Internet Marketing Ideas by Steve Weber   Reply to Me On Twitter: Click Here

I posed this question to my twitter followers. Here is a summary of what they said was required to build a successful business. Thanks everyone!

bryan_kavanagh @Steveweber be yourself work hard

BullsEyeLeader @steveweber Find something you are passionate about that helps people. Plan your work. Work your plan!

jpapakalos @steveweber Passion, fearlessness, family support, a strong network, money helps

PhxREguy @steveweber Put your customers/clients needs first.

TappyBear @steveweber Be absolutely positively passionate about what you do! Structure it right, and execute perseverance.

usmansheikh @steveweber Building a successful business takes passion, perseverance and patience.

Project_Man @steveweber Decision on niche, determination 2 succeed, dedication 2 the task, delivery of product & most import - INTEGRITY in word & deed!

jimlavin @steveweber How about one word to suceed, determination.

JasonSilvestri @steveweber You Must First Sell Yourself, Then Sell Them

willida @steveweber 2 build a successful business: niche, business plan, passion, network of mentors, the ability 2 wait twice as long as U expect

haroldcampbell @steveweber be prepared to work harder than you have ever worked in your life

cjbart @steveweber Spend the Time, Energy and Capital on the Proper Mindset, Foundational Plans, and Master Minding w/ like Minded (Dev Awareness)

cenacle @steveweber the most important aspect is talent hired, get the right people on the bus, in the right positions and don’t be afraid to fire.

explorertravel @steveweber If you tell a customer you are going to do something, make sure you do it.

cmorgansweb keyword content info,regular updates,networking & seo built site w/visitor appeal,know ur niche & u got a good start 4 successful onlinebiz

NatalieTM @steveweber Imagine yourself already there and avoid noticing what you want and don’t yet have

julialilly @steveweber Be Real. Be Honest about what you can (and can’t do). Don’t listen to naysayers and Stay the Course!

ginabad @steveweber do what you were put here to do, do it with great energy & intent, and doors will open. it’s working for me anyway

And then there was this one from Rick…..

rickcomtois @steveweber Buy One.

Visit Steve Weber On Twitter

• Leave a comment... (0)

Site owners often struggle at first with shopping carts and accepting credit cards. The initial solution is much easier than most think! Watch the video to see how easy your first shopping cart can be!

CLICK HERE TO GET MY FREE NEWSLETTER

• Leave a comment... (0)

A targeted list should be at or near your #1 priority. Many people simply do not understand why a list is vital to the success of almost every online business. Regardless of the niche, 99% of online businesses will benefit from a list of targeted followers.

In the video below I describe the three types of visitors to your site and why the third type makes a list vital for your site’s success.

Click Here to visit “The Money Is In The List”.

• Leave a comment... (0)

Everyone using twitter should check this out for shortening URL’s. If you open an account with cligs (free) and create your short URL’s from within your account, you can track the clicks (way cool!). Also, you can tweet direct from the saved “cligs”!

Here’s a video for using a FireFox add-on which supports several URL shortening tools including cligs. Even if you don’t use cligs, I still highly suggest this add-on. Even for those using tinyurl, this add-on will work great!

• Leave a comment... (0)

One of the biggest questions facing someone wishing to begin an Internet business is “what can I sell or promote online.” I get this question all the time from beginners coming to my site.

You probably already know that one of the biggest pieces of advice I offer beginning Internet marketers is to stay away from big areas – such as Internet marketing. One reason for this has to do with how much quality competition there is in that area.

However, there is an even more basic reason for avoiding the area.

You also may know that one of the core principles of Internet marketing is the value aspect. Simply put, success online requires supplying some form of real and measurable value. Success online does not come from just “flipping bits and bytes”; there must be real value supplied and exchanged for income.

I know quite a lot about Internet marketing. Does this mean I could do well selling a sky diving eBook online? I wouldn’t even try since I don’t know that market. What kind of value could I possibly offer the niche? It would be hard enough researching the niche just trying to understand who the target audience may be and how to reach them. But even if I did, I am afraid I still would not have much to say of any value.

Unfortunately, many beginning Internet marketers are especially drawn to the Internet marketing niche. They feel it is a perfect fit for them since they have so much interest in it already. Perhaps they have purchased their fair share of Internet marketing eBooks; they want to jump on the online marketing products’ bandwagon too.

But here is the problem. Successfully promoting affiliate products or your own products or services always requires adding value to the world. The beginner finds him or herself in about the same boat as I would be in the sky diving niche. The beginner simply does not have the experience or know-how to offer anything of value yet in that area. They have no successful techniques to explain. They have no experiences to share. They are not even well educated in the process usually.

Remember the core principles required for online success: Traffic, Trust, and Value
No matter which niche one chooses, addressing the issues of traffic trust and value must be addressed before beginning work in the niche. I may be able to get traffic to a sky diving website. I could make the site appear trustworthy. But what value could I offer that niche?

Think of your talents and experiences when considering a niche. It takes some practice and thought, but every person has special experiences they can use to add value to their marketing.

Here are just a few random thoughts on how connecting experience with niches might work:

Mothers – organic diapers
Woodworkers – exotic woods
Dog lovers – natural flea and tick products
Landscapers – gopher control
Fishermen – “secret” locations in your state
Runners – a blog about races in your state
Clay artists – How-to guide for slab rollers

See how the process of connecting your experiences with offers works? It is not that difficult to find online opportunities to match your personal experiences.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Steve Weber

P.S. We spend a lot of time discussing niches in the member’s forum. Plus I have my 1500 niche ideas there to get the brainstorming ball rolling! More details here:
http://www.weberinternetmarketing.com/OnlineBusiness.htm

• Leave a comment... (0)

 Many of you, like I used to be, are conflicted when it comes to  the following question:

Should you have multiple online projects going at the same time?
In Internet marketing we often hear the phrase, “Create Multiple Sources of Income”. I used to agree with that and worked hard at doing it. If one source dried up, I wouldn’t go down with the ship!

I have now changed my thinking somewhat. I used to spread myself so thin with articles, AdWords, web sites, etc. on all different topics that none of them had a chance of making it big. Those multiple areas acted as my security blanket; but the blanket was starting to smother me.

I did not have enough hours in the day to devote to any one area in order to make it successful. Yes, I did have success (eventually) in a lot of different areas….but read on for my philosophy on this.

What if in the next six months you have 5 major projects you put effort into. Say they all are profitable. (Of course there will be one which is most profitable.) Imagine if you had focused ALL of your efforts into that one project which had been most profitable! It is quite possible that one project had the potential of being far more profitable than all 5 had been for you…if only you had devoted most of your time to it…and had the insight (experience) to spot that most profitable project.

How much money are you leaving on the table by “diversifying” yourself too much?

Don’t misunderstand me. Beginners have no choice but to spread themselves thin with many differing projects. In fact, they are doing themselves a disservice if they don’t dabble in many different areas at first. We all have different strengths. How will
a beginner know if they excel at AdWords, SEO, selling affiliate products, selling their own products, selling eBooks…etc….if they don’t try many of those areas?

The real secret is knowing WHEN to start focusing more on just one or two areas. The answer will be different for everyone. If you understand and subscribe to my philosophy on this, the answer will come to you when the time is right. You will have a “gut feeling” telling you which area you need to focus on most….then give it all you have!

• Leave a comment... (0)

There is something very ironic with respect to Internet marketing.
The easiest way to make money online is also perceived by newcomers
to the field as being the most difficult. Instead of choosing the
“easy road”, they instead choose methods such as AdWords which are
far more difficult (and expensive) to master.

I have been extremely active in many areas of Internet marketing
for the past few years. Here is my truth about Adwords and
PayPerClick advertising in general:

If someone told me at this point in my career that I could ONLY use
PayPerClick to make money with for the next year, my wife and I
would be lucky if we could afford beans and rice during that time.
You may think I am kidding. I am not.

PayPerClick is difficult to learn and requires plenty of money
along the way to learn with. First-time lottery players may win the
jackpot just like beginners using AdWords could get lucky with just
the right keywords, just the right ad copy, and just the right bids.

So what about that “easy” way of making money I mentioned earlier?
Hands down, the lowest cost and quickest route to selling or
otherwise making money online is with your own website. Domains are
just $8.95 per year. A $7 to $10 per month hosting account will
allow you to host an unlimited number of domains. For just one
site, the cost can be just a few dollars.

So what’s the catch?

Even though an effective website only needs tables, text, and
pictures, the learning curve for such a simple site is quite steep.
Getting the site published to the host is another skill which must
be learned also. The good news is that anyone can do it. There is
nothing about it that the average person cannot learn with a few
weeks of work.

The truth is that if beginners had spent their time learning the
basics of web design instead of wasting their time on trying to
make money right off with some get-rich-quick idea, they would
already be well on the road to success.

But it is never too late!

Find a niche area you are interested in and start learning to build
a site around that niche theme. Be sure to teach yourself SEO along
the way. DO NOT build the site first and then decide to learn SEO
because your site gets little traffic. You’ll save a ton of time if
you do it right the first time!

• Leave a comment... (0)

How do you approach Internet marketing?

Do you bait one hook at a time and keep trying to find that perfect
spot to cast it? Or are you fishing with multiple lines all baited
differently…plus a casting pole in your hands in constant operation?

If you are new to Internet marketing, you should have multiple
lines out there all the time. Be warned however! There is a limit
to the number you can effectively deal with! If you have too many
poles in the water at once, you may miss a big fish if you can’t
set the hook at just the right time!

I can’t tell you how many areas you should have going at once. Just
be aware there is a limit which will make your efforts
counter-productive. It is up to you to know when you are
approaching that limit for yourself.

Why is it important to have multiple lines as a beginning Internet
entrepreneur? We all have different talents. If you are a
one-line-at-a-time marketer who is only focusing on, say AdWords,
you may be missing the boat on other areas you might really excel
in! What if you are spending all your efforts on learning AdWords
but aren’t aware that your real talent would be creating content
rich websites and making “free money” with Google AdSense?

In order to maximize success early on, you MUST expose yourself to
multiple areas of Internet marketing. Although it is a challenge to
keep yourself from being spread too thin, it is vital that you do
this! You will be amazed to find yourself enjoying some areas very
much more than others. THESE are the areas you should focus your
efforts on!

Here are the core areas every Internet marketer should strive to
test their enthusiasm and aptitude for at some point:

Selling products, services, and/or information
Affiliate marketing
eBay
Google Adsense
Googel AdWords and other PayPerClick opportunities

Now, for the most important thing I have to say:

After you have tested the waters in a number of areas, pick one or two
and FOCUS there! You are not superman. There is only so much time
in your Day. X amount of work focused on one or two areas will yield better
results than the same X amount of work spread across many areas.

• Leave a comment... (0)

Although this post is about AdSense sites in particular, the same CPM concept applies pretty much across the board for other sites as well. Affiliate sites and those sites selling retail products can have the same issues I am about to point out.

I see too many of my students still picking the WRONG niches to invest their time in. For example, I have one who is working like crazy on a rare plant site. Yes, she will probably get very good Google rankings with it…first page listings for several keywords in fact. But plant sites do not result in high paying AdSense Ads!

It is quite possible her CPM for the site (how much money she will make on clicks for every 1000 visitors) will be in the neighborhood of $2.00 to $3.00. That is not a good CPM at all. On the other hand, if she had chosen a better niche, it is possible to enjoy CPM’s of $15, $20, and even higher.

What that means is that she will have to generate TEN TIMES the amount of traffic in order to make as much money as another higher paying niche would produce for her.

Hey, I am all for making sites around what you know and like; that is very important. However, most of us know about and have interests in multiple areas. Therefore, put some thought into what a higher paying niche might be.

Here’s a hint to make it easier to find one. If the ad is promoting something with a high cost, the advertiser is usually willing to pay more for it (if there is plenty of competition in Adwords for the niche). Thus, you will have a higher CPM.  This is why insurance and mortgage ads pay so much (No, I am not suggesting you make a site in one of those highly competitive areas!)

We talk about such things in great detail on my weekly coaching calls and in my private forum. Honestly, a little effort and research in the beginning can make all the difference in your future AdSense success.

If you’d like to join us on the calls and in the private forum, here is more information:

Steve Weber’s Coaching and Private Forum

I look forward to working with you!

Steve Weber

• Leave a comment... (0)