One of the Best Content Sources for Infoproduct Creators and Affiliates

Content creation for your online business is one of the biggest stumbling blocks many of us face.  I have to admit, sometimes I still find it challenging to come up with good content ideas.  If you feel the same way, maybe this little tip will help.  This is especially useful if you create and sell your own infoproducts or promote affiliate products.  Sorry, can't say there's any rocket science here.  No "ninja tricks" or secret sources for push-button article writers.  But since I just had this "DUH" moment, I thought someone else might find it useful too.

Take a look at the product you're promoting.  If you're an affiliate, hopefully you have a copy of the product or have used it in the past.  If it's your own product, then you're already in good shape.  Read through it, watch it, listen to it or whatever.  As you do that, take note of any times when you mention lists of items, resources, tips, etc.  I mean literally take notes as you go through the thing.  Also, take a look at the sales letter.  Pick out any bullet points that lend themselves to lists of "stuff" you could talk about without giving away the entire course.

Then, create articles, blog posts or other content based on those lists.  Talk about what the product does, what's in it for the customer if they buy it, the problem that it solves or give an overview of the tips included in the product.  You may or may not want to include everything that's mentioned in a particular list.  What if you create a series of articles about this product?  All of them together may give away so much info that no one needs to buy the product.  However, your article should still cover enough to be of value…the person should be better off after reading your article than they were beforehand.

Two quick examples:

1. Say you have a course about online video.  You have a section that covers 10 ways you can use online video on your website to boost conversion.  You could easily create an article that outlines some (or all) of those recommendations…places people should test video within their sales process.  But in your course, you may also include "what to say in the video" or some other bit of info that would make the job easier - and that people will likely also want to know (rather than figuring out through trial and error).
2. Or maybe you offer a dog training course.  You could easily create content covering the most common training problems for new dog owners, with one problem covered in each article/podcast/blog post.  But of course, you have 101 training techniques included in your product, including recommended training tools, resources and so on…which you can recommend at the end of your article.

The end result is content that, on it's own, contains valuable information that someone can actually do something with (not just a bunch of fluff).  The idea is NOT to just create a mini sales letter.  So that's the obvious benefit to the reader, but here's how it benefits you:

• It gives you a natural way to include a good call-to-action at the end of your content to mention your product as a way to find out more about that topic
• It helps educate your target market about why they should consider buying your product (e.g., in example #1 above, maybe the reader doesn't realize how much online video can help).  So you also get an educated customer, which is a better customer.

Like I said, simple enough and probably nothing new.  But I was shocked at how many content ideas I came up with just by going through my own stuff again.  Hopefully that will help you promote your products (or affiliate products) too.

P.S. - This same idea can be used to promote the freebie you're giving away to build your opt-in list too.  Can you think of any other uses?  Leave a comment below.

 

Popularity: 8% [?]

Simple Solutions For the Content Creation Roadblock Nearly All Online Business Owners Face

Ever find yourself with writers block when it comes to creating content (articles, blog posts, multimedia content, etc.)?  If so, here are a few sites you might want to keep an eye on for idea generators for creating content.  Remember, no STEALING people's stuff…use these sites for idea creation, NOT your own personal swipe file.  Don't be a knucklehead!  Okay, nuff said.

1. TrafficJam.com
The newly-released flipside of the Blogrush network (similar to how Adwords and Adsense are two sides of the same coin).  Regardless of what you may think of the traffic you get (or don't get) from the Blogrush network, TrafficJam looks like it has the makings of a pretty decent site for researching your market.  One thing to keep in mind though is that the categories are pretty broad, so you may need to drill down into multiple categories to find different ideas that are relevant to your topic.

2. Article Directories
While some people argue how useful it is to submit to article directories, they can still be a good place to brainstorm ideas for new content.  Of course, the idea is NOT to just go in here and pull someone's article and use it on your site (even though that's generally okay).  Nor is the idea to rewrite their article in your own words to avoid linking back to their site (which is sketchy at best). 

Instead, simply use the titles and general themes you see authors writing about as ideas for your own content.  If you're in the online business market and see an article covering "10 Tips for Getting Traffic From YouTube", maybe you can come up with your own list of however many tips you know of.  Or write more detailed, individual articles on each of your tips.  Or take the opposite stance and write about why you may not want to get traffic from YouTube (huh?).  The list is nearly endless, just us a little imagination and you'll come up with tons of great ideas.  I'd recommend EzineArticles.com, Buzzle.com and ISnare.com.  The others probably aren't worth the time.

3. About.com (or other Mega-Content Sites)
If your target market is featured as one of the categories on About.com, this can be a fantastic way to brainstorm content ideas.  For instance, I had an online store I was trying to create content for.  One of the articles posted on About.com was something like "The Top 10 {topic} Gifts This Holiday Season".  Great idea.  I just wrote my own article similar to that, based on what had been selling well in my store and would make good gifts.  That could have spawned other articles based on specific holidays or other occasions.  Again, it's just about finding the IDEA, not swiping someone's entire article.  I didn't sell some of that stuff in my store anyway so that would have just been stupid.

4. Technorati.com / Google Blog Search
Want to know what other bloggers are writing about?  Why not check out Technorati.com or Google's Blog Search and look for other blogs in your market.  Using either of those services, you can find related blogs in your market and get a feel for what the hot button issues are.  For instance, if you're in the online business market, you could use mine a an example.  I just posted an article about "The 5 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade to the New Version of Camtasia Studio".  Maybe you really agree, but have a different set of reasons.  Maybe you think I'm nuts and that there's no reason to upgrade.  Maybe there's another useful piece of software you could highlight the most important features of, either in an article or video.

5. Google Alerts
Want to know when Google finds new information about your market?  Just setup a Google alert and get emailed anytime Google finds new pages referencing your keywords.  This is great if there are specific terms, products, authors, etc. in your market that you'd like to follow.  I have alerts setup for things like "camtasia" because I work with that program quite a bit, as well as for a few other software tools.  If there are specific terms in your market that you need to keep tabs on, Google Alerts is that way to go.

6. Yahoo Answers / Google Answers
How about finding out what sort of questions people are already asking about your subject?  How powerful would it be to be able to answer those questions with a quick video, special report or other content that gets people to your site?  You can check out Yahoo Answers and do just that.  If someone's asking about it there, other people in your market or viewing your  content online are probably wondering the same thing.  And even if some of the questions are closed, they can still be good fodder for coming up with content ideas.  The same goes for Google Answers…a good source for ideas.  But it's been closed for some time now, so you won't find any new questions being asked there.  Depending no how fast things change in your market, that might be a show-stopper for using this site.

7. YouTube, etc.
Checking out the top-viewed videos in your market on YouTube or other video sharing sites can give you some great ideas for what people are looking for and what's of interest right now in your market.  And of course, if you can't find ANY videos in your market, that might be a warning sign that there's just not that much interest.  See what's popular, who's creating that content, and what else they're up to.

8. Big-Boards.com / Forums
A lot of people bash on forums, but I think you're absolutely NUTS if you're not tapping in to these valuable research sources.  You definitely want to find forums where people are talking about your topic (either forums you already know about, that you find on Google, or through a site like big-boards.com).  Much like Yahoo Answers, you can get a good idea of what's on people's minds right here and now.  Not only that, but you can provide useful answers and content for people.  If you see the same question coming up over and over, why not create a free special report or other high-value content that answers that question?  Then add that to your signature and offer it for free, or to build your optin list.

Bonus Tip: Use RSS feeds or email updates to stay on top of all these sites
You're going to find a LOT of sources as you're searching online.  One of the easiest ways to keep tabs on all these great sources is to subscribe to each site's RSS feed (hopefully they have one available…nearly any blogs do and many forums do too).  For other sites, see if there's a way to sign up for email updates.  The point is to be able to get updates PUSHED to you, rather than you having to go out to each site periodically to see what's new.

Coming Soon…
We'll go over what to do with all these great ideas and how to keep everything organized in a future article so you can maximize the use of your content.

In the meantime, do you have  any favorite research sites?  Leave a comment below…

~Kenton Newby

Popularity: 15% [?]

Six "Einstein Woulda' Done This" Reasons for Starting an Online Business

No intro on this article…let's just get right to it.  If you're thinking about starting an online business or are wondering if this "Internet stuff" is the right path for you, here are some killer reasons why you should rest at ease and know you've chosen the right business.

1.  Low Overhead

An online business is one of the few businesses with incredibly low overhead.  You don't need to hire a huge number of employees, you don't need to rent office space or stock inventory.  Instead, your online business can run nice and lean, with only web hosting and a few other expenses that are absolutely required.  Anything more is optional.

2.  Run From Anywhere in the World

As long as you have an Internet connection, you can operate your business from anywhere in the world.  There are some huge advantages of this, not the least of which is the freedom of location that this type of business gives you.  Why build a business that forces you to be stuck in one location or that makes it difficult to move to a new area because you'd have to start from scratch finding new customers all over again?  You won't be dealing with any of these issues as you build your online business.

3.  Allows You to Leverage Your Skills, Talents and Interests

This relates mostly to information products, but affiliate marketing and other online business strategies can come into play here too.  When building your online business, you can focus on markets that you're interested or have experience and use that know-how to create tons of great content.  That can include your own information products, articles, videos, podcasts, special reports and so on.  The whole web is based on content and if you're able to tap into something you enjoy and create great content around that topic, you'll be setting yourself up for success.

4.  Earn Additional Income or Full-Time Income

Of course, this is what we're all looking for, right?  A way to earn additional income or even a full-time income via the Internet…to get out of the Rat Race and so on.  Having an online business is clearly one of the best strategies for reaching this goal, for many of the reasons mentioned above.  And by building an online business that brings in additional income, you're able to hedge yourself against uncertain financial changes, market trends and other curve balls life tends to throw our way from time to time.

5.  Can Be Started Part-Time

This is one of the best things about an online business, especially for the "Average Joe"…it can be started part-time.  In fact, it SHOULD be started part-time.  And once it's up and running, it really shouldn't be a full-time effort.  Otherwise, that's just another JOB.  An online business doesn't require you to "man the fort" for certain hours during the day, to answer phones, or to be instantly accessible.  Sure, you need to provide customer support for your buyers, reply to emails, take care of the occasional return and so on.  But online, there's not the same expectation that you'll be instantly accessible as in the case of an offline business (where you might be "leashed" to a cell phone…UGH!).  This allows you to batch your support tasks to take care of them all at once or outsource those tasks altogether.  Product creation and content creation can also be done relatively quickly and during times that are most convenient and productive for you.  This is perfect if you're still working a job and have limited time to devote to your business.

6.  Plenty of Income Strategies to Choose From

Online business is such a broad term and it's important to realize that there are several income models that make up the whole "online business" arena.  Here are just a few off the top of my head:

• You can create information products based on your own knowledge
  (or info you learn through a little bit of research)
• You can recommend other people's products and earn a referral fee as an affiliate
• You can create content sites and add ways for those sites to make money
  (affiliate offers, contextual advertising, paid ads, etc)
• You can create a paid membership site or other recurring income stream
• You can offer coaching or consulting to your target market

For any of these options, I suggest creating a blog to serve as the hub for your products, the basis for your content site, or the place where you add content to go along with your affiliate offers.  There are tons of resources available for learning how to get a blog up and running and you can even use free services like Wordpress.com or Blogger.com.  But if you're serious about building a REAL business, you'll want to have that blog on your own domain, not hosted on one of these free services.

If you'd like to learn the fastest, easiest way to get your blog setup on your own domain, watch me take you through the process step-by-step in my Business Blog Mastery video tutorial.  In fact, if you order by Sunday, 6PM EST (GMT -5), you can get it during a weekend special I'm starting a day early…just $27 vs. the usual $55.00.  Here's the link:

Click Here to Order "Business Blog Mastery" CD-ROM

And while we're at it…if you're interested getting a crash course in online business strategies, how to get started and why this is, without a doubt, the best business to start, you'll want to check out my brand new Online Business Overview Audio CD.  On that CD, I go over a lot of the information above in more detail (and then some) and give you my own personal insights into which online business models are most effective and REALLY worth pursuing.  Check out the back of the CD for details using the link below.

I'm offering an introductory special on that audio CD also.  Regular price will be $35.00 after the special, but you can get it for a measly 15 bucks if you order by
Sunday, 6pm EST (GMT -5).  Here's the link:

Click Here to Order the Online Business Overview (Audio CD)

~Kenton Newby

Popularity: 32% [?]

Video Tip of the Week: Automatically Backing Up Critical Data

This video tip covers one of my favorite services.  It's super affordable and an absolute necessity if you're an online business owner, offline business owner or if you just have critical files on your computer that you couldn't stand to lose. 

At only $2/GB, this thing is a steal.  Check it out and let me know what you think. 

As always, comments are open.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Special Offer: Coaching Program

I just got an awesome testimonial from one of my coaching clients who I've been working with behind the scenes for awhile now.  He's currently involved in real estate investing and a few other business ventures and was looking for a way to tap into the MASSIVE opportunity a lot of us take for granted here on the Internet.

In just a few short weeks, he already has several webinars scheduled to promote his real estate business, has a blog for that business up and running, and has picked up so much info that he was able to snag his own client and set her up with a blog using the same strategies we discussed for setting up his own site.  So I guess we can add "blog installation and setup" to the list too.  I'm amazed at how fast he's gotten things up and running but that's what you want in a coaching client - someone who can grab the ball and run with it and take ACTION. 

You can read his testimonial at the bottom of this page: Coaching Program

I have to tell you, that's the kind of feedback I live for.  It makes my day when I can really help someone get over a hurdle that's holding them back in their business or brainstorm new strategies that allow them to enjoy the freedom we're all looking for.  That's the whole point of this "online business" thing, right?

If you'd like to experience the same type of one-on-one coaching, I invite you to check out that link and carefully read the short message I've written there.  Oh, and don't worry…no 10-page sales letter nonsense.  Just a quick 1-pager on who this program is for and who really shouldn't even bother signing up.

WARNING: There are only 10 spots available at the current price.  After that, the price is going up (at least double, likely more but to-be-determined).  But anyone who invests in one of these 10 remaining spots can enjoy having that rate "locked in" as long as you remain a coaching client.

Click Here to Find Out More About This Coaching Program

Popularity: 35% [?]

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