you will be focusing on to get traffic to your site.
For instance, they phrase "1993 Ford Mustang" gets around 38 searches per day according to one of my keyword research tools. However, it also has a quoted competition of 376,000. In other words, you could spend months trying to get your site to rank for this phrase and you'd never get even close to the front page.
Using a phrase like "1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible" is much better in that it cuts down on the number of competing sites. In order for a site to be competition, it must also be trying to rank for that phrase. So there are many less sites trying to rank for our long-tail(as it's called) phrase. The competition for the quoted phrase "1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible" in Google is around 2500 sites. This is much easier to compete against generally.
I'll get more into what all this means in later posts. Generally it is very possible to make money by blogging. A site completely about 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertibles probably wouldn't do too well because no one actually searches for that phrase. It was merely an example of the type of phrase you'll be looking for. I'll be posting about how to tell if a phrase is worth the effort later.
That's how niche marketing works. Where a retail outlet such as Wal-mart has enough money to set up shop in every city, an individual trying to make a living through online marketing should stick to several small niches, at least till they start making the big bucks.
By small niches, I mean specific niches. So, instead of making a website about Ford Mustangs, a niche marketer would make a website about the 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible. The reason for this is that you can rank much better on search engines with a specific topic.
The hardest part may be coming up with enough material to write about your specific topic. There's only so much one can write about a 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible right?
That's where creativity comes into play. One has to think outside the box. There are tools available to spin content but it's not advisable to use them as they can cause your site to be de-indexed by search engines, if you have been found to use them.
Another big aspect to look into is how much traffic you can hope to receive from your niche. For this, one must research keywords and how many daily searches can be expected from each. By keyword, I'm actually referring to key phrases. I'll post again later (possibly right away) about keyword research. Know for now that these are the phrases that you will be focusing on to get traffic to your site.
For instance, they phrase "1993 Ford Mustang" gets around 38 searches per day according to one of my keyword research tools. However, it also has a quoted competition of 376,000. In other words, you could spend months trying to get your site to rank for this phrase and you'd never get even close to the front page.
Using a phrase like "1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible" is much better in that it cuts down on the number of competing sites. In order for a site to be competition, it must also be trying to rank for that phrase. So there are many less sites trying to rank for our long-tail(as it's called) phrase. The competition for the quoted phrase "1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertible" in Google is around 2500 sites. This is much easier to compete against generally.
I'll get more into what all this means in later posts. Generally it is very possible to make money by blogging. A site completely about 1993 Ford Mustang GT Convertibles probably wouldn't do too well because no one actually searches for that phrase. It was merely an example of the type of phrase you'll be looking for. I'll be posting about how to tell if a phrase is worth the effort later.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Free Idea for Making Money Online
If you are new to the internet, you aren't exactly going to have an easy time making money on it. It's not impossible, but it helps to have some working knowledge of how things work.
There are, however, many many ebooks and articles available to help you along the way. Another valuable source of reading is forums. There are many good forums available. To help you weed through some of the muck (there's a lot of it out there), I'll give you a great source with this first post. I'll be posting many other ideas and recommended products along the way but I'll start off with one that will surely be very valuable to you.
"
"Make Money Online" is a great source for learning about internet marketing and how you can make money online. It's a free blog my wife set up to help others become better online affiliates. She is great at it too, so pay attention.
There are, however, many many ebooks and articles available to help you along the way. Another valuable source of reading is forums. There are many good forums available. To help you weed through some of the muck (there's a lot of it out there), I'll give you a great source with this first post. I'll be posting many other ideas and recommended products along the way but I'll start off with one that will surely be very valuable to you.
"
"Make Money Online" is a great source for learning about internet marketing and how you can make money online. It's a free blog my wife set up to help others become better online affiliates. She is great at it too, so pay attention.
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