Category — Be The Expert

Here's a common scenario...

You pick a niche.
Good supply.  Good demand.
Too bad it's one you know nothing about!
Oh well - you are going to roll with it anyway.
You set up your site.
Do a little research.  Write a few articles.
SEO and backlinks.
Rinse and repeat.
The money starts to roll in.

Do this right, and eventually you will come to a point where you not only are making a healthy income, but you are also regarded as an "expert" by the audience in your particular niche.  As the expert, they are going to want - no, demand - your opinions.  Unbiased, honest opinions. 

Sure, you have faked it up to this point.  However, now that you have engaged (that's right, all you eBay affiliates - I said ENGAGED) your visitors, they are going to want more from you.  They are going to want the truth.  [Read more →]

Struggling to find niche ideas to promote online? Well, I will get to that (and soon!), but first let me get off track for just half a minute...

"I want to hear Korn!," my youngest son demands from the back seat of the car. This would not be a strange request from your typical Rock-Band-Playing-Guitar-Hero-Wannabe teen. However, this Korn fan is only three years old!

Now, before you go jumping to conclusions about my parenting skills, you must realize that I have spent many hours trying to push the typical upbeat toddler music on this little rocker. The Wiggles, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, even Kidz Bop (yes, I am THAT desperate!).

But all I hear is... "I want KORN!"

OK, so I give up.

I shouldn't be surprised. My youngest son's first three words were mama, dada, and psycho-momo (that's "baby speak" for motorcycle).

He prefers a good stunt bike show to Mickey Mouse any day.

And he likes to cover his body in tattoos - temporary ones (at least for now!).

I could keep going, but I'm sure you get the picture.

[Read more →]

Court Tuttle is an internet marketer. His blog used to be in the number three spot on the front page of Google for the highly competitive keyword "internet marketing".

He had a following. He posted daily. Good, informative, original posts.

Then he abruptly stopped. His posting frequency became sporadic. Was it blogger burnout? A busy summer? Personal issues?

August 12, 2008. It all becomes clear, in his post entitled "Content Has Never Been the King", he tells his loyal readers that his sporadic posting was on purpose. That content was not king, after all. How did he know this? Despite his failure to update his blog regularly, he still had his much-coveted Google ranking for the keyword "internet marketing".

His post sparked a heated debate. I can't say with any certainty, but I think it ticked somebody off enough that they reported his site to Google. Poor Court's site did not fare well after the manual review. Poof! Gone from Google, just like that...

September 8, 2008. He posts a retraction. "As It Turns Out, Content Is King." A transparent attempt to regain favor with Google. Only time will tell if it works.

[Read more →]