Am I headed in the right direction?

[kealtoast]

I have been doing a lot of research lately and I think I kinda got the right idea...

My idea/plan is to create a blog in my niche then for the first few post sell nothing once i have build somewhat of a following start posting reviews or something alone that line with a link to a product that I am promoting.

After that I am not sure how to expanded I kinda have an idea but nothing set in stone yet.

Am I headed in the right direction or is blogging not a good way at all? Please help...

Thanks
Kealtoast

 

[Louise M.]

yeah blogging is a good way but what I would do on top that is start to build a list of subscribers. You can get an account with AWeber for instance and then put an opt-in form on your website and give a free report to your subscribers in exchange for their email addresses. Then send them emails with quality free stuff alternatively with emails where you promote products.

 

[Ungifted Marketer]

i agree with louise you need to start to build a list as you begin... someone may only vist your site once but if you get there details you can contact them as many times as you want as long as they are on your list

 

[Inner Athlete]

Gettting as many subscribers as possible is an excennt idea and one that I am currently using right now.

 

[EmpyreAndrea]

I've always thought that blogging is a great way to get started. Its manageable for most people and pretty flexible so its a great starting point. The opt-in form is also a great idea, but I would make it so your readers have to actually click on the opt-in button. A lot of sites have it automatically set up for their readers to subscribe unless the check an opt-out button. Most people usually over look that button, and then they feel like they're receiving emails they do not want, which can be very frustrating.

 

[kealtoast]

With blogging should I also make a squeeze page? To start creating my list? Then at the end of the block post a link to the squeeze page?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Don't worry about squeeze page or building a list right now. Not at phase 1.
(That's IFyou are a newbie and have never done any of this before) It just introduces more challenges into the mix, more things to learn and draws out the process to the point that it takes forever before you are ready to start.

Bottom line is nothing will happen until you get traffic and you won't get traffic until you start generating content that will pull in targeted traffic. So just start blogging.

It will take some time to start generating traffic. Then after you have content up that's starting to work for you and starting to get indexed you can worry about the other stuff. Then when you are ready to start doing the squeeze page there is a whole lot to learn just about doing that part right, so as you tackle each piece of the puzzle, and take time to learn it and build it, you already have your foundation started at least - the content that's going to draw people in.

My 2 cents

 

[kealtoast]

Is blogger(dot)com a good place to start blogging? What kinda content so should i have? Some places tell me not to start posting links to affiliate products tell I have at least five post up, but then some say I should always post a link to a product.

 

[Kevin Rouse]

Linda, would you agree that it's also true with article writing/marketing? The more articles you submit (or blogs you post) the more exposure you will obtain. Google likes to see lots of backlinks and lots of good content.

 

[kealtoast]

This maybe a bit off topic from my first post, but I don't feel I should start a whole new post over this small question.

I have been trying to find a niche for my blog for about 2 days now. What do you guys think of first person shooters (FPS) as a niche for my blog? I used google's keyword tool and it said the global per month was 135,000 plus I know alot about FPS since I have been playing them for about 3 years now.

 

[johnllino]

I think producing solid back links to the site would be of great help. Article Marketing is the best for me. If you continue producing quality articles in different article directories then it would then create a link back track to your site. Agree with Kevin! That "Google likes to see lots of backlinks and lots of good content." It could easily indexed.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Kevin and John,

Keep in mind though that Google's new Farmer update has really hurt article marketing. 2 good articles about it in our article marketing forum. (I've never been a fan of article marketing at all BTW.)

kealtoast,

Choosing the right niche is the foundation for your success, so be as sure as you can. Have you gone through the exercise in our niche forum about picking your 1st niche? If not, I'd do that before anything else.

I don't know anything about the niche you mentioned, but I wonder how much interesting content could you write about one game or one type of game? Could you blog every day and come up with fresh story ideas about that one topic??? Also what would you sell besides that game? And if people are interested in the topic, wouldn't they already own the game? What else may they be interested in buying? Or are they not buyers and more interested in simply being entertained? If they are buyer types and there are products to sell, is there any money in selling those products as an affiliate?

One quick easy (very initial test) is to Google it. When I Google "first person shooters" only 2 Adwords ads come up. Google almost anything else you can think of and it's likely that PAGES of Adwords ads come up selling a variety of products. The lack of ads makes me concerned this may not be a market that can be monetized very well.

As far as blogger goes - you don't own the content OR site, so you are essentially doing all the work to drive traffic to someone else's web property.
Knowing what I know now, I would only start there if I didn't have $10 to my name OR I was very unsure about the niche and just wanted an easy way to try it.

Most people feel that serious marketers will get their own domain. One of the easiest and best solutions is a Wordpress blog.

 

[kealtoast]

As far as blogger goes - you don't own the content OR site, so you are essentially doing all the work to drive traffic to someone else's web property.
Knowing what I know now, I would only start there if I didn't have $10 to my name OR I was very unsure about the niche and just wanted an easy way to try it.

Most people feel that serious marketers will get their own domain. One of the easiest and best solutions is a Wordpress blog.

Thank you for all the great tips this is seriously helping me a whole lot.

I do have ten dollars, but the reason I was looking into blogger is because I am not 100% for sure I wanna become a affiliate marketer as a career. I am kinda looking to "dip my feet" and test it out. See if this is really what I wanna do or if I am even cut out to do this.

Is there any options were I don't have to spend money to get started in affiliate marketing? I am just scared to put down money then find out that I suck at affiliate marketing. If that makes any sense.

Would it be easier to just take the risk and throw down like ten bucks? Sink or swim basically?

Sorry for all the questions everyone

 

[Linda Buquet]

I do have ten dollars, but the reason I was looking into blogger is because I am not 100% for sure I wanna become a affiliate marketer as a career. I am kinda looking to "dip my feet" and test it out. See if this is really what I wanna do or if I am even cut out to do this.

No, in this case, if you are just testing the waters then Blogger is the best free way to go I think.

But if you go Blogger, your Qs about squeeze pages and opt-in lists may be moot. Not sure you have that much flexibility, although maybe someone has come up with a solution.

However if you are going into this with the attitude you are just going to try it, you likely won't succeed. It takes a LOT of commitment and time before most affiliates start to experience success.

I'm not in your shoes (or your head), but knowing what I know and given what you've shared here, this would be my advice. Rather then waste the time dipping your toe in and giving a half baked attempt at a market that may not work anyway... I would INVEST the time to learn more, study more, try to find a good niche that can be monetized and that you can be passionate about.

Then when you get to the point you have a BURNING desire - do it and do it right!
DO IT when you are at the point where you won't let anything get in your way and
even if it does not work at 1st you will find a way to make it work!

NOTE TO OTHERS: My advice above is different than what I would give most people and it's based on what I perceive about his situation.

Normally I would not say wait, I'd say jump in and get started! Don't get distracted by reading more and getting confused. JUST DO IT! But that would be to most people who really WANT to do this, they just are
unsure about HOW to start. But I sensed enough uncertainty in this case about whether he even wants to do this or is cut out for it, that my advice was different.

 

[johnllino]

Thanks Linda! I'd probably read about that and do some research so that I'd know how to play the game.

 

[sociable1231]

Yes, I agree with Linda that traffic is the most important for a new blog! Try to target your main keywords, get your site into the first page of google results. Also try to get backlinks - article submission, blog commenting, social bookmarking etc.

 

[Ryzon]

Hey kealtoast,

I would advise you to download a copy of a free keyword research tool like market samurai or any other tool suitable for you in order to get a complete picture.

What you have here is the number of people searching for your keyword per month, but it does not reveal the number of competing websites, their age, the number of their backlinks, and so on....

You need to analyse the bigger picture first and then decide if your are ready and capable of taking the plunge.

Cheers,
Ryzon