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Add Comment »Most people who choose to make money online through becoming an affiliate start out by doing something really big, such as ‘health supplements’ or ‘children’s clothing’. However, if you want to make good money online, you have to narrow your focus and this is where a mini niche affiliate site comes into play.
The best way to describe a mini niche site is to look at it as being one small slice of one slice of one market. For example, ‘clothing’ breaks down to ‘children’s clothing’ breaks down to ‘boy’s clothing’ breaks down to ‘baby boy’s clothing’ and that is where your mini niche affiliate site is. (There is also ‘micro niche’ sites which would be something like ‘organic baby boy’s clothing’, but we won’t get into that). Once you have broken down all possible niches and sub niches that you can affiliate with, then you can choose some mini niche affiliate sites to build and work with. There are advantages and disadvantages to a mini niche affiliate site when making easy money online.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of the mini niche is that only a narrow slice of the internet population is going to care about what you’re selling, let alone buy it. This means that your keyphrase is going to be worth less than a broader one because there will be fewer clicks per impression. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll have to work harder per se, but instead, work smarter and more efficiently.
Advantages
The main advantage is that people who are looking for what you’re selling are really looking for it; i.e, a mother looking for clothing for her baby boy will search for ‘boy’s baby clothing’ and there you will be! There is less competition in mini niche affiliate sites because fewer people search for them and you can more thoroughly explore your topic, making you an expert in your field without having to against the big names.
Another way to look at a mini affiliate niche site is to consider the difference between a big store like Zellers and a specialty store like Pay-for-Less shoes. Zellers may get more people coming in overall, but Pay for Less will get more money coming in for shoe sales because that is what they specialize in whereas Zellers only sells a few rows of shoes! With a tighter focus, you can better concentrate on selling every aspect of your online store and you’ll get more focused traffic which means more sales.
Mini niche affiliate sites are becoming more popular with those seeking to make easy money online. They are specialized, relatively easy to do, and you get driven traffic that is more interested in your products. Some mini-niche affiliate sites can make their owners thousands of dollars a month with the same effort expended into major niche sites, so they are definitely worth trying out. Furthermore, you can make as many or as few mini niche sites as you want and get payments from all different slices of the population. All in all, if you want to get into affiliate marketing, working through mini niches is a great way to go. Learn a few ways to avoid failure when starting an online business here.
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1 Comment »Avoiding the obvious pitfalls of making money online is one thing, but what are ways to legally make money online? There are an amazing range of options to choose from and as long as you are sensible and treat your online business just like you would an offline business, it’s easy to stay on the right side of the law. Each major kind of online business has its common sense rules so that you make money online legally-though when the cash starts rolling in, you may think you’re doing something illegal!
Product Selling
There are tons of perfectly legal ways to sell your products online, but what it basically boils down to is treating your online store like you would your offline store. Make sure you have credentials such as reviews of your products, forums, comments allowed on products and of course advertising and free articles for people to peruse. Make sure you are upfront about your costs and don’t try to stick your customers with hidden fees after the sale. Just like an offline store, it’s important to have a presence in the online communities related to your business, newsletters, coupons/specials, worthwhile products to sell and buy, and information articles related to your site so that people will want to buy your things. Finally, remember the more legitimate and trustworthy you are, the more likely it is that people will buy from you, so stay on the straight and narrow!
Freelance Art/Writing
Freelancing is hard work; it takes skill, networking, a bit of luck and a ton of dedication. However, there are plenty of freelancers out there who think that they can cut out all of the hard work by cheating: stealing art and reposting it as their own (maybe slightly reworked), copy/pasting chunks of other articles and works in their own articles, and stealing templates and web designs. Instead of doing these things, stay on the good side of the law by doing your own work, research, and art. It takes more effort, but you will build better and more profitable relationships, and you won’t annoy people!
Affiliate Marketing/Text Ads
Affiliate marketing is where you sell products on behalf of other companies or advertise on behalf of other companies. Although staying on the legal side may seem like a no-brainer, there are some things to be careful of. Make sure that you ask for permission to email people with your deals and newsletters and always include an unsubscribe button (So, don’t buy email lists; you’ll at best be ignored). Always be completely upfront about how much are you charging for your products-no hidden fees-and make sure your site is completely secure so people can use their credit cards safely. Finally, avoid ‘black hat’ techniques like link spamming and stuffing the search engines with your stuff. These things may work in the extremely short term, but in the long run, you’ll make less money and annoy the search engines into blacklisting you.
Consultant
Being an online consultant is a good way to share your knowledge with others-if you have any to share! Although perfectly legal, it becomes illegal if you claim credentials you don’t actually have. For example, if you claim you are a doctor specializing in herbal medicines and in truth you are a plumber and found out, you could be sued. Make sure that the information you’re selling is information you actually know inside and out and don’t claim titles that you don’t actually have.
Legal ways to make money are all over the internet, but there are many ways to accidentally slip into the dark side of business. Generally speaking, using common sense and treating your online business as you would any business will help you to steer clear of the possible legal damage you could otherwise bring on yourself.
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Add Comment »We all make mistakes and while many mistakes online aren’t too costly, some of them are real doozys. The best way to avoid mistakes is to learn from them, so witness the following group of internet mistakes and take what lessons you can from them.
Mistake #1:
No Plan
The number one reason why internet businesses fail is not because of a lack of customer support or a lack of cash, but rather a lack of focus. People who start out in the internet world often start out with no business plan, no budget and no idea what they want to accomplish, so just like in the real world, they fail.
Fix It: Before you even touch fingers to keyboard, work out what you want to do online and what you want to sell. Do you want to sell your own products or market other peoples` products? Write out a proper business plan just as you would if you were opening up a shop on the corner of your street, including a budget for marketing, advertising, and outsourcing.
Mistake #2:
No Research
Close on the heels of the no plan mistake is the no research mistake. Before diving into a product or group of products, you should always research it to make sure that there a place for you. If there is too much competition, you probably won’t do well until you start narrowing your focus. However, if there is no competition, this should also throw up warning signs as it means that no one is looking for that thing. You want a Goldilocks zone; just enough competition to show that there is a healthy interest in your product and not so much that your site will be bogged down.
Fix It: You can easily research your product by checking it on a search engine and seeing how many search results pop up. You can also use SEO analytic tools; Market Samurai for example which often have free trials running.
Mistake #3:
Your Website isn’t Well Cared For
Your website is your store and if it doesn’t look nice, work well, and isn’t easily navigable, people won’t stay there. Studies show that people make the decision whether or not to check into a site and buy from there in the first five seconds. Furthermore, if your site is buggy, slow, disorganized, and full of broken links, no one will stay, let alone buy things.
Fix It: If you feel like you can’t get your site to work or look the way you want it to, outsource it. There are plenty of web designers, writers, and artists you can hire privately or through bidding sites to make your website easier to navigate, nicer to look at, and more interesting.
Mistake #4:
You Don’t Like Social Media
You don’t have to like things like Facebook or Twitter, but refusing to use them is internet marketing suicide. Social media is an easy way to hit a huge customer base for cheap.
Fix It: Grit your teeth, sign up, and update regularly.
Of course, like any business or anything in life period, there are plenty more pitfalls than the ones above, but those are the biggest ones you can hit. Avoid them and the smaller ones will be much more manageable and you’ll be able to make more money with your online marketing.
