Associate Programs Newsletter #261
Joanna and I are back in Queensland, Australia, for the southern winter after a lengthy stay in New Zealand.
I boast about owning a mobile business, but somehow we always seem to have to pay excess luggage fees when we travel. I guess the smoked salmon Joanna brought with us didn’t help.
We’re going to miss the fabulous NZ seafood but on the other hand we always enjoy Queensland’s sub-tropical fruit.
Today I’m looking at website ideas, hot niches and laying firm foundations for affiliate success…
CONTENTS:
1. Good website ideas and hot niches
2. How to find obscure overlooked niches
3. What’s the missing ingredient?
4. How to find out what Ken’s top 100 affiliates are doing
5. Successful eBay affiliate
6. Thought for today: Laying bricks
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1. Good website ideas and hot niches
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Some people are always brimming with ideas for new affiliate businesses. Others struggle to get even one good idea.
I’m lucky. I always have more ideas than I have time to use. They just keep popping into my head – or perhaps I’ve trained myself to look for them.
Off and on for a few months, I’ve been researching and writing an article aimed at helping those of you who struggle to come up with good ideas.
The article describes more than 25 different places and techniques you can use to find good website ideas and hot niches:
Where to get ideas for a niche website
[UPDATE: In his article Choosing a niche for your online businesss Jay Stockwell shows you free tools and the strategies and techniques you can use to find a profitable niche.========================================
2. How to find obscure overlooked niches
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After I mentioned in my last newsletter that I was writing an article on how to get good ideas for new websites, I was tipped off about a superb new resource.
It’s James Jackson’s hot niches membership site.
I’ve subscribed and I must say it’s fantastic.
James is doing a staggering amount of research – hundreds of thousands of keyword phrases.
As well as monthly keyword lists, he provides interviews, articles, a mini-course and video training manuals. He teaches you how to make these hot niches highly profitable.
Each month he releases a heap of new up-to-date research for you to read or download and use. You’ll see heaps of website ideas for obscure niches you would never have thought of on your own.
Here’s the really good news.
I don’t know how long it will last, but as an introductory offer, right now you can access this superb site for only $1.
Run, don’t walk for this bargain…
[UPDATE 2009: No longer available. Try my free article instead: Where to get ideas for niche websites.]__________________________________________SPONSOR__________
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3.What’s the missing ingredient?
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Lane Lester sounds like many affiliates. In a discussion on our forum – https://www.associateprograms.com/discus/index.php – he says he’s using the following plan…
a. identify a niche
b. develop a content-rich site for it
c. put a bunch of affiliate links on it with reviews and such
d. use a variety of techniques to get traffic
e. watch the money flow in
He’s doing all that stuff, but he’s not getting the results he was hoping for. He asked for ideas.
I put on my thinking cap and came up with 10 ideas to improve his affiliate business – but since then I’ve realized I forgot to mention the most important thing of all.
(You don’t have to do ALL these things. Sometimes all you need is ONE good idea to change a mediocre business into a good one.)
Here are the 10 ideas I gave Lester…
1. Aim to become more than just a specialist in your niche. Aim to become THE authority, so that people repeat things you say. You’ll see some wonderful examples of this in the search engine optimization industry, where a specialist will often do detailed research, write a well researched article, and dozens of websites will quickly link to that article without being asked. That’s a beautiful position to be in.
2. Be a little outrageous. Do something memorable. Don’t take the tame, safe path. In marketing, you want to be noticed and remembered. Think about Richard Branson and Virgin. Do things that make you stand out from the crowd. Take a few risks. Consider using a blog to attract attention to you and your site. Be outspoken on forums and on email discussion lists.
3. Publish your own newsletter to build your reputation, build trust, remind people that your site exists, and get repeat sales. As I’m sure you know, it’s easier to make repeat sales to people who trust you than make new sales to people who don’t know you.
4. If possible, earn lifetime commissions. Do the work once, get paid over and over again. After a few years, you’ll build up momentum. Have a careful look through all the programs at www.LifetimeCommissions.com. It’s a nice way to get leverage.
5. Depending on your industry, you may be able to sign up sub-affiliates in two-tier programs. It works for some. Use case studies to increase your chances of success.
6. Always be on the lookout for ways to get leverage – other people’s brains, other people’s time, other people’s money, other people’s energy, other people’s creativeness, other people’s traffic, other people’s advertising… I must admit I’ve been a bit slow to cotton on to the importance of this, but it’s where a lot of my thinking is going now.
7. Make friends with key players in your industry. Look for the people who are respected in your industry. Your goal is to have those people recommend your site. One fast way to impress such people is to sell a lot of their products.
8. Consider creating your own product and having your own affiliates. Let’s say only 1 or 2 in 100 of the visitors sent by affiliates buy your product, but 5 or 10 or 20 of them might be interested enough to sign up for your newsletter, and eventually buy something from you months or years later.
9. Keep your eyes open. Affiliates are always coming up with interesting new ways of getting attention and making money.
10. Form loose partnerships with people you trust to share ideas and help keep you motivated.
Here’s my 11th idea – and by far the most important one…
Find out what the top affiliates are doing – and do it.
Here’s a good way…
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4. How to find out what Ken’s top 100 affiliates are doing
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Ken Evoy has just totally updated his famous free Affiliate Masters Course for 2005. It’s now 109 pages.
As you probably know, Ken is a fanatical perfectionist. He loves tracking and analyzing what works and what doesn’t.
His report tells you what his 100 top affiliates are doing.
If you’re earning affiliate commissions, you’ll probably already “sort of know” or “half know” many of the tips in this new report.
That’s the problem. MOST affiliates don’t “get it”. They don’t completely understand – and actually USE – the vitally important principles that make the difference between affiliate success and affiliate mediocrity.
The really successful affiliates use these tips and keep them in mind during every action they take online.
So please don’t just skim this report.
Here’s what I’m telling my assistants:
“What I’d like you to do is print it out, find a quiet spot and study it really carefully, giving it lots of thought, and make notes on thoughts that occur to you about ways we can use the info in it.
“Don’t just skim it. Don’t just read it. Take your time and study it carefully – several times. You could build dozens of successful businesses using the concepts explained in this report. It describes how any affiliate can succeed with ANY affiliate program.”
I don’t know of any report anywhere which does a better job of explaining how to succeed in affiliate marketing – and you don’t have to pay a cent for it.
Download the free Affiliate Masters Course here
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5. Successful eBay affiliate
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David Kaye, founder of Kayetech Systems Inc, has 550 niche websites and earns $150,000 a month in commissions from eBay.
Not bad for a two-person company which contracts out programming.
His sites include AllBookstores.com, AutoBuyersAdvice.com, Fashionbrokers.com and Handbags-and-Purses.org .
Story:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,319519,00.html
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6. Thought for today: Laying bricks
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“A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” – David Brink.
REMINDER:
Download Ken’s course here…
It’s vitally important for your affiliate future.
All the best
Allan Gardyne