William Lockhart

I’ve always been impressed with those who seem to always be ahead of the pack when it comes to new ideas.

When I first started publishing information products online, I thought that certain people had a crystal ball they gazed into. Or some top-secret contact who was
providing them with inside information.

Over time, I realized that it wasn’t magic that allowed these people to come up with red-hot ideas on demand. It was simply that they knew where to look.

I soon discovered many places where ideas seemed to always be found. I call these places “idea hangouts”. Here are three of my favorites where you can find ideas for your
next online niche anytime you want. Almost like a genie granting you three wishes…

1. GOOGLE.COM.

Google is the ultimate “idea hangout”. There are so many ways to mine the gold in Google’s amazing search database that it would take another article to graze the surface of
this enormous iceberg.

What I want to mention are just two quick ways to find ideas by searching Google.

- Identify Listings.

Search for a broad topic related to your area of interest or expertise. (I.E. “Tennis”, “Weight loss”, “Homeschooling”.) Look at all of the web sites listed in
the index of returned results. You’ll likely find some ideas for information products right there in the first couple of pages.

- Identify Advertisers.

You’ll probably notice small ads either at the top of the page or to the right of the page (or both!). These advertisers represent your competition. They also
represent your thermometer for taking the temperature of your market and gauging interest in specific topics. Chances are, what they’re selling you should be selling.

In both of these examples, you can click through to the web pages of the sites listed and study their respective sales pages. Look specifically at the “bullet points”. Each of
these represents a potential idea for your next ebook.

2. AMAZON.COM.

From the world’s largest search engine we move to the world’s largest bookstore. At Amazon.com you’ll really get your creative juices fired up.

Again, you’ll want to search the listings by entering a keyword or keyphrase into the search box on the main page at Amazon.com.

You’ll get a returned listing of numerous books, courses and other periodicals. Search these listed items for ideas for your own ebook.

— Example —

If you were to search for “Homeschooling”, you’d find a variety of ideas just waiting in the listing of books available, including: homeschooling for special needs
children, getting starting in homeschooling, choosing curriculum, homeschooling field trips, homeschooling support groups, homeschooling for various ages (I.E. Pre-K,
Elementary, Junior High, High School, etc.), homeschooling for Christians, etc.)

Any of these listings (and the dozens of others listed) would be great ideas for the topic of your next ebook.

— Example —

Pay particular attention to the first page of the listing. Amazon ranks their listings based on popularity of actual sales volume. In other words, #1 is a better seller than
#50. This is a ready-made indicator of demand!
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As the economy continues to tighten (though there are some signs of life), more people are seeking innovative ways to generate income by non-traditional means. Here are a few facts about entrepreneurial trends for 2010 that I thought you might find useful.

These trends provide a unique look into what the future holds for small businesses in the U.S. and what you may want to consider if you’re considering this type of strategy.

As Twitter continues to evolve into a major driving force for online marketers, many mobilize their Tweets for the purpose of driving prospective new clients and customers to their offers.

Because Twitter is a social networking medium and not just a distribution channel for promotional copy here are a few pitfalls that you may want to avoid if you’re new to Twitter marketing. Many new Twitter marketers fall prey to these simple mistakes that invariably sabotage their marketing efforts and dilute their Twitter followers.

1 – Using The Wrong Type Of Image On Your Twitter Profile –Why Are You Hiding?

If you’re trying to create buzz on Twitter and attract people to your offerings the last thing you need is anonymity.  Remember, Twitter is a “social” network; therefore people are attracted to following other “people”.  If you have chosen an image for your Twitter profile that is not an image of a “real” person (preferably YOU), you have immediately rendered yourself “anonymous.  People like to follow other people not logos, animals or innate objects.  Use an image of a person to personalize your Twitter profile and attract others. Once people get to know you, gently move them toward your product brand and product logo for branding purposes  but not a moment before.

2- Using A Generic Twitter Page Design For Your Twitter Profile Page – A Sure Sign Of A Twitter Newbie

First let me make something clear here… There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the default Twitter page designs if you’re going to be Tweeting about what you had for dinner last night or who you happen to think the most popular celebrity happens to be… however, if you’re trying to develop a following for commercial purposes I’m afraid that just won’t cut it. Take a look at the most popular profiles… they’re all personalized.

Make the effort to personalize your Twitter profile. Make sure it is consistent with the message and the theme that you’re trying to convey. You can purchase a customized Twitter profile or have someone actually customize your Twitter profile to reflect the look and feel of your commercial offering.

A generic Twitter profile when used for commercial exposure simply says one thing. “I don’t care enough to create a personalized profile to brand myself or my business”. In the mind of many “seasoned” Tweeters it also suggests that you may not care enough to handle the details required by clients or prospects that may be considering you for business projects.

3- You Constantly Tweet Promotions And Advertisements – The Most Fatal Mistake Of All!

Entering into the Twitter realm is like walking into a convention hall that’s filled with thousands of people, with a multitude of interest.  Some of these people may very well be interested in your offers or services but some simply won’t be. Imagine walking into this type of environment, totally new, with no relationship ties established. You then proceed to stand on a table and shout promotional lines and persuasive statements about your offers in hopes to gain recognition and exposure. This strategy probably won’t go over very well.

Think about it, do you enjoy being bombarded with commercial based conversations by friends and associates? Probably not… right? If you were to walk into that convention hall, stand on a table and begin shouting about your great product, service or offering that’s exactly what you are doing. Unfortunately, this is the default behavior of most Twitter newcomers. This will quickly get you tagged as a Twitter spammer. Avoid this behavior like the plague. Mix up your tweets. Throw in a little humor, a famous quote, a funny video and gently mix in your promotions. Get personal to develop new relationships that allow you to cultivate new prospects. Remember, Twitter is simply an introductory medium. The final objective is to encourage a visit to your web site and ultimately to your opt-in form. Here’s a better approach…

Do your homework… search for Twitter conversations that reflect “mutual interest”, then simply approach a person or two, by contributing to the conversation.  This approach lays the foundation for reciprocal conversation which could lead to new relationships and ultimately more business prospects.

Don’t make the mistake of bombarding the Twitter community with a constant string of promotional Tweets about your products, services or programs. Twitter is first and foremost a “social networking” medium. A place to exchange ideas, exchange conversation and interact with others on subject matter that is of mutual interest. Do yourself a favor and mix up those Tweets instead of deploying a constant string of promotional copy.

4- You Don’t Shortening You URL’s (hyperlinks) – “When You Use A Long Link Your Tweet Stinks…”

This may come as a surprise to you but seasoned tweeters simply don’t use long URL’s in their tweets.

One of the most fundamental reasons is based on the simple 140 character format limit. If someone wants to “ReTweet” your tweet,  an extra long URL may be a hindrance to doing so… there’s simply not enough characters left to do so…

URL’s that look something like this http://www.xxxxxxxxx/5555.aaabbbccc.html are simply a dead giveaway that you are new to Twitter and probably don’t understand basic Twitter etiquette.  Use one of the many free services available to shorten those URL’s (like bit.ly), it’s easy, simply and will rid you of the neon light that flashes on your forehead and distinguishes you as a Twitter newbie!

5- You Never Send Thank You Messages To Your Followers

Once you began to gain followers, it’s always a good idea to send an instant “Thank You” message to those who have CHOSEN to follow you. Understandably, you may think that this is to laborious but there are ways to circumvent the time required to execute this gesture. Try automating the process with service like  http://www.socialoomph.com which can cut down on the tedious task of following up with new followers and save you lots of time. This approach can also start the conversation.

Try following these simple suggestions and your initial Twitter experience will be much more productive.

If you find this article helpful, I’ll make a deal with you…. Tweet this article, follow me on Twitter and I promise to follow you back….. see how easy it is, you’ve already picked up a new follower. (smile…)

How To Increase Your Profit Through The “Backdoor”
By Jimmy D. Brown

You make a $97.00 sale and you say an emphatic “Yes!” as a smile breaks out on your face. This selling online thing is cool and it feels good to be getting sales.

Then, a few days later you get a refund request. The $97.00 is gone. And so is your smile.

Or, worse still, a month and a half later (after you’ve spent the $97.00) a chargeback hits you. Not only is the $97.00 gone, but you’ve also been zapped $20.00 in service fees.

Instead of making money, you’re losing money.

Now, to be sure, that doesn’t happen on EVERY single sale. If it did, we’d all be out of business. But, it does happen frequently, from 2-10% of the time depending upon your offer.

Regardless of how often it occurs, when it does, it takes money out of your pocket.

So much emphasis is placed on ways to “make money” that many people forget to focus on how to KEEP the money that you make.

In today’s article (with part 2 coming later) we’re going to talk about increasing your profit through the “backdoor” by identifying 10 ways to reduce refunds and chargebacks so you can make the most money possible from your internet business.

The best part is this: most of them take just a few minutes to implement and most of them don’t cost a penny.

1. Be Accurate In Describing Your Product.

Probably the most common “legitimate” reason for a refund is when the product or service doesn’t deliver what was described during the sales process. When you create advertisements and salesletters, it’s important that you be accurate in describing your product.

This involves both…

* “Avoiding hype” which creates unrealistic expectations that ultimately lead to disappointment with the order. Your advertising sets the tone for what “results” the customer feels they can accomplish. If your claims are found to be unreasonable (or downright false) then refunds will often follow.

* “Correctly Define” the components of your product including its type (I.E. digital goods vs physical goods), its size (I.E. 20 pages vs 200 pages) its delivery (I.E. Immediately after order vs within 7 days) its required skills or knowledge (I.E. For beginners vs experienced) its exclusivity (I.E. Common knowledge vs your unique offering) its compabibility (I.E. PC only vs Mac users welcome) and its freshness (I.E. Updated for 2006 vs last year’s news) to name a few.

Perhaps the easiest way to turn back refund requests is to be clear in what your product or service offers without raising false expectations.

2. Offer Several Unadvertised Bonuses.

After the sale has been completed, let the customer know that you’ll be sending them 4 or 5 “unadvertised” bonuses over the next several weeks via email. You can even list what those bonuses are and their delivery schedule.

Example: In exactly 7 days you’ll receive unadvertised bonus one, an 18-page report entitled “27 Ways to Attract Butterflies Year Round”.

These unadvertised bonuses can be extra reports, articles, audio/video, interviews, tools, etc. The important thing to remember is that they should be related to the original purchase (I.E. an extension of the base product or service being offered) and should be desirable enough to add real value to the order.

I recommend that at least one of your bonuses be a “list” report with more than 20 entries (I.E. “27 Ways to Attract Butterflies Year Round”, “Top 20 Shortcuts For Starting A Christian Bookstore” or “The 21 Best Homeschooling Time Savers”). When it’s over twenty entries, it has a tremendous perceived value.

And that’s the point here: add more value to the existing purchase. The more bang your customers get for their buck, the more likely they’ll be satisfied and NOT request a refund.

Read more »

As online advertising continues to play more of an important role in the vast arsenal of organizational advertising practices it is important to understand a few key points with respect to super charging your online ad performance.

These 3 critical elements will help you maximize your online ad performance.

For now, we’ll describe the process as a system that will “triangulate” your advertising campaigns to insure that your ads reach maximum potential and insure surfer response.

“Triangulation”, you say? What the heck is that?

Simply put, the term triangulation focuses on three major but incredibly important aspects of your online advertising process.

You may want to visualize the triangulation of ads as being the 3 critical points of a typical triangle. Each point represents a specific purpose and each highly important to the infrastructure of the complete triangle. In this case, each point will be critical to your online advertising success and ultimately your online advertising goals.

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O.K., you’ve just grabbed a bundle of private label rights articles. Now what? That’s the question…

Many people get excited about obtaining private label rights material, particularly articles. The only question left to answer is “How Can I Profit From Private Label Right Articles?”

Here’s 10 Easy Ways To Make Money Online With Private Label Right’s Articles:

1-Selling Products “As Is”

This one is the most obvious. Rebundle the package with your own graphics header and unique branding a resell the package.

2- Using eBay – Sell the package on eBay as a start up online business bundle.

3- Publishing Content to the Web – publish the content online and ad your Adsense code to make money with Adsense

4- Loading Content into Your Autoresponder – Need content for your autoresponder? Private label articles are an excellent source to obtain fresh new content for your autoresponder.

5- Combining Products – If you have several article on a specific subject, combine all the articles and create a product on the subject matter. Here’s an example:

Read more »

Hey, thanks for stopping by!

If you haven’t already done so you may want to grab a FREE copy of this step by step report that I pulled together for you.

New to Internet Marketing? Just starting out with your online marketing campaigns? Not an online GURU, but looking for ways to make a little extra income?

This free report will get you headed in the right direction…. It’s pretty easy too…

Grab it by entering your info in the boxes over on the top right hand side of this page. Then simply confirm your email address and it’s yours FREE.

Be sure to come back and leave your comments bout the report and your online plans. Maybe we can work together…

I look forward to hearing from you.

William

Written by William Lockhart

Creating Internet Income is quite a daunting task for anyone however the challenges seem insurmountable for most newbies, especially those who are technically challenged. If you’re considering marketing online or engaging in any form of Internet Marketing there are a few common pitfalls that you should consider.

Though I’m no “Internet Guru, these are just a few of the common mistakes and pitfalls that beginner Marketers typically face. For many, these mistakes don’t surface until the negative effects of these actions surface. Many new marketers develop tunnel vision early in the online business building process. Hopefully this top 10 list will help you avoid the most common pitfalls.

1. Procrastination – The King Of Failure

Procrastination is by far the KING of failure with respect to online business success. If you fall into the trap of “putting things off”, you will e doomed to failure. Be certain that you develop a consistent habit of taking action. Even if you consistently make mistakes it is imperative that you take action on a consistent basis. Create some form of time management system that you can use consistently. Prioritize your tasks and keep lists of everything that needs to be done. If you feel that your confidence level concerning your online activities is not quite up to par, do not allow this to hinder the execution of your planned activities. What ultimately matters is the consistent execution of your key activities. Your comfort level with specific tasks will improve over time!

Develop A Plan And Work The Plan…

2. Seeking Perfection From The Very Beginning

Many new online marketers go to extreme lengths to create the perfect scenario as they begin to execute their online marketing plans. The fact is, no matter how hard you try, it’s very unlikely that you’ll hit the “home run” you seek right out of the gate. Many newbies seek the perfect web site, the perfect email marketing campaign, the perfect online ad or banner, unfortunately it’s VERY unlikely happen. It really doesn’t matter whether your efforts are perfect or not! What’s important is that you get started as soon as possible with the plans that you’ve developed. Your online marketing efforts will always be a work in process. As you move forward, you can easily tweak things to your liking. Some people set specific scheduled times to review work that has been previously performed and update as necessary. If you try to get everything perfect from the start you will hamper your long term success..

3. Wasting Money By Not Prioritizing Your Spending

This is important and key to your long term success. If not handled properly, this simple mistake will kill your spirit and put you out of business immediately. If you don’t have money to try each any every enticing offer that claims to help your business. DON’T spend money unnecessarily!

The Internet is full of fantastic copy and enticing offers, some of which are great others not so great. Don’t get side tracked by jumping from opportunity to opportunity, help program to help program or buying everything that lands in your inbox. The fact is, most online business essentials can be obtained for FREE. This is particularly true when you’re first starting out. If you commit to engage in a little research, you’ll be quite surprised at what you will find. Not only can you find great resources you will find them in many cases at no charge. Try to control your urge to purchase resources and tools. Think and evaluate carefully before you make purchases for your online business. Write a list of what you need. Examine the pros and cons, and make sure that your purchases are essential to achieving your goals.

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Have you ever wanted a consistent and reliable good gauge that measures exactly how your online marketing activities are performing?

One of the best ways to measure marketing strategies and activities is the reaction to those activities by prospects and customers. Whether it’s something as simple as opt in performance on a landing page or the actual performance of your sales copy, the direct  response obtained from customers and prospects can give you extremely helpful feedback as to your the effectiveness of your marketing activities.

An important thing to remember is this, people take action only when their is a real or perceived benefit to be obtained.

If you’re tracking the actions of your prospects and customers you have direct insight as to what motivates them to take action. After all, it is invariably the actions taken by your prospects and customers in some fashion that invariably drives everything you do with respect to your online marketing strategies.

The key is to effectively measuring these activities lie in measuring those things that you can immediately impact. There are certain responses by customers and/or prospects that are simply beyond your control. Things like market fluctuations, demand and supply movement and other factors beyond your control that are simply not measurable, however there are many other areas that are greatly influenced by specific action and decisions you make with respect to your marketing strategies.

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