NicheColonize.com

What’s the most powerful way to get traffic?  Is it search engine optimization, email marketing, article marketing, pay per click, ezine marketing, viral marketing, Web 2.0, etc.

Actually it’s none of these and all of these.

Huh?

The most powerful way to get traffic is to have people doing all that stuff for you - for free.  You’re efforts alone can never match the efforts of multiple experienced marketers, no matter how many articles you write or viral videos you do.

There are experts out there who specialize in every aspect of getting traffic you can imagine.  I’m not a specialist - I’m a general manager.  I’ve conceded long ago that I will never be as good with the search engines, for example, as someone who specializes in that for a living.

So the question is, how do you get these experts to send traffic to you?  Obviously, you have to give them an incentive which makes it worth their while. 

You’ve probably heard this before but the real successful people online all have their own products.  Being an successful affiliate for other people’s products can’t compare to having many successful affiliates promoting your product.

If there’s any doubt in your mind about this, just look at super affiliates like Ewen Chia and Rosalind Gardner.  Why do you even know their name?  Could it be because of the products they’re launched?  LOL, as you can see I’m heavily biased towards having your own products.

Ok, back to getting traffic from affiliates.  How do you do this?

Well, the key is finding a way to make a BIG claim.  If you can make a big claim and back it up, you have what you need to put together an irresistible offer. 

Affiliates want to promote an irresistible offer with a relatively high commission payout.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s easier said then done, but it’s being done all the time by people just like you.

It all starts with knowing your niche and want they want.  Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and really explore what you would want to buy.  What type of benefits would make you say WOW!

Just look at the best selling products on Clickbank and you’ll start to see a trend of big claims being made:

“Convert Your Car To Burn Water + Gasoline = Double Your Mileage!”

“Learn How a 19-Year Old College Punk, a 38-Year Old Flabby Business Man & a 62-Year Old Out-of-Shape Grandpa All Discovered a Unique Method to FINALLY Hack Off That Ugly Belly Fat & Carve Out Ripped 6-Pack Abs”

“Bet On Sports With My Revolutionary System And Win 97% Of Your Bets!”

“Find new and used cars up to 90% off retail value!”

“Get Google Ads Free! :: New Secret!! :: Newbie Affiliate Made $109,620.”

“How a 35 Year Old “Forex Geek” Stole one of the Stock Market’s Darkest Secrets, and used it to discover a “plug in and go” Forex formula…”

Now, the worst thing you can do is flat out lie about your big claim and produce a product which doesn’t deliver what you say.  By no means am I telling you to do that.

However, what I’m saying is - if you find a niche and a way to actually help people, don’t be shy about making your big claim.  Marketing is about grabbing attention and painting the best possible picture of your product in the minds of your potential customers.

Remember, you don’t have to be the expert, you can find someone who is to do a product with you.  It can be an ebook, videos, a home study course, an interview, case studies, content provided in a membership site or paid autoresponder series, etc and all of the
above.  Any medium which allows you to deliver your promised benefits to the customer.

Does your product have to be the next big thing?  No, absolutely not.  Don’t let finding that ‘big idea’ stop you from taking action.  But understand that you need to position your product to be as attractive as possible.

When in doubt - do something!  Throw all those ideas against the wall to find out what sticks.  That’s better than doing nothing, over analyzing your ideas and procrastinating.

Here’s something you can do to learn more about your market, build your list, and get your site off the ground.  Ten steps:

1) Go where your niche hangs out (forums, blogs, social networks, etc) and join the discussion.

2) Find a common problem that people are having. It doesn’t even matter if there is already a solution being marketed. If people are still having that problem and talking about it publicly, there is an opportunity there for you too.

3) Write a free report (or do a video) on that topic and post it in your signature on the forums with a link back to a squeeze page on your site.

4) Have people opt-in to get your free information and also have them tell you what else they would like to learn about that topic. What’s their biggest challenge, what’s their biggest problem, what’s the most difficult part of… etc.

5) Use that intelligence from their responses as the basis for your information product.

6) Put your product on Clickbank or another affiliate network - have a sales page created etc.  Make your product as attractive as possible for affiliates - high payout, easy promotional tools, high conversions, etc.

7) Use that initial free report or video you created as a tool for affiliates to give away to their list and earn a commission on the sales of your product.

Here’s the best example of this you’ll find:

http://www.rondouglas.com/example.html

8 ) Search for ezines and popular blogs related to your product.

9) Signup for the ezines and the blogs and get a feel for what the publisher is about.

10) Contact as many of these publishers as possible.  Make a suggestion or comment about their work to get their attention.  And then offer them the opportunity to give their readers your free report or video and earn a commission.

That’s all for now.  We’re really only scratching the surface of the Niche Colonize Method.  We’ll get into more details in the next edition.

Please post a comment if you found this helpful.

Best,

Ron Douglas
www.NicheColonize.com

Here’s a question that’s asked frequently when people sign up:

“How Do I Find a Good Niche?”

Personally, I think people make finding a good niche a lot more complicated than it should be.  Services like Wordtracker will tell you to do extensive keyword analysis to find a niche that is not too competitive but has a huge demand.

Good luck with that.

Think about this for a moment - what would you expect a vendor who is selling a keyword research service to teach about finding a niche?   What would you expect their affiliates to tell you if they want you to sign up for the service?

Don’t get me wrong, keyword research is important for many things - such as search engine optimization.  However, I disagree that you need to find an obscure market which is not being served.

No wonder one of the main excuses for why people don’t ‘get in the game’ is that they can’t find a good niche.

In my experience, finding a niche should start by looking at what people are currently buying.

Don’t worry about the competition.  Competition is good.  Consider them potential affiliates or partners.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  The research has already been done for you if you open your eyes.  For example, here are five sources to find out what people are currently buying:

• Amazon’s Best Sellers List: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers

• Clickbank’s Marketplace: https://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm

• The Learning Annex: http://www.learningannex.com/

• Ebay Pulse: http://pulse.ebay.com/

• Entrepreneur.com’s Hot List: http://www.entrepreneur.com/hotcenter

Look at what’s selling and try to find a different angle for a product or service.  How can you make a product better, faster, easier, more effective, cheaper, higher quality, higher perceived value, more attractive, more appealing to affiliates, etc.

Basically, a good niche is any market with lots of buyers in which you can establish yourself (or someone else) as an expert.  If you don’t have the experience or accomplishments, find someone who does and partner with them.  You’ll find that 90% of offline experts on a topic don’t know nearly as much as you do about selling online. And most of them are really open to getting more exposure from the Internet.

For example, how easy would it be to do some videos with your personal trainer and put together a different spin for a fitness or weightloss information product?

Some of the fitness programs on Clickbank make millions of dollars per year.  Seems like a competitive market right?  I challenge you to find 10 people in your town who have heard of those websites.

On the flip side, how easy would it be to find 10 people who want to lose 10 lbs?

As I mentioned before, it all comes down to a fight for attention.  Every marketer is fighting for the attention of the people in their niche and there is only so many hours in a day to be shared.

If you can jump into a market, demand attention, and build a list - it doesn’t matter how much competition the market has.  If you have can build a list in that niche, you can have an information publishing business.  But it all starts with getting their attention.

Having their attention means they will open your emails.  It means you will have an opportunity to establish yourself or your site as the expert.  It means that you will have an opportunity to build a relationship and find out more about them.

Don’t underestimate what having that intelligence on your leads is worth.  To completely jack a quote I learned of from my buddy Doug McIsaac:

“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.”  -BlairWarren

How easy would it be to create new products if you had that intelligence about your niche?

That’s all for today.  Please post your comments.

To Your Success,

Ron

The first rule of the Niche Colonize system is “give people what they signed up for.”

Think about that rule for a second. Everyone tells you that you should give something for free on your site to build an email list.  However, there is a right and a wrong way to do it.

To find out if you’re doing it right, you have to enter the mind of the subscriber and ask yourself two questions:

1) “What is the subscriber looking for when they sign up?”

2) “How can I give them what they’re looking for in a way that makes them perceive me as an expert or authority.”

That’s how you should start off your relationship with your list.  That plus a little bit of personality helps :-).  When in doubt, just be yourself.

Another question you should ask yourself is:

“Is what I’m giving to get people to opt-in consistent with the end goal I’m trying to accomplish?”

Giving something away for free is meaningless if the subscriber gets it and is not looking forward to additional emails from you.

Your message should imply to the subscriber - “here’s a taste of the answers you’re desperately looking for, there is more to come from me - The (Insert Niche Here) Expert.”

It’s more powerful if they come to that conclusion on their own just by the way you set up your all-important first impression.

Think about what I’ve just told you - this tip alone can have a profound effect on your business and result in thousands of dollars extra per month.  

Hopefully it won’t take you 4 years to figure that out like it did me :-).

In the meantime, feel free to ask me any question you like.

Speak to you soon.

To Your Success,

Ron Douglas