Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

I know I’m going to get a lot of flak for this article but so be it. See, all the hotshot affiliate marketers think that the only way to make any money as an affiliate marketer is to go after all the hot niches. You know the ones I’m talking about. Things like debt relief, weight loss, golf and so on. Sure, these niches are big and you can make a lot of money in them. You can also go broke with all the competition if you don’t know what you’re doing. Instead, why not dig deep for products that everybody and their grandmother isn’t selling?

Okay, so how do you do that? Well, you first have to start off by doing a little simple keyword and competition research. Naturally, you still want to find keywords that have a sufficient demand. After all, if a keyword is only getting 100 searches a month (about 3 a day) there’s probably not much money in it, no matter how little competition there is. So you need a sufficient demand for the keyword to make this profitable.

The key is the competition. By using a simple KEI (keyword efficiency index) formula, you can tell if the keyword you’ve chosen, provided there are enough monthly searches, is worth going after. My goal is for about 100 searches a day or 3,000 a month for each keyword. If the KEI is anything over 100, then the niche is worth tackling. KEI is calculated by taking the monthly searches and dividing them by the number of competing sites and then multiplying that figure by the monthly searches again.

Once you have a KEI over 100, the next step is finding a product at the Clickbank marketplace. The reason I choose Clickbank is because it is easy to see what products are selling but not saturated. We do this by looking at the gravity figure. This figure is the average number of affiliates making money selling that product. For me, a gravity of about 20 to 30 is perfect. It’s not too high but shows the product is selling. You want to stay away from products with gravities of 300 plus. That is just way too much competition.

Naturally, the above is simplified but it will give you a good starting point for finding products where you’re not banging heads with every affiliate marketer in existence.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.

If that sounds like an odd question, it’s not. Truth is, many home business owners THINK that they’re running a business but in reality, all they are doing is making money. What’s the difference? Well, naturally, this is just my opinion. To me the difference is planning and mindset. Sure, you can make money and do very well just making money. But if you want to build something that is going to be stable and grow then you have to build a real business. Okay, I’m going to show you the difference with examples.

Let’s take the make money model. In this model, you might do something like the following. You create a product. Maybe it’s an ebook. You put it on the Internet and sell it. Eventually, the ebook stops selling because it’s old, outdated, whatever. The reasons don’t matter. The reality is, the ebook no longer makes you any money. Your business is effectively dead unless you either come out with another ebook or do something else. To me, this is making money, and there is nothing wrong with it. The downside is that you’re always going to have to come up with something new to keep the money coming in.

To me, running a business is when you do something like this. You create a service similar to something like an Aweber which is a list building service. As long as there are marketers online, there will always be a need for a service like this. Aweber realistically never has to worry about having to create something else to keep the money coming in. Sure, they will have to make upgrades to their system and offer new features in order to keep up with competitors, but they’ll never have to worry about not having a viable service that sells.

To me, THAT is a business. Personally, I do a little of both. I have a service that I provide but I also sell ebooks and other products. There is no reason you can’t do both. However, if you rely on just selling products that can become outdated, you run the risk of seeing your business dry up literally overnight.

I’m not passing judgment on what model you choose. Just understand that there are pitfalls to making money.

To YOUR Success

Steven Wagenheim
Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!

For those of you who are immediately thinking that this is going to be one egotistical article, you couldn’t be further from the truth. See, the truth is, I am no great article writer. My vocabulary is eighth grade at best. I think the last time I used any big words was when I was trying to impress my wife to be. I don’t think she was very impressed. Point is, being better than me is no big deal. But if you want to make it as an article writer, you better at least be as good as me or you’re in deep trouble. So here’s how you do it.

Step one is to know you’re subject. Let me tell you something. I have spoken to people who can just about put two sentences together and yet, when they talk about something that they are very knowledgeable about, they sound like Einstein. Knowing your subject is absolutely CRITICAL to being able to writing a good article. Your natural understanding and passion for the subject will come out…even if you’re not the greatest writer in the world.

Step two is to not speak above your head. Please don’t try to impress people with your big fancy words. If you’re just trying to fit them in they’re going to sound forced and unnatural. Just write the way you would speak to somebody if you were sitting in a bar having a conversation with them. Some of the most interesting conversions I’ve had didn’t incorporate one word that I had to look up in the dictionary after the fact. Okay, you’re not impressing anybody by throwing in those two dollar college words. So save them for your English thesis.

Step three is to make sure you spell and grammar check. No, you don’t have to be a genius grammarian. There is tons of software that will spell and grammar check all your articles for you so that you don’t have to worry about errors popping up in them. Of course proofreading them is also a good idea. Grammar and spell checkers are not perfect.

Finally, you want to outline your article BEFORE you write it so that you know WHAT you’re going to say BEFORE you say it. If you just ramble on, people are going to think you are nothing but a hack.

There you go, four simple steps that will make you just as good an article writer as me if not better.

Add a little talent to the mix and you’ll have everybody believing that you’re a top notch article writer.

Just like me.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write articles that get people’s attention and can earn you up to $200 per article written? Then check out my Complete Article Writing And Marketing Guide that you can find at http://www.honestincomeprogram.com/tcawamg.html – This is my own book that I wrote from over 30 years of writing experience.

Yeah, you know another rant is coming. This is one complaint that absolutely baffles me. I mean of all the things to complain about, this has to be the lamest. What am I talking about? I’m referring to the people who say to me, “Steve, I can’t find anything good to market.” Are you kidding me? Are you honestly telling me that there is nothing but crap out there? I don’t believe it…not for a second. So I have to ask, are you stubborn or just lazy?

What do I mean? Well, see, some people have this thing about promoting certain products or services. They know that there is nothing really wrong with them, but they come up with all kinds of excuses why that product or service may not be for them. Here is a list of just a few of the many excuses.

I don’t know anything about the product
I’m not sure it will sell
I don’t personally like the product creator
It doesn’t have a big enough price tag
It’s too old
It’s too new

I can go on and on but you get the picture. People are finding all kinds of excuses not to sell the product, whatever it is. So I have to ask, are you stubborn or just lazy? If you’re stubborn, get over yourself. You’re never going to find something that is absolutely 100% perfect for you. If having perfect knowledge of the product and niche is required, good luck with that. How many things are you REALLY an expert at? I know I’m not, but that doesn’t stop me from selling things. The product creator IS the expert so I defer to him. No reason why I have to be an expert too.

But what if the problem is not that you’re stubborn? What if you’re just too lazy? What do I mean? Well, let’s face it. Promoting anything DOES take a little bit of work. Anybody who tells you that you can just push a button and start selling things is lying to you. So a lot of marketers will make excuses for why they don’t want to sell something because it’s just too much work. In other words, they’re lazy.

My friend, if you fall into that category, I have no magic words that are going to snap you out of it. You need to get off your backside and get to work…It’s that simple.

But today, I want you to honestly answer the question I put forth. Are you stubborn or lazy? Once you can answer that question, you’ll be able to work on steps to eliminating the problem.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to cash in on the hottest money making business on the Internet today…reaching offline businesses? Not sure what system to follow? Read my comprehensive review of Easy Offline Riches at http://easy-offline-riches-review-blog.blogspot.com/ and make a minimum of $400 per sale without doing all that grunt work.

God bless Internet marketers. They love to sugar coat things. If you read how easy it is to do just about anything online, you’d think that everybody was a millionaire at this business. Truth is, there are very few things that are REALLY easy. Video marketing is one of them. In this article, I’m going to give you the REAL truth about video marketing. You may not want to hear it, but you need to know it.

Let me start off by saying this. Videos can absolutely explode your profits like nothing else. However, it’s not going to happen JUST by you slapping up a video on YouTube with any old garbage on it for just any old niche. A little bit of planning is required.

For starters, not all niches are going to be receptive to video. Some subjects just don’t translate well to video and are better served by the written word. Would you want to watch a video of some guy talking about the atrocities of war? I know I wouldn’t. I don’t care what book he’s selling. That video would put me to sleep. Give me a well written article instead. On the other hand, a video of somebody showing me how to play great guitar leads would really grab my attention and maybe even get me to buy his course. Know your niche and know your audience.

Secondly, you can’t just slap together any old thing. Have you seen some of the most popular videos on YouTube? They’re either very well made or they’re very clever and unique. The attention span of most people today, especially with all the distractions in the world, is limited. If you don’t grab their attention right away, forget it. So taking that guitar lead video as an example, many of the great ones will start off with a sound clip of the person playing this really cool lead so you can hear what it sounds like. This makes you want to watch the video so you can learn to play it as well. You MUST grab people right away.

Finally, it is rare that a video takes off overnight. Things take time unless you have something that is so unusual that people just start talking about it to everybody they know. But for most videos, you need to use proper keyword selection to get them to the top of the search engines. So yes, you need to know a little bit about marketing.

Make no mistake about it. Videos can work really well. But if you think you can do a half baked job in any old niche and make a fortune, you are seriously kidding yourself.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

How long should your article be? Good question. Oddly, the answer is going to depend a lot on what it is you’re trying to accomplish. In either case, you want to structure your article in such a way that the length itself doesn’t become so obvious. In other words, regardless of whether it’s short or long, you don’t want your reader to notice. It’s a tough act to pull off but there is one great way to do it. I’m going to show you how.

Do you know why some people get picked out of a crowd so easily? It’s because they stand out. To prove my point, imagine a room of 100 people with 99 of them wearing a suit and tie and 1 wearing a clown suit. You’ll pick the one in the clown suit out right away. Now, imagine a room of 100 people and all 100 are wearing clown suits. You wouldn’t be able to tell one from another. Well, the same thing is true with articles and their length.

If you write an article that contains four paragraphs, three of them being real short and one of them being incredibly long, the long paragraph is going to draw attention to the other paragraphs being so short. This will make the reader of the article feel that the article is short…regardless of how long the article actually is. Now, imagine that all four paragraphs are the same length, or close it. Suddenly, regardless of how long or short the article is, it’s not quite as obvious because no one paragraph stands out.

If you do a word count of the first three paragraphs of this article, you’ll get 85, 89 and 92 words respectively. Notice there is no more than a seven word difference between any of the three paragraphs. And by the time this paragraph is completed, it will be somewhere in the 85 to 95 range as well. This balanced structure leads to a smooth flow and makes the article read, long or short, consistently. The final word count doesn’t matter. It’s the perception of the reader that does.

You can do your own word count of that last paragraph. Point is, this article, long or short, did it’s job of getting the point across and doing it evenly and smoothly.

And that’s what article writing is all about.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write articles that get people’s attention and can earn you up to $200 per article written? Then check out my Complete Article Writing And Marketing Guide that you can find at http://www.honestincomeprogram.com/tcawamg.html – This is my own book that I wrote from over 30 years of writing experience.

One of the hardest things about Internet marketing is staying on top of all the new developments. Believe me, I’ve been doing this for over six years now and it’s a royal pain. Everyday there is something new. If I gave you a list of all the services that weren’t around five years ago, your head would spin. So okay, how do you keep up with it all? This article will give you a few tips to do just that.

I have found that one of the best ways to keep up with what’s going on is to hang out at the Warrior Forum. For that matter, any good forum will do. Why is this so? Well, there are a number of members at these forums who have nothing better to do with their time than to dig up all the new stuff that’s come out. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t see a thread started about some new product or development somewhere. The other day, somebody started a thread about the new WordPress version. I then knew to go to my WordPress blogs and upgrade.

Another great way to keep up with what’s going on is to simply go to IMNewsWatch. This is a great web site. It has all the latest developments in regard to Internet marketing. As a matter of fact, if you go there right now, the main news story is about the WordPress upgrade. You will also find posts that list the latest blog entries by some of the top Internet marketers online. This way, you’ll know what all your favorite marketers have to say. The IMNewsWatch main page is massive. There is enough there to go through that it could literally take you a whole day.

Finally, if you want to know what the new products are, go to places like TjBooks. You’ll find reviews of just about every marketing product around. And if you can’t find it there, just go to Google and type in “Internet marketing products” and you’ll find plenty of sites. Google is the first stop for many things online. Usually, you’ll find what you’re looking for just by going to that search engine. Type in any phrase related to Internet marketing and somebody will have a site related to it. Why?

Because there are a lot of people out there with WAY too much time on their hands.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

A question I get asked a lot is this one. “Should I sell make money products or non make money products as an affiliate?” It’s actually a very good question. Of course, most of the people asking it don’t realize why it’s a good question. Well, in this article, I’m going to explain why it is and give you an answer to it. It may not be the answer you’re expecting, but it will be the truth.

First of all, the reason it’s a good question is because, believe it or not, there IS a difference. The reason there is a difference is because of the mindset of the consumer. A person buying a make money product is of a different mindset from a person buying a book on how to get back with their ex. But so what? Why does this even matter? They’re both consumers, right? So what REALLY is the difference? Well, here is where the ugly truth comes in. Some of you won’t want to hear this but here goes.

People who are buying non make money products don’t know a thing about Internet marketing. They don’t understand all the tactics and strategies behind the sales pages and all the things we do to push their hot buttons. They just want a solution to their problem. They don’t know from affiliate programs or anything. Therefore, two things are unlikely when selling a non make money product. The one is that they’ll slip in their own affiliate link to get credit for the sale and the other is refunds. If it’s a good product, it’s unlikely that they’re going to ask for one.

In the MMO niche, this is a completely different story. Marketers are slipping in their affiliate links all the time. And the ones who don’t, they know they can get refunds in the blink of an eye without giving any reason at all. It is for this reason that I personally promote more non make money products as an affiliate unless I have some killer bonuses to give away in the process.

Anyway, that’s the difference between the two, and it is a very real difference. This isn’t to say you can’t make good money selling make money products. It’s just a lot easier on the other side of the fence.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.

Every home business owner wants their business to grow. I mean why not? Isn’t that the reason we’re in business to begin with…to make as much money as we can? But…are you READY for that growth? What’s that you say? How can I NOT be ready? Well, you’d be surprised how many things change when you become more and more successful. This article is going to touch on just a few of the many things.

For starters, making more money usually means that your business is growing. Naturally, this will depend on what kind of business you’re running. For example, with a company like Aweber, more customers means that they need more resources (servers, bandwidth, etc.) to take care of those customers. Plus, they need a bigger support staff to handle inquiries. What, you think the money comes in and the questions don’t follow? The more you sell, the more support you have to give. That means more time you have to devote OR more people you have to hire.

Another thing that changes when your business grows is your tax liability. You’re probably going to land in a higher tax bracket and therefore, you’re going to want to be extra careful about declaring income and deductions. For that matter, you’re probably going to want to hire a tax accountant to take care of your taxes for you. One mistake that you make could cost you thousands of dollars. And the last thing you want is to end up getting audited because you didn’t declare enough of your income or deducted something you shouldn’t have.

Finally, there is the mindset change. Believe it or not, many people who become successful find that they no longer have the drive to work their business. They would much rather be out playing ball or whatever it is they enjoy doing. After all, that’s why you’re in business to begin with. You want to make enough money to be able to do the things you enjoy doing. Ah, but can you do those things and get away with letting the business slide? If not, something has go give. Either that or you have to force your mindset to change. As somebody who is now very successful, it isn’t easy to motivate myself to work each day.

So you see, you may not REALLY be ready for the kind of business growth that you’re hoping for.

In other words, the grass really IS greener on the other side of the street.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!

Everybody says that the money is in the list. But building a list these days is not as easy as it was back in the wild west days of Internet marketing. Back then, you didn’t have to offer much of anything to get people onto your list. Today, it’s a whole different story. So, the question is simple. Is your incentive to get people onto your list any good or is it a joke? Not sure? Well, maybe you might want to read this article to find out.

Let’s first go over what ISN’T a good incentive to get people to opt in. At least this isn’t going to get them to stay opted in for long. Let’s start with the free report. Free doesn’t mean that you give them some three page piece of garbage. I recently opted into this one person’s list. They promised this great report on how to get all the free traffic I wanted. Well, the report went over all these ways to get traffic BUT the one way that will bring in tons of it. For THAT, you needed to buy the product. Can you say instant opt out? Never, and I mean, NEVER lie to your prospective subscribers. Give them what you say you’re going to give them and make sure it is of REAL quality.

Then there is the newsletter. You know the one I’m talking about. You opt in to get this daily or weekly series on some topic. Then the newsletters come and you find out one of two things. The first is that the info in it is worthless. The second is that instead of a newsletter, you get nothing but sales pitch after sales pitch. Again, this is going to do nothing but cause instant opt outs. When you provide a newsletter, make sure that the info is relevant and useful and make sure that you actually GIVE them a newsletter and NOT one sales pitch after another.

It’s really easy to build a large and responsive list. I’ve done it and it didn’t take me long at all. Truth is, had I started building my list years ago when I first started, it would be three times the size that it is now. Point is, you really need to look at what you’re offering your subscribers and honestly evaluate if it’s any good or not.

That will tell you if you’re going to have any success or end up with a totally unresponsive list to show for your efforts.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly.