Finding Niche Markets by Reading the Newspaper

Finding a niche market and making a profit from it are not difficult tasks.  All you have to do is be observant and think outside of the box.  Find a niche, set up a blog and you are in business.

Reading your local newspaper is a great way to find a niche that you can turn around and use to make money.  Take 20 minutes a day to read and you will soon have a number of prosperous niche blogs and websites.

Scan the headlines for some general topics that are of interest.  You will find excellent topics in the special sections of the paper – fashion, religion, etc. - and you can look at the specific articles for more refined niche ideas.

Jot down 5 or 10 ideas while scanning the paper.  Once you are online, do some research:

What are people saying about the topic?

Is this a topic that lots of people are discussing?

Is there a lot of competition?

Then ask yourself how you can make money from this idea.  Are there products that are related to it?  Are there books or reports that you can sell?  Do a Google search of the topic and “affiliate” to see if you have some ideas.

You can also create a product for your niche topic.  Write up a short report or guide that provides a solution to whatever problem your niche might have.  Offer it for sale on your blog or website.

As a quick example, let me share with you what I did:  I was scanning the paper and saw an article that discussed how local school kids had issues with head lice when they went back to school.  (Ick, right?)  So I found a Clickbank product that cures this problem and became an affiliate.

I put together a blog, added content and a link to the product and found some parenting forums.  I put a link in my signature and then became a participating member in the forums.  (I did not spam!)  People saw the link in my signature and went to my blog.  Hooray!

Take a few minutes to look around you and you will find all of the ideas you need for niches.

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Finding Niche Market Ideas Using Forums

Finding a niche market is the key to making money.  If you can find the right niche market and marry that with a great product or service, you can put money in your pocket.

There are tons of niches in the world today, and there are many more being created each day.   There are niches that stay around for years (such as credit repair) and niches that don’t last as long (like music from singers that turn out to be one-hit wonders).  The important thing is to find a niche and make money from it.

Look on forums, message boards, etc.  A good way to find out what is on the minds of average people is to visit some moms’ forums.  (Do a Google Search for “moms + message board” to find them.)  What are they talking about?

Finances, parenting, weight loss, beauty – all of these are seen when you visit these boards, but look at the specific questions, too.  You can also post a question on forums, as well, and find out what people need or want.

Here is an example of how I used this idea to find a niche in less than 20 minutes:

I went to a parenting message board and found about 10 threads asking about potty training.  Moms were at the end of their rope about this!  They were literally begging for help!

I created a blog that targets parents who need help potty training their children.  I created 10 posts with general potty training tips and topics.

Then I went to Clickbank and found a product that helps with potty training and is guaranteed to help train the child quickly.  I put an affiliate link in the sidebar.  Done!  (If I wanted, I could add other child-related products such as potty chairs, etc.)

It really is simple to find a niche and make money from it, if you take a few minutes to look around you.

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Getting Targeted Web Traffic- Part 5

Co-Branding
Online co-branding can be a little complicated.  If an Internet user clicks on a link on your website and is taken to a web page that has a different brand or company it can get a bit confusing.  They will wonder why they have been directed to an entirely different web page with unrelated content.  When it comes to co-branding you need to choose partnerships that have something in common with the product or service that you’re selling.

Co-branding can be very cost effective, particularly for small online businesses.  However, if you choose the wrong partner, or too many partners, it might be more harmful than beneficial.

Adding Partners to your Website
As a small business you need to be cautious with your marketing budget.  When you add a partner to your website you need to ensure that you’re going to see strong and positive results from the union.  These positive results can include more traffic to your website, increased online sales, or more contact with your customers.  Online branding can be costly so be sure to choose partners that can benefit your business.

Co-branding can be described as a variety of activities that include:

• Joint promotions
• Value endorsements
• Joint ventures
• Alliances

Co-branding works best when both you and your partner company each provide a related service or product to the same types of customers.

Powerful Co-branding

Studies show that most online users like the idea of co-branding because it helps them to make decisions about the hundreds of brand name products that they come into contact with on the Internet.  When top-quality brands join together in a partnership it strengthens their customer’s approval.  If you have a lesser know brand it will be to your benefit to partner up with a more well known brand so that your overall image is improved and so that you get more exposure on the Internet.  And if a popular brand partners up with a lesser known brand it won’t harm the popular brand.  Your best bet is to partner up with a company that is equal to you. A partnership needs to make sense and customers need to understand the connection.

Guidelines for Co-branding
If you have the right partner you can share the costs of marketing as well as strengthen your company brand.  You’ll also have access to a larger customer base.  Following are some important co-branding considerations:

• What does your co-brand partnership say to your customers?  Will it make your customers feel better about themselves?
• What do you and your partner have in common?  Are both of your products innovative?  Are they dependable?  You want to make sure that your image makes sense for your current customer base.  You don’t want to lose your current customer base but instead you want to build on it.
• How does your co-branding partnership benefit your customers?  Will it save them money?  Or will it save them time?  Your marketing campaign should make the benefit very clear to your customers.
• Your goal with co-branding should be to find the best solutions for your customers.
• There should be an equal value for both brands in the partnership.  You need to have an equal partnership or your marketing strategy will be uneven.
• Will your customers easily be able to see the connection and value of your partnership?
• Does the co-branding partnership bring you into contact with new customers?

The above questions need to be answered before you join in a co-branding partnership.  Joint promotions take a great deal of time and thought to be implemented correctly.  However, when done correctly and accurately, a co-branding partnership can bring you results that are far better than other traditional internet marketing methods. One of the basic rules of internet marketing is:  take your message, content, and promotions to your customers rather than focusing too much energy on the effort of trying to bring customers to your website.

Integrating Partnership Products
When it comes to co-branding partnerships you need to take the time to include the benefits of both brands into the overall design of your marketing promotions.  This way your customers will understand the connection between both products or services.

Simply putting your company logo, or a link to your website, on another company’s website will save you time and money but at the same time may cause you to lose some potential customers.  Co-branding that is successful never leaves your customers wondering exactly what website they are on.  Partnerships should improve a customer’s shopping experience by helping them to make buying decisions.  You’ll want to exchange content with your partner so that you both expand your expertise in the industry.  However, you’ll need to incorporate this content into your website so that it flows naturally and fits in with your own content.  The end result will be beneficial to both of you when you maintain professional consistency.

Complementary Partners
Your website will be more legitimate and competitive when you have co-branding content that is well integrated into your own web pages.  Co-branding will only help your business if it complements the business goals you have defined for your company.  Always keep your business goals in mind no matter what internet marketing strategy you’re trying to incorporate into your business.  This means that all your website content, promotions, and activities with your co-branding partners encourages your customers to follow through with the sales action.

Joint Ventures
A joint venture is where you team up with another marketer in a compatible niche for what should be an equally rewarding promotion or project.  Often times joint ventures involve promoting each other’s products as affiliates or even working together on a mutually beneficial product launch.

Some people think “joint venture” means getting the biggest guru you can find to promote your product and make you rich.  Those people are wrong!  Most experts say that the best place to start with joint ventures is with your peers and friends, of which most are probably at a similar level as you are.  Even if you have to get out and meet some new people, there’s a good chance you aren’t going to get one of the “big time” marketers to promote your product if you don’t have previously established relationship with them.
A “joint venture” is as much about relationship building as it is about selling products.  Sometimes in the beginning you may have to “give a little” more than what you get back—and that’s OK, because it’s part of the relationship building process.

Here are some tips for finding joint venture partners:

• Search the search engines.  Find people with related products and services that you can contact and get to know.
• Go to events and seminars related to your niche or product, or general internet marketing seminars.
• Ask your customers.  Send an email out to your list to fish for prospective partners.
• Visit forums and online discussion boards, and ask around.
• If you find a potential joint venture partner, don’t be afraid to sign up for their mailing list and/or purchase one of their products.
• Consider how working with your competition could pay off for both of you.

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September 2008 Affiliate Income

I know it’s almost half way through October but it’s never too late to post the affiliate income report for September 2008. It was a tough month, with commissions dropping due to the economy. My niche sites and PPC campaigns are more luxuries than necessities. Which, due to the economy, creates a drop in commissions. Well, I can’t really complain because it’s still extra money in my pocket. Here are the results.

Ebay Partner Network

My Ebay earnings dropped from $300 a month to a low of $195.18 last month. I think a lot of this is due to the lack of spending on luxury items.

Pepperjam Network

My PPC campaign went fairly decent. I spent a total of $50 and made $110for a profit of $60. I was playing it safe. This was with only 1 campaign on 1 search network (MSN). I pretty happy that I ended up in the positive for both programs.

Here is the break down;

Ebay Partner Network: $195.18

Pepperjam Network (PPC): $110.00

Adsense: $12.14

Gross Income: $

Costs: -$50

Net Profit: $267.32

Not bad! That’s with all sites on auto pilot, with little to no SEO. I’m still working to improve each of the 4 BANS and PHPBAY sites I’m currently running.

Let’s hope that next month is much better!

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August 2008 Affiliate Income Frome BANS

I know it’s been a while since my last affiliate income post. Here is a short post to show my earnings for my niche marketing efforts in august 2008. This income reflects only my three BANS stores that have little to no SEO optimization done to them. All traffic is organic from Google and Yahoo.

I’m showing you this to let you know that it is possible to earn a little extra money every month with a BANS or phpbay store.

Three hundred dollars may not seem like much but, to a newbie like me, it shows that there is hope for a increase in knowledge and income.

Remember, the only thing I have done is establish a website or blog around a specific niche, add very little content, and make sure I use the niche keywords in the header and title of my blog/website. I still have lots of work to do with my websites as far as SEO and gaining backlinks.  If you want to see an example of one of my sites then you can check out www.eghilliesuits.com (still needs a lot of work). This site is bringing about $70 a month just sitting on the web.

I’ll be sharing exactly what I do to earn form EPN and affiliate income as I learn on the go. Be sure to check back soon for more tips.

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