Time and time again I am approached by people that learn about my interest in internet marketing and want to know "how to start a blog".  Usually, they are just looking for a basic how-to guide that will help them get started.  The problem is that when they search the internet for information, they are overwhelmed with a bunch of details that don't really matter when you are just trying to take those first few steps.

I was asked this question again last week, and I thought it was high time for me to write a definitive simple guide that shows exactly what I would do to start a new blog.  At some future date, I may even add some videos here (let me know if you need that).

The truth is that blogging is a journey.  How to start a blog is just step one (well, one through seven, actually).  After that, there are literally hundreds of little things you can and should do to make your blog better.

But the question in front of us now is how to START a blog.

How To Start A Blog (the steps)

If I were going to start a new blog, I would do the following.

1.  Decide what the blog is going to be about.

The most important thing is to pick a topic that you care about.  Blogs are a labor of love.  If you don't love the blog topic, then blog are just a labor.   Noticed all the dead blogs on the internet?  This is why.

After you figure out what general topic you are going to attack, let your decision be (somewhat) influenced by the presence of ads on other blogs and in google for the topic in which you are interested.

After all, if there are ads, that means that advertisers are making money (otherwise they would not pay for ads).  If you are going to do a ton of work on a new blog, you might as well tilt it in a profitable direction.

Keep your profit expectations reasonable, and don't get into blogging for the money.  In fact, you should not plan to make any money from your blog for a long time (months or more).  Most of the "overnight success stories" out there were actually years in the making.  Don't expect overnight success, but DO plan on eventual success and don't forget to consider the future from the start.

Just think about this:  what could be better than making a living (someday) writing about (and helping people with) something that you love?

2.  Register a domain name.

Next you need to claim a domain name.  I personally recommend NameCheap.com (http://namecheap.com), but GoDaddy is another popular choice.

For a blog that you plan to keep for a long time and work on diligently, I would advise you to register a name with branding in mind (something short and memorable) and I would stick with a .com domain.

Domains can be very hard to find -- be patient.  Be sure the name is unambiguous and avoid dashes in the name.  ClothesForSarah.com couldalso be Clothes4Sarah.com, ClothesFourSara.com etc.  Just stay away from that sort of confusion (it messes up branding).  If you have to explain the URL when you tell someone about it, you don't have a good URL.

When you are picking a domain name, you can also think about what youwant to be found for in Google and use one or more of those words inthe domain name.  Not a requirement -- but communicating the topic of the blog in the domain name can help search engine rankings.  BUT -- branding ismore important than search, so, don't mess up branding to get akeyword into the domain name.

Unless you are the brand, I would keep your name out of the domain name.  Having your name in the domain makes it hard to sell later.  MasonWorld.com is a great example of what not to do unless you want to be the brand.

A .com domain costs about $10 per year.  You can also spend money on a"previously owned" domain by looking at places like Flippa.com and GoDaddy Auctions.  Buying aged domains is beyond the scope of this discussion, and I would not worry about that if this is your first rodeo.  Keep it simple if this is your first blog and just register a namethat makes sense to you and communicates your brand.

3.  Get a web hosting account.

I recommend HostGator (http://www.masonworld.com/recommends/hostgator).  You can use many others, but HostGator is great for blogging.

If you don't likeHostGator for some reason, I would check out BlueHost.com (http://www.masonworld.com/recommends/bluehost).

Note that the previous links are both examples of "affiliate links" to hosting products.   If you click on one of those before you buy, I get a commission (full disclosure).  If you are new to blogging, you will want to consider understanding this better when it comes time to monetize your own blog.  But for now, know that if you use HostGator as I recommend, I get a commission.

At HostGator, I like the Baby plan ($7/month) but you could start even cheaper with Hatchling ($4/month at the time of this writing).  I don't know many bloggers with only one domain, and the Baby plan supports multiple domains in the same account.  That is about the only difference between Baby and Hatchling.

While you can use almost any hosting you like -- just make sure that theyhave "Fantastico"  -- a software package that makes lots of stuff easyincluding number 5 below.  Alternatively, you may see them advertise"WordPress One-Click Install".  Either is OK.  We need some software called WordPress in step 5, and "one click install" of WordPress is a big help for new bloggers.  It makes things very easy.

4.  Set up DNS (tell the world where your server is)

Once you sign up for hosting, you need to go back to namecheap.com and "point" your domain to your new hostgator hosting account.  When you sign up at hostgator, they give you "name server addresses" that you need to tell namecheap about.  This is pretty easy -- lots of tutorials on line and inside namecheap.

Think of this as telling the post office where you live.  If a letter comes addressed to the Mason Family, they bring it to my house.   If a web page request comes addressed to MasonWorld.com, DNS brings it to my server.  Same idea for your new site.

5.  Install WordPress

WordPress is the world's most popular blogging platform (by far) and comes from WordPress.org.  This is really easy to set up since you picked a host with Fantastico.  You literally just pick "Install WordPress" from a menu and tell Fantastico what the name and subtitle of the blog is.

Optionally, you can pick an installation directory.  For simplicity, I recommend you accept the defaults for install location. Additionally, you will need to pick a username and password for the blog administrator (that's you!).  For security reasons, do not use "admin" as your userid. Pick something like BobJohnson as the user and use a strong password.

Congratulations. You now have a live website at your new domain.Take a bow.  You just created something out of nothing!

Note:  Do not confuse WordPress.org (self-hosted WordPress -- what you need) and WordPress.com (NOT what you need).

6.  Configure WordPress (Simple Tweaks)

There are several simple tweaks that I recommend for WordPress when you first start.

Don't worry if you don't understand these right now.  Just set this checklist aside and do these when you have time to learn about them (maybe after I have time to document them for you).

A.  Install Akismit Plugin (anti-spam for comments)
B.  Set permalinks to %postname%
C.  Install JetPack for Stats
D.  Pick a custom graphic for your theme.
E.  etc....

You can also check out this pretty good WordPress install checklist from Michelle McPherson.

7.  Start blogging.

The key to a good blog is quality content on a regular basis.  There are no shortcuts.  There is no substitute.

So, set up a posting schedule for yourself and stick to it.  Blogging between once and three times per week is ideal.

That should get you started.

There's lot's lot's more to consider, but this is a bare minimum start.   If I were going to recommend an 8th step, it would be to start an email list on your blog using Aweber.  But I will leave that for another post.

I hope this has truly helped you understand how to start a blog.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions is there is anything that I can help with.  If all this is too much for you and you are interested in paying to have my VA set up your WebSite for you, let me know.

One of the reasons that I really like Cliff Ravenscraft (there are many) is that he talks about building a brand-based communities by touching people one at a time. I have always felt this way, and even though I am terrible at it sometimes, I know it is the right way to build a business.

(By the way, I am interviewing Cliff on the podcast next week).

Basically, it's a question about How To Treat Readers.

I cannot tell you how many times I have made a decision to do something based on whether or not someone paid attention to me or my situation. For example, I recently switched my backup to BackBlaze simply because they responded to my Tweets. There are lots of backup tools out there, but I use them because the care.

A Mailing List Example

Now most blogging gurus will tell you that you need to have a mailing list (“the money is in the list”). I agree that you need a list, but it goes way beyond money. All of that is the subject for another post some day.

Those same bloggers that talk about the importance of lists will tell you to ignore (or turn off) unsubscribe comments. I use Aweber, and you can certainly do that. After all, you usually only get comments from people that are angry about something — that is why they are unsubscribing in the first place.

The gurus argue that you should protect yourself from all that negative energy and just have those comments go to trash. What’s the point in listening to the rantings of an angry former subscriber anyway.

Man, I could not disagree more.

How To Treat Readers

To make this point clear, I wanted to share the following example from this morning.

Today, I got this unsub notification:



Now, I get these all the time. Basically, this guy is just trying to focus. I actually highly recommend this approach. The Internet Business Mastery guys call this an "information diet". If all you are doing is reading my blog (and others) all day long and not making progress in your business, then that is bad for BOTH of us.

Anyway, I replied to Jeff and said this:

This is a very (very) smart thing to do.
Good luck!
Be sure to let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you Jeff.

Regards,
Mark

Now, I really meant every word of it -- but look at this reply.



Now, I don't know if he will actually resub, I did not reply to him as a retention strategy (although that is a benefit of caring for customers). I am not trying to sell him something (although I may in the future).  Who knows?   It just doesn't matter because it is not my focus.

I just started out doing two critical things:

• I did not take his unsub personally
• I responded his unsub professionally
• I stayed focused on what would actually help the reader

It took me 13 seconds to reply to his email. I don't get to them all. I don't always get a reaction. I am not perfect. Not even close.

But, my heart is in the right place. And that is often really what matters.

What do you think? Does all of this matter, or am I wasting my time? Leave a comment below.

Man oh Man!  Finally back on the air.

In this episode of the MasonWorld Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, we continue with our series introducing the different ways that you can make money online. Specifically, we take a look at how you can put it all together -- niche marketing, affiliate offers, blogging, information products, etc.

Better than that, we have the lovely and talented Nicole Dean in the house!

When the transcript is available, it will be here.

In the podcast, I mention that I am still spending time in Lynn Terry's forum, and that I recently attended NAMS.

Some links mentioned in the podcast

• Moonlighting On The Internet (a real book)
• Ten Ways To Make $10K On The Internet (free)
• Lynn Terry Elite Member Forum
• Nicole Dean's website

Be sure to leave us some feedback and subscribe in iTunes!

Podcast Alley is another option:
My Podcast Alley feed!

Here is the Raw RSS Feed.

I'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. Drop me a line here on the blog on on the digital recorder at 214-444-8655. Ask a question or leave a comment and we may use it on the show.

I am writing this post using Windows Live Writer 2009.  Normally, I write WordPress posts in Firefox using the admin interface inside of WordPress.  That is not the best environment sometimes – especially since you have to be online to use it.

I looked at these type of desktop-based web publishing tools a couple of years ago and they were not great.  I’m looking again because I noticed that Microsoft released a version of Live Writer for 2009 (I guess I missed it).

First task will be to insert a picture of this window.    I’ll do a screen capture and jam it into the post right here.

Cool – that worked well (at least here in the editor).  I was able to load a GIF, resize it and place it in the text.  There are image editing choices and the like available.  Looks promising.

Spell checker works as expected.

I am able to insert a hyperlink to the download location for Windows Live Writer without any trouble at all (as expected).  One neat thing is that it will allow me to link to previous posts, which is something that you should always try to do.   It even lets me set the link to nofollow.

Surprising, there is a preview tab – and it knows what the post will look like on my blog.  Check out this screen shot:

Wow – for a 5 minute review I am pretty impressed with the ability to create a draft.  Now I will hit the publish button and see what happens….

TaDa!

That just worked.

One thing that I see in here that I like is the ability to insert a table.  Here is a table of projected revenue for the MasonWorld Empire for 2010.

Neat.  Might have a keeper here.

What do you use to write your posts?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I like Nicole Dean's EasyPLR as a source for great quality PLR products.  Since that time, I have published several articles about how to use PLR, where to get blog content, and what the ethical considerations of PLR might be.

Lot's of you responded by trying out Nicole's products using my affiliate link (here).  If you are one of those people -- thanks for checking her stuff out.  As you know, I only recommend products that I use myself, and her PLR is great.

The Retroactive EasyPLR Bonus

OK -- so I know what you are thinking?  Who in the world gives a bonus after the fact.  Marketing 101 says that you use bonuses to get people to buy as part of the pitch.

I say, WHATEVER - I play by my own rules. 

The fact is that if you bought ANY PLR from Nicole using my link, I'd like to offer you a nifty eBook on how to use it.

The eBook is called PLR Cheater -- it is itself a high quality PLR eBook that I am planning on selling for either $27 or $17 (I have not decided yet).   You can check out the sales page for PLRCheater here.  Note that the page is not complete yet - you cannot buy the book there.

Anyway -- if you bought any PLR from Nicole through my link, just submit a ticket at my helpdesk and I will verify your purchase and send you a copy of the eBook with my compliments.  Just to be clear, you will be getting personal use rights to PLR Cheater, not PLR rights.

I figure that if you were kind enough to use my link, you deserve the bonus (even if you did not know about the bonus ahead of time).  Be sure to include proof of purchase with your ticket.

But Wait -- There's More (If You Act Now)

LOL -- I love cheezy marketing lines like "Act Now!"  Supplies are limited! (OK -- they are not limited.  It's an ebook.  How can supplies of an eBook ever be limited?)

Here where the Marketing 101 comes back in.  I want you to buy more!

I know that there will be some people out there that want to buy PLR from Nicole today and get the bonus.  If that is you, know that I will honor the bonus until further notice.  That is to say, if you buy PLR from EasyPLR in the future using my affiliate link, I will send you a copy of the eBook (just submit a ticket with your proof of purchase).

Bottom line - I want you to buy more PLR from Nicole if you need it.

And That Is Not All (Special Bonus)!

I know some of you will be buying PLR from Nicole with the intention of creating sites designed to make money from AdSense as described in the $5 Formula (and also in this video).

If that is you, and you buy $50 or more of PLR from Easy PLR using my affiliate link, I will send you a copy of my newly updated product -- Niche AdSense Themes for WordPress Version 3.   Note that this bonus is also retroactive.

Here is a snapshot of the latest version of Niche AdSense Themes for WordPress

So -- If you need some PLR check out Easy PLR today.

Thanks!

More About PLR Cheater

Here is what's inside PLR Cheater:

Yesterday we talked about several ways to get blog content, and I mentioned that you could hire a ghost writer.  One of the things that drives me crazy is when Internet Marketing Gurus say "you can just do blah blah blah" but they fail to tell you anything about how to do it.

Well, I did not want to be guilty of that.

So, here are a few tips for outsourcing your writing -- whether it be for blog posts, articles or information product creation:

• Get samples from any writer you’re considering before committing to the job. You should also have them write a set number of “test” pages (or a small section of the book if you are outsourcing a product) before fully committing. You should expect to pay them for this.  That means you may lose some money if you are not happy with the work.  That is just part of the deal.   Better to find out early on in the project than when you’ve fully committed.
• Visit online forums and ask for recommendations. There are various online marketing discussion forums (warriorforum.com, etc) where you may be able to find recommendations for writers. Just keep in mind everyone’s opinions vary.  You need to look at samples of work and form your own opinion.
• Start with research. If you don’t feel up to fully outsourcing the whole task you can simply outsource the research side of things or even the product outline or both the outline and the research.   Keep in mind that the writing part will usually be the most expensive and time consuming.  So, if you’re on a budget perhaps you could outsource the first two and do the writing yourself.

I like to use Virtual Assistants, and you can certainly outsource research and product outlines to a virtual assistant.  Again, you can visit online marketing discussion forums and ask for recommendations. You can also do a search under “virtual assistant” and you should find a number of different services, but recommendations are always best, especially when working with people online whom you won’t see face to face.

As an aside, if you are interested in learning more about virtual assistants for these types of tasks, I recommend this course.  If you want to hire a full time person (particularly if you are interested in offshore help, I recommend this product.

Visit places like elance.com or guru.com. In these places you can post a project and freelancers will bid on different projects. This is how I got started outsourcing.  You can also view samples of the person’s work (in many cases) and read past reviews and feedback they’ve been given.

Outsourcing your writing and research is a great idea, especially if you’ve been holding back on getting started.

Hope that helps!

photo credit: Daquella manera

Yesterday, I spent some time sharing one of my favorite article topic tricks -- searching for a topic and the words "how to" -- like "wordpress how to" (without the quotes).

Well, that is great for telling you what to write about.  But sometimes, you need more help than that.  After all, the life of an internet marketer revolves around one thing: Content. You need articles for your blog, more great content for your newsletter or ezine, and even more quality articles if you plan to do article marketing or guest blogging to get free advertising for your website.

Phew.  That is a ton of stuff.

Before you give up and go to your backup business plan of designing and patenting the ultimate yoga mat, let me share a few ideas with you that may help you to actually have time away from your computer.

After all, I have a full time job, so I get the time crunch thing.

When looking for articles, you have several options. I personally use several of these suggestions to add a variety of content to my websites -- and recommend that you do the same.

Grab some Free Reprint Articles at the Directories.

Article directories like EzineArticles.com, LadyPens.com and ArticleBase.com are packed with quality articles that you can reprint on your site. The only requirements are that you do not edit the article in any way and that you include the author's resource box (or bio) at the end including the link or two that the author has included to his/her website.

There is a whole list of great article directories right here on MasonWorld.com

It's a win-win situation. The author gets free advertising. You, the publisher, get free content.

There are potentially three negatives to using this type of article.

• First is the issue of duplicate content.  You're sharing the same exact articles as everyone else that uses that directory. This is not a big deal at all if you're using the article in your ezine, obviously.  Some people claim this is an issue with the search engines.   It's not an issue -- but if you are worried, just write an introduction to the article, and preferably a wrap-up statement or recommendation at the end.
• Second is the very difficult issue of finding quality content. Gone are the days of grabbing any old free reprint article. You want Expert Content only – and many of the article directories have “bleck” articles.  People spam the directories to get backlinks.
• Third is the issue of posting those darn links in the author resource box. You're basically advertising for someone else for free.  Talk about leaking traffic.

Use Extra-Special Free Reprint Articles.

Oftentimes ebook owners and other marketers with affiliate programs offer articles with a twist. You get to replace the link(s) in the author resource box with YOUR affiliate link for that program.

Here you'll find many articles that meet that criteria:  http://freeaffiliatearticles.com

The above site is run by my friend Nicole Dean and covers a variety of topics.   Sometimes articles are available directly from expert product owners that provide them so you can promote their products.  Always as affiliate managers.  You might be surprised what you can get.  The expert  gets free advertising. And, you, the publisher, still get great content. But, you can also benefit by earning affiliate commissions as well.

This model definitely adds an increased level of appeal compared to traditional reprint articles.

Write the Articles Yourself.

Well, of course you can (and should) choose to write some of your web content yourself. I highly recommend that you do write much of your own content, at least on the sites where you're trying to establish yourself as an authority.

I write 99% of the content on MasonWorld.com with some special exceptions that I note at the end of this article.

There are other options, however.  You can have your cake and eat it too -- as there are options that will enable you to post quality content to your website without having to write all of it yourself.  They have the advantage of positioning  YOU as the expert, rather than endorsing someone else as the expert.

Hire a Quality Ghostwriter or Copywriter.

A ghostwriter is a freelancer who writes for you (usually articles or reports), but you take the credit.

A copywriter specializes in writing copy that sells, and you usually take the credit.

There are many sites on the web where you can find writers. Start by asking around, or go to sites like elance.com (a job posting site) or Shelancers.com (a directory of freelancers) to look around. Having a ghostwriter on hand can keep your blog fresh and active.

This works very well for affiliate sites.  But for sites like MasonWorld.com, I have had very little luck with ghost writers.  But, if I need an article about Hoover Vacuums, I never hesitate to hire a ghost writer (in fact, I have one on staff).

PLR articles

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, PLR (Private Label Rights) articles are usually written by a ghostwriter and sold to several website owners. This means that you (and a limited number of other bloggers) can edit the articles and publish them without being required to link back to anyone or give anyone credit for writing them. You become the expert when using PLR articles.

Customize the articles, tweak them for your market, insert examples or photos or case studies and publish them on your website -- or just use them as they are. Either way, you gain a lot of flexibility when working with PLR. Not only that but they are very affordable.

So, How do you Find a Good PLR Service?

Simple. Find a PLR site that's been around for awhile and offers professionally-written and edited content that's sold in limited quantities. That will ensure that you're not getting recycled PLR, but are getting your hands on top-quality content.

My Recommendation for Top Quality PLR, Sold in Very Limited Quantities:

EasyPLR.com has been offering the best niche plr article packs on the web since 2006.

-        Great reputation. Thousands of happy, repeat customers over the years.

-        Great quality. The content is written by Professional Writers on staff and Edited by a Separate staff member.

-        Limited Availability. You're not sharing your articles with thousands of other people.

-        Run by a Respected Internet Marketer. Nicole Dean owns EasyPLR.com and is oftentimes called the marketer with integrity, and runs her business by her gut and her ethics, not strictly by her pocketbook.

-        Excellent customer support. Need any help? They're there for you.

I'm a customer at EasyPLR.com and I highly recommend their content. Check it out here.

Full disclosure -- just to prove a point, parts of this article are from high quality PLR from guess where?

photo credit: Anonymous Account

One of the questions I hear a lot is "what do I write about?"

Here is a quick tip for you when you are looking for some blogging topics.

One simple answer to this age-old blogging question is to write answers to the questions that people have about your area of expertise.

For example, let's say you have a killer blog about WordPress.  Crank open your favorite keyword tool.  I like Micro Niche Finder for this type of work, but you could also use one of the free tools out there like The Google AdWords Keyword Tool or the Wordtracker tool free trial.

Search for your topic and "how to" -- For example "How To WordPress" (without the quotes).

I then like to filter out the results for searches that actually contain the phrase "how to" (this is easily done with Filters in Micro Niche Finder.

You get a result like this:

Now, you suddenly have lots to talk about.

By the way, I am planning on doing more "How To" videos myself.  If you have requests for "hot to" topics related to blogging, internet marketing, technology, or something related, please let me know.

As you know, I really believe in the power of building relationships with successful people and learning from their success. You also know that I am pretty picky about who those people are.

Today, I've got Nicole Dean here with a quick interview about a hot topic, PLR.  If you don't know Nicole, you should.  If you don't know what PLR is or how it can benefit you, you're about to have your eyes opened to a huge time-saver in your online business.

First of all, let me tell you what PLR is, and why I invited Nicole as our expert today.

PLR stands for “Private Label Rights”. For internet marketers, it usually means something that you can edit, put your name on and use in your online business. Now that “something” can be videos, audios, articles, reports, ebooks, or even software – so, I hope you can see that this can be a huge shortcut as opposed to going to eLance.com or Guru.com and having these things created from scratch. It's a lot cheaper, too.

Why did I invite Nicole here as our expert? Nicole is the voice of common sense, for one. Oftentimes, you'll see people talk about doing all sorts of crazy stuff with PLR that just perpetuates junk on the internet. Nicole strives to make the 'net a better place.

Second, Nicole created and has been running one of the most highly-respected PLR sites on the web since 2006. Honestly, there are very few sites that are in the same ballpark as hers and many that are just selling recycled trash to hungry internet marketers. However, before I talk too much, I'll pass you on to Nicole.

Welcome, Nicole Dean!

Hey Mark!

Thanks so much for asking me here today. I love your motto “Down to Earth Internet Marketing: Know-How without Hype”. You and I see eye-to-eye on that one, as you know.  I definitely appreciate the chance to talk about one of my favorite topics – web content!

You sent me a few questions that you'd like me to answer today, so let's get to it.

Question #1: What are 2 simple ways to use PLR articles?

There are many, many ways to use PLR articles, but I'll try to keep it simple.

The first, and easiest way to use your PLR articles is as blog content. In my opinion, it is much easier to start with a PLR article as your “draft” than to have to come up with ideas for your blog posts on your own week after week. What I recommend is that you copy/paste your PLR content into your blog and save each piece in draft mode. That way, it's all there waiting for you when you log in to post. Of course, if you'd prefer your blogging to be more hands-off, you can also hire a Ghostwriter or Virtual Assistant to log into your blog and work on the blog post drafts to include links and niche-specific examples, select categories and tags, add photos, and even post your blog posts for you.

As for the second, it's so hard to choose. I really love offering valuable free pdfs to my readers and customers. If you purchase a set of PLR articles from somewhere like my site: Easy PLR Articles, then it's really easy to transform those into a report or ebook that you can give away to your lists as a gift. Each set of PLR articles comes in a Word document, so all you have to do is open it in a free program like OpenOffice.org, edit the document, add your photo and some links, and then click on the “save as pdf” button and you're done. Then you'll have a valuable report that you can give away, offer as a bonus to your existing products, offer to competitors to give away to their customers, include in giveaway events or use in 100 other ways.

Yes, I do all of these things and plan to offer training on it soon. So, be sure to swing by my blog www.NicoleontheNet.com and sign up for updates in the right nav so you don't miss it when I do.

Question #2: What are 2 PLR mistakes to avoid?

Only 2 mistakes?

Well, the first big mistake that costs a lot of money is buying PLR from the wrong sources. There are SO many bad PLR sites on the web that it's not even funny. The content is poorly written and sometimes even recycled from other sites. Yes, you can find that you've purchased the exact same thing from two different sources. UG, right? So, be very choosy in who you'll trust with your hard-earned money and invest in quality PLR content.

The second mistake that makes me very frustrated is when customers purchase PLR from my site and then let it sit on their hard drive. Listen to me when I say “It can't make you money, sitting on your hard drive!” Get that PLR content onto your websites so you can recoup your investment and build your passive income.

I really hope that helps to give a better picture of what PLR is and what it can offer you. If you're still confused, I do offer more training at my site: Easy PLR Articles

Thanks again for having me, Mark!

Warmly,

Nicole Dean

If you'd like to learn more from me, check out my: Internet Business Success Podcast & Blog

Do you have some feedback for Nicole or questions about PLR articles?  Leave a comment and Nicole or I will do our best to get you an answer.

babyphoto credit: dr. hanz

In this episode of the MasonWorld Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, we continue with our series introducing the different ways that you can make money online. Specifically, we take a look at how you can make money blogging.

We also put our special interview schedule on hold for an episode to make room to talk about the latest communication from the FTC.

When the transcript is available, it will be here.

In the podcast, I mention that I have been spending time in Lynn Terry's forum.

In the main segment of the podcast, I talk about Blogging. I mention that you need to look for

• A topic you care about
• A topic other care about
• WordPress.org
• Some good cheap hosting

Some links mentioned in the podcast

• Moonlighting On The Internet (a real book)
• Ten Ways To Make $10K On The Internet (free)
• Lynn Terry Elite Member Forum
• The FTC communication
• My old disclosure page

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This is the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, Episode 4.

You want to build a business that you can call your own, but you can’t imagine abandoning the security of your day job. You are confident that you can find a few hours a week to pursue your dreams of creating a business on the internet, but you don’t know where to start. You’re looking for a plan.

Congratulations! You just found one. You are listening to the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, with your host Mark Mason, building internet businesses one night at a time.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 4 of the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast. Of course, I’m your host Mark Mason. It’s really great to be back on the mic. I’ve had a couple weeks of vacation with some light duty internet marketing activity, as well as some frenzied activity getting kids ready to go back to school.

It’s that time again in Texas, where we’re getting everybody ready to go back to school. That can be very exciting, because that generates a long list of things to go do. Everything from school clothes shopping to school supplies, physicals, band gear, and all of that. We’ve been pretty busy around the Mason World household the last couple of weeks.

I’ve also been busy, because I’ve been spending some time hanging out with guru affiliate marketer Lynn Terry in her private forum, she calls it the Elite forum. That’s really a fantastic investment that I’ve made. A small investment of money, and an investment of time over the last several weeks getting to know Lynn. I tell you, she is really fantastic. I had always heard great things about Lynn, and what level of integrity and customer focus she brings to her business.

Let me tell you, my time with her has exceeded all my expectations. She’s really fantastic. I encourage you to check her out over at MasonWorld.com/lynn, where I’ve a got a link over to her new Elite Membership forum over there. You can also find her on her blog at Clicknewz.com. I’ll provide both of those links in the show notes, you can check her out. She is really fantastic, and I really enjoyed spending time with her.

One of the best ways to learn about internet marketing is pick people and business models that you really believe in, follow them and watch what they do, ask them questions about what makes them successful and try to duplicate those results.

There’s absolutely no reason for you to reinvent anything in internet marketing. The best way to get started is to find somebody who you like what they’re doing, you believe in what they’re doing, and who will be honest with you and help you succeed.

Having said that, it’s time for the feature segment, where we’ll talk about our next internet monetization model. That’s making money on eBay.

It’s time for the feature segment.

In the feature segment today, we’ll be talking about our next internet business model. You’ll recall that we’ve already talked about affiliate marketing, which is when you essentially get paid for driving traffic to other people’s products, when that traffic converts to sales. Information marketing, where you can create information products, not too unlike this podcast, to be honest with you, and find ways to monetize those, usually by selling them as direct downloads.

Today we’re going to be talking about our third internet monetization method. That’s creating a business on eBay. Now, what we’ve been doing to kind of support this discussion that we’ve been having is following along in two publications.

One is the outstanding book by Yanik Silver, Moonlighting on the Internet. Yanik’s book can be found at MasonWorld.com/silver. We’ve also been following the great report from Jimmy Brown, I love Jimmy D. Brown, he’s really a great guy, his report is called 10 Proven Ways to Make at Least 10,000 a Month. That’s a 30 page free report that Jimmy offers, where he outlines 10 different things you can do to really crank up your internet income.

Those are both excellent texts for people who are getting started online, or trying to expand their online business. I recommend them both highly.

Today we’re going to be talking about eBay businesses and what you need to think about in terms of eBay. Now, most people when they think about eBay, think about going online and buying some used something, or some antique something that they go and buy and get a good deal. So, the two things that you usually have associated with eBay are used items, that’s what people think of when they think of eBay, or items that they can get for really cheap.

That’s kind of problematic if you want to start up a business on eBay, because you’re starting off in a situation where people who are looking for premium products, eBay may not necessarily the first thing that comes to your mind. Let me tell you, that is the wrong mindset to have if you’re an internet marketer.

The right thing to recognize about eBay, if you’re an internet marketer, is that there is a massive and enormous amount of traffic available to you on eBay. Millions of items are sold on eBay every year. It is a giant company that you can leverage to make money on the internet.

Before I go much further, let me tell you, I am not an eBay guru. I do not have a viable eBay business. Sure, I’ve sold stuff on eBay. In fact, I’ve got a couple of eBay auctions right now. But, that’s not my mainline business. I do understand, however, the fundamentals of marketing that are in play on eBay and I’m going to go over them for you a little bit.

The first one is there are a lot of people there. The fundamentals of internet marketing are find traffic, stand in front of it, and convert a certain percentage of that traffic into some monetized stream. So, you find people and you convert those people into something that translates into dollars. eBay meets the first criteria, which is lots of traffic.

Now, you might imagine sort of a fundamental eBay business, and you can setup sort of a traditional business on eBay by finding products and reselling them on eBay. The things that you usually hear about are people that go around to auctions and buy lots of items, and then warehouse them and sell them on eBay. Or people that setup things where they sell items on eBay, then they have them drop shipped so they’re not actually warehousing anything.

Both of those can be made to be viable internet businesses and that can work just fine. I am not super excited about those, because as I mentioned before, there’s a lot of price pressure on things that are for sale in eBay. I know people are making that work, and you can make it work too probably, but that’s not what gets me excited about eBay.

What gets me excited about eBay is the idea that Jimmy Brown mentions when he talks about eBay, and that is that you can use eBay as a lead generator. Now, if you go through the listings, as Jimmy points out, you’ll see a lot of people that seem to be losing money making sales on eBay. What I’ll tell you is that there are a lot of things that are called loss leaders sold on eBay.

It means that someone sells something, not so much really to make profit on the sale, but actually to get the customer. They know that once they get someone to buy something they’ve got a customer contact with a credit card in their hand, that’s actually willing to use it, and they can sell things to that person again. Essentially, they’re prequalifying the prospect and able to sell to them again. That’s the big thing that Jimmy points out is that you can use eBay as a lead generator.

You can also use eBay to get people into your direct sales funnel. If you’ve got multiple products, let’s say you’ve got a 1 dollar widget that you sell for 79 cents on eBay, and you know that people that buy 1 dollar widgets are going to need the 50 dollar widget cleaner. You can also get them directly in your sales funnel by selling your cheap product on eBay, and selling the more expensive back end to them later directly. Once you’ve got their contact information, of course, you’re able to contact them directly.

Those are sort of the business models that you should think about in terms of eBay. There’s the real eBay store, eBay auction, eBay selling physical products sort of eBay that you’ve thought about. But, then there’s this other thing, the marketing side of eBay where you can use eBay for lead generation or to get people into your funnel. Those are the two ways to think about eBay.

The important thing in eBay, just like in all good marketing, is the copy. That’s one of the things that’s really often ignored on eBay. When you go to write a listing on eBay, you really need to pay attention to your headline, you need to make sure your listing is personalized, you need to decide whether or not you’re going to specialize and feature it, and buy it now.

I’m not going to cover all those things, but there are a lot of marketing options, some of which are very sophisticated, that you can test and try to maximize your response on eBay. Particularly when you’re selling things over and over again. eBay is a great environment in which to split test, because there are so many different options, whether to use pictures or not, whether to use video or not, and so forth. That is a the main thing that you need to think about in eBay.

Don’t just do what all of these garage sale minded people are doing and throw up some sales copy in your auction. Actually approach it like a professional copywriter and think about what you’re writing. Hit people’s hot points, offer a unique selling proposition in your auction, offer risk reduction, make sure they know that there’s no risk for them to purchase through you. Use basic sales copy principles and you’ll be a lot more successful on eBay.

The last thing I want to mention about eBay is that you can combine what we talked about last week, that being affiliate marketing, with the things that you can do on eBay, because eBay has an affiliate program. A lot of people have made a lot of money putting up websites that actually don’t do anything but advertise products that are for sale on eBay.

You might be thinking, “That sounds like a lot of work, because something that’s for sale on eBay today won’t be there in 7 days.” That’s absolutely true. So, what these people do is they set up websites that read the eBay auctions, and when a visitor comes to their website it lists the current eBay auctions for very narrow subjects.

So, for example, maybe somebody might have a website selling coffee mugs, maybe antique coffee mugs that are for sale on eBay. They present themselves as an antique coffee mug site, with maybe some information and an antique coffee mug store. But, the links on the store really go to eBay auctions, so they’re able to sell these things that normally you wouldn’t be able to drop ship or otherwise find affiliate programs for on the internet.

You can check that out. My preferred source for the eBay affiliate program is Pepperjam. I’ll have a link to the Pepperjam Network in the show notes there for you so you can find that. That’s about it on eBay. Couple of business models there for you with eBay, a couple of things to think about when you’re listing your auctions, and finally affiliate marketing. You can mix all these things together. That about wraps it up for eBay today.

And now the feature interview.

I have a really special interview for you today. You know, I’ve been interviewing top internet marketers, asking them what are the three things they want to tell new internet marketers that will help them get started. What are the three things they wish they had known when they were getting started.

Today I have for you the guru of Firepow, the Niche Marketing on Crack author, Andrew Hansen. Andrew is an enormously successful marketer over at AndrewHansen.name. He’s a top choice of mine for integrity and paying attention to what people really need, rather than just be out to try and make a quick buck. His products are fantastic.

I’ve got him on the phone. Here’s what Andrew had to say.

Before we get started with Andrew, just one editorial note. I want to let you know that the recording of Andrew’s voice is a little echoed. It looks like we had a little equipment difficulty on my end. I did some work to clean it up, but it’s still not a fantastic audio recording. But, the information is so great, I didn’t want to re-record it with Andrew, because I didn’t want to miss that first pass raw nature of it. So, here it is in it’s entirety and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks.

Mark Mason: Outstanding. We’re on the phone now, and it’s Late Night Internet Marketing. That works for us, because it’s 1:00 in the morning. I am privileged to have on the phone Andrew Hansen. Andrew is famous for a number of outstanding products in the internet marketing space.

Of course, he is probably most famous for his viral ebook, Niche Marketing on Crack, one of the first internet marketing products that I ever purchased. He’s also got an outstanding free ebook that’s been making the rounds lately called Crap Cutter Marketing.

But, the flagship product of Andrew’s, and the one that I really love, is the Firepow product. That’s an outstanding product for affiliate and niche marketers. Maybe we’ll get to talk about that a little bit with Andrew today.

Andrew, how are you this morning at 1:00 AM in the morning?

Andrew Hansen: I’m really well. I think it’s closer to 2:00 AM now actually, where I am anyway. But, really well. Thank you for having me.

Mark Mason: Thank you very much for taking the call. It’s 2:00 in the morning on the east coast, 1:00 in the morning in Texas. This is the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, so I guess that’s appropriate.

Andrew Hansen: It’s all good. It’s fine by me.

Mark Mason: I have been interviewing outstanding internet marketers. I put you very high on that list. I’ve been reading your blog for a long time. I have been asking them the question, what would you tell a new internet marketer if you were going to tell them three things that they needed to know, or of you had it to do all over again, what are the three things that you would want to know?

But, before I ask you that question, Andrew, I’ve got to ask you another really important question that’s been on my mind for a long time. Can you handle one extra question?

Andrew Hansen: Yes, I think so.

Mark Mason: Your from Australia, right?

Andrew Hansen: Right.

Mark Mason: What in the heck is vegemite? Because in Texas we don’t know about vegemite. Can you just tell me what that is exactly?

Andrew Hansen: You don’t have vegemite?

Mark Mason: No. We don’t have vegemite and I don’t know what vegemite is.

Andrew Hansen: You don’t know what vegemite is?

Mark Mason: I’ve never seen it. I don’t know what it is and I figured now is my chance.

Andrew Hansen: Here you go. Are you ready? If I give you this description it will sound disgusting, but in fact it’s delicious. It is yeast extract. Now, how that is obtained, I have no idea. But, it’s like a black paste.

You can imagine like peanut butter, but black. So, it looks disgusting as well. But, it’s mega-salty. It’s a very sharp taste, sharp on your tongue, very salty. But, it’s a spread that you put on bread, toasts, and everything like that. It’s actually really tasty.

I didn’t know until I moved that it was really only in Australia and New Zealand, and a southern world thing. We haven’t had any since we left Australia, and we often regret that. So, that’s what vegemite is.

Mark Mason: Very good. Well, now I can rest easy. I appreciate that. So, you’re in Canada now, is that correct? And you can’t find it there?

Andrew Hansen: Canada, yes. Funny story, actually. My mum had sent me a birthday present earlier in the year, and she somehow had researched some things that we wouldn’t have had for a long time having been over here. She sent me in the mail these little vials of vegemite.

Mark Mason: That’s excellent. Very good. I’m glad to know that. You know, I’m a scuba diver, and I’ve wanted to dive The Great Barrier Reef, so now I can add vegemite and diving to that trip. That will be good.

Andrew Hansen: Just not at the same time. That might be weird.

Mark Mason: That’s true. So, the question for you, sir, is if you were talking to a new internet marketer, which I guess actually you do all the time, or if you had it to do all over again, what are the three things that you think somebody needs to know about internet marketing to be successful, or shorten the amount of time that it takes to be successful, or to avoid traps, or whatever. What are the three things you want to tell new people that are new to internet marketing?

Andrew Hansen: It’s actually a really difficult question, but it’s a good one, a very important. I don’t know whether I’ll have three things, or whether we’ll just kind of talk about a bunch of things in this time, but I can give you some of my thoughts.

The first thing that I think new people really need to know about is before they get into strategies and specific questions about you actually make the money, I think it’s important to just have an understanding of the industry that you’re getting into. I mean if you’re a new person starting out, and I’m sure you started out and I started out this way as well, you start looking into the different ways to make money online.

One of the first things that you realize is that there are so many of them. There’s as many ways to make money online as there is people trying to make money online, or at least people selling how to make money online.

So, that in itself poses, not a problem, but it’s like an initial barrier to people who are trying to get started, because one of the first things that you have to do is try to sift the enormous amount of information and try to find something that makes sense to you and something that seems like you can implement it.

Not only that, not only the amount of information, but the nature of the information that trains people how to make money on the internet is, as I know and you know, of varying levels of quality and varying levels of clarity in terms of how well they lay out the steps that you need to take. It’s so easy to waste your money, and it’s so easy to fail purely for that reason alone.

To have an understanding, like if you could somehow have foresight at that point starting out, the things that you’re looking at, the sales letters that you’re looking at and the products you’re buying are part of such an enormous, for lack of a better word, pile of information, strategies, tools, and offers trying to get you to spend more money and more money.

It’s a crazy world. That may be the first thing that I would talk about.

Mark Mason: It is a crazy world, there are 1,000 or hundreds of thousands of sales letters out there of different things you can buy. You’re right, some of them are just not very good quality. They’re well intentioned, but not good quality.

Andrew Hansen: Some of them aren’t well intentioned.

Mark Mason: Right. They’re not well intentioned, they’re actually kind of scam type things. What do you advise someone to do about this? Do you advise them to pick someone to follow, or focus their efforts, or do you just warn them?

Andrew Hansen: Yes, a bit of all of the above perhaps. I think one thing [inaudible] to the way I got started that was very helpful, and I know you did the same, was to start out when you start the search for information is to rather than jumping from kind of sales letter to sales letter and learning through the things that you read there, is to become involved in a community.

The Warrior Forum is a great one for people getting started, where you see a little more of the content and a little less of the offers, at least slightly. It’s the kind of place where there’s a bunch of people that are on the same mission that you are, and they’re looking at the same products that you are, and they can advise for or against a particular product, depending on your skill level.

They’re a group of people who definitely have been at the game longer than you have, so they will have made some of the mistakes that you are likely to make. So, you can learn from their experience. Learning from other people’s experience in that way is often a lot better than learning from your own experience, because when you have to go out and make every single mistake yourself, it becomes extremely disheartening.

It’s hard, you need a lot of will to carry on if you’re taking that way. Learning from other people’s experience cuts down the amount of time that you have to spend on everything. So, yes, joining a community is one excellent way to kind of fast track the process.

Mark Mason: Very good. That sounds like outstanding advice to me. How about thing two? What’s the second thing that you might advise someone that was new to internet marketing?

Andrew Hansen: The second thing that I had in mind when you first asked me, and some people listening may find it frustrating to hear, but it’s another sort of a mindset issue. Again, this is really difficult to do, and it’s very rare that people just getting started are able, even if they want to, to take on this mindset.

That is to just approach online business in two ways. Both as a long term venture, and something that you are building gradually and slowly, and that you want to have making you money, not just in the next 3 months, but in the next 3 years.

Then starting from that frame of mind, again is difficult, because all of the offers and all of the material that you read is always promising you that you’re going to be able to make X amount of money, “In the next 3 days you’ll have this stream of income coming next week, and then it will skyrocket from there and suddenly you’ll have an ocean front mansion and a Ferrari just like in the picture.”

It doesn’t take long for most people to realize that it doesn’t really work that way. Nor should you want it to work that way, because a general rule that I have is that the faster money comes to you, the faster it can leave you. You might be able to make 1,000 dollars by next week, but whatever may have brought you that money is almost always such that it can disappear just as fast as it came.

So, approaching it from the mindset of wanting to setup a real business is maybe the smartest thing that you can do. Again, it’s difficult, but if you do it you’ll beat many people.

Mark Mason: That’s excellent advice. I sometimes get these heartbreaking emails from readers of my blog, or people that stumble through my blog telling me how their credit cards are maxed out and they’re about to lose their house and they need to make 10,000 dollars tomorrow. There’s just not a lot you can tell those people, really.

Andrew Hansen: I know what you mean. I have the same emails. You’re right, what do you say to them? The truest thing to say to them is that you don’t need internet marketing right now, you need a loan or you need a job or something. If someone was in that situation, would you advise them to start a real business? Would you tell them to start up a Subway franchise and see if you can make money that way? Of course not. They shouldn’t be looking for a business. They should be looking to secure their financial situation first.

Mark Mason: That’s right. Okay. That’s excellent advise, number two. So, do you have a third one for me tonight?

Andrew Hansen: Yes. It’s hard to select a third one actually.

Mark Mason: Well, you’re allowed four. If it’s really coming down to that kind of thing, we’ll give you a fourth one.

Andrew Hansen: Sure. All right. The next thing, and this one is kind of related to your approach also in the pre-strategy stage, I would say. That is because like we’ve been saying, there are so many different methods to being able to make money, the thing is that actually there is also so many working methods.

There’s many ways to skin the cat. There’s a lot of ways that in the midst of all the ones that don’t work, there’s still a lot of ways that do work. What makes one method right for one person doesn’t depend on the method, but it depends on the individual.

For example, if you pick any given person off the street, that person would have preexisting knowledge, and preexisting skills, preexisting likes and dislikes. So, they would be better suited to one business model rather than another.

For example, you might really like writing, like me, I’m someone who really likes to write. So, writing comes easy to me. It’s never a rigorous process, I never begrudgingly start to write an article, because I enjoy it. So, I use that to my advantage by focusing on business models that utilize the skills and the things that I enjoy, and that I already have.

That’s how I got started out. I got started first just writing for other people. That allowed me to be able to make money from home. It wasn’t really a business, but I was able to make money from that. Then slowly as I learned more about actually making money with a proper business online, I was able to use those writing skills to leverage into content for blogs and for mini sites. Then to use the traffic generated from those to promote affiliate programs, and earn commissions and things like that.

The point after that discussion was try to find the method, and firstly, try to stick to one method, because the worst thing that you can do is get started with one method, see another method or offer tomorrow in passing and kind of hop over to that method and do a little bit of work there, and realize that it’s not really for you, so hop onto another method, and then maybe later come back to that first method, because you realized it might be more profitable after all.

That’s the worst thing you can do. That’s opportunity hopping, like I call it, and it’s almost always going to lead to failure. So, the first thing is to stick to one method at least until you get to the point that you realize you can’t do it, because it’s just not fitting with you, you’re not good at doing things that way, you don’t have the resources or the time, or whatever else to perform that particular method.

The second thing is when you are sticking to one method, make it one method that fits with the skills and the things that you like that you already have. So, if you like writing, blogging should be easy for you. You might find it easier to maintain a blog than to sell products. You could blog and to sell advertising on that blog, as opposed to doing all the research and the analytics and tracking and testing that comes with say making money with PPC.

That would be the third thing, stick to one method, and try to stick one method that fits with the things that you already are good at and enjoy doing.

Mark Mason: That’s a great tip. You know, I hear a lot of people, and I’m one of them, tell people to beware of getting distracted by what I call bright shiny objects. Every new email that comes into your inbox is trying to sell you a new method, you need to watch out for that.

But, I think you may be the first person I’ve heard who has really expressed this in this way, where you should take advantage of the skills that you have and try to get a match between what you’re good at and what the method teaches, so that you can leverage the assets you already have. That’s an excellent tip. I appreciate that.

Andrew Hansen: Absolutely. Part of it is that you only, and this is kind of unfortunate, but inevitable, that you will only really start to find what you really enjoy doing online and what you are really good at after a little bit of messing around. So, maybe one of the other side note points of the three is just be willing to kind of experiment a little bit with it, and be willing to lose a little bit of money if you absolutely have to.

Take your time and find out what it is you’re good at, because even if you take that little bit of time at the start and you start focusing on a method that you are really good at and that you do really enjoy, the dividends of that will pay down the track, both in terms of how much time it will save you and how much money it will make you, will be well worth the amount of time that you may waste in the beginning.

Mark Mason: Excellent. Did you have one more that you wanted to throw in here, because I’ve got time for you if you’d like one more?

Andrew Hansen: I think I will, actually, because we didn’t really get to talk much about strategy. So, I thought I might throw one little strategy point in there. It’s really hard to pick one strategy point out of everything that you could possibly say that would cover every kind of method and every kind of person who would be looking to start to make money online.

But, the thing that I thought of, and it’s such a recurring theme, and such a recurring thing that I see as the reason for people not achieving the results that they want to with their online business. That is firstly, whatever method or many methods that you will start to make money online with begin with finding a market. Whether it’s a market being an interest group to which you want to write a blog for, or whether it’s a market that you’re going to sell a product to, or it’s a market that you’re going to sell advertising to, whatever it is, many methods start with a niche or finding a market.

Different people have different definitions of what a market or what a niche on the internet really is. If you’re listening to this call, you probably will have already, or will in the future, come across the methods for locating markets on the internet. Like using the search analytics tools to see how many people are searching for a particular term.

A lot of people think, and it’s easy to fall into this trap of thinking, that things like somebody searching for a term is a market or is a profitable market. But, there’s a big difference between searches and buyers. If you want to make money from your online business, if you’re not just doing it for fun or because you enjoy it, you want to make money from it, you need to be in a niche where people are spending money. You need to be in a niche not just where you think people might spend money, but where people are already spending money.

Seeing the term, I don’t know whatever it is, Dragon Ball Z cards, for example, gets searched for 100,000 times, that doesn’t mean you’ve got 100,000 people who could potentially buy from you in that group, because that’s such a niche of kids and people who aren’t necessarily spending a ton of money. It doesn’t mean you’ve got 100,000 buyers. You might only have 1,000 buyers, if you’re lucky, maybe 100 buyers more likely.

Conversely, there’s markets where if you look at something like weight loss. People are spending money in that market. It’s an enormous market, not just on the internet, but offline as well. It’s a market where you know people are spending money. I’m not necessarily advocating that you get into the weight loss market, it’s extremely competitive, but I’m providing that as an example of a market where you are certain that people are already spending money.

So, your goal then, almost regardless of what method it is that you’re using, is to try to access and try to put yourself between the transactions that are already taking place and put yourself in the midst of the transactions that are already taking place. By doing that, you’re giving yourself a really increased percentage chance of being able to actually claim some of that cash that’s already changing hands.

Starting with a niche of buyers is my fourth, final, and only strategy tip.

Mark Mason: I know it’s amazing to me that people miss this, but I think you cover it pretty well in some of the materials that you’ve published over the years. There’s a lot of really simple things you can think about. One of the things that you teach is just the keyword modifier, “buy.”

There’s a hell of a lot of difference between the keyword “buy dog food recipes” and “dog food recipes.” One person is looking for a free recipe for dog food, and the other person is looking for a dog food recipe cookbook.

Andrew Hansen: Absolutely.

Mark Mason: There’s just a huge difference.

Andrew Hansen: One person has got their wallet in their hand as they type. They’ve got their credit card there and they’re looking to make sure they know all the different numbers so they’re ready to type it in when they find what it is that they want.

Whereas the other group, you can’t tell what they want. Some of them may be looking to buy, but some of them might be looking for a freebie, some of them might be looking for something they can print off and give to their friends. You don’t know. So, the group that’s got their credit card ready, and it’s a no brainer about which one you want to target.

Mark Mason: Very good. This has been incredibly helpful. There are a couple of other questions I wanted to ask you.

Andrew Hansen: Sure.

Mark Mason: I know that you’ve been very gracious and not actually talking about your own products, but they’re so good I want to talk about them. The first thing I want to talk about and want to point people to is one of my favorite ebooks that you’ve released, and it’s free, that’s really great, and I’ve actually sent my readers to it, because I really like it. That’s your Crap Cutter Marketing ebook. Can you give people kind of the 30 second lowdown about what they can expect in that ebook, and let them where to find it, and I’ll also put the URL in the show notes.

Andrew Hansen: Sure. Some of the things that I wrote about in Crap Cutter Marketing is the same as what we’ve talked about on this call. In part it’s about locating niche markets of buyers, locating groups of people that are looking to spend money and talking about strategies for putting yourself, your content, your website, or your offers in front of those people.

It’s talking about how to do that in a way that creates as little work for you as possible. There’s obviously work involved, but it’s try to make that as easy as possible for you. It also tries to do that without you having to spend a ton of money. So, it focuses on free traffic strategies. It looks at then leveraging that free traffic by promoting offers as an affiliate and using advertising revenue and using content, or things that you write, as the platform for selling stuff online.

There’s a ton of stuff in that report. A lot on mindset things, to finding niches, to monetizing your content, to generating traffic. It’s a really good free report, and it’s had a lot of good feedback. You can’t argue with free. There’s no cheesy up sell and you don’t have to spend any money in the process. It’s a good one to check out.

Mark Mason: Tell me the URL again.

Andrew Hansen: That’s CrapCutterMarketing.com.

Mark Mason: Have you gotten any negative feedback from people who are offended by the use of the word crap?

Andrew Hansen: No, I haven’t actually. Not as much as people offended by the use of the word crack in a previous report.

Mark Mason: Niche Marketing on Crack was another great one. I told you, that’s one of the first things I bought, so that’s good stuff.

The other thing I wanted to talk about briefly, because it’s your premiere product and I’ve written a lot about it on my blog, is Firepow. I was wondering if you could just give us the 30 second summary of what the Firepow system is, and give us some look into the future about Firepow and give me some breaking news here? Tell me what you’ve got planned over there.

Andrew Hansen: Sure. Firepow is kind of like a combination of all the intelligent things I’ve learned about making money online in the 5 or 6 years that I’ve been doing this. It’s a piece of software primarily, but it’s also kind of a suite of software tools, as well as a lot of training materials, like PDFs and videos, that focus on how to create blogs and use those blogs for the purposes of making money as an affiliate.

There’s other forms of monetization as well. The blog is for the purpose of generating really high quality, target, buying traffic that then you can push towards affiliate offers to earn commissions or to advertising on your site to earn Adsense clicks, or to your own products if you sell something somewhere else on the internet.

It’s a suite of tools that helps you to automate as much as possible that entire process. It helps you set up a blog in a matter of 10 clicks or something like that. There’s no HTML to write, there’s FTP programs to fiddle around with, there’s no uploading or downloading. You just fill in the forms and follow the instructions and it will spit you out a nice looking blog that’s not just a normal blog, but a blog that’s optimized to generate traffic for you from the search engines. So, it’s targeted to the right keywords that you’re looking to rank for.

It’s got proper permalinks. It’s got all the plugins and all the little settings that normally you have to learn how to set yourself or the add-ons that you have to work out. It’s got them all set in there for you, so you just click the buttons and you spits you out the blog.

It takes you right from that part of the process, creating your blog, to the generation of your content, which is the next thing that’s enormously important for anyone looking to generate free traffic. You need content. You need stuff to attract visitors that you can then monetize.

It helps you generate content both with ideas and with physically finding content for you on the internet that’s already out there that’s not being utilized as well as it might be that’s targeted to the terms that you’re looking to rank for. So, it helps you leverage other people’s content. Not in any illegal way, of course, just by grabbing content from syndicated sources from elsewhere on the internet.

Right through to the process of actually promoting your blog and being able to generate traffic to it, both through search engines and through social bookmarking sites, through directories, through other people’s private blogs, and building backlinks and generating exposure in as many places as possible to your blogs.

It’s kind of the whole enchilada from the creation of your blog to the cashing of your checks is what I always say. It’s automating that process as much as possible.

In terms of future plans, we’re really just trying to add new features or new tools all the time to optimize that and to automate it more for you. For example, we’ve got a feature coming out next week that’s for people who want to make Adsense sites.

We don’t have time to discuss that model, obviously, but it’s just creating content that gets ranked in the search engines that you position Adsense ads in, when people click those ads you make money. With this new tool, it will be in addition to something that we already have, but that lets you basically create a full Adsense blog that gets updated every couple days, however often you select, with content that’s targeted to the right keywords, that’s relevant and unique as much as possible, and automatically monetizing that for you.

So, you can create Adsense within, again, a number of clicks. You could create an Adsense site on any niche that you choose as long as you’ve got a keyword list that you’ve already researched within 5 minutes or so. So, that’s something we’re working on at the moment.

Mark Mason: Now, where can people find out more information about Firepow?

Andrew Hansen: You can checkout GetFirepow.com.

Mark Mason: That is excellent, sir. I appreciate all the tips, and I’m excited to give people an opportunity to hear about your products, because in both cases those two products are products that I’ve personally endorsed and have done so based on just the raw quality of both of them. I’m happy to give you that time to talk about that.

I do have one last question for you. I know you’re an accomplished affiliate marketer, you’ve sold all kinds of crazy things, which we don’t have time to go through them all here today, but now the question I have for you is, are you aware of any affiliate programs for vegemite?

Andrew Hansen: A vegemite affiliate program. You know, I’m sure there probably is one. You might have to sign up to some kind of online store, some Australian grocery store online. I don’t think it will pay out very high, because it’s a physical glass bottle with stuff in it.

After they ship it to you it will cost you 3.75, you might earn a 10 cent commission per jar of vegemite sold. I don’t know too many people that order it in quantities large enough to generate a huge commission. But, if you pioneer it, I’ll stand behind you.

Mark Mason: Okay, very good. Listen, Andrew, I really appreciate your time. The last question I have for you is, if people just want to follow the teachings of Andrew Hansen, where is the best place to follow you online?

Andrew Hansen: Sure. You can check out my blog, that’s at AndrewHansen.name, or you can follow me on Twitter as well, and that’s @AndrewHansen1.

Mark Mason: Very good. I’ll have both of those in the show notes. Andrew, thank you very much. I’m going to get some sleep. It’s creeping up on 2:00 in the morning here in Dallas, and it’s 3:00 in the morning there. I appreciate your time, and I hope you have a fantastic day.

Andrew Hansen: My please, sir. Thank you for having me.

Mark Mason: Thank you very much.

Thanks for listening to the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast. For more information about this program, and to get the show notes, be sure to visit our website at MasonWorld.com/podcast. Follow @MasonWorld on Twitter.

Have you got a question or comment for Mark? Let us know by leaving us a voicemail on our digital recording line at 214-444-8655. We may use your message on a future episode of the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast.

Did you like our podcast? Help us out by telling your friends and leaving your review on iTunes by going to MasonWorld.com/iTunes.

Finally, always remember that all business involves risk. Internet business is no exception. Your ability to make money with the concepts discussed in this program and on MasonWorld.com depends on many things, including your effort and capability. Since these factors according to individuals, we cannot guarantee your success or income level, and we are not responsible for any of your actions.

Thanks again for listening to the Mason World Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast, building internet businesses one night at a time. Have a great day.

One of these pieces of advice that I constantly hear regarding blogging is that bloggers should post on a regular schedule.  If you've read my blog for any amount of time, then you know I am terrible at this.  The excuse that I use is that I have a day job and sometimes I am just too busy to write a post.

The reality is sometimes I know I need to write a post but I can't decide what to write about. Some people call this writer's block. I call it a lack of inspiration. I think perhaps the best name for this problem in this context is blogger's block. Do you have bloggers block?

Here are a few ideas for beating bloggers block:

1.  Keep a list. The best way to defeat bloggers block is to maintain a list of great blogging ideas. Any time an idea occurs to you, you should add it to the list. This means you need to keep the list with you in the shower. I will leave it to you to figure out how to manage that.

2.  Steal from other bloggers. Very seriously, one of the best ways to create blog posts is to write about other blog posts that you have read that you consider to be valuable or just plain incorrect. The blogs that you are discussing will appreciate the back link, and your readers will appreciate you passing along pointers to other valuable information.

3.  Write in a series. People really like ongoing series where blog posts build on each other. For example if you are working on a major project, and the project is interesting to your readers, discussing how you're getting that done on a day-to-day basis can make for excellent blog posts over time.

4.  Simple How-To. Simple articles describing how you did something interesting are great for your readers and make excellent search engine food. If you just work for an hour to figure out how to get the brand-new XYZ plug-in to work in WordPress 2.7, you can save 1000 other people one hour by writing a post describing your experience.

5.  Completely off-topic personal information. Did you have a terrible day or great day or did something crazy happen to you that makes a great story? Tell your readers.  people love to hear about the personal experiences of people they are following. This is the very phenomenon that makes twitter so popular.

Do you have great ideas for how to get unstuck when you have bloggers block? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

Regards,
Mark

Photo:  photo credit: Vince Kusters

I'm not done for the year yet, but I thought I might share my thoughts on progress at MasonWorld for 2008 with you now (before I get stuffed with egg nog and fudge.)

It's hard for me to believe that it was just over a year ago that I really got serious about Internet Marketing as a night-time hobby, prompted by a love for computer technology and a 5 minute segment on NBC's Today Show.  A lot of water has gone under the bridge since November of 2007, and I am proud to count myself as one of the small percentage of Internet Marketer that have not tried, failed, and quit.

In Internet Marketing, Failure Is Progress

Now, don't get me wrong.  I have failed over and over again.  I have lost money toying with PPC (that is a rite of passage, I think), I have posted blog posts that I later decided to take down, I have launched products that did not do very well, and I have spent time on lots of things that did not pan out.  I even launched MasonWorld.com on the "wrong blogging platform" and had to migrate to WordPress.

But learning and progress require a certain amount of failure (ask Edison).  So, one thing that I plan to do in 2009 is actually "fail faster."  Get out there, try stuff, and move on (keeping the stuff that works).

I also spent lots of time and money reading Internet Marketing stuff.  I have a sub-directory on my hard drive in my "Internet Marketing" directory that is titled "Courses and eBooks."  As of this writing, that folder has 474 files (91 folders) containing 4.96 GB of Internet Marketing eBooks, audio and video that I have downloaded for free or purchased.  Amazing.

With Failure Comes Success

Most important to me, I have learned a ton about Internet Marketing.  I am really not interested in working on things that don't allow me to learn.  The cool thing about Internet Marketing is that it is a nice mix of technology, marketing, small business, and people skills.  Lots of varitey.

Of course, I have had more than my fair share of successes.  I also have some profitable niche AdSesne sites, MasonWorld.com is growing, I have some affiliate products that are making money, I released a couple of profitable products, and I have a nice start on an email list.

My tip for you in 2009:  Take action and don't be afraid to fail.  The only path to success is through action.  With action comes risk.  So, take some risk in 2009 -- you'll like the results.

So, The Bottom Line Is Thanks!

Most of all, I have been able to make some great friends on line (you know who you are), who have helped me get up to speed.   And, I have a great following of MasonWorld.com regular readers.  I really appreciate those relationships -- so thanks to all of you.

I hope you have a great Holiday Season and get everything that you wish for in life in 2009.

Best regards,

Mark

It's Free Stuff Friday again, and time for the Friday Freebie.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

When I was a kid, I was really excited about one thing at Christmas -- Toys.  So, today I thought it might be nice to throw in a free pack of PLR articles for Christmas about (you guessed it) Christmas toys.

You can use this PLR on a blog or website or however you choose.  In fact, you will find a PDF in the zip file that explains all the rights that come with this product.

Enjoy.

Check it out. You'll like it.

Join My Mailing List And Get Free Stuff

As always, opt in to my list to get access to all the free stuff (opt-in box in the right hand sidebar). As soon as you opt-in and confirm you subscription, you'll receive instructions on how to log into the members area.

Thanks,
Mark

For the last few weeks we have been taking a look inside of Firepow.   Today we are going to sneak a peak at the options and features in the Firepow blogging software by browsing the Firepow menus.

Don't forget, if you are interested in Firepow, I have arranged for a $300 Firepow Discount for Masonworld.com readers.

This is the second video in the series.  The first Firepow video is an overview of the Firepow home page, and describes what major features are available in the Firepow system.  In this video, I log into Firepow and take you through the menu items so that you can get a detailed idea of the features.

The more I work with Firepow, the more I like it.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Regards,
Mark

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means. It's time for another weekly Internet Business Fortune Cookie. Last night I had Jalapeno Chicken and fried rice. Basically, I call this "Texas Chinese Food." It was really spicy hot, and that explains this week's cookie that talks about a hot new blog from Garry Conn.

The Cookie Speaks The Truth

As you know, everything you need to know about running an internet business can be learned from fortune cookies. This week The Cookie has obviously been surfing the Internet.

Hear The Cookie:
"Big things come in small packages."

Of course, the fortune cookie is obviously referring to the fact that I got a small little email from Niche Blog and AdSense Guru Garry Conn last weekend announcing his Next Big Thing -- a new blog!

Garry has launched BloggingQuestions.com, a blog where you can go to get your questions about blogging answered by the blogging community.  Here's how it works (in Garrys' words):

How the blog works is very simple:

People can follow or subscribe to the blog and read newly asked questions or even archived ones. Because these questions have been asked by readers such as yourself, it is very likely that you will have a personal interest in the questions being asked and the answers that go with them.

The part that makes BloggingQuestions.com "one of a kind" and totally unique is the fact your questions are welcomed! There is no such thing as a stupid question on BloggingQuestions.com. You are invited to ask your own questions! Simply create a free account and post your question LIVE on the blog. From there people who read the blog (including myself) can provide you with answers by using the comment form.

Besides being the coolest domain name that I have seen in a long time, this promises to be a great resource for bloggers.  Truly, a big thing in a small package.

The Cookie Speaks About Value -- Follow The Cookie

One of the things that I like about Garry is that he really tries to help people.  Sometimes, he does this to a fault, and people take advantage of him (you know who you are).

When I was just starting out working on MasonWorld.com, Garry took tons of his own time to help me.  This new BloggingQuestions.com blog is another great example of Garry's willingness to lend a hand.  Pay attention -- Garry builds trust and gives people something in exchange for their participation in his business.

As a side note -- I think Garry has a cousin or someone like that who works at GoDaddy.  That is the only way I can explain how he gets these killer domain names.

So, listen to the cookie.   Watch out for the small packages.  There may be something big in there.  Check out BloggingQuestions.com today.

Have a great day.
Mark

Photo credit: Uploaded on July 17, 2006 by headcase

On a whim I bought Matt Callen's SimplyPLR product tonight to see what it was all about.  Basically, the product is a membership site that delivers 225 limited distribution Private Label Rights articles each month.  The articles are delivered in two formats -- normal text files and "spin ready".  The membership site is hooked up to the free spinner at ArticleApps.com -- which gets you 12 versions of the spun articles at a time.

There is also a cool automatic blog posting feature that will allow you to post to your blogs automatically using the XLMRPC feature present in WordPress and other popular blogging platforms.

I am pretty impressed by the slick nature of the user interface inside the membership site.  Also, I am totally impressed with the quality of the articles that I reviewed (just a few at random so far).  Pretty quality stuff.  The spun articles are high quality as well (mostly spinning complete sentences).

Here is an example of a couple of paragraphs out of a spun article titled "Enterprise Rental Cars:

Some people don't own an automobile. Even in America it's a fact. Many times people own cars but aren't at home and thus need temporary wheels. It's rental cars to the rescue when people don't want to put wear and tear on their car, or need a car for another reason. Enterprise is one of the most popular auto rental businesses. That's because Enterprise car rentals are not overly pricey, they're generally in good shape, and Enterprise will even pick up the renter from home, from the office, or from the airport.

Enterprise has many locations all over the nation. Compact cars, full size cars, sedans and coups are all there for the taking. There are even luxury cars and convertibles for rent. Why not take advantage of the sun and weather especially when it can be expensed? They even have cheap rates. A weekly rental for under $300 can be a great deal. Do the math on this one. Use public transportation for the daily commute. When cars are about $20 per day, on the weekends, run errands. All the car needs are then taken care of for about $60 weekly. Even a car lease can't match the value of $3500 a year for auto use.

And here are those same 2 paragraphs out of another spun version of the same article.  You can tell the article is similar, but it is very unique compared to other spun content that I have seen.

Not everyone owns a car. It may seem impossible, but it's real. There are also people who have a car but travel to different cities where they'll need a car. Whether it's for a trip near home over the weekend, running errands that can't be done via public transportation, or getting around while 1000 miles away from home, that's where rental cars come into the picture. And one of the companies people choose most often is Enterprise. these cars are reliable, cheap, and Enterprise will pick people up from home, the office or at the airport.

Enterprise has many locations all over the nation. They offer a variety of cars from sub compact all the way up to SUVs. Some even offer sporty convertibles. Life is short, why not live a little? They even have cheap rates. $300 for the week is a real bargain for a car. Get out the calculator. Use public transportation for the daily commute. When cars are about $20 per day, on the weekends, run errands. For about $60 a week all the car needs are fulfilled. Once price, insurance and all the other car costs are taken into account, under $3500 for a rental year is a lot less than owning.

All in all I am very impressed with this the Simply PLR membership site after looking around for about an hour.  Each month there are articles on topics chosen by Matt's team.  You do not get to choose the topics, which is the only downside that I can see to this site.

Still, if you are paying $47 a month for this site and you are getting 225 spin-ready articles (15 topics) each month, that is only $0.21 per article.  That's crazy cheap.  Let's say you build a website from each article pack using a tool like Firepow.  Now that would be cool.  You could easily build 15 sites a month with Firepow and SimplyPLR in combination.   I may do that this month.  Do that for a year and you would have a small blog empire.  Then you could use the spun versions for marketing through article directories (they don't generally like PLR, but this stuff looks really unique to me, especially if you spin and then rewrite a little).

All in all, I recommend this if you are looking for PLR.   Matt Callen's SimplyPLR is a class act.

Regards,
Mark

Announcing First eBook Now

An eBook about creating your first eBook.

Since last Thursday, I have been blogging like a madman about the importance of lists, and how I have changed my entire list strategy based on Josh Spaulding's New Age Email Marketing Report.

This caused me to start work on an experiment with $7 Secrets (which I described Saturday).  Yesterday, I demonstrated how you can build you list using other people products (Master Resale Rights).

As we discussed yesterday, that can work great, but what works best (in my opinion) is having your own products.

So, I am happy to announce a product that will help you with your journey to build your own information marketing business.

First eBook Now

You Need Your Own Products

If you look at all of the really successful email marketers, they have their own products.  It's a very satisfying thing, really.  You create something that has real value - something that helps people.  Then you sell it at a price that leaves people delighted with their purchase.  What could be better?  It's the true definition of win-win.

The customer gets a great product.  What do you get?  You get the sale, of course.  But you get something much more valuable -- you get the trust of a happy customer.  You can work to grow that trust and provide more to that customer by using email lists to stay in touch with them.  You can sell them other products that they need (and that you also value), increasing the investement in your relationship.  In the end, everybody wins (especially the customer).

You Have To Start Somewhere

The thing is, if you look at these guru email marketers, they all have tens (or hundreds) of thousands of people on their lists and dozens of huge products.  How in the world can you compete?  Simple answer:  don't compete.  Start small and build from there.

See, I believe that everyone has at least one good eBook in them.  Probably more.  The thing is, people are reluctant to start.  Either they don't know how to start or they are afraid to fail.   Either way, they forget that the longest journey begins with the smallest step.

Take A Small Action Today

Are you interested in starting your own information marketing empire?  Why not take the smallest step today?  Check out my latest eBook -- I wrote it for you.  It gives you a great overview of how to get your first eBook off the ground, and includes information about everything from finding a topic to outsourcing a salespage.  If you have ever wanted to get started, this is the resource for you.

The best part -- it's only $7.   Get First eBook Now! today.  You'll be glad you did.

Regards,
Mark

Hey -- hope you are having a great day, and are enjoying my daily post frenzy that I started on Thursday with my post on the importance of lists.    I'll be posting daily for the next few days (possibly longer) and then it will be back to my normal 3 posts per week (Monday, Wed Friday).  We'll see how that goes in November.  So much to do, and so little time.

October Was A Crazy Month

If you have been following my over the last month, you know I am working on three main projects at the moment.  It can be a bit confusing at times, so I wanted to update you on the status:

1. Build 30 quality "AdSense sites" in a variety of niches. This whole thing was motivated by my post about how to make $5000/month on line.  Now, I am calling these AdSense sites, but, in reality I have decided to add a variety of monetization options including eBay links (using the phpBay bay plugin), some ads through the PepperJam affiliate network and other affiliate offers.  Instead of 30 "AdSense sites," this will result in 30 "mini-authority" sites.    I call them "mini-Authority" because they will not have high frequency original content.  Rather, there will be a mix of content from a variety of sources presented in a useful way.  Status:  all 30 domains are purchased and up and running.  About 15 sites are actually running and some are generating a little revenue. I think I sould be able to "finish" them and drip back to 1 hour of work per site per month by December.  We'll see.
2. Full evaluation of Firepow. In building these sites, I realized that Firepow might be just the tool that I need to make this happen.  I have been helping Andrew's team beta-test Blog Import into Firepow (which is working for me in most cases).   Now that that is complete, I plan to get back to blogging about Firepow late next week.  Don't forget that I have arranged for a $300 Firepow discount for you if you cannot wait for my complete review and recommendation.
3. Build my email list using $7 Secrets. This is the big distraction for me at the moment.  I was so impressed with Josh Spaulding's New Age Email Marketing report, that I decided to move the management of my email lists to his "formula."  Part of that experiment involves growing the list, and that means I needed to write a great ebook to offer for sale for $7 as recommended in $7 Secrets.  That eBook is complete, and will launch Tuesday here on MasonWorld.com. If you have not read Josh's report, I recommend it (it is only $7, as you might expect).

So, that is what is going on at the moment.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

By the way, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

I have learned a lot of tricks building these 30 sites (and others before them), and before the end of the year, I will be launching a new Niche Site Building service. If you are interested, you can see the current sales copy at http://www.nichesitenow.com.

Also, am hoping to do a PPC experiment with one of my internet marketing buddies before the end of the year.  As you may remember, I purchased Commission Blueprint, and I am itching to try out PPC.

So, hang in there -- lots of stuff to come before the end of the year.

Thanks,
Mark

Hey -- Happy Halloween!

It's Free Stuff Friday again, and time for the Friday Freebie.

As I promised yesterday, we are spending a week blogging about lists. The problem is that it is also Free Stuff Friday, and I know how you love that. So, I am combining Free Stuff Friday with a post about lists.

If you read my blog, you already know that you can use "free stuff" to get people to sign up for your list.  This is a good approach because it provides value and builds trust.  A better approach is to get people on your list by selling stuff (as done with $7 Secrets), but giving stuff away is a great place to start.

You can give away information, software, content, merchandise, discounts, you name it.

In this example, we'll talk about giving away PLR content.

What Is PLR Content?

One thing that you hear about a lot in Internet Marketing circles is content that comes with "Private Label Rights (PLR)." Typically, if you buy content with PLR you are licensed to use that content in various ways. Things that you can usually do with PLR might include use it to make eBooks, publish with or without modification, combine it into longer content, split it apart into shorter content, use it in an autoresponder series, put your name on it, etc.

I say "usually" because PLR rights are almost always given specifically for the content you are buying, and restrictions can change depending on the authors wishes.

One thing that you usually cannot do is resell unmodified PLR to other people.

What are Master Resale Rights?

Master Resale Rights (MRR) usually gives you the right to resell something and keep all of the profits as long as you make no modifications to the content. MRR does not usually give you the right to reuse the content for another purpose (like re-publication under your name).

To illustrate all of this for you, I bought Master Resale Rights to a package of PLR articles on weight loss. I am making these articles available to you these articles as this weeks Friday Freebie.

Specifically, when I bought this PLR with MRR rights, I got the rights to:

(Yes) Submit to article directories
(Yes) Can be offered as a bonus with other Products - if changes are made to the articles
(YES) Can be edited completely and your name put on them
(YES) Can be used as web content
(YES) Can be used as a blog post
(YES) Can be broken down into smaller articles
(YES) Can be combined to make larger articles
(YES) Can be used as an e-mail/auto responder sequence
(YES) Can be added to a membership site
(YES) Can be Sold at any Price

I am NOT giving you MRR.

I am giving you PLR rights to these articles.

This means that you can:

(YES) Can be used as web content
(YES) Can be used as a blog post
(YES) Can be broken down into smaller articles
(YES) Can be combined to make larger articles
(YES) Can be used as an e-mail/auto responder sequence
(YES) Can be added to a membership site
(No) Can be Sold at any Price (Unless completely edited)

As usual, all you need to do is join my email list (see the opt-in box at the right) to download this report and other free stuff. Why not sign up today!

So How Can This Help Me With My List?

Now, I don't use a lot of PLR -- but here are at least 3 ways you can use it to help build a list.  Note that I always recommend that if you do use PLR that you rewrite it completely, adding your own voice and augmenting it with your own experience or research.

• Give PLR (when you have MMR) away to your readers as an opt-in gift (like this post)
• Use PLR on a blog as posts to attract readers to your opt-in box
• Send PLR content to your list as valuable content after they opt in.
• Use PLR to write an eBook for use with $7 Secrets

Enjoy.
Mark

P.S. -- If you really want the resale rights to this package of articles, you can have the resale rights for $5 by purchasing through the paypal button below.  Your paypal receipt with the title "Weight Loss MRR" will serve as your license to resell these articles (or use them as you see fit).  Note that you will still need to opt-in to the email list to get them, as I have not set up a separate download just for MRR.

For those of you that are interested in building niche sites for AdSense revenue, I wanted to let you know that I will be moving my focus back to niche site creation for the month of October.  My goal in October will be to end the month with 30 niche AdSense sites up and running and promoted.

I got motivated to do this after finally getting a look inside FirePow.  This is a really cool tool that should make it possible to create and promote niche blogs quickly.

I'll be doing lots of the following in October:

• Niche keyword research
• Buying domain names
• Setting up niche blogs
• Creating content
• Outsourcing content creation
• Article Marketing
• Social media promotion
• etc.

Some of the 30 blogs will be brand new, and some will be brought back to life (like the Elvis Blog).  My old readers will remember that one.  Others will live on domains that I have already purchased that are currently idle.

I'll try to report my progress as I move along.

My plan is to get to 30 blogs up and generating AdSense revenue and stay there for a while, touching 1 blog a day each month for about an hour.  On Monday, I'll post some additional information on my October Blog Blitz.

Let me know if you have any questions about niche blogging and I will try to answer them in October.

Thanks,
Mark

I have been working on sales copy a lot lately, so I thought I would post a useful summary of the 15 most important elements of a sales page. This list is adapted from an excellent two-hour lecture presented as part of Aaron Aaber's free mentoring course over at FullTiltBlogging.com.  The audio lecture and the presentation slides are available for download as one the member benefits at LifeFoc.us (Aaron's membership site). In this post, I'll be telling you what the sales page items are. If you want to know how to implement them effectively, you have to talk to someone like Aaron (I am just learning - albeit quickly).

15 Key Sales Letter Components

First, you need to get the prospect's attention. If you cannot command your visitor's attention, they are not going to read your sales copy, and they will not buy. If a qualified prospect does not buy, you have failed. It is as simple as that, and the headline section is critical because almost every legitimate prospect that visits your site will take time to scan the headline. The pre-headline, headline and sub-headline work together with the attention device to get your prospect to read on below the fold. You want to grab their attention, promise them something, or encourage them to read further.

• Pre-Headline. This is that little sentence or two at the top of the sales letter prior to the headline. It is usually a statement that draws the reader to the headline (or motivates the headline in some way). This part is optional.
• Headline. Big font. Often red. Hard to miss. This component is critical to capture attention. Think front page of the New York Times. Note that this headline is almost always in quotes.
• Sub-Headline. Again an optional part that comes after the headline and can serve as the punchline to the headline.Attention Device. Simply put, the purpose of the attention device is to get your reader to read the rest of the copy. It can be part of the headline or stand alone. Often, it comes in the form of a warning, a statistic or an implied story (the story is usually delivered in the body copy below the fold).

So, here is an example:

Ready to finally build your own AdSense Empire using WordPress?

"Warning: The Amazing New Niche Site Themes For WordPress
Will Cause Your Puny AdSense Earnings To Soar"

You May Need To Hire A New Accountant.

Anyway, you get the idea. I am not the best copy writer in the world, but above you can see a pre-headline, a headline, a sub-headline and an attention device in the headline.

The Body Of The Sales Letter

The body of the sales letter needs to breathe and flow. You need to draw your prospect along as they read -- make them want to get to the next part. Tell stories. Break up paragraphs. Seduce your reader.

• Introduction.  Let the prospect know why you are and establish credibility. You can be an expert or have relevant experience documented here. I like the way Jon Leger does this -- he simply lists the great products he has launched before.
• Statement of Problem. If you have a product, you need to be solving a problem with that product, or you will not sell it. Simple as that. Why does your prospect need your product? If they do not know that they need your product, you will have to educate them here.
• Destroying the Old Method.  Take down existing solutions so the prospect can see your solution as the uniquely best option.
• Value Building (Bonuses and Testimonials). Prospects buy when the value excedes the price. What is the value of your product and bonuses. Testimonials can help to show value (and also to reduce risk). There are many ways to build value.
• Price Drop. This is almost a cliche in Internet Marketing, and is done incorrectly most of the time (including in my own sales letters). Aaron has some proprietary and very unique views on how to do this properly. Out of respect to Aaron, I will not reveal them here. Suffice it to say that you need to do more than cross out a wild price of $1997 and put $27 next to it.
• Why This is So Cheap.  Make sure that your deep discount is well justified, otherwise your prospect will think there is a catch. For example, if I offer you a brand-new iPod for $10, you will assume it is stolen.
• Reason for Offer. Why are you making this particular offer today. Urgency can go here (Act Now!)

Getting The Order

OK -- finally it is time for the sale. Just a few things left to do.

• Risk Reversal.  You need to offer an iron-clad money-back guarantee. Convince the prospect that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• Closing.  You must ask for the sale. Call to action is a critical part of any sales letter. Do not leave the prospect guessing what you want them to do.
• PS.  Use the PS to target people who skipped the sales copy and headed to the bottom of the page to see the price. Summarize the offer and call them to action right there in the PS.

Next Steps

Writing sales copy is probably the most challenging part of Internet Marketing. Each of the 15 items above can be expanded into a full course, so I am really only scratching the surface here. Again, thanks to Aaron Abber for allowing me to summarize one of the many cool courses that you get as a member of LifeFoc.us.

Do you have any questions about sales letter copy? Drop a comment and ask me. If I cannot answer, I will ask Aaron to drop by and pontificate.

Regards,
Mark

Hey;

As many of you know, I am traveling to Asia this week. No, I am not going to the Olympics to compete in Diving, as has been rumored.  So, I will be posting from there and trying to add in a few pictures as well this week.

Before I get on the plane, I wanted to tell you about a phone call I got from a reader.  The reader was asking me about the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.  He was frustrated becuase he had a WordPress.com blog and could not monetize it the way he wanted to.  He was not aware of WordPress.org.

The Difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

What's the difference?  Well, WordPress.com is a hosted platform that allows you to have a free blog.  You can register and WordPress.com and they will host your blog on their servers and you have to follow their rules.  Your blog is hosted on the wordpress.com domain, and will have a name like momsblog.wordpress.com.   This is great for a lot of people that just want to try blogging for the first time to see what all the buzz is about.  It is not great for people who want to make money blogging.  It is very hard to take a business seriously that is hosted on a free platform.

WordPress.org, by contrast, refers to the site that hosts the free WordPress platform software (note that free software is not like free beer -- there is a license, but you do not pay a penny for WordPress).  You can take WordPress and modify it however you want.  You can even package it as a product and sell it (with certain restrictions).  You can certainly do things like add AdSense ads and other monetization strategies (thing that are restricted on WordPress.com).

What's The Catch?

The catch (if you want to call it that) is that you need to provide your own domain and hosting for your WordPress.org blog.  WordPress.com takes care of that for you (and hands you some restrictions in exchange).  With WordPress.org, you are on your own.  This is overwhelming for a lot of people that "just want to blog."

The Solution -- Free Professional WordPress Installation

For a limited time, my buddy Garry Conn is running a special deal.  If you sign up for your hosting through Garry's special relationship with HostGator, Garry will personally help you install your blog and get up and running.  How cool is that.  HostGator is already really inexpensive, but Garry has even arranged for a special coupon code that will get you your first month hosting for a penny.

So, head on over to Garry's blog an read all about it.  I gotta catch a plane.

Regards,
Mark

My buddy Arron Abber at FullTiltBlogging.com is giving away a couple of free memberships to his great membership site, LifeFoc.us.  I love the concept of the site.  LifeFocus is all about getting more out of life, and Aaron is dishing out the free memberships this month.  Check it out before they are all gone.

Man, Time Flies....

Well, it has been almost a month since I did a trial launch of my first product, Niche Adsense Themes for WordPress.  Two weeks ago, I started a post series talking about the lessons learned in doing my first digital project launch.   A few days later, I offered a free copy of the product to anyone who asked the best question that I could use for a future post.

The Big Winners Revealed

I am happy to announce that i really liked two of the responses, so I have named two winners.

• Kent made a comment that reminded me that I was thinking about doing a step-by-step explanation of how to create an AdSense mini-site.  I had actually started something like that a long time ago.  Some of you may remember my series of posts on my mini-site the History of Elvis.  Anyway, I never finished that post series or that site.  I need to do that, and I would like to do a post series for beginners on starting an AdSense mini-site.  So, Kent, thanks for that.
• Alex commented that he likes lists and checklists.   That was a great comment.  It applies to the current task of posts about my digital product as well as the coming posts on AdSense sites and Elvis.

So, both Alex and Kent will get free copies of Niche Adsense Themes for WordPress.

Lesson Learned 2:  Good Sales Letters Are Hard

OK -- so here is the next lesson that I learned regarding my digital product.  Of course to sell a digital product properly, you need a mini-site.  The setup of that mini-site is a big deal.  If you want a great free tutorial on that topic, you can take a look at Michael Rasmuessen's free Mini-Site video tutorial.  It is outstanding.

Anyway, inside this mini-site, you need a sales letter.  That sales letter is this only thing (besides possibly a pre-sales endorsement from an affiliate) that a customer will see before they decide to buy your product.  This is important to understand.

A customer is not making a decision to buy based on your actual product.  They have not seen the actual product.  And, they will not see the product until they buy.  Rather, they are handing you their credit card based on the claims in the sales letter.

So what about the product?  Well, the quality of the product (specifically, whether or not you live up to the claims of the sales letter) impacts returns, repeat purchases, and referrals (I call these the three Rs).

Good Sales Letter Need Basic Things

Now, I am not a sales letter expert (yet), but I can tell you that sales letters need basic things to be successful.

• A killer headline.  You have about 10-30 seconds to capture someone after the page loads.  If they do not see something that captures their attention, they will hit that stumble button and never return.  So, you must grab them.
• A USP -- Ultimate Selling Proposition.  Why do they need what you have?  What is the value of it to them?  Why are the benefits that you are describing obviously worth ten or 100 times the price you are asking?
• Risk Reduction/Reversal. Why is a decision to trust you (buy the product) completely risk free?  Or better yet, is there negative risk (If you are not completely satisfied, keep the free knives as our gift just for trying the product).
• Urgency. Be careful with this.  Act Now! can be a real turn off if not real.  Digital products do not run out of stock, so artificial urgency can be dangerous as it feels sleasy.  Instead, consider offering your product at a discount for a limited time. (Be sure to raise the price as promised later).
• Call to action. It is an old truth in sales.  You have to ask for the sale.  Ask them to buy your product.

My Sales Letter Sucks

OK, so my first attempt at a sales was not so great.  Here are my stats:

• 3.5% conversion for highly targeted email list promotions from an expert in the field with an "email list that converts well."  This is OK, but not great.  A %10 conversion rate (or higher) should be possible.
• Very low conversion rate (less than 0.5%) for somewhat targeted email list traffic from an MMO blogger.  I expected 3-5% conversions.
• Almost zero conversions from random ClickBank affiliates.

What does all that tell me?  It tells me that my sale letter needs work.  So, I am working on it.  I am in the process of gathering input on how to make it better.

• I posted to 5 forums asking for comments and help on the current sales letter (including the Warrior Forum and DigitalPoint Forums.)  Man, you want some criticism, just ask for help over there.  It helps to have high self esteem.  All the comments I got were quite helpful.
• Phone consultation from Aaron Abber at FullTiltBlogging.com (I belong to his mentoring program and to his membership site).
• Private consultations from Garry Conn and Josh Spaulding via email.  I am also a member of Josh's coaching program.
• Reading lots of sales stuff by guys like Dan Kennedy.

So, in the next post, we can look at the old sales page and the new sales page, and I will summarize the changes.  We can also talk about split testing.

Regards,

Mark

P.S.  What do you think of my first sales page?  Be honest.  I can take it.  Leave your comments here.

photo credit: TheTruthAboutMortgage.com