Ever spent a lot of money developing products and ideas that nobody wanted to buy? What a horrendous waste - there are so many ideas that people will spend money on!

With Google AdWords, you should never need to invest more than a few hundred dollars - or in the worst case a few thousand dollars - pursuing an idea that won’t work.

Let’s say you’ve got a product idea. The product itself costs $5,000 to develop, and you’re sure it’s a good idea because it solves a really thorny problem.

So here’s what to do: You write a report, ebook or white paper about how to solve that problem. You create an opt-in page where people can get your report in exchange for their contact information.

Then you ‘buy’ keywords, send people to that page and see how many people you can get to opt in. That’ll give you a gauge of interest.

If you absolutely cannot get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can’t find keywords that anyone is searching for - then that’s a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.

When people do opt in, you can send them an email (or even call them on the phone) and ask them what they’re really looking for. If your report is any good, they’ll be happy to talk to you, and you’ll get LOTS of input about the kinds of problems they’re trying to solve.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Before you spend a lot of money setting up in your chosen niche, you’ll want to research it thoroughly and test it out, to see what traffic you get and the quality of this traffic – are they ‘hot buyers’ or just browsers?

Hot Tip: One of the ways that you test a niche, before you get started, is to send some traffic to an affiliate site (you sign up as an Affiliate to sell someone else’s product – they’ll generally set up a website for you). If you are getting sales as an affiliate, then you could make sales with your own product.

Hot Tip: Another way to test your niche is to sign up as an affiliate to Amazon and send people to your Amazon affiliate site, using Google Adwords.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

A great way to find new niches is to use Google searches and Keyword tools to do all the hard work for you!

Hot Tip: Go to one of the keyword tools and type in short phrases like “How to”, “Where to”, “Make”, “Do It Yourself”, “Discount”, etc – you’ll get a list of the most searched items – and some ready-made ‘hot niche’ suggestions!

Most marketers recommend looking for markets where the total searches per month (the numbers on the left hand side) equal 15 to 20 thousand or higher.

But some people do really well in smaller markets (more than about 5,000 searches per month) – it depends on the niche and you can dominate in a small market.

When you work in niches with at least 20,000 searches a month, you can make yourself a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, on a weekly basis.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

In an earlier post – What Is Your Life Worth? When To Outsource… – we looked at the value of your time, what to focus your efforts on and when you should outsource tasks.

In this post, I’m going to look at WHAT you can outsource easily and simply on the Internet.

When to Outsource

You’ll recall that our criteria on what you should outsource were:

· If you can get a job done by someone else for less than your
‘Outsourcing Cut-off Rate’…

· …(especially if they’ll do it faster/better)…

· And you can spend your time on more valuable things…

· => Then Outsource it!

What to Outsource

Well, here’s a short list of just some of the things you can easily and quickly outsource on the Internet…

• Research

• Copywriting

• Course / Tutorial creation

• Product creation

• Software development

• Articles

• Article submission

• Autoresponder series

• Web stuff

• Websites/pages

• Payment setup

• Press Release creation / issue

• Blogging

• Forum research

• Forum monitoring

• Forum posting

• Cold calling

• Call answering

• PA & office work

• Lead entry

• Video / Manual Creation

• Etc, etc

The list is – literally – endless!

What NOT to Outsource

Things you should NOT outsource include:

– Management of your business

– Control of your business

– Marketing of your Business (although you can outsource most of the elements)

There are also some key Skills you NEED to understand yourself, even if you outsource most of the work:

– Copywriting

– The Basics of anything you’re outsourcing, so you can Specify it and Control it

But How…?

The key stumbling blocks here often centre on:

• It’s too difficult

• I don’t know how to tell them what I want

• I don’t know where to go

• I’m worried I’ll get ripped off

Well, I don’t have time to go into all the details here, but suffice it to say…

It’s really not that difficult!

Just start with a limited task and try it out. Limit your risk until you have identified partners you can trust with bigger tasks.

And don’t expect any one individual to be able to do everything you need – most of the ‘freelancers’ and outsource companies out there have particular specialties – be it copywriting, web stuff, accounting or admin support.

I’m working on a full manual on Outsourcing Your Web Business but, in the mean time, look out for upcoming blog posts on WHERE to Outsource and HOW to Outsource …

Happy Outsourcing…

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Selecting a hot niche is all about finding Customers.

I like the fishing simile. In order to be able to catch fish, you have to work out where the fish (customers) are biting, what bait they’re going for (your ‘offer’) and what tackle to use (your website, marketing methods, etc).

But it’s no good just going and sitting by any old pond and using the wrong bait and tackle… if there are no fish, or you’ve got the wrong equipment, you won’t even get a bite!

One way to make sure you’re fishing in the right place is to look at the water and see where the fish are. But that can be a bit hit-and miss if you’re not sure where to look.

Better to watch those who know – by finding out where the other fishermen (your competitors) are and see what they’re catching and what bait and tackle they’re using.

So, you need to search the market to find where there are lots of ‘fish’ and see where they’re biting.

And don’t try to ’fish’ in a market where there are no other ‘fishermen’ – there’s probably a good reason why, and you’ll need to know exactly what you’re doing if you are to succeed!

This all sounds ‘old hat’ stuff, but it’s amazing just how few people do it right! I find I have to keep reminding myself!

Hot Tip: If you want to short-cut your own learning curve and minimize your costs, watch to see who is successful and what ‘bait and tackle’ they’re using. Then copy them!

Hot Tip: And if you talk to real fishermen, they’ll always speak about how to catch fish by describing what the fish do – where they swim, what they like to eat, what tackle works, etc. So, if you’re going fishing, you need to understand the fish and think like they do!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Your Business

Which comes first… …the product? …the web site? …the customers? …the marketing?

Many people put the cart before the horse. They have a product they want to sell and they’re looking for people to buy it. But that’s all the wrong way round! And just how hard can that be?

Do you know how easy it is if you start with the people who want to buy something first…and then offer them a product they WANT?

A Hungry Market…

Pick a ‘hungry’ targeted niche market first. Then build a site…build traffic…and then you can either find a product they already want, sell advertising space or sell the leads on to others. All you have to do is target a niche market with a specific subject and a good number of customers.

Hot Tip: We often try to make things so complicated. The simple truth of how to make money on the web, in one short sentence:

“Build a Site That Gives People What They Want!”

Burn that into your mind. I like to remind myself of this every time I want to go dashing off down some ‘rabbit hole’, chasing something more exotic!

Keep It Simple – Keep It Focussed

And KEEP IT SIMPLE! Complicated won’t work for you in this business and can be very expensive!

And KEEP IT FOCUSSED! The tighter your niche, the easier it is to dominate it. Once you’re king or queen of your niche, you can expand.

But you can’t just put up a sales letter and expect to profit. You’ll need to:

1. Find a market. There are many ways to do this. But as a starter, look at your local magazine rack. No matter what your hobbies, passions or interests are, there are going to be others with similar interests – you’ll be amazed at the selection!

2. Find out what they want. You do this by asking them. Look at magazines, message boards or newsgroups which already cover your subject or similar subjects. Do a search for your subject on Google^TM, or Google Groups^TM at www.groups.google.com.

Go and read the articles and posts and ask what people want or what they think is lacking in your market online. Don’t be shy – people love to discuss things they want!

Or set up a free on-line survey questionnaire using any of the free online survey sites, such as http://freeonlinesurveys.com or www.surveymonkey.com.

3. Give it to them. Once you figure out what people want, give it to them. Design a site which is exactly what they are looking for. Send out press releases, mention it in the newsgroups, write articles, trade links with other sites, and start growing – none of this is difficult and we can show you how to do it all!

OK, so how do I find a Niche that’s not already overcrowded? Enter ‘Mindset Marketing’… and we’ll look at that in a future blog post.

Until then—happy researching!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com