The Keen Marketer

Let’s talk about niche selection. This is very important to ensuring the profitability of your membership website.

First – Look for Fanatics

The first step in developing a profitable membership business is to find a market with fanatics in it. Fanatic is defined as someone with an irrational enthusiasm. These are the people you’re looking for because they are so enthusiastic they’re willing to spend money on their topic of fanaticism. Here’s how to find fanatics:

• One simple idea that’s easily forgotten is to scan the magazine racks when you’re out and about. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to run a print magazine. So if you see one on the shelves you know they are making money, which means that there are enough people interested in what they’re saying to make it profitable. If they can make money in a print version, you can probably make money with a membership website.
• You’ve got lots of opportunities every day to see what people are interested in. Just pay attention to what people talk about on the radio, at social gatherings, at the store or restaurants and anywhere in public. If people are talking about something, they probably want to know more about it. Which means you can start a membership business providing information on it.
• Again, looking in the physical world for clues you can tell there are lots of people interested in something if there are clubs and organizations around the topic. By the same token, if enough people are interested to hold a convention on a certain topic, you can definitely find enough people to build a membership business around that same topic.
• And of course there are all the things you have an interest in, too! Chances are that if you like a certain topic or hobby, other people do, too. And, as an added bonus, it’s much more fun to build a business around things you’re interested in.
• Google Trends. This is a great way to figure out what people are interested in. This service shows you the current most popular search terms. The reason people are searching Google for info on these topics is because they are interested. And the fact that it’s made it into Google Trends tells you LOTS of people are interested. Building a membership business around things people are actively searching for is a great way to ensure your success.

Next – Figure out if there’s money in it

Once you found a potential niche or topic to center your membership site around, you need to figure out if you can actually make any money in it. One way to figure this out is to see if others are making money in it.

Here’s a punch list for figuring out if anyone’s making money in your niche:

• Find out if there are blogs or forums related to it. Just search Google for “YourNiche blog” & “YourNiche forum” and see what comes up. This means there is a large group of people already assembled for you to market to.
• Check Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping to find out if others are making and selling products in your niche. If other people are creating and selling products in this niche, it means there is money to be made.
• Look at Google Adwords for the same ads are running over time. If people are running the same ad over time it means they are making money in the niche. They would not continue to spend money on the ads if there were not making a return from them.

Finally – Figure out your barrier to entry

OK, so you found a hot topic and you know other people are making money on it. Will you be able to get involved and do the same? Here’s how to make this determination:

• Look at the product types in this niche. You want to find a niche where information products are being sold as the norm. The easiest membership website to create and maintain are information membership sites.
• The next thing to look at is the competition. You don’t want to try to break into a saturated marketing, so figure out how many people are already selling in this niche.
• Unless the market is just so big that it doesn’t matter how many competitors there are, you want to limit the competition. So evaluate the size vs. the competition.
• Market readiness. Are people ready to buy? Are the receptive to marketing messages? Every market is different. Sometimes people are looking for information and are ready to pay for it right now. And sometimes it takes weeks, months or even years for them to make the decision to purchase.

In Summary

So far, we’ve talked about exactly what it takes to pick a great niche: One with a hungry crowd of fanatics, who are ready to spend money on information about their topic. And you’ve determined your barrier to entry is small enough to give it a go. If you’ve done your homework, your business will be a success because you already know your market is a profitable one with room for you. Learning how to run a membership website is a topic for another article…

When it comes to business promotion, experts say that you should use the right marketing avenues. For instance, you should foster the use of brochure printing to accelerate your marketing plan.

Admin: Very good article. Too often, small business online marketers don’t due their research to see who really needs their products and then sit back and wonder why they don’t get any business.

This is aside from using business cards and postcards to sell to your target customers. However, having these tools often make business owners forget to whom they are really promoting their products. Who are their target markets with which their marketing materials are designed for?

For a business to succeed, it is critical to determine who the target market is. Doing so lowers the cost of marketing and increases the potential for business success. Determining the target market is the process of discerning the group that make up your customer base. You develop your products and services based on these groups, thus, distinguishing your desired market segment.

Look at huge businesses today, cell phone manufacturers for instance. Why do you think Sony and other huge telephone companies developed affordable phone for the masses? This is because they are developing products for the working class and the masses whose needs are different from that of the upper income class.

So, how do you find your target market?

When finding your target market, there is no exact way of doing it. There is really no exact market segment that you can use. However, when businesses define their market segment they often rely on the following factors, gender (male, female, members of the third sex), age (kids, teenagers, adults, etc.), and income (lower class, middle class, or upper class). Some businesses also use marital status, ethnicity and many other factors in determining their market.

When you have used these parameters and defined your target market, you will be able to reach the right people who will benefit from your products and services. Likewise, having the right market allows you to get your message across much faster and create the right marketing campaign. Consequently, you are able to save a lot on the cost of your campaign, get more sales, and receive higher income.

Therefore, for instance you are going to sell women clothing in your boutique. How do you define your target market, then? For this example, your target market would be mostly women, teens and adults, probably in the middle class, students and working in middle management. After defining your target market, you need to do a market research. Knowing the lifestyle and purchasing power of your target market is needed.

Here are ways you can do as your marketing strategy:

• Make your boutique as female looking as possible. Display several eye-catching clothes. Keep in mind that women are likely to respond to striking images.

• Create compelling brochures. If you have a budget for brochures, create brochure templates that effectively showcase your clothes in an enticing manner. Include in your brochures attractive images of women wearing your beautiful clothes.

• Talk to your customers like your friends. Doing so, you can easily influence then to buy your products and create positive customer relationships.

By knowing your target market, you easily boost your business image and maintain customer relationships. This also allows you to make your products more accessible to people and easily remembered in case they need your products and services. So, study your target market carefully to stay ahead of the competition.

Learn the developments in brochure templates or brochure printing industry that help businesses in their marketing and advertising campaigns.

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About the Author:
Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in online printing that help businesses in their marketing and advertising campaigns.
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Making your website visible is often a challenge to new online marketing beginners.  Here are 5 new ways you may not have come across before that should expose your site to more click through’s.

• Let’s say you are interested in optical lenses. A really creative idea is to have  a directory of web sites available on this specific topic.  First off, it will give people the opportunity to add the directory as a link to their website or bookmark tool.  By putting your advertisement at the top of the home page, you are in the visitors line sight and can possibly increase visits to your site by people interested in your topic, whatever it is.
  

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• You created this e-book which just isn’t taking off.  Sales are just about dead.  What to do?  Bonus to the rescue.  Offer it as a free bonus to someone else’s product or even as an incentive to optin your newsletter.  Don’t forget to place your ad somewhere on the product to get more exposure.

• Know anyone else who has a list?  Well, offer to trade adverts with them and have your ad placed at the bottom or top of each autoresponder email.  Your agreement could cover the number of emails you would send and for how long.  It’s a win-win situation giving you both new exposure to new faces.

• People love tips, especially when it saves them money.  So start a free tip line.  Decide if you want to have it daily, weekly or monthly.  Allowing the viewer to add to the tip series is also a smart tactic that will attract others and give you really good content to share.  It’s all about value!

• You’ve heard of paying to have your content on ezines with a large list of followers.  Well, save yourself some money and exchange some content with other sites such as trading articles etc.  The resource box would include a link back to you.  How great is that for backlinks?

Thinking of innovative ways to promote your site does not have to be complicated especially when the proper internet training is in place to point you in the right direction.  I like to follow the KISS procedure.  Keep It Simple Sally!

Many online business entrepreneurs sometimes get stuck as to how they can improve their profits.

That’s why I have 5 unusual ways you can do just that. Read On.

• So you want backlinks, right? At least that’s what your online training has shown you must do in order to get traffic toy our site. Well, why not offer to write articles exclusively for one site in exchange for a link back to your site? A win win situation.

• Work extra hard at keeping your customer service in good standing order by keeping in touch on a personal note or even send them a postcard. Snail mail is often overlooked but is an excellent tool and makes your customer feel appreciated with the personal touch.

• Run surveys often and ask your customers what they would like to see. A great free tool to do just that is SurveyBob. It’s versatile and has many bells and whistles you would pay for with other online survey tool suppliers.

• Review your site for navigation ease. Often, we build and build without thought of how hard or easy it is go get around. So act like a customer and go visit your site.  Jot down what needs to be tweaked. If all if great, then kudos to you.

• Just because your site is up doesn’t mean that nothing changes.  If you have freebies, then change them every once in a while or otherwise, if someone visits your page more than once and a long period of time has expired and the same things is still there, they will sense that not much new info has been added and that this site is neglected. And it may not be neglected but you have to show it by changing some things around.  Send out a notice to your list about the new freebie and keep your visitors happy so they will want to come back.

Niche keyword research has always been something that I haven’t been very diligent in doing.  That may be because I did not really know how to do it until I learned how from superb internet marketing training.

The whole keyword thing can be broken down into 8 steps. Once your learn how, then it’s wash and repeat.

So here goes:

Step 1: Think of something that moves you and find one word that would describe it.

If gerbils or skateboarding are of interest to you, then pick one single word that can describe this interest or passion you have. 

See how easy step one was?

But I must caution you at this point.  If you don’t take this first step seriously, then all the others will not produce the results you want in the end.  So I must qualify this simple process by advising you to choose something that you already know lots about and want to learn more about in the future.

Learning more about your topic will keep you interested over the long haul. That way you are less likely to get discouraged or even quit.

Step 2: Come up with a problem statement using your word combined with “how”.

What does this mean?

Very simply put, ask yourself, “Are people trying to solve a problem related to your area of interest?  Will they pay for a solution?” Hopefully you will have one they will want to pay you for. After all, that’s the idea with developing a niche marketing strategy.

There are many keyword research tools and one free tool that is quite adequate is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Start by typing in the word that you chose but add to that the word “how”. An example of that  using the above words would look like this: “how gerbil” or “how skateboarding”.

The reason you use “how” is because  people with problems look for a solution on line and usually use “how” as a way of asking the search engines in order to find a solution.

Once you click “send”, the Adwords keyword tool searches and finds what other searches were done using those 2 words and may contain results such as “how feed gerbils” or “how make a skateboard”.

Adwords keyword tool spits out what are called “problem statements” which leads us into the next step.

Step 3: Look for the “action words” found in the problem statements.

There actually may be many action words like “how clean gerbil”, “how groom gerbil”, “how build skateboard”, “how make a skateboard.  You get the idea.

Your action words in this case would be clean, groom, build  and make.

These words are the ones people are using to try to solve their problems with.

Step 4: From your list of problem statements, choose the ones you could solve because you know something about it, or can learn more as discussed before.

So if you could help people build a skateboard from scratch you’d choose statements such as ‘how to make a skateboard”, “how to make skateboard deck”, etc.

Just list all the statements that you know you can solve.

Step 5: List all the words you can find with your problem that people could use to search for.

So you’re going to help people build a skateboard but remember that “how to make a skateboard” may not be the only words that apply to this problem.

There are different parts to the skateboard such as the “deck” and “wheels’ which all play an important part in the making of a skateboard.  Just make sure you identify as many words as possible.  If you can help with all the parts of the skateboard, you will inevitably reach a wider audience.

Don’t be shy. Whip out your thesaurus for synonyms  and make a list for both your interest word and your action words.

Step 6: Narrow your search to the actual keywords people are typing in their search.

You will be fine tuning your keywords for better targeting your niche of choice. If you have  a paid keyword tool, you can further narrow your search.  It should produce more phrases people use to search with.

Step 7: It’s now time to put your keywords into groups.

Use the “intention” of the search term to make your list of words that fit under each “intention”.

What this will allow you to do is to specify what problems people are actually searching for.

Step 8: Now which list has the largest groups of keywords?

If one list has lots of keywords that express the same problem, then that list means that there are a lot of people trying to solve the same problem which could translate to lots of people visiting your site looking for a solution.

Now was that so hard?  Finding the right niche will take some effort on your part and some practice as you refine your keyword research skills. Then it’s on to create a profitable website providing value and problem solving solutions for you to profit by.  It’s all in the training!

Amazing tool does the job!

Ever wonder how you could be targeting your Twitter followers more effectively?

Well there is a really cool tool that can be a great help to do just that.

You may be guilty of having followed a lot of people, at first, who were not really focused on what you wanted to promote. This tool solves that problem.

It’s called Twitterfall.

How does this tool work?

Once you have logged into your Twitter account from the Twitterfall page, you put in a term you are searching for.  Let’s say you are looking to follow people that do “dog training”.  As soon as you have checked the box next to the term, Twitterfall will start to retrieve people who are talking about dog training in their tweets.

If you wish to see how many people the person is following, all you have to do is hover over their tweetname.  It will tell you how many they are following and how many are following them.

This is a great tool to really target your followers and a great idea is to have more than one account with each one targeting a specific niche you are specializing in.

You can even color code your searches and have several searches going on at the same time. As the system loads each term, you will have each person’s tweets color coded to the term’s search color.

You also have the ability to “follow” that person from right there without going to their Twitter profile page.

Twitterfall is a really great tool and spending some time there every week could very well build you a really targeted list of followers that should position you in a favorable light if you take the time to give value.

Retweeting this message would be appreciated.

So you are one of the new breed of network marketers who actually use the internet to market online.

Bravo!

You have landing pages in place, you may have a blog or even a website.  But you’ve been wondering why you’re not ranking higher in the search engines.

Maybe it’s because you have been applying certain outdated techniques that are actually costing you that ranking or you are not doing things the right way.

I will start by giving you the very first tip on how to correct this problem. These are things I have had to learn.

A title tag tells the engines what your page is all about and it also appears in search results as well as in the browser space at the top.

So this is DEFINITELY where you should put your best keywords!

But we routinely see site owners making pretty basic errors with their title tags, costing them good rankings, and sometimes, even their credibility.

It is very important that you tag the title properly.

a. No tag?

Visitors will see “untitled document” in the search results, and the top of the browser, which makes you look unprofessional. No one will be looking for an untitled document.

b. Bad idea to use your URL as the title

Even if your url contains your business name, the product category and the name of the product, this won’t help your rankings.

What you have to remember is that your title tags are for Keywords.

c. Greeting the visitor instead of a keyword-rich title

Hey, don’t get me wrong.  Saying “hi” to a new visitor is great but that works only if you are actually greeting a real person.

A title tag is not the place for that.  Will someone search for a welcome message?

d. Using only single words in the title tag

Like anything, stuffing your title tag with single words will also not work. Use keywords in a phrase of about 70 characters  to describe and present your page at a glance.

Don’t know where your title tag is?

It’s easy to find and easy to change in your HTML code.  Just switch to HTML view in your webpage software, such as Microsoft Frontpage. Near the top of the page, between your “head” tags that look like this <head>, you will find the title tags:

<title>Network Marketing:-Proven Marketing Tips & Strategies</title>

In my next post, I will present the second most responsible error made my online marketers that cost them good search engine results.

“It’s easy! We do it for you.”

You go online and you’ll find tons of opportunities that guarantee outrageous money while they do all the work. Sounds too good to be true?

It usually is!

Pt Barnum always said “There’s a sucker born every day”. There will always be people who want to believe that getting rich is quick, easy and risk free. I may be prejudging here, but these people are lazy.

Network marketing is a unique business venture that appeals to many people but it is not easy. However, perseverance and hard work can bring financial success much quicker than any You will be selling your product but you are also selling people on the business model which can satisfy their financial goals for the future.

Thing is, the average person has mainly been exposed to the employee model and may not know a whole lot about having their own business.

They may not understand basic business principles. So coming across a “hands-off” system that can generate big bucks with no investment of time or effort and little money invested can be appealing to many.

But if these systems did what they say they did, then why would they need you?

They wouldn’t! In a real network marketing business you are contributing a monthly investment in time, money and indispensable human interaction.

I am not saying that automated systems are bad. On the contrary, some are excellent but in the end it still is only half the equation and building a relationship with your clients and prospects is what will insure your success for the long term.

Personal interaction and mentoring is the glue that holds an organization together. When distributors hit those “rough spots” in their business, the coaching and advice that they receive from you or any other leader is what will keep them going.

You are really getting paid for managing an organization. Help your people succeed by developing leaders.

This, automation cannot do! It takes a human being to do this and that’s why you’ll never get paid for doing nothing.

Plus, all systems – no matter how automated they are – still require a human being to monitor and manage them.

Nothing runs on its own but don’t turn against having an automated system to help you in your prospecting. It can be the difference between achieving success the first year rather than 2 years down the line.