There are many crucial factors which should be always considered while planning a new online project. Many newbie internet marketers make this mistake frequently; they do not spend time in doing research and project planning. Their decision is just based on hype, they hear from somewhere that there is money in any niche; they just start running and copying in a blind manner.

Beware and stay away from this mentality….

So what we basically need while doing our research for a new project?

In a simpler sense you need to know lot of things while designing, developing a new project as well as during content preparation.

Basically you want to know (you need to research your market)

1. Age group of the audience
2. purchasing power of the audience
3. educational status of the audience

Let us take an example. Suppose you need to start a website for car insurance (you made up your mind for this, however this niche is super competitive and saturated and starting a new website in this niche is not a very good idea if you are new to this field and have small budget, this is just an example to make you understand the point) J

Now let us check which website has the Google number 1 crown for the keyword “car insurance”

Number 1: www.progresssive.com

Number 2: www.geico.com

Now let us check them one by one

Site: www.progressive.com

Page Rank: 6
Alexa Rank: 6270
Backlinks (Google): 708
Backlinks (Yahoo): 214531
Pages Cached (Google):2080
Domain Age:
Created on…………..: Mon, Nov 17, 1997
Expires on…………..: Sun, Nov 16, 2014

Site: www.geico.com

Page Rank: 07
Alexa Rank: 3702
Backlinks (Google): 676
Backlinks (Yahoo):86203
Pages Cached (Google): 1800
Domain Age:
Creation Date: 22-jul-1995
Expiration Date: 21-jul-2010

I think the data from the top 2 is sufficient to establish the competitiveness of this niche and it will be very hard to appear on first page in a short period of time. Here I am not suggesting you any niche to start with, our topic is something else from this. Now back to the topic.

So we have got some pretty impressive data, do I need something else?

Yes you do. Up to now you have just checked the competition and feasibility of a niche you wish to enter. You need more data about the 3 points which we have discussed in the starting of this article, for planning and developing your website. Ok I got it… Now how and where can I find those data?

There are many ways to research it. The simplest one is to use a website called www.quantcast.com , visit QuantCast and you can get audience data of any website on the internet.

Now in our case let us see what happens, I opened quantcast.com and entered the URL progressive.com for information.

Data you get:

1. Visits per month, people per month with daily, weekly and monthly comparison of visits.( you can know how many people use the website)

2. Which subdomains of the website, are receiving most and least traffic.( you get the data about the various segments of the website, where people are visiting and get an idea of demand)

3. The most important factor is demographics, which tells you about the percentage of male and female visitors, age group of the visitors, ethnicity, percentage of households with kids’ visiting the website, the income level of the visitors and their educational status.

4. At last Lifestyle which tells” People who visit this site are likely to visit sites in these categories” and which other website visitors go apart from the one in question.

Oh my God, now you know everything about your prospective audience. Yes now you have the power, you can now plan the design, look and feel, colors and graphics, content and all other factors of your website. The best part is, as you now have an idea of the educational background and purchasing power of your audience, now you can decide how to market your website, which offers to use and which products to sell.

I would be happy if I was been able to convey the right message to you.

So use QuantCast in your market research and make your planning better.

I do not know what your reasons to join internet marketing are, but the general thing which underlies in every new online project is to invest minimum time, effort, money and gain profits. Atleast I have the same reason when I joined the cyber world.

Like this article or have some questions, post in the comment section and I will try to reply it.

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Spying and intruding into other’s privacy is a very bad habit and punishable by law in many states… but it is vital as well as necessary for your online business.

What does it mean by spying your competitors?

As we all know that to reach at the top there are two ways. First one is to follow the basics, input your hard work and wait for the time when you come at the top. Second way is to spy on those who are already at the top, find out their strategy and implement the same for your business but using better tactics.

Hard work and persistence is no doubt a sure shot way to get success and patience is virtue we all know. But if you ask me which route I will take. I will surely take the second one because life is very short and I cannot give 3, 4 years to visualize my success.

For all of you who are interested in the latter one, today I will discuss some points on how to spy your competitor and reverse engineer their strategy and get to position number one on the organic search( especially Google), overthrowing them out of the game.

Can you think what would be the value of keyword “weight loss” or “car insurance” at the first position of Google?

Let’s check… for the purpose I am using www.semrush.com

Let us take two examples, fist one is “weight loss”, if we check Google the number 1 rank for this keyword goes to website www.webmd.com , now check it in Semrush.

We get the following data. The average CPC for keyword weight loss is $2.63 and the search volume is 450k. Now do the simple math 450k x $2.63. According to Semrush the website is getting search engine traffic worth $15584k.

Our second example is “car insurance”. While I was checking the ranking I got www.progressive.com on number 1, now checking it with Semrush, it is receiving organic traffic worth $24967k.

The data from Semrush may not be perfect, but if we assume only 10% of the figures, you can easily calculate what the worth of being number 1 on Google is.

So I am quite impressed with your argument… now which things I would like to spy on?

Basically you would like to spy on keywords they are ranking organically, keywords they are using for PPC, their daily ads budget, sites which are linking to your competitor,

Organic keywords: find out the keywords for which your competitor is ranking organically and the traffic those keywords attract. After analyzing these keywords you can plan your long time strategy for SEO, starting with the long tail keywords of main phrases and gradually using the short tails.

PPC Keywords: The basic idea behind finding the paid keywords is if they are paying consistently for some keywords to appear on paid result then those keywords must be converting for them. After you compile the list of their paid keywords, view their landing pages. Then plan your strategy using those converting keywords and their long tail phrases. Design your landing page better than them and you will surely hit a jackpot. Also look their daily PPC budget, the more the better.

Backlinks: Find out how many backlinks your competitor have, which sites are linking then and what the anchor texts are used in their backlinks. For this purpose you can use www.backlinkwatch.com and you will know the anchor text of the backlinks, their PR and whether they are follow or Nofollow. You can also use Yahoo Site Explorer for getting the backlinks data for any website. Never depend on the Google backlinks for a website, as Google displays numbers much less than the actual.

Other online tools you can use:

Keyword spy

Spyfu

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Internet marketing in simple sense is the process of selling goods or services online using the medium of internet. Affiliate marketer is the middleman between the vendor of the services and the buyer.

So what do you think an affiliate marketer does in the whole process and what are the basic points to adhere in the process?

User or Buyer mindset: Have you ever thought what is in a buyer’s mind when he searches for any information online.

Basically a user search solutions for his problem. The problem ranges from “buying an engagement rings” for his loved one, buying a car insurance to finding solutions for his snoring. As there are many problems and needs hence the solution. This very phenomenon has given birth to number of info products and services marketed online.

So as an affiliate marketer, your first and the very important role is to find out the mindset of the people in your niche. If you have gained insight then half the battle is won.

From my experience I am presenting some points which must be followed irrespective of niche and the product you are selling (for which you are an affiliate)

Provide correct information: Always try to provide correct, accurate and to the point information to your users without bluffing. Do not mislead them as it will harm your authority over subject and you will loose them forever. If you are presenting any contradictory fact, you must provide the proof for the same. For an example we all know that AIDS is incurable, if you make any contradictory statement on this, you must give them proof from any authority over the subject. Users are generally a little aware on the topics they are searching about and if you present them wrong information, it will give a bad impression about you.

Always avoid sub-standard content and present them with high quality content. Do not always stick to textual content. Create content in a form (like video, audio, slide show etc) which is easy understandable and accessible to your niche users. It is better to create a 5 minute high quality video that creating a 50 page textual content.

Solving problems and Preselling: Basically people need solution for their problems, and your duty as an affiliate marketer is to solve them by presenting them with high quality relevant information and products. You have to instill confidence in them that their problem is solvable, when you have done this the next step is to present them the product and make them believe that it is the best solution available

As an affiliate marketer you are not doing any direct sale instead you do preselling, that is to warm up the visitor for purchasing your affiliate product and preselling can be done only by following the steps above.

Instill confidence, solve problems, Presell

Never Hardsell: Never try to hardsell because people like to choose and not to be forced in their buying decisions. So Presell and not hard sell. If you become successful in gaining confidence of your users you will never need to do it. If they are convinced that their problems can be solved and the product you are referring is the best one for the purpose you will ultimately make a sale.

So friends these are the points which are applicable for every niche and you must modify your mindset in the way to play a long game in affiliate marketing.

What are other points in your opinion which must be followed? Post here for all of us to know.

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If you are not new to internet marketing world, you would probably have heard the most popular saying in the internet marketing world “Content is King” and really it is the ace in a pack of card.

But an ill structured, non-targeted and information less content is similar to a joker between the aces and kings in a pack of card.

So what is essential, the content must be targeted to the audience, in the language the niche speaks and must be valuable.

Below are some points if kept in mind and taken care of, you can prepare very good content for your website, which not only your audience will like but will have high chances to become viral establishing your authority.

Know your targeted audience: The first and very important fact is “know what your audience needs”. I have seen many newbie and intermediate internet marketers and bloggers, who write in a way that resembles that they never tried to know the need of their audience and they write just for the sake of writing. So you please do not try the same and provide valuable inputs.

Basic problems of the audience: Try to find out the basic needs and problems of the audience of the niche you are concerned. Do not bluff and always do your best to solve problems or atleast provide simple steps to find solutions. Heyyyyy……. What does it mean …..? Let me try to give you an example.

For an example: if you do not know clearly about any specific topic, no matter, provide them various links to authority sites, where they can find solutions. Never think that you will loose your visitor forever, no not at all, rather you will gain trust in the eyes of your visitors as well as search engines because doing this you leave a message that you are committed to provide solutions.

So note a point in your mind that always keep the requirement of your audience handy before you write content. You can get a feel about their requirements by visiting different forums and blogs in your niche.

There are two very common things which will appear in your mind when you start writing (how I know it? Because I have also traversed the same route before I started to know all this) first is “what I am going to write is well known among my niche” and the second is “what I am going to write is not known by anyone” …..   Both these doubts are just myths. So never think of all this and always try to provide real solutions for the problems (problems doesn’t means to provide medication, it means to be informative on the subject you write.)

Age group, demographic factors: Age and demographic factors must be kept in mind while preparing content. Why? Because a concept which a teenager can understand in a simple way, an old age person cannot. So you need to find other ways to make the person understand.

So understand the demographics of your audience.

Targets of the niche: Targets in other words we can call “needs” must be kept in mind. Got confused….? No need to …..! A target of the niche means what your audience prefers – text, video or audio. So provide them with the solution which they can easily use.

Use easy ways to create content: use the most informative and easy way to create content. Content never means only chunk of text, it may be in many other forms e-book, audio, video, music. Slide show presentations.

Gone are the days when technology had limited capabilities and exposure, we are now living in such a world where technology has made every form of media feasible to common audience.

It is better to create a 10 minute audio or 15 minutes video, than to create 150 pages of content of text. The aim should be to give you message clearly to your audience. Also keep in mind your audience age group and their preferences.

So always think that which type of content would be most suitable on the topic you want to convey as well as your audience would like to read and then prepare yourself in the same manner.

Apply these points as I discussed with you in this post and you will realize that you were missing a lot in preparing content for your audience.

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Hello all my fellow SEOs, internet and affiliate marketers today I am going to discuss a very important and not only important but the basic idea after why we became or want to become internet marketers. This post seems to be little off topic but these are the basic points which makes a way for affiliate marketing.

But before we start on the topic let us have a look on a story of a young man named Joe. The fact which makes the story even more interesting is that Joe belongs to a middle class average Indian family and lives in a metropolitan city, say Delhi. His family is educated, and belongs to service class who are dedicated slaves of 9 to 6 rat race.

As Joe grows up in an environment where there is stiff competition and to overtake everyone in life is the only aim whether it is study or games.

His parents have a very high expectation from him that he will excel in studies and sports as well.

He has been brought up in an environment, where he watch his parents working 9 to 6 everyday and do not have any time for each other neither for him.

And as time passes some facts and points make a permanent room in his mind and soul. Some bulging points would be:

1. The life of an average person is very tough and you have to fight everyday to survive.
2. The work for a middle class family born boy is to grow up with good education and then find a good job to maintain social and financial status.
3. Work for full life until the age of retirement and then spend your life doing meditation and Pooja & Bhajans (service of lord)

Sounds familiar? Now who is Joe? I am Joe and you are Joe and every common man is Joe.

The story of an average American or anyone in developed countries might be slightly different but not much. The basics though which we all have is to study and do a full time job to gain social and financial stability.

So what are your reasons to start with internet marketing? Crossing all these barriers, find a new person in you; discover a new world through new vision.

There might be many reasons, from independence to flexibility of work or making more money or aiding your existing one, and I would love if you will share it with us.

Now comes the point what were the reasons behind my entry in the fascinating cyber world and internet marketing.

Freedom: The first and foremost reason for my entry into internet marketing is freedom. Freedom from whom – freedom from the mentality of 9 to 5 slavery. When I think what my life in real is. I wake up in the morning and start preparing to go office, whole day I work for someone else who pays me salary, in other words I am trading my time for money. I have 9 hour job, adding the time of commuting around 2 hours and the time to prepare myself physically and mentally before and after office around 3 hours. In total I spend around 14 to 15 hours a day for making a living from my full time job. I am not including the emotional stress and wear out I face in commuting, specially on the roads of New Delhi, where you will get a red light at every kilometer and jams every second one.

So I need to free my self from this time trading and rat race and I want to spend my time in a more meaningful manner.

More Free time: This is the thing which I need more badly than money. Not only I but I am confident that every human being and those who knows that a day only has 24 hours and a year only 365 days, need more free time to spend with his family or with their hobby. But if we want to achieve it with the traditional way of making a living (that is a full time job of 9 to 6) it seems an impossible task. I do not remember whether I took a week long vacation with my family in the last 3 years. So you need any other way (legally) and internet marketing is the best opinion, where you can do everything and all you need is a computer and internet connection.

More Money: I never thought that I can earn more money investing same time online (we all know time is money ) than in my regular job until I started myself in online marketing. The average salary of a highly skilled person with an experience of more than 5 years is around Rs. 2500 per day for a 14 hour job(with lot of tension: 14 hours = 9 hours job+ 2 hours in commuting+ 3 hours in other stuff related to my job). That barely converts to rupees 2500/14= 178 per hour (means merely $4 per hour, much less the money a pizza delivery boy in the US earns per hour)

So if done right, internet marketing can pay you 1000 times more than this average earning and without any hassle and pain which you face every day in your regular jobs.

So my second concern was more money, I do not want to open a SWISS bank account but I need more…. ( Yeh Dil Maange More… aaha … )

Lavish lifestyle: Just think of a life when you wake up in the morning after taking your full sleep and fresh eyes and no red lines in your eyes as you always did. After doing all usual stuff take your breakfast and then enter your home office which only takes a minute or two to reach. You chose your working hours and you never need anyone’s agreement on this. There is no one to complain that you are late and ask that you need to change your habits of regularity. You are your own boss and you can decide your working hours.

Just think of it and you will get immense pleasure, just thinking about it and if it becomes reality and what will happen if it becomes reality

Residual Income: Have you ever though how long can you trade your time for money, up to the age of 50, 60 or more …. OK Good and what after that. Some intelligent and money savers, save a large part of their income in various investment schemes for their retirement.

But a very simple question, if you spend Rs. 20k today to maintain your life style, keeping the present inflation and other factors in mind you will need at least Rs. 200k a month for maintaining the same lifestyle after 30 years.

So the fact is that we can never work in the same way forever. I do not have such physical, mental and spiritual strength to work for such as long time and I do not know about yours? Do you have it?

So what we need – residual income, means autopilot income, where you invest you time, money and intelligence one time and encash it for a long time and sometimes forever.

And internet marketing is the only way by which you can get residual income.

So friends these were the reasons why I chose internet marketing and I am confident that I will achieve all the points which I need for a happy life with the help of the very internet marketing…

I hope you all would like this post.

What are your reasons to join the internet marketing world? Post here and it will become an inspiration for others…

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