Private Label Rights

If you’ve been around the internet marketing world for any amount of time, you’ve undoubtedly happened upon a private label rights product.  They are all across eBay, affiliate networks and email lists.  There is a great deal of money to be made online from these private label rights (plr) packages and products.

Let’s say that you have a website that targets stay at home moms.  Now, moms wear a lot of different hats at home.  Not the least important is chief budgeting officer.  From experience, I know that one of the toughest arenas to reign under control is the food budget, especially in this day and age.  A couple of entrepreneurial women came up with the idea to start a PLR site that deals with recipes, moving saving ideas and how to trim the fat from the grocery budget.  YummyPLR helps people not only make money from their own sites by selling the recipes and ideas, but also helps the end user with their own household accounting and planning.

This is just an example of a niche that is literally starving for the product that you have! HA!

So what else can you do with PLR products?  You can simply sell them.  If you’ve got a list of any size that is in anyway related to internet marketing/making money online/making money at home/home based business, you can sell entire PLR packages to your customers.  A PLR package normally will not have any one theme, but instead it will have a ton of PLR products that can be from nearly any niche.

So where do you find these PLR products?  One great place is PLRWholesaler.  Inside you’ll find nearly 10,000, nearly 60 PRL eBooks, tons of audio and video and blogs out of the box.  That is a pretty amazing package to start with.

Of course, you can create your own PLR products to sell to others.  If you’ve got an informational eBook or another digital product, you can sell the rights to your product for others to resell.

Here is to your success!!

Domain Embarking

If you’re anything like me, you’re interested in creating alternative streams of income. Several years ago I looked at buying domains and reselling them for profit, but never really did anything with it. Why? Well, by the time that I was interested in it, there really wasn’t anything to buy that I could afford at the time.

Recently I read on another blog about Domain Embarking and thought I would give it a whirl. I had a few domains laying around idle, so I thought I should put them to work. It really only takes a few minutes to fill in the keywords phrases that you want to target and Domain Embarking will help with the rest. If you’re any good at SEO, then you’ll be fairly successful with Domain Embarking. I’ve now got several domains that I bought specifically to test out on Domain Embarking. If you would like a sample, head over to one of my sites, Diecastpriceguide.info.

I decided to use .info names. Why? Number one, a .info seemed to fit the type of site that you create with Domain Embarking. Number two, they are cheap. Now, some of the other domains that I am testing are .com names, but I already purchased those, so I’m not out anything. But, for a test I didn’t want to spend the big cash for .com names when .info would do. Does it matter? I say no because the traffic that will be coming to your embarked pages is traffic from search engines and it won’t make much of a difference.

Need some domains to test this out? Head over to 1and1 for their .99 .info domain sale!

Millionaire By Thirty

Millionaire by Thirty is a new book out by author Douglas Andrew which talks about how those in the 16-30 age range can become millionaires by the time they are thirty.  As we all know, there are millions and millions of books that claim to teach you how to become a millionaire.  If they worked, then more people would be millionaires.  Actually, they may work, but people simply don’t follow through on what is written in those books.

I like the approach that Andrew takes.  He lays it all out in simple, easy to follow instructions.  Generations before us relied on things like Social Security, Pensions and 401(K) plans.  The problem we are facing is that most companies have done away with pensions, Social Security probably won’t be around when we are ready to use it and 401(K) plans have their own set of challenges. Andrew uses his own sons as examples to teach parents and twenty somethings a thing or two about investing for the future.  Two of the most shocking (insert sarcasm) recommendations that Andrew and his sons make are to invest in real estate (Thank You, Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and budgeting effectively.

This isn’t a personal finance site, but this site is about making money.  Specifically making money online.  It is easy to make money here and there online, but if you don’t use it effectively once it hits your bank account, then all your work is pretty much for nothing.  Investing in real estate, physical or virtual, is a great way (even when the market tanks as it has done in the past few years) to earn a residual income.  If you paid 600,000 dollars for a 200,000 dollar house, you might never make that back…sorry.  But if you buy a house now for less than what it is actually worth, you will come out ahead in the long run.  I’ve had many folks tell me that the number one way that they have come out ahead in the investing game is in property.  Even Uncle Milton Bradley has taught us that over the years!
Check out Millionaire by Thirty, it’ll be worth your time!

Other Finance type books to check out:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The Millionaire Next Door

3 Reasons Why Wordpress Should Be Your Blogging Platform

Many times out there in the ‘blogosphere’ I have heard the debate over which platform bloggers should use on their sites.  I have used both Wordpress and Blogger/Blogspot over the years and I prefer Wordpress over Blogger.  I’m not going to debate the merits of one over the other, I’m just going to say why Wordpress is the right choice if you’re an internet/affiliate marketing type person.

1. Wordpress is nearly idiot proof.  With the help of Wordpress Themes and Plugins, your site can quickly become a heavy weight in whatever your niche is.  The good news is that the only thing you have to know is how to type.  You almost don’t even have to know that.  There is a plethora of support that people are willing to give away for a great price — Free!
2. Wordpress is highly customizable.  While you can be an idiot and use Wordpress, you can also be a computer programming genius and still love Wordpress.  I love that I can hack, modify or even make something new for my Wordpress powered sites with ease.  I’m not a computer programmer by trade and if I can do it, I know you can!  Part of the beauty of customization comes in the form of plug-ins and themes.  Using certain plug-ins will help you to be more easily searched by the search engines, also known as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), allow you to manage many functions hands free and also allow your visitors to interact with each other.
3. Wordpress is loved by Google.  While Blogger is owned by Google, they still love Wordpress.  You may choose to host your site on the free Wordpress.com site, this is probably an okay thing since it does give your page some weight.  You may also choose to host your own site powered by the Wordpress Software, which still is loved by Google.  That may be because the software and many themes come with some SEO already done for you, or it may be some fluke…but I love it!

Just a short entry to introduce you to Wordpress. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them!  Maybe the next post on Wordpress should be written by you?!!?!

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Facebook

Guy Kawasaki posted Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Facebook a few days ago. The ten things were provided to him by Jesse Stay who authored I’m on Facebook–Now What???: How to Get Personal, Business, and Professional Value from Facebook along with several other guys.  I’ll give a quick recap, but be sure to head over to Guy’s blog or even pick up a copy of Jesse’s book to really learn how you can use Facebook to boost your personal, business and professional value.

1. Syndicate Your Blog.  Great way to attract more readers.  I do this for some of the other blogs that I write and it does help to get more people to read your stuff.
2. Mobile Updates.  Great way to stay in touch if you are away from your desk a lot.  Also great to post those once in a lifetime photos of random things you encounter along your journey.
3. Polling/Surveying.  Great way to get a pulse on your audience.  There is a fee, but it is very inexpensive market research!
4. Tracking available demographics directly in Facebook.  Partnering this capability with Facebook Ads, you can laser target the people you want to advertise for.
5. Twitter like updates.  In fact, you can use Twitter to update your Facebook status.  Another great way to stay connected on the go or to utilize one of the truly social networks on the web.
6. Facebook Pages.  I’ve seen this quickly become a viral from of brand recognition.  You can use html and flash in these pages to promote your brand.  Then people will become fans and spread the love.
7. Surprisingly, the largest demographic for Facebook is over 25.  Good to know if you’re wondering where to market/promote/test for products or services that would cater to these folks.  Also, these are generally the people with the cash.  Keep that in mind!
8. Tracking.  You can see what kind of traffic that your Facebook Page is getting.  Great information, especially if you are missing the target!
9. Tagging in photos and notes.  If you tag someone, they will be made aware of it, then probably come over and check out what you wrote/posted.  They don’t have to be in the note or pic, either.  You just might want to get their attention.
10. Give others an easy to remember address for your Facebook page/profile.  Jesse recommends using Socialtoo.com.  But why not just redirect a domain?  If you’ve got a Facebook Page set up with  a lot of fans/traffic/etc, why not use that as a homepage of sorts?

Head on over to Guy’s blog and check out what Jesse actually wrote.  I just gave a synopsis and my interpretation.

While many people have been using Myspace for marketing for several years, Facebook is gaining momentum in that arena.  Facebook offers a much more civilized approach, in my opinion.  Also, with a ton of great tools and almost unlimited Apps available, you have much more power to leverage.

Are you using Facebook?  I’d love to hear about it.

Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

Today marks the 15 birthday of the world wide web, better known to you and I as the internet. While we may be under the impression that Al Gore invented the internet, the internet was actually invented by a particle physics lab in Europe known as Cern. On April 30th, 1993 Cern released it’s intellectual property rights over the internet and also ensured that no one else could claim them either. Not even Al Gore.

If you’re any kind of techy geek, you know that people have been using computer-to-computer connections since the 1970’s. You had to be really smart in order to figure out how to make these connections happen. Thank goodness that Cern unleashed the internet!

Check out the BBC articles on the birthday of the internet and a more history of the internet.

The ‘birthday of the internet’ article contends that the internet is still in its infancy.  Are you kidding me?  The best (or worst) is yet to come?  That is totally awesome!  I think the internet is pretty dang great right now and it does seem to be getter better all the time.  Think of the possibilities for making money online!

If you’re a reader, you may recognize Cern from Dan Brown’s novel ‘Angels and Demons’. If you haven’t read it, you should. It is a very good book. I’m not really a fan of Dan’s conspiracy theories, but he is a fantastic author.

Happy Birthday, Internet!

Wigix Keeping Fees at Bay

eBay that is.

Wigix, a site that launched today, aims to capitalize on the ever growing number of folks that are fed up with eBay’s fee structure. Wigix, the “Want it, Got It exchange”, is banking on those frustrated sellers and hopes to draw buyers as well.

Wigix charges no listing fees, no fees for items under $25, and if your item doesn’t sell you don’t pay a dime. Wigix is certainly not the only venue to take aim at eBay’s fee structure. VentureBeat has a great write up about the fees that are involved in Wigix as well as an in-depth discussion about how exactly Wigix works.

Over the years many startups have taken aim at the marketplace giant. They have experienced moderate success. It seems, though, that the times are changing. If you look at the Power Sellers Unite forum ranking of auction site listings, you’ll see that eBay is far in the lead but sleeper sites such as eCrater are creeping up behind them.

Wigix is billing themselves as the community driven marketplace. To me, it seems like Craigslist meets eBay. It is a great concept that has worked well on some level in other places and I’m excited to see what happens with Wigix.

Go ahead and take a look at how Wigix is set up. I’ve searched on “Nintendo Wii” and took a look at the page results. Pretty cool. Click on “Nintendo Wii” to be taken directly to the results.

As an occasional seller and frequent buyer of stuff, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on Wigix. I wish them well! I still get a chuckle out of the people that are just now jumping on the eBay bandwagon. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is still plenty of cash to be made on eBay, even with the high fees, BUT you’ve got to be top notch in your game to really hack out a huge living. I was at Panera one day and this dude who didn’t even have an email address or credit card, was talking to his girlfriend about selling stuff on eBay. They were, of course, leaching wireless while sharing a coffee. God bless them, I do hope that they do make their well deserved living online.

5 Ways to Use Blogging to Promote Affiliate Products Online

Blogging has quickly become one of the top ways for ANYONE to promote products online.  You’ll find blogs on every topic under the sun from Roller Derby to Birthday Party Clowns to celebrities such as John Mayer who blog.  Literally folks, if you like it or think about it, there is probably a blog out there for you.

So how do you use blogging to promote affiliate products online?  There are several possibilities, for the sake of time, I’ll lay out 5 ways to use blogging to promote affiliate products online.

1. You can set up a blog that is specifically geared toward the specific product that you are looking to promote.  This means that the entire site revolves around the widget.  The posts talk about the widget, the links all point to the site where people can buy the widget.  The theme of the site is probably going to be closely related to the widget.  With a platform such as Wordpress, you can find countless free themes, one of which is bound to fit your needs.  You can check out one such site on Yamaha Motorcycles here.
2. You can set up a blog where you write about absolutely anything you want and slyly insert your affiliate links in things like book reviews, product reviews or simply as ads in the sidebar.  The problem here is that the people reading your site have to want whatever it is that you are selling.  I know a guy who does a ton of book reviews.  He makes a pretty good affiliate commission from Amazon because the people that read his blog are hungry for the types of things that he reviews.  He is also very honest.  If he thought it stunk, he isn’t afraid to say so.
3. You can go full bore and set up an e-commerce blog that has an integrated shopping cart.  I’ve seen some very slick looking sites that are built on a blogging platform that function as a store.  The great part about using blog software to build your site is that there are a ton of tools available to help you in your promotion. In this type of blog, you’d probably write a post about a certain widget and then provide the product in the post as well.
4. You could have a broad topic blog, such as this one, that covers a range of topics, but is focused in the same genre.  This site isn’t specific to affiliate product marketing, but it does fall within the broad category of internet marketing.
5. You could use your blog to simply build a list, and then promote and cross promote your products to that list.  In the world of internet marketing, the list is everything. (While we’re talking about lists, why don’t you enter your name and email into mine!)  You may never promote a thing on your blog, but you promote different tools and services that you are using to your list.  I’ve seen some powerful results come from a simple email that was sent to a small list.

Hopefully these ideas sparked something in you.  I’m looking forward to reading YOUR blog!

Why Affiliate Internet Business Marketing or Promotion?

Why Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing has quickly become one of the hottest ways to earn a living from the comfort of your own home or coffee shop or insert your comfy place of choice.  But Why?

One of the reasons that I love affiliate internet business marketing or promotion online is that there are literally endless possibilities.  There is no way that a single person could possibly explore every single niche or keyword or affiliate marketing program out there.  This is a case where, as they say, there are plenty of fish in the sea.  Personally, I love that I will never run out of things to promote or write about.  There is always something new coming out in terms of tools, software, or tricks that make my job all the much better.

Affiliate internet business marketing or promotion online is not only an endless sea of opportunity, there is a lot of information that you need to know in order to be successful.  Now, there are plenty of people out there who will tell you that they know a few tricks that will make you instantly successful.  And, they are willing to tell you for only 9899.97, but only for a limited time.  But what happens when their ultra exclusive tips are suddenly worthless because of changes at Google?  The people who dropped a load of cash on their ’system’ are bound to get pretty ticked off and the system creator will probably be scrambling to figure out a way to redeem himself (at least he should be).   I love that the game is forever changing.  I also hate it because just when I think that I have something down, some minor changes somewhere else will throw a monkey wrench into my own system.

If you’re new to the affiliate internet business marketing, you owe it to yourself to learn as much as possible.  The good news is that you’re here, ready to learn.  The bad news is that I don’t have all the answers, I can only share what I’ve learned and know.  Continue searching on places like Digital Point Forums and you’ll get a quick education!  One of the things that helped me get my affiliate internet business up and running was a membership site called Wealthy Affiliate.  Of all of the money that I have spent learning things online, Wealthy Affiliate has been hands down the best money that I have spent.  You’ll find great training and tools, some of which you’d have to pay for if you weren’t a Wealthy Affiliate member.  Head on over to Wealthy Affiliate and check it out.  It will be the best thing you’ll do to learn internet and affiliate marketing!