ScottFox.com - Internet Riches - e-Riches 2.0

Ask Scott Fox? Win my new book!

Do you have a question for me?  Can I help you with your online marketing dilemmas or e-commerce strategy questions?  Send me a question!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to shoot and share more videos. I'm off to a good start with some video testing I've been doing for a new "Scott Fox Show".

This is good news for you because an important part of this new show I'm testing is the opportunity to answer more reader questions LIVE.  This new "TV show" format will let me give you longer, more detailed answers than I can in my blog, so I hope you'll tune in.

To email me a question, please visit this page:  http://www.scottfox.com/ask-scott-fox.html

Win e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies
Plus, everyone who asks a question is automatically entered into a drawing to win a copy of my latest online marketing book, e-Riches 2.0! 

Send me a question here now- and then please join me LIVE on camera at www.ScottFoxShow.com on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm ET (11am PT / 7PM GMT) for your answers!

Disclosure Reminder

The FTC would like us to remind you that Scott Fox, The Liminal Institute, Click Millionaires, and associated persons or businesses may have content, promotional, advertising, customer, consulting, or equity relationships with the entities discussed or recommended on this web site. Many of the links on our web sites and in associated materials contain affiliate advertising codes, for example.

While efforts have been made to identify the best suppliers/vendors in each of these areas, we assume no liability for your use of them. You should use your own independent judgment to evaluate their services and fit for your needs.

Please see the Legal & Disclosures section for more details.

Marks, graphics, and names are property of their respective owners, as appropriate.

Video: Ask Scott Fox Live Office Hours Q&A

Thank you for your great questions during my live "Video Office Hours" show.

Watch this fre-e 1/2 hour video where I answer questions about Twitter, how to get started with Google Adwords, measuring e-commerce sales conversion, SEO, niche online marketing strategies, how to hire the "right" web designer for your e-business, and much more.

 

  [Update:  The first 3 minutes of video has no audio - just skip to 3:30 to hear the rest!]     You can join the fun next time, too.  Just watch my blog and follow me on Twitter to hear about the time for next week's session, too.
Or, join Click Millionaires today to participate in the private Video Office Hours for members only.  (Free trial offer here.)  

Ask Scott Fox: What's the Best Business Model for my new Blog?

Dear Scott,
I have figured out a great niche for my new blog.  Now I am wondering how to make money with it.  What is your advice about finding a business model for my new blog?
Thanks,
Randy
Click Millionaires Member
Silver City, New Mexico

SCOTT FOX'S ANSWER

Hi Randy, 
Here's how I break down the best business models for a new web site or blog:

* Product Sales: Selling your own products is what you would want to move toward because the profit margins are highest. However, right now you’re likely to be busy just building the site and attracting traffic, so developing new products is probably not the easiest place for you to start.

* Subscriptions: Recurring revenues are great but require a pre-established credibility with a sizeable audience and/or an already developed product. So probably good eventually but not right now when you are new to the niche.

* Advertising: There are roughly two types of ads for a new web site: Adsense-type Pay-per-click Ads and Affiliate ads. (I'm presuming here that you don't yet have enough traffic to attract direct advertisers or sponsors.)

Google Adsense-type PPC text ads are free to get and "copy & paste" easy to add to a new site. They pay small amounts but can add up if you get a lot of traffic. Since you have a relatively new site/approach, however, you’re unlikely to have enough traffic to make real money from Adsense ads yet. 

Affiliate ads are probably your best bet for a new blog.  This is because they allow you to sell proven, name-brand products but require no capital investment or product development time/energy/money. Plus, they can offer much larger commissions per sale than typical PPC text or banner ads deliver.  Affiliate ads can help you turn even a small audience into significant revenue.

So I would focus on finding affiliate program offers that are highly targeted toward your intended audience. Don’t just put up run-of-the-mill affiliate offers for web site hosting or Amazon books. Find products/services that really speak to the needs (not just the interests but the NEEDS) of your audience.

Try digging around on CommissionJunction.com, ShareaSale.com and Click Bank to find unusual offers that your visitors won't see everywhere else.

Then figure out what content you need to have to position those ads for maximum effect both with site visitors and with SEO positioning. Writing reviews of products can be a great way to combine content with promotion that also helps the visitor, for example. Maybe you can differentiate by doing reviews on video or via Twitter, too.

If you have my first book, Internet Riches, I would point you to the discussion of TrafficMatt.com in Chapter 4. His approach of using product reviews has been very profitable and might apply nicely to your niche, too.

I hope that helps!

Best,
Scott Fox

What do YOU think?  What business models do you think are most appropriate for Randy's situation?  Please share your thoughts in the Comments below?

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Would you like YOUR questions answered?  Join my Click Millionaires
e-commerce and online marketing coaching community like Randy did! 
Visit www.ClickMillionaires.com now for a Free Trial.

Click Millionaires Intro - Free Podcast

Why is everyone talking about Scott Fox’s Click Millionaires? Are you wondering what all the fuss is about?

Listen to this fre-e podcast to hear me explain the philosophy behind my new Click Millionaires online success coaching community. 

Click Millionaires membership can help you redefine success for yourself in the 21st century. Tune in to learn more about how this new social network dedicated to your personal e-commerce and online marketing success can help you upgrade your life!

Click on the player to listen now online or right-click on this download link and select “Save Target as…” to save an MP3 copy to your own hard drive.

Get your free trial of Click Millionaires today!

P.S. I’d like to help you succeed online, so you can try Click Millionaires for FREE here.

Please let me know what you think of this Click Millionaire Kick-off podcast?  It's my most personal one yet and I'd love to hear your feedback in the Comments below!

12 Helpful Links Roundup

It may be summer time, but social media and online marketing have not been slowing down!

To help you keep up, here are the most informative articles, research statistics, and blog posts that I have recently shared with my Twitter followers.  

This compilation of links is a quick, helpful summary of the latest news, trends, and gossip in the social media business-sphere just for you!

• The best explanation I've ever seen for how Google Adwords works: http://is.gd/1KE16  Outstanding work from Wired's Joanna Pearlstein

• More than 2x people watching video online this year than last year: http://is.gd/2aLfq Thank you, Hulu.com...

• Big domain name sale: $4.9MM for Clothes.com as Amazon acquires @zappos. Nice one, Bill Gross! http://is.gd/28ePA

• Finally watched this amazing wedding video. THIS will make you happy to be alive: http://is.gd/212un

• New 20 min podcast on hear2.0 Radio blog by @mramsey1 Topic? Yours truly on how radio can use social media better! http://bit.ly/KD9oQ

• Conference Board reports that social media gains usage among the elderly! http://is.gd/24uKM

• Did @scobleizer and @mashable help us finally kill the EVIL of auto-follow on Twitter? http://is.gd/25nGU

• Hilarious "100 (Geeky) Things Your Kids May Never Know About" from Wired magazine's Nathan Barry http://is.gd/1KDbw

• RT @latimesnystrom: Facebook had 100x UVs than Friendfeed June '09 but FF's UV's grew 75%+ in last year [@Compete] http://bit.ly/8dDir

• Surprisingly moving video tributes to Michael Jackson from all over the world! http://www.eternalmoonwalk.com  

• NYT profile confirms: the Internetz is taking over r lives... http://is.gd/2aLRZ

• RT @joygan88: No need to worry; things will work out just fine. All is well.You will Overcome; just be yourself, love yourself and b Happy!

If you're not yet on Twitter, you're missing a lot of great free real-time updates that can help grow your business. 

Follow me on Twitter at

http://www.twitter.com/scott_fox to get my latest "tweets" like these in real-time.

Tweet you later!

Sneaky Ad Networks Tracking Your Surfing Behavior for Targeting

The advertising industry is increasingly using your surfing behavior online to target the ads you see.

Free Ad Network Behavioral Advertising Opt-Out Tool
Thanks to Seth Godin, I recently found this fr-ee (but not very well publicized!) behavioral advertising opt-out tool at the Network Advertising Initiative web site. 

Visit here to run a quick, fr-ee diagnostic of your hard drive.  It will reveal many of the advertising network cookies you have picked up in your web surfing. 

A few clicks and you can opt out of the behavioral advertising programs delivered by their member companies.  Opting out of these programs should reduce the amount of your personal surfing behavior data that advertisers can use or share across web sites in their attempts to target you with relevant advertising.

http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp 

Note:  This opt-out won't delete the cookies, stop cookie data collection, or stop you from seeing web ads when you surf online, but it should keep the ad companies from using the data they collect to more precisely target the advertising you see online.  So, don't use it if you like the ads you see getting increasingly aligned with your personal interests, but do use it if you'd prefer to limit information sharing and see generic advertising instead.

Avoid this fatal e-business mistake...

There are two basic business models on the Internet for you to choose between for your e-business web site: Product Sales vs. Advertising.

You can sell your own products.  Or you can promote other people's products and get paid through advertising.  It's really not much more complicated than that.

A common web site strategy mistake, however, is to confuse the two.  This business model confusion can kill your business!

Is Your Site's Call to Action Clear?

Your web site's goal is to make customers take an action.  If you're not clear on what action that is, you need to rethink your strategy and your site's presentation.

If you think your site's call to action is clear, but customers are not converting as you'd like, your site's message may not be as clear as you think it is.

For example, if your web site mixes promotion of your own products with ads for third-party products delivered/sold on third party web sites, you are likely confusing customers, as well as yourself.

Which is the Best Business Model - Product Sales or Advertising?

Selling your own products should have much higher profit margins than selling products for others.  It comes with its own obligations and costs from production, fulfillment, and customer service, however.

Advertising can be a highly profitable business model because of its lower production costs.  Instead of manufacturing and shipping goods, you can focus on lower overhead tasks like writing copy and creating graphics that attract visitors.  However, the average click from a Google Adsense Text Ad is not likely to pay you nearly as much as sale of a product of your own.

So, instead of trying to be "all things to all people", try narrowing your site's focus to one or the other of these two approaches.  We all trust experts more than generalists.  Make sure that your web site clearly communicates your expertise and provides a direct call to action that potential customers can take to follow the guidance you share. 

For product-based businesses, this usually means using your credibility to point visitors toward a product that addresses their problems.  For advertising-based businesses, this means that you need to continue to produce content that attracts repeat visitors (some percentage of whom will click on your ads). 

Doing both is hard...

Announcement: My New Book "e-Riches 2.0"

Hooray! e-Riches 2.0 is on its way! I’m very pleased to officially announce the title of my new book. It is called:

e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies

The sequel to my best-selling first book, Internet Riches, eRiches 2.0 will be published on May 27.

It's your “need to know” guide to modern online marketing
e-Riches 2.0 is full of the critical details you need to succeed in a Web 2.0 world. It includes 300+ pages of practical guidance, real-life case studies, and the straightforward explanation of all the modern online topics that you've been wondering about. 

The new book covers blogging, email marketing, social networks (like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace), RSS feeds, podcasting, article syndication, social media sites (like Digg.com and Twitter), pay-per-click advertising, affiliate marketing, and more!

I wrote this new sequel especially for those of you who loved Internet Riches...
By reading e-Riches 2.0, you can learn to inexpensively and successfully market online the e-business web site I taught you to build in my first book!

Stay tuned for special offers and prizes surrounding the upcoming publication date!

e-Riches 2.0 is available NOW for pre-order here on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble's BN.com, too.

Disclosure Reminder

Scott Fox, The Liminal Institute, or associated persons or businesses may have content, promotional, advertising, customer, consulting, or equity relationships with the entities discussed or recommended on this web site. Many of the links on our web sites and in associated materials contain affiliate advertising codes, for example.

While efforts have been made to identify the best suppliers/vendors in each of these areas, we assume no liability for your use of them. You should use your own independent judgment to evaluate their services and fit for your needs.

Please see the Legal & Disclosures section for more details.

Marks, graphics, and names are property of their respective owners, as appropriate.

Fun Snowflake Maker Viral Promotion

When you live in Southern California like I do, snow is exotic.

So I particularly enjoyed this online "Snowflake Creator".  It's a very nice deployment of flash advertising by a Minneapolis-based digital agency (whatever that means) called Popular Front.  You can create, cut up, and post messages on your own paper snowflakes, plus see snowflakes submitted by others from around the world.  The game was clocking 40-50 new snowflakes per minute when I played with it earlier today!

If you've got a few minutes to play, and miss the snow, go ahead take a short "Snow Day" break while still staying warm indoors.

File this under "clever seasonal online promotions".  This deployment is obviously going viral very successfully.  See other examples of viral marketing here.

Affiliate Marketing: What You Need to Know

To make more money online, many people turn to Affiliate Marketing.  What is it and why?

Affiliate programs offer you a great way to generate revenue online.  Even better is that even as a "newbie" you can partner with major brand name products, and make money without any capital investment and few customer service duties. 

I know these benefits of Affiliate Programs sound too good to be true, but they are why learning more about Affiliate Programs was the #1 request of readers like you in my recent Reader Survey.  So I've gone to work to help answer your questions in my latest podcast interview. 

Shawn Collins of AffiliateTip.com is my guest.  Shawn is a long-time affiliate marketer.  He's even the co-founder of the Affiliate Summit conferences.  In this week's E-Commerce Success Show interview, Shawn and I discuss Affiliate Marketing so you can learn if it's a good strategy for you.

Listen to this podcast radio show (or download it to listen to later!) to hear:

• how to most easily start a web site that can make money from affiliate marketing
• typical commission bounty rates for different products
• how to attract readers (and clickers!)
• the different types of affiliate program web sites, products, and brokers
• definitions of industry buzzwords like EPC
• what to watch out for in affiliate marketing and common scams to avoid
• Shawn's tips on best blogs to read and software tools to use
• his exciting prediction for the success of performance marketing even in a down economy!

And check out my Archive of E-Commerce Success Radio Show podcasts here.  There are lots of great FR-EE MP3 downloads about Facebook Marketing, Public Relations Strategies, Google Adwords, Article Marketing, Web Copywriting, Online Video viral promotions, and more!

Subscribe to my weekly E-Commerce Success Show podcasts here or at iTunes, too.

Also check out my most popular Special Report:  Making Money with Affiliate Programs.  This report spells out in plain English how to get started and how to make money with affiliate marketing.  Save yourself months of painful study with this easy-to-read Special Report.  You can download it right now at www.ScottFoxShop.com!

[What did you think of this interview? Any follow-up questions for me or Shawn?]