Four Things in Common

I’ve been thinking about what I wrote yesterday.

Originally I wanted to simply Build a Business Online.  That seemed pretty straight forward.

I could do Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing, or create my on product line.  So I spend last month doing research as to how to go about starting this business.

I learned lots – but one thing I realized was that even if you’re doing Affiliate Marketing, it’s still best if you have a specific type of product you focus on.

Why do I say that – well, I’ve been watching the masters at this process.  I’ve been seeing how other affiliate marketers do it.

I’ve noticed four things in common with all of them.

1. They all offer a free “something” to get me hooked… either a report, an eBook, some graphics, some video training… just something to get me to give them my name and email
2. They are constantly emailing me new offers… one week it’s a $7 report, next week an eBook.
3. They almost almost have a One Time Offer (OTO) that pops up after I buy the $7 eBook (OK, I was a sucker a lot in November so I had lots of opportunities to see OTOs)
4. Their offers are always about similar things.  By this I mean that the fella I bought a set of graphics from is always sending me offers about graphics; or the SEO guys sends more offers about SEO and websites.  Not one of them has sent me a product for my dog or the latest kitchen tool.  I know there are affiliate products for the kitchen and dogs (as examples), but these affiliate marketers are just marketing to me in the niche that aligns with the initial product I downloaded from them.

So I guess having that huge Inbox full of emails was beneficial after all.  I would never have noticed these trends if I weren’t reading so many emails.

I look at these four things to see if I can use the information to choose my niche.  The one thing that pops out at me is – every affiliate marketer and online marketer I have come across – every one of them has a method of creating a list.  That seems to be foundational in having an online presence.

Having a list involves writing…  and people need to learn how to set up their list and use it effectively.

Every business needs a list so the target market is huge.  Every new business owner needs to master the skills of building a list, regardless of what type of business they have.

Maybe my niche should be in the list building area.  I need to think and pray about that a bit more… but the fog is starting to clear up.